He might punish them for the share
they had taken hitherto in the insurrection, notwithstanding of this their
intended tardy abandonment of Gonzalo. For this reason they resolved to
take effectual measures for securing an indemnity, and sent off, by a
secret and unfrequented road, letters for the viceroy and the audience, in
charge of a priest named Baltasar de Loaysa, by which they craved pardon
for the past and a safe conduct for their compearance at Lima; adding,
that, as they held some rank in the insurgent army, being captains under
Gonzalo, all their friends and dependents might be expected to follow
their example, by which in all probability the army of Gonzalo would fall
to pieces of itself. Besides Rodriguez, Philip Gutierez, Arias Maldonado,
Pedro de Vila-Castin, and others to the number of twenty-five, concurred
in this plan of abandoning Gonzalo.
Loaysa went in all haste to Lima, and, for the better concealment, he
avoided uniting himself with Gabriel de Roias and the others who had
formerly set out from Cuzco to join the viceroy. On his arrival at Lima,
he immediately delivered his dispatches to the viceroy and the audience,
and received without delay the safe conduct which his employers required.
The news of this affair was soon spread over Lima, in which many of the
inhabitants and others secretly wished well to the party of Gonzalo, as
conformable to their own interest; and they were therefore a good deal
mortified at the defection among the insurgents, which they supposed would
soon occasion the army of Gonzalo to disperse; after which, the viceroy
would assuredly carry the regulations into execution with the utmost
rigour, when there was no one to oppose him.
At the time when the viceroy was received at Lima, Pedro de Puelles, who
was lieutenant of Guanuco under Vaca de Castro, came among the first to
pay his compliments and to tender submission to his authority. As he had
resided long in Peru, and had great experience in the affairs of that
country, the viceroy gave him a new commission, by which he was confirmed
in the lieutenancy of Guanuco, to which city he was sent back, with orders
to hold the inhabitants in readiness to take the field with their horses
and arms in case of need. Puelles not only prepared the people of his
government for taking the field, but even retained in his pay some
soldiers who had come from the province of Chachapoyas along with Gomez de
Soliz and Bonefaz. Thinking it necessary to strengthen his army as much as
possible to oppose Gonzalo, who was now marching towards Lima, the viceroy
sent Jeronimo de Villegas with a letter commanding Puelles to join him
without delay with all his force. On the arrival of Villegas at Guanuco,
he and Puelles consulted together on the state of affairs, and concluded
that if they should join the viceroy they would give a decided superiority
to his side; and after the defeat of Gonzalo, having no one to oppose him,
the viceroy would then cause the regulations to be enforced in their
utmost rigour, by which the whole colonists of Peru would suffer extreme
injury; as by depriving them of their Indians, not only the burgesses to
whom they belonged would be reduced to poverty, but even the soldiers
would be materially injured, as the burgesses would be no longer in
condition to furnish subsistence to the troops as now. They came to the
resolution therefore to join the party of Gonzalo, and set out immediately
in search of his army for that purpose.
[1] The author of this history. - E.
[2] About that distance to the north of Lima is the town of _Huaura_,
which is probably the place indicated in the text, as in many names of
places in Peru the initial syllable _Gua_ or _Hua_, are
interchangeably used by different authors. - E.
[3] Zarate is exceedingly negligent in regard to dates. We learn from the
history of America, II. 370, that the present occurrences took place
in 1544. - E.
[4] It has been already mentioned in a former note, that this is probably
a different orthography for Huaura, a place about 70 miles to the N.N.
W. of Lima. - E.
[5] Arequipa is a considerable way from the coast, on which there are
several harbours, thirty or forty miles distant. - E.
[6] Garcilasso de la Vega differs somewhat in the names of one or two of
these leading men who deserted from Gonzalo, and enumerates a
considerable number more, among whom he names one Pedro Pizarro,
saying they were in all about forty, with many of whom he was
personally acquainted. - E.
END OF VOLUME FOURTH.
End of A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. IV., by Robert Kerr
