From this date Paraguayan history is for a long period destitute of all marked events save one. It consists, indeed, mainly of the establishment and progress of the Order of Jesus in that country. An account of the origin and advance of this remarkable movement must be deferred to a future chapter.
CHAPTER VI.
DISCOVERY OF PERU.
1521-1528.
1521.
Under the pressure of the immense excitement which resulted from the discoveries of Columbus, the entire eastern coast of the American continent, from Labrador in the north to Terra del Fuego in the south, was explored within about thirty years from A.D. 1492. In the year 1520, the Portuguese mariner Magelhães, or Magellan, sailing under the Spanish flag, found, as has been said, a westerly way through the Straits which bear his name. The first distinct notice of the existence of Peru was given, it will be remembered, to Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the discoverer of the Southern Sea, about the year 1511. The efforts of that distinguished explorer to penetrate to the Peruvian Coast were doomed to disappointment; but the idea of reaching the land of gold was not lost sight of by his successors. Darien being found unsuitable as a spot from which to prosecute expeditions on the Pacific, the capital of Central America was in the year 1518 transferred to Panamá, the governor being still Pedrarias; but several years elapsed before serious efforts of discovery were made in a southern direction, though meanwhile communication had been established through Central America with Mexico.
1522.
It was not till 1522 that a regular expedition was despatched from Panamá to the South, and its leader penetrated no further than had Balboa.
1524.
But in 1524 three men were found in the colony whose respective characters pointed them out as being conjointly fitted to undertake a discovery and conquest no less dazzling and wonderful than that which had been effected by Cortez. These were Francisco Pizarro, Diego Almagro, and Hernan de Luque, the Vicar of Panamá, who was, however, but the commissioner of the Licentiate Espinosa, who supplied the funds.
The celebrated Pizarro was a native of Truxillo in Estremadura, and at the time of setting out for the discovery of Peru was rather over fifty years of age. In his youth he had not been taught either to read or to write, but his fancy was captivated by the strange tales to which he listened of the New World beyond the sea. Embarking with other adventurers from Seville, he found his way to Hispaniola and later to Darien, from which place he accompanied Balboa in the march across the mountains which resulted in the discovery of the Southern Ocean. He later removed, with the seat of government, from Darien to Panamá, and was conspicuous in the conquest of the tribes to the north. Of Pizarro’s confederates, Almagro was, like himself, an illiterate soldier of fortune and of a similar time of life, whilst Luque supplied the greater proportion of the brains and of the funds requisite for their joint enterprise.
To Almagro’s lot it fell to make the preparations for the voyage. Two small vessels were fitted out at Panamá, the first of which set sail from that port with about a hundred men on board, under the command of Pizarro, in November 1524: Almagro was to follow in the second. Pizarro, after touching at the Isle of Pearls, steered his way across the Gulf of San Miguel, and, doubling the port of Pinas, entered the river Biru, of which word the modern name of that part of the world is believed to be a corruption. Sailing up this stream for two leagues, Pizarro caused his small force to disembark, and proceeded to explore the country. It was the rainy season, and the ground was a vast swamp, fringed with a tangled undergrowth of wood, behind which lay a hilly country, rough and rocky. The heat was at times oppressive. Under these discouraging circumstances, his men being famished and weary, Pizarro returned to his vessel, which, having dropped down the river to the ocean, proceeded on its southern course. At a few leagues’ distance he again landed to take in wood and water, after which he once more proceeded southwards. He now encountered a terrific tropical storm, and for ten days it required all the efforts of the crew to prevent the ship from foundering. They suffered likewise from an extreme dearth of food and water, and were not sorry to retrace their course and regain the port where they had last landed.