River of Darkness

by Buddy Levy

  21 Peru now lay in the hands of Francisco Pizarro For detailed analysis and descriptions of the massacre at Cajamarca, see Hemming, Conquest of the Incas, 35–45; MacQuarrie, Last Days of the Incas, 77–85; Prescott, Conquest of Peru, 213–29.

  22 “Atahualpa said that he would give a room full of gold” Quoted in MacQuarrie, Last Days of the Incas, 96; also in Hemming, Conquest of the Incas, 47–49, and Prescott, Conquest of Peru, 225–26 and 243–44. Hemming says Atahualpa claimed the rooms could be filled in two months.

  23 the greatest empire on the face of the earth Charles C. Mann points out that in 1491 the Inca Empire was bigger than the Triple Alliance of the Aztecs in Mexico, the Ming Dynasty in China, and the Ottoman Empire. See Mann, 1491, 64.

  24 melting down six hundred pounds of gold per day Hemming, Conquest of the Incas, 72–73; John Hemming, The Search for El Dorado (New York, 1978), 45; Prescott, Conquest of Peru, 170–71.

  25 “The riches and greatness of Peru” Quoted in Hemming, Search for El Dorado, 45.

  26 pay taxes to the Spaniards in the form of goods and services Lesley Byrd Simpson, The Encomienda in New Spain (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1966); Hernán Cortés, Letters from Mexico, edited, translated, and introduced by Anthony Pagden (New Haven, 2001), 498; and James Lockhart, Spanish Peru, 1532–1560: A Colonial Society (Madison, Milwaukee, and London, 1968).

  27 “having left the said cities freed from siege” Quoted in Medina, Discovery, 39 and 264n.

  28 Orellana next played … while the Pizarro troops suffered only nine casualties Medina, Discovery, 39–40; Pedro de Cieza de León, Civil Wars in Peru: The War of Salinas, translated by Sir Clements Markham (London, Hakluyt Society, 1923), 195–202; Hemming, Conquest of the Incas, 233; Prescott, Conquest of Peru, 329–32.

  29 “with the aid of men whom I took along” Medina, Discovery, 263; Anthony Smith, Explorers of the Amazon (New York, 1990), 43.

  30 “the said province under the yoke of Spain” Medina, Discovery, 263.

  31 “a spot so fertile and so rich” Ibid.

  32 “procurations and appointments, making him lieutenant-governor” Ibid., 42.

  CHAPTER TWO: BIRTH OF THE GOLDEN DREAM

  1 tribes clad in golden ornamentation and jewelry Hemming, El Dorado, 108; Chapman, Golden Dream, 140–41.

  2 His exploits included a heroic climb Levy, Conquistador, 96–97; Hemming, El Dorado, 10.

  3 the Amazon remained entirely unexplored by Europeans Samuel Eliot Morison, The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages, A.D. 1492–1616 (New York, 1974), 213.

  4 “emeralds as big as a man’s fist” Quoted in Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland, translated and edited by Thomasina Ross, Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America During the Years 1799–1804, vol. 3 (London, 1908), 40.

  5 “On going up a certain number of suns [a few days]” Ibid., 40.

  6 were living among Amazonian tribes somewhere upriver Medina, Discovery, 210–11; Smith, Explorers, 71–72.

  7 Ordaz landed on the island of Trinidad F. A. Kirkpatrick, The Spanish Conquistadors (London, 1934), 300–301; Edward J. Goodman, The Explorers of South America (New York, 1972), 79–80; Hemming, El Dorado, 10–11; Chapman, Golden Dream, 54–55; A. F. Bandelier, The Gilded Man (El Dorado) (New York, 1893), 34–35.

  8 “a very powerful prince with one eye” Quoted in Chapman, Golden Dream, 57; Bandelier, Gilded Man, 36.

  9 they would be forced to abandon the boats Bandelier, Gilded Man, 35; Chapman, Golden Dream, 56.

  10 The Spaniards optimistically (and erroneously) interpreted this pantomime Kirkpatrick, Spanish Conquistadors, 301.

  11 “He said that there was much of that metal” Quoted in Hemming, El Dorado, 15; Bandelier, Gilded Man, 36.

  12 “less than stags, but fit for riding like the Spanish horses” Quoted in Chapman, Golden Dream, 57.

  13 “He who goes to the Orinoco” Quoted in Gerard Helferich, Humboldt’s Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Latin American Journey That Changed the Way We See the World (New York, 2004), 124.

