e of a
brigantine, transported one half of their people thither, the other
half remaining on the eastern coast. The gulf is twenty-four miles
long, growing narrower as it penetrates inland. Many rivers flow into
the Gulf of Uraba, one of which, called the Darien,[8] they say, is
more fortunate than the Nile.

[Note 8: The name _Darien_ applies to the eastern part of the
isthmus of Panama, extending from the Gulf of San Miguel to that of
Uraba. The river bearing the same name forms a large estuary in the
Gulf of San Miguel.]

The Spaniards decided to settle upon its green banks where fruit trees
grow. The river bed is narrow and its current sluggish. The people
along the banks were much amazed to see the brigantine, so much larger
than their own barques, under full sail. Getting rid of their women
and non-fighting men, and donning their fighting equipment, about five
hundred of them advanced against the Spaniards, taking up a position
upon a lofty hillock. The Spaniards, commanded by Enciso, who was
judge in the name of Hojeda, prepared for the conflict. First
kneeling, general and soldiers together prayed God to give them the
victory. They bound themselves by a vow to make votive offerings of
gold and silver to the statue of the Blessed Virgin, known in Seville
by the name of Santa Maria della Antigua, vowing to make a pilgrimage
to her sanctuary, to name in her honour the village they might found,
and to build a church sacred to her or to transform the house of the
cacique into a church. They also took a vow not to retreat before the
enemy.

At a given signal they cheerfully armed themselves; carrying their
shields on their left arms, brandishing their halberds, they charged
upon the enemy who, being naked, could not resist the attack for long,
and consequently fled, their cacique, Zemaco, at their head. Promptly
taking possession of the village, our men found an abundance of native
food and assuaged their immediate hunger. There was bread made of
roots and bread made of grain, such as we have described in our first
book; also fruits bearing no resemblance to any of ours and which they
preserve, much as we do chestnuts and similar fruits.

The men of this country go naked, the women cover the middle of their
body with cotton draperies from the navel downwards. Winter's rigours
are unknown. The mouth of the Darien is only eight degrees distant
from the equator, thus the difference in length between night and day
i