the Peruvian conquerors. He lost his first wife in 1529 and, as misfortunes seldom come singly, he was, at about the same time, thrown into prison and afterwards banished by the new governor of Panama, Pedro de los Rios. He retired to the island of San Domingo, where he married his second wife Doña Mayora Mejia. In 1534 he returned with her to Panama, was appointed lieutenant to the new governor, Don Francisco de Barrionuevo, and acquired considerable wealth by acting as agent to Pizarro. In 1536 his residencia[1] was taken with great severity by the licentiate Pedro Vasquez, and he was sent to Spain, but he was eventually acquitted and honoured with favours by the Emperor, for his long and faithful services.
After relating his own adventures in Birú, Andagoya devotes several pages to an account of the conquest of Peru, and of the civilisation of the Yncas.[2] His version of the oft-told tale is valuable, because, from his position, he must have derived his information from men who were actually engaged in the events which he described, and who saw Peru in the first years of the Conquest.
Andagoya happened to be at the Spanish court in 1538, when news arrived of the death of the licentiate Gaspar de Espinosa at Cuzco, who had been appointed Governor of New Castille.[3] The government of this territory was, therefore, granted to Andagoya. He embarked from San Lucar with sixty men early in 1539, with the title of Adelantado, and reached Panama,
