Francisco Pizarro--His Early History--First Expedition To The South--
Distresses Of The Voyagers--Sharp Encounters--Return To Panama--
Almagro's Expedition
1524-1525
Francisco Pizarro was born at Truxillo, a city of Estremadura, in Spain.
The period of his birth is uncertain; but probably it was not far from
1471.1 He was an illegitimate child, and that his parents should not have
taken pains to perpetuate the date of his birth is not surprising. Few care
to make a particular record of their transgressions. His father, Gonzalo
Pizarro, was a colonel of infantry, and served with some distinction in
the Italian campaigns under the Great Captain, and afterwards in the
wars of Navarre. His mother, named Francisca Gonzales, was a person
of humble condition in the town of Truxillo.2
But little is told of Francisco's early years, and that little not always
deserving of credit. According to some, he was deserted by both his
parents, and left as a foundling at the door of one of the principal
churches of the city. It is even said that he would have perished, had he
not been nursed by a sow.3 This is a more discreditable fountain of
supply than that assigned to the infant Romulus. The early history of
men who have made their names famous by deeds in after-life, like the
early history of nations, affords a fruitful field for invention.
It seems certain that the young Pizarro received little care from either of
his parents, and was suffered to grow up as nature dictated. He was
neither taught to read nor write, and his principal occupation was that of
a swineherd. But this torpid way of life did not suit the stirring spirit of
Pizarro, as he grew older, and listened to the tales, widely circulated and
so captivating to a youthful fancy, of the New World. He shared in the
popular enthusiasm, and availed himself of a favorable moment to
abandon his ignoble charge, and escape to Seville, the port where the
Spanish adventurers embarked to seek their fortunes in the West. Few of
them could have turned their backs on their native land with less cause
for regret than Pizarro.4
In what year this important change in his destiny took place we are not
informed. The first we hear of him in the New World is at the island of
Hispaniola, in 1510, where he took part in the expedition to Uraba in
Terra Firma, under Alonzo de Ojeda, a cavalier whose character and
achievements find no parallel but in the pages of Cervantes. Hernando
Cortes, whose mother was a Pizarro, and related, it is said, to the father
of Francis, was then in St. Domingo, and prepared to accompany
Ojeda's expedition, but was prevented by a temporary lameness. Had he
gone, the fall of the Aztec empire might have been postponed for some
time longer, and the sceptre of Montezuma have descended in peace to
his posterity. Pizarro shared in the disastrous fortunes of Ojeda's colony,
and, by his discretion, obtained so far the confidence of his commander,
as to be left in charge of the settlement, when the latter returned for
supplies to the islands. The lieutenant continued at his perilous post for
nearly two months, waiting deliberately until death should have thinned
off the colony sufficiently to allow the miserable remnant to be
embarked in the single small vessel that remained to it.5
After this, we find him associated with Balboa, the discoverer of the
Pacific, and cooperating with him in establishing the settlement at
Darien. He had the glory of accompanying this gallant cavalier in his
terrible march across the mountains, and of being among the first
Europeans, therefore, whose eyes were greeted with the long-promised
vision of the Southern Ocean.
After the untimely death of his commander, Pizarro attached himself to
the fortunes of Pedrarias, and was employed by that governor in several
military expeditions, which, if they afforded nothing else, gave him the
requisite training for the perils and privations that lay in the path of the
future Conqueror of Peru.
In 1515, he was selected, with another cavalier named Morales, to cross
the Isthmus and traffic with the natives on the shores of the Pacific. And
there, while engaged in collecting his booty of gold and pearls from the
neighbouring islands, as his eye ranged along the shadowy line of coast
till it faded in the distance, his imagination may have been first fired with
the idea of, one day, attempting the conquest of the mysterious regions
beyond the mountains. On the removal of the seat of government across
the Isthmus to Panama, Pizarro accompanied Pedrarias, and his name
became conspicuous among the cavaliers who extended the line of
conquest to the north over the martial tribes of Veragua. But all these
expeditions, whatever glory they may have brought him, were productive
of very little gold; and, at the age of fifty, the captain Pizarro found
himself in possession only of a tract of unhealthy land in the
neighborhood of the capital, and of such repartimientos of the natives as
were deemed suited to his military services.6 The New World was a
lottery, where the great prizes were so few that the odds were much
against the player; yet in the game he was content to stake health,
fortune, and, too often, his fair fame.
