Matthew, about one degree north; and
Pizarro, after consulting with his officers, resolved to
disembark his forces and advance along the coast, while the
vessels held their course at a convenient distance from the
shore.
The march of the troops was severe and painful in the extreme;
for the road was constantly intersected by streams, which,
swollen by the winter rains, widened at their mouths into
spacious estuaries. Pizarro, who had some previous knowledge of
the country, acted as guide as well as commander of the
expedition. He was ever ready to give aid where it was needed,
encouraging his followers to ford or swim the torrents as they
best could, and cheering the desponding by his own buoyant and
courageous spirit.
At length they reached a thick-settled hamlet, or rather town, in
the province of Coaque. The Spaniards rushed on the place, and
the inhabitants, without offering resistance, fled in terror to
the neighbouring forests, leaving their effects - of much greater
value than had been anticipated - in the hands of the invaders.
"We fell on them, sword in hand," says one of the Conquerors,
with some naivete; "for, if we had advised the Indians of our
approach, we should never have found there such store of gold and
precious stones." *14 The natives, however, according to another
authority, stayed voluntarily; "for, as they had done no harm to
the white men, they flattered themselves none would be offered to
them, but that there would be only an interchange of good offices
with the strangers," *15 - an expectation founded, it may be, on
the good character which the Spaniards had established for
themselves on their preceding visit, but in which the simple
people now found themselves most unpleasantly deceived.
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