420 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



the boat free — certainly it was great compassion that God showed 

 to us, those of us who came off alive from such a dreadful den, with 

 such cruelties and tyrannies. 



1213. Two days after putting out to sea we were still drinking 

 fresh water from the river ; and after i6 days we made Margarita 

 and we went and made port 3 leagues below the port of Margarita. 

 And as soon as the people on shore made us out, they sent word 

 to the city, saying that we were French because as we were rowing 

 and our sails were made out of the Peruvian Indian women's blankets, 

 they could not imagine what we might be if not French, although 

 we were still worse for them than if we had been French. And so 

 we beached the brigantines on shore, for they were of no further 

 use, for they were in a sinking condition. That would have been 

 about 4 in the afternoon, festival of the Magdalen ; and about an hour 

 later a man arrived from Margarita to see and find out who the 

 people were, coming in those brigantines ; and he came to the brigan- 

 tine of the rebel Lope de Aguirre and told him he had come com- 

 missioned by the Governor to learn and find out what nationality 

 they were. Lope de Aguirre answered him, saying that they were 

 soldiers, that they had left the Kingdoms of Peru with Gov. Pedro 

 de Ursua to explore the Rio Maranon and the Provinces of El Dorado 

 and Omagua, and that the Governor had died on that river and so 

 it was necessary that they should go and give word and information 

 to the Viceroy and Circuit Court of Peru how Gov. Pedro de Ursua 

 had died, and give an account of the country that they had explored 

 and of what had taken place there and that they had been through 

 great extremes of hunger and illness before arriving there, and that 

 what they wanted from that country was food and nothing else, for 

 they had at once to get ready to go to Nombre de Dios on their way 

 to render their account in the Kingdoms of Peru, and that although 

 they were poor travelers, nevertheless they possessed some gold and 

 silver sufficient to pay for what they needed there ; and so Lope de 

 Aguirre took out a gold cup which had belonged to that poor little 

 creature, Doiia Ines de Atiensa, and a silver pitcher and a scarlet 

 cloak with much gold trimming, and gave it to this man for himself, 

 and so he went off at once to the city of Margarita to bring the news, 

 saying that they were Spaniards and that they came from the King- 

 doms of Peru, that they had set out with a Governor to explore the 

 Rio Maraiion, and that he had died, and that they had made port 

 there after great trials, sick and famished, and that they had no 

 intention of staying long in that country, but wanted to rest 5 or 6 

 days and satisfy their hunger. 



