1 70 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



approximately two years ; for though Cortes set 

 sail with his little army in February, 1519, the 

 subjugation of Mexico was not completed until 

 nearly two years had elapsed. 



There seems to be no doubt but that the 

 redoubtable Francisco Pizarro, who afterwards 

 conquered so effectually the kingdom of the Incas, 

 was in Hispaniola as early as the year 1510, and 

 he may have been there even before that date. 

 When, in 1524, he began to move southward 

 from Panama on his famous expedition, he 

 travelled without horses, and the attempt to 

 reach the realm of gold proved futile. 



His second expedition, however, was more 

 successful, but then he had with him a number 

 of horses that he had taken the precaution to 

 buy before leaving Panama, and the expedition 

 numbered, all told, about 160 men. The horses 

 would appear to have been of the roughest, and 

 some of them in poor condition, yet Pizarro 

 positively refused to give leave for any of them 

 to be destroyed, having apparently taken to heart 

 the lesson he had received from the reverse which 

 had overtaken him on his previous expedition 

 when he was without horses. 



It is probable, however, that even Pizarro was 

 not prepared for the extraordinary part that was 

 presently to be played by those very animals that 

 he had with him. 



For before he had advanced very far it became 



