HISTORY OF LOPE DE AGUIRRE. The history of Aguirre's crimes has never before been published in England, and though often alluded to, is by no means generally known among the Spaniards themselves: Ulloa and the authors of the Mercurio Pernano, speak of it in such a manner as to shew that they were ignorant even of the principal circumstances. It is an extraordinary case of guilt and madness. Power, which intoxicates weak men, makes wicked ones mad; this truth has not been sufficiently observed, but it is proved by the Annals of Newgate as well as by those of the Roman emperors. An account of these extraordinary transactions, which is mentioned by Acosta, was written by a Jesuit who was in the expedition, being at that time a lad. There can be little doubt that this is the source from whence Pedro Simon (who has related them more at length than any other writer) obtained his information. The authorities from which the following narrative has been formed, are referred to minutely at the end of every paragraph. In the year 1560, the river Orellana became the scene of one of the strangest tragedies in American history. A horde of Brazilians, wandering first in search of some resting place, be yond the reach of the Portugueze, and then flying before the enemies whom they provoked on their march, found their way, after a ten years travel, into the province of Quito. The Peruvian Spaniards were never without rumours of mighty kingdoms in the interior, abounding with gold, and offering as easy a prey as the great empire which they had already conquered; and a tale in confirmation of these hopes was soon bruited abroad, as the report which these Brazilians had related of their route. It was said that they had passed through a country of the Omaguas, full of large towns, in which there were whole streets of goldsmiths; here they had been kindly received, and the inhabitants seeing iron in their possession, asked where they had obtained it; when it was replied, from a nation of white men with beards, who dwelt on the shores of the sea towards the east, they made answer, that such another nation dwelt to the westward, gave them shields which were covered with gold and set with emeralds in exchange for their iron, and besought them to tell these white men in the west to come and carry on the same sort of trade with them.* Two Portugueze were with these * Pedro de Magalhaens, quoted by Berredo, 1. § 84. VOL. III. PART II. 2 wanderers, and it is not unlikely that they contributed to delude a people who were eager to be deluded.* A great stir was occasioned in Peru by this account. The Marquis de Canete, then viceroy, was solicited to send out an expedition for the conquest of El Dorado, now, it was thought, surely to be found; and he was glad of an occasion to rid the country of those turbulent spirits, from whom new rebellions were else to be apprehended. Nor is it unlikely that the viceroy himself partook of the general credulity; he furnished money for the expedition from the treasury, and some on his own account, which he borrowed; and he appointed Pedro de Orsua, a knight of Navarre, to the command, a tried and enterprising man. The miserable fate of Gonzalo Pizarro's army had warned Orsua against attempting to proceed by land; he fixed upon a new settlement, called Santa Cruz de Capocoba,+ as the place of rendezvous for his followers, and there upon the Rio de los Motilones began to build two brigantines and nine flat-bottomed barks, each capable of carrying two hundred men and forty horse. This river, which rises at the back of Tamay-bamba, in the province of Guanuco, was so called from a tribe who, contrary to the ordinary fashion of the Indians, wore the hair cut short. The tribe still exists, but the river is no longer known by this name, it is one of the sources of the Guallaga. The force which was raised consisted of three hundred Spaniards, about forty of whom were men of rank, and an hundred mestizos. So many of these adventurers had borne a part in the late rebellions, that the government began to fear the consequences of its own policy, seeing them thus collected; and there were not wanting malicious men, who endeavoured to render Orsua himself suspected. Orsua's own friends were with more reason alarmed for his safety; and one of them wrote to him, beseeching him not wilfully to shut his eyes to the danger, but to dismiss a few of those adventurers, from whom the greatest mischief was to be apprehended, naming, in particular, a certain Don Martin, Lorenzo de Zalduendo, Lope de Aguirre, Juan Alonso de la Vandera, Christoval de Chaves, and a few others. "If," said this true friend, whose name was Pedro de Linasco, 66 you are unwilling to dismiss them because of their poverty, do not let that feeling of compassion prevent you, but send them to me; and I will support them to the best of my means, till you have advanced into your con P. Simon, 6. 