threats, and he was told that if
he did not come down with all his family they would either cut down or
set fire to the tree. A second time Abibaiba refused, so they attacked
the tree with axes; and when the cacique saw the chips flying he
changed his mind and came down, accompanied by his two sons. They
proceeded to discuss about peace and gold. Abibaiba declared that he
had no gold, and that as he had never needed it, he had taken no
pains to get it. The Spaniards insisting, the cacique said: "If
your cupidity be such, I will seek gold for you in the neighbouring
mountains and when I find it I will bring it to you; for it is found
in those mountains you behold." He fixed a day when he would return,
but neither then nor later did he reappear.

The Spaniards came back, loaded with the supplies and the wines of
the cacique, but without the gold they had counted upon. Nevertheless
Abibaiba, his subjects, and his sons gave the same information
concerning the gold mines and the Caribs who live upon human flesh,
as I have mentioned, as did those at Comogra. They ascended the river
another thirty miles and came to the huts of some cannibals but found
them empty, for the savages, alarmed by the approach of the Spaniards,
had taken refuge in the mountains, carrying everything they possessed
on their backs.

BOOK V

While these things were happening on the banks of this river, an
officer named Raia, whom Vasco Nunez and Colmenares had left in
charge of the camp at Rio Negro in the territory of the cacique
Abenamacheios, driven either by hunger or fatality ventured to
explore the neighbourhood with nine of his companions. He went to the
neighbouring village belonging to the cacique Abraibes, and there Raia
and two of his companions were massacred by that chief, the others
succeeding in escaping. Some few days later Abraibes, sympathising
with his relative and neighbour Abenamacheios, who had been
driven from his house and had had his arm cut off by one of our
foot-soldiers, gave the latter refuge in his house, after which he
sought out Abibaiba, the cacique who lived in a tree. The latter,
having been driven from his abode, also avoided attack by the
Spaniards and wandered in the most inaccessible regions of the
mountains and forests.

Abraibes spoke in the following words to Abibaiba: "What is this that
is happening, O unfortunate Abibaiba? What race is this that allows
us, unfortunates that we are, no peace? And for