ABSTRACT
THE events we have related having passed, the captain Jorge Robledo desired to cross the great river Santa Marta, and explore the regions on the other side. He first divided the native Chiefs among those who had to remain as settlers; and then, having assigned them, he left the captain Ruy Vanegas in his place, and departed from Anzerma early in the year 1540, taking with him as his ensign Suer de Nava, a native of Toro. We set out, a little over a hundred Spaniards, horse and foot. The Comendador Hernán Rodriguez de Sosa was camp-master. We arrived at the village of Irra, which is on the banks of the river of Santa Marta, where the current flows with great velocity. The natives made rafts on which the horses and baggage crossed. The Spaniards made contrivances for crossing 19consisting of two bamboos as thick as a leg, to the head of which a pole was fastened. One man went in front with a reed, hauling on the bamboos, and two others behind to guide them. Thus, with great risk and much hard work the Spaniards crossed this great river. I certainly believe that if the Romans had undertaken the conquest of these parts, even at the time of the most flourishing period of their empire, when they ruled the world, they would not have been powerful enough to do what a few Spaniards have achieved. As for the hardships and hunger they have faced, no other nation in the world could have endured it. For they are worthy to be counted as scions of the most excellent nation in the world and the one which is foremost in all things.
