THE
COMPANIONS OF COLUMBUS.
79
When they had fully glutted their vengeance, the Spaniards ranged about for booty.
While thus employed, they found the
body of the unfortunate Juan de la Cosa.
It was tied to a tree,
but swollen and discolored in a hideous manner by the poison of the arrows with which he had been slain.
This dismal spectacle
had such an effect upon the common men, that not one would remain in that place during the night.
Having sacked the village,
therefore, they left it a smoking ruin, and returned in triumph to their ships.
The spoil in gold and other articles of value must
have been great, for the share of Nieuesa and his men amounted to the value of seven thousand castillanos.*
The two governors,
now faithful confederates, parted with many expressions of friend足 ship, and with mutual admiration of each other's prowess ; and Nieuesa continued his voyage for the coast of Veragua.
C H A P T E R V. OJEDA
FOUNDS
THE
COLONY
OF
SAN
SEBASTIAN.
BELEA足
GUERED BY THE INDIANS.
O J E D A now adopted, though tardily, the advice of his unfortunate lieutenant, Juan de la Cosa, and, giving up all thoughts of colo足 nizing this disastrous part of the coast, steered his course for the Gulf of Uraba.
He sought for some time the river Darien,
famed among the Indians as abounding in gold, but not finding it, landed in various places, seeking a favorable site for his intended colony.
His people were disheartened by the disasters they had * Equivalent to 37,281 dollars of the present day.