Gonzalo Pizarro's Expedition--Passage Across The Mountains--
Discovers The Napo--Incredible Sufferings-
Orellana Sails Down The Amazon--Despair Of The Spaniards-
The Survivors Return To Quito
1540--1542
Gonzalo Pizarro received the news of his appointment to the government
of Quito with undisguised pleasure; not so much for the possession that it
gave him of this ancient Indian province, as for the field that it opened
for discovery towards the east,--the fabled land of Oriental spices, which
had long captivated the imagination of the Conquerors. He repaired to
his government without delay, and found no difficulty in awakening a
kindred enthusiasm to his own in the bosoms of his followers. In a short
time, he mustered three hundred and fifty Spaniards, and four thousand
Indians. One hundred and fifty of his company were mounted, and all
were equipped in the most thorough manner for the undertaking. He
provided, moreover, against famine by a large stock of provisions, and
an immense drove of swine which followed in the rear.1
It was the beginning of 1540, when he set out on this celebrated
expedition. The first part of the journey was attended with
comparatively little difficulty, while the Spaniards were yet in the land of
the Incas; for the distractions of Peru had not been felt in this distant
province, where the simple people still lived as under the primitive sway
of the Children of the Sun. But the scene changed as they entered the
territory of Quixos, where the character of the inhabitants, as well as of
the climate, seemed to be of another description. The country was
traversed by lofty ranges of the Andes, and the adventurers were soon
entangled in their deep and intricate passes. As they rose into the more
elevated regions, the icy winds that swept down the sides of the
Cordilleras benumbed their limbs, and many of the natives found a
wintry grave in the wilderness. While crossing this formidable barrier,
they experienced one of those tremendous earthquakes which, in these
volcanic regions, so often shake the mountains to their base. In one
place, the earth was rent asunder by the terrible throes of Nature, while
streams of sulphurous vapor issued from the cavity, and a village with
some hundreds of houses was precipitated into the frightful abyss! 2
On descending the eastern slopes, the climate changed; and, as they came
on the lower level, the fierce cold was succeeded by a suffocating heat,
while tempests of thunder and lightning, rushing from out the gorges of
the sierra, poured on their heads with scarcely any intermission day or
night, as if the offended deities of the place were willing to take
vengeance on the invaders of their mountain solitudes. For more than six
weeks the deluge continued unabated, and the forlorn wanderers, wet,
and weary with incessant toil, were scarcely able to drag their limbs
along the soil broken up and saturated with the moisture. After some
months of toilsome travel, in which they had to cross many a morass and
mountain stream, they at length reached Canelas, the Land of
Cinnamon.3 They saw the trees bearing the precious bark, spreading out
into broad forests; yet, however valuable an article for commerce it
might have proved in accessible situations, in these remote regions it was
of little worth to them. But, from the wandering tribes of savages whom
they occasionally met in their path, they learned that at ten days' distance
was a rich and fruitful land abounding with gold, and inhabited by
populous nations. Gonzalo Pizarro had already reached the limits
originally proposed for the expedition. But this intelligence renewed his
hopes, and he resolved to push the adventure farther. It would have been
well for him and his followers, had they been content to return on their
footsteps.
