CHAPTER XL

    How the Licentiate Vaca de Castro arrived at the port of Buenaventura, and went from thence, with much difficulty, to the city of Cali, where the Adelantado Don Sebastián de Belalcázar, Governor for his Majesty, was staying; and of what he did there.

IT is necessary that we should now talk a little about the licentiate Vaca de Castro, for hitherto the narrative has not given him his proper place. Leaving for the time the story of events which took place in the cities of Lima and Cuzco we will observe that Vaca de Castro had found out where the port of Buenaventura lay, and ascertained that the road to the city of Cali, where the Adelantado Sebastián de Belalcázar then tarried was very difficult.[82][138] And having sent Merlo forward to announce his coming and the duty he was charged with in the Realm of Peru by his Majesty, he also requested that Pascual de Andagoya might be set at liberty. So Vaca de Castro arrived at that port of Buenaventura, where he only found four or five men, employed by the merchants who came from Tierra Firme. Everyone believed that Vaca de Castro brought powers with him which would be quite sufficient for any business that might present itself anywhere he might wish to pass, and so he himself said and announced.

Merlo, bearing the letter and authority of Vaca de Castro that we have mentioned, made the journey to Cali, where he gave the news to the Adelantado, who was on the point of starting for the new city of Cartago. He said the licentiate Vaca de Castro, President of the Royal Audience of Panamá, and Judge of Peru, had been driven by a storm into the port of Buenaventura; and that from thence he sent an order, in compliance with the petition of Don Juan de Andagoya, son of the Adelantado Don Pascual de Andagoya, that the latter was to be brought from Popayán, where he was kept under arrest, to Cali, where the Judge would soon arrive. He, Vaca de Castro, would hear the statements of both Governors, and deliver judgment. Merlo made known this order to the Adelantado Belalcázar who wrote to Francisco García de Tovar, his lieutenant at Popayán, to bring Andagoya to Cali. Then Belalcázar, knowing that Vaca de Castro was at the port of Buenaventura, and that he was in want of provisions, arranged to send along the necessary food and Indians, to enable him to travel. Belalcázar was about starting for the city of Cartago, to visit the regions discovered and conquered by[139] the captain Jorge Robledo, but it appeared to him most proper to wait at Cali until Vaca de Castro should arrive, and his Majesty's commands be made known.

Vaca de Castro, with much help from the captain Cristóbal de Pe?a, started from the port, suffering from serious illness and, as there was no physician or surgeon in his company, he might have died. At the end of thirty-three days he arrived at the city of Cali, two Spaniards having been killed by tigers on the road, and seven others having died of hunger and fatigue. The Governor and all the citizens of Cali gave Vaca de Castro a very good reception, provided lodgings for himself and his followers, and supplied them freely with all they needed. Vaca de Castro was at Cali for three months, very ill; and both the Governors Belalcázar and Andagoya being at Cali together, to prevent any scandal arising between them, Vaca de Castro notified them by order that they must have no dispute on any subject, otherwise his Majesty would be ill served. As Vaca de Castro came with a keenness for money he bargained with Belalcázar to take over certain things he had brought, which were of little value, and pay for them at prices which could not be called cheap. Vaca de Castro sent his messengers to Quito, that his arrival might be known throughout Peru, his Majesty having appointed him Judge to investigate the past troubles between the Marquis Don Francisco Pizarro and the [late] Adelantado Don Diego de Almagro. It was now three months since he had arrived at the city of Cali; and having ruled that the Adelantado Don Pascual de Andagoya should present himself before his Majesty and his Privy Council,[83] he now determined to go to Popayán, to pick up the direct route from thence to the Realm of Peru.