His Majesty Granted His Demand, Under Those
Conditions Which Used To Be Stipulated With Other Officers Who Engaged In
Similar Enterprizes.
With this authority, he returned to Panama,
accompanied by Ferdinand, Juan, and Gonzalo Pizarro, and Francisco Martin
de Alcantara, his brothers.
Ferdinand and Juan Pizarro were his brothers
both by father and mother, and the only lawful sons of Gonzalo Pizarro, an
inhabitant of Truxillo in Old Spain, a captain in the infantry regiment of
Navarre: Don Francisco Pizarro himself and Gonzalo Pizarro were natural
sons of the elder Gonzalo Pizarro by different mothers: Francisco de
Alcantara was likewise the brother of Don Francisco Pizarro, by his mother
only, but by a different father[10]. Besides these, Pizarro brought as
many men from Spain to assist in his enterprize as he could procure, being
mostly inhabitants of Truxillo and other places in Estremadura[11].
On his arrival at Panama in 1530, Pizarro and his associates used every
effort to complete the preparations for the enterprize; but at first a
dispute arose between him and Almagro. The latter complained that Pizarro
had only attended to his own interests when at the court of Spain, having
procured the appointments of governor and president of Peru for himself,
without making any mention of Almagro, or at least without having procured
any office for him, who had borne the far greater proportion of the
expences hitherto incurred. Pizarro alleged that the king had refused to
give any office to Almagro, though solicited by him for that purpose: But
engaged his word to renounce the office of president in his behalf, and to
supplicate the king to bestow that appointment upon him. Almagro was
appeased by this concession; and they proceeded to make every preparation
in concert that might be conducive to the success of the undertaking. But,
before entering upon the narrative of their actions, it seems proper to
give some account of the situation of Peru, of the most remarkable things
which it contains, and of the manners and customs of the inhabitants.
The country of Peru, of which this history is intended to treat, commences
at the equator, and extends south towards the antarctic pole[12]. The
people who inhabit in the neighbourhood of the equator have swarthy
complexions; their language is extremely guttural; and they are addicted
to unnatural vices, for which reason they care little for their women and
use them ill[13], The women wear their hair very short, and their whole
clothing consists of a short petticoat, covering only from the waist to
about the knees. By the women only is the grain cultivated, and by them it
is bruised or ground to meal, and baked. This grain, called maize in the
West-Indian Islands, is called _Zara_ in the language of Peru[14]. The men
wear a kind of shirts or jackets without sleeves, which only reach to the
navel, and do not cover the parts of shame. They wear their hair short,
having a kind of tonsure on their crowns, almost like monks.
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