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.
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