Chapter XXVII: Revolt of the Cakchiquels (4)

The next most important agency in the management of New
World affairs was the _Casa de Contratacion_, house or board
of trade, supreme in commercial matters, save only in its
subordination to the Consejo de Indias, in common with every
other power below absolute royalty. As before stated, on the
return of Columbus from his first voyage, Fonseca, with two or
three assistants, was appointed to take charge of the business
appertaining to the discovery, the nature or importance of
which was then but faintly conceived. This Indian office or
agency was established at Seville, with a branch office in
the form of a custom-house at Cádiz. But before the expiration
of the first decade the New World business had so increased,
and the New World dimensions were so rapidly expanding, that
it was found necessary to enlarge the capabilities and powers
of the India Office; hence by decrees of January 20, and June
5, 1503, was ordered established at Seville the _Casa de
Contratacion de las Indias_, or India house of trade, that
commerce between the mother country and the Indian colonies
might be promoted. The first cédula ordered the office
placed in the arsenal, the second in a building known as the
_alcazar viejo_, and in that part of it called the _cuarto de
los almirantes_, or admirals' quarters. The board consisted
of a president, three royal officers, or judges, to wit,
treasurer, auditor, and factor; also three judges bred to the
law; one fiscal, and other lesser officers and attendants.
Among the first to serve, beside Fonseca, were Sancho de
Matienzo, a canon of Seville, treasurer; Francisco Pinelo,
factor, or general agent; and Jimeno de Berviesca, contador,
or auditor. By law those three officers were to reside in the
building; and were to despatch all ships going to the Indies,
and receive all merchandise coming thence. In all which
they were scrupulously to respect the agreement made with
Columbus by the sovereigns. They were, moreover, to proclaim
that licenses for discovery and trade would be given, under
just conditions, to all seeking them and filing commensurate
bonds. See _Nueva España_, _Brev. Res._ MS.; _Veitia Linage_,
_Norte de la Contratacion_; _Recop. de Indias_; _Solorzano_,
_Pol. Ind._; _Zamora y Coronado_, _Bib. Leg. Ult._; _Young's
Hist. Mex._, 40-6; _Democratic Review_, i. 264-9; _Walton's
Exposé_, 24; _Niles' S. Am. and Mex._, 65-8; _Revolution in
Sp. Am._, 5-6; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 916-17. An
officer appointed by the king resided at Cádiz to despatch
vessels under the supervision of the Casa de Contratacion.
The India House was a court of judicature no less than a
board of trade; it had cognizance in all civil, criminal,
and commercial questions arising from the traffic of Spain
with the Indies, appeal being to the Council of the Indies.
I will mention a few only of the more important of the many
minor orders regulating this board. The volume and variety
of its business rapidly increased from year to year. In 1510
Diego Colon was instructed to inform its officers concerning
all that he should write to the king. The board was obliged
to possess itself of the minutest knowledge concerning
New World affairs, and of persons asking permission to go
thither, and in the execution of its duties it was not to
be interfered with even by royal officers of high rank. The
actual powers conferred on the three officials first named
by Queen Juana are not given by any of the chronicles, or
collections of laws, which I have examined. Indeed, the powers
and jurisdiction of the board were never clearly defined
until the issuing of the ordinances of the 23d of August,
1543, known as the _ordenanzas de la casa_, and which should
not be confounded with the _ordenanzas_ of other years. Every
day but feast-days the board should meet for business, and
remain in session for three hours in the forenoon, and on
the afternoons of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the
despatch of ships. Absence involved primarily loss of pay,
and finally loss of office. If this be not time sufficient
for the business, they must take more time. The president and
judges together should transact the business; a judge might
not act singly except upon a matter referred to him by all.
The notary should keep in his book an account of the hours of
absence among the officers. Before the platform on which sat
the judges, benches were ordered placed for the convenience
of the _visitadores_, or inspectors of ships, and such other
honorable persons having business there as should be invited
by the tribunal to sit. The authorities of Seville should not
interfere in the trial and punishment of crimes committed on
board ships sailing to and from the Indies. If the penalty
was death or mutilation, the offender was to be tried by the
three judges, members of the board, learned in the law. In the
civil suits of private persons, appertaining to the Indies,
litigants were given the option of bringing their disputes
before the judges of the India House, or before the ordinary
justice of Seville. Disputes arising from shipwreck, loss of
cargo, and frauds connected therewith, were all brought before
the India House. Traders to the Indies residing in Seville
were authorized to meet and elect a prior and consul, or
consuls, which consulate should be called the _Universidad de
los Cargadores á las Indias_, and hold their meetings in the
Casa de Contratacion. No foreigner, his son or grandson could
so hold office. This consulate had cognizance in disputes
between these merchants and factors in matters relative to
purchases, sales, freights, insurance, and bankruptcy, all
being subordinate to the regular tribunal of the India House.
Appeals were from the consulate to one of the regular judges
selected annually to that duty. The consulate could address
the king only through the Casa de Contratacion, and government
despatches from the Indies must be forwarded by the board.
As justice alone was the object of these merchants, and not
chicanery, or the distortion of evidence, parties to suits
before the consulate were not allowed lawyers. That harmony
might be maintained, the Casa de Contratacion should carry
out the orders of the _audiencia de grados_ of Seville, if
deemed conformable to law, and to existing regulations of
the board. Communications from the board to the king must be
signed by the president and judges conjointly, and no letter
must treat of more than a single subject. All gold, silver,
pearls, and precious stones coming from the Indies were first
to be deposited in the India House, and thence distributed to
the owners. The king's share was to be placed in a safe with
three keys, or if this was too small, then in a room having
three keys. Other safes were to be kept, one for each kind
of property. Accounts of receipts at the India House were
to be rendered the king every year. The board must render an
annual statement of its expenditures on _religiosos_ sent to
the Indies. Felipe IV. ordered that the board should collect
from all ships and merchandise, including a _pro rata_ on the
king's share, the cost for convoying them forth and back.
Such was the famous India House at Seville, modest in its
beginning, mighty in its accomplishments, through which passed
into Spain the almost fabulous wealth of Spanish America.

