The exploration of the Rio San Juan, which had opened up a passage from the North Sea into the very heart of Nicaragua, awakened a more eager desire to possess this unknown region; and to the pride of conquest and discovery was added the all-pervading passion of the Spaniard, for it was believed that the armies of the great Montezuma had invaded the territory from a distance of more than six hundred leagues, and had brought thence many a rich specimen of gold. In 1540 Diego Gutierrez, a citizen of Madrid and brother to Felipe Gutierrez, who five years before had conducted the ill-fated expedition to Veragua, was appointed governor of this province, and soon afterward set forth on an enterprise which was destined to prove even more calamitous than the one conducted by his kinsman. [Sidenote: MUTINY AND DESERTION.] Gutierrez proceeded first to Española, where he raised a company of about two hundred men and sailed thence for Jamaica, the base of supplies for the colonies of Tierra Firme. Here a mutiny broke out among his men, causing the loss of all his military stores. Arriving at Nombre de Dios he fell sick, and while lying at the point of death his men deserted, and crossing over to Panamá took ship for Peru. Recovering from his illness he found himself with but five men and almost without means. He gathered courage, however, and fitting out a small barge sailed for the Rio San Juan, and so made his way to the city of Granada. Falling in with one Baena, a successful adventurer from Peru, he succeeded in borrowing from him three thousand castellanos with which he hoped to retrieve his fortunes. Gutierrez now endeavored to enlist men in Nicaragua, but disputes between himself and Rodrigo de Contreras, the governor of that province, caused a further delay of two years. Contreras declared that his province extended to the border of Veragua and that there was no intervening territory for Gutierrez to colonize. Gutierrez on the other hand affirmed that the boundaries of Veragua and Castilla del Oro had been placed far south of those originally appointed, and that in consequence there existed a large domain of which he was appointed governor by a charter granted to him from the crown. Though the limits[XI‑4] of Costa Rica as set forth in this document were somewhat indefinite, Contreras at length admitted that his opponent was duly authorized to take possession of the newly created province. He then endeavored to dissuade him from his purpose, representing the country as rugged and his scheme as foolhardy and dangerous. "But if you persist in the occupation of that territory, take my advice," he said, "and keep one hundred well armed men upon the sea-shore, always ready to forage, sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another, for the people are rich in gold, and in this way only can you obtain food."[XI‑5]