There lived, however, in Panama a man well able to weigh the truth

of the reports which had been circulated concerning the richness of

the countries bathed by the Pacific; this man was Francisco Pizarro,

who had accompanied Munez de Balboa to the southern sea, and who now

associated with himself two other adventurers, Diego de Almagro and

Ferdinand de Luque. A few words must be said about the chiefs of the

enterprise. Francisco Pizarro, born near Truxillo between the years

1471 and 1478, was the natural son of a certain Captain Gonzalo

Pizarro, who had taught the boy nothing but to take care of pigs; he

was soon tired of this occupation, and took advantage of his having

allowed one of the animals who were in his charge to stray, not to

return to the paternal roof, where he was accustomed to be cruelly

beaten for the smallest peccadillo. The young Pizarro enlisted, and

after passing some years amidst the Italian wars, he followed

Christopher Columbus to Hispaniola in 1510. He served there with

distinction, and also in Cuba; afterwards he accompanied Hojeda to

Darien, discovered, as has been already mentioned, the Pacific, with

Balboa, and after the execution of the latter, he assisted Pedrarias

Davila, whose favourite he had become, in the conquest of all the

country known as Castille d'Or.

While Pizarro was an illegitimate child, Diego de Almagro was a

foundling, picked up according to some in 1475 at Aldea del Rey, but

according to others at Almagro, from which circumstance, as they

maintain, he derived his name. He was educated in the midst of

soldiers, and while still young went to America, where he had

succeeded in amassing a small fortune.

Ferdinand de Luque was a rich ecclesiastic of Tobago, who exercised

the calling of a schoolmaster at Panama. The youngest of these

adventurers was by this time more than fifty years of age, and

Garcilasso de la Vega relates that upon their project being known,

they became the objects of general derision; Ferdinand de Luque was

the most laughed at, and was called by no other name than _Hernando

el Loco_, Ferdinand the Fool. The terms of partnership were soon

agreed upon between these three men, of whom two at least were

without fear, if they were not all three without reproach. Luque

furnished money needed for the armament of the vessels and the pay

of the soldiers, and Almagro bore an equal part in the expense, but

Pizarro, who possessed nothing but his sword, was to pay his

contribution in another manner. It was he who took the command of

the first attempt, upon which we shall dwell in some detail, because

it was then that the perseverance and inflexible obstinacy of the

"conquistador" first came fully into sight.

One of the historians of the conquest of Peru, Augustin de Zarate,

relates as follows:--"Having then asked and obtained the permission

of Pedro Arias d'Avila, Francisco Pizarro after much trouble

equipped a vessel upon which he embarked with 140 men. At the

distance of 150 miles from Panama he discovered a small and poor

province named Peru, which caused the same name to be henceforward

improperly bestowed upon all the country which was discovered along

that coast for the space of more than 3600 miles in length. Passing

onwards he discovered another country, which the Spaniards called

_the burnt people_. The Indians slew so many of his men that he was

constrained to retire in great disorder to the country of Chinchama,

which is not far distant from the place whence he had started.

Almagro, however, who had remained at Panama, fitted out a ship

there, upon which he embarked with seventy Spaniards, and descended

the coast as far as the River San Juan, 300 miles from Panama. Not

having met with Pizarro, he went back northwards as far as _the

burnt people_, where, having ascertained by certain indications that

Pizarro had been there, he landed his men. But the Indians, puffed

up by the victory which they had gained over Pizarro, resisted

bravely, forced the entrenchments with which Almagro had covered his

position, and obliged him to re-embark. He returned therefore, still

following the coast-line until he arrived at Chinchama, where he

found Francisco Pizarro. They were much rejoiced at meeting again,

and having added to their followers some fresh soldiers whom they

had levied, they found their troops amounted to 200 Spaniards, and

once more they descended the coast. They suffered so much from

scarcity of provisions and from the attacks of the Indians, that Don

Diego returned to Panama to collect more recruits and to obtain

provisions. He took back with him eighty men, with whom and with

those who remained to them, they went as far as the country called

Catamez, a country moderately peopled and where they found abundance

of provisions. They noticed that the Indians of these parts who

attacked them and made war against them, had their faces studded

with nails of gold inserted in holes which they had made expressly

for receiving these ornaments. Diego de Almagro returned once again

to Panama, whilst his companion waited for him and for the

reinforcements which he was to bring with him, in a small island

called Cock Island, where he suffered much from the scarcity of all

the necessaries of life."

[Illustration: The Indians kill many of the Spaniards.]

Upon his arrival in Panama, Almagro could not obtain permission from

Los Rios, the successor of Avila, to make new levies, for he had no

right, Los Rios said, to allow a greater number of people to go and

perish uselessly in a rash enterprise; he even sent a boat to Cock

Island to bring away Pizarro and his companions. But such a decision

could not be pleasing to Almagro and De Luque. It meant expense

thrown away; and it meant the annihilation of the hopes which the

sight of the ornaments of gold and silver of the inhabitants of

Catamez had caused them to entertain. They sent therefore a trusty

person to Pizarro, to recommend him to persevere in his resolution,

and to refuse to obey the orders of the Governor of Panama. But

Pizarro in vain held out the most seductive promises; the

remembrance of the fatigues which had been endured was too recent,

and all his companions except twelve abandoned him.

With these intrepid men, whose names have been preserved, and

amongst whom was Garcia de Xeres, one of the historians of the

expedition, Pizarro retired to an uninhabited island at a greater

distance from the coast, to which he gave the name of Gorgona. There

the Spaniards lived miserably on mangles, fish, and shell-fish, and

awaited for five months the succour that Almagro and De Luque were

to send them. At length, vanquished by the unanimous protestations

of the whole colony,--who were indignant that people whose only

crime was that they had not despaired of success, should be left to

perish miserably and as though they were malefactors,--Los Rios sent

to Pizarro a small vessel to bring him back. With the object of

presenting no temptation to Pizarro to make use of this ship to

renew his expedition, not a single soldier was placed on board of

her. At the sight of the help which had arrived, and oblivious of

all their privations, the thirteen adventurers thought of nothing

but persuading the sailors who came to seek them to participate in

their own hopes. Whereupon, instead of starting again on the route

to Panama, they sailed all together, towards the south-east, in

spite of contrary winds and currents, until, after having discovered

the Island of St. Clara, they arrived at the port of Tumbez,

situated beyond the 3 degrees of south latitude, where they saw a

magnificent temple and a palace belonging to the Incas, the

sovereigns of the country.

The country was populous and fairly well-cultivated, but what proved

beyond all else seductive to the Spaniards, and made them think that

they had reached the marvellous countries of which so much had been

said, was the sight of so great an abundance of gold and silver,

that these metals were employed not only as finery and ornament by

the inhabitants, but also for making vases and common utensils.

Pizarro caused the interior of the country to be explored by Pietro

de Candia and Alonzo de Molina, who brought back an enthusiastic

description of it, and he caused some gold vases to be given up to

him, as well as some llamas, a quadruped domesticated by the

Peruvians. He took two natives on board his vessel, to whom he

proposed to teach the Spanish language, and to use them as

interpreters when he should return to the country. He anchored

successively at Payta, Saugarata, and in the Bay of Santa-Cruz, of

which the sovereign, Capillana, received the strangers with such

friendly demonstrations, that several of them were unwilling to

re-embark. After having sailed down the coast as far as Porto Santo,

Pizarro set out on his return to Panama, where he arrived after

three whole years spent in dangerous explorations, which had

completely ruined De Luque and Almagro.

[Illustration: Pizarro received by Charles V.]

Pizarro resolved to apply to Charles V. before undertaking the

conquest of the country which he had discovered, for he could not

obtain leave from Los Rios to engage fresh adventurers; so he

borrowed the sum required for the voyage, and in 1528 he went to

Spain to inform the emperor of the work which he had undertaken. He

painted the picture of the countries that were to be conquered in

the most pleasing light, and as a reward for his labours the titles

of governor, captain-general, and alguazil-major of Peru were

bestowed upon him and his heirs in perpetuity. At the same time he

was ennobled, and a pension of 1000 crowns was bestowed upon him.

His jurisdiction, independent of the governor of Panama, was to

extend over a tract of 600 miles along the coast to the south of the

Santiago river; it was to be called New Castille, and he was to be

the governor; concessions that cost nothing to Spain, for Pizarro

had yet to conquer the country. On his side he undertook to raise a

body of 250 men, and to provide himself with the necessary ships,

arms, and ammunition. Pizarro then repaired to Truxillo, where he

persuaded his three brothers Ferdinand, Juan, and Gonzalo to

accompany him, as well as one of his half-brothers Martin

d'Alcantara. He took advantage of his stay in his native town, and

at Caceres, to try to raise recruits, both there and throughout

Estramadura; they did not, however, come forward in large numbers,

in spite of the title of _Caballeros de la Espado dorada_ which he

promised to bestow upon all who would serve under him. Then he

returned to Panama, where affairs were not going so smoothly as he

had hoped. He had succeeded in getting De Luque named Bishop

_protector de los Indios_; but for Almagro, whose talents he knew,

and whose ambition he feared, he had only asked that he should be

ennobled and a gratuity of 500 ducats bestowed upon him, with the

government of a fortress which was to be built at Tumbez. Almagro

refused to take part in this new expedition; he was not pleased with

the meagre portion given to him after spending all his money on the

earlier expeditions; he wished now to organize one on his own

account. It required all Pizarro's address, aided by the promise to

give up to Almagro the office of _adelantado_, to appease him and

make him consent to renew the old partnership.

[Illustration: Map of Peru.]

The resources of the three partners were so limited at this time,

that they could only get together three small ships and 124 soldiers,

of whom thirty-six were horse-soldiers; the expedition set out in

February, 1531, under the command of Pizarro and his four brothers,

whilst Almagro remained at Panama to organize an expedition of

supplies. At the end of thirteen days' sailing, and after having

been carried by a storm 300 miles more to the south than he had

intended, Pizarro was forced to disembark both men and horses on the

shores of the Bay of San Mateo, and to follow the line of the coast

on land. This march was a difficult one in a very mountainous

country, thinly-peopled, and intersected by rivers which had to be

crossed at their mouths. At last a place called Coaqui was reached,

where was found a great booty, which decided Pizarro to send back

two of his ships. They carried to Panama and Nicaragua spoils to the

amount of 30,000 _castellanos_, as well as a great number of

emeralds, a rich booty, which would, according to Pizarro, determine

many adventurers to come and join him.

Then the conqueror continued his march southwards as far as

Porto-Viejo, where he was joined by Sebastian Benalcazar and Juan

Fernandez, who brought him twelve horsemen and thirty foot-soldiers.

The effect which had been produced in Mexico by the sight of the

horses and the reports of the fire-arms was repeated in Peru, and

Pizarro was able to reach the Island of Puna in the Gulf of

Guayaquil without encountering any resistance. But the islanders

were more numerous and more warlike than their brothers of the

mainland, and for six months they valiantly resisted all the attacks

of the Spaniards. Although Pizarro had received some aid from

Nicaragua, brought by Ferdinand de Soto, and although he had

beheaded the cacique Tonalla and sixteen of the principal chiefs, he

could not overcome their resistance. He was, therefore, obliged to

regain the continent, where the maladies peculiar to the country

tried his companions so cruelly, that he was forced to stay three

months at Tumbez, exposed to the perpetual attacks of the natives.