Such was Pizarro's situation when, in 1522, Andagoya returned from his
unfinished enterprise to the south of Panama, bringing back with him
more copious accounts than any hitherto received of the opulence and
grandeur of the countries that lay beyond.7 It was at this time, too, that
the splendid achievements of Cortes made their impression on the public
mind, and gave a new impulse to the spirit of adventure. The southern
expeditions became a common topic of speculation among the colonists
of Panama. But the region of gold, as it lay behind the mighty curtain of
the Cordilleras, was still veiled in obscurity. No idea could be formed of
its actual distance; and the hardships and difficulties encountered by the
few navigators who had sailed in that direction gave a gloomy character
to the undertaking, which had hitherto deterred the most daring from
embarking in it. There is no evidence that Pizarro showed any particular
alacrity in the cause. Nor were his own funds such as to warrant any
expectation of success without great assistance from others. He found
this in two individuals of the colony, who took too important a part in the
subsequent transactions not to be particularly noticed.
One of them, Diego de Almagro, was a soldier of fortune somewhat
older, it seems probable, than Pizarro; though little is known of his birth,
and even the place of it is disputed. It is supposed to have been the town
of Almagro in New Castile, whence his own name, for want of a better
source was derived; for, like Pizarro, he was a foundling.8 Few
particulars are known of him till the present period of our history; for he
was one of those whom the working of turbulent times first throws upon
the surface,--less fortunate, perhaps, than if left in their original
obscurity. In his military career, Almagro had earned the reputation of a
gallant soldier. He was frank and liberal in his disposition, somewhat
hasty and ungovernable in his passions, but, like men of a sanguine
temperament, after the first sallies had passed away, not difficult to be
appeased. He had, in short, the good qualities and the defects incident to
an honest nature, not improved by the discipline of early education or
self-control.
The other member of the confederacy was Hernando de Luque, a
Spanish ecclesiastic, who exercised the functions of vicar at Panama, and
had formerly filled the office of schoolmaster in the Cathedral of Darien.
He seems to have been a man of singular prudence and knowledge of the
world; and by his respectable qualities had acquired considerable
influence in the little community to which he belonged, as well as the
control of funds, which made his cooperation essential to the success of
the present enterprise.
It was arranged among the three associates, that the two cavaliers should
contribute their little stock towards defraying the expenses of the
armament, but by far the greater part of the funds was to be furnished by
Luque. Pizarro was to take command of the expedition, and the business
of victualling and equipping the vessels was assigned to Almagro. The
associates found no difficulty in obtaining the consent of the governor to
their undertaking. After the return of Andagoya, he had projected
another expedition, but the officer to whom it was to be intrusted died.
Why he did not prosecute his original purpose, and commit the affair to
an experienced captain like Pizarro, does not appear. He was probably
not displeased that the burden of the enterprise should be borne by
others, so long as a good share of the profits went into his own coffers.
This he did not overlook in his stipulations.9
Thus fortified with the funds of Luque, and the consent of the governor,
Almagro was not slow to make preparations for the voyage. Two small
vessels were purchased, the larger of which had been originally built by
Balboa, for himself, with a view to this same expedition. Since his
death, it had lain dismantled in the harbor of Panama. It was now
refitted as well as circumstances would permit, and put in order for sea,
while the stores and provisions were got on board with an alacrity which
did more credit, as the event proved, to Almagro's zeal than to his
forecast.
There was more difficulty in obtaining the necessary complement of
hands; for a general feeling of distrust had gathered round expeditions in
this direction, which could not readily be overcome. But there were
many idle hangers-on in the colony, who had come out to mend their
fortunes, and were willing to take their chance of doing so, however
desperate. From such materials as these, Almagro assembled a body of
somewhat more than a hundred men;10 and every thing being ready,
Pizarro assumed the command, and, weighing anchor, took his departure
from the little port of Panama, about the middle of November, 1524..
