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VI.
Royal
CommentarieJ.
of five hundred and feventy thoufand Ducats; all which they fent to
Panama;
fo
that befides Merchandize, Pearls,
J
e_w~ls a~d
other Curi<:>fities , that the¥ plun–
dered
they had feized almo!l: two millions m Gold and Stiver onely, which be–
longed
to
the
refident, and other Paffengers ;_ who having
n_oc
the leafi
fufpici-
00
of Thieves or Robbers in that way , earned part of their Gold and Silver
with them
and the reft they left at
Panmna,
to be brought afrer them
to
Nom–
hre de
D ios
~t
[even
or eight turns.
For as
Gomara
faith, there belonged above
three millions
to
the Prefident and his Company. But all this immenfe,
Ri–
ches and
W
ealch was quickly confumed by the follies and debaucheries of chefe
young men ; according
to
the Proverb,
what
wt:U
g~t 11~on
the
D evil'.r
hac~,
was
frent upon
hu
belly.
And what helped rorward
to
tfos Work, was the
vam~y
of
Bermejo
and his Companions the
Psf_arrifts,
who could not be contented with
a
}e[s
rey than the perfon of the Prefident
Gajca
himfelf; for fame defired to
take
a
full rev.enge on bim in lieu of;:he Pay and Reward he promifed for the Cervices
they
h
d done ; and others, who were
Pif arri/f
J,
were become his inveterate
E–
nemies on rbe fcore of che old quarr_el; and all cried_ out, that
~hey
would make
bice
of his Bones and Powder of his Flefh: for, fa1d they, he 1s
fo
fine and fub–
tile in
all
his dealings, that certainly he cannot but make the
bell
and the finefi:
Gun-powder in the World : But thefe men were deceived
in
their vain imagina–
tions; for though they did not feize the perfon of the Prefident, yet thfir revenge
~
ould have been more complete in fending him away wichout his Gold and
Sil–
ver, than if
they
had taken
him
alive, and facrificed him to their rage and fury.
•
CH AP.
XII.
Of
the feud Praflices
and
Follies of
the
Contreras,
whereby
they loft
all
the Treafure they had gained, together with
their
Lives.
The diligence and good nzanagenze11t which
their Enemies ufed to bring theni to condign Punifhnient.
B
UT
the good fortune of
L icen2iado Gafca,
which
had
accompanied him in all
the fuccefies before related, ana in the recovery of an Empire as great
as
Peru,
·
would not now leave him expofed to the Attempts of a leud and villanous
fort
of
People ; for Providence fiill continuing her protection and favour
to
him; fuffe–
red thefe wicked Wretches to be enfnared with their own Pride and Ignorance;
and thofe very men who had followed
Francifco de Carvajal,
and had known and
learned his Difcipline and
Art
in
War, were
fo
clouded in their underfiandings
and reafons, that they railily precipitated rhemfelves into death and defiruttion.
·For in the firfi place, after they had taken
P
anamn,
and facked and plundered the
Ciry, they feized upon many of the principal men thereof, amongft which were
the Bifhop and Treafurer to his Majefiy, as alfo
Martin
Ruy~
de Marchena
and the
Sheriffs
of the City, and carried them away with intent to hang them
~pon
the
common Gallows, which they had certainly done to the full fatisfaction of
John
de
Bermejo,
had not
Hernando Ctmtreras
given
a
fiop to the execution with which
B erm:jo,
being grea.tly
enra~ed,
told hi.m
pl~inly,
that fince
h~
was pleafed co ap–
pear
m
favour ofh1s Enemies, to the high d1fcouragement of h15 friends·
it
would
be no wonder if his Enemies another day took their turn and hanged
up him
and
all his Aifociates.
Thefe words were
a
clear predietion of what happened
in
a
iliort time
afrer–
'\Vards.
For
Hermmdo de
Contreras
took no other fecuricy from the Citizens for
their· quiet behaviour
~owards hi~ tha~
their bare Oath, fwearing that rhey
would
be
as true and
fa1thfull
to him, as
if
all the atlions he had committed had
tended
t~
r_he fervice of
Go~
and
?f
c~e
King, and to the benefit and advantage
of the C1t1zens. After which vam piece of confidence and folly
they divided
~heir
Forces, which in all confill:e<:I of no more than two hundred
~nd
fifty men,
mto four
Sqn<l:drons; forty
of which were
remaining with
Pedro
d~
Contrerai,
to
.
T
t
t
t t
guard