VII. EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF NEW MEXICO…

VII. EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF NEW MEXICO

BY HENRY W. HAYNES.

Archæological Institute of America.

AT the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico there were living, some fifteen hundred miles to the north of the city so named, in the upper valley of the Rio del Norte, and upon some of the eastern affluents of the Colorado of the West, certain native tribes, who had attained to a degree of culture superior to that of any people in North America, with the exception of the semi-civilized Aztec and Maya races. These were the Sedentary or Pueblo Indians,—village communities dwelling together in large buildings constructed of stone or adobe,—whose home lay principally within the present limits of New Mexico and Arizona, although extending somewhat into southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. The first rumors of the existence of this people which had reached the ears of the Spaniards grew out of a tale told to Nuño de Guzman in 1530, when he was at the head of the Royal Audience then governing New Spain.[1412] He had an Indian slave, called by the Spaniards Tejos, who represented himself to be a son of a trader in feathers, such as were used by the natives for head-dresses. Tejos said that it was his father’s habit to travel about, exchanging his wares for silver and gold, which were abundant in certain regions. Once or twice he had accompanied his father on these journeys, and then he had seen cities large enough to be compared with Mexico. They were seven in number, and entire streets in them were occupied by jewellers. To reach them it was necessary to travel northward forty days’ journey through a desert region lying between the two seas.

Guzman placed confidence in this narrative; and collecting a force of four hundred Spaniards and twenty thousand Indians, he set out from Mexico in search of this country. It was believed to be only about six hundred miles distant, and already the name of The Land of the Seven Cities had been given to it. There were also other strange stories current, that had been told to Cortés a few years before, about a region called Ciguatan, lying somewhere in the north, near to which was an island inhabited solely by Amazons. In this, also, there was said to be gold in abundance; and it was quite as much the hope of finding the Island of the Amazons, with its gold, that inspired Guzman’s expedition, as of gaining access to the treasures of The Seven Cities. But on his march confirmatory reports about these cities kept reaching him; and eventually the expedition succeeded in penetrating to Ciguatan, and even as far within the province of Culiacan, the extreme limit of Spanish discovery, as to Colombo. Nevertheless, they did not find the Island of the Amazons, and The Seven Cities kept receding farther toward the north.[1413] Meanwhile one of his captains made a reconnoissance some seventy leagues in an easterly direction without any satisfactory result. At last, the difficulties of an advance through a wild country and amid pathless mountains brought the expedition to a halt, which soon dampened the ardor of the soldiers, who grew clamorous to return to Mexico. But in the mean time news had reached Guzman that Cortés was once more there, clothed with new titles and authority, and he did not dare to brave the anger which his hostile proceedings during Cortés’ absence were sure to have provoked. Accordingly he retraced his steps no farther than to Compostella and Guadalaxara, where he remained, and established the colonies from which was formed the province known afterwards as New Gallicia.[1414] Not long after, he was deposed from his authority as governor of this province by direct commands from Spain; and Antonio de Mendoza, who had now been created Viceroy of New Spain, appointed Francisco Vasquez de Coronado to the vacant post.

Meanwhile the Indian Tejos had died, and the mysterious Seven Cities would have remained only a name, if the interest in them had not been revived by a remarkable occurrence. This was the arrival in the province of Culiacan, in 1536, of Antonio Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, with three companions. They were the sole survivors of the numerous company who had followed Pamphilo de Narvaez, in 1527, to the shores of Florida. During nine years of almost incredible perils and hardships, after traversing in their wanderings all the great unknown region lying north of the Gulf of Mexico, they had at last reached the shores of the southern sea. They brought back accounts of having fallen in with civilized peoples, dwelling in permanent habitations, where were “populous towns with very large houses.”[1415] The story of their strange adventures is told elsewhere in more detail,[1416] so that here it suffices to put on record simply that they were the first Europeans to tread the soil of New Mexico. As soon as they reached Mexico, the intelligence of their discoveries was communicated to the Viceroy Mendoza, by whom it was at once transmitted to Coronado, the new governor of New Gallicia. He was a gentleman of good family, from Salamanca, but long established in Mexico, where he had married a daughter of Alonzo d’Estrada, former governor of that place, who was generally believed to be a natural son of Ferdinand the Catholic. Coronado at this time was occupied in travelling through New Spain; but he repaired immediately to his province to investigate the reports, taking with him one of Cabeza de Vaca’s companions, a negro named Stephen, and also three Franciscan monks, missionaries to the natives. After a brief interval a proposition was made to one of these monks, Fray Marcos de Nizza (of Nice), to undertake a preliminary exploration of the country. He was selected for this task on account of his character and attainments, and because of the experience he had acquired in Peru, under Alvarado. Elaborate instructions were sent to him by the Viceroy, which seem inspired by a spirit of humanity as well as intelligence.[1417] He was told that the expedition was to be undertaken for the spread of the holy Catholic faith, and that he must exhort the Spaniards to treat the natives with kindness, and threaten them with the Viceroy’s displeasure if this command should be disobeyed. The natives were to be informed of the Emperor’s indignation at the cruelties that had been inflicted upon them, and to be assured that they should no longer be enslaved or removed from their homes. He was ordered to take the negro Stephen as his guide, and cautioned against giving any ground of offence to the natives. He was to take special note of their numbers and manner of life, and whether they were at peace or war among themselves. He was also to observe particularly the nature of the country, the fertility of the soil, and the character of its products; to learn what wild animals were to be found there, and whether there were any rivers, great or small. He was to search for precious stones and metals, and if possible to bring back specimens of them; and to make inquiry whether the natives had any knowledge of a neighboring sea. If he should succeed in reaching the southern sea, he was to leave an account of his discoveries buried at the foot of some conspicuous tree marked with a cross, and to do the same thing at the mouths of all rivers, so that any future maritime expedition might be instructed to be on the lookout for such a sign. Especially was he ordered to send back constant reports as to the route he had taken, and how he was received; and if he should discover any great city, he was to return immediately to give private information about it. Finally, he was told to take possession of the new country in the name of the Emperor, and to make the natives understand that they must submit themselves to him.

In accordance with these instructions, Fray Marcos set out from S. Miguel de Culiacan on the 7th of March, 1539, with Fray Honoratus for a companion, and the negro Stephen for a guide. The monks were not greatly pleased with this man, on account of his avaricious and sensual nature; but they hoped to reap some benefit from his ability to communicate with the natives, several of whom, who had been brought away from their homes by Cabeza de Vaca, but who had been redeemed and set free by the Viceroy, also accompanied the party. There was, besides, a much larger company of natives from the neighboring regions, who were induced to join the expedition on account of the favorable representations made to them by those whom the Viceroy had freed.

Fray Marcos, upon his return, made a formal report of all his doings;[1418] and to this we must look for the first definite information in regard to the early exploration and history of the region with which we are now concerned, since Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative is too confused to furnish any sure indications of locality, and he has even been charged by Castañeda with “representing things very differently from what he had found them in reality.”[1419] The monk relates how they reached Petatlan, after having met with great kindness from the natives on their way; and while resting there for three days Fray Honoratus fell ill, and was obliged to be left behind. He himself continued his journey for some thirty leagues, still finding the natives most friendly, and even willing to share with him their supply of food, although it was but scanty, owing to no rain having fallen for three years. On his way he was met by some inhabitants of the island, which had previously been visited by Cortés, by whom he was assured that it was indeed an island, and not a continent as some had supposed. Still other people came to visit him from a larger island, but more distant, who informed him that there were still thirty islands more, but that they were only poorly supplied with food.[1420] These Indians wore shells suspended from their necks, like those in which pearls are found; and when a pearl was shown to them, they said they had an abundance of them, although the friar admits that he himself did not see any. After this his route lay for four days through a desert, during which he was accompanied by the Indians from the islands and the inhabitants of the villages through which he had passed. Finally he came to a people who were astonished to see him, as they had no intercourse with the people on the other side of the desert, and had no knowledge whatsoever of Europeans. Nevertheless, they received him kindly, and supplied him with food, and endeavored to touch his garments, calling him “a man sent from heaven.” In return, he endeavored, as best he might by means of interpreters, to teach them about “God in heaven, and his Majesty upon earth.” Upon being asked if they knew of any country more populous and civilized than their own, they replied that four or five days’ journey into the interior, in a great plain at the foot of the mountains, there were many large cities, inhabited by a people who wore garments made of cotton. When specimens of different metals were shown to them, they selected the gold, and said that this people had their common dishes made of this material, and wore balls of it suspended from their ears and noses, and even used “thin plates of it to scrape off their sweat.” However, as this plain was quite remote from the sea, and as it was his purpose never to be far away from it during his journeyings, the monk decided to defer the exploration of this country until his return.

Meanwhile Fray Marcos continued to travel for three days through the territories of the same tribe, until he arrived at a town of moderate size, called Vacapa, situated in a fertile region about forty leagues from the sea.[1421] Here he rested for several days, while three exploring parties were despatched to the coast with directions to bring back some of the natives dwelling there as well as upon the neighboring islands, in order that he might obtain more definite information about those regions. The negro was ordered to advance in a northerly direction fifty or sixty leagues, and to send back a report of what he should discover. In four days’ time a messenger came from him bringing news of “a country the finest in the world;” and with him came an Indian, who professed to have visited it, and who reported that it was a thirty days’ journey from the place where Stephen then was to the first city of this province. The name of this province was Cibola,[1422] and it contained seven great cities, all under the rule of one lord. The houses were built of stone and lime; some of them were three stories high, and had their doorways ornamented with turquoises, of which there was an abundance in that country; beyond this, there were still other provinces all greater than that of The Seven Cities. This tale was all the more readily credited by the monk, as the man appeared to be “of good understanding.” Nevertheless, he deferred his departure until the exploring parties should return from the coast. After a short time they came back, bringing with them some of the dwellers upon the coast and on two of the islands, who reported that there were thirty-four islands in all, near to one another; but that all, as well as the main land, were deficient in food supplies. They said that the islanders held intercourse with each other by means of rafts, and that the coast stretched due north. On the same day there came to Vacapa, to visit the monk, three Indians who had their faces, hands, and breasts painted. They said that they dwelt in the eastern country, in the neighborhood of Cibola, and they confirmed all the reports in regard to it.

As fresh messengers had now come from Stephen, urging the monk to hasten his departure, he sent the natives of the coast back to their homes and resumed his journey, taking with him two of the islanders—who begged to accompany him for several days—and the painted Indians. In three days’ time he arrived among the people who had given the negro his information about Cibola. They confirmed all that had been said about it; and they also told about three other great kingdoms, called Marata, Acus, and Totonteac. They said they were in the habit of going to these countries to labor in the fields, and that they received in payment turquoises and skins of cattle. All the people there wore turquoises in their ears and noses, and were clad in long cotton robes reaching to their feet, with a girdle of turquoises around the waist. Over these cotton garments they wore mantles made of skins, which were considered to be the clothing best suited to the country. They gave the monk several of these skins, which were said to come from Cibola, and which proved to be as well dressed and tanned as those prepared by the most highly civilized people. The people here treated him with very great kindness, and brought the sick to him to be healed, and endeavored to touch his garments as he recited the Gospels over them. The next day he continued his journey, still attended by the painted Indians, and arrived at another village, where the same scenes were repeated. He was told that Stephen had gone on four or five days’ journey, accompanied by many of the natives, and that he had left word for Fray Marcos to hasten forward. As this appeared to be the finest country he had found thus far, he proceeded to erect two crosses, and to take formal possession of it in the name of the Emperor, in accordance with his instructions. He then continued on his journey for five days more, passing through one village after another, everywhere treated with great kindness, and receiving presents of turquoises and of skins, until at last he was told that he was on the point of coming to a desert region. To cross this would be five days’ march; but he was assured that provisions would be transported for him, and places provided in which he could sleep. This all turned out as had been promised, and he then reached a populous valley, where the people all wore turquoises in greater profusion than ever, and talked about Cibola as familiarly as did the Spaniards about Mexico or Quito. They said that in it all the products of civilization could be procured, and they explained the method by which the houses were constructed of several stories.

Up to this point the coast had continued to run due north; but here, in the latitude of 35°, Fray Marcos found, from personal examination, that it began to trend westward. For five days he journeyed through this fertile and well-watered valley, finding villages in it at every half-league, when there met him a native of Cibola, who had fled hither from the governor of that place. He was a man advanced in years, and of good appearance and capacity; and from him were obtained even more definite and detailed accounts of Cibola and the neighboring kingdoms, their condition and mode of government; and he begged to be allowed to return home in the friar’s company, in order to obtain pardon through his intercession. The monk pursued his way for three days more through this rich and populous valley, when he was informed that soon another desert stretch, fifteen long days’ march in extent, would begin. Accordingly, as he had now travelled one hundred and twelve leagues from the place where he had first learned of this new country, he determined to rest here a short time. He was told that Stephen had taken along with him more than three hundred men as his escort, and to carry provisions across the desert; and he was advised to do likewise, as the natives all expected to return laden with riches. But Fray Marcos declined; and selecting only thirty of the principal men, and the necessary porters, he entered upon the desert in the month of May, and travelled for twelve days, finding at all the halting-places the cabins which had been occupied by Stephen and other travellers. Of a sudden an Indian came in sight, covered with dust and sweat, with grief and terror stamped upon his countenance. He had been one of Stephen’s party, and was the son of one of the chiefs who were escorting the friar. This was the tale he told: On the day before Stephen’s arrival at Cibola, according to his custom, he sent forward messengers to announce his approach. These carried his staff of office, made of a gourd, to which was attached a string of bells and two feathers, one white and one red, which signified that he had come with peaceful intentions and to heal the sick. But when this was delivered to the governor, he angrily dashed it to the ground, saying he knew the strangers, and forbade their entering the city, upon pain of death. This message was brought back to Stephen, who nevertheless continued on, but was prevented from entering the city. He was conducted to a large house outside the walls, where everything was taken from him; and the whole party passed the night without food or drink. The following morning, while the narrator had gone to the river which flowed near by, to quench his thirst, suddenly he saw Stephen in full flight, pursued by the people of Cibola, who were slaying all of his companions; whereupon he hid himself under the bank, and finally succeeded in escaping across the desert. When they heard this pitiful story, the Indians began to wail, and the monk to tremble for his own life; but he says he was troubled still more at the thought of not being able to bring back information about this important country. Nevertheless, he proceeded to cut the cords of some of his packages, from which he had as yet given nothing away, and to distribute all the contents among the chief men, bidding them fear nothing, but continue on with him still farther; which they did, until they came within a day’s journey of Cibola. Here there met them two more of Stephen’s Indian companions, still bleeding from their wounds, who told the same story about his death and the destruction of his company, supposing that they alone had escaped, by hiding themselves under the heaps of those who had been slain by flights of arrows.[1423]

The monk goes on to relate that he tried to comfort the weeping natives, by telling them that God would punish the people of Cibola, and the Emperor would send an army to chastise them; but they refused to believe him, saying no power could resist that of Cibola. He thereupon distributed everything he had left among them to appease them, and endeavored to persuade some of them to go nearer the city, in order to make sure of the fate of the party; and upon their refusal, he said that he should at all events endeavor to obtain a sight of Cibola. Seeing his determination, two of the chiefs consented to accompany him; and they came to a hill, from which they could look down upon the city. It is situated in a plain, he says, and seemed to be handsomer and more important than any city he had yet seen, and even larger than Mexico. The houses were built of stone, and were of several stories, as the natives had told him, and with flat roofs; and upon his expressing his admiration of it, his companions said that it was the smallest of The Seven Cities, and that Totonteac, one of the neighboring towns, was still larger and finer. With the help of the Indians he proceeded to raise a great pile of stones, upon which he planted a cross as large as he was able to make, and in the name of the Viceroy and Governor of New Spain, on behalf of the Emperor, he took possession of the Land of the Seven Cities, and the realms of Totonteac, Acus, and Marata; and to the whole country he gave the name of the New Kingdom of St. Francis. Upon retracing his steps across the desert, he failed to receive as friendly a reception as before, for all the people were in tears for the loss of their murdered relatives; so that he became alarmed, and hastened through the valley so rapidly that in three days’ time he had crossed the second desert. From this point he made a detour in the direction of the country lying to the East, about which he had been told on his first coming. Without venturing to penetrate into it, he contented himself with observing the approaches, when he found seven small villages in a verdant valley, but in the distance he could see the smoke of a fine city. He was informed that the country was very rich in gold, but that the inhabitants refused all intercourse with strangers. Nevertheless, he planted two more crosses here, and took formal possession of the country. From this point he retraced his steps as speedily as possible to Compostella, where he rejoined Coronado, and sent immediate notice of his return to the Viceroy.

