1. A few days after Garcia del Arze left the town of the Motilones, Juan de Vargas sailed with his people in one of the brigantines, and some canoes, down the river, on the 1st of July, 1560, to the province of the Caperuzos, whence he soon passed onwards, not finding Garcia del Arze there. Supposing he would be at the mouth of the river Cocáma, as had been arranged, Vargas continued his course down the river to the mouth of the Cocáma, and not finding Arze there, he followed his orders to ascend this river in search of provisions, which he did in his canoes, leaving the more sickly soldiers at the mouth of the river, in charge of the brigantine.

They were twenty-two days ascending the river without meeting with habitations where they could obtain what they sought; after which they fell in with some native villages, where they found abundance of maize. From thence they took many native men and women as servants for the expedition, as well as canoes laden with maize. Vargas now descended the river to its mouth, where he found the people of the brigantine suffering much from hunger and the effects of the climate, of which three Spaniards had died, also many native men and women who were with them.