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2,
Royal Commentaries..
BooK
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laíled longer ; and at length he fo well fucceeded in bis emerprize, that he be–
ítowed che New World, with all its riches, upon
Spain,
and therefore defer–
vedly obtained chis Moceo
to
be infcribed on his Armes:
To
Caílile,
and to
Leon,
The New World
wM
given-by
Colon,
In
chis manner the New World was
firíl:
difcovered, for which greatnefs
Spair.
is
beholding
to
thac lictle Village of
Relva,
which produced fu_ch a Son, as_gave
Colon
information of chings noc feen, or known before ; che which fecrecs, hke a
prudent perfon, he concealed, till under aífurances of ftlence he
firíl:
difclofed
them
co
fuch perfons of auchoricy about the Catholick Kings, as were to be affi–
fiant
and ufefull
to
him in his deGgn, which could never have been laid, or chal–
ked out by che are of Cofmography, or the imagination of man, had noc
Alar.fode
Sanche:t
given che firíl: light and conjeéture
to
this difcovery ; which
Colqn
[o
rea–
dily improved, thac in
78
days he made
his
Voyag~ to the_ líle of
Guanatianico,
though he was detained fome days ac
Gomera
to
take
m
Prov1úons.
CH A P.
11.
The deriv-ation of the word
Peru,
aml how the Countrey came
to be
fo
callee!.
S
ince we are
to
crear of che Councrey of
Peru,
ic will be requifüe to enqÚire,
how it carne to b,e fo called, in regard che
Jndians
have
no
Iuch
word
in
cheir
language : co
wh.ich
end ~-..·e
u'.un _
know, ·fhac a cercain Gentleman, ~ative of
Xere.t,
called
Barco Nunnez::,
havmg m the year
1
>
1
3,
been che firíl:
Spamard,
who
difcovered che Sea of
Zur,
or the Pacifick Sea; in reward thereofche Kings of
S¡ain
honoured him with the title of Admira! of chofe Seas, anp wich the go- ,
vernmenc of chofe Kingdoms and Countries which he fhould farther difcover and
conque1-. During thofe few years he lived after thefe Honours (for his Son-in–
law
Pedro
AriM
de Avila
being Governour, in recompence of ali
his
Cervices,
cut
off bis head) his great care was to difcover, and know what that Countrey was
called, which from
P//inama
runs
all
along the coaíl: of the Sea of
Zur;
to
which
pur_pofe he builc three or four Veffels, and employed them in feveral quarcers to
make cheir difcoveries ; every one of which did afterwards return wich relacions
of greac traéts of land running along thac coaH : one of which Veffels füecching
farther than the others to the very Equinofüal line, and failing by the fhore, they
efpied an
Indian,
as he was fifhing at the mouth of a River, of which there are
many, which in chat Coumrey fall into the Sea;
fo
foon as the
Spania.rds
faw him,
they landed four of their men with al! privacy imaginable, fuch as could run and
(wim well, that
fo
he mighc noc be able to efcape chem eicher by land or water.
Having
fo
done, chey paífed wich their Ship, as near as was poffible before che
Indian,
that whilíl: he amufed himfelf wich che íl:rangenefs of che objeét, he mighc
more eafily be
taken
by
the
ambufh which was laid for
hirn :
the
Indian
behold–
ing
fo
unufual a Gght as a Ship fwimming wich ali her Sails on che Sea, which he
had never before feen or heard of, bis eyes were
fo
fixed, and his imaginacion fo
iaken up with looking, and conGdering what ching chat was, which offered it felf
to h~s Gght, thac he was not fenúble of the fnare laid for him , umill he found
himfdf taken in che Armes ofche
Spaniards,
who
with
greac joy and fport brought
him to &heir Veífel ; the poor man was fo amazed with che furprizal, and
to
fee
'the
Spaniards
with Beards, and in a different habit to his, and
to
find himfelf in
a Ship, and under Sails, that it is no wonder if he laboured under che greacell
coníl:ernation im ginable ; but the
Spaniards
uGng all kind means to treac and ca–
reís him, he, in a íhon time, recovered himfelf from the diíl:ra&on of his fear :
and chen they
asked
him by figns and words, whac Councrey thac was, and how
it was called
?
The
Indian
by their motion and geíl:ures knew thac chey asked him
fome queíl:ion, but could not underíl:and whac they demanded,
bue
anfwering
readi!y,