While Fray Marcos had been absent upon his journey, Coronado had himself been occupied in searching for a province lying somewhere to the north of his own dominions, called Topira. After a toilsome march through a mountain region this was reached, and proved to be entirely different from what it had been reported; and he had just returned from this fruitless expedition, when the monk arrived. So glowing were the accounts he gave of what he had himself seen and what the natives had told him, as well as of the wealth to be found in the islands of the southern seas, that Coronado determined to take the monk at once with himself to Mexico and lay the matter before the Viceroy. There, on the 2d of September, 1539, according to the notaries’ attest, Fray Marcos presented a report in writing to Mendoza, by whom it was transmitted to the Emperor Charles V., accompanied by a letter from himself containing a brief narrative of the previous attempts that had been made for the exploration of the country.[1424] In a very short time Coronado began to proclaim openly what hitherto he had only whispered in strictest confidence to his most intimate friends,—that the marvellous Seven Cities had been discovered which Nuño de Guzman had sought for in vain; and he proceeded forthwith to make preparations and to collect a military force for their conquest. Meanwhile the Franciscans chose Fray Marcos for their general; and soon all the pulpits of that Order were resounding to such good purpose, that before long an army of three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred Indians of New Spain had been collected. So many gentlemen of noble birth volunteered for this service that the Viceroy was much embarrassed in selecting officers; but at last he decided upon the principal ones, and appointed Coronado, as was only his due, general-in-chief. Compostella, the capital of New Gallicia, was named as the place of rendezvous for the army; and in the mean time Hernando Alarcon received instructions to sail along the coast of the southern sea in order to accompany the march of the expedition. He was directed to transport the heavy stores and to keep up communications by means of the rivers that empty into it. This part of the plan, however, failed of success, as Coronado’s line of march soon led him to a distance from the coast.[1425]

In the last days of February, 1540, the Viceroy himself came to Compostella, and from there he accompanied the army for two days on its march. But soon the difficulties of the route began to tell upon the inexperienced cavaliers, who were obliged each to carry his own provisions and baggage, so that when they had reached Chiametla, they were compelled to halt for several days in order to procure a supply of food. In doing this a collision with the natives occurred, in which one of the superior officers was slain; and in revenge, all who were believed to be inhabitants of the village where it happened were hanged. Soon after this, dissatisfaction began to manifest itself among the troops, which was heightened by the discouraging reports which were spread on the return of Melchior Diaz and his party, whom Coronado had sent by Mendoza’s orders on a reconnoitring expedition during his own absence in Mexico. They had penetrated two hundred leagues beyond Culiacan, as far as the edge of the desert, and they gave very different accounts from those of Fray Marcos. Very few inhabitants were seen, except in two or three little villages of some thirty huts, and everywhere was a great scarcity of provisions; while the mountainous nature of the country rendered it almost impassable.[1426] The friar, however, strove to encourage their drooping spirits, promising them that they should not return empty handed; and the march was continued to Culiacan, where the expedition was received with great hospitality by the Spanish colonists. Here Coronado left the main body of the army under the command of Tristan d’Arellano, with orders to follow him in a fortnight, while he himself set out on the 22d of April, 1540, with fifty horse and a few foot-soldiers and the monks who did not choose to be left behind. In somewhat more than a month’s time he came to the last inhabited place on the borders of the desert, having everywhere met with a friendly reception from the natives. At an intervening village, in the valley which Cabeza de Vaca had called Corazones, he had halted, and despatched messengers to the sea-coast, which was five days’ journey distant, and learned that a vessel had been seen passing by. The place which he had now reached bore the name of Chichilticalli, or The Red House, and it proved to be something very different from what Fray Marcos had reported. Instead of a populous town at a distance of five leagues from the sea, he found merely a single ruinous, roofless structure, at least ten days’ journey from the coast. Nevertheless, it bore the appearance of having once been a fortified work which had been constructed out of red earth by a civilized people, but had been destroyed in former times by some barbarous enemy.[1427] Here Coronado entered upon the desert, and proceeding in a northeasterly direction he came in a fortnight’s time to a river, to which the name of the Vermejo was given, on account of its turbid waters. This was only eight leagues distant from Cibola, where they arrived on the following day, sometime early in July, having only escaped by the general’s prudence from falling into an ambuscade of hostile natives.[1428]

Cibola turned out to be even a greater disappointment than the Red House, and many were the maledictions showered upon the monk by the soldiers. Instead of the great city which he had reported, it proved to be only a little village of not more than two hundred inhabitants, situated upon a rocky eminence, and difficult of access.[1429] From its resemblance in situation, Coronado gave the name of Granada to the village; and he states that the name Cibola properly belonged to the whole district containing seven towns, and not to any particular place. As the natives continued to manifest a hostile disposition, and the army was almost famished from lack of food, it was resolved to attempt to carry it at once by assault, in order to get at the abundance of provisions stored there. But the inhabitants made such a stout resistance with missiles and showers of stones, that it would have gone hard with the Spaniards if it had not been for the protection of their armor. As it was, Coronado himself was twice felled to the earth, and his life was only saved by the devotion of one of his officers, who shielded him with his own body. However, in less than an hour’s time the place was captured, though several of the horses of the Spaniards were killed, and a few of the assailants wounded. But when once possession of this strong point was secured, the whole district was speedily reduced to submission.

Here Coronado awaited the arrival of the main body of his army before attempting to penetrate farther into the country; and from this place he transmitted to the Viceroy, under date of Aug. 3, 1540, a report of what he had already accomplished, in which his disappointment about the character of the region through which he had journeyed was very plainly expressed, as well as his entire disbelief in the truth of the reports which Fray Marcos had brought back respecting the rich and powerful kingdoms lying at a distance. He shows that he had discovered the inherent defect of the country by laying particular stress upon the “great want of pasture;” and says that he had learned that “what the Indians worship is water, for it causeth their corn to grow and maintaineth their life.”[1430] With this despatch he sent specimens of the garments worn by the natives and of their weapons, and also “two cloths painted with the beasts of the country;” he also reports that the natives possessed a certain amount of gold and silver, but that he could not discover whence they procured it.

While waiting at Cibola the arrival of the main body of the army, Coronado sent out a small party under Pedro de Tobar to explore a province lying some twenty leagues or more to the northwest, called Tusayan,[1431] where there were said to be seven cities, with houses built like those of Cibola, and inhabited by a warlike people. Tobar succeeded in approaching close to the first of these without being observed, as the natives now seldom ventured far from their houses on account of the fear inspired by the rumors spread abroad that Cibola had been captured by a fierce people mounted upon animals that devoured human flesh. However, as soon as the Spaniards were discovered, the natives showed a bold front, advancing to meet them in good order, and well armed. Drawing a line in the sand, they forbade the Spaniards crossing it, and wounded the horse of a soldier who ventured to leap over it; whereupon a friar named Juan de Padilla, who had been a soldier in his youth, urged the captain to make an onslaught upon them, and the natives were soon put to flight and many of them slain. In a short time all this province gave in its submission, and peaceable relations were once more established. The natives brought as gifts to the Spaniards turquoises, tanned skins, maize, and other provisions, and especially cotton stuffs, which were regarded by them as the choicest present, since it did not grow in their own country. They also gave information about a large river lying farther to the west, on whose banks, at some days’ journey down the stream, there dwelt a race of very large men. Tobar returned to Cibola with this report, and Coronado immediately despatched a second exploring party to verify it, under García Lopez de Cardenas. These were well received on their way by the people of Tusayan, who supplied them with guides and provisions for the journey. For twenty days their march lay through a desert, at the end of which they came to the banks of a river which seemed to them to be elevated “three or four leagues in the air.” So steep were these banks that it was impossible to descend to the water, which appeared so far away as to seem to be only an arm’s-length in width, and yet their guides assured them that it was over half a league broad. Although it was summer time, it was quite cold, and the country was covered with a growth of stunted pines. For three days they followed the bank in search of a passage; and some volunteers who made the attempt returned with the report that they had only been able to accomplish a third of the descent, and that rocks which had seemed scarcely as high as a man, were found to be loftier than the towers of Seville Cathedral. For three or four days more they continued on; but at length they were forced to return by want of water, which they had been obliged to seek for every night a league or two back from the river, and retraced their steps to Cibola.[1432]

In the mean time the main body of the army, which had been left at Culiacan under the command of Tristan d’Arellano, with orders to follow Coronado in a fortnight, set out, and slowly advancing reached at length Cabeza de Vaca’s province of Corazones. Here it was thought best to attempt to establish a colony; but owing to the difficulty of procuring a sufficient supply of food, it was subsequently transferred to the spot in the valley of the river which is now called Sonora. From here Don Roderigo Maldonado was despatched down the river in the hope of finding Alarcon’s vessels. He returned without having accomplished his purpose, but brought back with him a native of huge stature, and reported that a nation of still larger men dwelt farther down the coast. The whole army now transferred itself across the river to the new colony, and there waited for further orders from Coronado.

About the middle of September, 1540,[1433] Melchior Diaz and Juan Gallegos arrived from Cibola with instructions for the army to proceed thither at once. Gallegos continued on to Mexico, carrying to the Viceroy an account of the discoveries; and with him went Fray Marcos, who dared not remain any longer with the army, so incensed were they with him for his gross misrepresentations. Diaz was ordered to remain at the new colony in the capacity of governor, and to seek to put himself in communication with Alarcon’s vessels. Immediately the army took up its march for Cibola, but Arellano remained behind. As soon as they had departed, Diaz set out to explore the sea-coast, leaving Diego d’Alcarraz in command in his stead, who turned out to be very poorly fitted to exercise authority, so that disorders and mutinies broke out. Diaz himself, after marching one hundred and fifty leagues in a southwesterly direction (as Castañeda reports),[1434] struck the Tizon at some distance from its mouth, at a place where it was at least half a league wide. Here he found a race of huge men dwelling together in large numbers in underground cabins roofed with straw, from whom he learned that the vessels had been seen three days’ march down the stream. Upon reaching the spot indicated, which the natives told him was fifteen leagues from its mouth, he came upon a tree with an inscription upon it, and buried under it he found a writing stating that Alarcon had come so far,[1435] and after waiting there awhile had returned to New Spain. It also contained the information that this supposed south sea was actually a gulf which separated the mainland from what had been called the Island of California. With the intention of exploring this peninsula, Diaz proceeded up the river five or six days’ march in the hope of finding a ford, and at length attempted to cross by means of rafts. The natives, whose assistance he had called in to help construct them, proved treacherous, and laid a plot to attack the Spaniards on both banks of the river, while a portion were in the act of crossing. When this was detected, they made their assault boldly, but were speedily put to flight. Diaz then continued his journey along the coast, which took here a southeasterly direction, until he reached a volcanic region where farther progress became impossible. While retracing his steps, he met with an accident which put an end to his life; but the rest of his party returned to Sonora in safety.

While Diaz was making these explorations, the main body of the army had continued on to Chichilticalli without having encountered any other peril than being severely poisoned from having eaten preserved fruits that had been given to them by the natives. Castañeda records their falling in with a flock of large mountain sheep, which ran so swiftly that they could not be captured. When within a day’s march of Cibola they were overtaken by a terrible storm, accompanied by a heavy snow-fall, which caused the Spaniards great suffering, and nearly cost the lives of their Indian allies, natives of a warm country. But on arriving they found comfortable quarters provided by Coronado, and the whole force was now reunited, with the exception of a detachment which had been sent upon an expedition in an entirely different direction.

A party of natives had come to Cibola from a village called Cicuyé, situated some seventy leagues away toward the east, under a chief to whom the Spaniards gave the name of Bigotes, from the long mustache he wore. They proffered their friendly services to the strangers and invited them to visit their country, at the same time making them presents of tanned bison-skins. One of them had the figure of this animal painted on his body, which gave the Spaniards their first knowledge of its appearance. Coronado made them in return presents of glass beads and bells, and ordered Hernando d’Alvarado to take twenty men with him and explore that region, and after eighty days to return and report what he had discovered. After five days’ travel Alvarado came to a village called Acuco, situated on a precipitous cliff so high that an arquebus-ball could scarcely reach the top. The only approach to it was by an artificial stairway cut in the rock, of more than three hundred steps, and for the last eighteen feet there were only holes into which to insert the toes.[1436] By showing a bold front, friendly relations were established with the inhabitants of this formidable stronghold, who numbered some two hundred fighting men, and a large supply of provisions was received from them. Three days’ march farther brought them to a province called Tiguex, containing twelve villages situated on the banks of a great river.[1437] The presence in the party of Bigotes, who was a renowned warrior well known in all that region, conciliated the favor of the people of Tiguex; and the country pleased Alvarado so much, that he sent a messenger to Coronado to persuade him to make it his winter quarters.[1438] Continuing his journey, in five days more he reached Cicuyé, which he found to be a strongly fortified village of four-story terraced houses, built around a large square. It was also protected by a low stone wall, and was capable of putting five hundred warriors into the field.[1439] Here they were welcomed with great demonstrations of friendship, and received many gifts of turquoises, which were abundant in that country.[1440] While resting here for several days they fell in with an Indian slave,—a native of the region lying toward Florida, which De Soto afterward explored,—who told them marvellous tales about the stores of gold and silver to be found in the great cities of his own country.

This man they named “the Turk,” from his resemblance to men of that nation; and such implicit credence did they place in his stories, that after penetrating a little way into the plains under his guidance,—where for the first time they saw the bisons, with whose skins they had become familiar,—they retraced their steps in order to bring this information to Coronado. On reaching Tiguex, Alvarado found Cardenas there, who had been sent on by the General, in accordance with his advice, to prepare winter quarters for the army now on its march from Sonora. Alvarado accordingly decided to remain in that province and wait for the coming of the army; but in making their preparations for its comfort the Spaniards showed very little consideration for the natives, forcing them to abandon one of their villages, taking only the clothes that they were wearing.

By this time Arellano had arrived at Cibola, coming from Sonora; and to him Coronado once more intrusted the command of the main force, with instructions for it to rest twenty days at Cibola, and then to proceed direct to Tiguex. He himself, having heard of a province containing eight towns called Tutahaco, took a party of his hardiest men and set out to explore it. On his way thither, which took the direction of the route to Tiguex, for two days and a half they were without water, and were forced to seek for it in a chain of snow-covered mountains. After eight days’ march they reached this place, and there they heard of other villages situated still farther down the river. The people were found to be a friendly race, dwelling in buildings constructed of earth, like those at Tiguex, which province Coronado reached by following up the course of the river.[1441]

On his arrival there he found Alvarado and the Turk, who repeated his story about the marvellous wealth to be found in his country, adding many fanciful embellishments,—which were the more readily believed, as he was able to distinguish copper from gold. He pretended that the people of Cicuyé had taken some gold bracelets from him when they made him prisoner, and Coronado accordingly sent Alvarado back to Cicuyé to reclaim them. The people there received him again in a friendly way, but denied all knowledge of the gold bracelets, and declared the Turk to be a liar. Upon this, Alvarado threw the chief men of the town and Bigotes into chains and brought them to Tiguex, where they were kept prisoners more than six months, to the great grief and indignation of the natives, who endeavored in vain to rescue them. This affair did much to discredit the Spaniards in the estimation of the natives, whom their subsequent harsh treatment soon stirred up to active resistance.

After the twenty days had expired, Arellano and the army started for Tiguex, passing on their way the rock of Acuco, which many of the Spaniards ascended to enjoy the view,—but with great difficulty, although the native women accomplished it easily, carrying their water-jars. They had rested, after their first day’s march, at the finest town in all the province, where were private houses seven stories high. Here it began to snow. It was now early in December (1540), and for ten days of their journey the snow fell every night. But there was wood in plenty for their fires, and they did not suffer, even finding the snow a protection. But when they reached the village in the province of Tiguex, where their winter quarters had been prepared, they forgot all their past toils in listening to the delusive fables told them by the Turk. The whole province, however, was found to be in a state of revolt, occasioned by the severity of exactions imposed by Coronado in his anxiety for the comfort of his men, together with the brutality of officers and soldiers alike in carrying out his orders. The General had made requisition for three hundred pieces of cloth; and without allowing time for the natives to allot their several proportions to the different villages to complete the amount, the soldiers stripped the garments off whomsoever they met, without regard to rank or condition, and had added to the injury by offering violence to the women. The people of one of the villages had slain one of the Indian allies and driven off several of the horses, whereupon Coronado had sent Cardenas with the greater part of the force to attack it; and only after more than twenty-four hours of hard fighting, and when many of the Spaniards had been wounded by arrows, were the defenders at last forced to surrender by a device of the Indian allies, who drove a mine into the lower portion of the houses, and filled them with the smoke of burning combustibles. By an act of base treachery they were put to death after having been promised quarter; and at once the report was spread far and wide that the Spaniards were violators of their solemn engagements.

It was just at the time of the capture of this village that the main body of the army arrived; and then the snow began to fall and continued to do so for two months, so that it was impossible to undertake any new enterprise. Attempts were made, however, to conciliate the natives; but they refused to place any confidence in the representations made to them Force was thereupon resorted to; and Cardenas, after an ineffectual attempt upon one of the villages, came near losing his life by treachery before the principal town of Tiguex, to which Coronado finally determined to lay regular siege. This lasted for fifty days, during which the besieged suffered greatly from want of water; and finally, in attempting to escape by night they were discovered, and a great many of them were driven into the river and perished. The Spaniards themselves suffered considerably, more than twenty being wounded by arrows, several of whom died from bad medical treatment. Two of the officers perished,—one killed in battle, the other taken prisoner and carried into the town.[1442]

During the siege Coronado himself made a brief visit to Cicuyé, for the purpose of examining the country and restoring to his home the chieftain whom Alvarado had brought away. At this time he promised to set Bigotes also at liberty, when he should pass by the place on his way to the rich countries which the Turk had told about. This delighted the people, and he returned to the camp before Tiguex, leaving them in a very friendly state of mind toward him.

About this time there arrived messengers from Alcarraz and the colony at Sonora, bringing information of the death of Melchior Diaz, and of the disorderly condition prevailing there. Coronado immediately despatched Tobar to take command at that place, and to escort the messengers whom he sent to the Viceroy to report what had already been accomplished and the marvellous information received from the Turk. Tobar soon found himself involved in hostilities with the natives, and lost seventeen of his men by their poisoned arrows. Not feeling himself sufficiently secure at Sonora, he transferred the colony to the valley of Suya, forty leagues nearer to Cibola; and not long afterward he received orders from Coronado to rejoin the army with the best of his force.

When the siege was over, an expedition was sent out to receive the submission of the people of Chia, a large town situated four leagues west of the river, in whose charge were left four bronze cannon which were in a bad condition. Another expedition was equally successful in a province of seven villages called Quirex.[1443]

For four months the river had been closed by ice strong enough to bear a horse; but now it had melted, and Coronado prepared to start for the lands called Quivira, Arche, and the country of the Guyas, which the Turk declared abounded to a greater or less degree with gold and silver. Many of the Spaniards, however, began to have their suspicions about these fine stories.

The army left Tiguex, April 23, 1541,[1444] for Cicuyé, twenty-five leagues distant; and with them went Bigotes, who was set at liberty on arriving there, to the great joy of his countrymen. Provisions in abundance were supplied by them, besides a guide, named Xabe, a native of Quivira, who confirmed to some extent the stories of the Turk. On quitting Cicuyé they immediately entered the mountains, and after four days’ march came to a broad river over which they were forced to build a bridge, which occupied four days more.[1445] From here they journeyed in a direction north-northeast over the plains, and in a few days fell in with immense herds of bisons. At first there were only bulls, but some days later they came upon the cows and calves; and at this time, after seventeen days’ march, they came upon a band of nomads called Querechos, busy in the pursuit of the animals. This people dwelt in tents made of tanned bison-skins stretched around poles planted in the earth and fastened above and below. They possessed large packs of dogs, by whom the tents were transported, and obtained their whole sustenance by hunting the bison. Castañeda relates that on one occasion he saw an arrow driven completely through the body of one of these animals. The Querechos were intelligent and perfectly fearless, but friendly; and by signs they confirmed what the Turk had said, adding that to the eastward was a large river whose banks were thickly inhabited, and that the nearest village was called Haxa. Two days’ march farther on, the same tribe was again met, and they said that the villages lay still more to the east.

