"
In this same commander, the reader will readily recognize the
veteran lieutenant of Gonzalo Pizarro.
On his return home, Zarate set about the compilation of his work.
His first purpose was to confine it to the events that followed
the arrival of Blasco Nunez; but he soon found, that, to make
these intelligible, he must trace the stream of history higher up
towards its sources. He accordingly enlarged his plan, and,
beginning with the discovery of Peru, gave an entire view of the
conquest and subsequent occupation of the country, bringing the
narrative down to the close of Gasca's mission. For the earlier
portion of the story, he relied on the accounts of persons who
took a leading part in the events. He disposes more summarily of
this portion than of that in which he himself was both a
spectator and an actor; where his testimony, considering the
advantages his position gave him for information, is of the
highest value.
Alcedo in his Biblioteca Americana, Ms., speaks of Zarate's work
as "containing much that is good, but as not entitled to the
praise of exactness." He wrote under the influence of party heat,
which necessarily operates to warp the fairest mind somewhat from
its natural bent. For this we must make allowance, in perusing
accounts of conflicting parties. But there is no intention,
apparently, to turn the truth aside in support of his own cause;
and his access to the best sources of knowledge often supplies us
with particulars not within the reach of other chroniclers.
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