The
Leaves, Branches, Roots, And Every Part Of This Tree, Tasted Like Cinnamon,
But This Taste And Flavour Was Particularly Strong In The Root; Yet That
Was Still Stronger In Certain Knobs, Like _Alcornoques_, Or Acorns, Which
Were Good Merchandize.
This appears to have been of the same nature with
wild cinnamon, of which there is great abundance in the East Indies,
particularly in the island of _Jaoa_, or Java.
From this cinnamon country,
they proceeded onwards to the province and city of Coca, where they halted
for fifty days; after which they travelled for sixty leagues along a river,
without being able to find any bridge or ford at which they could pass
over. In one place they found this river to form a cataract of 200 fathoms
in perpendicular fall, making such a noise as was almost sufficient to
deafen any person who stood near. Not far beyond this fall, the river was
found to glide in a smooth channel, worn out of the rock; and at this
place they constructed a bridge by which they passed to the other side,
and entered into a country called Guema, which was so poor, that they
could only get fruit and herbs to subsist upon. Travelling onwards from
that place, they came to a district where the people had some degree of
civilization, and wore cotton clothing of their own manufacture, and used
canoes. They here built a brigantine, in which, and in some canoes,
procured or taken from the natives, they embarked their sick, with their
treasure, provisions, and spare apparel, under the charge of Francis de
Orellana; while Gonsalvo Pizarro marched by land with the rest of the
people along the river, going every night into the boats. In this manner
they proceeded for about 200 leagues; when one night, on coming to the
river side, in hopes of joining the boats as usual, Pizarro could not see
or hear of them. He and his people were reduced, by this unfortunate
incident, to a state of almost utter despair: In a strange, poor, and
barren country, without provisions, clothing, or any other convenience,
and at a vast distance from their friends, with a prodigious extent of
difficult and dangerous road interposed between them and Quito, they were
reduced to the necessity of eating their horses, and even their dogs. Yet
holding a good heart, they proceeded onwards in their journey for eighteen
months, penetrating, as is said, almost 500 leagues, without ever seeing
the sun or any thing else to comfort them. At length, of the 200 men who
had set out from Quito, only ten returned thither; and these so weak,
ragged, and disfigured, that they could not be recognized. Orellana went 5
or 600 leagues down the river, passing through various countries and
nations on both sides, among whom he affirmed that some were Amazons[94].
From the mouth of that river, Orellana went home to Spain, and excused
himself for having deserted Pizarro, and those who marched by land, by
alleging, that he had been forced down the river by the strength of the
current, which he was utterly unable to stem. By some, this river is named
after Orellana, who first navigated its waters; and others call it the
river of the Amazons, on account of a female nation of warriors, who are
said to inhabit its banks[95].
In the year 1541, Don Stephen de Gama, the Portuguese governor of India,
went with a squadron into the Red Sea, by the strait of Mecca, or of
Babelmandel, and came to anchor off the island of Macua, or Massoua; from
whence he sailed along the coast of Abyssinia, or Ethiopia, to the island
of Suachem, in lat. 20 deg. N. and to the harbour of Cossier, in 27 deg.. From
thence, he crossed over to the Arabian shore, and the city of Toro, and
sailed from that place to Suez, at the farther end of the Red Sea, and
returned from thence to India, having extended the Portuguese knowledge of
that sea farther than had ever been done before. On the way between
Cossier and Toro, Gama is said to have found an island of brimstone, which
had been dispeopled by Mahomet, wherein many crabs are bred, which
increase nature, on which account, they are much sought after by the
unchaste.
It is true that Lopez Suarez, when governor of India, had navigated the
Red Sea, as far as Judda, the haven of Mecca, in lat. 23 deg. N. 150 leagues
from the straits of Babelmandel; but Gama penetrated to the very northern
extremity of the gulph[96]. In the same year, Diego de Almagro killed the
Marquis Francis Pizarro, and his brother Francis Martinez de Alcantara, in
the city of Lima, or _de los Reyes_, and usurped the government of Peru.
In the same year, 1541, Don Antony de Mendca, viceroy of Mexico, sent an
army of Spaniards and Indians from Mexico, under the command of Francis
Vasquez de Coronado, by way of Culiacan, into the province of Sibola, or
Cinaloa, which is in lat. 30 deg. N.[97]. Coronado endeavoured to treat on
friendly terms with the natives, and requested to be furnished with
provisions; but received for answer, that they were not accustomed to give
any thing to those who came unto their country in a warlike manner. Upon
this, the Spaniards assaulted and took the town, to which they gave the
name of New Granada, because the general was a native of Granada in Old
Spain. The soldiers found themselves much deceived by the reports of the
friars who had been in those parts, as already mentioned under the year
1538, who said that the country was rich in gold, silver, and precious
stones. Not being willing, therefore, to return empty-handed to Mexico,
they went to the town of _Acuco_, where they heard of _Axa_ and _Quivira_,
the king of which was reported to worship a golden cross, and the picture
of the Queen of Heaven, or the blessed Virgin.
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