Cortes having learnt, in the year 1536, that his ship, of which Fortunio Ximenez was pilot, had been seized by Nunnez de Guzman, sent three ships to Xalisco, while he marched thither by land with a respectable force; and, on his arrival there, he found his ship all spoiled and rifled. When his small squadron was come round to Xalisco, he went himself on board, and left Andrew de Tapia to command his land force. Setting sail from thence, he came, on the first of May, to a point of land, which he named Cape St Philip, and, to an island close by this cape, he gave the name of St Jago. Three days afterwards, he came to the bay where the pilot Ximenez was killed, which he named Bahia de Santa Cruz, where he went on land, and sent out Andrew de Tapia to explore the country. Cortes again set sail, and came to the river now called Rio de San Pedro y San Paulo, where the ships were separated by a tempest. One was driven to the bay of Santa Cruz, another to the river of Guajaval, and the third was stranded on the coast near Xalisco, whence the crew went overland to Mexico. After waiting a long while for his other two ships, Cortes made sail, and entered into the gulf of California, otherwise called Mar Vermejo, or the Vermilion Sea, and by some, the sea of Cortes. Having penetrated 50 leagues within that gulf, he espied a ship riding at an anchor, and, on his approach towards her, had nearly been lost, if he had not received assistance from that other ship. Having repaired his own ship, he departed from thence with both ships; and, having procured provisions at a very dear rate, at St Michael de Culiacan, he went to the harbour of Santa Cruz, where he received information that Don Antonio de Mendoзa had arrived from Spain as Viceroy of Mexico. He therefore left Francis de Ulloa with the command of his ships, ordering him to proceed on discoveries; and going to Acapulco, he received a messenger from Don Antonio de Mendoзa, the new viceroy, certifying his arrival, and the assumption of his authority. Mendoзa likewise sent him the copy of a letter from Francis Pizarro, stating that Mango, the Inca of Peru, had risen in arms, and assailed the city of Cusco with 100,000 fighting men, having slain his brother, John Pizarro, and above 400 Spaniards, with 200 horses; and that he himself, and the Spanish dominions in Peru, were in imminent danger, unless speedily and effectually assisted.
Cortes, not yet resolved on submitting to the authority of Mendoзa, fitted out two ships, under the command of Ferdinando de Grijalva and one Alvarado, on purpose to discover the route to the Moluccas by the way of the equinoctial line, because the islands of Cloves are under that parallel. They went first to St Michael de Tangarara, in Peru, where they landed succours for Pizarro, and thence, all along the line, to the Moluccas, as they were ordered; and they are said to have sailed above 1000 leagues without sight of land on either side the whole way. At length, in lat. 2° N. they discovered an island named Asea, which was believed to be one of the islands of Cloves. Five hundred leagues farther, more or less, they came to another, which they named Isla de los Pescadores, or island of Fishers. Going still in the same course, they saw another island, called Hayme, on the south side of the line, and another named Apia, after which they came in sight of Seri. Turning one degree to the north, they came to anchor at an island named Coroa, whence they came to another under the line named Memousum, and thence to Busu, still holding on the same course168.
The people of all these islands are black, with frizzled hair, whom the people of the Moluccas call Papuas. Most of them are witches, and eat human flesh; and are so much given to wickedness, that the devils walk among them as companions. Yet when these wicked spirits find any of the Papuas alone, they kill him with cruel blows, or smother him; for which reason they always go out in companies of two or three together. There is in this country a bird as large as a crane, which has no wings wherewith to fly, but runs on the ground with the swiftness of a deer, and, of the small feathers of this bird, the natives make hair for their idols. They have likewise a particular herb, the leaf of which, after being washed in warm water, if laid on any member, and licked with the tongue, will even draw out the whole blood of a mans body; and, by means of this leaf, the natives let blood of themselves, when afflicted by sickness.
From these islands they came to others named the Guellas, in lat. 1° N. east and west169, from the island of Ternate, in which the Portuguese have a fortress. These islands are 124 leagues from the island of Moro, and between forty and fifty leagues from Ternate. From thence they went to the island of Moro170, and the islands of Cloves, going about from one island to another; but the natives would not permit them to land, desiring them to go to the fortress, where captain Antonio Galvano, the author of this work, would receive them in a friendly manner, who was, as they stiled him, factor of the country, and they could not be allowed to land without his license. This circumstance is worthy of being noticed, that the natives were so well affected to the Portuguese as to venture their lives, with their wives, children, and goods, in their service.
In the year 1537, John de Vadillo, the governor of Carthagena, went with a powerful armament from the port called St Sebastian de Buena Vista, in the gulf of Uraba, to the Rio Verde, whence he went by land, without previously knowing any part of the way, and without carriages, to the very extremity of Peru and the town of La Plata, a distance of 1200 leagues, a most memorable journey. The whole country, from the Rio Verde to the mountains of Abibe, is full of rugged hills, thick forests, and many rivers, through which they had to pierce their way with infinite toil. The mountains of Abibe are said to be twenty leagues broad, and can only be passed over in the months of January, February, March, and April, as from incessant heavy rains at all other times of the year, the rivers are so swelled as to be quite impassable. In these mountains there are many herds of swine, many dantes, lions, tigers, bears, ounces, large wild-cats, monkeys, vast snakes, and other vermin. There are also abundance of partridges, quails, turtle-doves, pigeons, and other birds of many different kinds. The rivers also were so full of fish that they killed them with staves; and they affirmed, if they had been provided with rods and nets, that a very large company of men might be subsisted, without ever being in distress for want of food. In this expedition they noted the diversities of people, languages, dress, and other circumstances, during the whole way, through many countries, kingdoms, and, provinces, and the great difficulties and dangers they encountered till their arrival at the Villa de la Plata, and the adjoining sea. This was the most extensive discovery which has been ever heard of by land, and in so short a time; insomuch that, if it had not been performed in our own days, it could hardly have been credited171.
In 1538, certain friars of the order of St Francis went from Mexico to preach to the natives in the northern part of New Spain, and to convert them to the Catholic faith. One Mark de Nizza penetrated farther than any of the rest. -Passing through Culvacan, or Culiacan, he came into the province of Sibola, or Cinaloa, where he pretended to have found seven cities, and that the farther he went the richer was the country in gold, silver, and precious stones, with many sheep bearing wool of great fineness. On the fame of this wealth, the viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoзa, and Cortes, determined to send a force to take possession of the country; but, as they could not agree on this subject, Cortes and his wife went over to Spain in 1540, where he died seven years afterwards172.
168
The only island mentioned in this voyage, which can be traced by the names in our modern maps, is the Piscadores, about lat. 11° N. long. 167° E. –E.
169
This strange expression is quite inexplicable, and must have been misunderstood by Hakluyt. –E.