Of the cacique Nutibara, and of his territory: and of other caciques subject to the city of Antioquia.

WHEN we entered this valley with the Licentiate Juan de Vadillo, it was scattered over with very large houses of wood thatched with straw, and the fields were full of all kinds of food. In the hills several delightful rivers rise, whose banks were covered with many kinds of fruit trees, with very tall slender palm trees, thorny, with a bunch of fruit called Pixibaes growing at the top. They make both bread and wine from this fruit, and when the tree is cut down, they take from it a good-sized palmito, which is both sweet and wholesome. There are also many trees which we call aguacates, guavas, guayavas, and very fragrant pines.

The lord or king of this country was one named Nutibara, son of Anunaybe. He had a brother called Quinuchu, who was then his lieutenant over the Indians that lived in the mountains of Abibe (which we had just crossed) and in other parts. This lieutenant supplied his lord with many pigs, fish, birds, and other things from that land, and sent him gold and apparel as tribute. When the lord went to war, he was followed by many people with their arms. When he travelled through the country, he sat on a litter inlaid with gold, which was borne on the shoulders of his principal men. He had many wives. Near the door of his house, and the same thing was done at the houses of his captains, there were many heads of his enemies whom he had eaten, which were kept there as trophies. All the natives of this country eat human flesh. There are many large burial places which must needs be very rich. They had, in the first place, a great house or temple dedicated to the Devil. At the time that the Captain Francisco Cesar entered the valley, the natives rose in arms near that house or temple, thinking that, as his followers were such bad christians they might easily kill them. Thus, more than 20,00 Indians came out to war with much noise; but, although the Spanish party numbered no more than twenty-nine or thirty horse, they showed so bold a front that the Indians fled after the battle had lasted a long time, leaving the field in possession of the christians, and on this occasion Cesar certainly showed himself to be worthy of so great a name. Those who may write respecting Carthagena will have plenty to say of this captain; but it will not behove me to write more concerning him than is necessary for the clearness of my narrative.[203] If the Spaniards who entered this valley with Cesar were not numerous, they certainly all became rich, and got plenty of gold; but, afterwards, when we came, the Indians concealed their gold by the advice of the devil, as they themselves affirm. Before these Indians gave battle to Captain Cesar, they took their gold to the temple which they had built (according to their own account) in honour of the devil; and, when the Spaniards came there, digging in a certain part, they found a vault with the entrance towards the setting sun, in which there were many vases full of very fine ornaments of gold, altogether more than 21 quintals,[204] worth upwards of 40,00 ducats. They related that further on there was another house that contained more treasure, and they also stated that they found others still more rich in the valley. Afterwards, when we arrived with Vadillo, we found the burial places opened, and the house or temple burnt. An Indian woman, who belonged to one Baptista Zimbron, said to me that after Cesar returned to Carthagena, all the lords of these valleys assembled and performed sacrifices, when the devil appeared in the form of a very fierce tiger, (which in their language is called guaca), and said that those christians had come from the other side of the sea, and that soon many more would arrive to occupy and take possession of the land, and that they must prepare for war. He then disappeared, and the Indians began to prepare, first taking a great quantity of treasure out of the burial places.