Cieza’s work was designed to consist of four parts: 1. Geography and description of Peru; 2. History of the Incas and of the ancient civilization of Peru; 3. Discovery and conquest of Peru; 4. The civil wars of the conquistadores of Peru. In his _Obras completas_ (VIII, 143-150) Barros Arana discusses the question as to what extent this programme was carried out by the author. VIII [Sidenote: Girolamo Benzoni] [Sidenote: Benzoni goes to America] Girolamo Benzoni, the author of _La Historia del mondo nuovo_, was a contemporary of Cieza de León. He was born at Milan about 1519, and at the age of twenty-one he undertook a voyage to America, moved by the marvellous stories of adventure and of quickly acquired wealth that were circulated in Europe. His route to the port of departure led him to Medina del Campo, thence to Seville and down the Guadalquivir to San Lucar. At this port he embarked for the Canary Islands, fearing that as a foreigner he would not be permitted to take passage directly from Spain to the Indies. After two months spent in the islands, he set out for America, and in the course of time we find him involved in the unfortunate enterprises of Governor Ortal in Venezuela, attracted by the governor’s promise of riches. More fortunate, however, than many of the governor’s followers, he escaped alive, although desperately ill. That he did not suffer a worse fate was due in a large measure to the care taken of him by Antonio de Castiglioni, a priest, who accompanied him to the island of Margarita. Later he embarked for Porto Rico, and sailed thence to Santo Domingo, where he was in 1544, and where he remained for eleven months. In the course of his subsequent wanderings he visited Cuba, Tierra Firme, Nombre de Dios, Panama, Cartagena, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Peru. During some parts of these journeys, he suffered extremely from hunger, particularly in Nicaragua. Of his last years in America and his return to Italy, he gives the following account: [Sidenote: Leaves America on Gasca’s order]