[V-14] _Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias_,
of which I make general use in referring to the laws passed
in Spain for the regulation of the affairs of the New World,
is the result of several previous efforts in the direction of
compilation. It was published at Madrid, the first edition in
four volumes, by order of Cárlos II. in 1681, and the fourth
edition in three volumes, under the direction of the Royal
and Supreme Council of the Indies, in 1791. The work aimed
to embody all laws in force at the date of the respective
editions relative to the Spanish American colonies. The three
volumes are divided into nine books, and each book into from
eight to forty-six titles. The first title of the first book
is _De la Santa Fe Católica_, a subject then second to none
in grave importance. In fact the whole of the first book is
devoted to ecclesiastical and kindred matters. The second book
refers in the main to tribunals and officials; the third in
a great measure to the army; the fourth to discoveries and
settlements; the fifth to executive and judicial offices;
the sixth to Indians, including treatment, repartimientos and
encomiendas; the seventh to crimes and punishments; the eighth
to the management of the royal treasury; and the ninth to the
India House and the commerce of the Indies. By a decree of
the emperor in 1550, which was embodied in the ordinances of
audiencias in 1563, by Philip II., it was ordered that all
_cédulas_ and _provisiones_ should be copied _in extenso_
in a book set apart for that service, and of which great
care should be taken, and that the said documents were to be
filed chronologically in the archives of each audiencia. In
1571, by Philip II., it was decreed, and the decree embodied
in the _Recopilacion_ of 1680, that cédulas and provisiones
concerning the royal treasury should be kept in a separate
book.

The earliest printed collection of laws relating solely to
the Indies is that of the _ordenanzas_ for the government of
the audiencia of Mexico. This was issued in 1548. In 1552 a
similar collection was made by order of the viceroy of Peru,
Antonio de Mendoza, for the government of the audiencia of
Lima, but was not printed at that time. Later the fiscal
of Mexico, Antonio Maldonado, began a compilation to which
he gave the name _Repertorio de las Cedulas, Provisiones,
i Ordenanzas Reales_, but it does not appear that he ever
completed his task, although a royal cédula in 1556 authorized
him to do so. Upon the representation in 1552 by Francisco
Hernandez de Liébana, fiscal of the Council of the Indies,
of the urgent necessity of such a work, a royal cédula was
issued in 1560, directing the viceroy of New Spain, Luis de
Velasco, to have prepared and printed such regulations as were
in force within the jurisdiction of the audiencia of Mexico,
which was done in 1563 under the direction of Vasco de Puga,
oidor of the audiencia. Francisco de Toledo, sent from Spain
in 1569 as viceroy of Peru, was ordered to make a similar
compilation covering the limits of his viceroyalty, but it was
afterward thought better the work should be done in Spain.
Hence in 1570 Philip II. ordered made a general compilation
of laws and provisions for the government of the Indies, which
was intended as a code, obsolete laws being omitted, new ones
provided where necessary, and those in conflict reconciled.
Of this work, from some cause not satisfactorily explained,
probably from the death of the author, only the title relating
to the Consejo de Indias and its ordenanzas was printed,
although the whole of the first book had been prepared.

In 1581 some ordinances relative to the Casa de Contratacion
and its judges were printed at Madrid; and more of a
similar nature in 1585, beside the _Leyes y Ordenanzas_ for
the government of the Indies, and the ordinances of 1582
concerning the despatch of fleets for New Spain and Tierra
Firme, printed at Madrid; and in Guatemala the _ordenanzas_ of
July 14, 1556, relating to the _Universidad de los Mercaderes
de Sevilla_. In 1594 the marqués de Cañete, viceroy of Peru,
published at Lima a small volume of ordinances relative to
the good treatment of the Indians. But the want of a general
compilation becoming more and more apparent, Diego de Encinas,
a clerk in the office of the king's secretary, was ordered
to prepare a copy of all _provisiones_, _cédulas_, _cartas_,
_ordenanzas_, and _instrucciones_ despatched prior to 1596,
which work was printed at Madrid, in four folio volumes, the
same year. Harrisse is mistaken when he says these volumes
were suppressed, not having been authorized; for not only
is their authorization distinctly stated over the king's
own hand in the enacting clause of the _Recopilacion de las
Indias_, May 18, 1680, where it says that Philip II. ordered
Encinas to do this work, but that owing to their faulty
arrangement the volumes 'aun no han satisfecho el intento de
recopilar en forma conveniente,' which clearly shows them to
have been in use up to that time. Shortly after this, Alvar
Gomez de Abaunza, oidor of the audiencia of Guatemala, and
subsequently _alcalde del crímen_ of the audiencia of Mexico,
compiled two large volumes under the title of _Repertorio
de Cedulas Reales_, which were not printed. And in Spain,
Diego de Zorrilla made an attempt to revive the project
of the _recopilacion de leyes_, by making extracts from
Encinas and adding laws of later date; but having received
an appointment as oidor of the audiencia of Quito, he left
the work incomplete and in manuscript. Others made similar
attempts; I shall not be able to enumerate them all, or give
a full list even of the printed collections. For example, in
1603 was published at Valladolid a folio entitled _Ordenanças
Reales del Consejo de Indias_, and another thin folio called
_Leyes y Ordenanças Nuevamente hechas por su Magestad, para
la gouernaciõ de las Indias_; later appeared a folio entitled
_Ordenanças de la Casa de la Contratacion de Sevilla_, and
another, _Ordenanças Reales para el gobierno de los Tribunales
de Contaduría Mayor en los Reynos de las Indias_. In 1606
Hernando de Villagomez began to arrange cédulas and other laws
relating to the Indies; and two years after, the celebrated
conde de Lémos being president of the Council, Villagomez,
and Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, member of the Council of
the Indies, were appointed a committee to compile the laws;
but nothing came of it, even Fernando Carrillo failing to
complete their unfinished task. Juan de Solórzano y Pereira,
oidor of the audiencia of Lima, also began a collection of
cédulas, and sent to the Council of the Indies the first book
of his contemplated work, with the titles of the other five
books which he intended to compile. In a _carta real_ he was
thanked for what he had done, and charged to continue his
labors, sending each book as prepared to the Council. I have
no evidence that he did so.

All this time our book was a-building, and indeed for 170
years more. A complete history of this one work would fill
a volume; obviously in a bibliographical note, even of undue
length, only the more prominent agencies and incidents of its
being can be touched upon.

