LOPEZ DE AGUIKRE. 35 



only on the back of the Cordilleras that I found a small 

 chapel, destined, according to its inscription, for prayers to 

 be addressed to Heaven for the destruction of the termites. 



Valencia affords some historical remembrances; but these, 

 like everything connected with the colonies, have no remote 

 date, and recall to mind either civil discords or sanguinary 

 conflicts with the savages. Lopez de Aguirre, whose crimes 

 and adventures form some of the most dramatic episodes of 

 the history of the conquest, proceeded in 1561, from Peru, 

 by the river Amazon to the island of Margareta; and 

 thence, by the port of Burburata, into the valleys of Aragua. 

 On his entrance into Valencia, which proudly entitles itself 

 ' the City of the King,' he proclaimed the independance of 

 the country, and the deposition of Philip II. The inha- 

 bitants withdrew to the islands of the lake of Tacarigua, 

 taking with them all the boats from the shore, to be more 

 secure in their retreat. In consequence of this stratagem, 

 Aguirre could exercise his cruelties only on his own people. 

 From Valencia he addressed to the king of Spain, a remark- 

 able letter, in which he boasts alternately of his crimes and 

 his piety; at the same time giving advice to the king on the 



fovernment of the colonies, and the system of missions, 

 urrounded by savage Indians, navigating on a great sea of 

 fresh water, as he calls the Amazon, he is alarmed at the 

 heresies of Martin Luther, and the increasing influence of 

 schismatics in Europe.* Lopez de Aguirre, or as he is still 



The following are some remarkable passages in the letter from 

 Aguirre to the king of Spain. 



" King Philip, native of Spain, son of Charles the Invincible ! I, 

 Lopez de Aguirre, thy vassal, an old Christian, of poor but noble parents, 

 and a native of the town of Onate in Biscay, passed over young to Peru, to 

 labour lance in hand. I rendered thee great services in the conquest of 

 India. I fought for thy glory, without demanding pay of thy officers, as 

 is proved by the books of thy treasury. I firmly believe, Christian King 

 and Lord, that, very ungrateful to me and my companions, all those who 

 write to thee from this land [America], deceive thee much, because thou 

 eest things from too far off. I recommend to thee to be more just toward 

 the good vassals whom thou hast in this country : for 1 and mine, 

 weary of the cruelties and injustice which thy viceroys, thy governors, 

 and thy judges, exercise in thy name, are resolved to obey thee no more. 

 We regard ourselves no longer as Spaniards. We wage a cruel war against 

 thee, because we will not endure the oppression of thy ministers ; who, 

 to give places to their nephews and their children, dispose of our lives, 



D 2 



