“Having taken on board there bread and wine and other provisions, we again set sail. At the end of eight days, on the 13th of September, 1556, we entered the port of San Lucar de Barameda, and thence proceeded to Seville. As soon as I was cleared, I went to Cadiz, and having embarked in an urca, at the end of two months I reached Genoa, where I rejoiced exceedingly, and soon afterwards arrived at Milan; always praising the Majesty of God, His power, and that of our Saviour, for having granted me the grace to see so many strange things, and so much of the world, and so many foreign countries; and for having liberated me out of so many serious trials. When I reflect, it seems to me impossible that a human body could have undergone so much—_che un corpo humano habbia potuto supportar tanto_.” [Sidenote: Fernández’s _Relación_] Juan Fernández’s _Relación_, dealing with the social disturbances of Peru, after the death of Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza (1551-1552) and the causes from which they proceeded is a clearly written and trustworthy document, which remained unpublished until 1865. It is especially valuable as a critical investigation of the principal causes and events of Girón’s rebellion.[28] Its author was the fiscal of the audiencia of Lima, and arrived in Peru either with Pedro de la Gasca or with Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, probably with the latter. CHAPTER IV PERUVIAN AND CHILEAN HISTORIANS, 1550-1600. I. _José de Acosta._ II. _Garcilaso de la Vega._ III. _Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa; Polo de Ondegardo._ IV. _Cristóbal de Molina; Cabello de Balboa._ V. _Pedro de Valdivia._ VI. _Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo._ VII. _Pedro de Mariño de Lovera._ I [Sidenote: Gasca’s work] [Sidenote: Antonio de Mendoza & successors] At the beginning of the second half of the sixteenth century a temporary calm brooded over the affairs of Peru. President Gasca had allayed the factional disturbances, but his administration, if it had produced peace, had nevertheless brought little satisfaction to the contending parties. A new attempt was now made to set up a viceroy. In the meantime the audiencia controlled public affairs, but in 1551 Antonio de Mendoza arrived in Lima as the viceroy of Peru. With the prestige of his long reign in Mexico, he undertook the task of establishing order in the unorganized colony, but he died the following year, leaving the governmental authority again in the hands of the audiencia. In 1555 Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza accepted the vacant office, and a line of more or less distinguished successors continued the viceregal administration to the end of the century.[29] [Sidenote: State of Lima]