We come now to the time when Antonio de Leon Pinelo, judge
in the India House, presented to the Council of the Indies
the first and second books, nearly complete, of his _Discurso
sobre la importancia, forma, y disposicion de la Recopilacion
de Leies de Indias_, which was printed in one volume, folio,
in 1623. This was in reality Encinas' work with some cédulas
added. Meanwhile it appears that some direct official work
was done on a compilation, for in 1624 we find the Council
instructing Pinelo to enter into relations with the custodian
of the material for the compilation. Pinelo was likewise
authorized to examine the archives of the Council; and for two
years he employed himself continuously in examining some 500
MS. volumes of cédulas, containing over 300,000 documents.
In the law authorizing the _Recopilacion de las Indias_ of
1680, it is said that in 1622 the task had been entrusted to
Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, probably the custodian referred
to. In 1628 it was thought best to print for the use of the
Council an epitome of the part completed; hence appeared
the _Sumarios de la Recopilacion General de las Leies de las
Indias_. Aguiar y Acuña dying, Pinelo worked on alone until
1634, when the Council approved of what had been done; and in
the year following this indefatigable and learned man had the
satisfaction of presenting the completed _Recopilacion de las
Indias_. To one of the members, Juan de Solórzano y Pereira,
the work was referred, and received his approbation in 1636.
More than half a million of cédulas had been examined and
classified during the progress of this compilation. And yet
it was not published; and during the delay it was becoming
obsolete, and new material and partial compilations were being
made both in Spain and in America, some of which were printed
in separate pieces. In 1634 the _Ordenanzas de la Junta de
Guerra de Indias_ were published; in 1646 Juan Diez de la
Calle compiled and published for the Council of the Indies
in small quarto a memorial containing some of the cédulas of
the _Recopilacion_. A useful aid for the study of statistic
geography in America is to be found in the exceedingly rare
_Memorial y Noticias Sacras y Reales del Imperio de las Indias
Occidentales_. By Iuan Diez de la Calle, 1646, sm. 4to, 183
folios. A register for the Spanish colonies, chiefly of state
and church officials, of towns, their wealth and notable
objects. Folios 41-132 refer to the jurisdictions of the
audiencias of Mexico, Guadalajara, and Guatemala. Calle had in
the previous year, as assistant chief clerk to the secretary
of the Royal Council of the Indies, presented the work to the
king as _Memorial Informatorio al Rey_, and in accordance with
his approval it had been reprinted with additions as above.
Encouraged hereby he wrote at greater length the _Noticias
Sacras i Reales_ in twelve libros, the publication of which
was begun, but never finished. Puga's work was continued in
the form of an _Inventario_ of the cédulas relating to New
Spain issued from 1567-1620, the manuscript being presented
to the secretary of the New Spain department of the Council
of the Indies by Francisco de Párraga, afterward forming part
of the Barcia collection. In 1647 appeared at Seville the
_Ordenanças Reales, para la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla, y
para otras cosas de las Indias_; in 1658 Pinelo published at
Madrid the _Autos, acuerdos y decretos de gobierno del real
y supremo consejo de las Indias_. In 1661 there was printed
at Madrid a folio entitled _Ordenanzas para remedio de los
daños, é inconvenientes que se siguen de los descaminos i
arribadas maliciosas de los Navios que navegan de las Indias
Occidentales_; and in 1672 the _Norte de la Contratacion
de las Indias Occidentales_ of Ioseph de Veitia Linage was
published at Seville. J. Stevens translated this last work
into English and published it in London in 1702.

The many and long periods of suspended animation of the
_Recopilacion de Indias_, between its inception and its birth,
is no less remarkable a feature in the history of the work
than its multiplicity of origins and collateral affluents. In
1660 the case was brought before the king, and then referred
to successive committees, in each of which were several
members of the Council, the whole being under the supervision
of their successive presidents, until finally, on the 18th of
May, 1680, a royal decree made the _Recopilacion de Indias_
law, and all ordinances conflicting therewith null. Even
now printing did not seem to be at first thought of. Two
authenticated copies were ordered made, one to be kept in the
archives of the Council, and the other at Simancas. It was
soon seen, however, that this was not sufficient, and in 1681
the king ordered the book printed under the superintendence
of the Council of the Indies, which was done. Although the
_Recopilacion de Indias_ was several times revised, and well
fulfilled its mission for over a hundred years, in fact to
the end of Spain's dominion in America, several partial
collections appeared from time to time in Spain and in
America. Among these were _Sumarios de las Cédulas ... que
se han despachado ... desde el año 1628 ... hasta ... 1677_,
printed in Mexico in 1678; _Ordenanzas del Perù_, Lima,
1685; also the _Ordenanhas de Cruçada, para los Subdelegados
del Perù_; _Reglamento y Aranceles Reales para el Comercio
Libre de España à Indias_, 1778; _Teatro de la legislacion
universal de España e Indias_, by Antonio Javier Perez y
Lopez, 28 vols. 4to, Madrid, 1791-8. In the various public and
private archives of Spain and Spanish America are manuscript
collections of cédulas and compilations on special subjects.