From Tumbez he went next to the Rio Puira, discovered the harbour of

Payta, the best on this coast, and founded the colony of San-Miguel,

at the mouth of the Chilo, in order that vessels coming from Panama

might find a safe shelter. It was here that Pizarro received some

envoys from Huascar, who informed him of the revolt of Atahualpa,

the brother of Huascar, and asked his aid.

At the period when the Spaniards landed to conquer Peru, it extended

along the shore of the Pacific Ocean for 1500 miles, and stretched

into the interior as far as the imposing chain of the Andes.

Originally the population was divided into savage and barbarous

tribes, having no idea of civilization, and living in a perpetual

state of warfare with one another. For many centuries affairs had

continued in the same state, and there appeared no presage of the

coming of a better era, when, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, there

appeared to the Indians a man and woman, who pretended that they

were the Children of the Sun. They called themselves Manco-Capac and

Mama-Oello, and were of majestic appearance; according to Garcilasso

de la Vega, towards the middle of the twelfth century they united

together a number of wandering tribes, and laid the foundations of

the town of Cuzco. Manco-Capac had taught the men agriculture and

mechanical arts, whilst Mama-Oello instructed the women in spinning

and weaving. When Manco-Capac had satisfied these first needs of all

societies, he framed laws for his subjects, and constituted a

regular political state. It was thus that the dominion of the Incas

or Lords of Peru was established. At first their empire was limited

to the neighbourhood of Cuzco, but under their successors it rapidly

increased, and extended from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Pearl

Islands, a length of thirty degrees. The power of the incas was as

absolute as that of the ancient Asiatic sovereigns. "Also," says

Zarate, "there was perhaps no other country in the world where the

obedience and submission of the subjects was carried further. The

incas were to them quasi-divinities; they had but to place a thread

drawn from the royal head-fillet in the hands of any one, and the

man so distinguished, was certain to be everywhere respected and

obeyed, and to find such absolute deference paid to the king's order

which he carried, that he could alone exterminate a whole province

without any assistance from soldiers, and cause to be put to death

all the inhabitants, both male and female, because at the mere sight

of this thread, taken from the royal crown, the people voluntarily

and without any resistance, offered themselves up to die." However,

the old chroniclers all agree in saying that this unlimited power

was always used by the incas for the well-being of their subjects.

Out of a series of twelve kings, who in succession sat on the throne

of Peru, there was not one who did not leave behind him the memory

of a just prince adored by his subjects. Should we not search in

vain through the annals of any other country in the world for facts

analogous to these? Must it not be regretted that the Spaniards

should have brought war with all its attendant horrors, and the

maladies and vices of a different climate, along with what they in

their pride called civilization, amongst a rich and happy people,

whose descendants, impoverished and debased as they are, have not

even the recollection of their ancient prosperity to console them in

their irremediable decay?

"The Peruvians," says Michelet in his admirable _Precis d'Histoire

Moderne_, "handed down the principal facts to posterity by knots,

which they made in ropes. They had obelisks and exact gnomons to

mark the equinoxes and solstices. Their year consisted of 365 days.

They had erected prodigies of architecture, and they carved statues

with amazing art. They formed the most polished and industrious

nation of the New World."

The inca Huayna-Capac, father of Atahualpa, under whom this vast

empire was destroyed, had done much to increase and embellish it.

This inca, who conquered all the country of Quito, had made, by the

hands of his soldiers and of the vanquished people, a great road

1500 miles in length from Cuzco to Quito, across precipices which

had been filled up and mountains which had been levelled. Relays of

men, stationed at intervals of a mile and a half from each other,

carried the emperor's orders throughout the empire. Such was their

police, and if we wish to judge of Peruvian magnificence, we need

only instance the fact that the king when he travelled was carried

on a throne of gold which weighed 25,000 ducats, and the golden

litter upon which the throne rested was borne by the highest

personages of the realm.

In 1526, when the Spaniards appeared on the coast for the first time,

the twelfth inca had lately married--in defiance of the ancient law

of the kingdom--the daughter of the vanquished king of Quito, and

had had a son of this marriage named Atahualpa, to whom he left this

kingdom on his death, which happened about 1529. His eldest son

Huascar, whose mother was descended from the incas, had the

remainder of his states. But this partition, so contrary to the

customs established from time immemorial, caused such great

discontent at Cuzco, that Huascar, encouraged by his subjects,

determined to march against his brother, who would not acknowledge

him for his lord and master. Atahualpa, in his turn, had too lately

tasted power to be willing to abandon it. He managed by bribes to

attach to himself the greater part of the warriors who had

accompanied his father during the conquest of Quito, and when the

two armies met, fortune favoured the usurper.

Is it not curious to remark how both in Peru and Mexico the

Spaniards were aided by entirely exceptional circumstances? In

Mexico some of the people who had recently submitted to the Aztec

race, being mercilessly trampled upon by their conquerors, welcome

the Spaniards as deliverers; in Peru the strife between two brothers,

furious against each other, hinders the Indians from turning all

their forces against the invaders whom they might easily have

crushed.

Pizarro upon receiving the envoys sent by Huascar, to ask his aid

against his brother Atahualpa, whom he represented as a rebel and

usurper, saw at once all the advantages that might accrue to him

from these circumstances. He saw that by espousing the cause of one

of the brothers, he could more easily crush them both, therefore he

advanced at once into the interior of the country, at the head of a

very inconsiderable force, consisting of sixty-two cavalry and one

hundred and twenty foot-soldiers, of whom only twenty were armed

with arquebuses and muskets; he was obliged to leave part of his

troops to guard San-Miguel, in which Pizarro reckoned upon finding a

refuge in case of his being unsuccessful, and where in any case all

supplies which might arrive could be landed.

Pizarro first made for Caxamalca, a small town situated at about

twenty days' march from the coast. To reach it he had to cross a

desert of burning sand, without vegetation and without water, which

extended for sixty miles in length as far as the province of Motupe,

and where the slightest attack of the enemy, joined to the

sufferings endured by the little army, would have been sufficient to

crush the whole expedition at one blow. Next the troops plunged into

the mountains and became entangled in narrow defiles where a small

force might have annihilated them. During this march Pizarro

received an envoy from Atahualpa bringing him some painted shoes and

gold bracelets, which he was requested to wear at his approaching

interview with the inca. Naturally Pizarro was lavish in his

promises of friendship and devotion, and assured the Indian

ambassador that he should be only following the orders given him by

the king his master in respecting the lives and property of the

inhabitants. From the moment of his arrival at Caxamalca Pizarro

prudently lodged his soldiers in a temple and a palace belonging to

the inca, where they were sheltered from any surprise. Then he sent

one of his brothers with De Soto and twenty horse-soldiers to the

camp of Atahualpa, which was distant only three miles, to announce

to him his arrival. The envoys of the governor were received with

magnificence, and were astonished at the multiplicity of the

ornaments and vases made of gold and silver which they saw

throughout the Indian camp. They returned, bringing a promise from

Atahualpa that he would come on the next day to visit Pizarro, to

bid him welcome to his kingdom. At the same time the envoys gave an

account of the wonderful riches they had seen, which confirmed

Pizarro in the project which he had formed of seizing the

unfortunate Atahualpa and his treasures by treachery.

Several Spanish authors, and notably Zarate, disguise these facts,

which no doubt appeared to them too odious, and altogether deny the

treachery towards Atahualpa. But at the present day there are extant

many documents which force the historian to believe, with Robertson

and Prescott, in the perfidy of Pizarro. It was very important for

him to have the inca in his own hands, and to employ him as a tool,

just as Cortes had done with Montezuma. He therefore took advantage

of the honesty and simplicity of Atahualpa, who placed entire

confidence in Pizarro's protestations of friendship and so was

thrown off his guard, to arrange an ambuscade into which Atahualpa

was certain to fall. There was not a scruple in the disloyal soul of

the conqueror; he was as cool as though he were about to offer

battle to enemies who had been forewarned of his approach; this

infamous treason must be an eternal dishonour to his memory. Pizarro

divided his cavalry into three small squadrons, left all his

infantry in one body, hid his arquebusiers on the road by which the

inca must pass, and kept twenty of his most determined companions

near himself. Atahualpa, wishing to give the Spaniards a great idea

of his power, advanced with the whole of his army. He himself was

borne upon a kind of bed, decorated with feathers, covered with

plates of gold and silver, and ornamented with precious stones. He

was accompanied by his principal nobles, carried like himself on the

shoulders of their servants, and he was surrounded by dancers and

jesters. Such a march was more that of a procession than of an army.

As soon as the inca had nearly reached the Spanish quarters

(according to Robertson), Father Vincent Valverde, the chaplain of

the expedition, who was afterwards made a bishop as a reward for his

conduct, advanced with the crucifix in one hand and his breviary in

the other. In an interminable discourse he set forth to the monarch

the doctrine of the creation, the fall of the first man, the

Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the

choice made by God of St. Peter to be His vicar upon earth, the

power transmitted through him to the Popes, and the gift made by

Pope Alexander to the King of Castille of all the regions of the New

World. When he had expounded all these doctrines, he called upon

Atahualpa to embrace the Christian religion, to recognize the

supreme authority of the Pope, and to submit to the King of Castille

as his legitimate sovereign. If he submitted immediately, Valverde

undertook to promise that the king his master would take Peru under

his protection, and allow him to continue to reign there; but he

declared war against him and threatened him with fearful vengeance

if he refused to obey, and persevered in his impiety.

To say the least of it, this was a singular scene and a very strange

harangue, alluding to facts which were utterly unknown to the

Peruvians, and of the truth of which a more skilful orator than

Valverde would not have succeeded in persuading them. If we add that

the interpreter knew so little of the Spanish language that it was

almost an impossibility for him to translate what he scarcely

understood himself, and that the Peruvian language lacked words to

express ideas so foreign to its genius, we shall not be much

surprised to learn that Atahualpa understood almost nothing of the

Spanish monk's discourse. Some sentences, however, which attacked

his own power, filled him with surprise and indignation. But he was

none the less moderate in his reply. He said that, as master of his

own kingdom by right of succession, he could not see how any one had

the power to dispose of it without his consent; he added that he was

not at all willing to renounce the religion of his fathers to adopt

one of which he had only heard that day for the first time; with

regard to the other points touched upon in the discourse he

understood nothing, it was a thing entirely new to him, and he would

much like to know where Valverde had learnt so many wonderful things.

"In this book," replied Valverde, handing him his breviary.

Atahualpa received it with eagerness and turned over some of the

leaves with much curiosity, then, putting it to his ear, he

exclaimed, "What you show me there does not speak to me, and tells

me nothing." With this he flung the book upon the ground.

This served as a signal for the combat, or rather for the massacre.

