The little band had met with nothing but
disaster. Instead of being able to reach the open country of which they
had heard, they had been lost in dense forests of gigantic tropical
vegetation. Hill rose behind hill, barring their progress, alternating
with ravines of frightful depth. Monkeys chattered above their heads,
hideous snakes and alligators infested the swamps. Many of the Spaniards
were miserably killed by them, while others were waylaid by lurking
natives, who on one occasion cut off fourteen men whose canoe had
unhappily stranded on the bank of a stream. Their provisions gave out,
and they could barely sustain life on the few cocoa-nuts or wild
potatoes they found. On the shore life was even less tolerable, for the
swarms of mosquitoes compelled the wretched wanderers to bury themselves
up to their very faces in the sand. Worn-out with suffering, their one
wish was to return to Panama. This was far from being the desire of
Pizarro, and luckily for him at this crisis Ruiz returned, and very soon
after Almagro sailed into port with a fresh supply of provisions and a
band of eighty military adventurers, who had but lately come to Panama,
and were burning to make their fortunes in the New World. The
enthusiasm of these new recruits, and the relief of their own immediate
miseries, speedily revived the spirits of Pizarro's men, and they
eagerly called upon their commander to go forward; but the season of
favouring winds was past, and it was only after many days of battling
with fearful storms and contrary currents that they reached the Bay of
St. Matthew, and anchored opposite the port of Tacamez. This was a large
town, swarming with people who wore many ornaments of gold and jewels,
for they belonged to the recently annexed province of Quito, and had not
yet been forced to reserve all such things for the Inca, as the
Peruvians did. Moreover, this part of the country was specially rich in
gold, and through it flowed the River of Emeralds, so called from the
quarries on its banks, from which quantities of those gems were dug. The
Spaniards longed to possess themselves of all these treasures, but the
natives were too numerous, and showed no fear of the white men. On the
contrary, they were quite ready to attack them; and Pizarro, who had
landed with some of his followers in the hope of a conference with the
chiefs, found himself surrounded by at least ten thousand men, and would
have fared but ill had not one of the c