[VI-1] The world was at a loss at first what to call the
newly found region to the westward. It was easy enough to
name the islands, one after another, as they were discovered,
but when the Spaniards reached the continent they were
backward about giving it a general name. Everything was so
dark and uncertain; islands were mistaken for continent, and
continent for islands. The simple expression New World that
fell with the first exclamations of wonder from the lips of
Europeans on learning of the success of Columbus sufficed
for a time as a general appellation. More general and more
permanent was the name India, arising from the mistake that
this was the farther side or eastern shore of India, applied
at first to the continent as well as to the islands, and
which fastened itself permanently on the people as well as
on the country. 'Segun la opinion mas probable, que penetró
hasta aquellos parages, y tambien mas comunmente se da à este
nuevo mundo descubierto, el nombre de Indias Occidentales,
para distinguirlas de las verdaderas que están situadas en la
Asia à nuestro Oriente entre el Indo, y el Ganges.' _Nueva
España, Brev. Res._, MS. i. 3. As the coast line of the
continent extended itself and became known as such it was very
naturally called by navigators _tierra firme_, firm land, in
contradistinction to the islands which were supposed to be
less firm. And, indeed, not the islands only, but the people
of the islands are inconstant, the moon being mistress of
the waters. As Las Casas, _Hist. Indias_, iii. 395, puts it,
'La naturaleza dellos no les consiente tener perseverancia en
la virtud, quier por ser insulares, que naturalmente tienen
ménos constancia, por ser la luna señora de las aguas.' The
name Tierra Firme, thus general at first, in time became
particular. As a designation for an unknown shore it at first
implied only the Continent. As discovery unfolded, and the
magnitude of this Firm Land became better known, new parts
of it were designated by new names, and Tierra Firme became
a local appellation in place of a general term. Paria being
first discovered, it fastened itself there; also along the
shore to Darien, Veragua, and on to Costa Rica, where at no
well defined point it stopped, so far as the northern seaboard
was concerned, and in due time struck across to the South
Sea, where the name marked off an equivalent coast line. Lopez
Vaz, in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 1433, says, 'From this
Land of Veragua vnto the Iland of Margereta, the Coast along
is called the _firme Land_, not for that the other places
are not of the firme Land, but because it was the first firme
Land that the Spaniards did conquer after they had past the
Ilands.' In the _Recop. de Indias_, i. 324, is a law dated
1535, and repeated 1537, 1538, 1563, 1570, 1571, and 1588,
which places within the limits of the kingdom of Tierra Firme
the province of Castilla del Oro. As a political division
Tierra Firme had existence for a long time. It comprised the
provinces of Darien, Veragua, and Panamá, which last bore
also the name of Tierra Firme as a province. The extent of
the kingdom was 65 leagues in length by 18 at its greatest
breadth, and nine leagues at its smallest width. It was
bounded on the east by Cartagena, and the gulf of Urabá and
its river; on the west by Costa Rica, including a portion
of what is now Costa Rica; and on the north and south by the
two seas. On the maps of _Novvs Orbis seu descriptionis Indiæ
Occidentalis_ by De Laet, 1633, and of _Ogilby's America_,
1671, the Isthmus is called Tierra Firme. Villagutierre
writes in 1701, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 12, 'Tierra-Firme de la
Costa de Paria, ò Provincia, que llamò de Veragua; principio
de los dilatados Reynos de aquel Nuevo, y Grande Emisferio.'
Neither Guatemala, Mexico, nor any of the lands to the north
were ever included in Tierra Firme. English authors often
apply the Latin form, Terra Firma, to this division, which is
misleading.

The early Spanish writers were filled with disgust by the
misnomer America. Pizarro y Orellana, _Varones Ilvstres_,
in his preface speaks of the 'Nueva, y riquissima Parte
del Mundo, que se llama vulgarmẽte _America_, y nosotros
llamamos _Fer-Isabelica_;' and throughout his book the
author persists, where 'Nuovo Mundo' is not employed, in
calling America Fer-Isabelica, that is to say Ferdinand and
Isabella, an attempt at name-changing no less futile than
bungling. This was in 1639. If with these seventeenth-century
writers the name Columbia, the only appropriate one for the
New World, smacked too strongly of Genoa, they might have
called it Pinzonia, which would have been in better taste, at
least, than in bestowing the honor on the cold and haggling
sovereigns. Jules Marcou, like thousands of his class who
seek fame through foolishness, writes in the _Atlantic
Monthly_, March, 1875, to prove that the name America came
from a mountain range in Nicaragua, called by the natives
Americ, which became a synonym for the golden mainland, first
at the islands and then in Europe, until it finally reached
the foot of the Vosges, where Waldsee-Müller, or Hylacomylus
of Saint Dié, confuses it with the name of Vespucci, and is
led to print in the preface of Vespucci's Voyages:—'And the
fourth part of the world having been discovered by Americus
may well be called Amerige, which is as much as to say, the
land of Americus, or America.' Had the name been so early
and so commonly applied to Tierra Firme, it is strange that
some one of the many Spanish writers in the Indies or in
Spain had not employed it or mentioned it. Villagutierre in
1701 endorses the effort made by Pizarro y Orellana in 1639,
saying, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 13, that the New World should have
been called after the Catholic sovereigns, 'de cuya orden,
y à cuyas expensas se descubrian.' He states further, on the
authority of Simon, that the Council of the Indies as late as
1620 talked of changing the name, but were deterred by the
inconvenience involved. Likewise Vetancurt, _Teatro Mex._,
13-15, in 1698 says that the name America should be erased
from history, calling attention to the bull of partition
issued by Pope Adrian VI., which alludes to the new lands
as the Western Part—only it was not Adrian but Alexander
VI. who perpetrated the bull, in which moreover there is no
such term as Western Part used—arguing therefrom that Indias
Occidentales was the most proper term. On the application
and origin of the name America see cap. i. p. 123-5 of this
volume.

[VI-2] Now gulf of Darién. The name Urabá was first applied to
the gulf by Bastidas, or by navigators immediately following
him. Subsequently the territory on the eastern side of the
gulf was called Urabá, and that on the western side Darien. On
Peter Martyr's map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, is the
word _vraba_; on the globe of Orontius, 1531, _Sinus vraba_
is applied to the gulf, and _vrabe_ to the river Atrato.
Pilestrina, _Munich Atlas_, no. iv., 1515, places _G: d
epimeg_ at the southern end of the gulf, which is represented
as very wide. Maiollo, _Munich Atlas_, no. v., 1519, writes
_Vraba_ in small letters at the southern end; also the words
_aldea_, _tera plana_, and _Rio basso_.

