The Rio Plata, or River of Silver, derives its source from the high mountains continually covered with snow which lie between the cities of Lima and Cuzco40. From these mountains four principal rivers flow, which derive their names from the provinces through which they pass. The Apurimac, Vilcas, Abancay, and Jauja. This last derives its source from a lake in the province of Bombon41, the most level and yet the highest plain in all Peru, where accordingly it snows or hails almost continually. This lake is quite crowded with small islands, which are covered with reeds, flags, and other aquatic plants, and the borders of the lake are inhabited by many Indians.
In the late war against Gonzalo Pizarro, the president incurred enormous expences for the pay and equipment of his troops, for the purchase of horses, arms, and warlike stores, and the fitting out and provisioning of the ships which he employed. From his landing in the Tierra Firma to the day of his final victory over Gonzalo, he had expended on these necessary affairs more than nine hundred thousand dollars, most of which he had borrowed from the merchants and other private individuals, as all the royal revenues had been appropriated and dissipated by Gonzalo. After the re-establishment of tranquillity, he applied himself to amass treasure with the utmost diligence, both from the fifths belonging to the king, and by means of fines and confiscations; insomuch that after payment of his debts, he had a surplus of above a million and a half of ducats, chiefly derived from the province of Las Charcas.
In his arrangements for the future government of the country, in conformity with the royal ordinance, he took much care to prevent the Indians from being oppressed. In consequence of the fatigues which they underwent, in the carriage of immense loads, and by numbers of the Spaniards wandering continually about the country attended by a train of Indians to carry their baggage, vast numbers of them had perished. Having re-established the royal audience, or supreme court of justice, in Lima, he applied earnestly to regulate the tributes which were to be paid by the Indians to the Spaniards upon fixed principles, which had not been hitherto done on account of the wars and revolutions which had distracted the country ever since its discovery and conquest. Before this new arrangement, every Spaniard who possessed a repartimiento or allotment of lands and Indians, used to receive from the curaca or cacique of his district such tribute as he was able or willing to pay, and many of the Spaniards often exacted larger sums from their Indians than they were well able to afford, frequently plundering them of their hard-earned property with lawless violence. Some even went so far as to inflict tortures on their Indians, to compel them to give up every thing they possessed, often carrying their cruelty to such a pitch as to put them to death in the most wanton and unjustifiable manner. To put a stop to these violent proceedings, the taxes of each province and district were regulated in proportion to the number of Indian and Spanish inhabitants which they respectively contained; and, in forming their arrangements, the president and judges carefully inquired into the productions of each province; such as its mines of gold and silver, the quantity of its cattle, and other things of a similar nature, the taxes on which were all regulated according to circumstances in the most reasonable and equitable manner.
Having thus reduced the affairs of the kingdom to good order, all the unemployed soldiers being sent off to different places, some to Chili, others to the new province on the Rio Plata, and others to various new discoveries under different commanders, and all who remained in Peru being established in various occupations by which they might maintain themselves, according to their inclinations and capacities, mostly in the concerns of the mines, the president resolved to return, into Spain, pursuant to the authority he had received from his majesty to do so when he might see proper. One of his most powerful motives for returning to Spain proceeded from his anxiety to preserve the large treasure he had amassed for the king: as, having no military force for its protection, he was afraid such great riches might excite fresh troubles and commotions in the country. Having made all the necessary preparations for his voyage, and embarked his treasure, without communicating his intentions hitherto to any one, he assembled the magistrates of Lima, and informed them of his intended voyage. They started many objections to this measure; representing the inconveniencies which might arise from his departure, before his majesty had sent out some other person to replace him, either in the capacity of viceroy or president. He answered all their objections, stating that the court of royal audience, and the governors of the different provinces which they were authorized to nominate, were sufficient to dispense justice and to regulate all affairs, they at last consented; and immediately embarking, he set sail for Panama.
Just before he sailed and while on board ship, the president made a new partition of such lands and Indians as had become vacant since the former distribution which he made at Cuzco. The number of vacant repartimientos was considerable, in consequence of the death of Centeno, De Royas, the licentiate Carvajal, and several other persons of rank; and as there were many candidates who demanded loudly to be preferred, he chose to defer the repartition till after he had embarked, as he was unable to satisfy all the claimants, and was unwilling to expose himself to the clamours of those whom he was unable to gratify. Having settled all these distributions, he left the different deeds signed and sealed with the secretary of the royal audience, with strict injunctions that they should not be opened until eight days after his departure. Every thing being finally concluded, he set sail from the port of Callao in December 1549, accompanied by the Provincial of the Dominicans and Jerom de Aliaga, who were appointed agents for the affairs of Peru at the court of Spain. He was likewise accompanied by several gentlemen and other considerable persons, who meant to return to Spain, carrying with them all the wealth they had been able to acquire.
The voyage to Panama was prosperous. The president and all who were along with him immediately landed at that place, and used the utmost diligence to transport all the wealth belonging to his majesty and to individuals, to Nombre de Dios, to which place they all went, and made proper preparations for returning to Spain. Every one treated the president with the same respect as when he resided in Peru, and he behaved towards them with much civility and attention, keeping open table for all who chose to visit him. This was at the royal expence; as the president had stipulated for all his expences being defrayed by his majesty, before leaving Spain on his mission to Peru. In this he acted with much and prudent precaution; considering that the former governors had been accused of living penuriously in proportion to their rich appointments, and being satisfied that the administration in Spain would not allow him a sufficient income to defray the great expences he must incur in a country where every thing was enormously dear, he declined accepting any specified salary, but demanded and obtained authority to take from the royal funds all that was necessary for his personal expence and the support of his household. He even used the precaution to have this arrangement formally reduced to writing; and in the exercise of this permission he employed a person expressly for the purpose of keeping an exact account of all his expences, and of every thing that was purchased for his table or otherwise, which were all accordingly paid for from the royal coffers.
At this period an extraordinary attempt was made to intercept the president in his passage through the Tierra Firma, and to gain possession of the royal treasure under his charge, which will require some elucidation for its distinct explanation. When Pedro Arias de Avilla discovered the province of Nicaragua, of which he was appointed governor, he married his daughter Donna Maria de Penalosa to Rodrigo de Contreras, a respectable gentleman of Segovia. Some time afterwards, Pedro Arias died, after having appointed his son-in-law to succeed him in the government, and this appointment was confirmed by the court in consideration of the merits and services of Contreras, who accordingly continued governor of Nicaragua for several years. On the appointment of a royal audience on the confines of Nicaragua and Guatimala, Contreras was displaced from his government; and, in pursuance of the ordinance which had occasioned so much commotion in Peru, both he and his wife were deprived of their repartitions of lands and Indians, and the grants which had been made to their children were likewise recalled. Contreras went in consequence to Spain, to solicit a reparation of the injury he had sustained, representing the services which had been performed to the crown by the discovery, conquest, and settlement of Nicaragua, by his father-in-law and himself; but his majesty and the council of the Indies confirmed the decision of the royal audience, as conformable with the regulations.
40
Zarate is extremely erroneous in his account of the sources of the Rio Plata. All the streams which rise from the Peruvian mountains in the situation indicated, and for seven or eight degrees farther south, and which run to the eastwards, contribute towards the mighty Maranon or River of the Amazons.-E.
41
This is an egregious mistake; the Rio Jauja rises from the lake of Chinchay Cocha in the province of Tarma, and runs