At length, in spite of their advice, I prevailed upon them to take me in their canoes to the upper part of the river, until I reached the villages of the Indians, whom I had found in order of battle. They, however, would not, at first, allow me to go to the principal residence of the cacique, till I pretended that I was come as a surgeon to cure him of a wound that he had in his leg. Then, after making them some presents, they suffered me to proceed to the seat of royalty, which was situated on the top of a hillock, surmounted by a plain, with a large square surrounded by three hundred heads of the enemies he had slain in battle. When I had passed through the square, and reached the royal house, there was a great clamor of women and children at the gate, who ran into the palace screaming. Upon this, one of the chief’s sons came out in a high passion, uttering angry words in his own language; and laying hands upon me, with one push he thrust me far away from him. In order to appease him, I told him I was come to cure the wound in his father’s leg, and showed him an ointment that I had brought for that purpose; but he replied, that on no account whatever should I go in to the place where his father was. When I saw that I had no chance of appeasing him in that way, I took out a comb, a pair of scissors, and a mirror, and caused Escobar, my companion, to comb my hair, and then cut it off. When the Indian, and those who were with him, saw this, they stood in astonishment; upon which I prevailed on him to suffer his own hair to be combed and cut by Escobar. I then made him a present of the scissors, with the comb and the mirror; and thus he became appeased. After this, I begged him to allow some food to be brought, which was soon done; and we ate and drank in love and good-fellowship, like very good friends.
I then left him, and returned to the ships, and related all this to my lord the admiral, who was not a little pleased when he heard all these circumstances, and the things that had happened to me. He ordered a large stock of provisions to be put into the ships, and into certain straw houses that we had built there, with a view that I should remain, with some of the men, to examine and ascertain the secrets of the country. The next morning his lordship called me to ask my advice as to what ought to be done. My opinion was, that we ought to seize that chief and all his captains, because, when they were taken, great numbers of the people would submit. His lordship was of the same opinion. I then submitted the stratagem and plan by which this might be accomplished; and his lordship ordered that the _adelantado_,[61] his brother, and I, accompanied by eighty men, should go to put it into execution. We went; and our Lord gave us such good fortune, that we took the cacique, and most of his captains, his wives, sons, and grandsons, with all the princes of his race; but in sending them to the ships, thus captured, the cacique extricated himself from the too slight grasp of the man who held him,――a circumstance which afterwards caused us much injury. At this moment it pleased God to cause it to rain very heavily, occasioning a great flood, by which the mouth of the harbor was opened, and the admiral enabled to draw out the ships to sea, in order to proceed to Spain; I, meanwhile, remaining on land as accountant of his Highness, with seventy men, and the greater part of the provisions of biscuit, wine, oil, and vinegar being left with me.