As the Turk now represented that Haxa was only two days’ march distant, Diego Lopez was sent in advance, with ten light-armed men, to explore it; while the army, continuing on in the same direction, fell in with an innumerable quantity of bisons, and lost several horses in chasing them. Lopez, after marching twenty leagues without seeing anything but the sky and the bisons, was at last brought back by the friendly natives; and his ill success contributed still more to discredit the Turk. One of the force, a native of Quivira named Sopete, had given quite different information about the route; and Coronado therefore sent out another exploring party under Rodrigo Maldonado, who came to a village in a great ravine, where a blind old man gave them to understand by signs that a long while before he had seen four of their countrymen: these were believed to be Cabeza de Vaca and his companions.[1446] This people were very friendly, and gave to the Spaniards a great quantity of tanned skins and other objects, including a tent as large as a house. Forthwith a messenger was despatched to bring the whole body of the soldiers to this spot, who, on arriving, proceeded at once to divide the skins among themselves, to the great chagrin of the natives, who had supposed that they would only bless the skins, as Cabeza de Vaca had done, and then return them. While the army was resting here there came a terrible storm, in which hailstones fell of such enormous size as would have done great mischief if it had been encountered in the open plain. A party sent out to reconnoitre came upon another wandering tribe, called Teyas, who conducted the army for three days’ march to their town, which was called Cona. This people were hostile to the Querechos, and had their faces and bodies painted; and from them guides were procured, who were not permitted to have any communication with the Turk. These confirmed what Sopete had said, that Quivira lay some forty days’ march in a northerly direction; and they led the way to another great valley, a league broad, watered by a little stream, where were vines and fruit-trees in abundance; and here the army rested some time. As it had now become evident that the Turk had deceived them, and as their supply of food began to run short, Coronado called a council of war, at which it was decided that he should take thirty of the bravest and best mounted horsemen and push on in search of Quivira, and that the rest of the army should return to Tiguex, under the command of Arellano. This decision, however, was not well received by the soldiers, who besought their General not to leave them, declaring that they were ready to die with him. But Coronado would not yield to their wishes, and set out with his party, promising to send back word in eight days if they might rejoin him.

The army waited fifteen days, during which they killed a large number of bisons; but several of their number lost the way and were never found, although cannon were fired and every means taken to recover them. Then messengers arrived repeating the order to return to Tiguex, and they quitted the valley for the country of the Teyas. This nomadic people knew the region perfectly, and supplied them with guides, by whom they were conducted back in twenty-five days to the river of Cicuyé, which they struck more than thirty leagues below where they had built the bridge, passing on their way great salt marshes. The guides told them that the river flowed toward the east, and fell into the river of Tiguex more than twenty days’ journey away. From this point they marched up the river to Cicuyé, where they were no longer well received by the inhabitants, who refused to furnish them with provisions. Accordingly they returned to Tiguex, arriving about the middle of July, 1541.

In the mean time Coronado, after marching in a northerly direction over the plains for thirty days, came to a large river, which was named for Saints Peter and Paul. All this time he and his men had lived entirely upon the flesh of bisons, and often had only their milk to drink. Sopete said there were villages farther down the river; and accordingly he followed the northern bank for three days or more in a northeasterly direction, until he came to one situated upon a branch of the great river. Journeying for four or five days more, he reached in succession six or seven other villages similarly situated, until he arrived at one which he was told was called Quivira.[1447] Here he heard of other villages still farther distant on the banks of a yet larger river called Teucarea. Great was Coronado’s disappointment at finding that Quivira, instead of being as he had been informed a city of stone houses of many stories, consisted only of a collection of straw-built huts, and that its people were the most barbarous of any that he had hitherto encountered. They ate their meat raw, like the Querechos and the Teyas, and were clad in tanned bison-skins, not having any cotton; but they cultivated maize. The Turk, who had for some time been conducted in chains with the rear-guard, was now interrogated as to his motives in so misrepresenting the nature of the country, and misleading the Spaniards. He replied that his own country lay beyond Quivira, and that the people of Cibola had begged him to lead the strangers astray upon the plains, so that they might perish by famine, as it was supposed that they relied upon maize for their food, and did not know how to chase the bison. One night he endeavored to stir up the people of Quivira to massacre the Spaniards; but being put upon their guard, the Spaniards strangled him, to the great delight of Sopete. No gold or silver was found in the country; but one of the chiefs wore a plate of copper suspended from his neck, by which he set great store. Coronado says that Quivira was nine hundred and fifty leagues distant from Mexico, and was situated in latitude 40°. The soil was rich and black, watered by many streams, and bore an abundance of grapes and plums.[1448] Here he remained for twenty-five days, sending out exploring parties in all directions, who found great difficulty in communicating with the natives, owing to the diversity of languages spoken by them, and the want of interpreters. It was now the latter part of July,[1449] and it was time to start to rejoin the army at Tiguex. So, after collecting a supply of maize for the journey, and erecting a cross with an inscription saying that Coronado had been there, he procured fresh guides, leaving Sopete in his home, and returned by the route he had come, as far as to the river named for Saints Peter and Paul. At that point, bending more towards the west, they reached the country where they had first fallen in with the Querechos, and had been turned from the direct course by the Turk; and in forty days they reached Cicuyé.

In the mean time, Arellano and the main portion of the force had been making preparations for passing the winter at Tiguex, and had been despatching parties in different directions to procure supplies of provisions. One under Francisco de Barrio-Nuevo was sent in a northerly direction up the river and visited two provinces, of which one, called Hemez, contained seven villages; the other, named Yuque-Yunque, two fine ones on the bank of the river, and four others strongly fortified and difficult of access in the mountains.[1450] Twenty leagues farther up the river was a large and powerful village called Braba, to which the Spaniards gave the name of Valladolid. It was built on both banks of a deep and rapid stream, which was crossed by a bridge of well-squared pine timber; and contained large rooms that could be heated, supported by huge pillars, superior to anything of the kind that had been seen in the country.[1451] Another expedition was sent down the river, as has been already related.

By this time some apprehension began to be felt for Coronado’s safety, as the time fixed for his return had expired and nothing had yet been heard from him. Accordingly Arellano started with a small party in search of him, and at Cicuyé he was attacked by the inhabitants, with whom he kept up a contest for four days. Tidings then came from the General; and, contenting himself with guarding the passes, Arellano waited there for his arrival. Coronado soon succeeded in re-establishing friendly relations, and continued on immediately to Tiguex. As soon as he reached that place he set about in earnest to pacify the whole province, and to persuade the inhabitants to return to their homes. The most strenuous exertions were made to procure a supply of clothing for the troops, who were in great distress for it, and to provide in every way for their comfort; so that Castañeda says, “Never was Spanish general in the Indies more beloved or better obeyed than he.” In the spring he promised his men that they should start again in search of the unknown countries, about which the Turk had set their imaginations on fire. The greater part were firm in the conviction that the natives were familiar with gold, despite their assurances to the contrary, and that they should find it in abundance. But it is plain from Coronado’s report that he did not share in this belief; and the sequel proved that others agreed with him. The region of Tiguex he found far too cold and too distant from the sea to make it a desirable situation for a colony.

About this time Tobar arrived with the reinforcements which, as we have seen, he had been ordered to bring from the valley of Suya. He had taken only the best soldiers, leaving many discontented and mutinous ones behind; and these arrived in the full expectation of finding the General already established in the rich countries about which the marvellous reports had reached them. But their disappointment was somewhat consoled when they learned that in the spring the whole army would start in the search of them. Tobar had brought despatches from the Viceroy, and private letters,—among them one informing Cardenas that he had fallen heir to his elder brother’s estate. Cardenas accordingly obtained leave to return to Mexico, and several others went with him. Castañeda says that many more would have been glad to do so, if they had not been restrained by fear of being accused of cowardice. This shows the divided feeling that prevailed. And soon trouble arose between the General, who studied only the welfare of the whole army, and certain of the officers, who selfishly looked more after the interests of their own men; so that some already began to talk of abandoning the expedition and returning to New Spain.

When the winter was over, Coronado ordered preparations to be made to start for Quivira, on the way to the unknown countries. But fate had ordained a different termination for his enterprise. On a holiday, while he was amusing himself by tilting at the ring with Maldonado, Coronado’s saddle-girths broke, and he fell to the ground, where he received a blow on the head from Maldonado’s horse, which nearly cost him his life. A long illness followed, during which Cardenas suddenly returned in haste from Suya, with the news that he had found that post broken up and the inhabitants massacred. It seems that the discontented element left behind by Tobar,—pretending that they had been abandoned, and that the route for New Spain had left them on one side,—had deserted Alcarraz and the sick men under his charge, and had fled to Culiacan. Upon this the natives became insubordinate, and one night made an attack upon the enfeebled force with poisoned arrows, killing a number of them. The rest escaped on foot to Corazones, whose people, always friendly to the Spaniards, aided them on their way to Culiacan, where they, as well as the mutineers, were found by Gallegos not long afterward, when he arrived there with reinforcements.

The news of this calamity was so afflicting to Coronado that he grew worse, or, as Castañeda intimates, feigned to do so, as he had allowed himself to give way to the influence of superstitious terrors. In his youth the prediction had been made that he would become lord of a distant land, and that he would lose his life there by a fall. This now seemed to him to be in the way of accomplishment, and he longed to return to die with his wife and children. The surgeon had kept him informed of the discontent that prevailed among a portion of his force, and he accordingly took secret counsel with certain of the officers, in which it was agreed that they should persuade their men to present a petition, praying that they might be allowed to return to New Spain. A council of war was then held, at which the conclusion was reached that the country was neither sufficiently rich nor populous to make it worth the holding. Coronado thereupon issued the necessary orders for the return march. Some of the officers, however, repented of their decision, and asked the General to give them sixty picked men, with which to maintain themselves until reinforcements should be sent by the Viceroy; or for him to take that number of men for his escort, and leave the command of the expedition to some other person. But the army would not listen to either of these propositions, as they had no inclination to make the trial of any new commander. The consequence was that the zeal and affection of some of the officers for their chief disappeared, though that of the men still held firm.

It was in the early part of April, 1542, that the army began its return march to New Spain. Two of the missionaries remained behind, in the hope of making proselytes of the natives. One of them, a lay brother named Luis, remained at Cicuyé; the other, Juan de Padilla, who had led the charge at Tusayan, continued on to Quivira with some native converts; where, in the words of Castañeda, he speedily “received the martyr’s crown.” To better insure the safety of the priests, Coronado ordered his men to set at liberty their native slaves, and then started for Cibola. On the journey thither the horses, which thus far had kept in excellent condition, began to die in great numbers. The army accordingly rested a while there before entering upon the desert lying between that place and Chichilticalli; and some Christianized Indians from Mexico remained behind at Cibola, where they were found by Antonio de Espejo, forty-one years afterward, in 1583.[1452]

The crossing of the desert was uneventful, and two days after they reached Chichilticalli, Gallegos arrived there from the Viceroy with reinforcements of men and munitions of war. Great was his dismay at finding the army on its way back, and all the splendid visions dissipated that the Turk had conjured up. Those of the officers who had offered to remain and hold the country until the Viceroy’s commands should be received, now renewed their proposition; but the soldiers refused to return, and clamored to be led back to New Spain. Coronado found himself powerless to constrain them, even if he possessed the inclination to do so; nor was his authority sufficient to enable him to inflict any punishment upon the deserters who had abandoned Alcarraz at Suya. During the march, Castañeda says that Coronado kept up the fiction of being ill, and only allowed his intimates access to his person. The natives, seeing that the country was being abandoned by the Spaniards, kept up a succession of hostile encounters, in which several of the force perished. As provisions began to fail, the army hastened on to Petatlan, thirty leagues from Culiacan, the seat of Coronado’s government. All the bonds of discipline had now become relaxed, and even his authority there as governor was not sufficient to reinforce it; but by begging his friends to use their influence with the men, he was able to bring about one hundred of the force back with himself to Mexico. Here he was received but coolly by the Viceroy, Mendoza; his reputation was gone, and soon after he was deprived of his position as Governor of New Gallicia.

Such was the end of an expedition which, as General Simpson says, “for extent in distance travelled, duration in time, and the multiplicity of its co-operating expeditions, equalled, if it did not exceed, any land expedition that has been undertaken in modern times.”[1453]

CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION.

THE original sources of information in regard to the early Spanish explorations of New Mexico have been made available for students within the last thirty years by the publication of several collections of documents, preserved either in Mexico or in the Archivo de Indias, at Seville, or in the great national repository at Simancas. The first to appear was the one entitled Documentos para la historia de Mejico, published by order of the Mexican Government between 1853 and 1857.[1454] This is distributed into four series, of which the third and the fourth contain important historical material bearing upon this subject. Next came the well-selected Coleccion de varios documentos para la historia de la Florida y tierras adyacentes, undertaken by the late Buckingham Smith, of which, however, only the first volume appeared in Madrid, in 1857.[1455] Then Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta, the accomplished translator of Prescott’s Conquest of Peru, published in Mexico a valuable Coleccion de documentos para la historia de México, in two volumes, the first in 1858 and the second in 1866.[1456] But by far the most important of all is the great Coleccion de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y colonizacion de las posesiones Españolas en América y Oceanía, sacados en su mayor parte del real Archivo de Indias. Forty volumes of this indispensable repertory have already appeared at Madrid, between 1864 and 1884, edited by Joaquin Francesco Pacheco and other scholars.[1457] A most essential service, however, had been rendered to the students of early American history at a still earlier date by the publication of Henri Ternaux-Compans’ admirable series of Voyages, relations, et mémoires originaux pour servir à l’histoire de la découverte de l’Amérique, publiés pour la première fois en Français, of which twenty parts appeared in Paris between 1837 and 1841.[1458] Prior to this our knowledge had been mainly restricted to Italian translations of original narratives published by Giovanni Battista Ramusio in the third volume of his Navigationi et Viaggi, Venice, 1556 (reprinted in 1565 and subsequently); of most of which Richard Hakluyt has given an English version in the third volume of his Voyages, nauigations, traffiques, and discoueries, London, 1600 (reprinted in 1810).

The different expeditions, in their chronological order, may now be studied in the following original authorities:—

An account of the expedition of Nuño Beltran de Guzman to Ciguatan is contained in the Primera (segunda) (tercera) (quarta) relacion anonima de la jornada que hizo Nuño de Guzman à la Nueva Galicia, in Icazbalceta’s Coleccion, vol. ii. pp. 288-306; 439-483. Other narratives can be found in Pacheco’s Documentos Inéditos, tom. xiv., pp. 347-373, and 411-463; tom. xvi., pp. 363-375. De Guzman first conquered and then colonized Sinaloa, and even penetrated into Sonora, thus preparing the way for the subsequent explorations. Very little information, however, about New Mexico is to be obtained from any of these narratives.

Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca published his remarkable story at Zamora in 1542, under the title: La relacion que dio Aluar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca de lo acaescido en las Indias en la armada donde yua por gouernador Páphilo de Narbaez, desde el año de veynte y siete hasta el año de treynta y seys que boluio a Sevilla con tres de su compañia.[1459] Notwithstanding the vivid interest that will always attach to this thrilling story of adventure and suffering, the indications given in it of the routes by which he journeyed, and of the places and peoples he visited, are practically of far too vague a character to enable them to be satisfactorily identified,[1460] even if we feel warranted in placing implicit confidence in the author’s veracity.

The original report by Fray Marcos de Nizza (of Nice) of his Descubrimiento de las Siete Ciudades, can be found in Pacheco’s Documentos inéditos, tom. iii. p. 329; and the instructions received by him from the Viceroy Mendoza are given on p. 325 of the same volume. An Italian translation of the report is contained in Ramusio, Navigationi, vol. iii. p. 356 (ed. of 1565); and from this was made the English version in Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. iii. p. 438 (ed. of 1810). But on comparing both Ramusio’s and Hakluyt’s versions with the original, not only will it be found that in many places they are mere paraphrases, but that frequently additional particulars have been foisted into the text. Especially noticeable are the many exaggerated statements in regard to the quantities of gold and of precious stones seen by the monk during his journey, or about which stories are told to him by the natives, for which there is not a vestige of authority to be found in the original. Fray Marcos claims to have related what he himself saw or what was told to him; but it is evident not only that he was prone to lend a credulous ear to whatever fictions might be imposed upon him, but that he grossly misrepresented what he had himself seen. This is directly charged upon him by those who followed in his footsteps under Coronado, and who suffered grievously by reason of his falsifications; so that he was even compelled to flee to Mexico to escape the consequences of their just indignation. We think that he fairly deserves the epithet of “the lying monk,” which has been bestowed upon him, in spite of the air of probability which pervades the greater part of his narrative. But it must in justice be said, however, that he appears rather to have been carried away by religious enthusiasm than actuated by any personal or mercenary considerations; and with the hope of being able to convert the natives to Christianity, he invested them and their surroundings with the glow of his own imagination. Still, this need not militate against the truth of his statements in regard to the distances he travelled, or the physical characteristics of the regions through which his route lay; so that his narrative will always be important for the students of the topography, if not of the ethnology, of New Mexico at the period of its discovery.

Ternaux-Compans (Voyages, etc., vol. ix. p. 256) has made a most faithful French translation, from copies of the originals at Simancas, of Fray Marcos’s report, and of the letter from Mendoza to the Emperor Charles V., which accompanied it, as well as of the instructions received by the Friar from Mendoza.

The story of Coronado’s romantic expedition in search of “The Seven Cities of Cibola” has been told with more or less of detail by four different persons who took part in it. We have also three of his own letters and despatches narrating his earlier proceedings. Of these, the first is a brief one, written to the Viceroy Mendoza, dated Culiacan, March 8, 1539, transmitting a report received from Fray Marcos while upon his journey. An English version of this can be found in Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. iii. p. 434 (ed. of 1810), translated from Ramusio, Navigationi, vol. iii. p. 395 (ed. of 1565); and a French translation, in Ternaux-Compans, vol. ix. p. 349. Next comes a short letter to the Viceroy dated April 10, 1539, in which he tells about the preparations for his ineffectual expedition to Topira; Hakluyt, p. 352; Ramusio, p. 435; Ternaux-Compans, p. 352. Of much greater importance, however, is the full report transmitted by him to Mendoza from Cibola (or Granada, as he called it), August 3, 1540, setting forth everything that had occurred between that date and April 22, when he had started. An Italian version of this is given by Ramusio, Navigationi, vol. iii. p. 359 (ed. of 1565); Relatione de Francisco Vazquez de Coronado del viagio alle dette setta cita. An English translation can be found in Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. iii. p. 446 (ed. of 1810). Finally, there is the letter which he wrote to the Emperor Charles V., from Tiguex, after his return from Quivira, in which is related the course of events from April 23, 1541, up to October 20 of the same year. This can be found in Pacheco’s Documentos inéditos, tom. iii. p. 363; and it has been repeated in tom. xiii. p. 261. A French translation of it is given in the Voyages of Ternaux-Compans, vol. ix. p. 355.

