On Coming To The Town Of Spiritu
Santo, He Procured Ten Guides From The Caciques Of Tavasco And Xicalanco,
Who
Likewise gave him a map painted on cotton cloth, delineating the
situation of the whole country, from Xicalanco to Naco
And Nito, and even
as far as Nicaragua, with their mountains, hills, fields, meadows, rivers,
cities, and towns; and Cortes ordered three ships from the harbour of
Medellin to follow him along the coast[56]. When he had reached the city
of Izancanac, Cortes learned that King Quahutimoc and his Mexicans had
conspired to betray or destroy him and his Spaniards; wherefore he hanged
the king and two of his principal nobles. Cortes then proceeded to
Mazatlan; and from thence to Piaca, which stands in the middle of a lake,
and is the chief city of a province of the same name, and hereabout he
began to learn tidings of the Spaniards under Olid, of whom he was in
search. From thence he proceeded to Zuzullin, and came at length to Nito;
from whence he went to a bay on the coast, called St Andre, where,
finding a good haven, he built a town called Natividad de nuestra Sennora.
He went thence to Truxillo, on the coast of Honduras, where he was well
received by the Spanish settlers. While here, a ship brought intelligence
of an insurrection having broke out in Mexico during his absence; on
which, he ordered Gonsalo de Sandoval to march with his company by land,
from Naco to Mexico, by the ordinary and safest road of Quahutemallan, or
Guatimala, towards the South Sea; and, leaving his cousin Ferdinando de
Saavedra to command in Truxillo, he went himself by sea along the coast
of Yucutan to Chalchicocca, now called St Juan de Ullhua, and thence to
Medellin and Mexico, where he was well received. Cortes was absent
eighteen months on this expedition, during which he travelled 500
leagues[57], and suffered many hardships.
In the year 1525; Francis Pizarro, and Diego de Almagro, went from Panama
to discover Peru, on the south of the fine, which they called _Nueva
Castillia_. Pedro Asias, governor of Panama, refused to take any concern
in this expedition, on account of certain evil news which had been
brought to him by Francis Vezerra. Pizarro went first in a ship with 124
soldiers, and was followed by Almagro with seventy men in another ship.
Almagro came to Rio de San Juan, in lat. 3 deg. N., where he got 3000 pezoes
of gold; and not finding Pizarro, of whom he was in search, he lost heart,
and returned to Panama. Pizarro went first to the island of Gorgona, and
thence to the isle of Gallo, from whence he proceeded to the river called
_Rio del Peru_, in lat. 2 deg. N. from which the rich and famous country of
Peru derives its name. He sailed thence to the river of St Francis, and
Cape _Passaos_, where he passed the equinoctial line, and came to _Puerto
Vejo_, in lat. 1 deg. S. and sailed on to the rivers of Chinapanpa, Tumbez,
and Payta, in four or five degrees of southern latitude, where he
received intelligence concerning King Atabalipa, and of the vast riches
of his palace. On receiving this intelligence, Pizarro returned to Panama,
from whence he went to Spain, where he solicited and obtained the
government of the rich country he had discovered; having spent above
three years in the discovery, with much labour and great danger[58].
In the same year, 1525, seven ships were fitted out from Spain, under the
command of Garcia de Loaisa, for a voyage to the Molucca Islands. Sailing
from Corunna, and passing by the Canaries, they came to the coast of
Brasil, where they discovered an island in lat. 2 deg. S. which they named St
Matthew; and, finding orange trees, hogs, and European poultry, they
concluded it to be inhabited; but, by inscriptions oil the bark of trees,
they learnt that the Portuguese had bean there seventeen years before. A
small pinnace of this squadron, commanded by Juan de Resaga, passed the
straits of Magellan, and ran along the whole coast of Peru and New Spain,
carrying the intelligence to Cortes of the expedition of Loaisa to the
Moluccas: But the admiral ship only of this squadron, commanded by Martin
Mingues de Carchova, arrived at its destination, where the Moors of the
Moluccas received the Spaniards hospitably; Loaisa and all the other
captains died by the way.
In the same year Stephen Gomez sailed from Corunna, to endeavour to
discover a strait in the northern parts, by which ships might sail from
Europe to the Moluccas. This person had been refused employment in the
fleet commanded by Loaisa; but the Count Ferdinando de Andrada, with the
Doctor Beltram, and a merchant named Christopher de Sarro; fitted out a
galleon for him at their joint expence. He went first to the island of
Cuba, whence he sailed to Cape Florida, sailing only by day, as he was
ignorant of the coast. He passed Cape Angra, and the river Enseada, and
so went over to the other side; and it is reported that he came to Cape
Razo[59] in lat. 46 deg. N. whence he returned to Corunna with a cargo of
_slaves_. But news spread through Spain that he was come home laden with
_cloves_, which occasioned much joy at the court of Spain, till the
mistake was discovered. Gomez was ten months engaged in this voyage. In
this same year, Don George de Menesses, governor of Molucca, and Don
Henriques, sent a vessel on discovery towards the north, commanded by
Diego de Rocha, having Gomez de Sequiera as pilot. In lat. 9 deg. or 10 deg. N.
they discovered several islands in a group, which were called the islands
of Sequiera; whence they returned to the island of Bato-China. In 1526,
Sebastian Gabota, chief pilot to the emperor, a native of Bristol in
England, whose father was a Venetian, sailed from Seville with four ships,
intending to have gone to the Moluccas by a western course.
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