The only object of the admiral in this voyage being to discover the country, and to procure samples of its productions, he proceeded without farther delay to Catiba, and cast anchor in the mouth of a great river. The people of the country were seen to gather, calling one another together with horns and drums, and they afterwards sent two men in a canoe towards the ships; who, after some conversation with the Indians who had been taken at Cariari, came on board the admiral without any signs of apprehension, and by the advice of the Cariari Indians gave the admiral two gold plates which they wore about their necks, for which he gave them some baubles in return. When these went on shore, there came another with three men, wearing gold plates at their necks, who parted with them as the others had done. Amity being thus settled, our men went on shore, where they found numbers of people along with their king, who differed in nothing from the rest, except that he was covered with one large leaf of a tree to defend him from the rain which then fell in torrents. To give his subjects a good example, he bartered away his gold plate, and bade them exchange theirs with our men, so that they got nineteen in all of pure gold. This was the first place in the Indies where our people had seen any sign of building, as they here found a great mass of wall or masonry that seemed to be composed of stone and lime, and the admiral ordered a piece of it to be brought away as a memorial or specimen. From thence we sailed eastwards to Cobravo, the people of which place dwell near the rivers of that coast; and because none of the natives came down to the strand, and the wind blew fresh, he held on his course to five towns of great trade, among which was Veragua, where the Indians said the gold was gathered and the plates manufactured.
The next day he came to a town called Cubiga, where the Indians of Cariari said that the trading country ended; this began at Carabora and extended to Cubiga for 50 leagues along the coast. Without making any stay here, the admiral proceeded on till he put into Porto Bello, to which he gave that name because it is large, well peopled, and encompassed by a finely cultivated country. He entered this place on the 2d of November, passing between two small islands within which ships may lie close to the shore, and can turn it out if they have occasion. The country about that harbour and higher up is by no means rough, but cultivated and full of houses a stone throw or a bow-shot only from each other, and forms the finest landscape that can be imagined. We continued there seven days on account of rain and bad weather, and canoes came constantly to the ships from all the country round to trade with provisions and bottoms of fine spun cotton, which they gave in exchange for points and pins and other trifles.
On Wednesday the ninth of November we sailed from Porto Bello eight leagues to the eastwards, but were driven back four leagues next day by stress of weather, and put in among some islands near the continent where the town of Nombre de Dios now stands; and because all these small islands were full of grain, the admiral called this place Puerto de Bastimentos, or Port of Provisions. While here one of our boats pursued a canoe, and the Indians imagining our men would do them some harm, and perceiving the boat within less than a stones throw of them, they leapt into the sea to swim away, which they all effected; for though the boat rowed hard it could not overtake any of them, or if it did come up with one he would dive like a duck and come up again a bow-shot or two distant. This chase lasted above half a league, and it was very pleasant to see the boat labour in vain and come back empty handed.
We continued here till the 23d of November, refitting the ships and mending our casks, and sailed that day to a place called Guiga, there being another of the same name between Veragua and Cerago. The boats went ashore at this place, where they found above 300 persons ready to trade in provisions and some small gold ornaments which they wore at their ears and noses. On Saturday the 24th of November we put into a small port which was called Retrete, or the Retired Place, because it could not contain above five or six ships together; the mouth of it was not above 15 or 20 paces over, and on both sides rocks appeared above water as sharp as diamonds. The channel between was so deep that no bottom could be found, though if the ships inclined only a little way to either side the men could leap on shore. This sharpness of the rocks saved the ships in this narrow passage, and the danger we were now in was owing to the covetousness of the people who went in the boats to view it, as they were desirous of trafficking with the Indians, and believed that the ships might be in safety close to the shore. In this place we were detained nine days by bad weather. At first the Indians came very familiarly to trade in such articles as they had to dispose of; but our seamen used to steal privately on shore and commit a thousand insolencies like covetous dissolute fellows, insomuch that they provoked the Indians to break the peace, and several skirmishes happened between them and our people. The Indians at length took courage to advance to our ships which lay with their sides close to the shore, intending to do us some harm; but their designs turned out to their own detriment, although the admiral always endeavoured to gain them by patience and civility. But perceiving their insolence to increase, he caused some cannon to be discharged, thinking to frighten them; this they answered with loud shouts, thrashing the trees with their clubs and staves, and showed by threatening signs that they did not fear the noise. Therefore to abate their pride and to surprise them with respect for the Christians, the admiral ordered a shot to be fired at a company of them that stood upon a hillock near the shore; and the ball falling among them made them sensible that our thunder carried a bolt along with it, and in future they dared not to show themselves even behind the hills.
The people of this country were the handsomest we had yet seen among the Indians, being tall and thin, without large bellies, and with agreeable countenances. The country was all plain, bearing little grass and few trees. In the harbour there were crocodiles or alligators of a vast size, which go on shore to sleep, and they scatter a scent as if all the musk in the world were together: They are fierce and ravenous, so that if they find a man asleep they drag him to the water and devour him, but they are fearful and cowardly when attacked. These alligators are found in many other parts of the continent, and some affirm that they are the same with the crocodiles of the Nile.
Finding that the violent winds from the E. and N.E. did not cease, and that no trade could be had with those people, the admiral resolved to go back that he might make farther inquiry into the reports of the Indians concerning the mines of Veragua, and therefore returned on Monday the 5th of November to Porto Bello ten leagues westwards. Continuing his course next day, he was encountered by a west wind which was quite contrary to his new design, though favourable for that which he had been attempting for three months past, but expecting that this wind would not last long because the weather was unsettled, he bore up against the wind for some days; but when the weather would seem a little favourable for going to Veragua, another wind would start up and drive us back again to Porto Bello, and when almost in hopes of getting into port we were quite beat off again. Sometimes there were such incessant flashes of thunder and lightning that the men durst hardly open their eyes, the ships seemed just sinking, and the sky appeared as if it would come down upon us. At times the thunder was so continued, that it was conceived some ship was firing its guns for assistance. At other times there would fall such incessant and heavy torrents of rain for two or three days together as if an universal deluge were going to overwhelm the world. This almost unceasing war of the elements perplexed the men and reduced them almost to despair, so that they were continually wet and could not get half an hours rest at a time, always beating up to windward. In such terrible tempests they dreaded the fire in flashes of lightning, the air for its fury, the water for its mountainous waves, and the earth for hidden rocks and sands; where they expected safety in a near haven, often encountering danger, and therefore preferring to contend against all the other elements to avoid the land. In the midst of all these terrors there occurred another no less wonderful and dangerous, which was a water-spout rising from the sea on Thursday the 13th of December; which, if they had not dissolved by reciting the gospel of St John, had certainly sunk whatever it had fallen upon. This phenomenon draws the water up to the clouds like a pillar and thicker than a butt, twisting it about like a whirlwind.