S4 



common consent^ resolved to abandon this ex- 

 pedition ; but they were of various opinions 

 respecting their retreat, some being desirous of 

 returning to Peru, while others wished to form 

 a settlement in the northern provinces, where 

 fhey had been received with such hospitality. 



The first opinion was supported by Almagro, 

 whose mind began to be impressed by the sug- 

 gestions contained in the letters of his friends. 

 He represented to his soldiers the dangers to 

 which a settlement would be exposed in so war- 

 like a country, and persuaded them to follovr 

 him to Cuzco, where he hoped to establish 

 himself either by favour or force. His fatal 

 experience of the mountain road, determined 

 him to take that of the sea-coast, by which he 

 reconducted his troops with very little loss. 

 On his return to Peru in 1538, he took posses- 

 sion by surprise of the ancient capttal of that 

 empire and, after several ineft'ectual negocia- 

 tions, fought a battle with the brother of 

 Pizarro, by whom he was taken, tried and be- 

 headed, as a disturber of the public peace. 

 His army, having dispersed at their defeat, 

 afterwards reassembled under the appellation of 

 the soldiers of Chili, and excited new disturb- 

 litnces in Peru, already sufficiently agitated. 

 Such was the fate of the first expedition 

 against Chi^i, undertaken by the beet body of 



