INTRODUCTION

Summary

The early expeditions into the great valley of the river of Amazons, during the sixteenth century, are, perhaps, the most romantic episodes in the history of Spanish discovery. The first that is deserving of notice was sent by the conqueror Pizarro, under the command of his youngest brother Gonzalo, “who was held to be the best lance that ever went to those countries, and all confess that he never showed his back to the enemy.”

I have translated the narrative of the expedition to the land of Cinnamon, undertaken by Gonzalo Pizarro, from the royal commentaries of Garcilasso Inca de la Vega. This chronicler had excellent opportunities of collecting information respecting the expedition, and, as we have no account actually written by one who was concerned in it, Garcilasso's narrative may be considered to be the best that is now procurable. His father was intimate with Gonzalo Pizarro; the younger Garcilasso had himself seen him when a boy, he had conversed with several persons who were engaged in the expedition, and had consulted the accounts of Zarate and Gomara.