Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/586

566 all these seas and about all these islands are full of pearls, of which you shall have as many as you will, so that you continue your friendship to me." He brought a basket of pearls of one hundred marks weight, and agreed to pay annually to the king of Spain one hundred pounds of pearls, as though it was a very light matter.

In 1516 the licentiate Gaspar de Espinosa traversed the Isthmus, and recaptured the greater part of the gold which had been taken from Badajoz; but the natives fled to the mountains at his approach, and although he found the country at large well drained by former raids, the large amount which he recovered was sufficient to enrich every man of his company.

In 1522 Gil Gonzales and András Niño discovered the north-western coast from Panamá, to the bay of Fonseca, taking possession of the province of Nicaragua. During the seventeen months of their absence they journeyed 640 leagues, and with 100 men went inland 244 leagues, begging bread and gold. Of the latter they obtained the value of 112,500 pesos, a portion of which was of inferior quality, and worth twelve or thirteen dollars an ounce. They also obtained pearls to the value of 145 pesos. This inferior gold they found wrought into hatchets and other useful implements, and bells the purity and value of which were tested by the sound, as the purer the gold the more dull and flat would be the sound. Of the 112,500 pesos thus obtained, 40,000 were found between the bay of David and the bay of San Vicente;' 14,000, thirteen carats fine, were donated by the cacique Nicoya in return for the baptism of 6,000 of his subjects. The cacique Nicaragua cheerfully gave the Spaniards 25,000 pesos.

Hernando de Soto, one of the captains of Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, who was sent to Nicaragua by Pedrarias after the return of Gil Gonzales, collected an inferior quality of gold to the value of