- E.
[2] This force, according to Garcilasso, amounted to 100 horse, and an
equal number of foot. - E.
[3] According to Garcilasso de la Vega, his force consisted of 340
Spaniards, of whom 150 were horsemen. - E.
[4] These Indians, according to Garcilasso, were laden with arms,
provisions, and ammunition, besides large quantities of hatchets,
ropes, nails, and wooden pins, to use upon occasion. - E.
[5] Perhaps the elevated valley of Macas on the river Morona which runs
into the Tunguragua. - E.
[6] Even Garcilasso, who is sufficiently fond of the marvellous and ever
ready to adopt absurdities, honestly relates of these _Amazons_, that
they were a fierce and wild nation of men, whose wives went forth to
war along with their husbands; and that Orellana invented the tale of
a nation of Amazons to raise the honour of his atchievement, and to
induce the emperor to bestow upon him the government of the country he
had discovered. - E.
[7] According to Garcilasso, he contrived with great difficulty and danger
to navigate in his rude bark from the mouth of the Marannon or Amazons
to the island of Trinidada, where he purchased a ship for his voyage
to Spain. - E.
[8] The river Napo joins the Maranon in lat. 3 deg. 20' S. and long. 70 deg. W.
But we are uncertain whether this were the place where Orellana
deserted, as there are many junctions of large rivers in the course of
the vast Maranon. The two greatest of its tributary streams are the
Negro which joins in long. 60 deg. W. from the north, and the Madeira in
long. 58 deg. W. from the south. - E.
[9] Garcilasso preserves the name of that faithful Spaniard, Hernando
Sanchez de Vargas, a young gentleman of Badajoz. - E.
[10] We learn from Garcilasso that this new road was on the north side of
the river, Napo probably, and consequently that they had kept the
south side in their way eastwards. - E.
[11] It is hardly necessary to say that cinnamon comes only from Ceylon,
not from the Moluccas; and that so entirely different was the
substance sought for in this disastrous expedition from cinnamon, that
it is now entirely unknown in Europe; unless it be the Canella alba,
now only used as a light aromatic of small value by druggists.
Zarate is generally loose and confused in his accounts, and almost
entirely neglectful of dates. We learn from the History of America
that this unfortunate expedition lasted near two years, and that two
hundred and ten Spaniards and four thousand Indians perished during
its continuance, only eighty Spaniards returning to Quito. Garcilasso
says that two thousand of the Indians returned along with the
Spaniards, and served them during the hardships of the journey with
the most affectionate fidelity, supplying their extreme necessities
with herbs, roots, and wild fruit, and with toads, snakes, and other
reptiles, which the Spaniards greedily devoured, or they must have
died for want of food.
