After Sending Benalcazar To
Reduce The City Of Quito, Pizarro Himself Undertook To Reduce The Royal
Residence Of Cusco, In About 13 Deg.
20' S. in which expedition he was opposed
by Quisquiz, a Peruvian general, whom he easily defeated; and he soon
afterwards took possession of Cusco, the exceedingly rich and wealthy
capital of the Peruvian monarchy.
About this time Mango, a brother of
Atabalipa, joined Pizarro, who made him Ynga, or king of the country, in
name only, while he assumed the whole authority and revenues of the
kingdom to himself[70].
In the same year, 1534; Jaques Cartier, a native of Britanny, went with
three ships to the land of Corterealis[71], and the gulf of St Lawrence,
otherwise called _Golfo Quadrato_, or the square gulf, which he fell in
with in lat. 48 deg. 30' N. He proceeded northwards to the latitude of 51 deg., in
the hope of being able to penetrate in that direction to China, by a north-
west passage, to bring drugs and other merchandize from thence to France.
Next year Cartier made a second voyage to the same regions, and found the
country pervaded by many large rivers, and abounding in provisions. He
sailed 300 leagues up one of these rivers, in a south-west direction, and
named the country New France, now Canada; but finding the water to become
fresh, he was satisfied there could be no passage that way to the South
Sea; and having wintered in the country, he returned next year to France.
About the end of the year 1535, or beginning of 1536, Don Anthony de
Mendoca came from Spain to the city of Mexico, as Viceroy of New Spain,
being appointed to supersede Cortes, the discoverer and conqueror of that
rich and extensive territory. At this time Cortes was absent from the seat
of government, having gone to Tecoantepec, on purpose to fit out two ships
on a voyage of discovery. These he sent out under the command of Fernando
de Grijalva and Diego Bezerra de Mendoca, the former having a Portuguese
pilot, named Acosta, and the pilot to the latter being Fortunio Ximenez, a
Biscayan. On the first night after leaving Tecoantepec, the two ships
separated. Ximenez raised a mutiny against his captain, in which Bezerra
was slain, and many of the crew wounded. Some time afterwards, Ximenez
went on shore in the bay of Santa Cruz, for wood and water, where he, and
more than 20 of his people, were slain by the Indians. Two of the mariners,
who were in the boat, escaped to Xalisco, and told Nunnes de Gusman, who
commanded at that place, that they had seen indications of pearls during
the voyage. Gusman went accordingly with, a ship in search of pearls, and
explored above 150 leagues of the coast[72].
It is said that Grijalva sailed 300 leagues from Tecoantepec, without
seeing any land, except one small island in 20 deg. N. to which he gave the
name St Thomas, as having been discovered on the day of that saint[73].
In the year 1535, Pizarro built the city which he named _Ciudad de los
Reys_, or of the kings, on the river of Lima, in lat.
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