The Captains Diego De Royas And Philip Gutierez Were Sent With Above Three Hundred Men To The Eastwards, Where They Afterwards Made Some Establishments On The Rio De La Plata.

Captain Monroy was sent to Chili with reinforcements to Pedro de Valdivia, who was engaged in reducing that country.

Captain Juan Perez de Guevara was sent to reduce the country of Mullobamba which he had discovered. This is an exceedingly mountainous country, in which the two great rivers Marannon and La Plata have their sources, both of which run into the Atlantic. Its inhabitants are Caribs, or canibals, and their country so hot that they go entirely naked, or at least have only a few rags round their loins. While in this country, Juan Perez got notice of an extensive province beyond the mountains towards the north, in which there are rich gold mines, and which has camels and fowls like those of New Spain, and a species of sheep considerably smaller than those of Peru. In that country it is necessary to water all kinds of seeds regularly, as it seldom rains. In it there is a lake, the environs of which are exceedingly populous. In all its rivers there are certain _fishes_ as large as dogs, which they likewise very much resemble, which kill and eat the Indians when they go into the water or even pass near it, as they often come out of the water and walk on the dry land[15]. This great country is bounded on the north by the Marannon, on the east by Brasil, and on the south by the Rio de la Plata; and it is said that the Amazons dwell in this country, of whom Orellana received intelligence while descending the Marannon.

Vaca de Castro remained above eighteen months in Cuzco after the departure of these various expeditions, employing himself in making a distribution of the unoccupied lands and Indians, and settling the whole country in good order, issuing likewise many useful regulations for the protection and preservation of the Indians. In that period the richest gold mine ever heard of in our days was discovered near Cuzco in a river named _Carabaya_, where a single Indian is able to gather to the extent of a mark in one day[16]. The whole country being now perfectly tranquil, and the Indians protected from those excessive toils to which they had been subjected during the civil war, Gonzalo Pizarro was permitted to come to Cuzco, and after a few days went thence to Las Charcas, where he employed himself in taking care of the extensive estate which he possessed in that country. He there remained in quiet, till the arrival of the viceroy, Blasco Nunnez Vela in Peru, as shall be related in the sequel.

[1] This chapter is merely a continuation of the history of the discovery and conquest of Peru, by Zarate: but we have thought proper to divide it in this manner, separating the transactions which took place during the life of Francisco Pizarro, from those which occurred after his death.

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