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VOYAGES
A N D D I S C O V E R I E S OF
C H A P T E E VT. FURTHER FACTIONS IN THIS COLONY.—ARROGANCE OF A L O N Z O PEREZ AND THE B A C H E L O R CORRAL.
A CONSIDERABLE time had now elapsed since the departure of Valdivia for Hispaniola, yet no tidings had been received from him.
Many began to fear that some disaster had befallen him ;
while others insinuated that it was possible both he and Zamudio might have neglected the objects of their mission, and, having appropriated to their own use the gold with which they had been intrusted, abandoned the colony to its fate. Vasco Nunez himself was harassed by these surmises ; and by the dread lest the Bachelor Enciso should succeed in preju dicing the mind of his sovereign against him.
Impatient of this
state of anxious suspense, he determined to repair to Spain, to communicate in person all that he had heard concerning the Southern Sea, and to ask for the troops necessary for its discovery. Every one, however, both friend and foe, exclaimed against such a measure, representing his presence as indispensable to the safety of the colony, from his great talents as a commander, and the fear entertained of him by the Indians. After much debate and contention, it was at length agreed that Juan de Cayzedo and Rodrigo Enriquez de Colmenares should go in his place, instructed to make all necessary represen tations to the king.
Letters were written also, containing extra
vagant accounts of the riches of the country, partly dictated by the sanguine hopes of the writers, and partly by the fables of the natives.
The rumored wealth of the province of Dobayba, and