Cannon and muskets came into play, the cavalry sprang forward, and

the infantry fell sword in hand upon the stupefied Peruvians. In a

few moments the confusion was at its height. The Indians fled on all

sides, without attempting to defend themselves. As to Atahualpa,

although his principal officers tried to make a rampart of their own

bodies, while they carried him off, Pizarro sprang upon him,

dispersed or overthrew his guards, and seizing him by his long hair,

threw him down from the litter in which he was carried. Only the

darkness could arrest the carnage. Four thousand Indians were killed,

a greater number wounded, and 3000 were taken prisoners. An

incontestable proof that there was no real battle is, that of all

the Spaniards Pizarro alone was hit, and he received his wound from

one of his own soldiers who was too precipitately endeavouring to

seize upon the inca.

[Illustration: Atahualpa is made prisoner. _From an old print_.]

The booty collected in the camp and from the dead exceeded anything

the Spaniards could have imagined, and their enthusiasm was

proportioned to the conquest of such riches.

At first Atahualpa bore his captivity with resignation, which may

have been partly due to Pizarro's doing all he could to soothe him,

at least by words. But the inca, soon understanding the unbridled

covetousness of his jailors, made a proposal to Pizarro to pay him

ransom, and to have a room of twenty-two feet in length by sixteen

in width filled as high as the hand could reach with vases, utensils,

and ornaments of gold. Pizarro eagerly agreed to this, and the

captive inca despatched the necessary orders at once to all the

provinces; these were carried out promptly and unmurmuringly. Beyond

this, the Indian troops were disbanded, and Pizarro was able to send

Soto and five Spaniards to Cuzco, a town situated more than 600

miles from Caxamalca, while he himself subjugated all the country

within a circuit of 300 miles.

In the meantime Almagro landed with 200 soldiers. There had been set

aside for him and his men--with what regrets may easily be

imagined--100,000 pesos (a Spanish coin); a fifth was reserved for

the king, and this left 1,528,500 pesos to be divided between

Pizarro and his companions. This product of pillage and massacre was

solemnly divided between those entitled to it on the Festival of St.

James, the patron saint of Spain, after fervent prayer to God. A

deplorable mixture this of religion and profanity, too common

unfortunately, in these times of mingled superstition and avarice.

Each horse-soldier received 8000 pesos as his share, and each

foot-soldier 4000, which would be equivalent to about 1600_l._ and

800_l._ sterling. This was enough to satisfy the most exacting

soldier, after a campaign which had been neither long nor difficult.

Many of the adventurers wished to enjoy this unexpected good fortune

in a peaceable manner in their own country, and eagerly asked for

their dismissal. This Pizarro granted without hesitation, for he

felt sure that the news of their rapidly-acquired wealth would soon

bring him new recruits. With his brother Ferdinand, who went to

Spain to give the emperor an account of Pizarro's triumph and some

splendid presents, went sixty Spaniards, laden heavily indeed with

money, but lightly with remorse.

As soon as Atahualpa's ransom was paid, he claimed his freedom; but

Pizarro, who had only saved his life that he might make all the

treasures of Peru his own, and shelter himself under the prestige

and authority which the inca still exercised over his subjects, was

soon wearied by his entreaties. He suspected him also of having for

some time secretly given orders to levy troops in the distant

provinces of the empire. Besides, Atahualpa having soon discovered

that Pizarro was no better educated than one of the lowest of his

soldiers, felt in consequence a contempt for the governor which,

unfortunately, he could not conceal. Such were the reasons, all

trivial as they were, which determined Pizarro to prepare for the

trial of the inca.

Nothing could have been more hateful than this trial, in which

Almagro and Pizarro were at the same time both suitors and judges.

The heads of the accusation were so ridiculous and absurd, that one

is in doubt whether to be most surprised by the effrontery or the

wickedness of Pizarro, in subjecting the head of a powerful empire,

over which he had no jurisdiction, to such an inquiry. Atahualpa,

being found guilty, was condemned to be burnt alive; but as he had

at length asked to be baptized, that he might rid himself of the

importunities of Valverde, his enemies contented themselves with

strangling him. A worthy counterpart this, of Guatimozin's

execution! These were amongst the most atrocious and odious deeds

committed by the Spaniards in America, where, however, they have

sullied themselves with every imaginable crime.

Among this herd of adventurers there were still some men who had

retained sentiments of honour and self-respect. They protested

loudly against this perversion of justice, but their generous

pleadings were stifled by the selfish declamations of Pizarro and

his worthy assistants.

The governor now raised one of Atahualpa's sons to the throne, under

the name of Paul Inca; but the civil war between the two brothers,

and the events which had occurred since the arrival of the Spaniards,

had done much to loosen the ties which bound the Peruvians to their

kings, and this young man, destined soon to die an ignominious death,

had scarcely more authority than Manco-Capac, the son of Huascar,

who was acknowledged by the inhabitants of Cuzco. Soon after this,

some of the principal people in the country even tried to carve for

themselves kingdoms out of the empire of Peru. Such was Ruminagui,

the commandant of Quito, who caused the brother and the children of

Atahualpa to be massacred, and declared himself independent. Discord

reigned in the Peruvian camp, and the Spaniards resolved to take

advantage of it. Pizarro advanced rapidly upon Cuzco, the small

number of his forces having been the only reason which had prevented

him from doing so sooner. Now that a crowd of adventurers, attracted

by the treasures which had been brought back to Panama, vied with

each other in hastening to Peru, now that he could assemble 500

men--after leaving an important garrison at San-Miguel under

Benalcazar's command,--Pizarro had no further reason for delay. On

the way some skirmishes took place with large bodies of troops, but

they ended as always, with severe loss to the natives, and a very

insignificant one to the Spaniards. When they entered Cuzco, and

took possession of the town, the invaders showed surprise at the

small quantity of gold and precious stones which they found there,

although it far exceeded Atahualpa's ransom. Was this because they

were becoming accustomed to the riches of the country, or because

there was a larger number to share in them?

Meanwhile, Benalcazar, being weary of inaction, took advantage of

the arrival of a reinforcement from Nicaragua and Panama, to set out

for Quito, where according to the Peruvians, Atahualpa had left the

greater part of his treasure. He placed himself at the head of

eighty horse-soldiers and 120 infantry, defeated on several

occasions Ruminagui, who disputed his passage, and thanks to his

prudence and cleverness, he entered Quito victorious; but he did not

find there what he sought, that is to say, the treasures of

Atahualpa.

At the same time, Peter d'Alvarado, who had so signally

distinguished himself under Cortes, and who had been made governor

of Guatemala, as a reward for his services, pretended to believe

that the province of Quito was not included in Pizarro's command,

and organized an expedition consisting of 500 men, 200 of whom were

cavalry. Landing at Porto-Viejo, he wished to reach Quito without a

guide, by going up the Guayaquil River and crossing the Andes. This

road has always been one of the worst and most trying that it is

possible to choose. Before they had reached the plain of Quito,

after horrible sufferings from hunger and thirst, without speaking

of the burning cinders hurled from the crater of Chimborazo, a

volcano near Quito, and the snow-storms which assailed them, the

fifth part of the band of adventurers, and half the horses, had

perished; the remainder were completely discouraged and quite unfit

for fighting. It was therefore with the greatest surprise, and some

uneasiness, that they found themselves face to face, not with a body

of Indians as they had expected, but with a party of Spaniards,

under the command of Almagro. The latter were preparing to charge,

when some of the more moderate among the officers caused an

arrangement to be entered into, by virtue of which Alvarado was to

withdraw to his own province after receiving 100,000 pesos to defray

the expenses of the armament.

Ferdinand Pizarro had set sail for Spain, while these events were

happening in Peru, feeling sure that the immense quantity of gold,

silver, and precious stones which he took with him, would secure him

a warm welcome. He obtained for his brother Francisco the

confirmation of his appointment as governor, with more extended

powers; he himself was made a knight of the order of St. Iago; as

for Almagro, he was confirmed in his title of _adelantado_, and his

jurisdiction was extended 600 miles, without, however, its limits

being very strictly defined, which left the door open for many

contests and all kinds of arbitrary interpretations.

Ferdinand Pizarro had not reached Peru again, when Almagro, having

learnt that a special government had been assigned to him, pretended

that Cuzco formed part of it, and made preparations for its conquest.

But Juan and Gonzalo Pizarro had no intention of allowing themselves

to be robbed, and the parties were on the point of coming to blows

when Francisco Pizarro, who is often called _the Marquis_ or _the

great Marquis_, arrived at the capital.

Almagro had never forgiven Francisco Pizarro the duplicity which he

had displayed in his negotiations with Charles V., nor the coolness

with which he had claimed for himself, at the expense of his two

friends, the principal share of authority, and the most extended

government. But as Almagro met with great opposition to his designs,

and as he was not the stronger, he concealed his vexation, put a

good face on the matter, and seemed delighted at a reconciliation.

"They renewed their partnership, therefore," says Zarate, "on

condition that Don Diego d'Almagro should go and discover the

country on the south side, and if he found any that was really good,

they should ask his Majesty to make him the governor of it; but that

if he found nothing to suit him, they should share Don Francisco's

government between them." This arrangement was made very solemnly,

and they took their oath upon the consecrated wafer, that for the

future they would undertake nothing against one another. Some say

that Almagro swore that he would never encroach either upon Cuzco or

on the surrounding country within 390 miles, even if his Majesty

should give him the government of it. They add that turning towards

the holy sacrament, he pronounced these words, "Lord, if I violate

the oath that I now take, I pray that Thou wilt confound me, and

punish me both in my body and my soul!"

[Illustration: Pizarro and Almagro take an oath upon the Host.]

After this solemn agreement, which was destined to be observed with

as little fidelity as the first, Almagro made his preparations for

departure. Thanks to his well-known liberality, as much as to his

reputation for courage, he gathered together 570 men, of about equal

numbers of cavalry and infantry, with which he set out by land for

Chili. The journey was an extremely trying one, and the adventurers

suffered severely from intense cold whilst crossing the Andes; they

had also to deal with very warlike tribes, unsoftened by any

civilization, who assailed them with a _furia_ of which nothing they

had seen in Peru had given them any idea. Almagro could make no

settlement, for he had scarcely been two months in the country when

he heard that the Indians in Peru had revolted, and massacred the

greater part of the Spaniards, whereupon he immediately retraced his

steps.

