Gonzalo gave the command to Francisco de Orellana, a cavalier from
Truxillo, on whose courage and devotion to himself he thought he could
rely. The troops now moved forward, still following the descending
course of the river, while the brigantine kept alongside; and when a bold
promontory or more impracticable country intervened, it furnished
timely aid by the transportation of the feebler soldiers. In this way they
journeyed, for many a wearisome week, through the dreary wilderness on
the borders of the Napo. Every scrap of provisions had been long since
consumed. The last of their horses had been devoured. To appease the
gnawings of hunger, they were fain to eat the leather of their saddles and
belts. The woods supplied them with scanty sustenance, and they
greedily fed upon toads, serpents, and such other reptiles as they
occasionally found.8
They were now told of a rich district, inhabited by a populous nation,
where the Napo emptied into a still greater river that flowed towards the
east. It was, as usual, at the distance of several days' journey; and
Gonzalo Pizarro resolved to halt where he was and send Orellana down
in his brigantine to the confluence of the waters to procure a stock of
provisions, with which he might return and put them in condition to
resume their march.
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