of these changes the Spanish officers were withdrawn from Coro, an act which seems to have produced a great bitterness, especially against Federmann. When Dalfinger unexpectedly returned a short time after this, Seissenhoffer resigned his position, but Federmann remained—"as lieutenant of the governor and captain general, as which the whole army recognized me."[1]
Dalfinger brought back only vague accounts and a relatively considerable quantity of gold. He had not found the dorado, and had again withdrawn from the northeastern border of Cundinamarca. He did not tarry long at Coro, but sailed to San Domingo for the recovery of his health, leaving Federmann in his place. Federmann says: "Finding myself now in the city of Coro with a number of men who were unoccupied, I determined to undertake a campaign into the interior toward the south or the Southern Sea, in the hope of finding something profitable." He left the coast on the 12th of September, 1530, with "one hundred and ten Spaniards on foot, and sixteen on horseback, and a hundred Indians." His geographical notices are so extremely vague that we can follow him only a little way on this remarkable campaign. His estimates of distances are entirely untrustworthy, and the names of the Indian tribes which he met are often hardly recognizable. He reached
- ↑ "Relacion de Nicolaus Federmann le Jeune," cap. ii. Translated by Ternaux-Compans. The original was printed at Haguenau in 1557. We here follow almost exclusively the story of Federmann himself. Oviedo does not mention Fedennann's next campaign, but says that he was in Coro during the rest of Dalfinger's life. Herrera also says nothing about it. Hence his own account is our only authority.
