For The Better Execution Of His Design, And Lest
Reinforcements Might Be Sent From Nicaragua To Pizarro, He Came By
Sea to
that place one night, where he made himself master of two large ships
which had been fitted out
There expressly for the purpose of carrying a
large reinforcement of men and horses to Peru. In these two ships, and in
those which he brought with him from Guatimala, Alvarado set sail with
five hundred men, cavalry and infantry, and landed on the coast of South
America at the harbour of Puerto Viejo.
From Puerto Viejo, Alvarado marched almost due east with his army,
crossing those mountains which separate the plain country of Guayaquil
from the table land of Quito, which the Spaniards call the _Arcabucos_,
being thickly covered with brushwood, but over which the road is tolerably
easy and only moderately steep, being almost under the equator. In this
march his men suffered extremely from hunger and thirst, as the country
through which they went was very barren, and had neither springs nor
rivulets. The only relief they could procure was from certain large canes
as thick as a mans leg, in each of the joints of which they usually found
rather more than a quart of excellent water. They were so much distressed
by famine on this march as to be under the necessity of eating several of
their horses, the flesh of which sold so high that a dead horse brought
more money on this occasion than he had cost when living.
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