The rash attack on the
fortresses called the Rocks of the Marquis in our expedition round the
lake.
The battle of Cuernavaca. Three battles at Xochimilco. During the
siege of Mexico, which lasted _ninety-three_ days, I find by my account
that I was engaged in upwards of eighty battles and skirmishes. After the
conquest, I was sent out on various expeditions to reduce Coatzacualco,
Chiapa, and the Zapotecans, in which we had several engagements. In
Chamula and Cuitlan, two engagements. In Teapa and Chematlan two others,
in one of which I was badly wounded in the throat. I forgot to mention,
that we were pursued for nine days in our flight from Mexico, and had to
fight four battles before the great one at Otompan. Several actions in our
expedition to Higueras and Honduras, during which in a battle at Culacotu
I had a horse killed under me which cost 600 crowns. After my return to
Mexico, I went upon an expedition into the mountains against the Zapotecas
and Mixtecas. I have on the whole been present in _one hundred and
nineteen_ battles, engagements, and skirmishes; so that it is not
wonderful if I praise myself for the many and notable services which I
have rendered to God, his majesty and all Christendom: And I give thanks
and praise to the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath preserved me in so many
dangers.
THE END OF BERNAL DIAZ.
[1] In this section Diaz gives a minute enumeration _of the valiant
companions who passed over to the conquest of Mexico with the most
adventurous and most magnanimous Don Hernando Cortes, Marquis of the
Valley_. This must assuredly be a most valuable document to vast
numbers of the present inhabitants of New Spain, by enabling them to
trace their honourable descent from the conquerors; but, as totally
uninteresting to the English reader, is here omitted. - E.
[2] These are the ordinary municipal officers of Spanish townships,
answerable to our mayors, aldermen, bailiffs, constables, &c. - E.
* * * * *
CHAPTER VI.
HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF PERU, BY FRANCISCO PIZARRO,
WRITTEN BY AUGUSTINO ZARATE, TREASURER OF THAT KINGDOM, A FEW YEARS AFTER
THE CONQUEST.
INTRODUCTION.
The present chapter, like that immediately preceding from the pen of
Bernal Diaz, although in strict language neither a journey nor a voyage,
records in every step of the conquerors a new _discovery_ of coasts,
islands, rivers, districts, and tribes, that had never been visited before.
In conformity with our uniform desire to have recourse upon all occasions
to the most authentic original authorities for every article admitted into
this collection, so far as in our power, the work of Zarate has been
chosen as the record of the discovery and conquest of Peru, in preference
to any modern compilation on the same subject. As we learn from himself,
Zarate was a person of rank and education, who went into Peru in 1543,
only _eighteen_ years after the first movements of Pizarro and Almagro
towards the discovery of that extensive country, and only _eleven_ years
after its actual invasion by Pizarro in 1532. From the illustrious
historian of America, Dr William Robertson, the work which we now offer to
the public for the first time in the English language, has the following
high character: "The history of Zarate, whether we attend to its matter or
composition, is a book of considerable merit, and great credit is due to
his testimony." Besides this general eulogy; in his enumeration of six
original authors whom he had consulted in the composition of that portion
of his History of America which refers to Peru, he clearly shews that
Zarate alone can be considered as at the same time perfectly authentic and
sufficiently copious for the purpose we have at present in view. The
substance of his account of all the six is as follows.
"_Two_ of the more early writers on the subject of the discovery and
conquest of Peru, Francisco de Xeres, the secretary of Pizarro, and Pedro
Sanchez, an officer who served under the conqueror, break off almost in
the introduction to the narrative, going no farther into the history of
the conquest than the death of Atahualpa in 1533, only one year after the
invasion of Peru. The _third_ in point of time, Pedro Cioca de Leon, only
two years earlier in his publication than Zarate, gives nothing more than
a description of the country, and an account of the institutions and
customs of the natives. Zarate is the _fourth_. The _fifth_, Don Diego
Fernandez, solely relates to the dissentions and civil wars among the
Spanish conquerors. The _sixth_ and last of these original authors,
Garcilasso de la Vega _Inca_, the son of a Spanish officer of distinction
by a _Coya_, or Peruvian female of the royal race, gives little more than
a commentary on the before mentioned writers, and was not published till
1609, seventy five years after the invasion of Peru by Pizarro[1]."
In the Bibliotheque des Voyages, VI. 319. mention is made of a Description
of Peru as published in French in 1480, and said to be a very rare work:
_Rare_, indeed, if the imprint be not an error, _fifty-two_ years before
the actual invasion and discovery. In the same useful work, the
performance of Zarate is thus characterized. "The author has not confined
his views to the history and conquest of Peru, but has given us a
statement of the natural features of the country, an account of the
manners of the inhabitants, and a curious picture of the religious
opinions and institutions of the Peruvians."
Four of the six original authors respecting Peru which are noticed by
Robertson, we have not seen; having confined our views to that of Zarate,
which is not only the best according to the opinion of that excellent
judge, but the only one which could answer the purpose of our present
collection. In preparing this original work for publication, it is proper
to acknowledge that we have been satisfied with translating from the
French edition of Paris, 1742; but, besides every attention to fidelity of
translation, it has been carefully collated throughout with the _Royal
Commentary_ of the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega, as published in English by
Sir Paul Rycaut, knight, in 1688; and with the excellent work of Dr
Robertson.
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