Nexus - 0210 - New Times Magazine-pages

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THE TREASURE OF THE SAN ANDREAS ee eae rounded on the beach, and carried off to to their midst, dispersing them far and the nearby forest and killed. In the sec- wide. Hundreds of Indians were slaugh- ond attack, three other men ferrying tered, and many more wounded. Only 3 Pizarro’s wardrobe were surrounded on or 4 Spaniards were lost in the conflict, the beach, and they might also have been but many were injured, among them carried off and killed had their cries for Hernando Pizarro, whose leg was pierced aid not reached the ears of Hernando by a javelin. The Spaniards were wi- Pizarro, who spurred his horse at a gallop umphant, claiming divine intervention towards them. The Indians took one helped them to win a glorious victory frightened look at the ghastly demon over the savages. At the height of the bearing down upon them, and fled in action, many soldiers believed they saw haste to the nearby forest. St Michael and his angels in the sky bat- To their intense disappointment, tling with Satan. During the ensuring pjzarro and his followers found Tumbes weeks, the Punas resorted to hit andrun an empty, desolate town. The golden tactics, constantly harassing the treasures they had eagerly anticipated to Spaniards by day and night, keeping find were gone. Not a trace of gold or them in a never ending state of alarm. single jewel was to be seen anywhere. All this was too much for Pizarro who Pizarro managed to dispel much of the was glad to leave the island when gloom overshadowing his men by glow- Hemando de Soto arrived from Panama ing tales of gold, of which, on every with 3 ships bringing 100 volunteer hand, there was abundant proof. But he colonists besides horses for the cavalry. knew the only real remedy for disaffec- The Spaniards landed in force at tion was action, so he decided to leave a Tumbes. Their landing went unopposed small part of his force at Tumbes, while except for two isolated incidents on the with the remainder he set out to recon- shore. In the first attack, three men fer- noitre the land. He kept to the flat low- tying military stores on a raft, were sur- land himself, while Hernando de Soto with a company of horse scouted the edges of the immense Cordilleras. Everywhere the Spaniards went there was plenty of evidence to show that the Incas were a civilised race. As far as the eye could see, the arid coastal plain, though little watered by seasonal rains, was a vast garden of fruitfulness and beauty. This amazing fecundity was owed to the mountain streams which ° flowed for hundreds of miles through a complicated system of sluice-ways and conduits spread over the country around them. The area, neatly divided by-flour- ishing hedgerows, was chequered with contrasting allotments of cultivation. There were green meadows, orchards loaded with rare fruits, fields of yellow grain, and vegetables of every kind known to that part of the world. Flowers glowed with a myriad of colours, scent- ing the air with sweet smelling aromas. This, indeed, was a paradise created by a diligent and thriving husbandry. aha Continued in the next issue of Nexus. NEXUS*67 Continued from page 44 ————— —— __ =< — OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1992