America, during which they heard of the empire of the Incas on the plateau of Peru.  They also obtained sufficient gold and silver to raise their hopes of the riches of the country, and returned to Spain to report to the Emperor.  Pizarro obtained permission from Charles V. to attempt the conquest of Peru, of which he was named Governor and Captain-General, on condition of paying a tribute of one-fifth of the treasure he might obtain.  He started in February 1531 with a small force of 180 men, of whom thirty-six were horsemen.  Adopting the policy of Cortes, he pushed directly for the capital Cuzco, where they managed to seize Atahualpa, the Inca of the time.  He attempted to ransom himself by agreeing to fill the room in which he was confined, twenty-two feet long by sixteen wide, with bars of gold as high as the hand could reach.  He carried out this prodigious promise, and Pizarro’s companions found themselves in possession of booty equal to three millions sterling.

Atahualpa was, however, not released, but condemned to death on a frivolous pretext, while Pizarro dismissed his followers, fully confident that the wealth they carried off would attract as many men as he could desire to El Dorado.  He settled himself at Lima, near the coast, in 1534.  Meanwhile Almegro had been despatched south, and made himself master of Chili.  Another expedition in 1539 was conducted by Pizarro’s brother Gonzales across the Andes, and reached the sources of the Amazon, which one of his companions, Francisco de Orellana, traversed as far as the mouth.  This he reached in August 1541, after a voyage of one thousand leagues.  The river was named after Orellana, but, from reports he made of the existence of a tribe of female warriors, was afterwards known as the river of the Amazons.  The author spread reports of another El Dorado to the north, in which the roofs of the temples were covered with gold.  This report afterwards led to the disastrous expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh to Guiana.  By his voyage Orellana connected the Spanish and Portuguese “spheres of influence” in the New World of Amerigo.  By the year 1540 the main outlines of Central and South America and something of the interior had been made known by the Spanish adventurers within half a century of Columbus’ first voyage.  Owing to the papal bull Portugal possessed Brazil, but all the rest of the huge stretch of country was claimed for Spain.  The Portuguese wisely treated Brazil as an outlet for their overflowing population, which settled there in large numbers and established plantations.  The Spaniards, on the other hand, only regarded their huge possessions as exclusive markets to be merely visited by them.  Rich mines of gold, silver, and mercury were discovered in Mexico and Peru, especially in the far-famed mines of Potosi, and these were exploited entirely in the interests of Spain, which acted as a sieve by which the precious metals were poured into Europe, raising prices throughout the Old World.  In return European merchandise was sent in the return voyages of the Spanish galleons to New Spain, which could only buy Flemish cloth, for example, through Spanish intermediaries, who raised its price to three times the original cost.  This short-sighted policy on the part of Spain naturally encouraged smuggling, and attracted the ships of all nations towards that pursuit.