[2] This force, according to Garcilasso, amounted to 100 horse, and an
    equal number of foot.—­E.

[3] According to Garcilasso de la Vega, his force consisted of 340
    Spaniards, of whom 150 were horsemen.—­E.

[4] These Indians, according to Garcilasso, were laden with arms,
    provisions, and ammunition, besides large quantities of hatchets,
    ropes, nails, and wooden pins, to use upon occasion.—­E.

[5] Perhaps the elevated valley of Macas on the river Morona which runs
    into the Tunguragua.—­E.

[6] Even Garcilasso, who is sufficiently fond of the marvellous and ever
    ready to adopt absurdities, honestly relates of these Amazons, that
    they were a fierce and wild nation of men, whose wives went forth to
    war along with their husbands; and that Orellana invented the tale of
    a nation of Amazons to raise the honour of his atchievement, and to
    induce the emperor to bestow upon him the government of the country he
    had discovered.—­E.

[7] According to Garcilasso, he contrived with great difficulty and danger
    to navigate in his rude bark from the mouth of the Marannon or Amazons
    to the island of Trinidada, where he purchased a ship for his voyage
    to Spain.—­E.

[8] The river Napo joins the Maranon in lat. 3 deg. 20’ S. and long. 70 deg.  W.
    But we are uncertain whether this were the place where Orellana
    deserted, as there are many junctions of large rivers in the course of
    the vast Maranon.  The two greatest of its tributary streams are the
    Negro which joins in long. 60 deg.  W. from the north, and the Madeira in
    long. 58 deg.  W. from the south.—­E.

[9] Garcilasso preserves the name of that faithful Spaniard, Hernando
    Sanchez de Vargas, a young gentleman of Badajoz.—­E.

[10] We learn from Garcilasso that this new road was on the north side of
    the river, Napo probably, and consequently that they had kept the
    south side in their way eastwards.—­E.

[11] It is hardly necessary to say that cinnamon comes only from Ceylon,
    not from the Moluccas; and that so entirely different was the
    substance sought for in this disastrous expedition from cinnamon, that
    it is now entirely unknown in Europe; unless it be the Canella alba,
    now only used as a light aromatic of small value by druggists.

Zarate is generally loose and confused in his accounts, and almost entirely neglectful of dates.  We learn from the History of America that this unfortunate expedition lasted near two years, and that two hundred and ten Spaniards and four thousand Indians perished during its continuance, only eighty Spaniards returning to Quito.  Garcilasso says that two thousand of the Indians returned along with the Spaniards, and served them during the hardships of the journey with the most affectionate fidelity, supplying their extreme necessities with herbs, roots, and wild fruit, and with toads, snakes, and other reptiles, which the Spaniards greedily devoured, or they must have died for want of food.—­E.

SECTION V.