From This Place They Discovered And Conquered The Country To A
Great Extent, Even To The Mines Of Potosi And The Town Of La Plata[80],
Which Is At The Distance Of 500 Miles From Buenos Ayres.
Cortes having learnt, in the year 1536, that his ship, of which Fortunio
Ximenez was pilot, had been seized by Nunnez de Guzman, sent three ships
to Xalisco, while he marched thither by land with a respectable force; and,
on his arrival there, he found his ship all spoiled and rifled.
When his
small squadron was come round to Xalisco, he went himself on board, and
left Andrew de Tapia to command his land force. Setting sail from thence,
he came, on the first of May, to a point of land, which he named Cape St
Philip, and, to an island close by this cape, he gave the name of St Jago.
Three days afterwards, he came to the bay where the pilot Ximenez was
killed, which he named Bahia de Santa Cruz, where he went on land, and
sent out Andrew de Tapia to explore the country. Cortes again set sail,
and came to the river now called _Rio de San Pedro y San Paulo_, where the
ships were separated by a tempest. One was driven to the bay of Santa Cruz,
another to the river of Guajaval, and the third was stranded on the coast
near Xalisco, whence the crew went overland to Mexico. After waiting a
long while for his other two ships, Cortes made sail, and entered into the
gulf of California, otherwise called _Mar Vermejo_, or the Vermilion Sea,
and by some, the sea of Cortes. Having penetrated 50 leagues within that
gulf, he espied a ship riding at an anchor, and, on his approach towards
her, had nearly been lost, if he had not received assistance from that
other ship. Having repaired his own ship, he departed from thence with
both ships; and, having procured provisions at a very dear rate, at St
Michael de Culiacan, he went to the harbour of Santa Cruz, where he
received information that Don Antonio de Mendoca had arrived from Spain as
Viceroy of Mexico. He therefore left Francis de Ulloa with the command of
his ships, ordering him to proceed on discoveries; and going to Acapulco,
he received a messenger from Don Antonio de Mendoca, the new viceroy,
certifying his arrival, and the assumption of his authority. Mendoca
likewise sent him the copy of a letter from Francis Pizarro, stating that
Mango, the Inca of Peru, had risen in arms, and assailed the city of Cusco
with 100,000 fighting men, having slain his brother, John Pizarro, and
above 400 Spaniards, with 200 horses; and that he himself, and the Spanish
dominions in Peru, were in imminent danger, unless speedily and
effectually assisted.
Cortes, not yet resolved on submitting to the authority of Mendoca, fitted
out two ships, under the command of Ferdinando de Grijalva and one
Alvarado, on purpose to discover the route to the Moluccas by the way of
the equinoctial line, because the islands of Cloves are under that
parallel. They went first to St Michael de Tangarara, in Peru, where they
landed succours for Pizarro, and thence, all along the line, to the
Moluccas, as they were ordered; and they are said to have sailed above
1000 leagues without sight of land on either side the whole way. At length,
in lat. 2 deg. N. they discovered an island named _Asea_, which was believed
to be one of the islands of Cloves. Five hundred leagues farther, more or
less, they came to another, which they named _Isla de los Pescadores_, or
island of Fishers. Going still in the same course, they saw another island,
called _Hayme_, on the south side of the line, and another named _Apia_,
after which they came in sight of _Seri_. Turning one degree to the north,
they came to anchor at an island named _Coroa_, whence they came to
another under the line named _Memousum_, and thence to _Busu_, still
holding on the same course[81].
The people of all these islands are black, with frizzled hair, whom the
people of the Moluccas call Papuas. Most of them are witches, and eat
human flesh; and are so much given to wickedness, that the devils walk
among them as companions. Yet when these wicked spirits find any of the
Papuas alone, they kill him with cruel blows, or smother him; for which
reason they always go out in companies of two or three together. There is
in this country a bird as large as a crane, which has no wings wherewith
to fly, but runs on the ground with the swiftness of a deer, and, of the
small feathers of this bird, the natives make hair for their idols. They
have likewise a particular herb, the leaf of which, after being washed in
warm water, if laid on any member, and licked with the tongue, will even
draw out the whole blood of a mans body; and, by means of this leaf, the
natives let blood of themselves, when afflicted by sickness.
From these islands they came to others named the _Guellas_, in lat. 1 deg. N.
_east and west_[82], from the island of Ternate, in which the Portuguese
have a fortress. These islands are 124 leagues from the island of _Moro_,
and between forty and fifty leagues from Ternate. From thence they went to
the island of _Moro_[83], and the islands of Cloves, going about from one
island to another; but the natives would not permit them to land, desiring
them to go to the fortress, where captain _Antonio Galvano_, the author of
this work, would receive them in a friendly manner, who was, as they
stiled him, _factor_ of the country, and they could not be allowed to land
without his license. This circumstance is worthy of being noticed, that
the natives were so well affected to the Portuguese as to venture their
lives, with their wives, children, and goods, in their service.
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