ABSTRACT

HERE I would have concluded my account of the events which occurred in this province, in order to turn the narrative to what happened to the Marquis Don Francisco Pizarro; but it will tend to the clearness of both the one subject and the other if I write touching the arrival of Andagoya. Let the reader remember that we mentioned that officer’s arrival at Panamá, and that his Majesty appointed him to the government of the Rio de San Juan, which is in the land of Tierra Firme on the confines of Peru; and that, notwithstanding his Majesty’s order that he was not to encroach upon any tract settled or explored by any of the captains of the Marquis Don Francisco Pizarro, he did that same, although it was in disobedience to the royal command. At that time the port of Buenaventura was scarcely discovered. So he took experienced pilots with him who, by their art, might seek a port by which to enter that land. With the people he had 45assembled, he left Panamá and sailed on until he arrived at the Isle of Palms. After some things that happened, his ships entered a bay into which many rivers which rose in the mountains emptied themselves. From the position of the harbour, the opinion was that the city of Cali would be found inland. So he began to travel by one of the roughest and most difficult roads that is to be found in any part of the world. After having suffered great hardships, and lost all the horses, he reached the city of Cali and was well received by the inhabitants. Andagoya presented the commission he brought with him, declaring that he came to do much good and to maintain justice for all. After reading it, but without asking to see his instructions, nor considering that there was no river called after San Juan in that land, they received Andagoya as Governor and Captaingeneral : in which they acted very foolishly.