d spared, to the number of four
hundred, got safe on shore.

From this account of the adventures and catastrophe of the Guiapuscoa,
we may form some conjecture of the manner in which the Hermiona was
lost, and of the distresses endured by the three remaining ships of
the squadron which got into the Rio Plata. These last being in great
want of masts, yards, rigging, and all kinds of naval stores,
and having no supply at Buenos Ayres or any of the neighbouring
settlements, Pizarro dispatched an advice-boat with a letter of credit
to Rio de Janeiro, to purchase what was wanting from the Portuguese.
He sent at the same time an express across the continent to St Jago de
Chili, to be thence forwarded to the viceroy of Peru, informing him
of the disasters that had befallen his squadron, and desiring a
remittance of two hundred thousand dollars from the royal chest at
Lima, to enable him to refit and victual his remaining ships, that he
might be again in condition to attempt the passage to the South-Sea
as soon as the season of the year should be more favourable. It is
mentioned by the Spaniards, as a most extraordinary circumstance,
that, though then the depth of winter, when the Cordilleras are
esteemed impassable on account of the snow, the Indian who was charged
with this express was only thirteen days on his journey from Buenos
Ayres to St Jago in Chili, though the distance is three hundred
Spanish leagues, near forty of which are among the snows and
precipices of the Cordilleras.

The return to this dispatch of Pizarro from the viceroy was by no
means favourable. Instead of two hundred thousand dollars, the sum
demanded, the viceroy remitted him only one hundred thousand, telling
him that it was with great difficulty he was able to procure even
that sum. But the inhabitants of Lima, who considered the presence
of Pizarro as absolutely necessary to their security, were much
discontented at this procedure, and did not scruple to assert, that
it was not the want of money, but the interested views of some of the
viceroy's confidants, that prevented Pizarro from getting the whole
sum.

The advice-boat sent to Rio Janeiro also executed her commission but
imperfectly; for, though she brought back a considerable quantity of
pitch, tar, and cordage, she could not procure either masts or yards;
and, as an additional misfortune, Pizarro was disappointed of some
masts he expected from Paraguay, as a carpenter whom he entrusted
w