Castile

Vsciti costoro della casa di Oratione, gittarono le imagini in terra, & le coprirono col terreno, & poi vi pisciarono sopra, dicendo, Hor saranno buoni, & grandi i tuoi frutti: & questo, percioche le sepelirono in vn campo lauorato, dicendo, che sarebbe buono il frutto, che vi si era piantato. & questo tutto per vituperio. Il che veduto da' fanciulli, che erano alla guardia della detta casa di Oratione, per commandamento de' sopradetti Catecumini, corsero a' maggiori, i quali erano alle loro possessioni, & lor dissero, che la gente di Guarionex haueua stratiate, & vituperate le imagini. La qual cosa intesa da loro, lasciarono quel, che faceuano, & corsero gridando a farlo intendere a Don Bartolomeo Colombo, il quale era in quel gouerno per l'Ammiraglio suo fratello, che se n'era andato in Castiglia. Questi, come luogotenente del Vicerè, & Gouernatore delle Isole, formò processo contra i malfattori: &, saputa la verità, gli fece abbruciar publicamente.

When the men came out of the house of prayer, they threw the images on the ground and covered them with earth. Then they urinated on them, saying, “Now your crops will be good and big.” They said this because they had buried the images in a planted field, and they said the crop planted there would be good. All this was done as an insult. The boys guarding the house of prayer for the catechumens saw this. They ran to the elders, who were out in their fields, and told them that Guarionex's people had mangled and insulted the images. When the elders heard this, they dropped what they were doing. They ran, shouting, to report it to Don Bartolomé Columbus. He was governing there for his brother the Admiral, who had gone to Castile. As lieutenant of the Viceroy and Governor of the Islands, he put the wrongdoers on trial. When he had learned the truth, he had them burned in public.

Hay calle de herbolarios, donde hay todas las raíces y yerbas medicinales que en la tierra se hallan. Hay casas como de boticarios donde se venden las medicinas hechas, así potables como ungüentos y emplastos. Hay casas como de barberos, donde lavan y rapan las cabezas. Hay casas donde dan de comer y beber por precio. Hay hombres como los que llaman en Castilla ganapanes, para traer cargas. Hay mucha leña, carbon, braseros de barro y esteras de muchas maneras para camas, y otras mas delgadas para asiento y para esterar salas y cámaras.

There is a street of herbalists, with every root and medicinal herb found in the land. There are shops like apothecaries' shops, where they sell ready-made medicines: drinks, ointments, and plasters. There are shops like barbers' shops, where people have their heads washed and shaved. There are houses where you can eat and drink for a price. There are men like those called ganapanes in Castile, who carry loads. There is plenty of firewood and charcoal, clay braziers, and mats of many kinds, some for beds and thinner ones to sit on and to cover the floors of halls and rooms.

Mis padres fueron de los primeros conquistadores i pobladores de este Nuevo Reino. Fué mi padre soldado de Pedro Ursua, aquel a quien Lope de Aguirre mató despues en el Marañon, aunque no se halló con él en este Reino sino mucho ántes, en las jornadas de Tairona, Valle de Upar i Rio del Hacha, Pamplona i otras partes. Yo, en mi mocedad, pasé de este Reino a los de Castilla, a donde estuve seis años. Volví a él i he corrido mucha parte de él, i entre los muchos amigos que tuve, fué uno Don Juan, Cacique i señor de Guatavita, sobrino de aquel que hallaron los conquistadores en la silla al tiempo que conquistaron este Reino; el cual sucedió luego a su tio, i me contó estas antigüedades i las siguientes.

My parents were among the first conquerors and settlers of this New Kingdom. My father was a soldier of Pedro Ursúa, the man Lope de Aguirre later killed on the Marañón. But my father was not with him then. He served with him much earlier, in this kingdom, on the campaigns to Tairona, Valle de Upar, Río del Hacha, Pamplona, and other places. In my youth I went from this kingdom to Castile and stayed there six years. I came back, and I have traveled over much of this land. Among my many friends was one Don Juan, cacique and lord of Guatavita. He was the nephew of the lord the conquerors found on the throne when they conquered this kingdom, and he succeeded his uncle soon after. He told me about these old times, and about what follows.

De esta ceremonia se tomó aquel nombre tan celebrado del Dorado, que tantas vidas ha costado i haciendas. En el Perú fué donde sonó primero este nombre dorado; i fué el caso que habiendo ganado a Quito, donde Sebastian de Benalcázar, i andando en aquellas guerras o conquistas, topó con un indio de este Reino de los de Bogotá, el cual le dijo, que cuando querian en su tierra hacer su rei, lo llevaban a una laguna mui grande, i allí lo doraban todo, o le cubrian de oro, i con muchas fiestas lo hacian rei. De aquí vino a decir el Don Sebastian “vamos a buscar este indio dorado.” De aquí corrió la voz a Castilla i a las demas partes de Indias, i a Benalcázar le movió venirlo a buscar, como vino, i se halló en esta conquista i fundacion de esta ciudad, como mas largo lo cuenta el padre frai Pedro Simon en la quinta parte de sus noticias historiales, donde se podrá ver.

From this ceremony came that famous name, El Dorado, the Gilded One, which has cost so many lives and fortunes. It was in Peru that the name was first heard. After Quito had been won, Sebastián de Benalcázar, who was fighting in those wars and conquests, came upon an Indian from this kingdom, one of the people of Bogotá. The Indian told him how they made a king in his land. They took him to a very large lake and gilded him all over, or covered him with gold. Then they made him king with great festivities. That is why Don Sebastián said, “Let us go and look for this gilded Indian.” From there the word spread to Castile and the rest of the Indies. It moved Benalcázar to come looking for him, and so he did, and he took part in the conquest of this kingdom and the founding of this city. Father Fray Pedro Simón tells this at greater length in the fifth part of his Historical Notices, where it can be read.