136 



SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



Speier might perhaps have fared better had his lieutenant, Fredemann, obeyed 

 orders by coming to his assistance en route. Instead of doing so, the desire to 

 secure the glory of the discovery for himself induced him to advance alone by a 

 different track. Leaving the plains, he scaled the escarpments from the west, 

 and thus reached the coveted goal, the rich land of the Muyscas, with its cities, 

 t-emples, gems, and precious metals. But Fredemann had himself been forestalled, 

 and on his arrival he found the plateau already in possession of other Europeans, 

 who had come from quite an opposite quarter. 



Belalcazar, properly Benalcazar, Pizarro's lieutenant in Quito, aspiring to 

 extend his conquests in the direction of the north, and acting on the information 



Fig. 50. — Chief Exploeing Expeditions in Venezuela and Colombia, 

 Scale 1 : 24,000,000. 



Si. = Simons. 

 Sv. = Sievei s. 

 Bel. = Belalcazar. 

 Fer. = Fernandez. 



Rob. = Eobledo. 

 M. — Maldonado. 

 R -St. =- Reiss and Stubel. 

 W. — Whymper. 



Col. = Columbus. 

 P. = Pinzon. 

 Rg. = Raleigh. 

 Ch. = Chaffanjon. 



620 Miles. 



received from the Peruvians of Quito, had sent forward a certain Juan de 

 Ampudia, a ferocious adventurer, described in the quaint language of the chronicler 

 as " causing the same effects as lightning and quicksilver. Like the latter he 

 attracted all the precious metals that he found in the houses ; like the former he 

 burnt and reduced to ashes the houses themselves as well as the cultivated lands." 

 Forcing his way by fire and sword to the banks of the Cauca, he here founded 

 a city early in 1536 to which he gave his own name. But the rising colony 

 was soon after removed by Belalcazar to the spot now occupied by Cali, political 

 and commercial centre of the district. Returning to the south, Belalcazar 