Almagro was to follow in a second vessel of inferior size, as soon as it
could be fitted out.11
The time of year was the most unsuitable that could have been selected
for the voyage; for it was the rainy season, when the navigation to the
south, impeded by contrary winds, is made doubly dangerous by the
tempests that sweep over the coast. But this was not understood by the
adventurers. After touching at the Isle of Pearls, the frequent resort of
navigators, at a few leagues' distance from Panama, Pizarro held his way
across the Gulf of St. Michael, and steered almost due south for the
Puerto de Pinas, a headland in the province of Biruquete, which marked
the limit of Andagoya's voyage. Before his departure, Pizarro had
obtained all the information which he could derive from that officer in
respect to the country, and the route he was to follow. But the cavalier's
own experience had been too limited to enable him to be of much
assistance.
Doubling the Puerto de Pinas, the little vessel entered the river Biru, the
misapplication of which name is supposed by some to have given rise to
that of the empire of the Incas.12 After sailing up this stream for a
couple of leagues, Pizarro came to anchor, and disembarking his whole
force except the sailors, proceeded at the head of it to explore the
country. The land spread out into a vast swamp, where the heavy rains
had settled in pools of stagnant water, and the muddy soil afforded no
footing to the traveller. This dismal morass was fringed with woods,
through whose thick and tangled undergrowth they found it difficult to
penetrate and emerging from them, they came out on a hilly country, so
rough and rocky in its character, that their feet were cut to the bone, and
the weary soldier, encumbered with his heavy mail or thick-padded
doublet of cotton, found it difficult to drag one foot after the other. The
heat at times was oppressive; and, fainting with toil and famished for
want of food, they sank down on the earth from mere exhaustion. Such
was the ominous commencement of the expedition to Peru.
Pizarro, however, did not lose heart. He endeavored to revive the spirits
of his men, and besought them not to be discouraged by difficulties
which a brave heart would be sure to overcome, reminding them of the
golden prize which awaited those who persevered. Yet it was obvious
that nothing was to be gained by remaining longer in this desolate region.
Returning to their vessel, therefore, it was suffered to drop down the
river and proceed along its southern course on the great ocean.
After coasting a few leagues, Pizarro anchored off a place not very
inviting in its appearance, where he took in a supply of wood and water.
Then, stretching more towards the open sea, he held on in the same
direction towards the south. But in this he was baffled by a succession of
heavy tempests, accompanied with such tremendous peals of thunder and
floods of rain as are found only in the terrible storms of the tropics. The
sea was lashed into fury, and, swelling into mountain billows, threatened
every moment to overwhelm the crazy little bark, which opened at every
seam. For ten days the unfortunate voyagers were tossed about by the
pitiless elements, and it was only by incessant exertions--the exertions of
despair--that they preserved the ship from foundering. To add to their
calamities, their provisions began to fail, and they were short of water, of
which they had been furnished only with a small number of casks; for
Almagro had counted on their recruiting their scanty supplies, from time
to time, from the shore. Their meat was wholly consumed, and they
were reduced to the wretched allowance of two ears of Indian corn a day
for each man.
Thus harassed by hunger and the elements, the battered voyagers were
too happy to retrace their course and regain the port where they had last
taken in supplies of wood and water. Yet nothing could be more
unpromising than the aspect of the country. It had the same character of
low, swampy soil, that distinguished the former landing-place; while
thick-matted forests, of a depth which the eye could not penetrate,
stretched along the coast to an interminable length. It was in vain that
the wearied Spaniards endeavored to thread the mazes of this tangled
thicket, where the creepers and flowering vines, that shoot up luxuriant
in a hot and humid atmosphere, had twined themselves round the huge
trunks of the forest-trees, and made a network that could be opened only
with the axe. The rain, in the mean time, rarely slackened, and the
ground, strewed with leaves and saturated with moisture, seemed to slip
away beneath their feet.
Nothing could be more dreary and disheartening than the aspect of these
funereal forests; where the exhalations from the overcharged surface of
the ground poisoned the air, and seemed to allow no life, except that,
indeed, of myriads of insects, whose enamelled wings glanced to and fro,
like sparks of fire, in every opening of the woods. Even the brute
creation appeared instinctively to have shunned the fatal spot, and
neither beast nor bird of any description was seen by the wanderers.
Silence reigned unbroken in the heart of these dismal solitudes; at least,
the only sounds that could be heard were the plashing of the rain-drops
on the leaves, and the tread of the forlorn adventurers.13
Entirely discouraged by the aspect of the country, the Spaniards began to
comprehend that they had gained nothing by changing their quarters
from sea to shore, and they felt the most serious apprehensions of
perishing from famine in a region which afforded nothing but such
unwholesome berries as they could pick up here and there in the woods.
