The History of the Conquest of Peru

ion To The South. — Distresses Of The Voyagers. — Sharp

4–1

ld not have taken pains to perpetuate the date of his birth is not surprising. Few care to make a particular record of their transgressions. His father, Gonzalo Pizarro, was a colonel of infantry, and served

ega affirms that he was more than fifty years old in 1525. (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 1.) This would place his birth before 1475. Pizarro y Orellana, who, as a kinsman of the Conqueror, may be supposed to have had better means of information, says he was fifty-four years of age at the same date of 1525. (Varones Ilustres del Nuevo Mundo, (Madrid, 1639,) p. 128.) But at the period of his death h

. p. 179. — Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap.

of one of the principal churches of the city. It is even said that he would have perished, had he not been nursed by a sow. 3 This is a more discreditable fountain of supply than that a

ia, mamo una Puerca ciertos Dias, no se hallando quien le

ay of life did not suit the stirring spirit of Pizarro, as he grew older, and listened to the tales, widely circulated and so captivating to a youthful fancy, of the New World. He shared in the popular enthusiasm, and availed himself of a favorable

r, in the Italian wars; and afterwards, under Columbus and other illustrious discoverers, in the New World, whose

ed, it is said, to the father of Francis, was then in St. Domingo, and prepared to accompany Ojeda’s expedition, but was prevented by a temporary lameness. Had he gone, the fall of the Aztec empire might have been postponed for some time longer, and the sceptre of Montezuma have descended in peace to his posterity. Pizarro shared in the disastrous fortunes of Ojeda’s colony, and, by his discre

1, 128. — Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. 1, lib. 7,

the mountains, and of being among the first Europeans, therefore, whose eyes were greeted with the long-promised vision of the Southern Ocean. After the untimely death of his commander, Pizarro attached himself to the fortunes of

est of the mysterious regions beyond the mountains. On the removal of the seat of government across the Isthmus to Panama, Pizarro accompanied Pedrarias, and his name became conspicuous among the cavaliers who extended the line of conquest to the north over the martial tribes of Veragua. But all these expeditions, whatever glory they may have brought him, were productive of very little gold, and, at the age o

como uno de los Principales de la Tierra; porque siempre lo

f adventure. The southern expeditions became a common topic of speculation among the colonists of Panama. But the region of gold, as it lay behind the mighty curtain of the Cordilleras, was still veiled in obscurity. No idea could be formed of its actual distance; and the hardships and difficulties encountered by the few navigators who had sailed in that direction gave a gloomy character to the und

a provincia supe y hube relacion, ansi de los senores como de mercaderes e interpretes que ellos tenian, de toda la costa de todo lo que despues se ha visto hasta el

ndling. 8 Few particulars are known of him till the present period of our history; for he was one of those whom the working of turbulent times first throws upon the surface, — less fortunate, perhaps, than if left in their original obscurity. In his military career, Almagro had earned the reputation of a gallant soldier. He was frank and

rimiento y Conquista de los Reynos del Peru, Ms. — See also Zarate. Conq. del Peru, lib. 1,

hat the character of his early exploits infers an illustrious descent.

hoolmaster in the Cathedral of Darien. He seems to have been a man of singular prudence and knowledge of the world; and by his respectable qualities had acquired considera

g and equipping the vessels was assigned to Almagro. The associates found no difficulty in obtaining the consent of the governor to their undertaking. After the return of Andagoya, he had projected another expedition, but the officer to whom it was to be intrusted died. Why he did not prosecute his

inero ni otra cosa sino de lo que se hallase en la tierra de lo que a el le cupiese por virtud de la compania de alli se pagasen los gastos que a el le cupiesen. Los tres companeros vinieron en ello por aver esta licencia porque de otra manera no la alcanzaran.” (Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.) Andagoya, however,

en originally built by Balboa, for himself, with a view to this same expedition. Since his death, it had lain dismantled in the harbour of Panama. It was now refitted as well as circumstances

colony, who had come out to mend their fortunes, and were willing to take their chance of doing so, however desperate. From such materials as these, Almagro assembled a body of somewhat more than a hundred men; 10 and every thing being re

y. But every other authority which I have consulted raises them to over a hundred. Father Naharro, a contemporary, and

