The life and voyages of Christopher Colombus. Volume 3, partie 1

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V O Y A G E S A N D D I S C O V E R I E S OF

against him, and to unseat him from his command.

He attacked

him in his own way, with legal weapons, questioning the legiti足 macy of his pretensions.

The boundary line, he observed, which

separated the jurisdictions of Ojeda and Nicuesa, ran through the centre of the Gulf of Uraba.

The village of Darien lay on the

western side, which had been allotted to Nicuesa.

Enciso, there足

fore, as alcalde mayor and lieutenant of Ojeda, could have no jurisdiction here, and his assumed authority was a sheer usur足 pation. The Spaniards, already incensed at the fiscal regulations of Enciso, were easily convinced ; so with one accord they refused allegiance to him ; and the unfortunate Bachelor found the chair of authority to which he had so fondly and anxiously aspired, suddenly wrested from under him, before he had well time to take his seat.

CHAPTER XI. PERPLEXITIES

AT THE COLONY.

A R R I V A L OF COLMENARES.

To depose the Bachelor had been an easy matter, for most men are ready to assist in pulling down ; but to choose a successor was a task of far more difficulty.

The people at first agreed to elect

mere civil magistrates, and accordingly appointed Vasco Nunez and one Zenudio as alcaldes, together with a cavalier of some merit of the name of Valdivia, as regidor. They soon, however, became dissatisfied with this arrangement, and it was generally considered advisable to vest the authority in one person. should be, was now the question.

Who this person

Some proposed Nicuesa, as


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