The four narratives by other pens are—

1. An anonymous Relacion del suceso de la jornada que Francisco Vazquez hizo en el descubrimiento de Cibola, contained in Buckingham Smith’s Coleccion de varios documentos, p. 147. This was afterwards printed in Pacheco’s Documentos inéditos, tom. xiv. p. 318, but with the erroneous date of 1531, instead of 1541.

2. A second anonymous account, entitled Traslado de las nuevas y noticias que dieron sobre el descobrimiento de una Cibdad que llamaron de Cibola, situada en la Tierra Nueva, can also be found in Documentos inéditos, tom. xix. p. 529, with the same error in the date.

3. Of much greater value is the Relacion que dió el Capitan Joan Jaramillo, de la jornada que hizo à la tierra nueva de la que fué General Francisco Vazquez de Coronado; of which a French translation was first published by Ternaux-Compans, in his Voyages, etc., vol. ix. p. 364. The original was afterwards printed in Buckingham Smith’s Coleccion, p. 155, and subsequently in Pacheco’s Documentos inéditos, tom. xiv. p. 304, but under the erroneous date of 1537. It is a straightforward, soldierly narrative, well written, and with many picturesque details, and it contains an unusual amount of topographical information; so that it is of great value in establishing the route followed by the expedition, and in identifying the various localities.

4. But if our knowledge of the expedition had been confined to the authorities thus far indicated, we should have had a very imperfect idea both of its events and of its results. In 1838 Ternaux-Compans published a translation into French of a quarto manuscript, of 157 leaves, which he had found in the Uguina Collection, at Paris, under the title Relation du Voyage de Cibola enterpris in 1540; ou l’on traite de toutes les peuplades qui habitent cette contrée, de leurs mœurs et coutumes, par Pédro de Castañeda de Nagera (Voyages, vol. ix. p. 1). Nothing has been discovered in relation to this writer except what is contained in his own account. He states that he “wrote his narrative in the city of Culiacan, where he was living in the midst of misery and dangers, as the whole country was in a state of insurrection” (p. 233). The volume bears the indorsement, “Finished copying at Seville, Oct. 26, 1596.” As his name is not mentioned in the list of officers which he has given, it is supposed that he was only a private soldier. The work shows that he was a man of considerable education, but it is evidently the production of a novice in the art of literary composition. It is an attempt at a methodical narrative, divided into three parts, but it is quite difficult to follow in it the order of events. In the first part he treats of the incidents of the expedition, and of the army and its officers; the second contains a description of the provinces, villages, and mountains that were discovered, of the religion and customs of the inhabitants, and of the animals, fruits, and vegetables to be found; and in the last part he tells about the return of the army, and explains the reasons for abandoning the attempt at colonization. As he wrote more than twenty years after the events he has described, he sometimes signifies his inability to remember precisely the number of miles travelled, or of the days during which they journeyed. He has even fallen into the error of making the day on which the expedition entered Campostello, Shrove Tuesday, 1541 (p. 24), although he gives the correct date, 1540, in the Dedicatory Epistle (p. xiv). Throughout his entire narrative, whenever he gives the date of the year, it is always one too large, as can be seen on pp. 101, 137, and 213. He professes to have written for the purpose of correcting the many misrepresentations and fables that had sprung up in regard to the country they had discovered, and the character of the people, and the nature of the animals to be found there. Castañeda impresses the reader as a religious, humane, and candid man, who cannot fail to win his confidence in the truth of the events he relates. He does not hesitate to expose and to comment upon the cruel and rapacious acts of his own countrymen; and he does full justice both to the natural amiability and to the valor of the natives. His various observations show him to have been a man of sagacity and good judgment. Mr. Bandelier vouches for the remarkable accuracy of his description of the country, although the distances generally are estimated one third too great (Historical Introduction to Studies among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico, p. 22). The Castañeda MS. is now in the Lenox library.

These are all the original sources of knowledge in regard to the earliest attempts at exploration in New Mexico by the Spaniards, and especially respecting Coronado’s expedition to the Seven Cities of Cibola. The historians of Mexico, from Gomara down, while adding no new information to that detailed by Castañeda, are in agreement with him as to the general facts.

Renewed attention was directed to Coronado’s expedition and to the probable locality of Cibola by the publication of the reports contained in the Notes of a Military Reconnoissance made by Lieut.-Colonel William H. Emory, in 1846-1847, with the advance guard of the army of the West, during the war between the United States and Mexico,[1461] and the Report of Lieutenant J. W. Abert of his examination of New Mexico. Colonel Emory, in a letter to Hon. Albert Gallatin, dated Oct. 8, 1847, made the statement that he had met with “an Indian race living in four-story houses, built upon rocky promontories, inaccessible to a savage foe, cultivating the soil, and answering the description of the seven cities of Coronado, except in their present insignificance in size and population, and the fact that the towns, though near each other, are not in a (continuous) valley six leagues long, but on different branches of the same stream” (p. 133). He had in mind the villages in the vicinity of Ciboletta, Laguna, etc., on the Rio San Jose, a tributary of the Rio Grande del Norte, about ninety miles east of the present Zuñi pueblo. This opinion was corroborated by Lieutenant Abert (p. 491). Mr. Gallatin thereupon proceeded to prepare for the Transactions of the American Ethnological Society (vol. ii. p. liii, 1848) an elaborate essay on the Ancient semi-civilization of New Mexico, Rio Gila, and its vicinity, in which large use was made of these military reports, and to which was prefixed a map compiled by Mr. E. G. Squier. In November of the same year Mr. Squier contributed to the American Review an article on New Mexico and California. The ancient monuments and the aboriginal semi-civilized nations of New Mexico and California, with an abstract of the early Spanish explorations and conquests in those regions, particularly those falling within the territory of the United States. Mr. Gallatin came to the conclusion that the seven cities “appear to have been near the sources of a tributary of the great Colorado, and not of the Rio del Norte” (p. lxxii); but he inclined to the opinion that they had been destroyed by the Apaches (p. xciv). Mr. Squier identified Cibola with Zuñi; but there are inconsistencies to be found between his map and statements contained in his article. In that same year Lieutenant J. H. Simpson, in his Journal of a Military Reconnoissance from Santa Fé to the Navajo Country,[1462] gave a detailed description of Zuñi, which he considered to be the site of Cibola.

The explorations carried on in New Mexico and Arizona, from 1853 to 1856, during the search for a suitable route for the Pacific Railroad, took Lieutenant A. W. Whipple and Professor W. W. Turner over the same ground, and they both came to a similar conclusion (Pacific Railroad Reports, vol. iii. pp. 68, 104). But in 1857 Mr. H. M. Breckenridge published at Pittsburg a brief narrative of the Early discoveries by Spaniards in New Mexico, containing an account of the castles of Cibola and the present appearance of their ruins, in which he maintained that Cibola was the well-known ruin called Casa Grande, on the river Gila. Mr. R. H. Kern, however, upheld the Zuñi theory in his map, prepared in 1854 to accompany Schoolcraft’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America (vol. iv. p. 33); and Mr. Schoolcraft himself adopted the same view (vol. vi. p. 70, 1857).

In the year 1869 important additions were made to our knowledge of the early history of New Mexico, and especially of Coronado’s expedition. Mr. W. H. H. Davis, who had held an official position in that Territory, and in 1856 had published an interesting study of it under the title of El Gringo, gave to the world the first history of The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, Doylestown, Penn. In the same year Brevet Brigadier General Simpson, who had had his attention directed to the question twenty years previously, prepared for the Annual Report of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for 1869 a thorough study, accompanied by a map, of Coronado’s March in search of the “Seven Cities of Cibola,” and discussion of their probable location.[1463] In April of the same year there appeared in the North American Review an article by the late Mr. Lewis H. Morgan, entitled The Seven Cities of Cibola, in which that eminent archæologist made an elaborate argument in favor of the identification of that site with the remarkable group of ruined stone structures, discovered not long before in the valley of the Rio Chaco, one of the affluents of the Colorado, about one hundred miles to the northeast of Zuñi. On this point, however, both Mr. Davis (p. 119) and General Simpson have pronounced in favor of Zuñi, and General Simpson has even undertaken to answer Mr. Morgan’s arguments in detail (p. 232). Mr. Morgan, nevertheless, still held to his opinion in his Study of the houses of the American Aborigines, p. 46 (First annual report of the Archæological Institute of America, 1880) expanded into the House and House-life of the American Aborigines (Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain region, in charge of J. W. Powell, vol. iv., 1881, pp. 167-170).

The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, by Mr. Davis, is a valuable contribution to history, in which faithful and diligent use has been made of the original authorities and of unpublished documents; and it is the only full and connected narrative that has yet appeared of the series of events which it relates. The important episode to which General Simpson confines his attention is treated in abundant detail, and great acuteness and local knowledge are displayed in the discussion of the route followed by Coronado. It is likely to remain always the leading authority upon this subject.

In his elaborate work upon The Native Races of the Pacific States, Mr. H. H. Bancroft adopted the Zuñi theory as to the site of Cibola (vol. iv. p. 674), repeated in his History of the Pacific States (vol. x. p. 85).[1464] This is also the opinion maintained by Mr. A. F. Bandelier in his Historical Introduction to Studies among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico, p. 12 (Papers of the Archæological Institute of America. American series, no. 1, Boston, 1881). This is a very careful and thorough investigation of the whole subject of the geography of New Mexico and of the tribal relations of its inhabitants.

At a meeting, however, of the American Antiquarian Society in April, 1881, Rev. E. E. Hale read a paper entitled Coronado’s Discovery of the Seven Cities, in which he expressed himself as inclined to abandon his previously maintained opinion[1465] in favor of the Zuñi identification, on account of certain newly discovered evidence set forth in an accompanying letter from Lieutenant J. G. Bourke, who argued that the Moqui pueblos better satisfy the conditions of the question. To this the present writer replied in a communication at the following October meeting of the society, under the title What is the true site of “The Seven Cities of Cibola” visited by Coronado in 1540? In this all the different opinions are discussed and the Zuñi theory upheld.

The same view is supported by Mr. L. Bradford Prince, late Chief-Justice of New Mexico, in his Historical Sketches of New Mexico from the earliest records to the American occupation, 1883 (p. 115). This modest little volume is the first attempt yet made to write a continuous history of the Territory down to the year 1847. It is a useful and in the main a trustworthy compendium. But in the chapter upon Coronado he has followed Castañeda’s erroneous dates, as Davis also has done before him, and he has fallen into a few other mistakes.[1466]

EDITORIAL NOTE.

IN the Don Diego de Peñalosa y su descubrimiento del reino de Quivira of Cesário Fernández Duro, published at Madrid in 1882, there is an enumeration (pp. 123-144) of the expeditions organized in New Spain for exploration towards the north. The following list, with the chief sources of information, is taken from this book:

=1523.= Francisco de Garay to Pánuco. Documentos inéditos (Pacheco), xxvi. 77.

=1526.= Garay and Nuño de Guzman to Pánuco, MS. in Archivo de Indias.

=1530.= Nuño de Guzman to New Galicia. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco) xiv. 411; also xiii. and xvi. (see chap. vi. of the present History, ante, p. 441 and chap. vii. p. 499).

=1531.= Coronado to Cibola. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xiv. 318; xix. 529. (See chap. vii.)

=1533.= Diego de Guzman to Sinaloa, Doc. inéd. (Navarrete); B. Smith’s Coleccion, 94.

=1536.= Cabeça de Vaca. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xiv. (See chap. iv.)

=1537.= Coronado to Amatepeque. Muñoz’s MSS. in Madrid Acad. of Hist. lxxxi., fol. 34.

=1539.= Fray Marcos de Nizza to Cibola. Muñoz MSS.; Ramusio; Ternaux-Compans; Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), iii. 325, 351.

=1539.= Coronado to Cibola. (See chap. vii.)

=1539.= Hernando de Soto. (See chap. iv.)

=1540.= Melchior Diaz. (See chap. vii.)

=1540.= Hernando de Alvarado and Juan de Padilla to the South Sea. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), iii. 511; B. Smith, 65. (See chap. vii.)

=1540=. Gomez Ariaz and Diego Maldonado along Gulf of Mexico. Garcilasso de la Vega, La Florida del Inca.

=1541.= Coronado to Tiguex. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), iii. 363; xiii. 261. (See chap. vii.)

=1548.= Juan de Tolosa, one of the captains serving under Cortés. =1554.= Francisco de Ibarra to Copala, New Biscay, etc. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xiv. 463.

=1558.= Guido de Lavazares to Pánuco and Florida.

=1559.= Tristán de Arellano to the Coast of Florida, and river Espiritu Santo. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), iv. 136, xiii. 280.

=1563.= Diego Ibarra to Copala. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xiv. 553.

=1566.= Juan Pardo to Florida. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), iv. 560.

=1568.= Francisco Cano to New Mexico, Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xix. 535.

=1569.= Juan de Orozco on New Gallicia, with map. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), ii. 561.

=1575.= Juan de Miranda on the Country. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xvi. 563.

=1581.= Francisco Sanchez Chamuscado to New Mexico and Cibola.

=1581.= Fray Francisco Ruiz among the Indians.

=1582.= To New Mexico. Cartas de Indias, 230.

=1582.= Antonio de Espejo to New Mexico. Juan Gonzáles de Mendoza’s Historia del Reino de China, Madrid, 1589; De Laet’s Novus Orbis.

=1583.= Cristóbal Martin to New Mexico. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xvi. 277.

=1584.= Antonio de Espejo’s continued discoveries. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xv. 151.

=1589.= Juan Battista de Lomas Colmenares agrees to settle New Mexico. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xv. 54.

=1590.= Gaspar Castaño de Sosa, Governor of New Leon, to New Mexico. Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), iv. 283; xv. 191.

=1596.= Sebastian Viscaino on the Coast.

=1598.= Juan de Oñate to New Mexico. Bustamante, Los Tres Siglos de México; Doc. inéd. (Pacheco), xvi. 88, 306, 316-320. Of his expedition to the Pueblo of Acomo, Luis Tribaldo of Toledo sent an account to Hakluyt in 1603, and extracts from it are published in De Laet’s Novus Orbis.

=1599.= Juan de Humaña to Quivira.

* * * * *

Others are noted from 1600 to 1783. Captain George M. Wheeler, U. S. Geological Survey, is preparing a Chronology of the Voyages and Explorations to the West Coast and the interior of North America between 1500 and 1800.

The alleged expedition of Peñalosa to Quivira is placed about 1662. The accounts of it depend on a Relacion del descubrimiento del Pais y Ciudad de Quivira echo por D. Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa, escrita por el Padre Fr. Nicolas de Freytas (1684). In 1882 there were two annotated renderings of this narrative,—one by Duro, mentioned at the beginning of this note, who discredits the journal and gives other documents on the same theme; the other, an English version, was issued under the title, The expedition of Don Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa, from Santa Fé to the river Mischipi and Quivira in 1662, as described by Father Nicholas de Freytas. With an account of Peñalosa’s projects to aid the French to conquer the mining country in Northern Mexico; and his connection with Cavelier de la Salle. By John Gilmary Shea, New York, 1882.

Dr. Shea in this volume claims that Quivira was north of the Missouri, while it has generally been placed south of that river. He also derives from this narrative an opinion, contrary to the one ordinarily received, namely, that La Salle was carried, against his will, beyond the mouths of the Mississippi in his expedition of 1682; for he judges his over-shooting the mouths was intentional, in order to land where he could better co-operate with Peñalosa in wresting the mines in New Mexico from the Spaniards.

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VIII. PIZARRO, AND THE CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT OF PERU AND CHILI

BY CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, F.R.S.

Honorary Secretary of the Hakluyt Society.

WHEN the Isthmus of Darien was discovered by Vasco Nuñez de Balbóa, during the six years between 1511 and 1517, there can be little doubt that tidings, perhaps only in the form of vague rumors, were received of the greatness and the riches of the Empire of the Yncas. The speech which the son of the Cacique Comogre is said to have made to the gold-seeking followers of the discoverer of the South Sea most probably had reference to Peru; and still more certainly, when the Cacique of Tumaco told Vasco Nuñez of the country far to the south which abounded in gold, and moulded the figure of a llama in clay, he gave tidings of the land of the Yncas. There was a chief in the territory to the south of the Gulf of San Miguel, on the Pacific coast, named Biru, and this country was visited by Gaspar de Morales and Francisco Pizarro in 1515. For the next ten years Biru was the most southern land known to the Spaniards; and the consequence was that the unknown regions farther south, including the rumored empire abounding in gold, came to be designated as Biru, or Peru. It was thus that the land of the Yncas got the name of Peru from the Spaniards, some years before it was actually discovered.[1467]

Pedro Arias de Avila, the governor of the mainland called Castilla del Oro, founded the city of Panamá. He went there from the Pearl Islands, in the vessels which had been built by his victim Vasco Nuñez, while Gaspar de Espinosa, the Alcalde Mayor, led the rest of the colony by land. The city was founded in 1519. The governor divided the land among four hundred settlers from Darien. Among them were Pascual de Andagoya, Hernando Luque (a priest), Francisco Pizarro, and Diego de Almagro. Nombre de Dios, on the Atlantic side of the isthmus, was settled towards the end of the same year by a captain named Diego Alviles, in obedience to orders from Pedro Arias.[1468]

In the year 1522 Pascual de Andagoya, who had come out to Darien with Pedro Arias in 1514 and was a cavalier of good family from the province of Alava, was appointed inspector-general of the Indians on the isthmus. He made a journey to a district called Chuchama, south of the Gulf of San Miguel, where the chief told him that a certain people from a province called Biru, farther south, came to make war upon them in canoes at every full moon. Andagoya sent to Panamá for reinforcements, in order to comply with the prayer of the people of Chuchama that he would defend them, as well as to discover what there was farther south. Having received an addition to his forces, he set out with the chief of Chuchama, and in six days arrived at the province called Biru. It had already been visited by Morales and Pizarro. After capturing their principal stronghold, several chiefs of Biru made their submission to Andagoya. From these people he collected information respecting the great empire of the Yncas, and he then descended a river and continued the examination of the coast in a small vessel which had followed him from Chuchama. But he was attacked by a severe illness caused by having been capsized in a canoe, and then kept for several hours in his wet clothes. He therefore returned to Panamá, to report the knowledge he had acquired, giving up his intention of conducting discovery to the southward in person. It was fully three years before Andagoya had so far recovered as to be able to ride on horseback.

The governor, Pedro Arias, therefore requested Andagoya to hand over the enterprise to three partners who formed a company at Panamá. These were Pizarro, Almagro, and Luque.