Continuing their march, the country now spread out into broad savannas
terminated by forests, which, as they drew near, seemed to stretch on
every side to the very verge of the horizon. Here they beheld trees of
that stupendous growth seen only in the equinoctial regions. Some were
so large, that sixteen men could hardly encompass them with extended
arms! 4 The wood was thickly matted with creepers and parasitical
vines, which hung in gaudy-colored festoons from tree to tree, clothing
them in a drapery beautiful to the eye, but forming an impenetrable
network. At every step of their way, they were obliged to hew open a
passage with their axes, while their garments, rotting from the effects of
the drenching rains to which they had been exposed, caught in every
bush and bramble, and hung about them in shreds.5 Their provisions,
spoiled by the weather, had long since failed, and the live stock which
they had taken with them had either been consumed or made their escape
in the woods and mountain passes. They had set out with nearly a
thousand dogs, many of them of the ferocious breed used in hunting
down the unfortunate natives. These they now gladly killed, but their
miserable carcasses furnished a lean banquet for the famishing travellers;
and, when these were gone, they had only such herbs and dangerous
roots as they could gather in the forest.6
At length the way-worn company came on a broad expanse of water
formed by the Napo, one of the great tributaries of the Amazon, and
which, though only a third or fourth rate river in America, would pass for
one of the first magnitude in the Old World. The sight gladdened their
hearts, as, by winding along its banks, they hoped to find a safer and
more practicable route. After traversing its borders for a considerable
distance, closely beset with thickets which it taxed their strength to the
utmost to overcome, Gonzalo and his party came within hearing of a
rushing noise that sounded like subterranean thunder. The river, lashed
into fury, tumbled along over rapids with frightful velocity, and
conducted them to the brink of a magnificent cataract, which, to their
wondering fancies, rushed down in one vast volume of foam to the depth
of twelve hundred feet! 7 The appalling sounds which they had heard for
the distance of six leagues were rendered yet more oppressive to the
spirits by the gloomy stillness of the surrounding forests. The rude
warriors were filled with sentiments of awe. Not a bark dimpled the
waters. No living thing was to be seen but the wild tenants of the
wilderness, the unwieldy boa, and the loathsome alligator basking on the
borders of the stream. The trees towering in wide-spread magnificence
towards the heavens, the river rolling on in its rocky bed as it had rolled
for ages, the solitude and silence of the scene, broken only by the hoarse
fall of waters, or the faint rustling of the woods,--all seemed to spread
out around them in the same wild and primitive state as when they came
from the hands of the Creator.
For some distance above and below the falls, the bed of the river
contracted so that its width did not exceed twenty feet. Sorely pressed
by hunger, the adventurers determined, at all hazards, to cross to the
opposite side, in hopes of finding a country that might afford them
sustenance. A frail bridge was constructed by throwing the huge trunks
of trees across the chasm, where the cliffs, as if split asunder by some
convulsion of nature, descended sheer down a perpendicular depth of
several hundred feet. Over this airy causeway the men and horses
succeeded in effecting their passage with the loss of a single Spaniard,
who, made giddy by heedlessly looking down, lost his footing and fell
into the boiling surges below.
Yet they gained little by the exchange. The country wore the same
unpromising aspect, and the river-banks were studded with gigantic
trees, or fringed with impenetrable thickets. The tribes of Indians, whom
they occasionally met in the pathless wilderness, were fierce and
unfriendly, and they were engaged in perpetual skirmishes with them.
From these they learned that a fruitful country was to be found down the
river at the distance of only a few days' journey, and the Spaniards held
on their weary way, still hoping and still deceived, as the promised land
flitted before them, like the rainbow, receding as they advanced.
At length, spent with toil and suffering, Gonzalo resolved to construct a
bark large enough to transport the weaker part of his company and his
baggage. The forests furnished him with timber; the shoes of the horses
which had died on the road or been slaughtered for food, were converted
into nails; gum distilled from the trees took the place of pitch; and the
tattered garments of the soldiers supplied a substitute for oakum. It was
a work of difficulty; but Gonzalo cheered his men in the task, and set an
example by taking part in their labors. At the end of two months a
brigantine was completed, rudely put together, but strong and of
sufficient burden to carry half the company,--the first European vessel
that ever floated on these inland waters.
Gonzalo gave the command to Francisco de Orellana, a cavalier from
Truxillo, on whose courage and devotion to himself he thought he could
rely. The troops now moved forward, still following the descending
course of the river, while the brigantine kept alongside; and when a bold
promontory or more impracticable country intervened, it furnished
timely aid by the transportation of the feebler soldiers. In this way they
journeyed, for many a wearisome week, through the dreary wilderness on
the borders of the Napo. Every scrap of provisions had been long since
consumed. The last of their horses had been devoured. To appease the
gnawings of hunger, they were fain to eat the leather of their saddles and
belts. The woods supplied them with scanty sustenance, and they
greedily fed upon toads, serpents, and such other reptiles as they
occasionally found.8
They were now told of a rich district, inhabited by a populous nation,
where the Napo emptied into a still greater river that flowed towards the
east. It was, as usual, at the distance of several days' journey; and
Gonzalo Pizarro resolved to halt where he was and send Orellana down
in his brigantine to the confluence of the waters to procure a stock of
provisions, with which he might return and put them in condition to
resume their march. That cavalier, accordingly, taking with him fifty of
the adventurers, pushed off into the middle of the river, where the stream
ran swiftly, and his bark, taken by the current, shot forward with the
speed of an arrow, and was soon out of sight.
