Having lost several of his men through famine and by the incessant attacks of the Indians, it was agreed that Almagro should return to Panama for recruits and provisions. Having procured twenty-four, they advanced with these and the remains of their original force to a country named Catamez110, considerably beyond the river of St Juan, a tolerably peopled country, in which they found plenty of provisions. The Indians of this part of the coast, who were still hostile, were observed to have certain ornaments of gold, resembling nails, inserted into holes made for that purpose in different parts of their faces. Almagro was sent back a second time to Panama, to endeavour to procure a larger force, and Pizarro retired in the mean time to the small island of Gallo somewhat farther to the north, near the shore of the Barbacoas, and not far from Cape Mangles, where he and his people suffered extreme hardships from scarcity of provisions, amounting almost to absolute famine.
On the return of Almagro to Panama for reinforcements, he found the government in the hands of Pedro de los Rios, who opposed the design of Almagro to raise recruits, because those with Pizarro had secretly conveyed a petition to the governor, not to permit any more people to be sent upon an enterprize of so much danger, and requesting their own recal. The governor, therefore, sent an officer to the Isle of Gallo, with an order for such as were so inclined to return to Panama, which was eagerly embraced by the greatest part of the soldiers of Pizarro, twelve only remaining along with him. Not daring to remain with so small a force in an island so near the main land, Pizarro retired to an uninhabited island named Gorgona, about 70 miles farther north, and considerably more distant from the coast than Gallo, in which island, which had abundance of springs and rivulets, he and his small band of faithful associates, lived on crabs in expectation of relief and reinforcement from Panama. At last a vessel arrived with provisions, but no soldiers, in which Pizarro embarked with his twelve men, to whose courage and constancy the discovery of Peru was owing. Their names deserve to be handed down to posterity: Nicolas de Ribera, Pedro de Candia a native of the Greek island of that name, Juan de Torre, Alfonso Briseno, Christoval de Peraulte, Alfonso de Truxillo, Francisco de Cuellar, and Alfonso de Molina111. The pilot of the vessel in which they embarked was named Bartholomew Bruyz, a native of Moguer. Under the guidance of this man, but with infinite difficulty from contrary winds and adverse currents, Pizarro reached a district named Mostripe112, about equally distant from the two places since built by the Christians, named Truxillo and San Miguel. With the very small number of men who accompanied him, Pizarro dared not to advance any farther along the coast, and contented himself with going a small way up the river Puechos or de la Chira113; where he procured some of the sheep114 of the country, and some of the natives on purpose to serve him as interpreters in the sequel. Returning from thence, Pizarro went northwards to the port of Tumbez on the south-side of the bay of Guayaquil, where he was informed that the king of Peru had a fine palace, and where the Indians were said to be very rich. This place was one of the most extraordinary in the country, until it was ruined by the inhabitants of the island of Puna, as will be related hereafter. At this place, three of his men deserted, who were afterwards put to death by the Indians.
After these discoveries, Pizarro returned to Panama, having spent three years in this voyage, counting from his first leaving Panama, in which time he was exposed to many dangers fatigues and privations, by the opposition and hostilities of the Indians, and through famine, and more than all distressed by the discontents and mutinies of his people, most of whom lost all hope of success, or of deriving any advantage from the expedition. Pizarro soothed their fears and encouraged their perseverance by every means in his power, providing for their necessities with much prudent care, and bearing up against every difficulty with astonishing firmness and perseverance: leaving to Almagro to provide men arms and horses, and necessaries of all kinds for the enterprize. These two officers, from being the richest of the settlers in Panama at the commencement of their enterprize, were now entirely ruined and overwhelmed in debt; yet did they not despair of ultimate success, and resolved to prosecute the discovery of which a very promising commencement had now been made115.
In concert with his associates Almagro and Luque, Pizarro went to Spain, to lay an account before the king of the discovery which he had made, and to solicit the appointment of governor of that country, of which he proposed to prosecute the discovery, and to reduce it under the dominion of the crown of Spain. His majesty granted his demand, under those conditions which used to be stipulated with other officers who engaged in similar enterprizes. With this authority, he returned to Panama, accompanied by Ferdinand, Juan, and Gonzalo Pizarro, and Francisco Martin de Alcantara, his brothers. Ferdinand and Juan Pizarro were his brothers both by father and mother, and the only lawful sons of Gonzalo Pizarro, an inhabitant of Truxillo in Old Spain, a captain in the infantry regiment of Navarre: Don Francisco Pizarro himself and Gonzalo Pizarro were natural sons of the elder Gonzalo Pizarro by different mothers: Francisco de Alcantara was likewise the brother of Don Francisco Pizarro, by his mother only, but by a different father116. Besides these, Pizarro brought as many men from Spain to assist in his enterprize as he could procure, being mostly inhabitants of Truxillo and other places in Estremadura117.
