The inhabitants of _Tumbez_ did not this time receive the Spaniards with their previous cordiality. On the contrary, one of the _balsas_ bearing them was seized, and three persons were borne into the adjacent woods and massacred. Pizarro on entering the town was astonished to find it not only deserted, but almost entirely demolished. A few substantial buildings only--and these despoiled of their ornaments--remained to mark the site of the government of Almagro and of the bishopric of Luque! Pizarro, having despatched a small party in pursuit of the fugitives, was so fortunate as to get possession of the governor of the place, from whom he received the explanation that the dilapidated condition of the town was the result of a fierce contest with the inhabitants of _Puná_. He likewise learned that the two followers whom he had left on his former visit had perished. One of these, however, had bequeathed him a scroll, which Pizarro obtained from an unsuspecting native, and on which were written the words: “Know, whoever you may be that may chance to set foot in this country, that it contains more gold and silver than there is iron in Biscay.” This intelligence, however, encouraging as it was, was not sufficient to restore the spirits of the soldiers, who had fully counted on the spoils of _Tumbez_. [Sidenote: 1532.] Pizarro felt the pressing necessity of giving active employment to his soldiers, but at the same time he dreaded to advance further into the interior without complete information. He took a middle course. Leaving behind part of his men, he himself with the remainder reconnoitered the interior. In May a detachment under his own command kept advancing on the more level region, whilst a smaller body skirted the slopes of the _Andes_ under Hernando de Soto, a cavalier afterwards renowned as the discoverer of the Mississippi, and whose portrait is to be seen in the Rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. The Spanish leader, being awakened to the necessity of not unnecessarily provoking the hostility of the natives, maintained strict discipline, and enjoined his men to abstain from all acts of violence. By lenient conduct he soon effaced the previous unfavourable impressions respecting him, and he was welcomed in the villages beneath the _Cordilleras_. Proclaiming everywhere that he came in the name of the Pope and of the king of Spain, the simple natives involuntarily saw themselves become subjects of the latter, as a preliminary to being members of the faith of which the former was the head.