Some Short Time Before Gonzalo Got To Peru Intelligence Of His Return Had
Reached Quito, On Which The Inhabitants Collected A Considerable Number Of
Swine And Peruvian Sheep Which They Sent Off To Meet Him.
They sent off at
the same time a good many horses, and a supply of clothes for Gonzalo and
his officers.
This seasonable supply met them above fifty leagues from
Quito, and one may easily judge that it was received with much joy,
especially the provisions. The whole party, from the general to the
private soldier, was almost entirely naked; as, from the almost continual
rains to which they had been exposed, and the other hardships of their
journey, their clothes were all rotten and torn to rags, and they were
reduced to the necessity of covering themselves with the skins of beasts.
Their swords were all without scabbards, and almost destroyed with rust.
Their legs and arms were torn and scratched by the brushwood, thorns, and
brakes, through which they had travelled; and the whole party were so pale,
lean, and worn out with fatigue and famine, that their most intimate
acquaintances were hardly able to recognize them. Among all their
privations, what they felt the most unsufferable, was the want of salt, of
which they had not been able to procure the smallest supply for above two
hundred leagues.
On arriving in the kingdom of Quito, where every thing they stood in need
of was brought them, they knelt down and kissed the ground as a mark of
gratitude and satisfaction, and returned thanks to God for their
preservation from so many dangers.
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