They loudly complained of their hard lot, accusing their commander as
the author of all their troubles, and as deluding them with promises of a
fairy land, which seemed to recede in proportion as they advanced. It
was of no use, they said, to contend against fate, and it was better to take
their chance of regaining the port of Panama in time to save their lives,
than to wait where they were to die of hunger.
But Pizarro was prepared to encounter much greater evils than these,
before returning to Panama, bankrupt in credit, an object of derision as a
vainglorious dreamer, who had persuaded others to embark in an
adventure which he had not the courage to carry through himself. The
present was his only chance. To return would be ruin. He used every
argument, therefore, that mortified pride or avarice could suggest to turn
his followers from their purpose; represented to them that these were the
troubles that necessarily lay in the path of the discoverer; and called to
mind the brilliant successes of their countrymen in other quarters, and
the repeated reports, which they had themselves received, of the rich
regions along the coast, of which it required only courage and constancy
on their part to become the masters. Yet, as their present exigencies
were pressing, he resolved to send back the vessel to the Isle of Pearls, to
lay in a fresh stock of provisions for his company, which might enable
them to go forward with renewed confidence. The distance was not
great, and in a few days they would all be relieved from their perilous
position. The officer detached on this service was named Montenegro;
and taking with him nearly half the company, after receiving Pizarro's
directions, he instantly weighed anchor, and steered for the Isle of Pearls.
On the departure of his vessel, the Spanish commander made an attempt
to explore the country, and see if some Indian settlement might not be
found, where he could procure refreshments for his followers. But his
efforts were vain, and no trace was visible of a human dwelling; though,
in the dense and impenetrable foliage of the equatorial regions, the
distance of a few rods might suffice to screen a city from observation.
The only means of nourishment left to the unfortunate adventurers were
such shell-fish as they occasionally picked up on the shore, or the bitter
buds of the palm-tree, and such berries and unsavory herbs as grew wild
in the woods. Some of these were so poisonous, that the bodies of those
who ate them swelled up and were tormented with racking pains. Others,
preferring famine to this miserable diet, pined away from weakness and
actually died of starvation. Yet their resolute leader strove to maintain
his own cheerfulness and to keep up the drooping spirits of his men. He
freely shared with them his scanty stock of provisions, was unwearied in
his endeavors to procure them sustenance, tended the sick, and ordered
barracks to be constructed for their accommodation, which might, at
least, shelter them from the drenching storms of the season. By this
ready sympathy with his followers in their sufferings, he obtained an
ascendency over their rough natures, which the assertion of authority, at
least in the present extremity, could never have secured to him.
Day after day, week after week, had now passed away, and no tidings
were heard of the vessel that was to bring relief to the wanderers. In vain
did they strain their eyes over the distant waters to catch a glimpse of
their coming friends. Not a speck was to be seen in the blue distance,
where the canoe of the savage dared not venture, and the sail of the white
man was not yet spread. Those who had borne up bravely at first now
gave way to despondency, as they felt themselves abandoned by their
countrymen on this desolate shore. They pined under that sad feeling
which "maketh the heart sick." More than twenty of the little band had
already died, and the survivors seemed to be rapidly following.14
At this crisis reports were brought to Pizarro of a light having been seen
through a distant opening in the woods. He hailed the tidings with
eagerness, as intimating the existence of some settlement in the
neighborhood; and, putting himself at the head of a small party, went in
the direction pointed out, to reconnoitre. He was not disappointed, and,
after extricating himself from a dense wilderness of underbrush and
foliage, he emerged into an open space, where a small Indian village was
planted. The timid inhabitants, on the sudden apparition of the strangers,
quitted their huts in dismay; and the famished Spaniards, rushing in,
eagerly made themselves masters of their contents. These consisted of
different articles of food, chiefly maize and cocoanuts. The supply,
though small, was too seasonable not to fill them with rapture.
