September 8th, they passed an
Indian village at the foot of the mountains, but the inhabitants did not
molest them; on the contrary they fled into the forests.
Here some of the men became exhausted, from the great heat and
travelling in the marshes. These were sent back, by slow marches, in the
care of guides, to Coyba. On the 20th of September they again set
forward.
The wilderness was so craggy, and the forest trees and underwood so
matted together, that in four days they only advanced about thirty
miles, and they now began to suffer from hunger. They also met with many
rapid foaming streams, to cross some of which they had to stop and build
rafts.
Now it was that they met with a numerous tribe of Indians, who, armed
with bows and arrows, and clubs of palm wood, almost as hard as iron,
gave them battle. But the Spaniards, although comparatively few in
numbers, with their fire-arms and bloodhounds and the aid of the
friendly Indians who were with them, soon put them to flight, and took
possession of their village. Balboa's men robbed the village of all its
gold and silver, and of every thing valuable in it; and even he himself,
whose heart the love of gold had begun already to harden, shared with
his men the plunder.
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