Francisco Pizarro was born about the year 1470[1469] in the province of Estremadura, and was the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro, a soldier who had served under the Great Captain in Italy. He had arrived at Darien in the expedition of Alonzo de Ojeda in 1509. During fifteen years he had been diligently serving as a brave, steady, much-enduring man-at-arms; and on two or three occasions he found himself in important and responsible positions. In 1524 he was a citizen of Panamá with very limited means, but endowed with indomitable energy and perseverance, and fifty-four years of age. Diego Almagro is said to have been a foundling. At all events his parentage is unknown. He had probably served for some years on the isthmus, but his name does not occur until he entered into this partnership. Almagro is described as a man of short stature, with a very plain face, and was at least as old as Pizarro. He was hasty in temper, but generous and warm-hearted, and his fine qualities attracted to him many faithfully attached adherents. Luque had been schoolmaster at Darien, and was now the principal parochial clergyman at Panamá, holding valuable property on the adjacent island of Taboga, and in an influential position in the colony.

Pizarro was to command the expedition; Almagro was to keep open communications with Panamá and bring supplies; while Luque acted as agent, and obtained the needful funds.

One of the small vessels which had been built for Vasco Nuñez was obtained, and a force of eighty men (one hundred and twelve, according to Xeres) and four horses was collected. Pizarro prepared to sail with this single vessel and two canoes, having received all the information and instructions that Andagoya could give him, and taking with him the interpreters brought from Biru by that officer. It was arranged that large trees near the sea-shore should be blazed, as guides to the course taken by Pizarro, when his partner Almagro should follow with supplies.

Pizarro sailed from Panamá Nov. 14, 1524, and after enduring terrible sufferings on the coast of Biru, including famine, and losing twenty-seven of his men, he went back to Chuchama, and sent the treasurer Nicolas de Ribera to Panamá with the gold which he had collected. Meanwhile Almagro had followed in another vessel with provisions, and went on the traces of his companion by means of the trees that had been marked, until he reached the Rio San Juan in 4° north. Finding no further traces of Pizarro he returned, having lost an eye in an encounter with natives. He also lost upwards of seventy men;[1470] but he obtained some gold.

After this failure it was more difficult to obtain money and recruits for a second attempt. Fortunately, the Alcalde Mayor, who was impressed with the promising character of the undertaking, came forward with the necessary funds, which he advanced through the agency of Luque. Gaspar de Espinosa thus became one of the partners. The agreement between the partners was signed March 10, 1526. Luque signed as the agent of Espinosa. Pizarro and Almagro could neither read nor write. One Juan de Pares signed on the part of Pizarro, and Alvaro del Quiro for Almagro.

The second expedition sailed in 1526. It consisted of two vessels commanded by Pizarro and Almagro respectively, with a very able and gallant sailor named Bartolomé Ruiz, of Moguer, as pilot. There were one hundred and sixty men all told. The adventurers made direct for the river of San Juan, the farthest point reached by Almagro during the previous voyage. Here Pizarro landed with his troops. Almagro returned to Panamá in one vessel, for recruits and provisions, while Ruiz proceeded on a voyage of discovery to the southward in the other.

Ruiz made a remarkable voyage, having rounded Cape Passado and reached 1° south. He was thus the first European to cross the equator on the southern passage. He also fell in with a raft under sail, which belonged to Tumbez in Peru, and thus obtained several curious specimens of Ynca art, and some additional information. Almagro made a prosperous voyage back to Panamá, and returned with supplies.

Pizarro had been left on a forest-covered, fever-haunted coast, which has changed very little from that day to this. Hoping to find a better country inland, he undertook long marches through the tangled forest; but many of his men perished, and his party returned to the coast, suffering from disease and famine. In this sorry plight the all-enduring Pizarro was found, when Almagro and Ruiz returned.

Almagro had found a new governor installed at Panamá. Pedro de los Rios had superseded Pedro Arias, who was transferred to Nicaragua, where he died in 1532. With the new governor’s sanction, about eighty recruits were collected, and with these and a fresh supply of stores Almagro returned to the Rio de San Juan.

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Part III

The two partners then embarked, and under the guidance of the pilot Ruiz they advanced along the coast as far as Atacames. They were now in the province of Quito, a part of the Ynca empire. Here were large towns, much ground under cultivation, and a formidable array of well-armed troops to oppose their depredations. It was evident that the Spanish force was too weak to make a successful settlement. Pizarro proposed a return; Almagro opposed him, and there was a violent quarrel, which was outwardly reconciled, leaving a permanent feeling of suppressed jealousy and ill-will on both sides. Finally it was resolved that Pizarro and part of the force should remain on the island of Gallo, which had been discovered by Ruiz in 1° 57´ north, while Almagro should return once more for recruits. The arrangements caused much discontent. The men complained that they were being left to starve. Some wrote letters home to Panamá, full of complaints, which were seized by Almagro. One, however, named Saravia, concealed a note in a large ball of cotton sent as a present to the governor’s wife. It contained the following lines:—

“Pues Señor Gobernador, Mírelo bien por entero, Que allá va el recogedor, Y acá queda el carnicero.”[1471]

Pizarro, soon after Almagro’s departure, sent off the other ship with the most mutinous of his followers. But the governor, Los Rios, was much incensed at the result of the expedition. He refused to give any further countenance to the enterprise, and sent two vessels, under the command of Don Pedro Tafur, of Cordova, to Gallo, with orders to take every Spaniard off the island and bring them back to Panamá. Meanwhile Pizarro and his people were suffering from famine and disease, and from the incessant rains. Nearly all had lost every feeling of desire for hazardous adventures. They longed only to be relieved from their sufferings, and hailed the arrival of Tafur with unconcealed joy.

Then it was that Pizarro displayed that heroic resolution which has made the famous act of himself and his sixteen companions immortal. The story is differently told. Herrera says that Tafur stationed himself in one part of the vessel, and drawing a line, placed Pizarro and his soldiers on the other side of it. He then told those who wished to return to Panamá to come over to him, and those who would remain, to stay on Pizarro’s side of the line. But Garcilasso de la Vega tells us that when Pizarro saw his men electing to return in the ship, he drew his sword and made a long line with the point along the sand. Then, turning to his men, he said, “Gentlemen! This line signifies labor, hunger, thirst, fatigue, wounds, sickness, and every other kind of danger that must be encountered in this conquest until life is ended. Let those who have the courage to meet and overcome the dangers of this heroic achievement cross the line, in token of their resolution, and as a testimony that they will be my faithful companions. And let those who feel unworthy, return to Panamá; for I do not wish to put force upon any man. I trust in God that, for his greater honor and glory, his Eternal Majesty will help those who remain with me, though they be few, and that we shall not miss those who forsake us.” Of the two accounts, that of Garcilasso is probably nearer the truth, because it is unlikely that the embarkation would have taken place before the election was made. It would naturally be made on the beach, before going on board. Most of the authorities give the number of those who crossed the line at thirteen. Xeres, Pizarro’s secretary, says there were sixteen. Herrera gives the names of thirteen heroic men, Garcilasso supplying the remaining three; and they deserve to be held in memory.[1472]

Nothing could shake the resolution of Pizarro. He would not return until he had achieved greatness, and he found sixteen good men and true to stand by him in his great need. They removed from Gallo to the island of Gorgona, where there was some game and better water; while the others returned with Tafur to Panamá.

The governor looked upon Pizarro’s conduct as an act of madness, and refused all succor; but at length yielding to the entreaties of Luque and Almagro, he allowed one vessel to be sent to Gorgona, with strict orders to return in six months. So a small vessel was fitted out under the command of the pilot Ruiz, and after seven weary months the little forlorn hope at Gorgona descried the white sail, and joyfully welcomed their friends with a supply of food and stores. Full of hope, Pizarro and his gallant friends embarked; and the expert Ruiz, guided by information obtained from the Peruvian sailors on the raft, made direct for the Gulf of Guayaquil, performing the voyage in twenty days. The year 1527 was now well advanced. Anchoring off the island of Santa Clara, they stood across to the town of Tumbez on the following day. Here they saw the undoubted signs of a great civilization, betokening the existence of a powerful empire. Their impressions were confirmed by a subsequent cruise along the Peruvian coast as far as Santa, in 9° south latitude. They learned enough to justify a return to Panamá with the report of a great discovery, the importance of which would justify an application to the Spanish Government for some valuable concession to Pizarro and his partners. Pizarro took with him, from Tumbez, a lad who was to act as interpreter,—called Felipillo by the Spaniards,—and also a few llamas. He then made the best of his way back to Panamá; and it was agreed that he should proceed to Spain and make a direct application to the Crown for authority to undertake the conquest of the empire of the Yncas. In the spring of 1528, after having collected the necessary funds with much difficulty, Pizarro set out for Spain, accompanied by Pedro de Candia. Luque and Almagro waited at Panamá for the result.

Francisco Pizarro was well received by the Emperor Charles V. in an interview at Toledo; but the sovereign set out for Italy immediately afterwards, and subsequent arrangements were made with the Government of the queen-mother. The capitulation was signed on the 26th of July, 1529. Pizarro was appointed captain-general and adelantado, and was decorated with the order of Santiago. He was also granted a coat-of-arms, and thirteen out of the sixteen who crossed the line at Gallo were ennobled by name. Almagro was made governor of Tumbez, and afterwards received the title of marshal. Luque was to be bishop of Tumbez, and protector of the Indians. Ruiz received the title of grand pilot of the South Sea. Candia was appointed commander of the artillery. Pizarro visited Estremadura, and from his home took back with him to Peru his four brothers. Hernando, the eldest and only legitimate son of his father, was a big tall man, with thick lips and very red nose, brave and proud, with an uncompromising temper, and ruthlessly cruel. Juan and Gonzalo were illegitimate, like Francisco, and Francisco Martin de Alcantara was a uterine brother. His young cousin Pedro Pizarro, the future historian, then only fifteen, went out as the conqueror’s page; Fray Vicente de Valverde, a fanatical Dominican, also went out; and Pizarro set sail from San Lucar on the 19th of January, 1530. On arriving at Panamá, he was upbraided by Almagro for not having attended fairly to his (Almagro’s) interests, while careful to secure everything for himself. From that time the old partners were never really friends, and there was ill-concealed enmity between Almagro and Hernando Pizarro. Meanwhile preparations for the expedition were busily proceeded with at Panamá; and, as on former occasions, Almagro was to follow with supplies and reinforcements.

Pizarro sailed from Panamá on the 28th of December, 1531, with three small vessels carrying one hundred and eighty-three men and thirty-seven horses. In thirteen days he arrived at the bay of San Mateo, where he landed the horses and soldiers to march along the shore, sending back the ships to get more men and horses at Panamá and Nicaragua. They returned with twenty-six horses and thirty more men. With this force Pizarro continued his march along the sea-coast, which was well peopled; and on arriving at the bay of Guayaquil, he crossed over in the ships to the island of Puna. Here a devastating war was waged with the unfortunate natives, and from Puna the conqueror proceeded again in his ships to the Peruvian town of Tumbez. The country was in a state of confusion, owing to a long and desolating war of succession between Huascar and Atahualpa, the two sons of the great Ynca Huayna Capac, and was thus an easy prey to the invaders. Huascar had been defeated and made prisoner by the generals of his brother, and Atahualpa was on his way from Quito to Cusco, the capital of the empire, to enjoy the fruits of his victory. He was reported to be at Caxamarca, on the eastern side of the mountains; and Pizarro, with his small force, set out from Tumbez on the 18th of May, 1532.

The coast of Peru is a rainless region of desert, crossed at intervals by fertile valleys which follow the courses of the streams from the Andes to the sea. Parallel with this coast region, to the eastward, is the sierra, or mountainous country of the cordilleras of the Andes, the cradle and centre of the civilized tribes of Peru. Still farther to the eastward are the great rivers and vast forests or montaña of the basin of the Amazons.[1473] Thus the length of Peru is divided into three very different and distinctly marked regions,—the coast, the sierra, and the montaña.

The first part of Pizarro’s march was southward from Tumbez, in the rainless coast region. After crossing a vast desert he came to Tangarara, in the fertile valleys of the Chira, where he founded the city of San Miguel, the site of which was afterwards removed to the valley of Piura. The accountant Antonio Navarro and the royal treasurer Riquelme were left in command at San Miguel, and Pizarro resumed his march in search of the Ynca Atahualpa on the 24th of September, 1532. He detached the gallant cavalier, Hernando de Soto, into the sierra of Huancabamba, to reconnoitre, and pacify the country. De Soto rejoined the main body after an absence of about ten days. The brother of Atahualpa, named Titu Atauchi, arrived as an envoy, with presents, and a message to the effect that the Ynca desired friendship with the strangers.

Crossing the vast desert of Sechura, Pizarro reached the fertile valley of Motupe, and marched thence to the foot of the cordilleras in the valley of the Jequetepeque. Here he rested for a day or two, to arrange the order for the ascent. He took with him forty horses and sixty foot, instructing Hernando de Soto to follow him with the main body and the baggage. News arrived that the Ynca Atahualpa had reached the neighborhood of Caxamarca about three days before, and that he desired peace. Pizarro pressed forward, crossed the cordillera, and on Friday, the 15th of November, 1532, he entered Caxamarca with his whole force. Here he found excellent accommodation in the large masonry buildings, and was well satisfied with the strategic position. Atahualpa was established in a large camp outside, where Hernando de Soto had an interview with him. Atahualpa announced his intention of visiting the Christian commander, and Pizarro arranged and perpetrated a black act of treachery. He kept all his men under arms. The Ynca, suspecting nothing, came into the great square, walking in grand regal procession. He was suddenly attacked and made prisoner, and his people were massacred.

The Ynca offered a ransom, which he described as gold enough to fill a room twenty-two feet long and seventeen wide, to a height equal to a man’s stature and a half. He undertook to do this in two months, and sent orders for the collection of golden vases and ornaments in all parts of the empire.[1474] Soon the treasure began to arrive, while Atahualpa was deceived by false promises; and he beguiled his captivity by acquiring Spanish and learning to play at chess and cards.

Meanwhile Pizarro sent an expedition under his brother Hernando, to visit the famous temple of Pachacamac on the coast; and three soldiers were also despatched to Cusco, the capital of the empire, to hurry forward the treasure. They set out in February, 1533, but behaved with so much imprudence and insolence at Cusco as to endanger their own lives and the success of their mission. Pizarro therefore ordered two officers of distinction, Hernando de Soto and Pedro del Barco, to follow them and remedy the mischief which they were doing. On Easter eve, being the 14th of April, 1533, Almagro arrived at Caxamarca with a reinforcement of one hundred and fifty Spaniards and eighty-four horses.

On the 3d of May it was ordered that the gold already arrived should be melted down for distribution; but another large instalment came on the 14th of June. An immense quantity consisted of slabs, with holes at the corners, which had been torn off the walls of temples and palaces; and there were vessels and ornaments of all shapes and sizes. After the royal fifth had been deducted, the rest was divided among the conquerors. The total sum of 4,605,670 ducats would be equal to about £3,500,000 of modern money.[1475] After the partition of the treasure, the murder of the Ynca was seriously proposed as a measure of good policy. The crime was committed by order of Pizarro, and with the concurrence of Almagro and the friar Valverde.[1476] It was expected that the sovereign’s death would be followed by the dispersion of his army, and the submission of the people. This judicial murder was committed in the square of Caxamarca on the 29th of August, 1533. Hernando de Soto was absent at the time, and on his return he expressed the warmest indignation. Several other honorable cavaliers protested against the execution. Their names are even more worthy of being remembered than those of the heroic sixteen who crossed the line on the sea-shore at Gallo.[1477]

Pizarro at first set up a son of Atahualpa as his successor; but the boy died within two months. A more important matter was the despatch of the treasure to Spain, with tidings of the conquest. The first ship, laden with Peruvian gold, arrived at Seville on the 5th of December, 1534. The second ship followed in January, having on board, besides the treasure, Hernando Pizarro, the conqueror’s brother. The excitement caused by these arrivals was intense; and there was an eager desire among adventurers, both of high and low degree, to become settlers in this land of promise.

In September Pizarro began his march from Caxamarca to Cusco, the capital of the empire, with five hundred Spaniards and about one hundred and fifty horses. The artilleryman Candia had charge of two falconets. The march was along the lofty valleys and over the passes of the sierra, by Huamachuco, Huánuco, Xauxa, and Huamanga. The rear-guard was attacked by Titu Atauchi, brother of Atahualpa, with six thousand men; and eight Spaniards were taken prisoners, among them Francisco de Chaves and Hernando de Haro, who had protested against the murder of the Ynca Atahualpa, and Sancho de Cuellar, who had been clerk to the court at the mock trial. They were taken to Caxamarca, which had been abandoned by the Spaniards. Chaves and Haro were treated with the greatest kindness. Cuellar was strangled on the spot where Atahualpa was put to death. Hernando de Soto and Almagro led the van of the Spanish army, and they had to fight a well-contested battle beyond the Apurimac, with a native army led by one of the generals of Atahualpa. Leaving a garrison at Xauxa, Pizarro followed more leisurely; and on forming a junction with Almagro on the great plain of Sacsahuana, near Cusco, he perpetrated another great crime. Challcuchima, one of Atahualpa’s ablest generals, who had been taken prisoner, was burned alive. Soon afterward the Ynca Manco, son of Huayna Capac, and the rightful heir to the sovereignty, arrived at the Spanish camp to make his submission and claim protection. His rights were recognized; and on the 15th of November, 1533, the conqueror Pizarro entered the city of Cusco in company with the rightful sovereign. The Ynca Manco was inaugurated with the usual ceremonies and rejoicings; but in March, 1534, his beloved city of Cusco was converted into a Spanish town, and a municipality was established. The palaces and spacious halls were appropriated as churches and private houses of the conquerors. The Dominicans received the great Temple of the Sun as their monastery; and Friar Valverde, who became the first bishop of Cusco, in 1538, took the spacious palace of the Ynca Uira-ccocha, in the great square, for his cathedral.

It was not long before the fame of the riches of Peru brought more conquerors to seek for a share of the spoils. In March, 1534, Pedro de Alvarado, one of the conquerors of Mexico, landed at Puerto Viejo, close to the equator, with five hundred Spaniards, half of whom were mounted. Among them was the noble cavalier Garcilasso de la Vega, father of the future historian. After suffering dreadful hardships in passing through the forests of the coast, the adventurers reached Riobamba, with a loss of one fourth of their number. Pizarro, leaving a garrison of ninety men under his brother Juan at Cusco, proceeded to the sea-coast, where he had an interview with Alvarado at Pachacamac. It was agreed that Alvarado should return to his government of Guatemala, while many of his surviving followers attached themselves to the fortunes of Pizarro.