The astonished natives made no attempt at resistance. But, gathering
more confidence as no violence was offered to their persons, they drew
nearer the white men, and inquired, "Why they did not stay at home and
till their own lands, instead of roaming about to rob others who had
never harmed them?"15 Whatever may have been their opinion as to
the question of right, the Spaniards, no doubt, felt then that it would have
been wiser to do so. But the savages wore about their persons gold
ornaments of some size, though of clumsy workmanship. This furnished
the best reply to their demand. It was the golden bait which lured the
Spanish adventurer to forsake his pleasant home for the trials of the
wilderness. From the Indians Pizarro gathered a confirmation of the
reports he had so often received of a rich country lying farther south; and
at the distance of ten days' journey across the mountains, they told him,
there dwelt a mighty monarch whose dominions had been invaded by
another still more powerful, the Child of the Sun.16 It may have been
the invasion of Quito that was meant, by the valiant Inca Huayna Capac,
which took place some years previous to Pizarro's expedition.
At length, after the expiration of more than six weeks, the Spaniards
beheld with delight the return of the wandering bark that had borne away
their comrades, and Montenegro sailed into port with an ample supply of
provisions for his famishing countrymen. Great was his horror at the
aspect presented by the latter, their wild and haggard countenances and
wasted frames,--so wasted by hunger and disease, that their old
companions found it difficult to recognize them. Montenegro accounted
for his delay by incessant head winds and bad weather; and he himself
had also a doleful tale to tell of the distress to which he and his crew had
been reduced by hunger, on their passage to the Isle of Pearls.--It is
minute incidents like these with which we have been occupied, that
enable one to comprehend the extremity of suffering to which the
Spanish adventurer was subjected in the prosecution of his great work of
discovery.
Revived by the substantial nourishment to which they had so long been
strangers, the Spanish cavaliers, with the buoyancy that belongs to men
of a hazardous and roving life, forgot their past distresses in their
eagerness to prosecute their enterprise. Reembarking therefore on board
his vessel, Pizarro bade adieu to the scene of so much suffering, which
he branded with the appropriate name of Puerto de la Hambre, the Port
of Famine, and again opened his sails to a favorable breeze that bore him
onwards towards the south.
Had he struck boldly out into the deep, instead of hugging the
inhospitable shore, where he had hitherto found so little to recompense
him, he might have spared himself the repetition of wearisome and
unprofitable adventures, and reached by a shorter route the point of his
destination. But the Spanish mariner groped his way along these
unknown coasts, landing at every convenient headland, as if fearful lest
some fruitful region or precious mine might be overlooked, should a
single break occur in the line of survey. Yet it should be remembered,
that, though the true point of Pizarro's destination is obvious to us,
familiar with the topography of these countries, he was wandering in the
dark, feeling his way along, inch by inch, as it were, without chart to
guide him, without knowledge of the seas or of the bearings of the coast,
and even with no better defined idea of the object at which he aimed than
that of a land teeming with gold, that lay somewhere at the south! It was
a hunt after an El Dorado; on information scarcely more circumstantial
or authentic than that which furnished the basis of so many chimerical
enterprises in this land of wonders. Success only, the best argument with
the multitude, redeemed the expeditions of Pizarro from a similar
imputation of extravagance.
Holding on his southerly course under the lee of the shore, Pizarro, after
a short run, found himself abreast of an open reach of country, or at least
one less encumbered with wood, which rose by a gradual swell, as it
receded from the coast. He landed with a small body of men, and,
advancing a short distance into the interior, fell in with an Indian hamlet.
It was abandoned by the inhabitants, who, on the approach of the
invaders, had betaken themselves to the mountains; and the Spaniards,
entering their deserted dwellings, found there a good store of maize and
other articles of food, and rude ornaments of gold of considerable value.
Food was not more necessary for their bodies than was the sight of gold,
from time to time, to stimulate their appetite for adventure. One
spectacle, however, chilled their blood with horror. This was the sight of
human flesh, which they found roasting before the fire, as the barbarians
had left it, preparatory to their obscene repast. The Spaniards,
conceiving that they had fallen in with a tribe of Caribs, the only race in
that part of the New World known to be cannibals, retreated precipitately
to their vessel.17 They were not steeled by sad familiarity with the
spectacle, like the Conquerors of Mexico.
