Francisco Pizarro was well aided by his brothers in his great work of
conquest, three of them--Hernando, Juan, and Gonzalo--accompanying him to
Peru, and all of them proving brave, enterprising, and able men. In 1540,
eight years after the conquest, Gonzalo was appointed by his brother
governor of the territory of Quito, in the north of the empire, with
instructions to explore the unknown country lying to the east, where the
cinnamon tree was said to grow. Gonzalo lost no time in seeking his
province, and made haste in starting on his journey of exploration to the
fabled land of spices.
It was early in the year that he set out on this famous expedition, with a
force of three hundred and fifty Spaniards and four thousand Indians, one
hundred and fifty of the whites being mounted. They were all thoroughly
equipped and took with them a large supply of provisions and a great drove
of hogs, five thousand in number, as some writers say. Yet with all this
food they were to suffer from the extremes of famine.
We can but briefly tell the incidents of this extraordinary journey.
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