THE
C O M P A N I O N S OF COLUMBUS.
187
tains, who had lodged and fed them, and made them presents of the value of two thousand crowns in gold.
This hospitable sav
age approached Vasco Nunez with a serene countenance, and taking him by the hand, " Behold," said he, " most valiant and powerful chief, I bring thee thy companions safe and well, as they entered under my roof.
May he who made the thunder and
lightning, and who gives us the fruits of the earth, preserve thee and thine in safety !"
So saying, he raised his eyes to the sun,
as if he worshiped that as his deity and the dispenser of all tem poral blessings.* Departing from this village, and being still accompanied by the Indians of Teaochan, the Spaniards now bent their course along the banks of the river Comagre, which descends the north ern side of the Isthmus, and flows through the territories of the cacique of the same name.
Thi3 wild stream, which in the course
of ages had worn a channel through the deep clefts and ravines of the mountains, was bordered by precipices, or overhung by shagged forests ; they soon abandoned it, therefore, and wandered on without any path, but guided by the Indians.
They had to
climb terrible precipices, and to descend into deep valleys, dark ened by thick forests and beset by treacherous morasses, where, but for their guides, they might have been smothered in the mire. In the course of this rugged journey they suffered excessively in consequence of their own avarice.
They had been warned of
the sterility of the country, and of the necessity of providing am ply for the journey.
When they came to lade the Indians, how
ever, who bore their burdens, their only thought was how to convey the most treasure ; and they grudged even a slender sup* Herrera, decad. i. lib. x. cap. 4.