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votion to him, both from admiration of his past exploits and from hopes of soon being led by him to new discoveries and conquests. Peter Martyr, in his letter to Leo thÂť Tenth, speaks in high terms of these " old soldiers of Darien," the remnants of those well-tried adventurers who had followed the fortunes of Ojeda, Nieuesa, and Vasco Nunez.
" They were hardened," says he,
"to abide all sorrows, and were exceedingly tolerant of labor, heat, hunger, and watching, insomuch that they merrily make their boast that they have observed a longer and sharper Lent than even your Holiness enjoined, since, for the space of four years, their food has been herbs and fruits, with now and then fish, and very seldom flesh."* Such were the hardy and well-seasoned veterans that were under the sway of Vasco Nunez ; and the colony gave signs of rising in prosperity under his active and fostering
management,
when, in the month of June, the fleet of Don Pedrarias Davila arrived in the Gulf of Uraba. The Spanish cavaliers who accompanied the new governor were eager to get on shore, and to behold the anticipated wonders of the land ; but Pedrarias, knowing the resolute character of Vasco Nunez, and the devotion of his followers, apprehended some difficulty in getting possession of the colony.
Anchoring,
therefore, about a league and a half from the settlement, he sent a messenger on shore to announce his arrival.
The envoy, havÂ
ing heard so much in Spain of the prowess and exploits of Vasco Nunez and the riches of Golden Castile, expected, no doubt, to find a blustering warrior, maintaining barbaric state in the go vernment which he had usurped.
* P. Martyr, decad. 3 , cap. iii.
Great was his astonishment
Lok's translation.