THE
COMPANIONS
OF
COLUMBUS.
that were thinning the number of his followers.
Ill
Of the gallant
armament of seven hundred resolute and effective men that had sailed with them from San Domingo, four hundred had already perished by various miseries ; and, of the survivors, many could scarcely be said to live.
C H A P T E R V. SUFFERINGS
OF NICUESA AND HIS MEN ON THE
COAST OF
THE ISTHMUS.
T H E first care of Nieuesa, on resuming the general command, was to take measures for the relief of his people, who were perishing with famine and disease.
All those who were in health,
or who had strength sufficient to bear the least fatigue, were sent on foraging parties, among the fields and villages of the natives. It was a service of extreme peril ; for the Indians of this part of the coast were fierce and warlike, and were the same who had proved so formidable to Columbus and his brother, when they attempted to found a settlement in this neighborhood. Many of the Spaniards were slain in these expeditions. Even if they succeeded in collecting provisions, the toil of bring足 ing them to the harbor was worse to men in their enfeebled con足 dition, than the task of fighting for them ; for they were obliged to transport them on their backs, and, thus heavily laden, to scramble over rugged rocks, through almost impervious forests and across dismal swamps. Harassed by these perils and fatigues, they broke forth into murmurs against their commander, accusing him, not merely of