For nine days the Spaniards were hunted about the woods and mountains, at the end of which time they found themselves at the point from which they had set out. It was all their commanders could do to prevent them from yielding to despair. Entering a thick forest, they were again assailed by Indians, with whom they now fought like wild beasts. They at length owed their safety to the fact of their surprising some canoes, in which they traversed the Gulf of _St. Michael_, landing at a less hostile locality, from which they again set out to cross the mountains. After incredible sufferings they returned to _Darien_, with the satisfaction of having brought with them their precious pearls from _Isla Rica_, one of which was afterwards presented to the Empress of Charles V. Another expedition sent out by Pedrarias was still more unfortunate than that above referred to. It was commanded by Becerra, and consisted of one hundred and eighty men. Of this force the sole survivor was an Indian youth, who returned to _Darien_ almost famished with hunger. His leader, he said, had entered by unknown ways the province of _Cenú_, where the Indians were fully prepared to receive him. His men were wounded by poisoned arrows; the paths were blocked by felled timber; and finally, when Becerra’s men, under the guidance of Indians, were crossing a great river, the latter contrived to destroy them all. About this time the historian Oviedo became so disgusted with the intolerable conduct of his countrymen in the Isthmus of _Darien_, that he resolved to return to Spain for the purpose of giving information to the king, and in order that he might live in a country more secure for his conscience and his life. It is interesting to note that he was charged with complaints to the king by the governor against the bishop and by the bishop against the governor. Pedrarias too seems to have begun to take this state of things to heart. He ordered the melting-house to be closed, and, together with the bishop, caused public prayers to be offered up that God would remove his anger from the colony. Of evil deeds there was certainly enough to rouse the wrath of the Almighty. With one expedition sent out by Pedrarias under the _Alcalde Mayor_ Espinosa, there was a Franciscan monk named San Roman. In writing to the head of the Dominicans, San Roman begs the latter, for the love of God, to speak to the authorities at _San Domingo_ and urge them to provide a remedy for the _Terra Firma_, which these tyrants were destroying. This letter was given by Pedro de Cordova to Las Casas. On his return to Spain, the same Franciscan, it is to be hoped with some exaggeration, stated at Seville that in this expedition of Espinosa’s he had seen killed by the sword or thrown to the dogs above forty thousand souls. Espinosa returned with two thousand captives, all of whom are said to have perished at _Darien_.