[VI-3] Castilla del Oro was for the time but another name
for this part of Tierra Firme. Then Castilla del Oro became
a province of Tierra Firme; for in the _Recop. de Indias_,
ii. 110, we find ordered by the emperor in 1550, 'que la
Provincia de Tierrafirme, llamada Castilla del Oro, sea de
las Provincial del Perú, y no de las de Nueva España.' The
province of Veragua, and the territory 'back of the gulf of
Urabá, where dwelt the cacique Cimaco,' were declared within
the limits of the government of Tierra Firme. Helps, _Span.
Conq._, i. 400, calls a map of that portion of South America
extending from the gulf of Maracaibo to the gulf of Urabá
by the name Castilla del Oro. I have noticed in several
of the early maps the same mistake. Colon and Ribero call
only the Pearl Coast Castilla del Oro. In _West-Indische
Spieghel_, 1624, 64, the country between the Atrato and a
river flowing into the gulf of Venezuela is called Castilla
del Oro. Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, i. 320, erroneously narrows
the limits of Nicuesa's government to that 'partie de la
Terre-Ferme placée entre le Veragua et le golfe d'Uraba,
où commençait la governacion de Hojeda;' for Navarrete says
distinctly in his _Noticias biográficas del capitan Alonso
Hojeda_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 170, 'Los límites de la
gobernacion de Hojeda eran desde el cabo de la Vela hasta la
mitad del golfo de Urabá, que llamaron _nueva Andalucía_; y
los de la gobernacion de Diego de Nicuesa, que se le concedió
al mismo tiempo, desde la otra mitad del golfo hasta el cabo
de _Gracias á Dios_, que se denominó _Castilla del Oro_.' He
who some time after drew the commission of Pedrarias Dávila as
'Gobernador de la provincia de Castilla del Oro en el Darien,'
is sadly confused in his New World geography when he writes,
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 337, 'Una muy grand
parte de tierra que fasta aquí se ha llamado Tierra-firme,
é agora mandamos que se llame Castilla del Oro, y en ella
ha hecho nuestra gente un asiento en el golfo de Urabá, que
es en la provincia del Darien, que al presente se llama la
provincia de Andalucía la Nueva, é el pueblo se dice Santa
Maria del Antigua del Darien;' and again on the following
page:—'Castilla del Oro, con tanto que no se entienda ni
comprenda en ella la provincia de Verágua, cuya gobernacion
pertenece al Almirante D. Diego Colon por le haber descubierto
el Almirante su padre por su persona, ni la tierra que
descubrieron Vicente Yañez Pinzon é Juan Diaz de Solis, ni la
provincia de Pária.' Oviedo marks the limits plainly enough,
iv. 116, 'Por la costa del Norte tiene hasta Veragua, que lo
que con aquel corresponde en la costa del Sur puede ser la
punta de Chame, que está quince leguas al Poniente de Panamá,
é desde allí para arriba seria Castilla del Oro hasta lo que
respondiesse ó responde de Norte á Sur.' The _Descripcion
Panamá_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ix. 82,
says the official name was _Provincia de Castilla del Oro y
reino de Tierra Firme_, and so remained till the beginning of
the 17th century, and afterward _Bética áurea_, or _Castilla
del oro_, is written in _Décadas_, _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. Doc._, viii. 14.

[VI-4] And no wonder misunderstandings should arise over a
cédula dividing territory in such words as, 'á vos el dicho
Diego de Nicuesa en el parte de Veragua y el dicho Alonso de
Hojeda en el parte de Urabá.' _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,
iii. 116.

[VI-5] Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. i., gives Nicuesa 795, and
Ojeda 300 men. Herrera, dec. i. lib. vii. cap. xi., says that
700 sailed from Española with Nicuesa and 300 with Ojeda. 'No
pudiendo Hojeda por su pobreza aprestar la expedicion, la Cosa
y otros amigos le fletaron una nao, y uno ó dos bergantines,
que con doscientos hombres.' _Noticias biográficas del capitan
Alonso Hojeda_, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 170.
Benzoni, who pays little heed to numbers or dates, says,
_Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 37, 'Hoieda comprò quattro naui e fece
più di quattrocento soldati alle fue spese, e cosi partì san
Domenico.'

[VI-6] 'Bachiller,' says the English translator of Benzoni,
'has a wider meaning than our word bachelor, signifying also
an inferior order of knighthood.' This is a mistake. The word
has the same corresponding significance in both languages.
It is true that the degree exempts the possessor from certain
obligations, such as personal service, military and municipal,
imprisonment for debt, etc., and grants him certain privileges
enjoyed by noblemen. But this does not make him noble. The
next degree, which is that of licentiate, carries with it
still further privileges, but even this does not constitute
knighthood. The degree of doctor, which follows that of
licentiate and is the highest conferred by the university,
gives the possessor the right to prefix Don to his name, and
places him in nearly every respect on a par with noblemen.

[VI-7] The word _alcalde_ is from the Arabic _al cadi_,
the judge or governor. _Alcalde ordinario_ used formerly to
designate the officer having the immediate superintendency
of a town or city, with cognizance of judicial matters except
those of persons enjoying some privilege (_fuero_). _Alcalde
mayor_ signifies a judge, learned in the law, who exercises
ordinary jurisdiction, civil and criminal, in a town or
district. The office is equivalent to that of district judge
in the United States, the audiencia standing for the supreme
court. There were, however, in the early years, alcaldes
mayores who were not law judges, or men learned in the law;
they governed for the king a town or city not the capital of
a province.

_Corregidor_, a magistrate having civil and criminal
jurisdiction in the first instance (_nisi prius_) and
gubernatorial inspection in the political and economical
government in all the towns of the district assigned to him.
There were _corregidores letrados_ (learned in the law),
_políticos_ (political), _de capa y espada_ (cloak and sword),
and _políticos y militares_ (holding civil and military
authority). All had equal jurisdiction. When the corregidor
or mayor was not by profession a lawyer, unless he had an
_asesor_ of his own, the alcalde mayor, if possessed of legal
knowledge, became his adviser, which greatly increased the
importance of the latter. The alcalde mayor was appointed by
the king. He must be by profession a lawyer, twenty-six years
of age, and of good character. He could neither be a native
of the district in which he was to exercise his functions,
nor could he marry a wife in his district. _Recop. de Indias_,
ii. 113-27 and note. So much for the law. Practically in cases
of this kind, where the governor was not learned in the law,
civil, criminal, and some phases even of military authority
devolved on the alcalde mayor, the two first _ex officio_, and
the last as the legal adviser of the military chief. In new
colonies this officer was invested with powers almost equal
to those of the governor, though of a different kind.

[VI-8] A document prepared by the united wisdom of church
and state, for general use in the Indies, setting forth the
obligations of all good savages to their dual head of Spain
and Rome, with a list of punishments which were to follow
disobedience. Of which more hereafter.