On his arrival at Panama in 1530, Pizarro and his associates used every effort to complete the preparations for the enterprize; but at first a dispute arose between him and Almagro. The latter complained that Pizarro had only attended to his own interests when at the court of Spain, having procured the appointments of governor and president of Peru for himself, without making any mention of Almagro, or at least without having procured any office for him, who had borne the far greater proportion of the expences hitherto incurred. Pizarro alleged that the king had refused to give any office to Almagro, though solicited by him for that purpose: But engaged his word to renounce the office of president in his behalf, and to supplicate the king to bestow that appointment upon him. Almagro was appeased by this concession; and they proceeded to make every preparation in concert that might be conducive to the success of the undertaking. But, before entering upon the narrative of their actions, it seems proper to give some account of the situation of Peru, of the most remarkable things which it contains, and of the manners and customs of the inhabitants.
The country of Peru, of which this history is intended to treat, commences at the equator, and extends south towards the antarctic pole118. The people who inhabit in the neighbourhood of the equator have swarthy complexions; their language is extremely guttural; and they are addicted to unnatural vices, for which reason they care little for their women and use them ill119, The women wear their hair very short, and their whole clothing consists of a short petticoat, covering only from the waist to about the knees. By the women only is the grain cultivated, and by them it is bruised or ground to meal, and baked. This grain, called maize in the West-Indian Islands, is called Zara in the language of Peru120. The men wear a kind of shirts or jackets without sleeves, which only reach to the navel, and do not cover the parts of shame. They wear their hair short, having a kind of tonsure on their crowns, almost like monks. They have no other dress or covering, yet pride themselves on certain ornaments of gold hanging from their ears and nostrils, and are particularly fond of pendants made of emeralds, which are chiefly found in those parts of the country bordering on the equator. The natives have always concealed the places where these precious stones are procured, but the Spaniards have been in use to find some emeralds in that part of the country, mixed among pebbles and gravel, on which account it is supposed that the natives procured them from thence. The men also are fond of wearing a kind of bracelets, or strings of beads, of gold and silver, mixed with small turquoise stones and white shells, or of various colours; and the women are not permitted to wear any of those ornaments.
110
Tacamez, otherwise called the district of
112
Morope, in lat. 6° 35', in the district of Sana, is in the situation of the place mentioned in the text. –E.
113
This river, otherwise called Amatape, runs into the bay of Payta, in lat. 5° 10' south. –E.
114
Under the name of Peruvian sheep, five species of the Camel genus are known to naturalists, the Glama or Llama, Guanaco, Chillihueque, Vicugna, and Pacos. The three former were used as animals of burthen by the native Peruvians, and domesticated, the two latter, especially the Vicugna, are valuable for the firmness of their fleeces. The three larger species carry loads of about a hundred pounds weight, the other two, when domesticated, may be made to carry smaller burdens of from fifty to seventy-five pounds. –E.
115
It was now towards the close of 1527, the third year from the first departure of Pizarro from Panama.-Robertsons America, II. 281.
116
Robertson, II. 284. gives a different account of these four relations of Francisco Pizarro from Zarate. According to him, Ferdinand was the only lawful son of old Gonzalo Pizarro; Francisco, Juan, and the younger Gonzalo being all natural sons; and Francisco de Alcantara was the uncle of Don Francisco, being the brother of his mother. In the sequel, the conqueror of Peru shall be always mentioned by the single name of Pizarro, distinguishing his brothers by the addition of their Christian names. While in Spain, Pizarro received a supply of money from Cortes, under whom he had served in the early part of the conquest of Mexico. –E.
117
His commission from the crown of Spain, imposed the condition of raising 250 men, and to supply the ships and warlike stores necessary for the expedition; but his funds and credit were so low that he could hardly complete half the number, and had to steal away from the port of Seville to elude the examination of the officers as to the fulfilment of his contract.-Robertsons America, II. 284.
118
It is impossible to give any competent geographical account of this extensive country in the compass of a note. Proper Peru begins at the river Tumbez in the gulf of Guayaquil, in about lat. 3° 20' S. and extends S.S.E. along the Pacific Ocean to the desert of Atacama, which divides it from Chili, in lat. 21° 28 S. an extent of about 1200 miles; consisting of two remarkably different tracts of country. A narrow valley along the Pacific Ocean, seldom so much as 70 miles in breadth, bounded on the east by the enormous main ridge of the Andes; beyond which are many elevated vallies or table lands of various extent, divided by collateral ridges and branches of the Andes, from each other and from the prodigiously extensive plains of the vast Orinoco Maranon and La Plata rivers. Quito, which had been annexed to the kingdom of Peru, only a short time before the Spanish conquest, is similarly situated, both as to maritime vale, and elevated table land, immediately to the north of Peru proper, and seems to have reached from lat. 3° 20' S. to about lat, 1° N. but is now included in the viceroyalty of New Granada which reaches to the Carribbean sea, with which it is connected by the river Magdalena. –E.
119
The substance of this description appears to refer entirely to that province of the kingdom of Quito which is named Esmeraldas or Tacamez, on both sides of the equator. –E.
120
Various reasons have been assigned for the origin of the word Peru, as the name of the empire of the Incas, unknown to themselves, at least in that sense. The most probable derivation is from the river