THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE. 285 useful to him, sent the remainder away. Herrera says that forty-eight were taken to Malacca and Cochin, though some of these were probably Indians, and, after an absence of five years, a small number reached their native land. Accounts of this voyage appear in 'Ramusio's Voyages,' said to have been written by a Portuguese seaman who sailed with Magellan ; in an abridgment of Martire's MS., which was lost at the sack of Rome by the Constable Bourbon in 1527; and in the History of the Indies,' by Antonio Herrera. The best known and, in many respects, the most satisfactory account of this memorable voyage was, however, that of Antonio Pigafetta, one of Vicenza Magellan's companions, and an abstract of it may be found in the Collections of Harris (vol. i.), Pinkerton (vol. xiii.), and Dalrymple. As Pigafetta says of the survivors, his comrades: 'These were mariners who surely merited an eternal memory more justly than the Argonauts of old, who sailed with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece into the regions of Colchis.' In our day, when the electric telegraph puts 'a girdle round the earth' in 80 minutes, and steam enables us to do the same in person in as many days, we can scarcely do justice to the enterprise of these wanderers on the pathless highway, and their transports on seeing again their native land. As Camolus says in his 'Lusiad ': 'The joy one's own dear land once more to view, CHAPTER XIII. The Career of Pizarro-His Conquests and Discoveries-Orellana sails down the Amazon-The Voyages of Juan Diaz de Solis, Loyosa, Urdaneta, De la Torre and Saavedra-Exploration of New Guinea by Saavedra-Discovery of the Bermudas-Voyage of Sebastian Cabot to the Plate River, of Alcazova to the Straits of Magellan, and of Grijalva and Carmargo to the Pacific-Exploration of the American Coast beyond California by Cabrillo, of the Philippine Islands by Villalabos, and of the Chilian Coast by LadrillerosThe Voyage of Urdaneta and De Legaspi, and their Discoveries in the South Seas-Discovery of Juan Fernandez by that Navigator, and of the Solomon Islands by Mendana. We now come to the discoveries and conquests in South America, made by Francis Pizarro, Diego de Almagro, and Ferdinand Luquez, who, inspired by the aura sacra fames, in the year 1524, being then resident at Panama, entered into a partnership to conquer the Southern Continent. Pizarro had served with Ojeda, who left him in command of the colony he settled at Darien, and also under Nunez de Balboa; Almagro took his name from the town of his birth in Spain; and Luquez, or Lugne, the third member of this triumvirate for the conquest of a great empire, was a priest, and being a man of large private means, his chief function was to supply the sinews of war. In November, 1524, Pizarro sailed in a ship with 114 officers and men, and, soon after, was joined by Almagro with two other ships and sixty men. For two years they had much ill-fortune and heavy losses through PIZARRO'S CONQUEST OF PERU. 287 illness, though they explored the American coast as far as 30° S. latitude, but not receiving the necessary support in supplies and reinforcements from the Governor of Panama, Pizarro proceeded to Spain and presented himself before Charles V. at Toleda. The emperor, on 26th July, 1528, conferred on his enterprising subject the title of captain-general of all the country he might conquer, Luquez being made Bishop of Tombez in the Bay of Guayaquil, of which city Almagro was constituted governor. In January, 1530, Francis Pizarro embarked from Seville with his four brothers, who were settled at Truxillo, in Estramadura, and he and his followers, to the number of 185 men, with forty-seven horses, sailed from Panama in three ships. Assisted by the internecine war between the brothers and rival Incas, Atahualpa and Huescar, the latter of whom was put to death by the former, Pizarro now commenced his career of conquest, receiving reinforcements from Panama and Nicaragua, under De Sota and other adventurers; but the pages Herrera and De la Vega are stained with his sanguinary deeds, and, indeed, the whole account of the Spanish conquests in these countries is a record of intrigue and bloodshed. According to Harris, the booty they acquired was equal to 15,000,000 sterling, and it is stated in a MS. of Sir John Hawkins, that the meanest of Pizarro's soldiers had £2000 for his share, and some twice that share.' of In 1531, Pizarro founded the first Spanish colony in Peru, at a point on the sea-coast he called St. Michael, near the Bay of Guayaquil, and, having overcome a rebellion caused by the judicial murder of Atahualpa, The famous Peruvian ironclad was named after this Indian prince. entered Cuzco, the capital of Peru, in October, 1532, and reduced Quito and other provinces of the empire. In 1534, Pizarro founded colonies and towns on the sea-coast, one of which was called Los Reyes (now known as Lima), and another, Truxillo, after his birthplace. In the following year, Almagro entered upon the conquest of Chili, but was compelled to retreat, and, soon after his return to Peru, which was torn by civil war, in which the Spanish participated, he fell into the hands of Ferdinand Pizarro, who caused him to be executed, for which, on his return to Spain, he suffered an imprisonment of twenty-three years. The great Pizarro soon met with the fate of his associate, Almagro. His brother, Gonzalo, who was an able commander, effected the conquest of the Charcas, in which were the mines of Potosi, and, in 1538, Pizarro found himself master of a country, 700 or 800 leagues in length, extending southward from the equinoctial. In the following year, he founded Arequipa, and, in 1540, despatched Peter de Valdivia into Chili with a force. At this time Gonzalo, whom he appointed Governor of Quito, effected some important discoveries inland, and the Spanish historians state that 'one of his captains, named Orellana, by his direction sailed down the great river of the Amazons, quite to the mouth of it, and from thence returned to the Spanish settlements.' The people of Peru, adherents of the young Almagro, enraged by the tyrannies of Francis Pizarro, whose ambition and avariciousness knew no limits, at length attacked him in his palace at Lima, on the 26th June, 1541, and he and his brother-in-law, Francis de Alcantara, were assassinated. In the meantime, Vaca de Castro arrived from Spain, and, having defeated Almagro in battle, in September, THE RAPACITY OF SPAIN. 289 1542, that officer, though only twenty years of age, met with the same fate as his father. Recently a very interesting letter from Vaca de Castro, has been published by the Spanish Government, with others, giving an account of these events. This work, called Cartas de India,' forming a large volume of 877 folio pages, contains also two autograph letters from Columbus to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and a letter from Vespucci, and others of great interest from contemporaries. In 1544, Blasco Nunez Vela was appointed Viceroy of Peru, but, on the 19th January, 1546, he was defeated, taken prisoner, and decapitated by Gonzalo Pizarro, who himself suffered a like fate on the 9th April, 1548, at the hands of Peter de la Gasca, appointed viceroy by the emperor. In the same year that the great Pizarro was assassinated, the first Spanish town in Chili was founded by Pedro de Valdivia, who gave it the name of Santiago.* To her possession of gold, Peru owed her ruin; and Spain, inspired by that avarice which has been her curse, yielding to the mad desire to grow rich without toil, has paid the penalty of her rapacity and cruelty to the barbarous races of South America, whom she conquered for the sake of possessing their gold mines. 'Let Peru Deep in her bowels her own ruin breed, While Cortez was conquering Mexico, and Pizarro, Peru, other great Spanish captains and experienced seamen were employed in discovery. In 1512, Juan Diaz de Solis discovered the great river La Plata, so named from the quantity of silver seen there, and, three years *Herrera's Descripcion de las Indias Occidentales,' chap. xxii. VOL. I. 19 |