Xerez, Pizarro’s secretary, whose narrative was published ten years after the voyage, and who could hardly have forgotten th

mined till after the above was written. This instrument, dated July, 1529, speaks of his f

turers. After touching at the Isle of Pearls, the frequent resort of navigators, at a few leagues’ distance from Panama, Pizarro held his way across the Gulf of St. Michael, and steered almost due south for the Puerto de Pinas, a headland in the province of Biruquete, which marked the

spread out into a vast swamp, where the heavy rains had settled in pools of stagnant water, and the muddy soil afforded no footing to the traveller. This dismal morass was fringed with woods, through whose thick and tangled undergrowth they found it difficult to penetrate; and emerging from them, they came out on a hilly country, so rough and rocky in its character, that

1. cap. 1. — Herrera, Hist. Ge

would be sure to overcome, reminding them of the golden prize which awaited those who persevered. Yet it was obvious that nothing was to be gained by remaining lon

n the terrible storms of the tropics. The sea was lashed into fury, and, swelling into mountain billows, threatened every moment to overwhelm the crazy little bark, which opened at every seam. For ten days the unfortunate voyagers were tossed about by the pitiless elements, and it was only by incessant exertions — the exertions of despair — that they preserved the ship from foundering

hed the former landing-place; while thick-matted forests, of a depth which the eye could not penetrate, stretched along the coast to an interminable length. It was in vain that the wearied Spaniards endeavoured to thread the mazes of this tangled thicket, where the creepers and flowering vines, that shoot up lu

s of insects, whose enamelled wings glanced to and fro, like sparks of fire, in every opening of the woods. Even the brute creation appeared instinctively to have shunned the fatal spot, and neither beast nor bird of any description

— Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1515. — Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 1. — Garcilass

rded nothing but such unwholesome berries as they could pick up here and there in the woods. They loudly complained of their hard lot, accusing their commander as the author of all their troubles, and as deluding them with promises of a fairy land, whi

; represented to them that these were the troubles that necessarily lay in the path of the discoverer; and called to mind the brilliant successes of their countrymen in other quarters, and the repeated reports, which they had themselves received, of the rich regions along this coast, of which it required only courage and constancy on their part to become the masters. Yet, as their present exigencies were pressing, he resolved to send back the vess

ch shell-fish as they occasionally picked up on the shore, or the bitter buds of the palm-tree, and such berries and unsavoury herbs as grew wild in the woods. Some of these were so poisonous, that the bodies of those who ate them swelled up and were tormented with racking pains. Others, preferring famine to this miserable diet, pined away from weakness and actually died of starvation. Yet their resolute leader strove to maintain his own cheerfulness and to keep up the drooping spirits of his

ds. Not a speck was to be seen in the blue distance, where the canoe of the savage dared not venture, and the sail of the white man was not yet spread. Those who had borne up bravely at first now gave way to despondency, as they felt t

del Primer. Descub., Ms. — Xer

the direction pointed out, to reconnoitre. He was not disappointed, and, after extricating himself from a dense wilderness of underbrush and foliage, he emerged into an open space, where a small Indian village was planted. The timid inhabitants, on the sudden apparition of the s

elt then that it would have been wiser to do so. But the savages wore about their persons gold ornaments of some size, though of clumsy workmanship. This furnished the best reply to their demand. It was the golden bait which lured the Spanish adventurer to forsake his pleasant home for the trials of the wilderness. From the Indians Pizarro gathered a confirmation of the reports he had so ofte

ban. i cogian, sin andar tomando los Bastimentos agenos, p

llas.” (Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1525.) The conquest of Quito by Huayna Capac took place more than thirty years before this period in our history. But the particulars of this revolution, its time or precise theatre, were, probably, but very

latter, their wild and haggard countenances and wasted frames, — so wasted by hunger and disease, that their old companions found it difficult to recognize them. Montenegro accounted for his delay by incessant head winds and bad weather; and he himself had also a doleful tale to tell of the distress to whic

