Ruy Vanegas set out with those that were necessary, and with horses, and I went with him. When we arrived at the place we found the natives in arms. They had deep holes dug in the approaches, and in them were many spikes. These holes were covered over with grass, so that the horses and Christians might fall into them. As we entered the village the Indians fled into the ravines and among the rocks behind the village. Because a horse fell into one of the holes and was killed on the stakes, the Spaniards threw into two of them over fifty Indian men and women, to teach them not to try another deceit like that, as it would be to their own hurt in the end. After having been some days in this district, Ruy Vanegas had sent messages to the Chiefs to come as friends, and we went on to the province of _Sopia_. Here, though the barbarians were proud, yet, knowing the power of the Spaniards, they came in peaceably and gave obedience to his Majesty, which they have observed ever since. After Ruy Vanegas had settled those provinces he returned to Anzerma, and reported to the captain what he had done. FOOTNOTES: [21] The Atrato. [22] Curassows. CHAPTER VII _How the captain Jorge Robledo assigned the Chiefs among the settlers who had to remain in the city of Santa Ana, and how he departed and discovered another part of the great river of Santa Marta._ The events we have related having passed, the captain Jorge Robledo desired to cross the great river Santa Marta, and explore the regions on the other side. He first divided the native Chiefs among those who had to remain as settlers; and then, having assigned them, he left the captain Ruy Vanegas in his place, and departed from Anzerma early in the year 1540, taking with him as his ensign Suer de Nava, a native of Toro. We set out, a little over a hundred Spaniards, horse and foot. The _Comendador_ Hernán Rodríguez de Sosa was Camp-master. We arrived at the village of _Irra_, which is on the banks of the river of Santa Marta, where the current flows with great velocity. The natives made rafts on which the horses and baggage crossed. The Spaniards made contrivances for crossing consisting of two bamboos as thick as a leg, to the head of which a pole was fastened. One man went in front with a reed, hauling on the bamboos, and two others behind to guide them. Thus, with great risk and much hard work the Spaniards crossed this great river. I certainly believe that if the Romans had undertaken the conquest of these parts, even at the time of the most flourishing period of their empire, when they ruled the world, they would not have been powerful enough to do what a few Spaniards have achieved. As for the hardships and hunger they have faced, no other nation in the world could have endured it. For they are worthy to be counted as scions of the most excellent nation in the world and the one which is foremost in all things.