Days and weeks passed away, yet the vessel did not return; and no speck
was to be seen on the waters, as the Spaniards strained their eyes to the
farthest point, where the line of light faded away in the dark shadows of
the foliage on the borders. Detachments were sent out, and, though
absent several days, came back without intelligence of their comrades.
Unable longer to endure this suspense, or, indeed, to maintain
themselves in their present quarters, Gonzalo and his famishing followers
now determined to proceed towards the junction of the rivers. Two
months elapsed before they accomplished this terrible journey those of
them who did not perish on the way,--although the distance probably' did
not exceed two hundred leagues; and they at length reached the spot so
long desired, where the Napo pours its tide into the Amazon, that mighty
stream, which, fed by its thousand tributaries, rolls on towards the ocean,
for many hundred miles, through the heart of the great continent,--the
most majestic of American rivers.
But the Spaniards gathered no tidings of Orellana, while the country,
though more populous than the region they had left, was as little inviting
in its aspect, and was tenanted by a race yet more ferocious. They now
abandoned the hope of recovering their comrades, who they supposed
must have miserably perished by famine or by the hands of the natives.
But their doubts were at length dispelled by the appearance of a white
man wandering half-naked in the woods, in whose famine stricken
countenance they recognized the features of one of their countrymen. It
was Sanchez de Vargas, a cavalier of good descent, and much esteemed
in the army. He had a dismal tale to tell.
Orellana, borne swiftly down the current of the Napo, had reached the
point of its confluence with the Amazon in less than three days;
accomplishing in this brief space of time what had cost Pizarro and his
company two months. He had found the country altogether different
from what had been represented; and, so far from supplies for his
countrymen, he could barely obtain sustenance for himself. Nor was it
possible for him to return as he had come, and make head against the
current of the river; while the attempt to journey by land was an alternative
scarcely less formidable. In this dilemma, an idea flashed across his
mind. It was to launch his bark at once on the bosom of the Amazon,
and descend its waters to its mouth. He would then visit the rich and
populous nations that, as report said, lined its borders, sail out on the
great ocean, cross to the neighboring isles, and return to Spain to claim
the glory and the guerdon of discovery. The suggestion was eagerly
taken up by his reckless companions, welcoming any course that would
rescue them from the wretchedness of their present existence, and fired
with the prospect of new and stirring adventure,--for the love of
adventure was the last feeling to become extinct in the bosom of the
Castilian cavalier. They heeded little their unfortunate comrades, whom
they were to abandon in the wilderness! 9
This is not the place to record the circumstances of Orellana's
extraordinary expedition. He succeeded in his enterprise. But it is
marvellous that he should have escaped shippwreck in the perilous and
unknown navigation of that river. Many times his vessel was nearly
dashed to pieces on its rocks and in its furious rapids;10 and he was in
still greater peril from the warlike tribes on its borders, who fell on his
little troop whenever he attempted to land, and followed in his wake for
miles in their canoes. He at length emerged from the great river; and,
once upon the sea, Orellana made for the isle of Cubagua; thence passing
over to Spain, he repaired to court, and told the circumstances of his
voyage,--of the nations of Amazons whom he had found on the banks of
the river, the El Dorado which report assured him existed in the
neighborhood, and other marvels,--the exaggeration rather than the
coinage of a credulous fancy. His audience listened with willing ears to
the tales of the traveller; and in an age of wonders, when the mysteries of
the East and West were hourly coming to light, they might be excused
for not discerning the true line between romance and reality.11
He found no difficulty in obtaining a commission to conquer and
colonize the realms he had discovered. He soon saw himself at the head
of five hundred followers, prepared to share the perils and the profits of
his expedition. But neither he, nor his country, was destined to realize
these profits. He died on his outward passage, and the lands washed by
the Amazon fell within the territories of Portugal. The unfortunate
navigator did not even enjoy the undivided honor of giving his name to
the waters he had discovered. He enjoyed only the barren glory of the
discovery, surely not balanced by the iniquitous circumstances which
attended it.12
One of Orellana's party maintained a stout opposition to his proceedings,
as repugnant both to humanity and honor. This was Sanchez de Vargas;
and the cruel commander was revenged on him by abandoning him to his
fate in the desolate region where he was now found by his
countrymen.13
The Spaniards listened with horror to the recital of Vargas, and their
blood almost froze in their veins as they saw themselves thus deserted in
the heart of this remote wilderness, and deprived of their only means of
escape from it. They made an effort to prosecute their journey along the
banks, but, after some toilsome days, strength and spirits failed, and they
gave up in despair!
