m 



AI.VARAIX), PEDRO DE. 



ALVAREZ, KRANCISCX). 



ire 



were rip>o.la. H. UMO founded a city, which b. called 

 tathkjo de to* Cabalfcro. (DOW Ou.temala U Vici,), with church of 

 UM MBM name, and Cortea Met him MO Spaniard* to increaae iU 

 pomlaliim Alvarado also wot bU brother Dim to form M-Mle- 

 Liwt to TwaHnM. which h. called San Jor**, and b. then established 

 a trt on tfc* Pacific. nfieeo laffota from to. citv of Santiago, which 

 he oalkd Puerto H. la Poaeaioa. H* then embarked for Spain, where 

 be wu received with a distinction worthy of hU faro* The Emperor 

 Chariea V, on hi. lauding, dwdrad h. would go poat baite to court. 

 In neknowlc.lpn.ent of hi. eervioea, Alvarado obtained the goTernor- 

 kip of Guatemala, and all the gold and valuable* which he had 

 brought were declared hi* own. During thin ri.it he formed a matri- 

 monial alliance with Doha Beatrix de la Cueva, a lady of an ancient 

 awl noble Spaniah boa**, from which the duke, of Albuquerque are 

 Jsainailiil and hortly afterward! be returned with a numerous band 

 of kakhta, fectlemea. kinsmen, and friend*, to Guatemala, which 

 nredilj became a naodtotp* and protperoua city ; and the province, 

 My. Herrera, flounabed while be had the command of it ( Dec.' 4,. 

 lib. 2, cap. S.) 



Greet eoUrpri*** war* ttill in proeecution in South America under 

 Pbarro and Almagro, who bad gained poseewon of Peru, and pro- 

 jected the conquest of Chili. Alvarado WH not of a temper to bo 

 idle while other* were in anna, Quito with ita rich city WM not 

 eooadend wiUiin the boundary of Pixarro'* command ; mid Alvarado, 

 baring authority from the Emperor Charlea to extend hia discoveries, 

 bat with pecial caution not to interfere with the conquests of other 

 captain*, determined to go thither. After Bending one of hi* officers, 

 Garcia de Hulguin, who bad signalled himself in the Mexican cam- 

 paign*, to reconnoitre, and receiving from him encouraging accounts, 

 Be "embarked on the PaciBo with 600 aoldien, 227 of whom were 

 horsemen, with an intention to land at Puerto Tiejo ; but the voyage 

 being unpropitious, and a mortality spreading among the bones, be 

 Uaded at a bay called Bahia de loa Caraques, near Cape San Francisco, 

 seeding on at the same time his pilot, Juan Fernandez, to ascertain 

 the limit, of I'ixarn/s government, on which he declared he bad no 

 wish to intrude. From Caraqnes he marched into the interior, and 

 with a courage and perseverance almost without a parallel, which may 

 be read with interest in the 'Decada' of Herrera, he reached the 

 country he was in quest of. Notwithstanding all his care (for he set 

 an example to the hardiest of his men by frequently dismounting hi* 

 bone and placing a sick man upon it), he lost in the morasses near 

 the coast and in the snows of the Andes seventy-nine of his soldiers ; 

 six Spanish women also who accompanied them perished, and many 

 hones. On ascending the Andes, Alvarado learnt that an armed 

 force under Almagro was in readiness to meet him. He took some of 

 their scouts, treated them well, and sent them back, with a civil 

 message that he did not come to breed disturbance", but only to dis- 

 cover, under the royal commission, new lands along the South Sea, 

 and that he was ready to meet them on friendly terms. They met at 

 Riobamba, on the plain of that name, and it was adjusted that Alva- 

 rado should rrlinquUh hi* project, leave such of hi* followers as were 

 willing to remain, together with all the vessels except those necessary 

 for hi* return, and receive 120,000 cutellaoo*, or piece* of eight, a* 

 an indemnification for bis outlay and losses. This he did, as he 

 afirmed. to avoid injury to hia sovereign, and the evils of civil war- 

 far*. Putarro came up with an additional force, but being informed 

 of what had taken place, the affair ended with lively rejoicing*, and 

 Alvarado departed with valuable present*. 



lli> renown spreading throughout the Spanish possessions, he was 

 called to Honduras to help the settler* out of some difficulties. He 

 was mxived with grrat joy, and the government was resigned into 

 his hand*. Be founded there a town, which he called 'Oracias a 

 Dim,' because hi* men, having suffered much in travelling over 

 barren mountain*, exclaimed, when they reached that place, " Thanks 

 to God, we are come into a good land." He also formed another 

 settlement, which he called San Juan de Puerto de Caballos, iu tho 

 Bay of Honduras. 