1. § 2. + Ulloa says, a village called Llamas was, according to the most credible accounts, the place where Orsua embarked. He places it on a river which rises in the mountains of Moyo-bamba, and in the middle of its course to the Guallaga." (Book 6. C. 5. Engl. transl. p. 366.) This river is probably the Rio de Moyo-bamba : the village is not marked in the great Spanish map. In the same chapter, (p. 584,) Ulloa says, "the first news of Örsua was, that he and the greatest part of his men were killed in an ambuscade by the Indians, a catastrophe entirely owing to his own ill conduct." It is singular that this author could have been so ignorant of so remarkable a history. Ulloa is ranked far above his deserts: he is neither a judicious nor a well-informed writer, except in points of science. Unquestionably these are of great, but not of paramount importance. A very scientific man may be a very dull one. Herrera, Hist. Gen. l. 9. c. 12. quest, and may recal them when you can safely give them employment, and confer upon them whatever benefits you may be disposed to give." Linasco also besought him not to take with him his mistress D. Ines de Atienza, a beautiful widow. The thing itself, he said, was wrong; it was an ill example for his people, and might draw after it worse consequences than he could suppose; and he offered to provide a proper situation for her, and to manage the business so that she should not suppose it was by Orsua's will that she was left behind. His advice was given in vain; Orsua indeed sent back Don Martin, but he persevered in his intention of taking Ines with him, and returned no answer to Linasco's letter. In other respects Orsua proceeded with great prudence. While the brigantines and other vessels were on the stocks, he sent forward his friend and confidant Garcia de Arze with thirty men, ordering him to proceed about twenty leagues down to the province of the Caperuzos, or hooded Indians, there to collect what provisions he could, and wait for Juan de Vargas; proceed with him to the river Cocama, and there remain, laying in whatever stores that part of the country could supply, till the rest of the expedition joined them. Instead of adhering to these instructions, Arze went above two hundred leagues down, past the mouth of the Cocama, and of many other streams, and then landed on an island of the river, which was called Garcias after his name. His men arrived here, hungry and half-starved,-they had been glad to eat caymans upon the which he killed with his harque way, buss, for he was famous for his skill as a marksman. Here they fortified * P. Simon, 6. 4. § 1. themselves with a palisade, and the natives, after suffering severely in repeated attacks, sent a party with a present of provisions, as a peace-offering. These adventurers always suspected treachery, because they were always ready to perpetrate it themselves: they got these unsuspicious Indians into a hut, fell upon them, and massacred above forty. This act of cruelty terrified the whole country; all who thought themselves within reach of the Spaniards abandoned their dwelling-places, and Arze was thus enabled to procure subsistence for his people for three months, till Orsua joined him here.t Vargas and his detachment set out in one of the brigantines as soon as it was completed, and in canoes. Disappointed of meeting Arze, they advanced to the Cocama, and there, pursuant to his instructions, their leader, leaving the less able hands in the brigantine, turned up that river to seek for provisions. He rowed up twoand-twenty days, without finding any thing more than sufficed for immediate use; then some better settlements were found, where there was abundance of maize. Vargas took all that could be embarked in all the canoes he could find, carried off as many of the inhabitants as he could, both male and female, for the use, as it was called, of the expedition! and then returned to the brigantine, where in the mean time three Spaniards and many Indians had died of hunger and the unwholesome climate. They remained two long months expecting Orsua: the patience of the men was worn out; some proposed to kill Vargas, and make their way up the Cocama to Peru, others thought it better to leave him there, and go on to make + P. Simon, 6. 4. § 2. 3. discoveries, for they were more than a hundred, and thought themselves strong enough. But no bolder spirit took the lead among them, and their plans of mutiny and murder proceeded no farther.* Orsua meantime had so won the settlers at Santa Cruz by his generous qualities, that they one and all consented to abandon the settlement, and share his fortunes. But when his vessels were launched and loaded, six of his new flat-bottomed barks proved useless; the wood had not been seasoned, indeed in that wet country it had not been possible to season it; it was brittle also, and when the barks were hauled ashore to be repaired, they cracked in such a manner as to render any repair hopeless. To remain was ruinous, when every day's delay would consume provisions which could not be replaced. They were compelled therefore to leave behind great part of their baggage and most of their live stock, and of three hundred horses could only embark forty; the rest were abandoned there to run wild. The men clamoured loudly at thus losing the little property they possessed, and insisted upon rather returning to Peru. Orsua, however, threatening some and soothing others, flattered them all with hopes of the glorious conquests they were about to make; and added, that the loss was his, not theirs; inasmuch as he, being their leader, was bound to satisfy them amply for all, when it should please God to conduct them to that happy land of which they were in quest. These representations succeeded so *P. Simon, 6. 