Seeing that there was so much disorder, the Adelantado determined to go on shore, where he met several soldiers with swords in their hands. He asked them why they carried them so, and one replied that it was because there was war. The Camp Master came to the Adelantado, and said: “It is well that your Lordship has come. It seems to me that these bellicose men go and come with complaints, and refer me to your Lordship; and if your Lordship does not apply a remedy, all those will be found some morning hanging from a tree”; and he pointed with his finger. To this the Adelantado answered with great patience, and showing much sorrow. The Camp Master replied: “They are rascals who would not dare to take a crumb from a cat. Apart from your Lordship, whom I hold to be above my head (this with his hat in his hand), I do not care for any of them, from the smallest to the biggest, and I look upon them as the dirt under my feet, and none of them merits notice except myself, for I am a gentleman. All who are here, except your Lordship, want to go away and leave this land, but I must obey and serve your Lordship; God knows that if it had not been for me the honour of your Lordship would have been in the dust; and last night they would have killed all those who were in two of the houses if I had not prevented them. One is the house of such an one, and as to the other I will keep silence.” They told me that he said more. I am not any longer informed about it. They can do what they like. On this day a soldier took the liberty to address the General. The Camp Master was present, and he quarrelled with the man. The Adelantado, seeing this, and considering the liberties that had been taken on other days, said: “Now they lose respect for me.” The man was respectable, and was on the side and held the views of his chief, and would have stood by him, and for the honour of the King. But the Adelantado took him by the arm, and said: “This is not the time!”
The General paid several visits to the camp, to see if his presence would smooth matters. One day he met the Camp Master, and said to him: “For all that is happening the fault is your worship’s, for you give the soldiers wings, and they suffer misrepresentation.” The Camp Master answered: “The false statements are on board the ship, and I show no favour to the soldiers, but I make them respect your Lordship and obey you as governor.”
On another occasion the Camp Master took the hand of the Adelantado, and complained of what DoÑa Isabel had said of him. The Adelantado was more annoyed this time than on others. The Camp Master went away, and the Adelantado went to the corps du garde. He laid down on a chest, and showed much feeling. They had to help him to raise his feet on to it. Presently, the Chief Pilot and some others came, saying that he should not be troubled, and that all were his servants and would follow him. Having rested a little, he went on board, and repeated what he had said to the Camp Master. With arms in his hand the General came for me, and told me, that the Camp Master had said also what a thing it was not to have come provided, as was reasonable, and they had deceived him in not having brought two hundred axes and three hundred wood knives; for they had come to a land where neither God nor the King would be served by their arrival, and if this people were taken to another part it would be a great advantage. These things about the Camp Master I relate partly from the reports of others, for I do not myself remember them all very well.
The next time the Adelantado went on shore was to arrange and mark out with the Camp Master a site for a stockade to be used as a fort. Touching this, and the ground for sowing, and other matters relating to the administration of the settlement, he had to give his attention and to hear much folly. There were questions of entails, titles, relationships, and ownerships; such demands, replies and settlements; such wasting of time and breaking of heads. In fine, they did not trust each other. On this day two arquebusiers left the camp, and the ball of one of them went whizzing over the Chief Pilot, who was on board the Capitana. The other ball passed over the frigate, and I know not at what birds they were aiming.
On the following night the Chief Pilot was keeping watch, and at dawn Don Diego Barreto came in a canoe to speak to his brother-in-law. Having spoken to him, he said to me that things had come to such a pass in the camp that it did not promise less than his death, and the deaths of his brothers and brother-in-law, with all those who remained true to their duty. At this time the Camp Master was saying on shore, “Arm! Arm!” The Chief Pilot ordered that the Constable should fire off a piece that was pointed at the village, sending the ball in the air, to terrify the natives, or at least to let them understand that we did not sleep without a dog. The noise of all ceased, and that of one voice sounded, saying that the General should send them powder and cord. We were deaf for the time, but at dawn we sent them what they asked for; asking at the same time the cause of the disturbance. The answer was that the branches of trees rubbed against the posts in one part of the camp, and, thinking it was the natives, they had sounded to arms.
On the same day the Vicar went on shore to say Mass, according to his custom; for he also still lived on board, there being no house for him in the camp. When he returned in the afternoon, he said to the Chief Pilot: “Those people will go without fail.” The Chief Pilot asked where they would go. The Vicar replied, “I only know what I say;” and the Pilot said: “What sailors have they to take them? Will they kill us, or use force?” The Vicar said Yes; that all were determined to do so. He asked the Chief Pilot to procure that the soldiers should be appeased, for if they should go the natives will be the losers. He shrugged his shoulders, saying that with very good will he would spend four years there, teaching the natives. The Pilot answered: “A month has not even passed since we arrived. How can there be so little firmness in honourable men?”
