240 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. xiii. 



Andes somewhere near the Equator ; and that this valiant leader, 

 and his picked band of hardy adventurers, found that to over- 

 come the natural difficulties of the region was a harder task 

 than the Conquest of Peru. '' The most irresistible of all was 

 Hunger, that grievous and cruel Enemy of Man and Beast, 

 which hath been so fatal to both in that uninhabited Countrey.''^ 

 From what we could learn of the people of Cayambe (and 

 this was very little) the natural difficulties of the neighbourhood 

 had not been overstated. It was not of course for a moment 

 believed that we were attracted here by any such ridiculously 

 transparent motive as the determination of the elevation of a 

 mountain. In their eyes there was another allurement. Sara- 

 urcu was said to contain boundless riches — much gold and silver 

 — which, it was delicately hinted, we might perhaps discover. 

 Upon arrival at La Dormida two men were found in waiting ' to 

 assist^ us. One of them — a very old Indian — being physically 

 an infant, I sent back to his village. The other was a tough- 

 looking half-breed, whom I called ' The Spy ' ; and in order that 

 he might do that for which he was sent I despatched him, with 



of the Equator, it seems probable that Gonzalo Pizarro went by that route. It 

 is still customary for persons proceeding by it to go a few miles to the north on 

 leaving Quito, though they speedily bear round to the east. The words Rio de 

 los Quixos will be found on the Maldonado map, to the east of Antisaiia. 



1 " By reason of the continual Rains, and moisture of the Earth, their woollen 

 Cloths and linen being always wet, became rotten, and dropped from their Bodies, 

 so that from the highest to the lowest every Man was naked, and had no other 

 covering than some few Leaves. . . So great, and so insupportable were the Miseries 

 which Oonzalo Pigarro and his Companions endured for want of Food, that the 

 four thousand Indians which attended him in this Discovery, perished with Famine. 

 . . Likewise of the three hundred and forty Spaniards which entred on this 

 Discovery, two hundred and ten dyed, besides the fifty which were carried away 

 by Orellana. . . Their Swords they carried without Scabbards, all covered with 

 rust, and they walked barefoot, and their Visages were become so black, dry and 

 withered, that they scarce knew one the other ; in which condition they came at 

 length to the Frontiers of Quitu, where they kissed the Ground, and returned 

 Thanks to Almighty God, who had delivered them out of so many and so imminent 

 dangers." — The Royal Commentaries of Peru, p. 632. 



