NATIVE RAFTS.
[This is Benzoni’s sketch of the rafts and boats used by the native on the Pacific coast of the northern parts of South America. Edition of 1572, p. 165.—Ed.]
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 Pedro de los Rios had superseded Pedro Arias, who was transferred to Nicaragua, where he died in 1532.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.
SKETCH MAP OF THE CONQUEST OF PERU.
[This map and map No. 2 show the modern geography. The development of the cartography of Peru may be traced in Ramusio (1556) in the map of the parts of the world newly discovered; in Ortelius (1584 and 1592) and De Bry, part iii. (1592, a map of South America corrected in 1624); in Wytfliet, 1597 (see map on a later page); in Van Baerle’s edition of Herrera (1622); in Sanson, with the course of the Amazon (1656); in Dudley’s Arcano del mare (carta xxviii. 1647), for the coast; in Vander Aa (1679), and in Boudouin’s translation of Garcilasso de la Vega, published at Amsterdam in 1737. Markham, in his Reports on the Discovery of Peru, gives a map showing the marches of Francisco and Hernando Pizarro, May, 1532, to May, 1533. Other maps are given by Prescott, H. H. Bancroft, and Helps. The best, however, is in Markham’s Travels of Cieza de Leon.—Ed.]
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.