After the new partnership had been signed between the conquerors

(1534), Pizarro had returned to the provinces bordering on the sea,

in which he could establish a regular government, there being no

longer anything to dread from resistance. For a man who had never

studied legislation, he had drawn up some very wise rules for the

administration of justice, for the collection of taxes, the

apportionment of the Indians, and the working of the mines. Some

parts of the "conquistador's" character were doubtless very open to

criticism, but it is only just to recognize that he was not wanting

in enlarged ideas, and that he was conscientious in playing his part

as the founder of a great empire. This it was which made him

hesitate long before choosing the future capital of the Spanish

possessions. Cuzco had the recommendation of having been the

residence of the incas; but this town, situated more than 400 miles

from the sea, was very distant from Quito, of which the importance

seemed to Pizarro to be extreme. Before long he was struck with the

beauty and fertility of a great valley, watered by a stream called

the Rimac, and there in 1536, he established the seat of his

dominion. Soon, the City of Kings (de Los Reyes), or Lima, as it is

called by a corruption of the name of the river which flows at its

feet, assumed the aspect of a great city, owing to the magnificent

palace and the sumptuous residences for officers, which Pizarro

caused to be built there. While these cares kept Pizarro far from

his capital, small bodies of troops, sent in different directions,

penetrated into the most distant provinces of the empire, with the

object of extinguishing the last smouldering embers of resistance;

so many of the soldiers were employed in this way, that there

remained in Cuzco itself but a very small body of troops. The inca,

who had remained in the hands of the Spaniards, thought this an

opportune moment for fomenting a general rising, in which he

earnestly hoped that the foreign government might be overthrown.

Although closely guarded, he contrived to take his measures with so

much skill that he did not arouse the suspicions of his oppressors.

He obtained permission even to be present at a grand fete, which was

to be held at several miles' distance from Cuzco, and for which the

most distinguished persons in the empire had met together. As soon

as the inca appeared, the standard of revolt was raised. The country

was soon in arms from the confines of the province of Quito as far

as Chili, and a number of small detachments of Spaniards were

surprised and destroyed. Cuzco, defended by the three brothers

Pizarro with but 170 Spaniards, was exposed for eight consecutive

months to the incessant attacks of the Peruvians, who had now become

expert in the use of the arms which they had taken from their

enemies. The conquerors made a most valiant resistance, but

experienced some severe losses, especially that of Juan Pizarro.

Almagro left Chili in the greatest haste, crossed the stony and

sandy desert of Atacama, where he suffered as severely from heat and

drought as he had done in the Andes from cold and snow, penetrated

into the Peruvian territory, defeated Manco-Capac in a great battle,

and succeeded in approaching the town of Cuzco, after having driven

away the Indians. He then tried to get the town given up to him, on

the pretext that it was not included in Pizarro's government, and

violating a truce, during which the followers of the marquis were

taking a short rest, he entered Cuzco, seized both Ferdinand and

Gonzalo Pizarro, and had himself acknowledged as governor.

While this was going on, a considerable body of Indians invested

Lima, intercepted all communications, and annihilated the various

small bodies of troops which Pizarro sent at intervals to the aid of

the Spaniards at Cuzco. At this time he sent away all his vessels to

Panama to compel his companions to make a desperate resistance; he

recalled from Truxillo the forces under the command of Alonzo

d'Alvarado, and entrusted to the latter a column of 500 men, which

advanced to within several miles of the capital without having the

slightest suspicion that the town was now in the hands of

fellow-countrymen, who were fully determined to bar their passage.

But Almagro desired much rather to attract these new adversaries to

himself than to destroy them; he arranged therefore, to surprise

them and make them prisoners. He had now a fine opportunity in his

hands of ending the war, and making himself master of the two

governments by a single blow. Several of his officers had observed

this to him, and especially Orgonos, who proposed that the two

brothers of the "conquistador" should be put to death, and that

Almagro should advance by forced marches with his victorious troops

against Lima, where Pizarro, taken by surprise, would not be able to

resist him. But as a Latin poet says, "Jupiter makes dotards of

those whom he means to ruin." Almagro, who in so many other

instances had thrown aside all scruples, did not wish to put himself

in the wrong by invading Pizarro's dominions as a rebel, and he

quietly took the road back to Cuzco.

Looking at it only from the side of Almagro's own interests, he

evidently committed in this a gross blunder, of which he was soon to

repent; but if we consider, what we should never lose sight of, the

interest of the country, he had already committed a capital crime in

the acts of aggression of which he had been guilty, and in kindling

civil war in face of an enemy quite ready to take advantage of it.

His adversaries did not delay to remind him of it. Whereas prompt

decision would have been necessary for Almagro to make him master of

the situation, Pizarro had everything to expect from time and

opportunity. While waiting for the promised reinforcements from

Darien, he commenced negotiations with his adversary, lasting for

several months, during which time one of his brothers, as well as

Alvarado, found means to escape with more than seventy men. Although

Almagro had been so often duped, he consented again to receive the

licentiate Espinosa, who was ordered to represent to him, that if

the emperor knew what was taking place between the two competitors,

and learnt the condition to which their contests had reduced affairs,

no doubt he would recall them both, and put some one else in their

place. At last, after the death of Espinosa, it was decided by the

friar Francisco de Bovadilla, to whom Pizarro and Almagro had

referred their differences, that Ferdinand Pizarro should be

immediately set free, that Cuzco should be given back to the marquis,

and that they should send several officers on both sides to Spain,

charged with representing the respective rights of the two parties

and submitting them to the emperor's decision.

Scarcely had the last of his brothers been set at liberty than

Pizarro, rejecting all idea of peace and amicable arrangement,

declared that arms alone should decide whether he or Almagro was to

be lord of Peru. In a short time he had assembled a body of 700 men,

of which he entrusted the command to his two brothers. Finding it

impossible to cross the mountains which would have been the most

direct road to Cuzco, they followed the line of the sea-coast as far

as Nasca, and then penetrated into a branch of the Andes, by which

they could reach the capital in a short time. Possibly Almagro ought

to have defended the mountain defiles, but he had only 500 men, and

he reckoned much on his splendid cavalry, whom he could not deploy

in a confined space; he therefore waited for the enemy in the plain

of Cuzco. The two parties encountered each other on the 26th of

April, 1538, with equal animosity; but the victory was decided by

two companies of musketeers which the emperor had sent to Pizarro

when he heard of the revolt of the Indians. One hundred and forty

soldiers perished in this engagement, which received the name of

_las salinas_. Orgonos and several officers of distinction were

killed in cold blood after the battle, and Almagro himself, aged and

ill, could not escape from Pizarro.

The Indians who, assembled in arms on the surrounding mountains, had

reckoned upon falling on the conqueror, had need instead to fly in

all haste. "Nothing," says Robertson, "more entirely proves the

ascendancy gained by the Spaniards over the Americans, than seeing

that the latter, witnesses of the defeat and dispersion of one of

the parties, had not the courage to attack the other, even weakened

and fatigued as they were by their victory, and dared not fall upon

their oppressors when fortune offered them so favourable an

opportunity for attacking them with advantage."

At this period a victory not followed by pillage was incomplete, so

the town of Cuzco was sacked, and all the riches that Pizarro's

companions found there did not suffice to content them. They had

such exalted ideas of their merits and of the services which they

had rendered, that each would have desired an appointment as

governor. Ferdinand Pizarro therefore dispersed them, and sent them

to conquer fresh territories with some of the partisans of Almagro

who had rallied, and whom it was important to send to a distance.

As for Almagro himself, Ferdinand Pizarro, feeling convinced that

his name constituted a focus of permanent agitation, resolved to get

rid of him. He caused him therefore to be put upon his trial, which

ended, as it was easy to foresee, in a sentence of death. When

Almagro received this news, after giving way for a few moments to a

very natural grief, pleading his great age and the different way in

which he had behaved with regard to Ferdinand and Gonzalo Pizarro

when they were his prisoners, he recovered his calmness and awaited

his death with a soldier's courage. He was strangled in his prison,

and afterwards publicly beheaded (1538).

After several successful expeditions, Ferdinand Pizarro set out for

Spain, to give the Emperor an account of what had taken place. He

found most minds there strangely prejudiced against him and his

brothers. Their cruelty, their violence, and their disregard of the

most sacred engagements had been laid bare without reserve, by some

friends of Almagro's. Ferdinand Pizarro needed the utmost cleverness

to win the Emperor round. Charles V. had no means of judging fairly

on which side the justice of the case lay, for he had only heard of

it from the interested parties; he could only discern the deplorable

consequences to his own government of the civil war. He decided,

therefore, to send a commissioner to the country, to whom he gave

most extensive powers, and who, after having inquired into all that

had taken place, should establish whatever form of government he

thought most advisable. This delicate mission was confided to

Christoval de Vaca, a judge of _audience_ at Valladolid, who proved

not unequal to his task. One fact is worthy of notice; he was

recommended to show the greatest respect towards Francisco Pizarro,

at the very time when his brother Ferdinand was arrested and thrown

into a prison, where he was destined to remain forgotten for twenty

years.

While these events were taking place in Spain, the Marquis portioned

out the conquered country, keeping for himself and his trustworthy

friends the most fertile and best situated districts, and giving to

Almagro's companions, the men of Chili as they were called, only the

more sterile and distant territories. Next he confided to Pedro de

Valdivia, one of his aides-de-camp the execution of the project

which Almagro had only been able to sketch out, the conquest of

Chili. Valdivia set out on the 28th of January, 1540, with 150

Spaniards, amongst whom Pedro Gomez, Pedro de Miranda, and Alonzo de

Monroy were destined especially to distinguish themselves; he

crossed first the desert of Atacama, which even at the present day

is considered a most troublesome enterprise, and reached Copiapo,

standing in the midst of a beautiful valley. Received at first with

great cordiality, he had to sustain, as soon as harvest was over,

several combats with the Araucanians, a race of brave, indefatigable

warriors, very different from the Indians of Peru. In spite of this,

he laid the foundations of the town of Santiago on the 12th of

February, 1541. Valdivia spent eight years in Chili, presiding over

the conquest and organization of the country. Less greedy than the

other "conquistadores" his contemporaries, he only sought for the

mineral riches of the country that he might ensure the development

of the prosperity of his colony, in which he had taken care first of

all to encourage agriculture. "The best mine that I know of, is one

of corn and wine with nourishment for livestock. Who has this, has

money. As for mines, we do not depend upon them for subsistence. And

often that which looks well outwardly is not really worth much."

These wise words of Lescarbot, in his _Histoire de la Nouvelle

France_, might have been used by Valdivia, so exactly do they

correspond with and express his sentiments. His valour, prudence,

and humanity, more especially the latter quality, which shines forth

strangely in contrast with the cruelty of Pizarro, ensures for him a

distinction all his own among the "conquistadores" of the sixteenth

century.

[Illustration: The shores of Rio Napo.]

At the time that Valdivia set out for Chili, Gonzalo Pizarro crossed

the Andes at the head of 340 Spaniards, half of whom were mounted,

and 4000 Indians, of whom the greater part of the Indians perished

from cold; then he penetrated eastwards into the interior, seeking

for a country where spices and cinnamon were said to abound. In

these vast Savannahs, intersected by marshes and virgin forests, the

Spaniards encountered torrents of rain, which lasted quite two

months; they found only a scattered population, who were not

industrious and also hostile; in consequence, the invaders often

suffered from hunger in a country where there were then neither

horses nor oxen, where the largest quadrupeds were tapirs and llamas,

and even the latter were seldom met with on this slope of the Andes.

