*25
[Footnote 24: "Hallo, i tuvo mas Oro, i Plata, que otro ningun
Espanol de quantos han pasado a Indias, ni que ninguno de quantos
Capitanes han sido por el Mundo." Gomara Hist. de las Ind., cap.
144.]
[Footnote 25: Ms. de Caravantes. - Pizarro y Orellana, Discurso
Leg. y Pol., ap. Varones Ilust. Gonzalo Pizarro, when taken
prisoner by President Gasca, challenged him to point out any
quarter of the country in which the royal grant had been carried
into effect by a specific assignment of land to his brother. See
Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 5, cap. 36.]
To a man possessed of the active energies of Pizarro, sloth was
the greatest evil. The excitement of play was in a manner
necessary to a spirit accustomed to the habitual stimulants of
war and adventure. His uneducated mind had no relish for more
refined, intellectual recreation. The deserted foundling had
neither been taught to read nor write. This has been disputed by
some, but it is attested by unexceptionable authorities. *26
Montesinos says, indeed, that Pizarro, on his first voyage, tried
to learn to read; but the impatience of his temper prevented it,
and he contented himself with learning to sign his name. *27 But
Montesinos was not a contemporary historian. Pedro Pizarro, his
companion in arms, expressly tells us he could neither read nor
write; *28 and Zarate, another contemporary, well acquainted with
the Conquerors, confirms this statement, and adds, that Pizarro
could not so much as sign his name.
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