The weather, which had been favorable, now set in tempestuous, with
heavy squalls, accompanied by incessant thunder and lightning, and the
rain, as usual in these tropical tempests, descended not so much in drops
as in unbroken sheets of water. The Spaniards, however, preferred to
take their chance on the raging element rather than remain in the scene of
such brutal abominations. But the fury of the storm gradually subsided,
and the little vessel held on her way along the coast, till, coming abreast
of a bold point of land named by Pizarro Punta Quemada, he gave orders
to anchor. The margin of the shore was fringed with a deep belt of
mangrove-trees, the long roots of which, interlacing one another, formed
a kind of submarine lattice-work that made the place difficult of
approach. Several avenues, opening through this tangled thicket, led
Pizarro to conclude that the country must be inhabited, and he
disembarked, with the greater part of his force, to explore the interior.
He had not penetrated more than a league, when he found his conjecture
verified by the sight of an Indian town of larger size than those he had
hitherto seen, occupying the brow of an eminence, and well defended by
palisades. The inhabitants, as usual, had fled; but left in their dwellings a
good supply of provisions and some gold trinkets, which the Spaniards
made no difficulty of appropriating to themselves. Pizarro's flimsy bark
had been strained by the heavy gales it had of late encountered, so that it
was unsafe to prosecute the voyage further without more thorough
repairs than could be given to her on this desolate coast. He accordingly
determined to send her back with a few hands to be careened at Panama,
and meanwhile to establish his quarters in his present position, which
was so favorable for defence. But first he despatched a small party
under Montenegro to reconnoitre the country, and, if possible, to open a
communication with the natives.
The latter were a warlike race. They had left their habitations in order to
place their wives and children in safety. But they had kept an eye on the
movements of the invaders, and, when they saw their forces divided, they
resolved to fall upon each body singly before it could communicate with
the other. So soon, therefore, as Montenegro had penetrated through the
defiles of the lofty hills, which shoot out like spurs of the Cordilleras
along this part of the coast, the Indian warriors, springing from their
ambush, sent off a cloud of arrows and other missiles that darkened the
air, while they made the forest ring with their shrill warwhoop. The
Spaniards, astonished at the appearance of the savages, with their naked
bodies gaudily painted, and brandishing their weapons as they glanced
among the trees and straggling underbrush that choked up the defile,
were taken by surprise and thrown for a moment into disarray. Three of
their number were killed and several wounded. Yet, speedily rallying,
they returned the discharge of the assailants with their cross-bows,--for
Pizarro's troops do not seem to have been provided with muskets on this
expedition,--and then gallantly charging the enemy, sword in hand,
succeeded in driving them back into the fastnesses of the mountains. But
it only led them to shift their operations to another quarter, and make an
assault on Pizarro before he could be relieved by his lieutenant.
Availing themselves of their superior knowledge of the passes, they
reached that commander's quarters long before Montenegro, who had
commenced a countermarch in the same direction. And issuing from the
woods, the bold savages saluted the Spanish garrison with a tempest of
darts and arrows, some of which found their way through the joints of the
harness and the quilted mail of the cavaliers. But Pizarro was too well
practised a soldier to be off his guard. Calling his men about him, he
resolved not to abide the assault tamely in the works, but to sally out, and
meet the enemy on their own ground. The barbarians, who had advanced
near the defences, fell back as the Spaniards burst forth with their valiant
leader at their head. But, soon returning with admirable ferocity to the
charge, they singled out Pizarro, whom, by his bold bearing and air of
authority, they easily recognized as the chief; and, hurling at him a storm
of missiles, wounded him, in spite of his armour, in no less than seven
places.18
Driven back by the fury of the assault directed against his own person,
the Spanish commander retreated down the slope of the hill, still
defending himself as he could with sword and buckler, when his foot
slipped and he fell. The enemy set up a fierce yell of triumph, and some
of the boldest sprang forward to despatch him. But Pizarro was on his
feet in an instant, and, striking down two of the foremost with his strong
arm, held the rest at bay till his soldiers could come to the rescue. The
barbarians, struck with admiration at his valor, began to falter, when
Montenegro luckily coming on the ground at the moment, and falling on
their rear, completed their confusion; and, abandoning the field, they
made the best of their way into the recesses of the mountains. The
ground was covered with their slain; but the victory was dearly
purchased by the death of two more Spaniards and a long list of
wounded.
A council of war was then called. The position had lost its charm in the
eyes of the Spaniards, who had met here with the first resistance they had
yet experienced on their expedition. It was necessary to place the
wounded in some secure spot, where their injuries could be attended to.
