Vaca de Caftro fent thither with ample powers.

Nothing therefore remained but to fend a perfon to Peru, vefted with extenfive and difcretionary power, who, after viewing deliberately the pofture of affairs with his own eyes, and enquiring upon the spot into the conduct of the different leaders, foould be authorised to establish the government in that form which he deemed moft conducive to the intereft of the parent ftate, and the welfare of the colony. The man felected for this important charge was Chriftoval Váca de Caftro, a judge in the court of royal audience at Valladolid; and his abilities, integrity, and firmnefs, juftified the choice. His inftructions, though ample, were not fuch as to fetter him in his operations. According to the different aspect of affairs, he had power to take upon him different characters. If he found the governor ftill alive, he was to affume only the title of judge, to maintain the appearance of acting in concert with him, and to guard against giving any juft caufe of offence to a man who had merited fo highly of his country. But if Pizarro were dead, he was entrufted with a commiffion that he might then produce, by which he was appointed his fucceffor in the government of Peru. This attention to Pizarro, however, feems to have flowed rather from dread of his power, than from any approbation of his measures; for at

the very time that the court feemed fo folicitous not to irritate him, his brother Ferdinand was arrested at Madrid, and confined to a prifon, where he remained above twenty years. s)

Pizarro divides Peru among his followers.

While Vaca de Caftro was preparing for his voyage, events of great moment happened in Peru. The governor, confidering himself, upon the death of Almagro, as the unrivalled poffeffor of that vaft empire, proceeded to parcel out its territories among the conquerors; and had this divifion been made with any degree of impartiality, the extent of country which he had to bestow, was fufficient to have gratified his friends, and to have gained his enemies. But Pizarro conducted this tranfaction, not with the equity and candour of a judge attentive to discover and to reward merit, but with the illiberal spirit of a party leader. Large diftricts, in parts of the country moft cultivated and populous, were fet apart as his own property, or granted to his brothers, his adherents and favourites. To others, lots lefs valuable and inviting were affigned. The followers of Almagro, amongst whom were many of the original adventurers to whofe valour and perfeverance Pizarro was indebted for his

5) Gomara Hift. c. 142. Vega, p. II. lib. ii, c. 40, Herrera, dec, 6. lib. viii, c. 10, II. lib. x. c. I.

fuccefs, were totally excluded from any portion in those lands, towards the acquifition of which they had contributed fo largely. As the vanity of every individual fet an immoderate value upon his own fervices, and the idea of each concerning the recompence due to them rofe gradually to a more exorbitant height in proportion as their conquefts extended, all who were disappointed in their expectations exclaimed loudly against the rapaciousness and partiality of the governor. The partifans of

Almagro murmured in fecret, and meditated revenge. t)

Progrefs of the Spanish arms.

Rapid as the progrefs of the Spaniards in South America had been fince Pizarro landed in Peru, their avidity of dominion was not yet fatisfied. The officers, to whom Ferdinand Pizarro gave the command of different detachments, penetrated into several new provinces, and though fome of them were expofed to great hardships in the cold and barren regions of the Andes, and others fuffered diftrefs not inferior amidft the woods and marfhes of the plains, they made difcoveries and conquests which extended their knowledge of the country, as well as added to their power. Pedro de Valdivia reaffumed Almagro's fcheme of invading Chili, and notwithstanding the fortitude of the natives

in

t) Vega, p. 11, lib. iii, c. 2. Herrera, dec. 6. lib. viii. c. 5.

in defending their poffeffions, made fuch progrefs in the conqueft of the country, that he founded the city of St. Jago, and gave a beginning to the eftablishment of the Spanish dominion in that province. u)

Remarkable expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro.

But of all the enterprizes undertaken about this period, that of Gonzalo Pizarro was the moft remarkable. The governor, who seems to have refolved that no perfon in Peru fhould poffefs any station of diftinguifhed eminence or authority but thofe of his own family, had deprived Benalcazar, the conqueror of Quito, of his command in that kingdom, and appointed his brother Gonzalo to take the government of it. He inftructed him to attempt the difcovery and conqueft of the country to the eaft of the Andes, which, according to the information of the Indians, abounded with cinnamon and other valuable spices. Gonzalo, not inferior to any of his brothers in courage, and no lefs ambitious of acquiring diftinction, eagerly engaged in this difficult fervice. He fet out from Quito at the head of three hundred and forty foldiers, near one half of whom were horsemen, with four thousand Indians to carry their provifions. In forcing their way through the defiles, or over the ridges of the Andes, excess

u) Zarate, lib. iiì. c. 13. Ovalle, lib. ii, c. I. &e,

ROBERTSON Vol. III.

F

of cold and fatigue, to neither of which they were accuftomed, proved fatal to the greater part of their wretched attendants. The Spaniards, though more robuft, and inured to a variety of climates, fuffered confiderably, and loft fome men; but when they defcended into the low country their diftrefs increased. During two months it rained inceffantly, without any interval of fair weather long enough to dry their clothes. x) The vaft plains upon which they were now entering, either altogether without inhabitants, or occupied by the rudest and leaft induftrious tribes in the New World, yielded little fubfiftence. They could not advance a step but as they cut a road through woods, or made it through marches. Such inceffant toil, and continual fcarcity of food, feem more than fufficient to have exhaufted and difpirited any troops. But the fortitude and perfeverance of Spaniards in the fixteenth cen tury were infuperable. Allured by frequent but falfe accounts of rich countries before them, they perfifted in ftruggling on, until they reached the banks of the Coca or Napo, one of the large rivers whofe waters pour into the Maragnon, and contribute to its grandeur. There, with infinite labour, they built a bark, which they expected would prove of great utility, in conveying them over rivers, in procuring provi

x) Zarate, lib. iv. c. 2.

<