In
this dreary abode Pizarro omitted no means by which to sustain
the drooping spirits of his men. Morning prayers were duly said,
and the evening hymn to the Virgin was regularly chanted; the
festivals of the church were carefully commemorated, and every
means taken by their commander to give a kind of religious
character to his enterprise, and to inspire his rough followers
with a confidence in the protection of Heaven, that might support
them in their perilous circumstances. *7
[Footnote 7: "Cada Manana daban gracias a Dios: a las tardes
decian la Salve, i otras Oraciones, por las Horas: sabian las
Fiestas, i enian cuenta con los Viernes, i Domingos." Herrera,
Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 10, cap. 3.]
In these uncomfortable quarters, their chief employment was to
keep watch on the melancholy ocean, that they might hail the
first signal of the anticipated succour. But many a tedious
month passed away, and no sign of it appeared. All around was
the same wide waste of waters, except to the eastward, where the
frozen crest of the Andes, touched with the ardent sun of the
equator, glowed like a ridge of fire along the whole extent of
the great continent. Every speck in the distant horizon was
carefully noticed, and the drifting timber or masses of sea-weed,
heaving to and fro on the bosom of the waters, was converted by
their imaginations into the promised vessel; till, sinking under
successive disappointments, hope gradually gave way to doubt, and
doubt settled into despair.
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