In spite of these difficulties, which would have discouraged any

less energetic explorers than the _descubridores_ of the sixteenth

century, they persevered in their attempt and descended the Rio Napo

or Coca, an affluent on the left of the Maranon, as far as its

confluence. There, with great difficulty they built a brigantine,

which was manned by fifty soldiers under the command of Francisco

Orellana. But either the strength of the current carried him away,

or else being no longer under the eyes of his chief, he wished in

his turn to be the leader of an expedition of discovery; he did not

wait for Gonzalo Pizarro at the appointed rendezvous, but continued

to descend the river until he reached the ocean. Such a voyage is

simply marvellous, through nearly 6000 miles of an unknown region,

without guide, without compass, without provisions, with a crew who

murmured more than once against the foolish attempt of their leader,

and in the midst of populations almost invariably hostile. From the

mouth of the river, which he had just descended in his badly built

and dilapidated vessel, Orellana succeeded in reaching the Island of

Cubagua, whence he set sail for Spain. If the proverb "He who comes

from a distance tells many lies" were not of much earlier date, one

might have thought it had been coined for Orellana. He invented the

most preposterous fables as to the wealth of the countries he had

traversed; the inhabitants were so rich that the roofs of the

temples were formed of plates of gold; an assertion which gave rise

to the legend of _El Dorado_. Orellana had heard of the existence of

a Republic of female warriors who had founded a vast empire, which

caused the river Maranon to be called the _River of the Amazons_. If,

however, we strip this narrative of all that is ridiculous and

grotesque, and calculated to please the imaginations of his

contemporaries, it remains certain that Orellana's expedition is one

of the most remarkable of this epoch, so fertile in gigantic

enterprises; and it furnishes the first information upon the immense

zone of country lying between the Andes and the Atlantic.

But we must return to Gonzalo Pizarro. His embarrassment and

consternation had been great, when on arriving at the confluence of

the Napo and Maranon, he had not found Orellana, who was to have

been awaiting him. Fearing that some accident might have befallen

his lieutenant, he had descended the course of the river for 150

miles, until he met with an unfortunate officer, who had been left

behind for having addressed some remonstrances to his chief upon his

perfidy. The bravest among Pizarro's men were discouraged at the

news of the cowardly way in which they had been abandoned, and at

the destitute condition in which they were left. Pizarro was obliged

to yield to their entreaties and to return to Quito, from which they

were more than 1200 miles away. To give an idea of their sufferings

on this return journey, it suffices to say that, after having eaten

horses, dogs, and reptiles, roots, and wild beasts, and after having

devoured every article made of leather in their accoutrements, the

unfortunate survivors who reached Quito, lacerated by brambles,

emaciated and utterly impoverished, numbered only twenty-four. Four

thousand Indians and two hundred and ten Spaniards had perished in

this expedition, which had lasted less than two years.

While Gonzalo Pizarro was conducting the unfortunate expedition just

related, the old partisans of Almagro, who had never frankly joined

Pizarro, gathered round the son of their old leader, and formed a

plot for murdering the Marquis. In vain was Francisco Pizarro

several times warned of what was threatening him, he would pay no

heed to the report. He said "Keep quiet, I shall be safe as long as

there is no one in Peru who does not know that I can in a moment

take the life of any one who should dare to form the project of

attempting mine."

On Sunday, the 26th of June, 1541, at the hour of siesta, Juan de

Herrada and eighteen conspirators left the house of Almagro's son

with drawn swords in their hands and armed from top to toe. They ran

towards the house of Pizarro, crying out, "Death to the tyrant!

death to the infamous wretch!" They entered the palace, killed

Francisco de Chaves, who had appeared in haste on hearing the noise,

and gained the hall, where was Francisco Pizarro, with his brother

Francisco-Martin, the doctor Juan Velasquez, and a dozen servants.

These jumped out of the windows, with the exception of Martin

Pizarro, two other gentlemen, and two tall pages, who were killed

while defending the door of the governor's apartment. He himself had

not had time to put on his cuirass, but he seized his sword and

buckler and defended himself valiantly, killing four of his

adversaries and wounding several others. One of his assailants, in a

spirit of self-devotion, attracted to himself the blows of Pizarro.

Meanwhile the other conspirators made their way in and attacked him

with such fury that he could not parry all the blows, being so

exhausted that he could scarcely wield his sword. "Thus," says

Zarate, "they made an end, and succeeded in killing him by a thrust

in the throat. Falling to the ground, he asked in a loud voice that

he might be allowed to confess, and then not being able any longer

to speak, he made the sign of the cross on the ground, which he

kissed, and then yielded up his soul to God." Some negroes carried

his body to the church, where Juan Barbazan, his old servant, alone

ventured to come and claim it. This faithful servant secretly

rendered to it funeral honours, for the conspirators had pillaged

the house of Pizarro, not leaving enough even to pay for wax tapers.

[Illustration: Death of Pizarro. _From an old print_.]

Thus did Francisco Pizarro come to his end, assassinated even in the

capital of the vast empire which Spain owed to his valour and

indefatigable perseverance, but which he bestowed upon his country,

it must be admitted, ravaged, decimated, and drowned in a deluge of

blood. Pizarro is often compared with Cortes; the one had as much

ambition, courage, and military capacity as the other; but the

cruelty and avarice of the Marquis della Valle were carried to an

extreme in Pizarro, and united in him to perfidy and duplicity. If

we are inclined to excuse certain parts of Cortes' character which

are not estimable, by the times in which he lived, we are at least

charmed by that grace and nobility of manners, and by that way of a

gentleman above prejudices, which made him so much beloved by the

soldier. In Pizarro, on the contrary, we find roughness, and a harsh,

unsympathizing way of feeling, while his chivalrous qualities

disappear entirely behind the rapacity and perfidy which are the

salient features of his character.

If Cortes found brave and resolute adversaries among the Mexicans,

who opposed almost insurmountable difficulties to his progress,

Pizarro had no trouble in vanquishing the Peruvians, who were timid

and enervated, and who never made any serious resistance to his arms.

Of the conquests of Peru and Mexico, the less difficult produced the

greater metallurgic advantage to Spain, and thus it was the more

appreciated.

The civil war was on the point of breaking out again after Pizarro's

death when the governor arrived, who was delegated by the

metropolitan government. As soon as he had collected the needful

troops, he marched towards Cuzco. He seized young Almagro without

trouble, had him beheaded with forty of his confederates and

governed the country with firmness, until the viceroy Blasco Nunez

Vela, arrived. It is not our intention to enter into the detail of

the disputes which took place between the latter and Gonzalo Pizarro,

who, profiting by the general discontent, caused by the new

regulations as to the "repartimientos," revolted against the

Emperor's representative. After many changes of fortune, for which

we have not space, the struggle ended by the defeat and execution of

Gonzalo Pizarro, which took place in 1548. His body was taken to

Cuzco and buried fully dressed; "No one," says Garcilasso de la Vega,

"being willing to give even a winding-sheet for it." Thus ended the

judicial assassin of Almagro. Is not the text appropriate in this

case: "They that take the sword shall perish with the sword"?

CHAPTER II.

THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.

Magellan--His early history--His disappointment--His change of

nationality--Preparations for the expedition--Rio de Janeiro--St.

Julian's Bay--Revolt of a part of the squadron--Terrible punishment

of the guilty--Magellan's Strait--Patagonia--The Pacific--The

Ladrone Islands--Zebu and the Philippine Islands--Death of

Magellan--Borneo--The Moluccas and their Productions--Separation of

the _Trinidad_ and _Victoria_--Return to Europe by the Cape of Good

Hope--Last misadventures.

No one as yet was aware of the immense size of the continent

discovered by Christopher Columbus. Still was sought perseveringly

on the coast of America--which was thought to be a collection of

several islands--the famous strait which should lead at once to the

Pacific Ocean and to those Spice Islands the possession of which

would have made the fortune of Spain. While Cortereal and Cabot were

seeking for it in the Atlantic Ocean, and Cortes in the furthest

part of the Gulf of California, while Pizarro was coasting along

Peru, and Valdivia was conquering Chili, the solution of this

problem was found by a Portuguese in the service of Spain, Ferdinand

de Magellan.

The son of a gentleman of _Cota e Armas_, Ferdinand de Magellan was

born either at Oporto, at Lisbon, at Villa de Sabrossa, or at Villa

de Figueiro, it is not actually known which; the date of his birth

is unknown, but it took place towards the end of the fifteenth

century. He had been brought up in the house of King John II., where

he received as complete an education as could then be given him.

After having made mathematics and navigation his special study--for

at this time in Portugal there was an irresistible current which

drew the whole country towards maritime expeditions and

discoveries--Magellan early embraced a maritime career, and embarked

in 1505 with Almeida, who was on his way to the Indies. He took part

in the sacking of Quiloa, and in all the events of that campaign.

The following year he accompanied Vaz Pereira to Sofala; then, on

returning to the Malabar coast, we find him assisting Albuquerque at

the taking of Malacca, and bearing himself on that occasion with

equal prudence and bravery. He took part in the expedition sent by

Albuquerque about 1510, to seek for the famous Spice Islands, under

the command of Antonio de Abreu and of Francisco Serrao, which

discovered Banda, Amboyna, Ternate, and Tidor. During this time

Magellan had landed at the Malaysian Islands, distant 1800 miles

from Malacca, and in the Archipelago of the Moluccas he had obtained

the circumstantial information which gave birth in his mind to the

idea of the voyage which he was destined to accomplish later on.

[Illustration: Magellan on board his caravel. _From an old print_.]

On his return to Portugal, Magellan obtained leave, though not

without difficulty, to search through the royal archives. He soon

became certain that the Moluccas were situated in the hemisphere

which the bull of demarcation adopted at Tordesillas by the kings of

Spain and Portugal, and confirmed in 1494 by Pope Alexander VI., had

given to Spain.

In virtue of this line of demarcation, which was destined to give

rise to so many impassioned debates, all the countries situated at

360 miles west of the meridian of the Cape de Verd Islands were to

belong to Spain, and all those lying to the east of the same

meridian to Portugal. Magellan was of too active a nature to remain

long without again taking service; he went next to fight in Africa

at Azamor, a town in Morocco, where he received a slight wound in

his knee, but one which by injuring a nerve made him lame for the

remainder of his life, and obliged him to return to Portugal.

Conscious of the superiority which his theoretical and practical

knowledge and his services had earned for him above the herd of

courtiers, Magellan naturally felt more keenly than another would

have done the unjust treatment he received from Emmanuel with regard

to certain complaints laid by the people of Azamor against the

Portuguese officers. King Emmanuel's prejudices soon changed to a

real dislike. It showed itself by the outrageous imputation that

Magellan was pretending to suffer from a wound which was really of

no consequence and was completely cured, that he might escape from

accusations which he could not refute. Such an assertion was a

serious matter for the honour of Magellan, so susceptible and

suspicious; he thereupon came to a desperate determination which

corresponded moreover with the greatness of the insult which he had

received. That no one might be ignorant of it, he caused it to be

legally set forth that he renounced his rights as a Portuguese

citizen, and changed his nationality, and he then took out letters

of naturalization in Spain. This was to proclaim, as solemnly as

could possibly be done, that he intended to be looked upon as a

subject of the crown of Castille, to which henceforward he would

consecrate his services and his whole life. This was a serious

determination, as we can see, which no one blamed, and which even

the most severe historians, such as Barros and Faria y Sousa, have

excused.