[VI-9] To this day there are tribes in the vicinity of the
Atrato River which have never been subjugated.

[VI-10] I am unable to find this place on any map. Gomara,
_Hist. Ind._, 68, says: 'Començo luego vna fortaleza, y
pueblo, donde se recoger, y assegurar en el mismo lugar que
quatro años antes lo auia comẽçado Iuan dela Cosa. Este fue el
primer pueblo de Españoles en la tierra firme de Indias.' If
the author refers his first town to the former visit of Juan
de la Cosa four years before, I should say that could scarcely
be called an attempted settlement, still less an established
town. If he intimates that this fort of Ojeda's was the first
settlement, then is he wrong, for Belen, in Veragua, was
before this. Whatever he means, and that often is impossible
to determine, in this instance it is safe to say that he is
in error, as San Sebastian can by no possibility have been
the first settlement in Tierra Firme. Herrera writes, i.
vii. xvi.: 'Entrò en el golfo de Vrabà, y buscò el rio del
Darien, que entre los Indios era muy celebrado de oro, y de
gente belicosa, y no le hallando, sobre vnos cerros assentó
vn pueblo, al qual llamò la villa de san Sebastian, tomandole
por abogado contra las flechas de la yerua mortifera: y esta
fue la segunda villa de Castellanos que se poblò, en todo la
tierra firme, auiendo sido la primera la que començò a poblar
el Almirante viejo, en Veragua.' Words to the same effect are
in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 172. It seems rather
premature to call these futile attempts establishing towns.

[VI-11] The first in Tierra Firme, Oviedo says, but he forgets
the landing, for the same purpose, of Bartolomé Colon at Cape
Honduras, Sunday, August 14, 1502.

[VI-12] When Oviedo gravely asserts that Ribero intended
desertion, and was stealing by Belen when he was captured by
Olano, he goes out of his way to make palpable nonsense appear
as truth. Admit them inhuman monsters, which they were not,
whither would four starved helpless wretches desert on this
deadly shore?

[VI-13] Chagre, not Chagres, was the name of the native
province through which this river flows. Near its mouth empty
several small streams, and it was only below the confluence of
these that the term Lagartos for any length of time applied.
Says Alcedo, _Dic._, i., of the River Chagre:—'Lo descubrió
el de 1527 Hernando de la Serna llamándole rio de Lagartos,
y antes su boca Lope de Olano el de 1510.' Oviedo remarks
upon it:—'Algunos han querido deçir que los de aquesta armada
le dieron este nombre, porque ninguna cosa viva saltaba de
los navíos que en pressençia de la gente no se la comiessen
luego muy grandes lagartos, lo qual se experimentó en algunos
perros. Este rio es la boca del rio Chagre.' _Hist. Gen._,
ii. 467. Acosta is somewhat loose in the statement, _Compend.
Hist. Nueva Granada_, 34, 'En la boca del rio Chagres, que
entonces llamaban de los Lagartos por la multitud de caimanes
que Colon habia visto en él.' Vaz Dourado places, on _Munich
Atlas_, no. x., 1571, in this vicinity a river with the word
_chi_. _Munich Atlas_ no. ix. has it _Chiche_. De Laet writes
_R. de Chagre_; Dampier, _R. Chagre_; Jefferys, _R. Chagre_
and _Ft. Chagre_.

[VI-14] The name familiar to cartographers often assumed in
those days peculiar orthography on the maps. Thus Fernando
Colon writes this name _nõbre_; Ribero, _nõb_; Agnese, _nõmbre
de dio_; Vaz Dourado, _nöbre de dios_; Ramusio, _Nome de
dio_; Hondius, in Purchas, _Nom de Dios_; Mercator, Dampier,
Ogilby, the author of _West-Indische Spieghel_, Jefferys, and
their successors, contrary to their frequent custom, all write
the words correctly. This place, as we shall hereafter see,
was for a long time famous as the chief post on the northern
coast of Tierra Firme through which passed the merchandise
from Spain and the gold from Peru. Says Benzoni, _Hist. Mondo
Nvovo_, 79: 'Questa Città stà situata nel mare di Tramontana.
Sogliono adunque communemente ogn'anno andare di Spagna al
Nome di Dio, da quattordici, ò quindici naui, fra piccole,
e grande, e la maggior porterà mille, e ottocento salme;
cariche di robbe diuerse.' Dampier about a century later found
the spot where the city had stood overgrown with trees. Its
abandonment was owing to poisoned air, the same unwholesome
climate that broke up all the early settlements on this coast,
the last being always regarded as the worst.

[VI-15] The original authorities for this chapter are: _Real
Cédula_, etc., in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 116;
_Memorial presentado al Rey por Rodrigo de Colmenares_, in
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 387; _Las Casas_, _Hist.
Ind._, ii. 61; _Oviedo_, ii. 465-78; _Noticias biográficas
del capitan Alonso Hojeda_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,
iii. 163; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 69; _Peter Martyr_, dec.
ii. 2; _Herrera_, dec. i. lib. vii. cap. vii. Reference,
mostly unimportant, to the doings of Ojeda and Nicuesa may
be found in _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, iii. 18-22; _Roberts' Nar.
Voy._, xviii.-xix.; _Dalton's Conq. Mex. and Peru_, 37-38;
_Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, 62-65; _Morelet_, _Voy. dans
l'Amérique Cent._, ii. 300-1; _Laharpe_, _Abrégé_, ix. 160-84;
_Ogilby's Am._, 66-67, 397; _March y Labores_, _Marina
Española_, i. 391-402; _Juan_ and _Ulloa_, _Voy._, i. 94;
_Acosta_, _Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 26-36; _Remesal_,
_Hist. Chyapa_, 163; _Andagoya_, _Nar._, 4-5; _Nouvelle An.
des Voy._, cxlviii. 7-10; _Dufey_, _Résumé Hist. Am._, i.
66-71, 371-75; _Helps' Span. Conq._, i. 295-334; _Gordon's
Hist. Am._, ii. 62-72; _Holmes' Annals Am._, i. 29-30;
_Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 37-40; _Gonzalez Dávila_,
_Teatro Ecles._, ii. 57; _Quintana_, _Vidas_, 'Vasco Nuñez,'
1-10, and 'Pizarro,' 42-43; _Robinson's Acct. Discov. in
West_, 171-95; _S. Am. and Mex._, i. 12-14; _Snowden's Am._,
70-1; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, i. 191-95; _Irving's Col._,
iii. 66-31; _Russell's Hist. Am._, i. 43-8; _Drake's Voy._,
155-58; _London Geog. Soc., Jour._, xxiii. 179; _Du Perier_,
_Gen. Hist. Voy._, 110-13; _Pizarro y Orellana_, _Varones
Ilvstres_, 53-61; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 36-47;
_Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 14; _Bastidas_, _Informacion_,
in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 439; _Décadas_,
in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, viii. 14; _Mesa y
Leompart_, _Hist. Am._, i. 85-86; _Touron_, _Hist. Gen. Am._,
i. 275-87; _Lallement_, _Geschichte_, i. 22.

