He Went Thence Into France, Through
Piccardy, Normandy, Champagne, Burgundy, The Dukedom Of Bourbon, Gascony,
Languedoc, Dauphiny, And Savoy; Passing Into Italy By Milan, Ferrara, And
Lombardy, To Venice.
Turning back, he passed through the territory of
Genoa, the dukedom of Florence, and all Tuscany, to Rome and
Naples.
Thence back, through Italy, to Ulm, in Germany, and through Swabia,
Bavaria, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary, to the confines of Greece.
Thence through Poland, Prussia, and Livonia, to the great dukedom of
Moscovy; and thence back into Germany, and through the dominions of the
Landgrave, and the dukedom of Saxony, into Denmark, Gothland, and Norway,
penetrating to lat. 70 deg..N. In the course of these travels, which occupied
him during 22 years, he saw, spoke to, and was conversant with, all the
kings, princes, nobles, and chief cities of all Christendom; for which
reason, I thought the great extent of his travels was worthy of
remembrance.
In 1529 or 1530, Melchior de Sosa Tavarez went from Ormus to Bassora, and
the islands of Gissara, with some ships of war, and sailed up to where the
Euphrates and Tigris unite together, being the first of the Portuguese who
had sailed so far on the fresh water in these parts. Not long after this,
a Portuguese, named Ferdinando Coutinho, being at Ormus, determined to
return overland from thence to Portugal. For this purpose he went to
Arabia, and up the river Euphrates, for the space of a month, and saw many
countries and kingdoms that had not been before visited by the Portuguese.
He was made prisoner at Damascus; whence he crossed the province of Syria
to the city of Aleppo. He had been at the holy sepulchre in Jerusalem, in
the city of Cairo, and at Constantinople, where the Great Turk resides.
After seeing that Court, he passed over to Venice; and, from thence,
through Italy, France, and Spain, to Portugal, he came back to Lisbon.
This person, and Damiano de Goes, were the most adventurous of the
Portuguese, who, in our time, had seen and discovered the greatest extent
of foreign realms for their own satisfaction.
About the year 1530, Francis Pizarro, who has been already mentioned as
having gone to Spain to obtain the government of Peru, returned to Panama,
having procured all things as he wished, carrying with him four brothers,
Ferdinand, John, Gonsalvo, and Francis Martines de Alcantara[66]. They
were not well received by Diego de Almagro and his friends, because
Pizarro had not sufficiently represented his merits in the discovery of
Peru to the emperor, in which he had lost an eye, but took the whole merit
to himself. In the end, however, they agreed; and Almagro supplied Pizarro
with seven hundred pezoes of gold, providing him likewise with provisions
and ammunition, and other necessaries towards his intended expedition
against Peru. Soon after this arrangement with Almagro, Pizarro, and his
four brothers before-mentioned, set out with such soldiers and horses as
they could procure on their expedition. Being unable, from contrary winds,
to reach Tumbez, where he proposed to have landed, he was under the
necessity of disembarking at the river of Peru; whence he marched along
the coast with great difficulty, on account of many rivers and marshes, in
which some of his men were drowned in crossing. Coming to the town of
Coache, they found much gold and emeralds in that place; some of which
they broke, to see if they were perfect. From thence Pizarro sent twenty
thousand pezoes of gold to Almagro at Panama, to enable him to send
supplies of men, horses, ammunition, and provisions, and went from Coache
to the haven named _Porte Viejo_, where he was joined by Sebastian
Benalcazar, with all the supplies he had sent for. In the year 1531, after
the arrival of these reinforcements, Pizarro passed over from Porto Viejo
to the rich island of Puna, in the bay of Guayaquil, where he was
outwardly well received by the governor, who yet conspired to kill him and
his men; but Pizarro prevented him, and took many of the Indians, whom he
bound with chains of gold and silver. Such was the jealousy of the
governor of Puna, that he caused those who had the charge of his wives to
have their noses and privities cut off. In this place, Pizarro found above
six hundred prisoners belonging to king Atabalipa, who was then at war
with his eldest brother Guascar. Pizarro set these prisoners at liberty,
on promise of procuring him a friendly reception in Peru; but they forgot
their engagements afterwards, and excited the people to war against the
Spaniards. From Puna, Pizarro sent three Spaniards to Tumbez, in Peru, to
treat of amity; but the Peruvians seized them, and put them to death. On
hearing of this cruel action, Pizarro crossed over to the main, and made a
sudden attack, during the night, on the city of Tumbez, killing great
numbers of the inhabitants. The remainder submitted and made peace,
presenting him large gifts of gold and silver, and other riches. Pizarro
then built a town on the river Cira, which he named St Michael of
Tangarara, which was the first habitation of the Christians in these parts;
and he appointed Sebastian de Benalcazar to the command. After this, he
made search for a secure haven on the coast, and found one every way to
his wish at Payta.
In the same year, 1531, Diego de Ordas went, with 600 soldiers and 35
horses, to settle the country on the Maranon, or river of the Amazons; but,
dying on the voyage, this expedition proved fruitless. Afterwards, in the
year 1534, Hierom Artal was sent thither with 130 soldiers, yet he came
not to the river, but formed settlements at _St Michael de Neveri_, and
other places in Paria. Aries d'Acugna, a Portuguese gentleman, went
likewise to the Maranon, with ten ships, 900 men, and 130 horses, where he
spent much, and did little to purpose; but the greatest loser in this
expedition was John de Barros.
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