517 / 1060
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II.
~oyal
Commentaries.
Royal
Con;imentaties.
BOOK
Don Pedro de Alvarado
goes to
the
Conquefl of
Peru.
HE
Fame
of
the
great
A~chievetnents
in
Peru,
and ·the
Riches
thereof was now fpread
in
all
Parts
with fuch Renown, that as
Lcpe:t.
de
Gomara
in
the
~6th
Chapter of
his
Book rePQrts,
the
'
Spani~rds
trowded
in
fuch numbers
to
take
a ili'1re of che
Gold,
that
Panamli,
Nicaragua, fl.!t.ahutemalllln?
Cartage~a,
and other Plan·
tations,
and
Iflands were almoft
difi~eopled
, and left defolate.
Amongft the reft Admiral
Don Pedro
de
Alvarado,
one
of
the moll famous
and
re–
nownea Captains of that age, being not contented with the Glory and Riches
he
had acquired by the Conquefi: of the Empire of
Mexico, Vtlatlan,
and
~ahHtemaDa1',
refolved to augment
his
Greatnefs by his attempts upon
Pera.
To which end he ob–
tained a Commiffion from the Emperour
Ch1t>-les
die
fifth,,
to conquer, plant and
govern all that Countrey which he iliould gain, at fuch
a
number of Leagues
di–
fiant from the
J
urifdiction and Conquefis of
Francifco de
Pifarro.
For
this
Enter–
prife he made Levies of many fiout Fellows, and moreover many Gentlemen of
Qg_alicy
from
all
parts of
Spain
offered their Services, efpecially thofe of
Ejfremen–
nos,
becmafe
Don
Pedrq
himfelf was
a
Native of
Badajo:t.
This
noble Perfon, amongfi: his many other Excellencies of Nature,
was en–
dued with foch nimblenefs
and
atlivicy of Body, that thereby he faved
his
own
Life, when the
AfA-,.quifl del Valle
was forced to make
a
retreat from
Mexic~:
for
the
Indians
having broken the Bridge over which the
Spaniards
were to
pafS: ·
This
Don Pedro,
with the help of a Lance which he carried in his
hand,
tne point of
which having fixed in the Bodies of the dead, he took a running leap of twenty
five Foot clear over the Bridge;
at
which the
Indians
were
fo
muco afionifhed,
and wondred, that they called him a Son ofGod. This Palfage
Lopez.
de
Gomara
touches
in
the
1
07th Chapter of his Book_,
where
treating of the Conquell
of
Mexico,
and of
Hernando de Cortes,
he hath thefe Words, which we have delive–
r<~d
verbatim:
''
When he
returned
to
them , though
fome fought
very fl:outly,
<
yet he .found many killed. He loll his Gold, his Baggage, and Prifoners.
In
·
: fine,
his
Meo
wer~
routed, and
~is
Camp difperfed, and nothing
remained
iu
~
that
poll:u~~
in which he
had
left
it;
howfoever he tallied as many as he could,
, put
chem
m the
fron.c,
and he himfelf brought up
rhe
tere. And
,Pedro
de
Al-
e
varado
was ordered to rally
~bat
Forces he could, and to make head agaiofi
che
, Enemy, but
they
charged him
fo
home, that he was not able co wirhfiand
· them ; '\hen
feeing
hiS
Men
{lain round about him,
and
chat
if
he fraid, there
R
r r
was