natives pointed out to them, as if they were timid deer or fierce boars; and it often happens that there is no need of swords or javelins to rout the enemy.  A command is given to these dogs who form the vanguard, and the natives at the mere sight of these formidable Molossians[4] and the unaccustomed sound of their baying, break their ranks and flee as though horrified and stupefied by some unheard-of prodigy.  This does not occur in fighting against the natives of Caramaira or the Caribs, who are braver and understand more about war.  They shoot their poisoned arrows with the rapidity of lightning, and kill the dogs in great numbers; but the natives of these mountains do not use arrows in warfare; they only use machanes,[5] that is to say, large wooden swords, and lances with burnt points.

[Note 4:  Torvo molossorum adspectu.  Referring to the dogs of Epirus, called by the Romans, Molossi.]

[Note 5:  The maquahuitle of the Mexicans; a flat wooden club, in which blades of iztli_, or flint, were set on the opposite edges; it was their most formidable weapon in hand-to-hand encounters.]

While Pacra was still alive they asked him where his people obtained gold, but neither by persuasion nor threats nor tortures could they drag this secret from him.  When asked how he had procured what he had possessed,—­for he had offered a present of thirty pounds of gold out of his treasury—­he answered that those of his subjects who, either in the time of his parents or in his own, had mined that gold in the mountain were dead, and that since his youth he had not troubled to look for gold.  Nothing more could be obtained from him on this subject.

The rigorous treatment of Pacra secured Vasco the friendship of the neighbouring caciques, and when he sent for the sick, whom he had left behind to join him, a cacique, called Bononiama, whose country the route directly traversed, received them kindly and gave them twenty pounds of wrought gold and an abundance of provisions.  Nor would he leave them until he had accompanied them from his residence to that of Pacra, as though they had been confided to his fidelity.  He spoke thus to Vasco:  “Here are your companions in arms, Most Illustrious Warrior; just as they came to me, so do I bring them to you.  It would have pleased me had they been in better health, but you and your companions are the servants of him who strikes the guilty with thunder and lightning, and who of his bounty, thanks to the kindly climate, gives us yucca and maize.”  While speaking these words he raised his eyes to Heaven and gave it to be understood that he referred to the sun.  “In destroying our proud and violent enemies you have given peace to us and to all our people.  You overcome monsters.  We believe that you and your equally brave companions have been sent from Heaven, and under the protection of your machanes we may henceforth live without fear.  Our gratitude to him who brings us these blessings and happiness shall be eternal.”  Such, or something like this, was the speech of Bononiama, as translated by the interpreters.  Vasco thanked him for having escorted our men and received them kindly, and sent him away loaded with precious gifts.