Yet it was not safe to proceed farther, in the crippled state of their vessel.
On the whole, it was decided to return and report their proceedings to the
governor; and, though the magnificent hopes of the adventurers had not
been realized, Pizarro trusted that enough had been done to vindicate the
importance of the enterprise, and to secure the countenance of Pedrarias
for the further prosecution of it.19
Yet Pizarro could not make up his mind to present himself, in the present
state of the undertaking, before the governor. He determined, therefore,
to be set on shore with the principal part of his company at Chicama, a
place on the main land, at a short distance west of Panama From this
place, which he reached without any further accident, he despatched the
vessel, and in it his treasurer, Nicolas de Ribera, with the gold he had
collected, and with instructions to lay before the governor in full account
of his discoveries, and the result of the expedition.
While these events were passing, Pizarro's associate, Almagro, had been
busily employed in fitting out another vessel for the expedition at the
port of Panama. It was not till long after his friend's departure that he
was prepared to follow him. With the assistance of Luque, he at length
succeeded in equipping a small caravel and embarking a body of
between sixty and seventy adventurers, mostly of the lowest order of the
colonists. He steered in the track of his comrade, with the intention of
overtaking him as soon as possible. By a signal previously concerted of
notching the trees, he was able to identify the spots visited by Pizarro,--
Puerto de Pinas, Puerto de la Hambre, Pueblo Quemado--touching
successively at every point of the coast explored by his countrymen,
though in a much shorter time. At the last-mentioned place he was
received by the fierce natives with the same hostile demonstrations as
Pizarro, though in the present encounter the Indians did not venture
beyond their defences. But the hot blood of Almagro was so exasperated
by this check, that he assaulted the place and carried it sword in hand,
setting fire to the outworks and dwellings, and driving the wretched
inhabitants into the forests.
His victory cost him dear. A wound from a javelin on the head caused
an inflammation in one of his eyes, which, after great anguish, ended in
the loss of it. Yet the intrepid adventurer did not hesitate to pursue his
voyage, and, after touching at several places on the coast, some of which
rewarded him with a considerable booty in gold, he reached the mouth of
the Rio de San Juan, about the fourth degree of north latitude. He was
struck with the beauty of the stream, and with the cultivation on its
borders, which were sprinkled with Indian cottages showing some skill in
their construction, and altogether intimating a higher civilization than
any thing he had yet seen.
Still his mind was filled with anxiety for the fate of Pizarro and his
followers. No trace of them had been found on the coast for a long time,
and it was evident they must have foundered at sea, or made their way
back to Panama. This last he deemed most probable; as the vessel might
have passed him unnoticed under the cover of the night, or of the dense
fogs that sometimes hang over the coast.
Impressed with this belief, he felt no heart to continue his voyage of
discovery, for which, indeed, his single bark, with its small complement
of men, was altogether inadequate. He proposed, therefore, to return
without delay. On his way, he touched at the Isle of Pearls, and there
learned the result of his friend's expedition, and the place of his present
residence. Directing his course, at once, to Chicama, the two cavaliers
soon had the satisfaction of embracing each other, and recounting their
several exploits and escapes. Almagro returned even better freighted
with gold than his confederate, and at every step of his progress he had
collected fresh confirmation of the existence of some great and opulent
empire in the South. The confidence of the two friends was much
strengthened by their discoveries; and they unhesitatingly pledged
themselves to one another to die rather than abandon the enterprise.20
The best means of obtaining the levies requisite for so formidable an
undertaking--more formidable, as it now appeared to them, than before --
were made the subject of long and serious discussion. It was at length
decided that Pizarro should remain in his present quarters, inconvenient
and even unwholesome as they were rendered by the humidity of the
climate, and the pestilent swarms of insects that filled the atmosphere.
Almagro would pass over to Panama, lay the case before the governor,
and secure, if possible, his good-will towards the prosecution of the
enterprise. If no obstacle were thrown in their way from this quarter,
they might hope, with the assistance of Luque, to raise the necessary
supplies; while the results of the recent expedition were sufficiently
encouraging to draw adventurers to their standard in a community which
had a craving for excitement that gave even danger a charm, and which
held life cheap in comparison with gold.