The conqueror now resolved to fix the principal seat of his government within a short distance of some convenient seaport. He finally selected a site in the valley of the Rimac, six miles from the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Here Pizarro founded the city of Lima on the festival of Epiphany, the 6th of January, 1535. It was called “Ciudad de los Reyes” (the city of the kings) in honor of Charles V. and his mother Juana, and also in memory of the day. The city was laid out on a regular plan, which has been little altered down to the present time, with broad streets, at right angles, and a spacious square near the centre, one side of which was to be occupied by the cathedral and another by the palace. Pizarro appointed municipal officers, collected laborers, and with great energy pushed on the work of building.

Hernando Pizarro, arriving with such welcome treasure, was very graciously received in Spain. Charles V. confirmed all his brother’s previous grants, and created him a marquis;[1478] while Almagro, with the title of marshal, was empowered to discover and occupy territory for two hundred leagues, beginning from the southern boundary of Pizarro’s government. Hernando himself was created a knight of Santiago, and was authorized to enlist recruits, and equip a fleet for his return to Peru. The return of Hernando was the signal for the breaking out of a feud between the old partners. Almagro and his friends declared that Cusco itself was to the south of the boundary assigned to the territory of Pizarro. The conqueror hurried from his work of building at Lima to Cusco, and made a solemn reconciliation with Almagro, by a written agreement dated June 12, 1535.

Almagro was induced to undertake an expedition for the discovery and conquest of Chili. He was accompanied by a large army of Indians, led by two Yncas of the blood royal; and he had with him about two hundred Spaniards. He set out from Cusco in the autumn. Pizarro then returned to the coast, to push forward the building of Lima, and to found the cities of Truxillo (1535), Chachapoyas (1536), Huamanga (1539), and Arequipa (1540). Hernando Pizarro, on his return, was sent to join his brothers Juan and Gonzalo at Cusco, and to take command of that city and fortress.

The Spaniards had already begun to look upon the natives as their slaves, and the young Ynca Manco was not only treated with neglect, but exposed to every kind of humiliating insult. He escaped from Cusco, and put himself at the head of a great army of his subjects in the valley of Yucay. This was a signal; and immediately the whole country was in revolt against the invaders. Juan Pizarro was driven back into Cusco, and the city was closely besieged by the armies of the Ynca from February, 1536. The besiegers succeeded in setting the thatched roofs of the halls and palaces on fire, and the Spanish garrison was reduced to the greatest straits. The Yncas had occupied the fortress which commands the town, and Juan Pizarro was killed in an attempt to carry it by storm. Finally Hernando Pizarro himself captured the fortress, after a heroic defence by the Ynca garrison. Still the close siege of the city continued, and the garrison was reduced to the last straits by famine. Month after month passed away without tidings. At last the season for planting arrived, and in August the Ynca was obliged to raise the siege.

* * * * *

Chili, the long strip of land along the west coast of South America, to the south of Peru, had been conquered by the Yncas as far as the river Maule. Beyond that limit were the indomitable tribes of Araucanian Indians. Bounded on one side by the cordillera of the Andes, and on the other by the sea, the country enjoys a temperate climate, suited for the cultivation of wheat and the rearing of cattle. It can be approached from Peru either by traversing the great desert of Atacama on the coast, or by marching over the snowy plateaus and rocky passes of the Andes. Almagro chose the latter route. The Indian auxiliaries, led by Paullu, the brother of Ynca Manco, and by the Uillac Umu, or high-priest, marched first, carrying provisions and making arrangements for their supply, taking the road through the Collao and Charcas (the modern republic of Bolivia). The Indian contingent was followed by one hundred Spaniards under Don Juan Saavedra; and this advanced party waited at Paria, in the south of Charcas, for the main body. This was commanded by Don Rodrigo Orgoñez, a native of Oropesa, who had served under the constable Bourbon at the sack of Rome. He was a brave and experienced commander, ever faithful to his chief, the marshal Almagro. The whole force, when united in the distant valley of Jujuy, consisted of five hundred Spaniards, with two hundred horses. The march across the Andes to Coquimbo, in Chili, during the winter of 1536, was a time of intense suffering and hardship bravely endured; but it was stained by the most revolting cruelties to the people of Charcas and Jujuy.

Almagro advanced from Coquimbo to the southward, and his Peruvian contingent suffered a defeat from an army of Promauca Indians. He was reinforced by Orgoñez and Juan Rada, another faithful adherent, who brought with them the royal order appointing Almagro to be adelantado, or governor, of New Toledo, which was to extend two hundred leagues from the southern limit of Pizarro’s government of New Castile. The explorers now desired to return and occupy this new government, which they claimed to include the city of Cusco itself. Almagro had arranged that three small vessels should sail from Callao, the port of Lima, for the Chilian coast, with provisions. Only one ever sailed, named the “Santiaguillo,” having a cargo of food, clothing, and horse-shoes. She arrived in a port on the coast of Chili; and when the tidings reached Almagro, he sent the gallant Juan de Saavedra, the leader of his vanguard, with thirty horsemen, to communicate with her. Saavedra found the little vessel anchored in a bay surrounded by rugged hills covered with an undergrowth of shrubs, and having a distant view of the snowy cordillera. In some way it reminded him of his distant Spanish home. Saavedra was a native of the village of Valparaiso, near Cuenca, in Castile. He named the bay, where the principal seaport of Chili was destined to be established, Valparaiso. This was in September, 1536. Landing the much-needed supplies, Saavedra rejoined his chief, and the expedition of Almagro began its painful return journey by the desert of Atacama. On arriving at Arequipa, Almagro first heard of the great insurrection of the Yncas. Marching rapidly to Cusco, his lieutenant, Orgoñez, defeated the Ynca Manco in the valley of Yucay; and Almagro entered the ancient city, claiming to be its lawful governor.

The royal grant had given Pizarro all the territory for two hundred and seventy leagues southward from the river of Santiago, in 1° 20´ north, and to Almagro two hundred leagues extending from Pizarro’s southern limit. Herrera says that there were seventeen and one half leagues in a degree. This would bring Pizarro’s boundary as far south as 14° 50´, and would leave Cusco (13° 30´ 55″ south) well within it. But neither the latitudes of the river Santiago nor of Cusco had been fixed, and the question was open to dispute.

Almagro seized upon Cusco on the 8th of April, 1537, and placed the brothers Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro, who had defended the place against the Yncas, in confinement. News then came that a large body of men under Alonzo de Alvarado, sent by the governor Pizarro from Lima, was approaching Cusco. Alvarado, with about five hundred men, had advanced as far as the river Abancay, where he was surprised and defeated by Orgoñez on the 12th of July, 1537. Meanwhile some reinforcements were arriving at Lima, in reply to the appeals of Pizarro for help against the native insurrection.

The ecclesiastic Luque had died; but the other partner who advanced the money for the original expedition, the licentiate Gaspar de Espinosa, still lived; and he now joined Pizarro at Lima, with a force of two hundred and fifty men. Cortés also despatched a vessel with supplies and military stores from Mexico.

The Marquis—as Pizarro was now styled—sent an embassy to Almagro at Cusco, under the licentiate Espinosa, in the hope of settling the dispute amicably. Almagro, elated by his successes, was in no mood for moderating his demands; and, unfortunately, Espinosa died very suddenly in the midst of the negotiation. It was broken off; and Almagro declared his intention of retaining Cusco and marching to the coast, in order to establish for himself a seaport. Orgoñez had again defeated the Ynca Manco, dispersed his army, and forced him to take refuge, with his family and little court, in the mountainous fastness of Vilcabamba. Leaving Gonzalo Pizarro in prison at Cusco, Almagro marched to the valley of Chincha, on the sea-coast, taking Hernando Pizarro with him. At Chincha he began to lay out a city, to be called Almagro, which was to rival Lima, one hundred miles to the northward. Chincha is nearly in the same latitude as Cusco.

While he was at Chincha, Almagro received news that Gonzalo Pizarro and Alonzo de Alvarado had escaped from their Cusco prison, and reached the camp of the marquis, near Lima. After some correspondence, it was agreed that a friar named Francisco de Bobadilla should arbitrate, and that Pizarro and Almagro should have a personal interview in the little town of Mala, near the coast, between Lima and Chincha. The meeting took place on the 13th of November, 1537. There was a furious altercation. They parted in anger; indeed Almagro, fearing treachery, rode off very hastily. A cavalier of Pizarro’s party had hummed two lines of an old song in his hearing,—

“Tiempo es el cavallero, Tiempo es de andar de aqui.”

It was the last time the old partners ever saw each other. The friar’s award was that a skilful pilot should be sent to fix the latitude of the river of Santiago, and that meanwhile Almagro should deliver up Cusco, and Hernando Pizarro should be set at liberty. But in order to secure the safety of his brother, the marquis made the concession that Almagro should hold Cusco until the boundaries were fixed. Hernando was then allowed to leave the camp of Almagro.

But the marquis had no intention of allowing his rival to retain Cusco. Too old to take the field himself, he intrusted the command of his army to his brother Hernando. His rival was also broken down by age and infirmities, and Rodrigo de Orgoñez became the actual commander of Almagro’s forces. He retreated by short marches towards Cusco, the old marshal being carried in a litter, and requiring long intervals of rest. The marquis led his army down the coast to Yca, where he took leave of it, and returned to Lima. His brother Hernando then proceeded still farther along the coast to Nasca, and ascended the cordilleras by way of Lucanas, reaching the neighborhood of Cusco in April, 1538. Almagro had arrived at Cusco ten days before.

Orgoñez took up a position at a place called Salinas, about three miles from Cusco, with a force of five hundred men and about two hundred horses. His artillery consisted of six falconets, which, with the cavalry, he stationed on the flanks of his infantry. On Saturday, the 26th of April, 1538 (or the 6th, the day of Saint Lazarus, according to Garcilasso), Hernando Pizarro began the attack. The infantry was led by his brother Gonzalo, and by Pedro de Valdivia, the future governor of Chili. Crowds of Indians watched the battle, and rejoiced to see their oppressors destroying one another. The cavalry charged at full gallop, the infantry fought desperately; but Orgoñez was killed, and after an hour the fortune of the day turned against the marshal. His soldiers fled to Cusco, followed by the victorious party, and Almagro himself was put in chains and confined in the same prison where he had put the Pizarros. His young son Diego,—by an Indian girl of Panamá,—to whom the old man was devotedly attached, was sent at once to the camp of the marquis at Lima, in charge of Alcantara, the half-brother of the Pizarros. Hernando then prepared a long string of accusations against his defeated foe, obtained his condemnation, and caused him to be garroted in the prison. Almagro was buried in the church of La Merced at Cusco, in July, 1538.

The Marquis Francisco Pizarro received the young Almagro with kindness, and sent him to Lima, ordering him to be treated as his son. The governor himself remained for some time at Xauxa, and then proceeded to Cusco, where he confiscated the property of Almagro’s followers. He sent his brother Gonzalo to conquer the people of Charcas. In 1539 Hernando Pizarro set out for Spain; but the friends of Almagro were before him. He was coldly received, and eventually committed to prison for his conduct at Cusco, and lingered in captivity for upwards of twenty years.

Pizarro returned to Lima, and despatched numerous expeditions in various directions for discovery and conquest. Gomez de Alvarado was intrusted with the settlement of Huánuco; Francisco de Chaves, of Conchucos; Vergara and Mercadillo were to explore Bracamoras and Chachapoyas; and Pedro de Candia was to settle the Collao. Gonzalo Pizarro himself undertook an expedition to the land of cinnamon,—the forest-covered region to the eastward of Quito. Leaving Pedro de Puelles in command at Quito, Gonzalo entered the forests with three hundred and fifty Spaniards and four thousand Indians on Christmas Day, 1539. The hardships and sufferings of these dauntless explorers have seldom been equalled by any body of men on record. Descending the rivers Coca and Napo, Gonzalo intrusted the command of a small vessel to Francisco de Orellana to go on in advance and seek for supplies. But Orellana deserted his starving comrades, discovered the whole course of the river Amazon, and returned to Spain. Out of the three hundred and fifty Spaniards that started, fifty deserted with Orellana, two hundred and ten died of hunger and disease, and the miserable remnant eventually returned to Quito with their intrepid leader, Gonzalo Pizarro, in June, 1542.

The marquis had also resolved to renew the attempt to conquer Chili, which had been abandoned by Almagro. A cavalier had actually been sent out from Spain, named Pedro Sanchez de Hoz, to undertake this service. The marquis associated with him a commander on whose judgment, resolution, and fidelity he could better rely. Pedro de Valdivia was a native of Serena in Estremadura. He had seen much service in Italy; was at the taking of Milan and at the battle of Pavia. He had arrived in Peru in 1535, having been sent from Mexico by Hernando Cortés when the governor of Peru appealed for help to resist the Ynca revolt. He did important service for the Pizarros at the battle of Salinas.

Having collected one hundred and fifty soldiers at Cusco, Valdivia began his march for Chili in March, 1540. His camp-master was Pedro Gomez; his standard-bearer, Pedro de Mayor; his chief of the staff, Alonso Monroy. Francisco de Aguirre and Jeronimo de Alderete were his captains of cavalry; Francisco de Villagran led the arquebusiers, and Rodrigo de Quiroga the pikemen. Two priests, named Bartolomé Rodrigo and Gonzalo Marmolejo, accompanied the expedition. Before starting, Valdivia went to the cathedral of Cusco, and swore, in presence of Bishop Valverde, that the first church he built should be dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, the patroness of Cusco, and that the first city he founded should be named Santiago, after the patron of Spain. Valdivia marched by way of the desert of Atacama, and at the very outset he made an agreement with Sanchez de Hoz that the sole command should rest with himself.

Valdivia had for a guide the friar Antonio Rondon, who had accompanied Almagro’s expedition; and with his aid he overcame all the difficulties of the march, and safely reached Copiapo in Chili. Advancing by Huasco and Coquimbo, he defeated a large army of natives in the valley of Chili or Aconcagua, and eventually selected a site for the foundation of a new city on the banks of the river Mapocho, in the territory of the Cacique Huelen-Guala. The foundation of the church, dedicated to the Assumption, in accordance with the vow made at Cusco, was laid on the 12th of February, 1541. The plan of the city was laid out, and it received the name of Santiago. The officers of the municipality were elected on the 7th of March, to remain in office for one year.

It was not long before the natives of Chili took up arms to oppose the intruders. Valdivia marched against a large body, leaving Monroy in command at Santiago. But another force of Indians attacked the city itself, with desperate valor, during fifteen days, killing four Spaniards and twenty-three horses, and setting fire to the houses. Valdivia hastily returned; and although the whole country was in insurrection, Monroy nobly volunteered to make his way to Peru and return with reinforcements and supplies. He set out Jan. 28, 1542. Valdivia began to cultivate the land near Santiago, and to sow wheat, in the hope of raising crops; and on the hill of Santa Lucia he constructed a fort where provisions and valuables could be stored. But the little colony continued to suffer much from scarcity of provisions. Monroy, hiding in the woods during the day and travelling at night, escaped from Chili and reached Cusco in safety. He succeeded in getting a small vessel sent from the port of Arequipa to Valparaiso, while he himself returned by the desert of Atacama, reaching Santiago in December, 1543. Valdivia was now able to assume the offensive, and the armed Indians retired to a distance from Santiago.

The chief pilot of Panamá, an experienced Genoese seaman named Juan Bautista Pastene, with Juan Calderon de la Barca, was ordered to undertake a voyage of discovery along the coast of Chili at about the same time. He sailed from Callao in July, 1544, and arrived at the port of Valparaiso in August, in his little vessel the “San Pablo.”

Here he was visited by Valdivia, who confirmed the name of Valparaiso and officially declared it to be the port of Santiago. Valdivia proclaimed the foundation of the town of Valparaiso on the 3d of September, 1544, and appointed Pastene his lieutenant in command of the Chilian seas. The two little vessels “San Pedro” and “Santiaguillo” then took some men-at-arms on board, and proceeded on a voyage of discovery to the southward on the 4th of September. Pastene went as far as 41° south, discovering a harbor which was named Valdivia, the mouths of several rivers, the island of Mocha and the Bay of Penco. He returned to Valparaiso on the 30th of September, and reported his success to the governor, who now had two hundred Spaniards at Santiago, besides women and children. In the same year Valdivia sent a captain named Bohan to found a town in the valley of Coquimbo, to serve as a refuge and resting-place on the road between Santiago and Peru. It was named La Serena, after the native place of Valdivia. The “San Pedro” was sent to Coquimbo to be caulked and otherwise repaired.

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Part VI

The governor then undertook an expedition to the south, crossed the river Maule, defeated a large body of Indians at a place called Quilacara, and advanced as far as the banks of the river Biobio, returning to Santiago, after an absence of forty days, in March, 1546. Pastene had made another voyage to Callao, taking with him the gallant Alonso Monroy, who died on the passage. He returned to Valparaiso, with a melancholy account of the disturbed state of Peru, Dec. 1, 1547; and Valdivia determined, after much deliberation, to take up arms against Gonzalo Pizarro, as a loyal servant of the Spanish Crown. He went on board Pastene’s ship, made sail Dec. 10, 1547, and arrived at Callao, the port of Lima. He had founded a new colony, and left it securely established in Chili.

During the seven years of Valdivia’s absence in Chili, stirring events had occurred in the land of the Yncas. The marquis returned to Lima, where he was busily engaged in the work of building, and in administering the affairs of his vast command. Many of the ruined followers of Almagro were there also, driven to desperation by the confiscation of their property. They were called, in derision, the “men of Chili.” Pizarro treated them with contemptuous indifference, and expelled the young Almagro from his house.

The most conspicuous of the malcontents was Juan de Rada; and he matured a plot for the assassination of the governor. On the 26th of June, 1541, the conspirators, headed by Rada, ran across the great square during the dinner hour, and entered the court of Pizarro’s house.[1479] The marquis had just dined, and his brother Martin de Alcantara, the judge Velasquez, Francisco de Chaves, and others were with him. Being unarmed, several of those present, on hearing the outcry, let themselves down into a garden from the corridor, and escaped. Chaves went out on the stairs, where he was murdered by the conspirators, who were running up. The marquis had thrown off his robe, put on a cuirass, and seized a spear. He was past seventy. His brother, a cavalier named Gomez de Luna, and two pages were with him. The assassins numbered nineteen strong men. Pizarro fought valiantly, until Rada thrust one of his companions on the spear and rushed in. Alcantara, Luna, and the two pages were despatched. Pizarro continued to defend himself until a wound in the throat brought him to the ground. He made the sign of the cross on the floor, and kissed it. He then breathed his last. The conspirators rushed into the street shouting, “The tyrant is dead!” The houses of the governor and his secretary were pillaged. Juan de Rada coerced the municipality and proclaimed Diego Almagro, the young half-caste lad, governor of Peru. The body of Pizarro was buried in the cathedral, by stealth, and at night.

