Pedro de Valdivia sent to Chili. 121 Ch. 8. dangerous persons, but his overtures were then B. XVII. coldly rejected by them. They were waiting, with a patient desire for vengeance, the arrival of a judge from Spain, named Vaca de Castro, from whom they expected the condemnation of those who had been concerned in the death of Almagro. Meanwhile the Marquis pursued his course Pedro de of conquering new territories and founding new sent to cities. He despatched Pedro de Valdivia, his Master of the Camp, to Chili; and Valdivia, suc Valdivia Chili. Ch. 8. 122 Expedition to the Cinnamon Country. B. XVII. ceeding where Almagro had failed, has always been considered the conqueror of that country. The Marquis sent his brother Gonzalo to the southern district of Collao, conquered that territory in which lay the mines of Potosi, and gave rich repartimientos (whose riches, however, were not then known) to his brothers Gonzalo and Martin, and their followers. After all his conquests, it was but a strip of seaboard which Pizarro occupied and governed, when compared with the boundless regions of South America, even to this day but sparsely occupied or ruled over by civilized man. The Marquis, however, now originated an enterprize, which, leading men to the eastern side of the Andes, was to make them acquainted with regions of the New World far more extensive than had ever yet been discovered in any single enterprize by land. It does not seem to have been gold that on this occasion tempted the Expedition explorers. There was a region where cinnamon trees were known to abound; and it was into this cinnamon country, neighbouring to Quito, that the Marquis sent his brother Gonzalo, at the end of the year 1539. to the cin namon country. In order to facilitate the enterprize, the Marquis bestowed on his brother the government of Quito. Gonzalo commenced his march from Quito in January, 1540, with three hundred Spaniards, and four thousand Indians. From the first the march was very difficult. Gonzalo and his men underwent great sufferings in passing the Cordillera Nevada, and many Indians Ch. 8. 124 Alleged Atrocities of Gonzalo Pizarro. B. XVII. were frozen to death in the journey over the mountains. The country the expedition then arrived at was uninhabited. They hastened through that, and entered a province named Sumaco, in or near which is the cinnamon country. Here it was that a great atrocity is stated to have been committed by Pizarro. He is said to have asked the natives whether in any other country there were any of these cinnamon trees. They replied, No; and that they knew nothing of any other country. The answer, though it appears contradictory, was substantially true. As other tribes came to obtain cinnamon from them, they naturally inferred that there were no cinnamon trees elsewhere, but they abided in their own forests, and knew nothing for certain of any other district. They added, that if Pizarro were to journey onwards he would perhaps find those who could inform him. Being asked again the same question, they made the same answer; and it is alleged that then Gonzalo Pizarro, angry at not being able to obtain the information he required, tortured these poor Indians, burning some, and throwing others to his dogs to be torn in pieces.* Such accusations are to be received with much caution, because the Pizarros were afterwards defeated rebels; and nothing is too bad to be alleged against such persons by those who write history for the con * "Y porque siempre estaban | algunos de aquellos tristes con en el mismo proposito, los mandó fuego, pero despedaçados de los atar, í que con fuego los ator- Perros."-HERRERA, Hist. de mentasen; í no solo mataron las Indias, dec. 6, lib. 8, cap. 6. Discovery of the River Amazon. 125 quering party. I do not find that the Pizarros B. XVII. were more cruel than other conquerors, whether Ch. 8. Spanish, German, or English. Gonzalo Pizarro, to the end of his career, was much reverenced by the Indians; and Fernando Pizarro, according to the testimony of the Bishop of Cusco, was the most strenuous defender of the Indians of any conqueror that had appeared in those regions.* At Sumaco Gonzalo left behind a great number of his men, while with those who were more active or less sickly, he pushed on through a miserable region where his men had to endure great hardships, and to feed on herbs and roots. At last he entered a province and town, called Coca, which was more civilized, and where he obtained food from the Indians. There he halted for nearly two months until his men had joined him from Sumaco. Near to this town of Coca there runs a great river, which is one of the branches of the Amazon. of the Having somewhat recovered from their Discovery fatigue, the Spaniards resumed their march, Amazon. keeping close to the banks of this river. route is traceable to this day by means of the * Even such a careful writer as SOUTHEY has spoken of the Pizarros in a manner which is thoroughly unjustifiable, and which a larger acquaintance with Spanish conquerors would have prevented. The following are his words" But when he asked what countries lay beyond them, and they could give no intelligence of El Dorado, the golden kingdom which he coveted, Their with the true spirit of a Pizarro, |