In which other customs of the Indians subject to the city of Uraba are described.

WITH this evil juice the Indians anoint the points of their arrows, and they are so dexterous in the use of these arrows, and draw their bows with such force, that it has often happened that they have transfixed a horse, or the knight who is riding, the arrow entering on one side and coming out on the other. They wear cotton for defensive armour, the moisture of that country not being suitable for cuirasses. However, with all these difficulties, and in spite of the country being so forbidding, foot soldiers have overrun it with nothing but swords and shields, and ten or twelve Spaniards are as good as 100 or 200 Indians. These Indians have no temples nor any form of worship, and nothing has been discovered concerning their religion as yet, except that they certainly talk with the devil, and do him all the honour they can, for they hold him in great veneration. He appears to them (as I have been told by one of themselves) in frightful and terrible visions, which cause them much alarm. The sons inherit their fathers’ property, if they are born of the principal wife, and they marry the daughters of their sisters. Their chiefs have many wives. When a chief dies, all his servants and friends assemble in his house in the night, without any light; but they have a great quantity of their wine made from maize, which they continue drinking while they mourn for the dead. After they have completed their ceremonies and sorceries, they inter the body with its arms and treasures, plenty of food, and jugs of chicha, together with a few live women. The devil gives them to understand that, in the place to which they go, they will come to life in another kingdom which he has prepared for them, and that it is necessary to take food with them for the journey. As if hell was so very far off!

This city of San Sebastian was founded by Alonzo de Heredia, brother of the Adelantado Don Pedro de Heredia, governor for his majesty of the province of Carthagena, as I have said before.