At the same time as Magellan, the licentiate Rey Faleiro left Lisbon

with his brother Francisco and a merchant named Christovam de Haro;

the former was a man deeply versed in cosmographical knowledge, and

had equally with Magellan fallen under Emmanuel's displeasure.

Faleiro had entered into a treaty of partnership with Magellan to

reach the Moluccas by a new way, but one which was not otherwise

specified, and which remained Magellan's secret. As soon as they

arrived in Spain, (1517), the two partners submitted their project

to Charles V., who accepted it in principle; but there remained the

always delicate question touching the means for putting it into

execution. Happily, Magellan found in Juan de Aranda, the factor of

the Chamber of Commerce, an enthusiastic partisan of his theories,

and one who promised to exert all his influence to make the

enterprise a success. He had an interview accordingly with the high

Chancellor, the Cardinal and Bishop of Burgos, Fonseca. He set forth

with such skill the great advantage that Spain would derive from the

discovery of a route leading to the very centre of the spice

production, and the great prejudice which it would cause to the

trade of Portugal, that an agreement was signed on the 22nd of March,

1518. The Emperor undertook to pay all the expenses of the

expedition on condition that the greater part of the profits should

belong to him.

But Magellan had still many obstacles to surmount before taking to

the sea. In the first place there were the remonstrances of the

Portuguese ambassador, Alvaro de Costa, who, seeing that his

endeavours were in vain, even tried to compass the assassination of

Magellan, so says Faria y Sousa. Then he encountered the ill-will of

the employes of the _Casa de contratacion_ at Seville, who were

jealous of a stranger being entrusted with the command of such an

important expedition, and envious of the least token of favour which

had been accorded to Magellan and Rey Faleiro, who had been named

commanders of the order of St. James. But Charles V. had given his

consent by a public act, which seemed to be irrevocable. They tried,

however, to make the Emperor alter his decision by organizing, on

the 22nd of October, 1518, a disturbance paid for with Portuguese

gold. It broke out on the pretext that Magellan, who had just had

one of his ships drawn on shore for repairs and painting, had

decorated it with the Portuguese arms. This last attempt failed

miserably, and three statutes of the 30th of March, and 6th and 30th

of April, fixed the composition of the crews and named the staff;

while a final official document dated from Barcelona the 26th of

July, 1519, confided the sole command of the expedition to Magellan.

What had meanwhile been happening to Rey Faleiro? We cannot exactly

say. But this man, who had up to this time been treated on the same

footing as Magellan, and who had perhaps first conceived the project,

now found himself quite excluded from the command of the expedition,

after some dissensions of which the cause is unknown. His health,

already shaken, received a last shock from this affront, and poor

Rey Faleiro, who had become almost childish, having returned to

Portugal to see his family, was arrested there, and only released

upon the intercession of Charles V. At last, after having sworn

fidelity and homage to the crown of Castille, Magellan received in

his turn the oath of his officers and sailors, and left the port of

San Lucar de Barrameda on the morning of the 10th of August, 1519.

But before entering on the narrative of this memorable campaign, we

must give a few particulars of the man who has left us the most

complete account of it, Francesco Antonio Pigafetta or Jerome

Pigaphete as he is often called in France. Born at Venice about 1491,

of a noble family, Pigafetta formed part of the suite of the

Ambassador Francesco Chiericalco, sent by Leo X. to Charles V., who

was then at Barcelona. His attention was no doubt aroused by the

noise which the preparations for the expedition made at that time in

Spain, and he obtained permission to take part in the voyage. This

volunteer proved an excellent recruit, for he showed himself in

every respect as faithful and intelligent an observer as he was a

brave and courageous companion. He was wounded at the battle of Zebu,

fighting beside Magellan, which prevented him from being present at

the banquet during which so many of his companions were destined to

lose their lives. As to his narrative, with the exception of some

exaggerations of detail according to the taste of that time, it is

exact, and the greater part of the descriptions which we owe to him

have been verified by modern travellers and learned men, especially

by M. Alcide d'Orbigny.

Upon his return to San Lucar on the 6th of September, 1522, after

having fulfilled the vow which he had made to go bare-foot to return

thanks to _Nuesta Senora de la Victoria_, the Lombard (as they

called him on board the _Victoria_,) presented to Charles V., then

at Valladolid, a complete journal of the voyage. When he returned to

Italy, by means of the original as well as of some supplementary

notes, he wrote a longer narrative of the expedition, at the request

of Pope Clement VII. and of Villiers de l'Isle Adam, grand-master of

the Knights of Malta. He sent copies of this work to several

distinguished personages, and notably to Louisa of Savoy, mother of

Francis I. But she not understanding, so thinks Harrisse, the very

learned author of the _Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima_, the kind

of patois used by Pigafetta, and which resembles a mixture of

Italian, Venetian, and Spanish, employed a certain Jacques Antoine

Fabre to translate it into French. Instead of giving a faithful

translation, Fabre made a kind of abridgment of it. Some critics,

however, suppose that this narrative must have been written

originally in French; they found their opinion upon the existence of

three French manuscripts of the sixteenth century, which give very

different readings, and of which two are deposited in the

Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris.

Pigafetta died at Venice about 1534, in a house in the Rue de la

Lune, which in 1800 was still to be seen, and which bore the

well-known device, "No rose without a thorn."

At the same time, not wishing to confine ourselves to Pigafetta's

narrative entirely, we have compared and completed it with that of

Maximilian Transylvain, secretary to Charles V., of which there is

an Italian translation in Ramusio's valuable collection.

The fleet of Magellan consisted of the _Trinidad_, of 120 tons'

burden, which carried the flag of the commander of the expedition;

the _Sant'-Antonio_, also of 120 tons, commanded by Juan de

Carthagena, the second in rank, the _person joined with_ Magellan,

says the official document; the _Concepcion_, of 90 tons, commanded

by Gaspar de Quesada; the famous _Victoria_, of 85 tons, commanded

by Luis de Mendoza; and lastly the _Santiago_, of 75 tons, commanded

by Joao Serrao, called by the Spaniards Serrano.

Four of these captains and nearly all the pilots were Portuguese.

Barbosa and Gomez on board the _Trinidad_, Luis Alfonso de Goez and

Vasco Gallego on the _Victoria_, Serrao, Joao Lopez de Carvalho on

the _Concepcion_, Joao Rodriguez de Moefrapil on the _Sant'-Antonio_,

and Joao Serrao on the _Santiago_, with 25 sailors, formed a total

of 33 Portuguese out of the whole body of 237 individuals whose

names have all been handed down to us, and amongst whom are found a

considerable number of Frenchmen.

Of the officers whose names have been mentioned, it is to be

remembered that Duarte Barbosa was brother-in-law to Magellan and

that Estavam Gomez, who, by returning to Seville on the 6th of May,

1521, did not participate in the conclusion of this memorable voyage,

was afterwards sent by Charles V. to seek for the north-west passage,

and in 1524 sailed along the coast of America from Florida to Rhode

Island, and perhaps as far as Cape Cod.

Nothing could have been better arranged than this expedition, for

the equipment of which the whole resources of the nautical science

of that epoch had been taxed. At the moment of departure Magellan

gave his last orders to his pilots and captains, and the code of

signals which were to ensure unanimity in manoeuvres, and prevent a

possible separation.

On Monday morning, the 10th of August, 1519, the fleet weighed

anchor and sailed down the Guadalquiver as far as San Lucar de

Barrameda, which forms the port of Seville, where the victualling of

the ships was completed, and it was the 20th of September before

they were really off. Six days afterwards the fleet anchored at

Teneriffe in the Canary Archipelago, where both wood and water were

taken on board. It was on leaving this island that the first

symptoms appeared of the misunderstanding between Magellan and Juan

de Carthagena which was to prove so fatal to the expedition. The

latter claimed to be informed by the commander-in-chief of the route

which he intended to take, a claim which was at once rejected by

Magellan, who declared that he was not called upon to give any

explanation to his subordinate.

After having passed between the Cape de Verd Islands and Africa, the

ships reached the shores of Sierra Leone, where contrary winds and

dead calms detained the fleet for twenty days.

[Illustration: Juan de Carthagena placed in the stocks.]

A painful incident now occurred. During a council which was held on

board the flag-ship, a sharp dispute arose, and Juan de Carthagena,

who affected to treat the Captain-general with contempt, having

answered him with pride and insolence, Magellan felt obliged to

arrest him with his own hand, and to have him put in the stocks, an

instrument made of two pieces of wood placed one upon the other and

pierced with holes, in which were placed the legs of the sailor who

was to be punished. The other captains remonstrated loudly with

Magellan against a punishment which was too degrading for a superior

officer, and Carthagena in consequence was simply put under arrest,

and guarded by one of the captains. To the calms now succeeded rain,

tempests, and heavy squalls, which obliged the vessels to lie-to.

During these storms the navigators several times witnessed an

electric phenomenon of which the cause was not then known, but which

they considered an undoubted sign of the protection of heaven, and

which even at the present day is known by the name of St. Elmo's

fire. Once past the equinoctial line--a passage which does not at

that time seem to have been celebrated by the grotesque ceremony of

baptism which is in vogue at the present day--they steered for

Brazil, where, on the 13th of December, 1519, the fleet cast anchor

in the magnificent port of Santa Lucia, now known under the name of

Rio Janeiro. This was not, however, the first time that this bay had

been seen by Europeans, as was long believed. Since the year 1511 it

had been known under the name of _Bahia do Cabo Frio_. It had been

visited also, four years before Magellan's arrival, by Pero Lopez,

and seems to have been frequented since the commencement of the

sixteenth century by mariners from Dieppe who, inheritors of the

passion for adventurous navigation of their ancestors the North-men,

roamed over the world, and founded small establishments or factories

in all directions. Here the Spanish expedition procured cheaply, in

exchange for looking-glasses, pieces of ribbon, scissors, hawks'

bells or fish-hooks, a quantity of provisions, amongst which

Pigafetta mentions pine-apples, sugar-canes, sweet potatoes, fowls,

and the flesh of the _Anta_, which is thought to be the tapir.

The account given in the same narrative of the manners of the

inhabitants is sufficiently curious to be repeated. "The Brazilians

are not Christians," he says, "but no more are they idolaters, for

they worship nothing; natural instinct is their only law." This is

an interesting fact, and a singular avowal for an Italian of the

sixteenth century, deeply imbued with superstition; it offers one

more proof that the idea of the Divinity is not innate, as some

theologians have imagined. "These natives live to a great age, they

go entirely naked, and sleep in cotton nets called hammocks,

suspended by the two ends to beams. As to their boats, called canoes,

each is hollowed out of the single trunk of a tree and can hold as

many as forty men. They are anthropophagi (cannibals), but only on

special occasions, and scarcely ever eat any but their enemies taken

in battle. Their dress of ceremony is a kind of vest made of

paroquets' feathers, woven together, and so arranged that the large

wing and tail-feathers form a sort of girdle round their loins,

which gives them a whimsical and ridiculous appearance."