orgot their past distresses in their eagerness to prosecute their enterprise. Reembarking therefore on board his vessel, Pizarro bade adieu to the scene of so much suffering,

or precious mine might be overlooked, should a single break occur in the line of survey. Yet it should be remembered, that, though the true point of Pizarro’s destination is obvious to us, familiar with the topography of these countries, he was wandering in the dark, feeling his way along, inch by inch, as it were, without chart to guide him, without knowledge of the seas or of the bearings of the coast, and even with no better

of the invaders, had betaken themselves to the mountains; and the Spaniards, entering their deserted dwellings, found there a good store of maize and other articles of food, and rude ornaments of gold of considerable value. Food was not more necessary for their bodies than was the sight of gold, from time to time, to stimulate their appetite for adventure. One spectacle, however, chilled their blood with horror. Thi

e sacaban, havia Pies i Manos de Hombres, de donde conocieron, que aquell

than remain in the scene of such brutal abominations. But the fury of the storm gradually subsided, and the little vessel held on her way along the coast, till, coming abreast of a bold point of land named by Pizarro Punta Quemada, he gave orders to anchor. The margin of the shore was fringed with a deep belt of mangrove-trees,

d some gold trinkets, which the Spaniards made no difficulty of appropriating to themselves. Pizarro’s flimsy bark had been strained by the heavy gales it had of late encountered, so that it was unsafe to prosecute the voyage further without more thorough repairs than could be given to her on this desolate coast. He acc

ian warriors, springing from their ambush, sent off a cloud of arrows and other missiles that darkened the air, while they made the forest ring with their shrill war-whoop. The Spaniards, astonished at the appearance of the savages, with their naked bodies gaudily painted, and brandishing their weapons as they glanced among the trees and straggling underbrush that choked up the defile, were taken by surprise and thrown for a moment into disarray. Three of their number were

ts of the harness and the quilted mail of the cavaliers. But Pizarro was too well practised a soldier to be off his guard. Calling his men about him, he resolved not to abide the assault tamely in the works, but to sally out, and meet the enemy on their own ground. The barbarians, who had advanced near the defences, fell back as the Spa

ru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 180. — Zarate, Conq. del P

ward to despatch him. But Pizarro was on his feet in an instant, and, striking down two of the foremost with his strong arm, held the rest at bay till his soldiers could come to the rescue. The barbarians, struck with admiration at his valor, began to falter, when Montenegro luckily coming on the ground

ecure spot, where their injuries could be attended to. Yet it was not safe to proceed farther, in the crippled state of their vessel. On the whole, it was decided to return and report their proceedings to the governor; and, though t

l, dec. 3, lib. 8, cap.

rt of his company at Chicama, a place on the main land, at a short distance west of Panama. From this place, which he reached without any further accident, he despatched the vessel, and i

st order of the colonists. He steered in the track of his comrade, with the intention of overtaking him as soon as possible. By a signal previously concerted of notching the trees, he was able to identify the spots visited by Pizarro, — Puerto de Pinas, Puerto de la Hambre, Pueblo Quemado, — touching successively at every point of the coast explored by his countrymen, though in a much shorter time. At the

and, after touching at several places on the coast, some of which rewarded him with a considerable booty in gold, he reached the mouth of the Rio de San Juan, about the fourth degree of north latitude. He was struck with the

long time, and it was evident they must have foundered at sea, or made their way back to Panama. This last he deemed most probable;

his friend’s expedition, and the place of his present residence. Directing his course, at once, to Chicama, the two cavaliers soon had the satisfaction of embracing each other, and recounting their several exploits and escapes. Almagro returned even better freighted with gold than his confederate, and at

lboa, Hist. du Perou, chap. 15. — Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms. — Herrera, Hist. General,

e rendered by the humidity of the climate, and the pestilent swarms of insects that filled the atmosphere. Almagro would pass over to Panama, lay the case before the governor, and secure, if possible, his good-will towards the prosecution of the enterprise. If no obstacle were thrown in their way from this quarter, th