5. § 1. 2. well, that not a single man deserted him. They departed from the now forsaken settlement on the 26th of September, 1560, and on the second day left the mountains behind them, and entered the flat country. On the third the brigantine touched upon a shoal, and a piece of its keel was broken off. The crew were left to repair the damage how they could, and Orsua proceeded to the province of the Caperuzos, where he had sent Zalduendo a few days before him to collect provisions. Two days afterwards the brigantine arrived; it was then thoroughly repaired, and sent forward to join Vargas at the Cocama, for Orsua apprehended that the men there would be discontented at his long tarriance. He with the smaller vessels proceeded more leisurely, landing every night and sleeping on shore, because of the danger there was from shallows and sunken trees in the darkness. A hundred and fifty leagues below the place of his embarkation, the Guallaga falls into the river of the Bracamoros, as it was then called, the Nuevo Maranon of the present maps. These streams rise in the same province, and at little distance from each other; but the latter takes a wide sweep in its course, and is as broad again as the Guallaga where it receives it. Here Orsua halted, and sent a party up the stream in search of food; but the country was uninhabited as far as they thought it prudent to ascend. A hundred leagues farther on they reached Vargas, whose people, since the arrival of the brigantine, had been joyfully ex P. Simon, 6. 5. § 3. Herrera, Hist. Gen. l. 9. c. 12. Five leagues above its junction, Condamine embarked at Laguna, the principal of the Maynas missions. He estimated the width of the Guallaga at about 250 toises. pecting this junction. The Cocama of that day must be the Pegueno. From thence they proceeded in great alarm for the safety of Arze, of whom neither party as yet knew any thing.t By this time Vargas's brigantine was rotten, so utterly unserviceable was the timber of that country, and they had scarcely renewed their voyage before it was found necessary to abandon her, and distribute the crew and cargo among the other boats. They past the mouth of the Ucayali, and eight days after their departure from the Cocama reached the island where Arze and his companions had quartered themselves, to the equal joy of both parties. These were the first habitations which they had seen since they left the Caperuzo Indians. The natives here were a strong and wellmade race. They wore a single garment of cotton; its texture was good, and it was painted with many colours. Their principal food was fish, maize, and mandioc, of which they made their banqueting drink; they had potatoes also, and other roots and pulse. Their dwellings were large and square; their weapon, the wooden spear and throwing stick. Papa was the title of their chief. Here Orsua got more canoes for his people to supply the loss of the brigantine. Here too, finding it impossible to attend to the whole command of such an armament himself, he named Vargas to be his lieutenant-general, and D. Fer nando de Guzman to be alferez-general, or chief standard-bearer, and they once more set forth, the whole armament being now reassembled.‡ A little below Garcia's Island the Napo falls in, by which Orellana entered the great stream. The neighbouring settlements were all deserted, in consequence of Arze's cruelty: food however was found in the fields which they cultivated, and poultry which they had left in their flight,—— among these latter were European fowls. After some days they came to a settlement called Carari, on the southern bank. Here also the natives fled, but some of them only kept aloof in their canoes watching the strangers, and a cazique came to them, after three or four days, with a present of provisions; beads, knives, and looking-glasses were given him in return, and trade was presently established. Orsua, well knowing of what importance it was that the natives should be their friends, and how probable it was that his own men would soon make them enemies by their misconduct, gave orders that no man upon pain of death should carry on any traffic with the Indians except in his presence, and through his hands, for by this means he would see that all parties were satisfied, and that provisions should be properly distributed to those who were most necessitous. Notwithstanding these orders, some of his people took by violence * Or Tigre. Here Condamine found a new reduction of the Yameos, then just reclaimed from the woods. Their language, he says, is inexpressibly difficult, and their mode of pronunciation still more extraordinary than their language, for they draw in their breath while they speak, and scarcely give any sound to the vowels. Words which seem, in their articulation, to consist of only three or four syllables, cannot be written, even imperfectly, in less than nine or ten. As an example, he adds, their word for the number three, poettarrarorincouroac, " heureusement pour ceux qui ont à faire à eux, leur arithmetique ne va pas plus loin." It is a little unfortunate for M. Condamine's accuracy, that so many vowel sounds should be marked in this example. These people use the sarbacan, and poison its darts.-P. 64. † P. Simon, 5. 5. § 4. 6. 6. § 1. P. Simon, 5. 6. § 1—4. |