he marched to Quitu, having in that Journey endured much cold and hunger;
the news whereof affected the minds of Piçarro and Almagro with jealousie and
fear. At length he sold the Ships, Guns, &c. for two hundred thousand pieces
of Eight; which having received, he returned rich and triumphant unto Hua∣timallan.
After which he built ten or twelve Ships, one Gally, and other Pin∣naces
which were light, and rowed well with the Ore, with design to make
a Voyage to the Espe••eria, and a father discovery towards the Cape of Vallenas,
called by some California. In the year 1538, Friar Marcos de Niça, and other
Franciscan Friars travelled by Land through the Countrey of Culhuacan, at least
three hundred Leagues to the Westward, and much farther than the Spaniards
of Xalixco had as yet discovered, and returned with high commendations of
the Countries, and of the Riches and good Air of Sibola, and other Cities.
Upon the relation of these Friars, they resolved once to send an Army by Sea
to those parts under the Command of Don Antonio de Mendoça, Vice-king of New
Spain, and Don Fernando Cortes Marquis de Valle, who was Captain-General of
New Spain, and first Discoverer of the Coast along the South-Sea; but not a∣greeing
upon Articles, they quarrelled, and so Cortes returned into Spain, and
Alvarado was sent in his place with the Ships before mentioned; for which the
Money, as aforesaid, was paid him. Alvarado sailed, as I conceive, with his
Fleet to the Port of Navidad, and thence travelled by Land to Mexico, where
he agreed with the Vice-king upon an adventure to Sibola, without any regard
to the gratitude he owed to Cortes, who was the Authour of all his fortune.
In his return from Mexico, he passed through Xalixco, to subdue and reduce the
people of that Kingdom, who had made an Insurrection, and were in defiance
against the Spaniards. At length he came to Eçatlan, where Diego de Lopez, was
making War against the Rebels, and joyning his Forces with him, they stormed
the Indians, who had fortified themselves on the corner of a Rock with such
resolution, that having killed thirty of them, they put the rest unto flight; and
having climbed up into a high and narrow Rock, many of their Horses came
tumbling down the Precipice: And whereas one of them came sliding down
just upon the Horse of Alvarado, he, to avoid him, alighted, intending to give
him way, and save himself; but the Horse in his fall striking on the edge of a
Rock, turned his fall just on Alvarado, and carried him headlong with him
down to the bottom; the which misfortune happened on Midsummer-day, in
the year 1541, and in a few days after died of the bruises he had received at
Eçatlan, which is a place about three hundred Leagues distant from Huatimallan;
he conserved his Senses, and the judgment of a Christian, untill the last; for
being asked where his chief pain was, he answered, in his Soul: As to other
matters, he was a Man of a free and chearfull temper.
Thus far are the Words
of
Gomara; and at the end of the same Chapter he adds,
That he left no Estate,
nor did there remain any Memory or Relicks of him, unless what is before re∣cited,
and a Daughter which he had by an Indian Woman, which was after∣wards
Married to Don Francisco de la Cueva;
and so he concludes that Chapter.
This Relation is the very same which is commonly current in
Peru, with all the
circumstances thereof; onely they differ in this, that one says it was a Horse that
tumbled upon him; and the other, that it was a Rock, which was thrown down
by the fall of a Horse; 'tis probable that it might be the one as well as the o∣ther,
and that the Horse and Stones might come all rowling down together.
Besides, I was acquainted with his Daughter, and with one of his Sons, who
was a Mongrel or
Mestizo (as we call them) born of an
Indian Woman, named
Don Diego de Alvarado, a Son worthy, and not degenerating from a Father of such
great renown, for he resembled his Father in all his Vertues; was a true pattern
of him in all circumstances, nor did he differ from him in the very misfortune of
his Death; for having with other
Spaniards made his escape from the Battel of
Chelqui Inca, he was afterwards killed by the
Indians in the pursuit, as we shall here∣after
relate in its due place.
Thus ended the Life of this worthy Cavalier Don Pedro de Alvarado, he was
Knight of the Habit of St. Jago, and one of the most dexterous with his Lance of
any that passed into the New World. His unhappy Death was greatly lamented
at Cozco by all those who had been his followers in that Empire; many Masses
were said for his Soul at that time, and for several years afterwards; I my self have
been present at some, which were said for him, when I was there. Whensoever