THE
COMPANIONS
OF C O L U M B U S .
121
CHAPTER VIII. CETJSADE
OF
THE
BACHELOR
ENCISO AGAINST THE
SEPUL足
CHRES OF ZENU.
T H E Bachelor Enciso, as has been shown, was a man of the sword as well as of the robe ; having doubtless imbibed a passion for military exploit from his intimacy with the discoverers. A c 足 cordingly, while at Carthagena, he was visited by an impulse of the kind, and undertook an enterprise that would have been worthy of his friend Ojeda.
He had been told by the Indians
that about twenty-five leagues to the west lay a province called Zenu, the mountains of which abounded with the finest gold. This was washed down by torrents during the rainy season, in such quantities, that the natives stretched nets across the rivers to catch the largest particles ; some of which were said to be as large as eggs. The idea of taking gold in nets captivated the imagination of the Bachelor, and his cupidity was still more excited by further accounts of this wealthy province.
He was told that Zenu was
the general place of sepulture of the Indian tribes throughout the country, whither they brought their dead, and buried
them,
according to their custom, decorated with their most precious ornaments. It appeared to him a matter of course, therefore, that there must be an immense accumulation of riches in the Indian tombs, from the golden ornaments that had been buried with the dead through a long series of generations.
Fired with the thought, he
determined to make a foray into this province and to sack the