Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/596

576 unbounded wealth according to report awaited the conqueror. No less than three adventurous captains, Pedro de Alvarado, the famous hero of Mexico, now governor of Guatemala, Diego de Almagro, and Sebastian Benalcázar who had been left in command of the fortress of San Miguel, met in that city about the middle of 1534. About seven hundred Spaniards besides larger bodies of Indians were thus congregated in and about Quito, ready to vindicate their right to the supposed riches of the city by force of arms. It was soon discovered, however, that the fancied gold and silver stores of Quito were an illusion. Either no treasure to speak of had ever existed, or it had been hidden by the natives. Thus the object of their contention being removed, the Spaniards became brothers. The chivalrous Alvarado even visited Pizarro at Pachacamac, where the two bold and successful adventurers embraced and held high revel for several days.

"From one single hill in Peru," says Garcilaso de la Vega, "200,000,000 pesos were taken as appears by the register, and one hundred more unregistered. One single fleet brought in my time 25,000,000 in gold and silver." Soon after the execution of his old associate, which took place in July 1538, Francisco Pizarro partitioned among his own followers the lands which had been granted by the crown to Diego de Almagro. In this partition, greatly to the discontent of other meritorious cavaliers, the rich silver hills of Potosi fell to Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro. These mines were situated in the province of Charcas, toward the southern extremity of Almagro's dominions. They are said to have been discovered by an Indian who on pulling a shrub out of the ground found hanging to the roots small pieces of silver. They had been worked for a considerable period under the incas. But even the Pizarros, who conducted their operations on a scale much more extensive than any hitherto known in Peru, made no attempt to penetrate any considerable distance below the surface.