We have already said that the feather cloak was in use on the shores

of the Pacific, among the Peruvians; it is curious to ascertain that

it was worn equally by the Brazilians. Some specimens of this

singular garment may be seen at the exhibition of the Ethnographical

Museum. This was not however the only ornament of these savages;

they suspended little stone cylinders from three holes pierced in

the lower lip, a custom which is common among many of the Oceanic

people, and which may be compared with our fashion of ear-rings.

These people were extremely credulous and of good disposition and

thus, as Pigafetta says, they could easily have been converted to

Christianity, for they assisted in silence, and with gravity, at the

mass which was said on shore, a remark that Alvarez Cabral had

already made.

[Illustration: The Coast of Brazil.]

After remaining thirteen days in this place, the squadron continued

its route to the south, coasting along the shore, and arrived at 34

degrees 40 minutes of south latitude in a country where flowed a

large river of fresh water. It was the La Plata. The natives, called

Charruas, were so frightened at the sight of the vessels that they

hastily took refuge in the interior of the country, carrying with

them all their valuables, and it was impossible to overtake any of

them. It was in this country that four years previously, Juan Diaz

de Solis had been massacred by a tribe of Charruas, armed with that

terrible engine which is still in use at the present day among the

_gauchos_ of the Argentine Republic, the _bolas_, which are metal

balls fastened to the two ends of a long leather thong, called a

_lasso_.

A little below the estuary of the La Plata, once thought to be an

arm of the sea opening into the Pacific, the flotilla anchored at

Port Desire. Here they obtained an ample supply of penguins for the

crews of the five vessels--a bird which did not make a very

delicious meal. Then they anchored in 49 degrees 30 minutes in a

beautiful harbour, where Magellan resolved to winter, and which

received the name of St. Julian's Bay. The Spaniards had been two

months there, when one day they perceived a man who seemed to them

to be of gigantic stature. At sight of them he began dancing and

singing and throwing dust upon his head. This was a Patagonian, who

allowed himself without resistance to be taken on board the vessels.

He showed the greatest surprise at all he saw around him, but

nothing astonished him so much as a large steel mirror which was

presented to him. "The giant, who had not the least idea of the use

of this piece of furniture, and who, no doubt, now saw his own face

for the first time, drew back in such terror, that he threw to the

ground four of our people who were behind him." He was taken back on

shore loaded with presents, and the kind welcome which he had

received induced eighteen of his companions, thirteen women and five

men, to come on board. They were tall, and had broad faces, painted

red except the eyes, which were encircled with yellow; their hair

was whitened with lime, they were wrapped in enormous fur cloaks,

and wore those large leather boots from which was given to them the

name of Large-feet or Patagonians. Their stature was not, however,

so gigantic as it appeared to our simple narrator, for it varies

from 5ft. 10in. to 5ft. 8in., being somewhat above the middle height

among Europeans. For arms they had a short massive bow, and arrows

made of reed, of which the point was formed of a sharp pebble.

The captain, to retain two of these savages whom he wished to take

to Europe, used a stratagem, which we should characterize as hateful

in the present day, but which had nothing revolting about it for the

sixteenth century, when Indians and negroes were universally

considered to be a kind of brute beasts. Magellan loaded these

Indians with presents, and when he saw them embarrassed with the

quantity, he offered to each of them one of those iron rings used

for chaining captives. They would have desired to carry them away,

for they valued iron above everything, but their hands were full. It

was then proposed to fasten the rings to their legs, to which they

agreed without suspicion. The sailors then closed the rings, so that

the savages found themselves in fetters. Nothing can give an idea of

their fury when they discovered this stratagem, worthy rather of

savages than of civilized men. The capture of others was attempted,

but in vain, and in the chase one of the Spaniards was wounded by a

poisoned arrow, which caused his death almost instantaneously.

Intrepid hunters, these people wander about perpetually in pursuit

of guanaquis and other game; they are endowed with such wonderful

voracity "that what would suffice for the nourishment of twenty

sailors, can scarcely satisfy seven or eight of them." Magellan,

foreseeing that the stay here was likely to be prolonged, and

perceiving that the country only presented meagre resources, gave

orders to economize the provisions, and to put the men on fixed

rations, that they might not experience too great privations before

the spring, when they might reach a country where there was more

game. But the Spaniards, discontented at the sterility of the place,

and at the length and rigour of the winter, began to murmur. This

land seemed to stretch southwards as far as the Antarctic pole, they

said; there did not seem to be any strait; already several had died

from the privations they had endured; lastly it was time to return

to Spain, if the commander did not wish to see all his men perish in

this place.

Magellan, fully resolved to die, or else to bring the enterprise he

commanded to a successful issue, replied that the Emperor had

assigned him the course which the voyage was to take, and he neither

could nor would depart from it under any pretext, and that in

consequence, he should go straight forward to the end of this land,

or until he met with some strait. As to provisions, if they found

them insufficient, his men might add to their rations the produce of

their fishing or hunting. Magellan thought that so firm a

declaration would impose silence on the malcontents, and that he

would hear no more of privations, from which he suffered equally

with his crews. He deceived himself completely. Certain of the

captains, and Juan de Carthagena in particular, were interested in

causing a revolt to break out. These rebels therefore began by

reminding the Spaniards of their old animosity against the

Portuguese. The captain-general being one of the latter nation, had

never, according to them, tendered a whole-hearted allegiance to the

Spanish flag. In order to be able to return to his own country and

to gain pardon for what he had done wrong, he wished to commit some

heinous crime, and nothing could be more advantageous to Portugal

than the destruction of this fine fleet. Instead of leading them to

the Archipelago of the Moluccas, of the riches of which he had

boasted to them, he wished to take them into frozen regions, the

dwelling-place of eternal snow, where he could easily manage that

they should all perish; then with the help of the Portuguese on

board the squadron, he would take back to his own country the

vessels which he had seized.

Such were the reports and accusations that the partisans of Juan de

Carthagena, Luis de Mendoza, and Gaspar de Quesada had disseminated

among the sailors, when on Palm Sunday, the 1st of April, 1520,

Magellan summoned the captains, officers, and pilots, to hear mass

on board his vessel and to dine with him afterwards. Alvaro de la

Mesquita, a cousin of the captain-general, accepted this invitation

with Antonio de Coca and his officers, but neither Mendoza nor

Quesada, nor Juan de Carthagena, who was Quesada's prisoner,

appeared. The next night the malcontents boarded the _Sant'-Antonio_

with thirty of the men of the _Concepcion_, and desired to have La

Mesquita given up to them. The pilot, Juan de Eliorraga, while

defending his captain, received four stabs from a poniard in the arm.

Quesada cried out at the same time, "You will see that this fool

will make our business fail." The three vessels, the _Concepcion_,

_Sant'-Antonio_, and _Santiago_, fell without difficulty into the

hands of the rebels, who reckoned more than one accomplice among the

crews. In spite of this success, the three captains did not dare

openly to attack the commander-in-chief, and sent to him some

proposals for a reconciliation. Magellan ordered them to come on

board the _Trinidad_ to confer with him; but this they stoutly

refused to do, whereupon Magellan, having no further need of caution,

had the boat seized which had brought him this answer, and choosing

six strong and brave men from amongst his crew, he sent them on

board the _Victoria_ under the command of the _alguazil_ Espinosa.

He carried a letter from Magellan to Mendoza enjoining him to come

on board the _Trinidad_, and when Mendoza smiled in a scornful

manner, Espinosa stabbed him in the throat with a poniard, while a

sailor struck him on the head with a cutlass. While these events

were taking place, another boat, laden with fifteen armed men, came

alongside the _Victoria_, and took possession of her without any

resistance from the sailors, surprised by the rapidity of the action.

On the next day, the 3rd of April, the two other rebel vessels were

taken, not however without bloodshed. Mendoza's body was divided

into quarters, while a clerk read in a loud voice the sentence that

blasted his memory. Three days afterwards, Quesada was beheaded and

cut in pieces by his own servant, who undertook this sad task to

save his own life. As to Carthagena, the high rank which the royal

edict had conferred upon him in the expedition saved him from death,

but with Gomez de la Reina, the chaplain, he was left behind on the

shore, where some months afterwards he was found by Estevam Gomez.

Forty sailors convicted of rebellion were pardoned because their

services were considered indispensable. After this severe lesson

Magellan might well hope that the mutinous spirit was really subdued.

When the temperature became milder the anchors were weighed; the

squadron put to sea on the 24th of August, following the coast, and

carefully exploring all the gulfs to find that strait which had been

so persistently sought. At the level of Cape St. Croix, one of the

vessels, the _Santiago_, was lost on the rocks during a violent gale

from the east. Happily both the men and merchandise on board were

saved, and they succeeded also in taking from the wrecked vessel the

rigging and appurtenances of the ship, which they divided among the

four remaining vessels.

At last on the 21st of October, according to Pigafetta, the 27th of

November according to Maximilian Transylvain, the flotilla

penetrated by a narrow entrance into a gulf, at the bottom of which

a strait opened, which as they soon saw passed into the sea to the

south. First they called this the Strait of the _Eleven Thousand

Virgins_, because this was the day dedicated to them. On each side

of the strait rose high land covered with snow, on which they saw

numerous fires, especially to the left, but they were unable to

obtain any communication with the natives. The details which

Pigafetta and Martin Transylvain have given with regard to the

topographical and hydrographical dispositions of this strait are

rather vague, and as we shall have to mention it again when we speak

of De Bougainville's expedition, we shall not dilate upon it now.

After sailing for twenty-two days across this succession of narrow

inlets and arms of the sea, in some places three miles wide, in some

twelve, which extends for a distance of 440 miles and has received

the name of Magellan's Strait, the flotilla emerged upon a sea of

immense extent and great depth.

The rejoicings were general when at last the sailors found

themselves at the long-wished-for end of their efforts. Henceforward

the route was open and Magellan's clever conjectures were realized.

Nothing is more extraordinary than the navigation of Magellan upon

this ocean, which he called Pacific, because for four months no

storm assailed him upon it. The privations endured by the crews

during this long space of time were excessive. The biscuit was

nothing more than dust mixed with worms, while the water had become

bad and gave out an unbearable smell. The sailors were obliged to

eat mice and sawdust to prevent themselves from dying of hunger, and

to gnaw all the leather that it was possible to find. As it was easy

to foresee under these circumstances, the crews were decimated by

scurvy. Nineteen men died, and thirty were seized with violent pains

in their arms and legs, which caused prolonged sufferings. At last,

after having sailed over more than 12,000 miles without meeting with

a single island, in a sea where so many and such populous

archipelagos were destined to be discovered, the fleet came upon two

desert and sterile islands, called for that reason the Unfortunate

Islands, but of which the position is indicated in much too

contradictory a manner, for it to be possible to recognize them.