But the colonists did not immediately submit to the new rule. Alvarez de Holguin, one of Pizarro’s captains, held Cusco with a small force, and Alonzo de Alvarado opposed the conspiracy in the north of Peru. The bishop Valverde, of Cusco, and the judge Velasquez were allowed to embark at Callao in November, 1541; but they fell into the hands of the Indians on the island of Puna, in the Gulf of Guayaquil, and were both killed.

The followers of Almagro the lad, as he was called, determined to march from Lima in the direction of Cusco, so as to get between Alvarado and Holguin. At Xauxa the youthful adventurer had the misfortune to lose his most trusty adherent. Juan de Rada died of fever. The two most influential of his supporters who remained were Cristóval de Sotelo and Garcia de Alvarado,—and they had quarrelled with one another. Their delays enabled Holguin to pass to the north, and unite his forces with Alvarado’s. Almagro then established himself at Cusco, where Sotelo was murdered by his rival Alvarado; and the latter was put to death by the young Almagro, who assumed the direction of his own affairs. He was barely twenty-two years of age.

The Emperor Charles V., long before the death of Pizarro, had decided upon sending out a royal judge to act as the old conqueror’s coadjutor and adviser, especially with regard to the treatment of the Indians. For this delicate post the emperor’s choice fell upon Dr. Don Cristóval Vaca de Castro, a Judge of the Audience of Valladolid. After a long voyage the new judge had landed at Buenaventura, a town recently founded by Pascual de Andagoya, near that river San Juan where Pizarro had waited in such dire distress during his first voyage. He had a royal order to assume the post of governor of Peru in the event of Pizarro’s death; and on arriving at Popayan he received tidings of the assassination. He then proclaimed his commission as governor, and advanced southwards, by way of Quito, along the Peruvian coast. At Huara he was joined by Alvarado and Holguin with their forces. He entered Lima, and then proceeded, by way of Xauxa, in search of the assassins. Young Almagro had a force of five hundred Spaniards, with two hundred horses; and he had a park of artillery consisting of sixteen pieces under the direction of the veteran Pedro de Candia. With this force he left Cusco in July, 1542. Vaca de Castro marched in great haste to Guamanga, in order to secure that important post before Almagro could reach it from Cusco. The rebels, as they must be called, took a route along the skirts of the cordillera, until they reached an elevated plateau called Chupas, above and a little to the south of the newly built town of Guamanga. Their object appears to have been to cut off the communications of Vaca de Castro with the coast. In order to approach them, it was necessary for the royal army to evacuate Guamanga, and ascend a very steep slope to the terrace-like plateau where Almagro’s army was posted. It was the 16th of September, 1542, and the ascent from Guamanga must have occupied the greater part of the day. The army of Vaca de Castro was marshalled by the veteran Francisco de Carbajal, an old soldier who had seen forty years’ service in Italy before he crossed the Atlantic. Carbajal led the troops into action with such skill that they were protected by intervening ground until they were close to the enemy; and when Almagro’s artillery opened fire on them, the guns were so elevated as to do no execution. This led young Almagro to suspect Pedro de Candia of treachery, and he there and then ran the old gunner through the body, and pointed one of the guns himself with good effect. The royal army now began to suffer severely from the better-directed artillery fire. Then the opposing bodies of cavalry charged, while Carbajal led a desperate attack with the infantry, and captured Almagro’s guns. Holguin fell dead; Alvarado was driven back, and young Almagro behaved with heroic valor. Yet when night closed in, the army of Vaca de Castro was completely victorious, and five hundred were left dead on the field. It was a desperately contested action. Almagro fled to Cusco with a few followers, where he was arrested by the magistrates. Vaca de Castro followed closely, and on arriving in the city he condemned the lad to death. Almagro suffered in the great square, and was buried by the side of his father in the church of La Merced.

Vaca de Castro assumed the administration of affairs in Peru as royal governor. In the same year the Dominican Friar Geronimo de Loaysa, a native of Talavera, became bishop of Lima. He was promoted to the rank of archbishop in 1545. Another Dominican, Juan de Solano, succeeded Valverde as bishop of Cusco in 1543. Gonzalo Pizarro, when he returned from his terrible expedition in the forests east of Quito, was induced by the governor to retire peaceably to his estates in Charcas. The efforts of Vaca de Castro as an administrator were directed to regulating the employment of the natives, and to improving communications.

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When the good Bartolomé Las Casas returned to Spain, in 1538, he published his famous work on the destruction of the native race of America. He protested against the Indians being given to the Spaniards in encomienda, or vassalage for personal service.[1480] At last the emperor appointed a committee consisting of churchmen and lawyers of the highest position, to sit at Valladolid in 1542, and to consider the whole subject. The result was the promulgation of what were called the “New Laws.”

I. After the death of the conquerors, the repartimientos of Indians, given to them in encomienda, were not to pass to their heirs, but be placed directly under the king. Officers of his majesty were to renounce the repartimientos at once.

II. All encomenderos in Peru who had been engaged in the factious wars between the Pizarros and Almagros were to be deprived.

III. Personal service of the Indians was to be entirely abolished.

Blasco Nuñez Vela was appointed viceroy of Peru to enforce the “New Laws,” assisted by a court of justice, of which he was president, called the Audiencia of Lima. There were four other judges, called oidores, or auditors, named Cepeda, Zarate, Alvarez, and Tejada. The viceroy and his colleagues embarked at San Lucar on the 3d of November, 1543. Leaving the judges sick at Panamá, the viceroy landed at Tumbez on the 4th of March, 1544, with great magnificence, and proceeded by land to Lima, proclaiming the “New Laws” as he advanced. The Spanish conquerors were thrown into a state of dismay and exasperation. They entreated Gonzalo Pizarro to leave his retirement and protect their interests, and when he entered Cusco he was hailed as procurator-general of Peru. He seized the artillery at Guamanga, and assembled a force of four hundred men, while old Francisco de Carbajal, the hero of the battle of Chupas, became his lieutenant.

The viceroy was a headstrong, violent man, without judgment or capacity for affairs. His first act after entering Lima was to imprison the late governor, Vaca de Castro. The principal citizens entreated him not to enforce the “New Laws” with imprudent haste. But he would listen to no arguments; and when the auditors arrived from Panamá, he quarrelled with them, and acted in defiance of their protests. At last the auditors ventured upon the bold step of arresting the viceroy in his palace, and placing him in confinement. He was sent to the island of San Lorenzo, and a government was formed with the auditor Cepeda as president, who suspended the “New Laws” until further instructions could be received from Spain. The auditor Alvarez was commissioned to embark on board a vessel with the viceroy, and take him to Panamá.

Meanwhile Gonzalo Pizarro was approaching Lima by rapid marches, and he entered the capital on the 28th of October, 1544, at the head of twelve hundred Spaniards and several thousand Indians dragging the artillery, which had formed the special strength of young Almagro. The Audiencia submitted; the judges administered the oaths, and Gonzalo was declared governor and captain-general of Peru. At the same time Vaca de Castro persuaded the captain of a vessel on board of which he was confined in Callao Bay to get under way and convey him to Panamá. Accusations were brought against him in Spain, and he was kept in prison for twelve years, but was eventually acquitted and reinstated.

As soon as the ship conveying the viceroy to Panamá was at sea, the judge Alvarez liberated him. He landed at Tumbez in October, 1544, denounced Gonzalo Pizarro and the judge Cepeda as traitors, and called upon all loyal subjects to support him. Volunteers arrived, and Blasco Nuñez raised his standard at San Miguel de Piura. Gonzalo Pizarro assembled a rival force at Truxillo; but the viceroy retreated before him towards Quito, Carbajal pressing closely on his rear. The retreat was almost a rout. Passing through Quito, the viceroy took refuge at Pasto, within the jurisdiction of Sebastian Benalcazar, the governor of Popayan. Early in January, 1546, having received reinforcements, Blasco Nuñez ventured to advance once more towards Quito. Gonzalo Pizarro took up a strong position outside; but the viceroy, now accompanied by Benalcazar, made a detour and entered Quito. On the 18th of January, 1546, the viceroy led his followers to the plains of Anaquito, near the town, where his enemy was posted, seven hundred strong. The battle was not long doubtful. Alvarez the judge was mortally wounded. Benalcazar was left for dead on the field. The viceroy was unhorsed and wounded, and while lying on the ground his head was struck off by order of Pedro de Puelles, Pizarro’s governor of Quito. The slaughter was terrific. Cruel old Carbajal never showed any mercy, and no quarter was given. Benalcazar, when he recovered, was allowed to return to Popayan; and Gonzalo Pizarro attended as chief mourner at the funeral of the viceroy in the cathedral of Quito.

Leaving a garrison at Quito, under Puelles, Gonzalo began his journey southwards in July, 1546, and entered Lima in triumph. The only resistance throughout Peru was from an officer in Charcas named Diego Centeno, a native of Ciudad Rodrigo, who had come to Peru in 1534 with Pedro Alvarado. He declared in favor of the viceroy at Chucuito; but Alonzo Toro, who had been left in command at Cusco by Gonzalo Pizarro, marched against him, and he fled into the fastnesses of Chichas, in the far south. Pizarro was undisputed master of Peru, and his lieutenant Carbajal retired to Charcas to work the silver mines.

News of the revolt had reached Spain, and the licentiate Pedro de la Gasca, an astute and very able ecclesiastic, was appointed to proceed to Peru, and mediate between the viceroy and the malcontents. He received very full powers, with large discretion, and was entitled president of the Audiencia. He was very ugly, with a dwarfish body and exceedingly long, ungainly legs. The president sailed from Spain on the 26th of May, 1546, and received the news of the viceroy’s death on his arrival at the isthmus. He brought out with him the announcement of the revocation of the “New Laws,” owing to the dangerous spirit of discontent they had caused throughout the Indies. They were withdrawn by a decree dated at Malines on the 20th of October, 1545.

The president arrived at Panamá on the 11th of August, 1546, where he found the fleet of Gonzalo Pizarro, under the command of Pedro de Hinojosa. Soon afterward Lorenzo de Aldana arrived as an envoy from Pizarro, but was induced to submit to the president’s authority. Hinojosa followed the example, and thus Gasca gained possession of the fleet. When the offer of pardon reached Lima, Gonzalo was advised by his lieutenant Carbajal to accept the terms; but the auditor Cepeda, who had turned against the viceroy and administered the oaths of office to a rebel, felt that there could be no pardon for him. The mad ambition of Pizarro induced him to listen to Cepeda rather than to Carbajal, and he finally rejected the offer of pardon; but many of his old followers deserted him.

Lorenzo de Aldana was despatched from Panamá, with several vessels, in February, 1547, and arrived in Callao Bay; while Diego Centeno once more rose in the south, and began to collect troops. Gonzalo Pizarro resolved to abandon Lima and march to Arequipa with only five hundred men, so numerous had been the desertions from his ranks. Aldana then entered the capital, while Gasca himself sailed from Panamá on the 10th of April, 1547, landing at Tumbez on the 13th of June. He advanced to Xauxa, and great numbers flocked to his standard. Pedro de Valdivia, the governor of Chili, had landed at Callao, and overtook the president, on his march towards Cusco, at Andahuaylas.

Gonzalo Pizarro, despairing of being able to make head against the president Gasca with all the prestige of royal approval on his side, had determined to retreat into Chili. But he feared to leave Centeno hanging on his rear, and thought it necessary first to disperse his forces. Centeno occupied a position near Huarina, at the southeastern angle of Lake Titicaca, upwards of twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea. Pizarro’s troops advanced to the attack over an open plain. He had about four hundred and eighty men, the strength of his army being in his infantry armed with arquebuses, and disciplined under the direct supervision of Carbajal. Centeno had a larger force, and was accompanied by Solano, the bishop of Cusco. Carbajal waited for the attack of the enemy, and then poured a deadly volley into their ranks. Centeno’s footmen broke and fled; but his cavalry defeated Pizarro, and would have won the day, if they too had not been repelled and broken by the admirable steadiness of Carbajal’s arquebusiers. As it was, Pizarro’s victory was complete, and three hundred and fifty of Centeno’s followers were killed. All fugitives taken by Carbajal were put to death without mercy.

The doomed Pizarro now abandoned all idea of retreating into Chili. He marched in triumph to Cusco, while the president Gasca approached by leisurely marches, gathering reinforcements by the way. With him were the bishops of Lima and Cusco, the marshal Alonzo de Alvarado, the veteran Hinojosa, Pascual de Andagoya the first adventurer in search of Peru, Valdivia the governor of Chili, Centeno, escaped from Huarina, Cieza de Leon the future historian, and many others well known to fame. The president’s army crossed the river Apurimac, and advanced to the plain of Sacsahuana, near Cusco, whither Gonzalo Pizarro came out to meet him. On the morning of the 9th of April, 1548, the commanders of both armies made ready for battle. But soon there were symptoms of desertion on Pizarro’s side. An important cavalier, Garcilasso de la Vega, galloped across to the army of Gasca. He was followed by the treacherous auditor Cepeda. Soldiers began to follow in small parties. Old Carbajal was humming two lines of an old song,—

“Estos mis cabellicos madre, Dos á dos me los lleva el ayre.”

Then desertions took place by companies and squadrons. Pizarro sorrowfully took his way to the royal camp and gave himself up. Carbajal was seized by the soldiers. He was hanged and quartered the following day, and soon afterwards Gonzalo Pizarro was executed in presence of the army.

The president entered Cusco on the 12th of April, and began a bloody assize. Scarcely a day passed without followers of Gonzalo Pizarro being hanged, flogged, or sent in large batches to the galleys. Two priests were executed. A canon of Quito, who was tutor to Gonzalo Pizarro’s little son, was hanged for writing a book called De bello justo. At length, sated with blood, the president left Cusco on the 11th of July with Archbishop Loaysa, and went to a small village called Huayna-rimac in the neighborhood. He retired into this seclusion to escape the importunities of his partisans. Here he proceeded to arrange the distribution of encomiendas, or grants of lands and Indians, among his followers. He allowed a tenth of the Indians to be employed on forced labor in the mines, thus reversing the humane legislation advocated by Las Casas. Having completed his work, the president sent the archbishop to announce his awards at Cusco, and they caused a howl of rage and disappointed greed. Gasca himself went down to Lima by the unfrequented route of Nasca, and when a positive order from the emperor arrived, that all personal service among the Indians should be abolished, he suspended its publication until he was safe out of Peru. In January, 1550, the president Gasca sailed for Panamá, leaving the country in the greatest confusion, and all the most difficult administrative points to be solved by his successors. The municipality of Lima wrote a complaint to the emperor, representing the untimely departure of the president. His abilities and his services have been much overstated. He himself is the witness to his own revolting cruelties at Cusco.

Gasca left the government of Peru, with none of the difficulties settled, in the hands of the auditors or judges of the royal Audiencia, of which Don Andres de Cianca was president. His colleagues were Melchor Bravo de Sarabia, Hernando de Santillan, and Pedro Maldonado. The judges were in charge of the executive from January, 1550, to the 23d of September, 1551, when Don Antonio de Mendoza arrived from Mexico as viceroy. They had taken steps to organize a systematic plan for the instruction of the natives, under the auspices of Archbishop Loaysa, Friar Thomas de San Martin, and the indefatigable friar Domingo de Santo Tomas, the first Quichua scholar. They worked harmoniously under the viceroy Mendoza, who was a statesman of high rank and great experience. He promulgated the royal order against the enforced personal service of Indians, anticipating serious discontents and troubles, which he was resolved to meet and overcome. But his premature death at Lima, on the 21st of July, 1552, left the country once more in the hands of the judges, who had to meet a storm which would sorely test their administrative abilities.

The ringleader of the malcontents was a cavalier of good family named Francisco Hernandez Giron. Born at Caceres, in Estremadura, he crossed the Atlantic in 1535, and joined the unfortunate viceroy Blasco Nuñez de Vela at Quito, fighting under his banner in the fatal battle of Anaquito. He also did good service in the army of President Gasca, and was in the left wing at the rout of Sacsahuana. Gasca had assigned the plain of Sacsahuana to him, as his repartimiento; but he grumbled loudly, and all the malcontents looked upon him as their leader. The promulgation of the abolition of personal service was received with a howl of execration among the conquerors, who looked forward to the accumulation of wealth by the use of forced labor in the silver mines. Troubles broke out in Charcas, and Giron resolved to raise the standard of revolt at Cusco.

The 12th of November, 1553, was the wedding day of Don Alonzo de Loaysa, a nephew of the archbishop, who married a young lady named Maria de Castilla. The corregidor of Cusco and most of the leading citizens were at the supper. Suddenly Giron presented himself in cuirass and helmet, with his sword drawn, and a crowd of conspirators behind him. The street was occupied by a body of cavalry under his lieutenant, Tomas Vasquez. The guests sprang from their seats, but Giron told them not to fear, as he only wished to arrest the corregidor. He and the others then put out the lights and drew their swords. The corregidor took refuge with the ladies in the drawing-room, and shut the doors. Two guests were stabbed. Many escaped by the windows and climbed a wall at the back of the house. The corregidor and other officials were seized and imprisoned. Giron issued a proclamation declaring that the conquerors would not be robbed of the fruits of their labors. He soon had a respectable force under his command; but most of the leading citizens fled to Lima. The rebel declared that his object was the public good, and to induce the king to listen to the prayers of his subjects. The Audiencia was called upon to restore matters to the state they were in at the time of Gasca’s departure. Tomas Vasquez was sent to Arequipa, and Guamanga also declared in favor of Giron.

The governing judges were in great perplexity at Lima. After some hesitation they put the archbishop Loaysa in command of their army, with the judge Bravo de Saravia as his colleague. The marshal Alonzo de Alvarado was in upper Peru, and he also got some loyal cavaliers round him, and assembled a small force. Giron entered Guamanga Jan. 27, 1554, where he was joined by Tomas Vasquez, from Arequipa; and he then marched down to the coast. The judges encamped at Até, outside Lima, with five hundred arquebusiers, four hundred and fifty pikemen, three hundred cavalry, and fourteen field-pieces. Giron arrived at Pachacamac on the shores of the Pacific, and the judges advanced to Surco. But instead of boldly attacking, the rebels turned their backs and marched southwards along the coast to Yca, followed by a detachment under an officer named Meneses. Giron turned, and defeated his pursuers at Villacuri, in the desert between Pisco and Yca, but continued his retreat to Nasca. He had lost a great opportunity.