  14 Quesada, too, had heard stories R. B. Cunninghame Graham, The Conquest of New Granada: Being the Life of Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada (Boston and New York, 1922), 90–91; Chapman, Golden Dream, 103–6. See also Joyce Lorimer, editor, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Discoverie of Guiana (London, 2006), 49n, which describes the origins of the El Dorado mythology among the Misc or Chibcha around Bogotá in the late 1530s, providing the impetus and the prelude to the Pizarro/Orellana expedition.

  CHAPTER THREE: INTO THE ANDES

  1 “the most laborious expedition that has been undertaken in these Indies” Pedro de Cieza de León, Civil Wars in Peru: The War of Chupas (London, 1917), 56.

  2 La Canela—the Cinnamon Valley … Pineda agreed to the terms Ibid., 57; Cohen, Journeys, 14–15; Medina, Discovery, 46.

  3 “nobles of the highest ranks” Medina, Discovery, 46.

  4 “carried nothing but a sword and a shield” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 57. Some sources put the total number of men as high as 340, and others at 280. Similarly, the numbers of the swine and the hounds vary. Garcilaso gives 4,000 swine and a flock of llamas, and 340 men, 150 cavalry, with the remainder infantry (León claims 5,000 swine); Garcilaso de la Vega, translated and with an introduction by Harold V. Livermore, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru, Part 2 (Austin and London, 1966), 873–74; Medina, Discovery, 46; Cohen, Journeys, 15; Smith, Explorers, 45. The number of dogs varies as well, from 900 at the lower end to 2,000 at the upper. See John Grier Varner and Jeannette Johnson Varner, Dogs of the Conquest (Norman, Oklahoma, 1983), 119–22.

  5 ancient relatives of pines David L. Pearson and Les Beletsky, Travellers’ Wildlife Guides: Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands (Northampton, Massachusetts, 2005), 25–26 and 252–55.

  6 The Indians, apparently intimidated Vega, Royal Commentaries, 874.

  7 Although eruptions of great magnitude were common Zárate, Discovery and Conquest of Peru, 192. Vega, Royal Commentaries, 874.

  8 “We came to very rugged wooded country” Medina, Discovery, 245.

  9 “It just rained; it never stopped” Quoted in Wood, Conquistadors, 195.

  10 “We continued our journey” Medina, Discovery, 245.

  11 “When Orellana’s party saw him” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 58.

  12 “carrying only a sword and a shield” Medina, Discovery, 168.

  13 “big leaves like laurels” Vega, Royal Commentaries, 875.

  14 “This is cinnamon of the most perfect kind” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 59. The trees were actually Nectandra and Ocotea, related to avocados, and of the magnolia family.

  15 “So he [Pizarro] ordered some canes” Ibid., 60.

  16 “who tore them to pieces with their teeth” Ibid.

  17 “fertile and abundant province” Ibid., 61.

  18 “We found the trees which bear cinnamon” Quoted in Medina, Discovery, 246.

  19 He had found the upper reaches of the Napo Wood, Conquistadors, 196.

  20 “ranges of forest clad and rugged mountains” Ibid. Also in Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 61.

  CHAPTER FOUR: EL BARCO AND THE SAN PEDRO

  1 “combs and knives” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 62; Chapman, Golden Dream, 148.

  2 It was an awesome, humbling spectacle Vega, Royal Commentaries, Part 2, 876. Vega says that Pizarro and his men could hear the San Rafael Falls from “six leagues,” or more than twenty miles. See also Wood, Conquistadors, 197.

  3 “so narrow it was not twenty feet across” Quoted in Wood, Conquistadors, 197. Vega claims that the gorge is closer to 1,500 feet high, though that strains credibility given the topography.

  4 “rash even to look down” Vega, Royal Commentaries, 876–77.

  5 “The rest fled in astonishment” Ibid., 876.

  6 “He was fifteen days going and coming” Gonzalo Pizarro, quoted in Medina, Discovery, 246.

  7 “As soo
n as he [Ribera] came with this story” Medina, Discovery, 246. See also Betty Meggers, Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise (Washington and London, 1996), 122–30, and Hemming, Tree of Rivers, 30.

  8 “must flow down to the Sweet Sea” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 64. Also quoted in Wood, Conquistadors, 199.

  9 “a beautiful and abundantly flowing river” Quoted in Wood, Conquistadors, 200.

  10 “all have their homes and living quarters” Gonzalo Pizarro, letter to the king, quoted in Medina, Discovery, 247.

  11 “reduce to a peaceful attitude of mind” Ibid.

  12 “the chief wanted to plunge into the river and to take flight” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 64.

