A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 05: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 05: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
From the 18th of January 1546, the day on which he defeated the viceroy,
Gonzalo Pizarro continued to reside at Quito till the middle of July of
that year, accompanied by a force of about five hundred men, occupied in
almost continual feastings and revelry. Various reasons were assigned
for his long residence in that place; some alleging that it was on
purpose to be more at hand for receiving early intelligence from Spain;
while others attribute it to the great profits he derived from the gold
mines which had been recently discovered in that neighbourhood; and
others again alleged that he was detained by attachment to the lady
formerly mentioned, whose husband he had procured to be assassinated by
Vincente Pablo. That woman was delivered, after the death of her
husband, of a child which was put to death by her father; for which
inhuman action he was ordered to be hanged by Pedro de Puelles.
During his residence in Quito, Gonzalo Pizarro sent off several
detachments of soldiers to different places, giving commissions and
instructions to their commanders in his own name as governor of Peru.
Among these, the lieutenant Benalcazar was sent back to his former
government; having been pardoned and even taken into favour by Gonzalo.
A reinforcement was also sent to Pedro de Valdivia who commanded in
Chili, under the command of Captain Ulloa, whom he had sent to ask
assistance to enable him to continue and maintain his conquests in that
country. Other officers and soldiers were sent to other parts, which are
unnecessary to be particularized. At length Gonzalo determined to leave
Quito, and to establish his residence in Lima; and it has been alleged
that he was principally induced to take this step from suspicion of the
fidelity of Lorenzo de Aldana, his lieutenant at Lima, who was so much
beloved by all the inhabitants of that city as to be almost in condition
to have revolted to the royal cause. Gonzalo is said likewise to have
been somewhat suspicious of his lieutenant-general Carvajal, being
afraid lest he might be so puffed up by the many victories he had
gained, and by his immense distance, as to be induced to set up for
himself. He accordingly left Quito under the command of Pedro de
Puelles, whom he appointed his lieutenant and captain-general in that
province, with a force of three hundred men, having great confidence in
his attachment ever since he had succoured him when in straits on his
march from Cuzco to Lima, and when his army was on the point of
abandoning him. He reposed so entirely on Puelles, that he believed, if
the king were to send any force against him by the route of the province
in which Benalcazar commanded, that Puelles would prevent them from
being able to penetrate into Peru.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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