Andagoya, the author of this narrative, was born in the valley of Cuartango in the province of Alava. The account of his life as narrated by himself begins with his departure from Spain. On the Isthmus and in regions lying north and south of Panama, he was engaged in various exploring expeditions, during which by observation he appears to have acquired much knowledge of the manners and customs of the Indians. A weaker and less positive character than Oviedo, he was consequently less disposed than Oviedo to revolt against the régime of Pedrarias; in fact, he went with him to Panama, and received from him an encomienda, and became one of the first regidores of Panama, after that settlement had been declared a city. In 1521 and 1522 he was inspector-general of the Indians on the Isthmus. He was the first to receive information concerning the Inca Kingdom of Peru, but, lacking the health, perhaps also the initiative, to become the leader of an expedition against it, he communicated his knowledge to Pizarro and his partners. [Sidenote: Failure of Andagoya’s expedition] [Sidenote: News of Peru given to Pizarro] “In this province (Birú) I received accounts both from chiefs and from merchants and interpreters, concerning all the coast, and everything that has since been discovered, as far as Cuzco, especially with regard to the inhabitants of each province, for in their trading these people extend their wanderings over many lands. Taking new interpreters, and the principal chief of that land, who wished of his own accord to go with me, and show me other provinces of the coast that obeyed him, I descended to the sea. The ships followed the coast at some little distance from the land, while I went close in, in a canoe, discovering the ports. While thus employed, I fell into the water, and if it had not been for the chief, who took me in his arms and pulled me on to the canoe, I should have been drowned. I remained in this position until a ship came to succour me, and while they were helping the others, I remained for more than two hours wet through. What with the cold air and the quantity of water I had drunk, I was laid up next day, unable to turn. Seeing that I could not now conduct this discovery along the coast in person, and that the expedition would thus come to an end, I resolved to return to Panama with the chief and interpreters who accompanied me, and report the knowledge I had acquired of all that land. “The land had never been discovered either by Castilla de Oro, or by way of the gulf of San Miguel, and the province was called Pirú, because one of the letters of Birú has been corrupted, and so we call it Pirú, but in reality there is no country of that name.