Disease and Death in the Spanish Camp. 459 Ch. 2. Panamá, hoping that they would soon return B. XVI. with men and horses. One of the vessels was to go on to Nicaragua, as there were many Nicaraguans in the expedition. It was several months before these vessels returned; and, during that time, Pizarro and his men underwent sufferings, caused by a malignant and infectious disease, which quite recalled the old times of his early voyages. Men went to bed well at night, and awoke in the morning, if they did awake at all, sick, disfigured, swollen, and unable to move. AS QUINTANA has well said, "it was the last blow of Nature in her endeavour to guard the Empire of Peru from invasion;" and it was the last signal instance of that poverty in the preparation for the conquest, which had so many times caused Pizarro to linger in some hostile country, or deadly climate, while waiting in a state of cruel anxiety for succour to be sent him by his partners. The strange part of the story, however, is that all these miseries were amply repaid by the delay which caused them, as far as regarded the ultimate success of the undertaking. Each day that Pizarro's men were wasting away by sickness (their losses being told by units), the Peruvians were busy in destroying their thousands, and in sapping the basis of their empire, by a civil warfare carried to the extreme of barbarous hostility. The Nicaraguan Spaniards in Pizarro's expedition, recalling to their memory "the delights which they had left" in that lovely country, were especially impatient of their present state of suffering, and might have proved insubordinate, Ch. 2. 460 Pizarro receives Reinforcements. B. XVL but that at last, after seven weary months, the two vessels which had been sent to Panamá hove in sight, bringing twenty-six horse-soldiers and thirty foot-soldiers. Pizarro then, with this small reinforcement, commenced his march along the coast, occupying by force of arms the villages which he came upon in his way, and endeavouring to convert the inhabitants, until he arrived at that part of the coast which lies opposite to the Island of Puña. He and his men passed over in rafts to Attack and Defeat of the Indians. 461 that island. There he was received with great B. XVI. apparent joy, to the sound of musical instru- Ch. 2. ments; and the chief Curaca (a Peruvian name corresponding with Cacique) gave him a sum of gold and of silver. As it was the rainy season, Pizarro resolved to rest in the island for some time. At this point of the narrative Pizarro's secretary introduces a general remark which does not seem to have much depth in it. He says, "It is in the character of the Indians not to submit themselves to other people, unless they are constrained to do so by force." The inhabitants of Puña formed no exception to this general rule; and the Spaniards, by means of their interpreters, discovered that the chiefs of the island were planning an attack upon them. Pizarro, apprized of this, lost no time in seizing upon the Curaca and his sons. This, however, did not prevent a general attack on the part of the Indians. The action lasted some hours: several Spaniards and some of their horses were wounded; but, as was inevitable, the Indians were ultimately routed with great loss of life. Pizarro burnt or beheaded ten of the principal Pizarro's persons, but set the chief Curaca free, on the of the ground that he was compelled to join in the con- Puña. spiracy, and also with a view to bringing back the natives to their towns and re-establishing the Government. The Spanish Commander then resolved to leave the island, and to steer for Tumbez. In order to pass his baggage over with facility, Pizarro ordered the Curaca of Tumbez to send some rafts, which being done, three of the treatment Indians at 462 State of Affairs at Tumbez. B. XVI. Spaniards embarked on these rafts with the Ch. 2. Pizarro comes again baggage. Pizarro himself, with some of his men and horses, set sail in three of his own vessels, which were lying at anchor off Рuña. He arrived safely at Tumbez, and, sending for the rest of his men from the island, they all established themselves in two fortified houses in that town. He found that Tumbez The aspect of things was very different from to Tumbez. what it had been on Pizarro's first arrival in those parts, in the year 1527. was partially destroyed. This had occurred in the course of a war which had broken out between the inhabitants of Puña and Tumbez. But the disposition also of the natives towards the Spaniards was entirely changed. Pizarro found the whole population in arms. His three men with the baggage had been cut off, which formed at once a cause of loud complaint and warlike menace on his part. Change of disposition of the people towards him. One ground for this change of disposition on the part of the Indians may easily be assigned. The number of the Spaniards was alone sufficient to excite some dread and aversion. It was a very different thing, showing courtesy and hospitality to a few men in a boat, from receiving amicably a small armament in three vessels. The Spanish Commander demanded the production of his three missing men. The Indians, emboldened by being on the other side of a river which had swollen, and which Pizarro could not readily cross, and having also established themselves in a fort, defied the Spaniards, and admitted that they had killed the three men. Pizarro then gave orders for a great raft to be constructed, on Pizarro reduces the Country to Obedience. 463 Ch. 2. which the Spaniards passed the river, attacked B. XVI. the Indians, routed them, and reduced the country to obedience. quits Pizarro now resolved to quit Tumbez, and to Pizarro found a town. He accordingly took his departure Tumbez, on the 18th of May, 1532. After journeying south May 18, 1532. wards for several days, in the course of which he DE XEREZ, Conquista del Perú. "Luego mandó hacer justicia |