[253] The Magdalena. By the two branches he means the Magdalena and the Cauca.
[254] Manatus Americanus. They are also called by the Spaniards Vaca Marina, and by the Portuguese Pegebuey, and they abound in the great South American rivers, especially in the Amazon. The manatee is a sort of porpoise, often eight feet long. See the very interesting account of it given by Acuña, at page [68] of my translation of that author. (Hakluyt Society’s Vol. for 1859.)
[255] I cannot make out what this can be. It may possibly mean the grain called quinoa (Chenopodium Quinoa), which is cultivated in the loftier parts of the Andes.
[256] The fruit of the passion-flower.
[257] Literally “Blue river.”
[258] Paramo is the name given, in the Quito provinces, to the elevated plateaux of the Andes. In Peru they are called Punas.
[259] Lorenzo de Aldana came to Peru with the Adelantado Pedro de Alvarado. He was appointed lieutenant-governor of Quito by Pizarro, and it was then that he founded the town of Pasto. During the subsequent civil wars he acted a very conspicuous part, especially in the battle of Chupas, when the younger Almagro was defeated. When Gonzalo Pizarro determined to send an embassy to Spain to obtain a confirmation of his authority, Aldana was selected as his envoy in 1546; but he was won over to the side of Gasca at Panama, by the persuasions of that wily ecclesiastic. He was then sent to cruise off Callao, and receive all those on board who wished to join the royal cause; and during the remainder of the struggle he took an active part against his old commander. Aldana died at Arequipa in 1556, unmarried and leaving no children. In his will he left all his property to the Indians whom he had received in repartimiento, for the payment of their tribute in future years. He seems to have been a noble minded man, and superior to the common run of Spanish conquistadores. Aldana was not the only conquistador whose conscience smote him on his death bed, when too late, for his treatment of the Indians. The curious dying confession of Marcio Serra de Lejesama, addressed to Philip II in 1589, is another instance of these stony-hearted men being moved at last. (Calancha, i, cap. 15. p. 98.). After telling the simple truth concerning the poor Indians, their former happy state, and the desolate misery to which the Spaniards had reduced them, the guilty wretch thus concludes: “I pray to God that he will pardon me, for I am the last to die of all the conquerors and discoverers; it is notorious that there are none surviving except I alone, in all this kingdom nor out of it; and I now do what I can to relieve my conscience.”
[260] Prosopis horrida. Willd.
[261] Bricks of immense size, baked in the sun.