192 



Valencia affords some historical remembran- 

 ces ; but these^ like every thing connected with 

 the colonies, have no remote date, and recall to 

 mind either civil discords, or sanguinary con- 

 flicts with the savages. Lopez de Aguirre, whose 

 crimes and adventures form one of the most 

 dramatic episodes of the history of the conquest, 

 went, in 1561, from Peru, by the river of Ama- 

 zons, to the island of Margaretta ; and thence, 

 by the port of Burburata, into the valleys of 

 Aragua. On his entrance into Valencia, which 

 proudly entitles itself the City of the King, he 

 proclaimed the independance of the country, and 

 the deposition of Philip II. The inhabitants 

 withdrew to the islands of the lake of Tacarigua, 

 taking with them all the boats from the shore, 

 to be more secure in their retreat. In conse- 

 quence of this stratagem, he could exercise his 

 cruelties only on his own people. He composed 

 at Valencia that famous letter to the King of 

 Spain, which paints with such frightful truth 

 the manners of the soldiery of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury *. The tyrant (Aguirre is still thus deno- 

 minated by the vulgar) boasts alternately of his 

 crimes and his piety ; he gives advice to the King 

 on the government of the colonies, and the sys- 

 tem of missions. Surrounded by savage Indians, 

 navigating on a great sea of fresh water, as he 



* See note A r at the end of this booL 