  13 “because there were frequently on the river” Medina, Discovery, 247.

  14 The sickest were abandoned Levy, Conquistador, 213–14.

  15 including Arawakan, Panoan, and Tupian Harriet E. Manelis Klein, “Genetic Relatedness and Language Distributions in Amazonia,” in Roosevelt, Amazonian Indians from Prehistory to the Present, 343–46.

  16 “I found it advisable to build a brigantine” Gonzalo Pizarro, quoted in Medina, Discovery, 247.

  17 “showed himself more active than anyone else” Medina, Discovery, 54; Cohen, Journeys, 25; Medina, Discovery, 169.

  18 “They set up a forge” Vega, Royal Commentaries, 877.

  19 The Spaniards also learned from the natives Dr. Robert Carneiro, from personal notes on manuscript, August 10, 2009.

  20 “water tight and strong, although not very large” Toribio de Ortiguera, quoted in Medina, Discovery, 314–15.

  21 They christened the craft the San Pedro The exact dimensions of the craft are not recorded. Oviedo, in Medina, Discovery, 54n, claims that the boat could hold up to twenty men. See also Cohen, Journeys, 25.

  22 “if we did not find any good country” Pizarro, letter to the king, quoted in Medina, Discovery, 247.

  23 “which afforded no small help to [the men] in their need” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 65.

  24 “Continuing their journey down the river bank” Ibid.

  25 “beginning to feel the pangs of hunger” Ibid.

  26 “All of the companions were greatly dissatisfied” Friar Gaspar de Carvajal, quoted in Medina, Discovery, 170.

  27 The friars held a somber mass Wood, Conquistadors, 202–3.

  28 “vast one and that there was no food” Quoted in Medina, Discovery, 248; Vega, Royal Commentaries, 878; Chapman, Golden Dream, 148.

  29 “plenty of food and rich in gold” Vega, Royal Commentaries, 878.

  30 “Being confident that Captain Orellana would do as he said” Gonzalo Pizarro, quoted in Medina, Discovery, 248.

  31 On board they retained most of the equipment Cohen, Journeys, 26–27; Smith, Explorers, 52; Wood, Conquistadors, 205.

  32 (twenty-two of the worthy craft) The number of canoes varies among the sources, cited as anywhere from ten to twenty-two.

  CHAPTER FIVE: THE SPLIT

  1 “hauling the boat out of the water and fastening a piece of plank on it” Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 171.

  2 “owing to the effect of many other rivers” Ibid.

  3 “the Captain and the companions conferred” Ibid.

  4 “We reached a state of privation” Ibid., 172.

  5 “Our Lord deliver us” Ibid., 171.

  6 “He would see fit to bring us to a haven of safety” Ibid., 172.

  7 “Sick and sound alike” Quoted in Cohen, Journeys, 36.

  8 “The Captain was the one who heard them first” Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 173; Cohen, Journeys, 37; Chapman, Golden Dream, 156; Smith, Explorers, 55–56.

  9 “And so that night a heavy watch was kept, the Captain not sleeping” Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 173.

  10 “for they had had their fill of living on roots” Ibid.

  11 “We heard in the villages” Ibid.

  12 manioc beer called chicha Linda Mowat, Cassava and Chicha: Bread and Beer of the Amazonian Indians (Aylesbury, UK, 1989), 45–46. See also Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, translated and edited by Sterling A. Stoudemire, Natural History of the West Indies (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1959), 39. It is called masato in Peruvian Montana.

  13 “their shields on their shoulders” Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 174; Cohen, Journeys, 37–38; Richard Muller, Orellana’s Discovery of the Amazon River (Guayaquil, Ecuador, 1937), 38; Chapman, Golden Dream, 156.

  14 He asked that they take these Cohen, Journeys, 38; Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 174; Smith, Explorers, 55.

  15 Orellana understood this man to be a chief Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 175; Smith, Explorers, 55; Cohen, Journeys, 38.

  16 “meats, partridges, turkeys, and fish of many sorts” Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 175. Cohen, Journeys, 38.

  17 “his knowledge of the language” Quoted in Hemming, Tree of Rivers, 27.

  18 Seven of the Spaniards Bernard, Exploration, 44.

  19 The people of Imara Wood, Conquistadors, 208.

  20 Canoes were moored or beached Cohen, Journeys, 39.

  21 Despite Orellana’s linguistic skills Levy, Conquistador, 21.

  22 “spoke to them at great length” Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 177; Cohen, Journeys, 39.

  23 “on the subject of what steps it was proper to take” Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 176.

  24 “The companions were very happy” Ibid.

