34 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Years afterwards, during the reign of Huaynal Capac, the Incas and 

 their descendants desired to return to Cuzco ; but in the midst of their 

 preparations they received intelligence of the downfall of their nation, 

 and settled finally among the Musus, who adopted many of the laws, 

 customs, usages, and worship of the Incas. 



I have little doubt of the truth of this account, for even at the present 

 day may be found amongst the savages who dwell about the head waters 

 of the Ucayali, the Purus, and in the country between the Purus and 

 jBeni, traces of the warlike character of the mountain race, and that 

 invincible hatred of the white man which the descendants of the Incas 

 may well be supposed to feel. This determined hostility and warlike 

 character prevented me from embarking upon the Chanchamayo to 

 descend the Ucayali, was the cause why I could not get men to ascend 

 the Ucayali from Sarayacu, and I have no doubt hindered Mr. Gibbon 

 from penetrating to the eastward of Cuzco, and seeking in that direction 

 the sources of the Purus. 



This character is entirely distinct from that of the Indians of the 

 plains everywhere in South America, who are, in general, gentle, docile, 

 and obedient, and who fear the white man with an abject and craven 

 fear. 



Love of dominion and power had induced the Indian princes of Peru 

 to waste their treasures and the lives of their subjects in the subjugation 

 of the Montana. A stronger passion was now to urge a stronger people 

 in the same direction. Stories of great empires, which had obtained the 

 names of Beni, or Gran Para, Gran Pairiri, or Paititi, and Ed Dorado, 

 filled with large and populous cities, whose streets were paved with 

 gold — of a lake of golden sand called Parima — of a gilded king, who, 

 when he rose in the morning, was smeared with oil and covered with 

 gold dust blown upon him by his courtiers through long reeds — and of 

 immense mineral and vegetable treasures — had for some time filled the 

 ears and occupied the minds of the avaricious conquerors ; and, after 

 the partial settlement of affairs by the defeat of the Almayro faction at 

 the battle of Salinas, near Cuzco, on the 26th April, 1538, various 

 leaders sought opportunities of obtaining wealth and distinction by 

 incursions into these unknown lands. 



Hernando Pizarro fitted out two expeditions, giving to Pedro de 

 Candia the command of the first, and to Pedro Anzulo, that of the 

 second. These men, led on by the report of the Indians, who constantly 

 asserted that the rich countries they sought lay yet farther to the east- 

 ward, penetrated, it is supposed, as far as the Beni; but, overcome by 

 danger, privation, and suffering, they returned with no results, save 



