INTRODUCTORY. 



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built the towns of San Juan del Oro, San Gaban, Sandia, &c. ; and 

 sent large quantities of gold to Spain. On one occasion they sent a 

 mass of gold in the shape of an ox's head, and of the weight of two 

 hundred pounds, as a present to Charles V. The Emperor, in 

 acknowledgment, gave the title of "Royal City" to the town of San 

 Juan del Oro, and ennobled its inhabitants. The Indians, however, 

 in the course of time, revolted, murdered their oppressors, and destroyed 

 their towns. Up to the last three years this has been a sealed country 

 to the white man. I shall have occasion to refer to it again. 



While these efforts to penetrate the Montana to the eastward of 

 Cuzco were being made, Gonzalo Pizarro fitted out at Quito an expe- 

 dition consisting of 350 Spaniards and 4,000 Indians, with large sup- 

 plies of provisions and live stock. All who have read the brilliant 

 pages of Prescott know the history of this expedition : the discovery 

 of cinnamon ; the treachery of Orellana ; and the origin of the present 

 name of the great river. I shall not tread upon such ground; but 

 shall content myself with observing that, if Pizarro built a brig, or any- 

 thing that carried a mast, he either embarked low down upon the Napo, 

 or, what I rather suspect, the Napo was a much larger stream then 

 than now. 



The failure of this expedition, and the almost incredible sufferings 

 of the party who composed it, could not deter the Spaniards from 

 their search for El Dorado. In 1560 the Marquis of Caflete, Viceroy 

 of Peru, sent Pedro de Ursoa with a large company on this mission. 

 This officer marched northward from Cuzco, and embarked upon the 

 Huallaga. At Lamas, a small town near that river, he was murdered 

 by his lieutenant, Lope de Aguirre, who determined to prosecute the 

 enterprise. Aguirre descended the Huallaga — and the Amazon to its 

 mouth — coasted along the shores of Guyana and Venezuela, and took 

 possession of the small island of Marguerita. There raising a party, 

 he landed at Cumana, with the purpose of conquering an empire on 

 the main land. He was, however, defeated by some Spanish troops 

 who had already possession of the country, taken prisoner, carried to 

 Trinidad and hung. 



Aguirre appears to have been a bold and violent man. His letter to 

 Philip II, published in Humboldt's narrative, is indicative of his 

 character. He says : " On going out of the river Amazon we landed 

 at an island called La Margaretta. We there received news from 

 Spain of the great faction of the Lutherans. This news frightened us 

 exceedingly. We found among us one of that faction ; his name was 