  25 “news of what was happening” Ibid., 178.

  26 Orellana, as fair and diplomatic Cohen, Journeys, 42.

  27 “that kind treatment was the proper procedure to be followed” Carvajal, in Medina, Discovery, 176.

  CHAPTER SIX: THE PLIGHT OF GONZALO PIZARRO

  1 “There was not even any track to follow” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 67.

  2 “the heavens poured down water” Ibid.

  3 “personally captured … five canoes from the Indians” Gonzalo Pizarro, letter to the king, September 3, 1542, quoted in Medina, Discovery, 249.

  4 “with a dozen Spaniards” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 68.

  5 “We were forced to eat the little buds of a plant” Quoted in Wood, Conquistadors, 212.

  6 “wild herbs and coarse fruits” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 68.

  7 the Land of Cinnamon Hemming, Search for El Dorado, 108.

  8 “without wasting any of the entrails” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 68.

  9 “larger and mightier than the one they had been navigating” Ibid., 69.

  10 “the gold-bearer” Quoted in Wood, Conquistadors, 213.

  11 “cuts made by wood knives and swords” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 69.

  12 “palm shoots and some fruit stones” Gonzalo Pizarro, letter to the king, September 3, 1542, in Medina, Discovery, 248–49.

  13 “many very thick patches of yuca” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 69; Cohen, Journeys, 28.

  14 After the members of the scouting party were satiated The sources differ here, some saying that Pineda’s men ate the yuca raw, others suggesting that Pineda took the time to cook the tubers. Since Pineda was able to successfully return to Gonzalo Pizarro with his canoes loaded with the yuca, it seems safe to assume that he indeed must have cooked the plant, or else his men would have been too sick to paddle the difficult journey back up the Napo. See Wood, Conquistadors, 213 (who says “Having cooked for themselves and eaten …”); see also Cohen, Journeys, 28, who says “His men … ate them cooked and unwashed.”

  15 “nothing but saddle and stirrup leathers” Quoted in Wood, Conquistadors, 214; Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 70.

  16 “saw the canoes and learnt what they brought, and they all wept for joy” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 69–70.

  17 “I determined to take the expeditionary force” Gonzalo Pizarro, letter to the king, September 3, 1542, in Medina, Discovery, 249.

  18 “As all came in an exhausted state” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 70.

  19 “root of white c
olor, and rather thick” Ibid.

  20 “lost his reason and became mad” Ibid.

  21 “super-crop that enabled man to evolve from foraging to farming” Hemming, Tree of Rivers, 26.

  22 “Subtle morphological traits differentiate” Quoted in Hemming, Tree of Rivers, 26.

  23 Bitter manioc, on the other hand Mowat, Cassava and Chicha, 7; Hemming, Tree of Rivers, 26; Meggers, Amazonia, 47–49, 58, 60. According to Dr. Robert Carneiro, “Even in the case of ‘sweet’ varieties of manioc there is a small amount of prussic acid in the phelloderm, the thin, smooth, white layer that covers the tuber just below the flaky brown skin. So ingesting the phelloderm along with the rest of the tuber, as famished men would no doubt have done, especially since the phelloderm is not readily distinguishable or separable from the rest of the tuber, would very possibly have resulted in some serious symptoms.” From his editorial notes on River of Darkness, August 24, 2009.

  24 The women bend over these graters Mowat, Cassava and Chicha, 21–27.

  25 “groundbreaking invention” Hemming, Tree of Rivers, 26. Dr. Robert Carneiro points out, however, “The tipiti is only the most advanced and most recent device for squeezing the juice out of poisonous manioc. Over much of Amazonia (e.g., the Upper Xingu), other squeezing devices are used, and were used well before the tipiti was invented.” From editorial notes on River of Darkness, August 24, 2009.

  26 second only to rice as a crop of global significance Hemming, Tree of Rivers, 26–27. See also Mowat, Cassava and Chicha, 7–47; and Anna Roosevelt, Parmana: Prehistoric Maize and Manioc Subsistence Along the Amazon and Orinoco (New York, 1980), 136–37 and 119–39; and Mann, 1491, 297–98.

  27 “very sick and sore” Cieza de León, War of Chupas, 70.

  28 “themselves grated the yucas” Ibid., 71. Dr. Robert Carneiro notes here, “To be specific, the ‘sharp thorns’ are those of the spiny aerial root of the palm Iriartea exorrhiza. The root, cut from the palm, is used whole, without the thorns being removed from it.” From editorial notes on River of Darkness, August 24, 2009.