LOPEZ BE AGUIKEE. 
35 
only on the back of the Cordilleras that I found a small 
chapel, destined, according to its inscription, for prayers to 
be addressed to Heaven for the destruction of the termites. 
... Valencia affords some historical remembrances; but these, 
hke everything connected with the colonies, have no remote 
date, and recall to mind either civil discords or sanguinary 
conflicts with the savages. Lopez de Aguirre, whose crimes 
and adventures form some of the most dramatic episodes of 
the history of the conquest, proceeded in 15G1, from Peru, 
10 , riv f. r Anmzon to the island of Margarcta; and 
thence, by the port of Burburata, into the valleys of Aragua. 
t , I' Valencia, which proudly entitles itself 
.I e of bbe Kiogj’ he proclaimed the independance of 
the country and the deposition of Philip II. The inha- 
bitants ^thdrew to the islands of the lake of Tacarigua, 
taking with them all the boats from the shore, to be more 
a m h ,!! r retre . at - , 111 consequence of this stratagem, 
l XerC j S , e lns cruelties only on his own people. 
ahleTlf i,° addre f ed to the king of Spain, a remark- 
’ I n ,i Wllch lu! . boasts alternately of his crimes and 
f % e ,! ame * lm ? S lvm g advice to the king on the 
government of the colonies, and the system of missions. 
, ounded b y savage Indians, navigating on a great sea of 
b ? calls the Amazon, he°is slaved at the 
heresies of Martin Luther, and the increasing influence of 
schismatics E.„„ . de Aguirre, ov\, ““"tSl 
A E ',Sm't"u„lo7si“ '“"■*<* » «. 
labour lance in hand T P sed 0Ter y oun 6 t0 Peru, to 
India X fouirht for" a dered ‘ hee 8 reat services in the conquest of 
is proved 1 by the hlSr'.’ wlthout demanding pay of thy officers, as 
and Lord tW ,, k f t , h ? * reas,lr y- 1 fi ™ly believe, Christian King 
write to thee from th^km^r A t0 " ie , a " d ,n - v companions, all those who 
seest things from too fir off C T AmenCa 3> deceiva thee "™ch, because thou 
the irond S v, J ff ‘ 1 recommend to thee to be more just toward 
wea4° of r s !ln h0rn ! 1 hou hast “ country: for I 'and mine, 
^dThyjudges^ereiseffi thvm 4 ' 06 WWch 7 icer °y s - % governors, 
We teZJr a * ' ? e , m th y name » are resolved to obey thee no more. 
tbee, & we'^u ° “ S >T iards - We wa S a a ™r agamsi 
to give places “v”® tU ® °Pl> r ession of thy ministers ; who, 
g places to their nephews and their children, dispose of our live*, 
D 2 
