In January, 1531, Pizarro and his followers embarked again for Peru. Before leaving Panamá, the banners of the company and the royal standard of Spain were consecrated in the Cathedral, mass was performed, and the sacrament was administered to every soldier. The expedition consisted of only two hundred men and twenty-seven horses, a small force for so ambitious an undertaking; but the courageous adventurer had come to believe so thoroughly in the destiny which held in store for him the glory of conquering that great kingdom, of whose extent and riches he had already been permitted the first glimpse, that no power on earth could have discouraged him in his enterprise; he was full of eager enthusiasm when his ships sailed out of the harbor, bound for Tumbes, which he considered the gateway to the Peruvian empire. On his way, he made brief landings at various points, including the island of Puná in the Guayaquil River, a few leagues north of the port of Tumbes on the southern shore of the Gulf of Guayaquil. At Puná the soldiers of Spain won a hard-fought battle over the fierce natives, during which, the Spanish chronicler says: “St. Michael was seen to vanquish Satan in mid-air.” Here the expedition awaited reinforcements, which soon afterward arrived in two ships commanded by Hernando de Soto, and consisted of a hundred volunteers as well as a number of cavalry horses; with this added force, Pizarro proceeded southward to Tumbes, though he found that recently flourishing city entirely depopulated and demolished—by their enemies of Puná it was said—and he was obliged to look for another site for his colony. He sent De Soto with troops to explore the foothills of the Andes while he himself marched southward along the plain for about thirty leagues, until he came to a rich valley watered by several streams, which offered such advantages for settlement that he sent for his troops to come on from Tumbes; here he founded the first Spanish colony in Peru, calling it San Miguel in honor of his victory at Puná; the settlement was removed later to the banks of the Piura River, where the foundation of the present flourishing city of Piura took place. During his march, Pizarro had passed thriving Indian settlements, had been hospitably entertained by the natives and had learned that the great ruler, in whose dominions he was travelling, was at that moment only ten days’ journey from Piura. He was told the story of the quarrel between Atahuallpa and Huascar and was informed that Atahuallpa’s army had successfully invaded Cuzco and taken Huascar prisoner; on that very day the victorious Inca was celebrating his triumph in his camp at Cajamarca, whither he had gone to take the baths. From the same source, Pizarro learned that the vanquished brother had been imprisoned at Jauja, where one of the strongest fortresses of the country was located. All this information was welcome to the Spanish