161.]
Chapter III
The Spaniards Land At Tumbez. - Pizarro Reconnoitres The Country.
- Foundation Of San Miguel. - March Into The Interior. - Embassy
From The Inca. - Adventures On The March - Reach The Foot Of The
Andes.
1532.
We left the Spaniards at the island of Puna, preparing to make
their descent on the neighbouring continent at Tumbez. This port
was but a few leagues distant, and Pizarro, with the greater part
of his followers, passed over in the ships, while a few others
were to transport the commander's baggage and the military stores
on some of the Indian balsas. One of the latter vessels which
first touched the shore was surrounded, and three persons who
were on the raft were carried off by the natives to the adjacent
woods and there massacred. The Indians then got possession of
another of the balsas, containing Pizarro's wardrobe; but, as the
men who defended it raised loud cries for help, they reached the
ears of Hernando Pizarro, who, with a small body of horse, had
effected a landing some way farther down the shore. A broad tract
of miry ground, overflowed at high water, lay between him and the
party thus rudely assailed by the natives. The tide was out, and
the bottom was soft and dangerous. With little regard to the
danger, however, the bold cavalier spurred his horse into the
slimy depths, and followed by his men, with the mud up to their
saddle-girths, they plunged forward until they came into the
midst of the marauders, who, terrified by the strange apparition
of the horsemen, fled precipitately, without show of fight, to
the neighbouring forests.
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