There Are Other
Snakes Also, Which Are Said To Engender By The Mouth, As Vipers Are
Reported To Do With Us.
There are likewise certain hogs, which have a
navel on the ridge of the back; which the hunters cut out the moment they
are killed, as otherwise the carcase would corrupt and stink, so as to be
uneatable.
Besides which, there are certain fishes which are named
_Snorters_, because they make a snorting noise like hogs[89].
In the year 1538, a civil war broke out in Peru, between Pizarro and
Almagro; in the course of which, Almagro was taken prisoner and beheaded.
After which, in the year 1539, Pizarro sent Peter to Baldivia into Chili;
where he was at first well received, but the people afterwards rose
against him, and sought to put him to death by treason. Notwithstanding
the long and severe war he had to wage against the natives of Chili,
Baldivia explored the country to a great extent, discovering the whole
coast as far as lat. 40 deg. S. and even further. While Baldivia was occupied
in these discoveries, he received intelligence of a king called
_Lucengolma_, who commonly brought 200,000 men into the field, when
engaged in war against another neighbouring king. Lucengolma was likewise
said to have a temple in an island, in which there were 2000 priests. It
was farther reported, that beyond the dominions of this king, there lay a
country inhabited by a nation of Amazons, whose queen was named
_Guanomilla_, which signifies _the golden heaven_. But, hitherto, these
things rest merely on report, and have not been ascertained for truth, by
actual discovery. About this time Gomez de Alvarado reduced the province
of _Guanaco_ to obedience; and Francis de Chavez subdued the _Conchincos_,
who often vexed the town of Truxillo and its adjoining country, by various
inroads. Peter de Vergara reduced the _Bracamores_, a people to the north
of Quito; John Perez de Veragara subdued the _Ciaciapoians_; Alfonsos de
Mercadiglio subdued the people of _Mulubamba_; Ferdinando and Gonsalvo
Pizarro reduced _Collao_, a country rich in gold; the lower part of which
was subdued by Peter de Candia; Peranzures went also on an expedition into
the same country. In this manner the Spaniards dispersed themselves over
the whole country, and conquered an extent of more than 700 leagues; yet
not without much labour, and considerable loss of men[90].
The countries of Brazil and Peru stand east and west from each other,
their coasts being almost 800 leagues distant at the nearest points, which
are the Cape of St Augustine and the harbour of Truxillo, nearly in the
same parallel of latitude. The greatest extent of Peru, measuring from the
river of Peru in the north, to the Straits of Magellan in the south, is
950 leagues. Through the whole of this country certain mountains, called
the Andes, extend from north to south, which divide Brazil on the east,
from Peru, or the empire of the Incas on the west.
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