Volume Iv Part 20 (1/2)

[4] Zarate is extremely remiss in regard to dates, and not a little confused in the arrangement of his narrative. We learn from Robertson, II. 325, that Ferdinand Pizarro returned to Peru in 1536.--E.

[5] According to Robertson, II. 326, the place where the festival was to be celebrated was only at a few leagues distance from Cuzco.

Garcila.s.so says that it was a garden belonging to the Incas only a league from the city.--E.

[6] The return of Almagro to Cuzco was in the year 1537.--E.

[7] Garcila.s.so names this prince Paullu Inca.--E.

[8] Named _Atavillos_ by Garcila.s.so de la Vega.--E.

[9] The arrangement of Zarate is extremely faulty and confused, as he here recounts circ.u.mstances which preceeded the return of Almagro to Cuzco.

We are here giving a translation of a original doc.u.ment; not endeavouring to write a history of the Conquest of Peru, and have not therefore authority to alter the arrangement of our author.--E.

[10] Garcila.s.so names the Peruvian general t.i.tu Yupanqui. The remainder of the sentence, respecting the brother of the Inca and Gaete, is quite unintelligible. I suspect it has been misunderstood by the French translator and ought to stand thus: ”The commander of these Peruvians was t.i.tu Yupanqui, a brother of the Inca, and the same person who had driven Gaete and others to take refuge in Lima.”--E.

[11] Abancay is a town on one of the branches of the Apurimac about 60 miles west from Cuzco.--E.

[12] We learn from the History of America, II. 331, that this bloodless victory over Alvarado took place on the 12th July 1537. Garcila.s.so calls it the battle of the river Amancay, and names Alvarado Alonso.--E.

[13] Nasca is about 240 miles S.S.E. from Lima, or about sixty Spanish leagues.--E.

[14] Zarate forgets that only a few lines before, he had mentioned that Almagro carried these officers along with his army:--E.

[15] Mala, or San Pedro de Mala, is a town and sea-port on a river of the same name, about 50 miles south from Lima.

[16] According to Robertson, II. 334, after an unsuccessful attempt to cross the mountains by the direct road from Lima to Cuzco, Ferdinand marched southwards in the maritime plain to Nasca, whence he penetrated by the defiles of the mountains in that quarter.--E.

[17] Garcila.s.so informs us that the musketeers of Pizarro used a kind of chain shot on this occasion; their leaden bullets being cast in two hemispheres connected together by several links of a small iron chain.--E.

[18] In Zarate the date of this battle is given as the 26th of April, in which he is followed by Robertson; but Garcila.s.so carefully notices the mistake, and a.s.sures us that it was fought on the 6th of the month.--E.

[19] Collao in the text is probably Cailloma of modern maps, a very elevated valley at the head of one of the branches of the Apurimac.

The marshy country beyond, to which Candia and Peranzures were sent on discovery, is called Musu by Garcila.s.so, and was probably the Pampas or marshy plains of the Mojos or Muju, to the east of the Andes, nearly in the lat.i.tude of Cailloma--E.

[20] We learn from Garcila.s.so that in this province the city of La Plata was afterwards built, not far distant from the famous mines of Potosi and Porco--E.

[21] Perhaps the Inca t.i.tu Yupanqui is here meant, who was named Tizogopangui by Zarate on a former occasion.--E.

SECTION IV.

_Expeditions of Pedro de Valdivia into Chili, and of Gonzalo Pizarro to Los Canelos_.

On the arrival of Pedro de Valdivia in Chili, he was peaceably received by the Indians, who wished to gather in their crops, as it was then the season of harvest. When this important business was accomplished, the whole country rose upon the Spaniards, who were unprepared for this event and somewhat dispersed, and killed forty of them before they could draw their forces together. On this occasion, when Valdivia was about to take the field to chastise the Chilese, part of his troops threatened to mutiny against his authority, and he was under the necessity of hanging several of the ringleaders, among whom was captain Pedro Sancho de Hosz, who was almost equal to himself in the command of this expedition. After the suppression of this mutiny, Valdivia took the field against the Indians, and during his absence an army of the enemy exceeding seven thousand men came to attack the newly established city, in which only a small number of Spaniards remained for its defence, under the command of the captains Francisco de Villagran, and Alfonso de Monroy. These officers went boldly out against the Chilese, at the head only of thirty hors.e.m.e.n, with whom they fought bravely against the immense number of Chilese archers from morning till night, after which they retired into the city, extremely fatigued and several of them wounded, but none of them slain. As the Chilese suffered a great loss in killed and wounded during this engagement, they retired during the night.

For eight years afterwards, Valdivia and his troops defended themselves bravely against every effort of the Chilese, who continued the war incessantly. In all that time, Valdivia obliged his soldiers to cultivate a sufficient quant.i.ty of land for their sustenance, not being able to procure Indians for that purpose, yet resolved not to abandon the country which had been commited to his government. At the end of that period he returned into Peru, at the time when the licentiate Pedro de la Gasca was employed in levying an army against Gonzalo Pizarro, as shall be related in the sequel[1].

Soon after the overthrow of the Almagrians, it was reported in Peru that a very rich country had been discovered to the eastwards of Quito, which in particular contained great quant.i.ties of cinnamon trees, on which account it got the name of Los Canelos, or the cinnamon country. The marquis accordingly resolved to send his brother Gonzalo Pizarro to discover that country; and as it was necessary to march thither by way of Quito, where likewise every requisite for the expedition was to be procured, the marquis conferred the government of the kingdom of Quito on his brother, till his majestys pleasure might be made known. Gonzalo Pizarro accordingly set out from Cuzco with a considerable force, taking his route for Quito by way of the elevated mountain vallies[2]. In this march he was opposed by the Indians of the province of Guanuco with so much perseverance and bravery, that the marquis was under the necessity of sending him a reinforcement under Francisco de Chaves. After having overcome this obstacle, he arrived in safety at Quito, where he proceeded to make preparations for his expedition to Los Canelos.

On account of the hostile conduct of the Guanucos towards Gonzalo, and because the curacas or caciques of that province, in conjunction with those of the Conchucos had made frequent attacks on the city and province of Truxillo, in which they killed all the Spaniards they could meet with and pillaged the country, not even sparing their Indian neighbours, the marquis sent a detachment of troops under Gomez de Alvarado to make a conquest of Guanuco, with orders to establish a settlement in that country to keep the natives under subjection. In their military expeditions, the Peruvians of Guanuco carried an idol along with them, named Cataquilla, to which they made offerings of all whom they ma.s.sacred or made prisoners, and of the spoil which fell into their hands. They persisted for a long time in their barbarous hostilities, till at length, Miguel de la Cerna raised a considerable force in Truxillo, with which he joined Francisco de Chaves. With these forces conjoined, they fought successfully against the Indians of Guanuco and reduced them to subjection.