Then it was that the qualities of Gonzalo Pizarro, as a fit leader in the
hour of despondency and danger, shone out conspicuous. To advance
farther was hopeless. To stay where they were, without food or raiment,
without defence from the fierce animals of the forest and the fiercer
natives, was impossible. One only course remained; it was to return to
Quito. But this brought with it the recollection of the past, of sufferings
which they could too well estimate,---hardly to be endured even in
imagination. They were now at least four hundred leagues from Quito,
and more than a year had elapsed since they had set out on their painful
pilgrimage. How could they encounter these perils again! 14
Yet there was no alternative. Gonzalo endeavored to reassure his
followers by dwelling on the invincible constancy they had hitherto
displayed; adjuring them to show themselves still worthy of the name of
Castilians. He reminded them of the glory they would for ever acquire
by their heroic achievement, when they should reach their own country.
He would lead them back, he said, by another route, and it could not be
but that they should meet somewhere with those abundant regions of
which they had so often heard. It was something, at least, that every step
would take them nearer home; and as, at all events, it was clearly the
only course now left, they should prepare to meet it like men. The spirit
would sustain the body; and difficulties encountered in the right spirit
were half vanquished already!
The soldiers listened eagerly to his words of promise and
encouragement. The confidence of their leader gave life to the
desponding. They felt the force of his reasoning, and, as they lent a
willing ear to his assurances, the pride of the old Castilian honor revived
in their bosoms, and every one caught somewhat of the generous
enthusiasm of their commander. He was, in truth, entitled to their
devotion. From the first hour of the expedition, he had freely borne his
part in its privations. Far from claiming the advantage of his position, he
had taken his lot with the poorest soldier; ministering to the wants of the
sick, cheering up the spirits of the desponding, sharing his stinted
allowance with his famished followers, bearing his full part in the toil
and burden of the march, ever showing himself their faithful comrade, no
less than their captain. He found the benefit of this conduct in a trying
hour like the present.
I will spare the reader the recapitulation of the sufferings endured by the
Spaniards on their retrograde march to Quito. They took a more
northerly route than that by which they had approached the Amazon;
and, if it was attended with fewer difficulties, they experienced yet
greater distresses from their greater inability to overcome them. Their
only nourishment was such scanty fare as they could pick up in the
forest, or happily meet with in some forsaken Indian settlement, or wring
by violence from the natives. Some sickened and sank down by the way,
for there was none to help them. Intense misery had made them selfish;
and many a poor wretch was abandoned to his fate, to die alone in the
wilderness, or, more probably, to be devoured, while living, by the wild
animals which roamed over it.
At length, in June, 1542, after somewhat more than a year consumed in
their homeward march, the way-worn company came on the elevated
plains in the neighborhood of Quito. But how different their aspect from
that which they had exhibited on issuing from the gates of the same
capital, two years and a half before, with high romantic hope and in all
the pride of military array! Their horses gone, their arms broken and
rusted, the skins of wild animals instead of clothes hanging loosely about
their limbs, their long and matted locks streaming wildly down their
shoulders, their faces burned and blackened by the tropical sun, their
bodies wasted by famine and sorely disfigured by scars,--it seemed as if
the charnel-house had given up its dead, as, with uncertain step, they
glided slowly onwards like a troop of dismal spectres! More than half of
the four thousand Indians who had accompanied the expedition had
perished, and of the Spaniards only eighty, and many of these
irretrievably broken in constitution, returned to Quito.15
The few Christian inhabitants of the place, with their wives and children,
came out to welcome their countrymen. They ministered to them all the
relief and refreshment in their power; and, as they listened to the sad
recital of their sufferings, they mingled their tears with those of the
wanderers. The whole company then entered the capital, where their
first act--to their credit be it mentioned--was to go in a body to the
church, and offer up thanksgivings to the Almighty for their miraculous
preservation through their long and perilous pilgrimage.16 Such was the
end of the expedition to the Amazon; an expedition which, for its
dangers and hardships, the length of their duration, and the constancy
with which they were endured, stands, perhaps, unmatched in the annals
of American discovery.