Hojeda did not return.  They thought the latter dead, of his wound, and disputed among themselves as to whether they should not summon Nicuesa to take his place.  Some influential members of the council who had been friends of Nicuesa and could not endure the insolence of Vasco Nunez thought they ought to scour the country in search of Nicuesa; for they had heard it reported that he had abandoned Uraba on account of the barrenness of the soil.  Possibly he was wandering in unknown places like Enciso and other victims of wrecks; therefore they should not rest until they had discovered whether he and his associates still lived.

[Note 3:  Balboa was of a noble family of Xeres de los Caballeros, and was born in 1475.  He came to Hispaniola in 1500, where he suffered extreme poverty.  He went on board Enciso’s vessel as a stowaway.]

Vasco Nunez, who feared to be deposed from his command on the arrival of Nicuesa, treated those who still believed that the latter lived, as foolish.  Moreover, even were the fact proven, they had no need of him, for did they not possess as good a title as Nicuesa?  Opinions were thus divided, when the captain of two large vessels, Roderigo de Colmenares, arrived bringing a reinforcement of sixty men, a quantity of foodstuffs, and clothing.

I must recount some particulars of the voyage of Colmenares.  It was about the ides of October in the year 1510 that Colmenares sailed from Beata, the port of Hispaniola, where expeditions are usually fitted out.  The nones of November he reached the coast of that immense country of Paria, between the port of Carthagena and the district of Cuchibacoa, discovered by Columbus.  He suffered equally during this voyage from the attacks of the natives and from the fury of the sea.  Being short of water, he stopped at the mouth of the river called by the natives Gaira, which was large enough for his ships to enter.  This river has different sources on a lofty snow-covered mountain, which Roderigo’s companions declared to be the highest they had ever seen.  This statement must be true, since the snow lay upon a mountain which is not more than ten degrees distant from the equator.  A shallop was sent ashore at the Gaira to fill the water barrels, and while the sailors were engaged in this task they saw a cacique accompanied by twenty of his people approaching.  Strange to behold, he was dressed in cotton clothing, and a cloak, held in place by a band, fell from his shoulders to the elbow.  He also wore another trailing tunic of feminine design.  The cacique advanced and amicably advised our men not to take water at that particular place, because it was of poor quality; he showed them close at hand another river of which the waters were more wholesome.  The Spaniards repaired to the river indicated by the cacique, but were prevented by the bad state of the sea from finding its bottom, for the sands fairly bubbled as it were, which indicated that the sea was full of reefs.  They were obliged,