inforcements of men and horses. When the reinforcements arrived, which enabled him to go inland, Pizarro went to Tumbez, and treated for peace with the chief of that place. He then founded the town of San Miguel, at Payta, the site of which was afterwards removed upwards of twenty leagues, to the place where the town now stands, the district being healthier and more convenient. Leaving this town with a few settlers in it, Pizarro went in search of Atabalica,[1] who was lord of the whole country. He arrived in the province of Cajamalca, where he found Atabalica. Pizarro had to pass through a gorge in the mountains, and Atabalica was informed of his approach, but he would not oppose the passage of the Spaniards, as he might have done, saying, that he would allow them to cross the mountains, because afterwards they would not be able to escape, and he could then capture them all, and discover what manner of people they were.
Having descended to where Atabalica was encamped, they found him with a large body of men, in tents, outside the town. Pizarro wished to treat with him peaceably; so he sent the captain, Soto, on horseback, armed only with his
- ↑ The Ynca Atahualpa.
to Spain with his share of the ransom of Atahualpa, which made him a rich man. He married a daughter of Pedrarias, and was appointed governor of Cuba and adelantado of Florida. The expedition commanded by Hernando de Soto sailed from Seville in 1538, and reached Cuba in safety. Leaving his wife Isabella at Havanna he sailed for Florida in May 1539, and landed on the coast. Then followed his wonderful march through the modern States of Georgia and Alabama, and his discovery of the Mississippi. His Portuguese biographer says: "On May 21st, 1542, departed out of this life the virtuous, and valiant captain Don Hernando de Soto, governor of Cuba, and adelantado of Florida, whom fortune advanced, as it used to do others, that he might have the higher fall." His companions wrapped his body in his mantle, with a great deal of sand, and cast it into the mighty Mississippi. Hernando de Soto was the equal of Vasco Nuñez for indomitable courage and perseverance, but, like most of these Spanish conquerors, he was detestably cruel.
