Vasco had this fact recorded by a notary and witnesses, in order to establish the authenticity of this discovery, as he called it, of a toman of gold.  In the language of bankers, a toman contains twelve grains.  Vasco consequently deduced, as the neighbouring caciques alleged, that the country was rich, but he could never prevail upon Tumanama to admit it.  Some said that Tumanama was indifferent to such unimportant fragments of gold, others claimed that he persisted in denying the wealth of his country for fear the Spaniards, to satisfy their desire for gold, might take possession of the whole of it.  The cacique saw only too well into the future; for the Spaniards have decided, if the King consents, to establish new towns in his country and that of Pochorroso; these towns will serve as refuges and storehouses for travellers going to the South Sea, and moreover both countries are favourable for growing all kinds of fruits and crops.

Vasco decided to leave this country, and to blaze for himself, a new trail through a land of which the earth tints and the shells seemed to him to indicate the presence of gold.  He ordered a little digging below the surface of the earth to be done, and found a peso, weighing a little more than a grain.  I have already said in my First Decade, addressed to Your Holiness, that a peso was worth a castellano of gold.  Enchanted with this result, he overwhelmed Tumanama with nattering promises to prevent the cacique from interfering with any of the Spaniards’ allies in that neighbourhood.  He also besought him to collect a quantity of gold.  It is alleged that he had carried off all the cacique’s women, and had practically stripped him to check his insolence.  Tumanama also confided his son to Vasco in order that the boy might learn our language in living with the Spaniards, and become acquainted with our habits and be converted to our religion.  It may be that the boy’s education may some day be of use to his father, and secure him our favour.

The immense fatigues, the long watches, and the privations Vasco had endured ended by provoking a violent fever, so that on leaving this country he had to be carried on the shoulders of slaves.  All the others who were seriously ill, were likewise carried in hammocks, that is to say, in cotton nets.  Others, who still had some strength, despite their weak legs, were supported under the armpits and carried by the natives.  They finally arrived in the country of our friend Comogre, of whom I have lengthily spoken above.  The old man was dead and had been succeeded by that son whose wisdom we have praised.  This young man had been baptised, and was called Carlos.  The palace of this Comogre stands at the foot of a cultivated hill, rising in a fertile plain that tends for a breadth of twelve leagues towards the south.  This plain is called by the natives savana.  Beyond the limits of the plain rise the very lofty mountains that serve as a divide between the two oceans.  Upon their slopes rises the Comogre River which, after watering this plain, runs through a mountainous country, gathering to itself tributaries from all the valleys and finally emptying into the South Sea.  It is distant about seventy leagues to the west of Darien.