In 12 degrees north latitude and 146 degrees longitude, on Wednesday

the 6th of March, the navigators discovered successively three

islands, at which they greatly desired to stop to recruit, and take

in fresh provisions; but the islanders who came on board stole so

many things, without the possibility of preventing them, that the

sailors were obliged to give up the idea of remaining there. The

natives contrived even to carry off a long boat. Magellan, indignant

at such daring, made a descent with forty armed men, burned some

houses and boats, and killed seven men. These islanders had neither

chief, king, nor religion. Their heads were covered with palm-leaf

hats, they wore beards, and their hair descended to their waists.

Generally of an olive tint, they thought they embellished themselves

by colouring their teeth black and red, while their bodies were

anointed with cocoa-nut oil, no doubt in order to protect themselves

from the heat of the sun. Their canoes of curious construction,

carried a very large matting sail, which might have easily capsized

the boat if the precaution had not been taken of giving a more

stable trim by means of a long piece of wood kept at a certain

distance by two poles; this is what is called the "balance." These

islanders were very industrious, but had a singular aptitude for

stealing, which has gained for their country the name of the

_Islands of Thieves_ (Ladrone Islands).

[Illustration: The Ladrone Islands. _From an old print_.]

On the 16th of March was seen, at about 900 miles from the Ladrones,

some high ground; this was soon discovered to be an island which now

goes by the name of Samar Island. There Magellan, resolving to give

his exhausted crews some rest, caused two tents to be pitched on

land for the use of the sick. The natives quickly brought bananas,

palm wine, cocoa-nuts, and fish; for which mirrors, combs, bells,

and other similar trifles were offered in exchange. The cocoa-nut, a

tree which is valuable beyond all others, supplied these natives

with their bread, wine, oil, and vinegar, and besides they obtained

from it their clothing and the necessary wood for building and

roofing in their huts.

The natives soon became familiar with the Spaniards, and told them

that their archipelago produced cloves, cinnamon, pepper, nutmegs,

ginger, maize or Indian-corn, and that even gold was found there.

Magellan gave this archipelago the name of the St. Lazarus Islands,

afterwards changed to that of the Philippines from the name of

Philip of Austria, son of Charles V.

This archipelago is formed of a great number of islands which extend

in Malaysia, between 5 degrees 32 minutes and 19 degrees 38 minutes

north latitude, and 114 degrees 56 minutes and 123 degrees 43

minutes longitude east of the meridian of Paris. The most important

are Luzon, Mindoro, Leyte, the Ceylon of Pigafetta, Samar, Panay,

Negros, Zebu, Bohol, Palawan, and Mindanao.

When they were a little restored, the Spaniards put to sea again, in

order to explore the archipelago. They saw in succession the islands

of Cenalo, Huinaugan, Ibusson, and Abarien, as well as another

island called Massava, of which the king Colambu could make himself

understood by a slave a native of Sumatra, whom Magellan had taken

to Europe from India, and who by his knowledge of Malay rendered

signal service in several instances. The king came on board with six

or eight of his principal subjects. He brought with him presents for

the captain-general, and in exchange he received a vest of red and

yellow cloth, made in Turkish fashion, and a cap of fine scarlet,

while mirrors and knives were given to the members of his suite. The

Spaniards showed him all their fire-arms and fired some shots from

the cannon in his presence, at which he was much terrified. "Then

Magellan caused one of our number to be fully armed," says Pigafetta,

"and ordered three men to give him blows with the sword and stiletto,

to show the king that nothing could wound a man armed in this manner,

which surprised him greatly, and turning to the interpreter he said

to the captain through him, 'that a man thus armed, could fight

against a hundred.' 'Yes,' replied the interpreter, in the name of

the commandant, 'and each of the three vessels carries 200 men armed

in this manner.'" The king, astonished by all that he had seen, took

leave of the captain, begging him to send two of his men with him,

to let them see something of the island. Pigafetta was chosen, and

was much satisfied with the welcome that he received. The king told

him "that in this island they found pieces of gold as large as nuts,

and even eggs, mixed with the earth which they passed through a

sieve to find them; all his vessels and even some of the ornaments

of his house were of this metal. He was very neatly dressed,

according to the custom of the country, and was the finest man that

I have seen among these people. His black hair fell upon his

shoulders; a silk veil covered his head, and he wore two rings in

his ears. From his waist to his knees, he was covered with a cotten

cloth embroidered in silk. On each of his teeth there were three

spots of gold, arranged in such a manner that one would have said

all his teeth were fastened together with this metal. He was

perfumed with storax and benzoin. His skin was painted, but its

natural tint was olive."

On Easter Day, the Europeans went on shore to celebrate mass in a

kind of little church which they had constructed on the sea-shore

with sails and branches of trees. An altar had been set up, and

during the whole time that the religious ceremony lasted, the king

with a large concourse of people, listened in silence and imitated

all the motions of the Spaniards. Then a cross having been planted

on a hill with great solemnity, they weighed anchor and made for the

port of Zebu, as being the best for revictualling the vessels and

trading. They arrived there on Sunday, the 7th of April. Magellan

sent one of his officers on shore at once with the interpreter, as

ambassador to the king of Zebu. The envoy explained that the chief

of the squadron was under the orders of the greatest king in the

world. The object of the voyage, he added, was the wish to pay him a

visit, and at the same time to take in some fresh provisions in

exchange for merchandise, and then to go to the Molucca Islands.

Such were the motives which caused them to tarry in a country where

they came as friends.

"They are welcome," replied the king; "but if they intend to trade

they should pay a duty to which all vessels are subject that enter

my port, as did, not four days since, a junk from Siam, which came

to seek for slaves and gold, to which a Moorish merchant who has

remained in this country can testify."

The Spaniard replied that his master was too great a king to submit

to such an unreasonable demand. They had come with pacific

intentions; but if war were declared, it would be seen with whom

they had to deal.

The king of Zebu, warned by the Moorish merchant, of the power of

those who stood before him, and whom he took for Portuguese, at

length consented to forego his claims. Moreover the king of Massava,

who had continued to serve as pilot to the Spaniards, so altered the

inclinations of his brother sovereign, that the Spaniards obtained

the exclusive privilege of trading in the island, and a loyal

friendship was sealed between the king of Zebu and Magellan by an

exchange of blood which each drew from his right arm.

From this moment, provisions were brought and cordial relations

established. The nephew of the king came with a numerous suite to

visit Magellan on board his ship, and the latter took this

opportunity to relate to his visitors the wonderful history of the

creation of the world, and of the redemption of the human race, and

to invite him and his people to become converts to Christianity.

They showed no repugnance to being baptized, and on the 14th of

April the kings of Zebu and Massava, and the Moorish merchant, with

500 men and as many women received baptism. But what was only a

fashion at first, for it cannot be said that the natives knew the

religion which they embraced or were persuaded of its truth, became

a real frenzy, after a wonderful cure had been effected by Magellan.

Having learnt that the father of the king had been ill for two years

and was on the point of death, the captain-general promised, that if

he consented to be baptized and the natives would burn their idols,

he would find himself cured. "He added that he was so convinced of

what he said," relates Pigafetta--for it is as well to quote the

author verbatim in such a matter--"that he agreed to lose his head

if what he promised did not happen immediately. We then made a

procession, with all possible pomp, from the place where we were to

the sick man's house, whom we found really in a very sad state in

that he could neither speak nor move. We baptized him with two of

his wives and ten daughters. The captain asked him directly after

his baptism how he found himself, and he suddenly replied that

thanks to our Lord he was well. We were all witnesses of this

miracle. The captain above all rendered thanks to God for it. He

gave the prince a refreshing drink, and continued to send him some

of it every day till he was quite restored. On the fifth day the

invalid found himself quite cured and got up. His first care was to

have burned, in the presence of the king and all the people, an idol

for which he had great veneration, and which some old women guarded

carefully in his house. He also caused some temples which stood on

the sea-shore, and in which the people assembled to eat the meat

consecrated to their old divinities, to be thrown down. All the

inhabitants applauded these acts, and proposed themselves to go and

destroy all the idols, even those which were in use in the king's

house, crying at the same time '_Vive la Castille!_' in honour of

the king of Spain."

Near to the Island of Zebu is another island called Matan which had

two chiefs, one of whom had recognized the authority of Spain, while

the other having energetically resisted it, Magellan resolved to

impose it upon him by force. On Friday, the 26th of April, three

long boats left for the Island of Matan containing sixty men wearing

cuirasses and helmets, and armed with muskets; and thirty

_balangais_ bearing the king of Zebu, his son-in-law, and a number

of warriors.

The Spaniards waited for day and then to the number of forty-nine

leapt into the water, for the boats could not approach the land on

account of the rocks and shallow water. More than 1500 natives

awaited them, and at once threw themselves upon them, and attacked

them in three troops, both in front and flank. The musketeers and

the crossbow-men fired on the multitude of warriors from a distance,

without doing them much harm, they being protected by their bucklers.

The Spaniards, assailed by stones, arrows, javelins, and lances, and

overwhelmed by numbers, set fire to some huts to disperse and

intimidate the natives. But these, made more furious by the sight of

the fire, redoubled their efforts, and pressed the Spaniards on all

sides, who had the greatest difficulty in resisting them, when a sad

event took place which compromised the issue of the combat. The

natives were not slow in remarking that all the blows which they

directed towards those parts of their enemies' bodies which were

protected by armour, caused no wounds; they set themselves therefore

to hurl their arrows and javelins against the lower part of the body,

which was undefended. Magellan, wounded in the leg by a poisoned

arrow, gave the order for retreat, which, begun in good order, soon

changed into such a flight, that seven or eight Spaniards alone

remained at his side. With much difficulty they kept moving

backwards, fighting as they went, in order to reach the boats. They

were already knee-deep in the water when several islanders rushed

all together upon Magellan, who, wounded in the arm, was unable to

draw his sword; they gave him such a sabre-cut upon his leg that he

immediately fell down in the water, where he was speedily despatched.

His remaining companions, and among them Pigafetta, every one of

whom had been hit, hastily regained the boats. Thus perished the

illustrious Magellan on the 27th of April, 1521. "He was adorned

with every virtue," says Pigafetta, "and ever exhibited an unshaken

constancy in the midst of the greatest adversity. At sea he always

condemned himself to greater privations than the rest of his crew.

Better versed than any one else in the knowledge of nautical charts,

he was perfect in the art of navigation, as he proved by making the

tour of the world, which none before him had ventured to do."

Pigafetta's funeral eulogy, though a little hyperbolical, is not

untrue in the main. Magellan had need of singular constancy and

perseverance to penetrate, despite the fears of his companions, into

regions peopled by the superstitious spirit of the time with

fantastic dangers. Peculiar nautical science was also necessary to

achieve the discovery at the extremity of that long coast of the

strait which so justly bears his name. He was obliged to give

unceasing attention to avoid all untoward accidents while exploring

those unknown parts without any exact instruments. That one of the

vessels was lost must be imputed to pride and a spirit of revolt in

her own captain, more than to any incapacity or want of caution in

the captain-general. Let us add with our enthusiastic narrator, "The

glory of Magellan will survive his death."