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" Behold before you," said he, " the infinite sea, which extends even beyond the sunbeams.
As to these islands which lie to the
right and left, they are all subject to my sway.
They possess but
little gold, but the deep places of the sea around them are full of pearls.
Continue to be my friends, and you shall have as many
as you desire ; for I value your friendship more than pearls, and, as far as in me lies, will never forfeit it." He then pointed to the main-land, where it stretched away towards the east, mountain beyond mountain, until the summit of the last faded in the distance, and was scarcely seen above the watery horizon.
In that direction, he said, there lay a vast counÂ
try of inexhaustible riches, inhabited by a mighty nation.
He
went on to repeat the vague but wonderful rumors which the Spaniards had frequently heard about the great kingdom of Peru. Pizarro listened greedily to his words, and while his eye followed the finger of the cacique, as it ranged along the Une of shadowy coast, his daring mind kindled with the thought of seeking this golden empire beyond the waters.* Before leaving the island, the two captains impressed the cacique with so great an idea of the power of the King of Cas tile, that he agreed to become his vassal, and to render him an annual tribute of one hundred pounds' weight of pearls. The party having returned in safety to the main-land, though to a different place from that where they had embarked, Gaspar Morales sent his relation, Bernardo Morales, with ten men in quest of Penalosa and his companions, who had remained in the village of Tutibrà . Unfortunately for the Spaniards, during the absence of the * Herrera, decad. ii. lib. i. cap. 4.
Peter Martyr, decad. iii. cap. 10.