[VII-1] So named by the early settlers of Antigua, probably
because of its being on the other side of the gulf from them,
toward the Carib country. It is now known as Punta Arenas.
Some maps make two points, and give one of the names to each.

[VII-2] Oviedo, ii. 426, says that, with the assistance of
one Hurtado, Vasco Nuñez was hidden in a ship's sail.

[VII-3] 'Der Name _Darien_ (_Dariena_, oder _Tarena_) scheint
zunächst mit dem indianischen Namen des grossen Flusses
Atrato, welcher sich in den Golf von Uraba ausgiesst, seinen
Anfang genommen zu haben. Der erste Eroberer, der in diesen
Golf einsegelte, war Bastidas 1501. Ob er schon den Fluss
Darien gesehen und den Namen nach Europa gebracht hat, ist
ungewiss. Gewiss ist es, das der Name des Flusses Darien
bereits in den Dokumenten und Theilungspakten zwischen Nicuesa
und Ojeda in Jahre 1509 genannt wird.' _Kohl_, _Die Beiden
ältesten General-karten von Amerika_, 116. On Peter Martyr's
map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, is _tariene_; on the
globe of Orontius, 1531, the gulf is called _Sinus vraba_,
the river _vrabe_, and the Isthmus _furna dariena_. Salvat de
Pilestrina, _Munich Atlas_, no. iv., 1515, places on the west
side of the gulf of Urabá the word _dariem_. Maiollo, _Munich
Atlas_, no. v., 1519, calls the place _daryen_; Fernando
Colon, 1527, writes _darien_; Diego de Ribero, 1529, _dariẽ_;
_Munich Atlas_, no. vi., 1532-40, _dariem_; Vaz Dourado,
1571, _dariem_; Robert Thorne, in _Hakluyt's Voy._, _Darion_;
_Mercator's Atlas_, 1569; _West-Indische Spieghel_, 1624;
_Ogilby's Map of America_, 1671; Dampier, 1699, and subsequent
cartographers give the present form.

[VII-4] Ogilby, _Am._, 66, entertains a dim conception of the
fact when he says, 'Ancisus pursuing, found in a Thicket of
Canes, or Reeds a great Treasure of Gold.'

[VII-5] 'De que hoy no quedan ni vestigios,' says Acosta.
Nor do I find laid down on any map in my possession the town
of Santa María, or Antigua, or Darien, by which names this
place has been severally designated. Puerto Hermoso, placed
by Colon at the south-western extremity of the gulf of Urabá,
_p: hermosso_, and also by Ribero, _po hmoso_, is supposed to
have been the anchorage of Enciso and the harbor of Antigua.
Oviedo, i. 4, in endeavoring to fasten upon the place the
name _La Guardia_, confuses himself beyond extrication. 'En
la cibdad del Darien (que tambien se llamó antes la Guardia)
é despues santa Maria del Antigua.'

[VII-6] _Carta dirigida al Rey por Vasco Nuñez de Balboa desde
Santa María del Darien, 20 de Enero de 1513_, in _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, iii. 358. That Enciso has been properly
represented as a vain and shallow man is proved by a reference
to his book, _Suma de Geographia_, 2, wherein he does not
hesitate to patronize the boy-emperor 'whose youth had not
permitted him to read much of geography.' 'Por tanto yo Martin
Fernandez de Enciso alguazil mayor dela tierra firme delas
Indias ocidentales llamada castilla dl oro. Desseando hazer
algun seruicio a vuestra. s. c. c. m. que le fuesse agradable
y no menos prouechoso, cõsiderando que la poca edad de vuestra
real alteza no ha dado lugar a que pudiesse leer los libros
que dela geographia hablan.' And that he was as beastly in
his bigotry and cruelty as his less learned companions we
may know from what he himself wrote the king, _Pacheco_ and
_Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, i. 449, about the caciques who kept
men dressed as women, and used as such, 'and when I took
Darien, we seized and burned them, and when the women saw
them burning they manifested joy.' Compare _Oviedo_, ii.
425-27, 472-76; and iii. 7; _Herrera_, dec. i. lib. viii.
cap. v.-vii.; and lib. ix. cap. l; or, if one will have it in
Dutch, _Ezquebel_, _Aankomst_, 30-8, in _Gottfried_, _Reysen_,
i.; _Acosta_, _Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 33-8; _Drake's
Voy._, 157-58; _Norman's Hist. Cal._, 10; _Patton's Hist.
U. S._, 11; _Ogilby's Am._, 399; _March y Labores_, _Marina
Española_, i. 413-23; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 41-5;
_Harper's Mag._, xviii. 468; _Bidwell's Panamá_, 27-28; and
_Heylyn's Cosmog._, 1087.

[VII-7] As I have before observed, there were alcaldes
of various denominations, duties, and jurisdictions. In
new discoveries, when the chief of the expedition had not
contracted with the king for the appointing of authorities,
the settlers met and elected one or more alcaldes and
regidores. The alcalde, in the absence of the governor or
military chief, presided over the municipal council, composed
of regidores who governed the municipality, or _regimiento_,
as it was then called. The alcalde was also the executive
power, exercising the functions of judge, with original
jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal, those relating
to the natives excepted. In the absence of the adelantado he
was therefore chief in authority, and when the governor was
present, the alcalde was second. Alcaldes in new settlements,
and in early times, were different from those created later.
Their duties covered the emergency. In the present instance,
had Enciso continued to exercise the office of alcalde mayor,
regidores might still have been elected to attend to the
affairs of the municipality, in which case no alcaldes would
have been elected, for Enciso himself would have presided.

