4000003871

BooK

II.

Royal Commentaries.

-.'' to make a paffage: They paffed alfo feveral fnowy Mountains and Defarts, (a

" thing very füange

near che Equinofüal) in thac cold Councrey fixcy of their

'' people were frozen co deach ;, fo chat when they were efcaped 'from che Snows,

" they returned hearty thanks co God; wn_o had delivered them from th:ic dan–

" ger; and curfed ali che Gold and Silver to the pie of Hell, which had enticed

·" ahd cempted c!iem to a condition of íl:arving boch_wich cold and hunger.

Thus far are che Words of

Gomara

;

and then

tr,-ate pr

oceeds, and fays,

'' Thus

''. did they travel wichouc hope, or comforc; or pow.er to fuccoUr orie che óther ;

" for it h:ippened, that a

Spaniard,

who cartied hls Wife and two little Children

." with him, finding them fo

cirec

1nd weary, that they_ could travel no farther,

" nor himfelf able to qrry them ; he face down wich them to cake fome repofe,

" during which .time chey. were all -frozen co death ; and though the Man could

" have efcaped, yet furll was his compaílion to his Wife and Children, thac he

" would rather perííh wich them, chanfoi.:fake them in chat condicion. Wich

-'~ fuch labour and difficulcy as chis chey ¡:,aífed che fnowy Mountain, rejoycing

:«

much when chey ha:d got over coche ocher fide. Thus far are che Woras of

Carate,

in che

9th

Chapter of bis fecond Book. And here we rnay condole chis

unhappy fate, that che

firíl:

Spanifh

Woman which carne co

Peru;

ibonld chus rnoíl:

miferably periíh.

· As

co che five hundred Men which thefe Auchours account to have beeri wich

A/varado,

I have been informed from feveral that were wich him, that they were

no lefs chan eight hundred

Spaniards;

perhaps-they might be no more than five

hundred chac carne from

Nicaragua,

and that when they were landed in-Pm,; other

recruits might join with them;

that in che Plains of

Jüvecpampa,

where

A/varado,

and

Diega de Alma,.~ro

entered into Arcicles of Confederacy togecher, chey mighc ,

arife ter che number of eight hundred

Bue another Hiíl:orian makes a difference:

of three years time between thefe matters, bue chat is not much to our purpofe.

-493

to th_e Canes in whicb chey found cheWater, called

Tpa,

they are common,

as bigas aMan's leg or thigh, though che el)d of them is not chicker chan the

.ñnger ofa Man's hand: they grow in no other than in hot Countries, where they

-rnake ufe of them to Thacch their Houfes : The inforrnation they had ofcheWa-

ter was from che people ofche Councrey, who guided them coche Canes, fome of

which concained fix Gallons of Water, ahd fome more, áccording to che bignefs,

of them, which is proporcionable to their height. /

Auguftine Cm¡te

in che

oth

Chapter of bis fecond Book, writing, che Journal of thls

Don Pedro de A/varado;

gives this defcription of che Canes:

" -In

chis Journey, faith he, they endured

" rnuch hunger, and greater 'thiríl:; for foch was their wanc of VV.ater, that had

" they not mee with Groves or Thickets ofCanes, whichyielded good and whol--

" fome Water, they had all periíhed. Thefe Can~s are cornmonly abouc che big-

'.' nefs of a Man's leg, every knoc of which contained about a quart of Water,

" having a natural propriety to imbibe or fuck

che nightly Dews which fall

" from che Heayens ; befides which there was-no Water nor Springs in chaedry

" Countrey; and herewith

Don Pedro

refrefhed boch his Men and Horfes. Thus

far

Auguftine Carate

gives usan account of General

Don Pedro de Alvaratb,

where

we íhall leave him for a while, and recuro t0 che

Spaníards

and

Jndians

which we

Ieft

Cajfanwc1,

C H A P.