Ferdinand Piano having, in 1534, gone to Spain with a great 

 amount of treasure from I'eru. and represented among other things 

 the ccrmmstaiwra of Alvarado's expedition to Quito, the emperor 

 had declared it an entire contravention of hia orders, and expressed 

 mat indignation. H* had lent out orders for Alvarado'* arrest, ami 

 It was on thU account, it is said, that be so readily answered the 

 call to go U> Honduras. The affairs of thst district bring brought 

 into rood order, Alvarado resolved to visit Spain a second time. He 

 embarked with hia wife at the port of Truxillo in Hondura* Bay, on 

 board a caravel Unind for Havanna, and thence proceeded to lii 

 daXraatkm. H* found mean*, by hu argument*, or by the influence 

 of U* friend*, *o to soften the Kmperor, tbst not only bis dis- 

 obodience wa* overlooked, but hi* government waa enlarged with the 

 addition of the province of Honduras to that of Guatemala. He 

 returned with hi* wife, and landed at Puerto de Caballo.. Honduras 

 waa sfain in great disorder, but b. restored it to order, and " from 

 Hal tine," says Herren, " Honduras, which bad been continually 

 troubled with broil* and anffered great oppmnion, was peaceable 

 nader the irovernment of Alvarado." These matter* being adjusted, he 

 proceeded to Onatemala. and net about new discoveries, H* equipped 

 fleet of twelve bur* ship* and two row-gallevr, one of twenty, the 



other of thirteen beaches, and embarked at El Puerto de la Posesion, 

 with 800 soldier*, 150 horses, and a considerable retinue of Indiana. 

 He (ailed along the coast, but, the weather being very unfavourable, 

 put into the port of Los Pueblos de Avalos on the coast of Michoacan. 

 At thin period (1541) the Chiuhimeoas of New Galicia, a brave race 

 of men, from whom, according to Clavigero, the Tlascalans, alliea of 

 Cortes, were descended, had revolted. Onate had marched against 

 them, and been wonted : hearing that Alvarado wa* on the coast, he 

 eut him advice* of what had happened. Alvarado immediately 

 landed at Los Pueblo* with a part of hi* horse and foot, crowed in a 

 night and a day the morass of Tonola, generally reckoned a three 

 day*' march, and on reaching the encampment of the Spaniards, held 

 a consultation with the officers. The Indian* had withdrawn, and 

 fortified themselves on the mountain tops in a position difficult of 

 access : they were numerous, obstinate, hardy, expert bowmen, and 

 very dexterous in the use of the javelin. The Spaniards and their 

 Indian allies attacked them with vigour, but were repulsed and driven 

 back to the plain. The Indians followed in great number*, and the 

 ground being marshy and unfit for cavalry operations, the Spaniards 

 continued their retreat to a river, which they forded ; but the farther 

 bank was so steep, that the troopers weio compelled to dismount and 

 lead their hones up it. Alvarado stayed, as usual, to bring up the 

 rear : a horse climbing the bank slipped, and fell upon him. As be 

 was iu armour, the weight of the animal crushed his breast so severely 

 thbt lie died in three days. His death put a stop to the expedition. 



(Herrera, Uitturia General de lot C'atteUanot, Ac. ; Solis, C<mi/uiita de 

 jtf&rieo ; Humboldt, Political Kaay on New Spain ; J/ittvire de* 

 Chichimegw* par Don Fernando de Alva IxtlUxochitl, publide en 

 Francais par H. Teruaux-Compaus, Paris, 1840.) 