[VII-8] Regidores, or members of the municipal council,
were elected by the residents of a ward or district. Cities
were entitled to twelve, towns to six, and villages or small
settlements were limited to three or even less.

[VII-9] The name of a Spanish settlement midway between
Cape de la Vela and Cartagena, and sometimes applied to the
territory in that vicinity.

[VII-10] The _procurador de la ciudad_, called afterward
_síndico procurador_, and later still _síndico_, was an
officer of the municipal council, whose duty it was to see
the city ordinances enforced, bring suit for and defend the
city in any suit, performing the functions of city attorney,
beside having a seat in the common council of the city.

[VII-11] Benzoni asserts that after leaving Antigua, Nicuesa
followed the coast for some distance, but landing one day for
water, he was seized by cannibals, who captured the vessel
and devoured the men. 'E cosi Niquesa molto dolente se ne
parti, e per quella costa andando salto in terra per piglior
acqua, e su da paesani ucciso, e poi mangiato con tutti i
suoi compagni, e questo su la fine della vita di Diego di
Niquesa, con la sua armata di Veragua.' _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_,
i. 47. A story was current for a time that they had been
thrown on Cuba, where all perished, leaving inscribed upon
a tree, 'Here ended the unfortunate Nicuesa.' Las Casas and
Herrera, however, are of opinion that his vessel foundered
at sea. 'Algunos imaginaron que aportò a Cuba, y que los
Indios le mataron, porque andando ciertos Castellanos por la
isla hallarõ escrito en un arbol: Aqui feneciò el desdichado
Nicuesa: pero esto se tuvo por los hombres mas verdaderos, por
falso, porque los primeros que entraron en Cuba, afermaron
nunca aver oydo tal nueva. Lo que se tuvo por mas cierto,
es, que como llenava tan mal navio, y las mares de aquellas
partes son ton bravas, y vehementes, la mesma mar lo tragara
facilmente, o que pereceria de hãbre, y de sed.' _Herrera_, i.
viii. viii. But his fate must forever remain a mystery; and
he one among the many whose visionary hopes have been buried
beneath these waters; one among the many who, having left home
with sanguine expectations, sailed over these seas in quest
of gold or adventure, never again to be heard from! It is
easy, after a failure, to find the mistake. Many of Nicuesa's
misfortunes sprang not from any fault, and yet faults, in
place of nobler qualities, were developed by his misfortunes.

[VIII-1] Oviedo, ii. 477, is obviously wrong in saying over
six hundred.

[VIII-2] 'Il Baccelliero non poteva mostrare le Reali sue
prouisioni per bauerle per dute nella naue, che si ruppe nel
Golfo d'Vraua.' _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, i. 47. There
were those who told Peter Martyr that Enciso was thus punished
by providence for having advised the expulsion of Nicuesa.

[VIII-3] Martin Fernandez de Enciso first came to the Indies
with Bastidas. After practising law for a time successfully
at Santo Domingo, he was tempted to this expedition, as
we have seen, by Ojeda, upon the promise of the office of
alcalde mayor. Though a pettifogger in his profession, he
was nevertheless possessed of worth and ability in other
directions. In Darien, while in the main well meaning, he
was unable to cope successfully with shrewder intellects
sharpened by New World experiences. After his return to Spain
he published a work, entitled _Suma de geografiã q̃ trata de
todas las partidas & prouincias del mundo: en especial de las
indias, y trata largamẽte del arte del marear: Juntamete con
la esphera en romãce: con el regimiento del Sol & del norte:
nueuamente hecha_. As the title indicates, the book purports
to be a compendium of universal geography, treating of all
parts of the world, but including the little that was then
known of the Indies. That part relating to the New World was
made up in a great measure from his own observations. And
yet it resembles too nearly the usual summaries of the period
to be of much value. The first third of the work is devoted
to the science of geography, with astronomical tables and a
résumé of early Spanish history. Then the physical features of
Spain, and Europe generally, are given, and finally a rambling
account of Asia, Africa, and America. It was printed at
Seville by a German, Jakob Cromberger, in 1519. Other editions
appeared in 1530 and 1546. My edition is dated 1530, the part
relating to America occupying the last eight folios of the
book. Bibliographers believe this the first book relative to
the New World printed in the Spanish language. 'Livre curieux,
parce qu'il est le premièr traité de géographie impr. en
Espagne, où l'on trouve des détails sur l'Amérique.' _Brunet_,
_Manuel du Libraire_. 'Apparently the first book printed in
Spanish relating to America.' _Rich_, _Bibliotheca Americana
Vetus_. 'L'ouvrage rare et très remarquable.' _Humboldt_,
_Examen Critique_, iv. 306. 'A great hydrographer and
explorer, his work is invaluable for the early geographical
history of the continent.' _Harrisse_, _Bibliotheca Americana
Vetustissima_. Navarrete says: 'Escribió Enciso un papel muy
curioso sobre si los conquistadores españoles podian tener y
poseer indios encomendados, contra los frailes dominicos que
decian que no, y se opusieron al despacho de la expedicion de
Pedrarias Dávila, so pretexto de que el Rey no podia enviar
á hacer tales conquistas.' And in his _Epitome_, Pinelo
remarks: 'Trata en su _Suma Geografia_ del Arte de Navegar,
de la Esfera, y de las quatro partes del Mundo, especialmente
de las Indias, i es el primero que imprimió _Obra Geografica_
de ellas.' Indeed, this last was said in 1738, and subsequent
bibliographers have repeated it.

[VIII-4] For definition see chapter xv. note 1, this volume.

[VIII-5] It was the _cárcel_, whether jail or pen. In newly
settled towns, and in some country villages where jails were
not built, it was customary to construct a small enclosure on
the plaza near the _casa consistorial_, or municipal hall, in
which to confine prisoners till sent to the capital of the
province, or elsewhere, for trial. Those convicted of petty
municipal offences were likewise incarcerated in this pen.
Inside were stocks, the better to secure great offenders.