Pizarro believed that a few hundreds of good men, well provided with artillery and horses, would be as effective as thousands in striking terror to masses of Indians armed only with spears and swords. Arrived at Panama, it was arranged that he should proceed to Peru at once, while Almagro would follow later with reinforcements recruited among the unemployed adventurers in Nicaragua. All sorts of good fortune favoured the daring enterprise. For once the fitful winds which usually baffle sailing ships in the Gulf of Panama were kind, and Pizarro's clumsy, little caravels traversed in thirteen days the seven hundred miles of inhospitable coast which lay between the Isthmus and the first Inca provinces. Landing among the half-civilised tribes of Ecuador, he had the good luck to find a store of gold and emeralds. This he sent back, as an encouragement to Almagro, and marching down the Ecuador coast, he reached the Gulf of Guayaquil, on whose southern shore began the populous and civilised portions of the empire. He crossed to the island of Puna, overcame its fierce inhabitants with great slaughter, and there was joined by a large and welcome reinforcement of men and horses under the command of Hernando de Soto, afterwards so famous as the discoverer of the Mississippi, who had come on his own motion to get his share in the spoils. So far, Pizarro's operations had been among outlying provinces owning only nominal allegiance to the Incas, but he now felt strong enough to cross over to Tumbez and establish a footing in their real domain. From Tumbez he marched south to Paita, where he determined to establish his base. The quick eye of the master general appreciated the strategical advantages of this valley. At this point the great military road coming down from the plateau of Ecuador debouched on the coast plain. Communication to the south was easy by a road which connected all the coast valleys with branches climbing to the plateaux. An anchorage at the valley's mouth afforded a sure means of keeping open that communication with Panama which was so essential to success; reinforcements could reach him in whatever part of Peru he might venture, and a garrison left at Paita would command the main route connecting Quito and Cuzco, cutting the Peruvian empire in two.