The royal army advanced to Chincha; but the archbishop quarrelled with Bravo de Saravia, and where so many commanded, and none were military men, efficient operations were impossible. Meanwhile Alvarado had assembled an army for the judges, of seven hundred men, the rendezvous being La Paz in upper Peru. With this force he entered Cusco on the 30th of March, 1554, and continued his march in search of Giron, who remained at Nasca, on the coast, until the 8th of May. On that day the rebels once more ascended the wild passes of the cordillera to Lucanas, and were soon in the neighborhood of Alvarado’s army, which now numbered eleven hundred men. The rebels encamped at Chuquinga, in the wildest part of the Andes, on a mountain terrace by the side of a deep ravine, with the river Abancay in front. The marshal Alvarado was on the other side of the ravine, and was advised not to attack, but to harass the retreat of Giron. But on the 21st of May, under every possible disadvantage, he ordered the river to be forded, and an attack to be made. The river was crossed, but the men could not form on the other side in the face of an active enemy. They fell back, and the retreat was soon converted into a rout. Alvarado was wounded, but contrived to escape with Lorenzo de Aldana and the learned Polo de Ondegardo who accompanied him, leaving seventy dead on the field, and two hundred and eighty wounded.

Giron entered Cusco in triumph. The judges, on receiving news of the disastrous battle of Chuquinga, decided that their army should advance to Xauxa, and eventually towards Cusco. The Audiencia now consisted of Dr. Melchor Bravo de Saravia, Hernando de Santillan, Diego Gonzalez Altamirano, and Martin Mercado. Altamirano was to remain in charge of the government at Lima, while the other judges marched with the army, preceded by their officer Pablo de Meneses with the royal standard. In July, 1554, the three judges, Saravia, Santillan, and Mercado reached Guamanga, and in August they entered Cusco, having met with no opposition. Giron had retreated to Pucara, near Lake Titicaca, a very strong position consisting of a lofty rock rising out of the plain. The royal army encamped in front of the rock, and the judges sent promises of pardon to all who would return to their allegiance. Giron hoped that the royal army would attack him, repeating the error at Chuquinga; but the judges had resolved to play a waiting game. A night attack led by Giron was repulsed. Then desertions began, Tomas Vasquez setting the example. The unfortunate rebel could trust no one. He feared treachery. He bade a heart-rending farewell to his noble-minded wife, Doña Mencia, leaving her to the care of the judge Saravia. He rode away in the dead of night, almost alone, and Pucara was surrendered. Meneses was sent in chase of Giron, who was captured near Xauxa. He was brought to Lima, Dec. 6, 1554, and beheaded. His head was put in an iron cage, and nailed up by the side of those of Gonzalo Pizarro and Carbajal. Ten years afterward a friend of his wife secretly took all three down, and they were buried in a convent. Doña Mencia, the widow of Giron, founded the first nunnery in Lima,—that of “La Encarnacion,”—and died there as abbess.

Thus the judges succeeded in putting down this formidable insurrection, and were able to hand over the country, in a state of outward tranquillity, to the great viceroy who now came out to establish order in Peru.

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Don Andrea Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Cañete, was nominated by Charles V., at Brussels, to be viceroy of Peru for six years. He came out with the intention of checking with a firm hand the turbulence of the military adventurers who were swarming over the country. Writing to the emperor before he sailed, May 9, 1555, he said that there were eight thousand Spaniards in Peru, of whom four hundred and eighty-nine held repartimientos, and about one thousand were employed officially or otherwise. A large portion desired to live in idleness. He proposed to employ them on expeditions into unknown regions, and he submitted that no more Spaniards ought to be allowed to come to Peru without good cause assigned. In a letter to his daughter, the governess Juana, the emperor approved the policy sketched out by the new viceroy.

The Marquis of Cañete landed at Payta, and travelling by land, entered Lima on the 29th of June, 1556. He assumed office with unprecedented state and solemnity. He was fully resolved to put down sedition once and for all. He ordered that no Spaniard should leave his town without permission of the authorities, and for good cause. As regards the Audiencia, he reported to the emperor that the judges were hostile to each other, and that they lived in such discord that all peace was hopeless. He spoke favorably of two, and requested that the others might be recalled. He also reported that the corregidors maintained quantities of idle soldiers waiting for opportunities of mischief. He estimated the number of the idlers at three thousand, and said that the peace of the country was endangered by the immorality, license, and excesses of these men. The viceroy kept all the artillery in the country under his own eye, ordering guns to be seized and brought to him wherever they could be found; and he formed a permanent guard of four hundred arquebusiers. He then sent for a number of settlers, of turbulent antecedents, who came to Lima joyfully, expecting that they were about to receive repartimientos. But he disarmed them, shipped them at Callao, and sent them out of the country. Among these banished men were included the most notorious disturbers of the peace in the late civil wars. Altogether thirty-seven were sent to Spain. Tomas Vasquez and Juan Piedrahita, the chief supporters of Giron, were beheaded, and the corregidors were authorized to seize and execute any turbulent or dangerous persons within their jurisdictions. These were very strong measures, but they were necessary. The intolerable anarchy under which Peru had groaned for so many years was thus stamped out. Moderate encomiendas were then granted to deserving officers.

While the turbulence and cruelty of the Spanish conquerors were checked with relentless severity, the policy of the Marquis of Cañete towards the people and their ancient rulers was liberal and conciliatory. In both courses of action there was wisdom. After the siege of Cusco, the Ynca Manco, with his family and chief nobles, had taken refuge in the mountain fastness of Vilcabamba, and there he met his death in 1553, after a disastrous reign of twenty years. He was succeeded by his son Sayri Tupac, who continued in his secluded hiding-place. The viceroy thought it important, for the tranquillity of the country and the peace of mind of the Indians, that the descendant of their ancient kings should be induced to reside among the Spaniards. The negotiation was intrusted to the Ynca’s aunt, a princess who had married a Spanish cavalier, and to Juan de Betanzos, an excellent Quichua scholar. It was settled that the Ynca should receive the encomienda forfeited by Giron (the valley of Yucay near Cusco, where he was to reside), together with a large pension. All was finally arranged, and on the 6th of January, 1558, the Ynca entered Lima, and was most cordially received by the viceroy. From that time he resided in the valley of Yucay, surrounded by his family and courtiers, until his death in 1560.

Several of the Spanish conquerors had married Ynca ladies of the blood royal, and a number of half-caste youths were growing up in the principal cities of Peru, who formed links between the Yncas and their conquerors. There was a school at Cusco where they were educated, and the Ynca Garcilasso de la Vega records many anecdotes of his early days, and enumerates the names of most of his school-fellows. The Marquis of Cañete also founded schools at Lima and Truxillo, and took great pains to supply the Indians with parochial clergy of good conduct, who were strictly prohibited from trading. In 1558 the curacas, or native chiefs, who had proved their rights by descent before the Audiencia, were allowed to exercise jurisdiction as magistrates.

The Marquis of Cañete founded the towns of Cuenca in the province of Quito, of Santa on the coast to the north of Lima, and of Cañete in a rich and fertile valley to the south. He also established the hospital of San Andres at Lima, and built the first bridge over the Rimac. Very great activity was shown in the introduction of useful plants and domestic animals. Vines were sent out from Spain and the Canaries, and a harvest of grapes was reaped near Cusco in 1555. Wheat was first reaped in the valley of Cañete by a lady named Maria de Escobar, and olives were planted in 1560. Other fruit trees and garden vegetables soon followed.

The king, Philip II., determined to supersede this able viceroy in 1560, appointing a young nobleman named Diego Lopez de Zuñiga y Velasco, Conde de Nieva, in his place. But the Marquis of Cañete died at Lima before his successor arrived, on the 30th of March, 1561, having governed nearly five years. He was buried in the church of San Francisco, but his bones were afterwards taken to Spain and deposited with those of his ancestors at Cuenca. The Conde de Nieva entered Lima on the 27th of April,—a month after the death of the marquis. He was a handsome young cavalier, of loose morals, and fond of every sort of pleasure. There is very little doubt that he lost his life owing to a powerful husband’s jealousy. He was set upon in the street, after leaving the lady’s house, in the dead of night. He was found dead on the 20th of February, 1564, and the matter was hushed up to prevent scandal. The judges of the Audiencia took charge of the government until the arrival of a successor.

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During this period the Chilian colony was holding its own, with difficulty, against the indomitable Araucanian Indians. After the rout of Sacsahuana, the governor Valdivia took his leave of the president Gasca, and embarked at Arica on the 21st of January, 1549, with two hundred men. His lieutenant, Francisco de Villagra, had ruled at Santiago in his absence, vigilantly thwarting a plot of Alonzo de Hoz, whom he executed, and suppressing a revolt of the Indians of Coquimbo and Copiapo. He met Valdivia on his landing at Valparaiso and accompanied him to the capital. The first expedition of the governor, after his return, was undertaken with a view to establishing Spanish influence in the south of Chili. In January, 1550, with two hundred men, he crossed the Biobio, and intrenched himself in the valley of the Penco, where he founded the town of Concepcion, repulsing an attack from a large army of Indians with great slaughter. In the following year he founded the towns of Imperial and Valdivia still farther south.

The Araucanians now flew to arms in defence of their fatherland, at the call of their aged chief, Colo-colo. A younger but equally brave leader, named Caupolican, was elected toqui, or general, of the army; and they began operations by attempting to destroy a Spanish fort at Tucapel. Valdivia hurried from Concepcion, at the head of fifty cavalry, and attacked the Araucanian host. The governor had with him a young Indian lad of eighteen, named Lautaro, as groom. There was great slaughter among the Araucanians, and they were beginning to give way, when all the best feelings of Lautaro were aroused at the sight of his countrymen in peril. On the instant he felt the glow of ardent patriotism. He went over to the enemy, exhorted them to rally, and led them once more to the attack. The Spanish force was annihilated, and the governor was taken prisoner. Led before the toqui, young Lautaro interceded for his master, and the generous Caupolican listened favorably; but the savage chief Leucaton protested, and felled Valdivia by a deadly blow with a club on the back of the head. This disaster took place on the last day of December, 1553. Don Pedro de Valdivia was in his fifty-sixth year, and by his conquest and settlement of Chili he won a place in history side by side with Cortés and Pizarro. He was childless.

Francisco de Villagra succeeded his old chief as governor of Chili, and made preparations to repair the disaster. Lautaro became the second leader of his countrymen, under Caupolican. Their tactics were to allow the Spaniards to penetrate into their country as far as they pleased, but to cut off supplies, and harass their retreat. Thus Villagra easily marched from Arauco to Tucapel; but he was attacked by an immense army under Lautaro, which stopped his retreat, and he suffered such severe loss in the battle of Mariguanu that the town of Concepcion was abandoned in November, 1555. There was hard fighting again in 1556, in defence of the garrisons at Imperial and Valdivia. Early in the following year Lautaro was intrenched with an army on the banks of the Mataquito, when he was surprised at dawn by Villagra. He made a gallant defence, but was killed; and six hundred warriors fell with him. Thus died one of the noblest patriots of the American race.

In the same year the viceroy, Marquis of Cañete, appointed his son, Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, a youth barely twenty-two years of age, to be governor of Chili. His cavalry, under Luis de Toledo, marched by land over the desert of Atacama, while the young governor embarked at Callao, and sailed for Chili with three vessels conveying seven hundred infantry. Among the officers was Don Alonso de Ercilla, whose epic poem records the events of this famous war. Don Garcia landed at Coquimbo on the 25th of April, 1557, and the cavalry arrived on the following day. After having assumed the government at Santiago, and ungratefully dismissed Villagra, to secure the tranquillity of his own rule, he continued the interminable war. His first operation was to occupy the island of Quiriquina, off Talcahuano, and to build the fort of Pinto on the west side of the valley of the Penco. Here he was attacked by Caupolican with a great army. There were marvellous individual acts of bravery on both sides; Don Garcia himself was wounded, and two thousand Araucanians were slain. The governor then crossed the river Biobio and fought another great battle, Caupolican retreating with heavy loss. Don Garcia disgraced his victory by hanging twelve captive chiefs, including the heroic Galvarino.

Penetrating far to the south, the town of Osorno was founded beyond Valdivia, and the archipelago of Chiloe was discovered. During the governor’s absence in the far south, the toqui Caupolican was betrayed into the hands of Alonso de Reinosa, the captain in command at Tucapel, who put him to a horrible death by impalement.

There was now a brief interval of peace. Don Garcia had brought with him to Chili the good licentiate Gonzalez Marmolejo, afterwards first bishop of Santiago, who prepared rules for the humane treatment of the peaceful natives. Only a sixth were allowed to be employed at the mines; no one was to work who was under eighteen or over fifty; no laborer was to be forced to work on feast days, and all were to be paid and supplied with food. On the 5th of February, 1561, Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza embarked at Valparaiso and left Chili, being succeeded by Francisco de Villagra, the old companion in arms of Valdivia. Villagra died in 1563, and was succeeded by Rodrigo de Quiroga. In 1563 the bishopric of Santiago was founded, and in 1565 the royal Audiencia of Chili was instituted, with Dr. Melchor Bravo de Saravia as its first president. Its seat was fixed in the city of Concepcion.

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We must now return to the course of events in Peru. The scandalous death of the viceroy Conde de Nieva seems to have induced the king to choose his successor from among men learned in the law rather than from the nobility, and to drop the title of viceroy. Lope Garcia de Castro had been a judge of the Audiencia of Valladolid, and afterwards a member of the council of the Indies. He was appointed governor and captain-general of Peru, and president of the Audiencia of Lima, where he made his public entry Sept. 22, 1564. To avoid scandal, the belief had been encouraged that the Conde de Nieva had been murdered in bed. But everybody knew that he had been struck to the ground by several stout negroes with bags full of sand; that the blows had been continued until life was extinct; and that after the murder people came out of the house of the Zarates, and carried the body to the palace. The culprit was Don Rodrigo Manrique de Lara, a powerful citizen of proud lineage, who had discovered love passages between his young wife and her near relative the viceroy. But the judges thought there would be grave scandal if the delinquent was brought to justice, and the new governor took the same view. The affair was hushed up.

Lope de Castro established a mint, imposed the almojarifazgo, or customs dues, and organized the work at the newly-discovered quicksilver mines of Huancavelica, and at the silver mines. In 1567 the Jesuits arrived in Peru, and in the same year the second council of Lima was convoked by Archbishop Loaysa, the governor assisting as representative of the king. The first council was in 1552. At the second the decisions of the council of Trent were accepted, and the parochial arrangements were made; while the governor proceeded with the work of fixing the divisions of land among the Indians, and marking out the country into corregimientos, or provinces, under corregidors. In 1567 Castro despatched an expedition from Callao, under the command of his nephew, Alvaro de Mendaña, who discovered the Solomon Islands. Lope Garcia de Castro governed Peru for five years, handing over his charge to his successor, in 1569, to return to Spain and resume his seat at the council board of the Indies.

Don Francisco de Toledo, second son of the third Count of Oropesa, was the king’s major-domo, and was advanced in years when he was selected to succeed the licentiate Lope de Castro. In his case the title of viceroy was revived, and was retained by his successors until the independence. Landing at Payta, the viceroy Toledo travelled along the coast, closely observing the condition both of Spaniards and Indians; and he then made up his mind to visit every province within his government. He made his public entrance into Lima on the 26th of November, 1569.

Toledo was assisted by statesmen of great ability and experience, who warmly sympathized with the aboriginal races, and were anxious for their welfare. Chief among his advisers was the licentiate Polo de Ondegardo, who had now been several years in Peru, had filled important administrative posts,—especially as corregidor of Charcas and of Cusco,—and had studied the system of the government and civilization of the Yncas with minute attention, especially as regards the tenures of land, and always with a view to securing justice to the natives. The licentiate Juan Matienzo was another upright and learned minister who had studied the indigenous civilization and the requirements of colonial policy with great care; while in affairs relating to religion and the instruction of the people, the viceroy consulted the accomplished Jesuit author, José de Acosta.

But the conduct of Toledo with regard to the Ynca royal family was dictated by a narrow view of political expediency, and was alike unwise and iniquitous. He reversed the generous and enlightened policy of the Marquis of Cañete. After the death of Sayri Tupac, the Ynca court had again retired into the mountain fastnesses of Vilcabamba, where the late Ynca’s two brothers, Titu Cusi Yupanqui and Tupac Amaru, resided with many native chiefs and followers. When the new viceroy arrived at Cusco, in January, 1571, the Ynca Titu Cusi sent an embassy to him, and requested that ministers of religion might be sent to Vilcabamba. Accordingly, the friar Diego Ortiz arrived at the Ynca court; but almost immediately afterward Titu Cusi sickened and died, and the superstitious people, believing that it was the work of the friar, put him to death. The youthful Tupac Amaru was then proclaimed Ynca, as successor to his brother. This gave the viceroy the pretext he sought. He despatched a strong force into Vilcabamba, under the command of Martin Garcia Loyola, who was married to an Ynca princess, the daughter of Sayri Tupac. Loyola penetrated into Vilcabamba, and took young Tupac Amaru prisoner on the 4th of October, 1571. He was brought to Cusco and confined in a palace, under the shadow of the great fortress, which until now had belonged to the family of his uncle, the Ynca Paullu. But the viceroy had seized it as a strong position to be held by Spanish troops under his uncle Don Luis de Toledo. There was a trial for the murder of the friar; several chiefs were sentenced to be strangled, and Tupac Amaru, who was perfectly innocent and against whom there was no evidence, was to be beheaded.

The young sovereign was instructed for several days by two monks who were excellent Quichua scholars, and who spoke the language with grace and elegance. He was then taken to a scaffold, which had been erected in the great square. The open spaces and the hills above the town were covered with dense crowds of people. When the executioner produced his knife, there was such a shout of grief and horror that the Spaniards were amazed, and there were few of them with a dry eye. The boy was perfectly calm. He raised his right arm, and there was profound silence. He spoke a few simple words of resignation, and the scene was so heart-rending that the hardest of the conquerors lost self-control. Led by the bishop and the heads of the monasteries, they rushed to the house of the viceroy and threw themselves on their knees, praying for mercy and entreating him to send the Ynca to Spain to be judged by the king. Toledo was a laborious administrator, but his heart was harder than the nether millstone. He sent off the chief Alguazil, of Cusco, to cause the sentence to be executed without delay. The crime was perpetrated amid deafening shouts of grief and horror, while the great bell of the cathedral was tolled. The body was taken to the palace of the Ynca’s mother, and was afterward interred in the principal chapel of the cathedral, after a solemn service performed by the bishop and the chapter. Toledo caused the head to be cut off and stuck on a pike beside the scaffold; but such vast crowds came to worship before it every day, that it was taken down and interred with the body.

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