At the beginning there were over seven hundred, and when they joined the colonists at Darien hardly more than forty remained. Few had perished in fighting with the Indians; it was hunger that had exhausted and killed them. With their blood they paved the way for those who follow, and settle in those new countries. Compared with these people, the Spaniards under Nicuesa's leadership would seem to be bidden to nuptial festivities, for they set out by roads, which are both new and secure, towards unexplored countries where they will find inhabitants and harvests awaiting them. We are still ignorant where the captain Pedro Arias, commanding the royal fleet,[4] has landed; if I learn that it will afford Your Holiness pleasure, I shall faithfully report the continuation of events. [Note 4: This Decade was written towards the end of the year 1514, but although Pedro Arias had landed on June 29th, no news of his movements had yet reached Spain. The slowness and uncertainty of communication must be constantly borne in mind by readers.] From the Court of the Catholic King, the eve of the nones of December, 1514, Anno Domini. The Third Decade BOOK I PETER MARTYR, OF MILAN, APOSTOLIC PRONOTARY AND ROYAL COUNSELLOR TO THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF LEO X I had closed the doors of the New World, Most Holy Father, for it seemed to me I had wandered enough in those regions, when I received fresh letters which constrained me to reopen those doors and resume my pen. I have already related that after expelling the Captain Nicuesa and the judge Enciso from the colony of Darien, Vasco Nuñez, with the connivance of his companions, usurped the government. We have received letters[1] both from him and from several of his companions, written in military style, and informing us that he had crossed the mountain-chain dividing our ocean from the hitherto unknown south sea. No letter from Capri concerning Sejanus was ever written in prouder language. I shall only report the events related in that correspondence which are worthy of mention. [Note 1: Two of Balboa's letters are published by Navarrete (tom, iii.,) and may also be read in a French translation made by Gaffarel and published in his work, _Vasco Nuñez de Balboa_.] Not only is Vasco Nuñez reconciled to the Catholic King, who was formerly vexed with him, but he now enjoys the highest favour. For the King has loaded him and the majority of his men with privileges and honours, and has rewarded their daring exploits.[2] May Your Holiness lend an attentive ear to us and listen with serene brow and joyful heart to our narration, for it is not a few hundreds or legions that the Spanish nation has conquered and brought into subjection to your sacred throne but, thanks to their various achievements and the thousand dangers to which they expose themselves, myriads who have been subdued.