ALVAREZ, FRANCISCO, was mass priest and chaplain to Dom 

 Manuel, king of Portugal, about the year 1515. He was a native of 

 Coimbra, and at that time advanced in life. (Damiaui de Goes call* 

 him "senex moribus iuculpatis.") Of his early history nothing U 

 known. In the year above mentioned Alvarez was appointed by the 

 king to accompany Duarte Ualvam on a minion to the Negus of 

 Abyssinia, or as he was at that time called by the Portuguese, ' ho 

 Preste Joaui.' The mission, along with the Armenian, Mattueua, who 

 had visited Portugal as ambassador from the Negus, arrived at Goa 

 in 1516 ; but Lopo Soarez, who waa at that time governor of the 

 Portuguese possessions in India, detained it there under various pre- 

 tences. After the death of Soarez, his successor, Diogo Lopez de 

 Sequeira, undertook to accompany the mission in person to the Red 

 Sea. The expedition reached Massua on the 16th of April, 1520. 

 Duarte Ualvam died a few days previously at the island of Camaran, 

 and Rodrigo de Lima was nominated to proceed to the court of 

 Abyssinia in his stead, by De Sequeira, who said to the new ambas- 

 sador, " J loin Rodrigo, I do not send Father Francisco Alvarez with 

 you, but you with him, and you are to do nothing without his advice." 



The mission was detained in Abyssinia till April 25, 1526, on which 

 day it sailed from Massua on ita return. Alvarez had gained the con- 

 fidence of the Negus to such a degree, that he wag accredited by him 

 as the envoy to the Pope, along with a native Abyssinian, whom he 

 calls at first Zagajabo, and afterwards (posaibly a title) Licacante. Tho 

 mission sailed to Canauor, and ihenc to Lisbon, where it arrived on 

 the 2ath of July, 1527. Dom Jonui HI., who bad succeeded hia father 

 on the throne of Portugal in 1521, was iu no hurry to forward the 

 Abyssinian ambassador and Alvarez to Rome. The former, in spite of 

 his urgent remonstrances, was detained in Portugal till 1539; but 

 Alvarez was sent in 1533 to Clement VII., into whose hands he 

 delivered bis credentials iu the January of that year, at Bologna, in 

 the presence of the Emperor Charles V. Of the year of Alvarez's 

 death no mention is made by any contemporary and trustworthy 

 author, but Goes, in a memorial addressed to Paul III., and dated 

 at Louvaiiie, Sept. 1, 1540, speaks of him in a way that load* us to 

 infer thst he was then dead. 



According to Ramusio, Ludolf, and Leon Pinello, Alvarez compiled 

 an ' Itinerary' of the mission iu five books, which was never printed. 

 The book entitled 'Ho Preste Joaui das Indian: Verdadera Infor- 

 uiacam das Terra* do Preste Joaui,' printed ' in the house of Luis 

 Rodriguez/ publisher to the King of Portugal, iu October, 1540, con- 

 list* merely of extracts from the larger work. Kauiunio procured 

 from Damiam de Goes another imperfect copy of Alvarez's work, 

 which he represents as differing materially from that publish' <1 in 

 Portugal. Both, he say*, were in the highest degree mutilated and 

 corrupt. The 'Journey in Ethiopia,' by Francisco Alvarez, in lUiuu- 

 sio'* collection (first edition, 1560), is compiled from these two 

 abridgments. What became of the original ' Itinerary ' does not 

 appear. Goes says that Paulus Joviun had undertaken to translate it 

 into I-atin, and possibly it may have fallen into his hands. 



Ramusio's compilation consists of 148 chapters ; the book published 

 in Portugal in 1540 contains 141 chapters, which bring down the 

 narrative to the departure of the mission from Massua on it< i- 

 and nine additional chapters narrating ita return to Portugal, and in 

 in there, which correspond pretty closely witli the last eight 

 chapters of Ramusio. The main difference between the Portuguese 

 and Italian version* consists iu the additional matter contained iu 

 nine of Ramusio's chapters. The Italian ha* added little to the 

 information respecting Abyssinia given in the Portuguese edition, but 



