leaders. These were seized by Almagro, who did
not suffer them to reach their destination-all but one
which a soldier ingeniously folded in a ball of cotton,
intended to be taken to Panamá as a present to the
governor's lady as a specimen of the products of
the country.

"Look ont, senor governor,
For the drover while he's near;
Since he goes home to get the sheep
For the butcher who stays here."

These lines were contained in the letter. They were doggrel, but they were emphatic and significant. Pedrarias had been succeeded in the government of Panamá by Don Pedro de los Rios, into whose hands the letter came, and who was so dissatisfied at the result of the expedition, which seemed only too conspicuous on the wasted countenances of the followers whom Almagro had brought back with him, that he would not listen to the applications of Luque and Almagro for his further encouragement of the design. He resolved on despatching an officer to Gallo with two vessels, charging him to bring back any Spaniard he should find yet alive on that inhospitable island.

Pizarro and his followers, indeed, were suffering all the deprivations and miseries incident to such a bar-might be ascertained. Pizarro lost no time in going ren spot as that on which they were placed. Natives there were none to fear, for they had quitted on the landing of the strangers, but they had to endure hunger more acute than they had ever before experienced. Crabs and shell-fish, and these rarely found, formed their chief food. It was the rainy season, and incessant storms invaded them to the skin. Half-naked, half-famished, no wonder the great majority of these unhappy wretches hailed with rapture, Tafur, the governor's officer, when he appeared with his two well-victualled vessels. The pangs of hunger appeased, the only thought was to embark, and quit the fatal island forever.

of madness, was hardly persuaded to leave them a part of the stores he had brought with him, and truly foretold that the obstinacy of the adventurers would fill the governor with indignation. That functionary, on Tafur's return, flatly refused to render further aid to men who were so infatuated; but was at length induced, by certain prudential considerations submitted to him, to consent that a vessel should be despatched to the island of Gorgona, to which the chivalrous little band had succeeded, by the means of a raft, in transporting themselves, and which offered some advantages over the isle of Gallo, or "The Hell," as they called it. But month after month passed away, and although the chief occupation of their time was to keep watch on the ocean, the expected vessel did not appear. During this time, nothing was omitted by Pizarro that might sustain the courage of his men. Matins were said, and the evening hymn to the Virgin was duly chaunted; the festivals of the church were daily remembered and celebrated, and by these means a religious character was communicated to his enterprise, suggestive of confidence in the Almighty. After seven tedious months, the friendly vessel hove in sight. It brought no recruits, but by its means the existence of the rich southern empire aboard, and once more under the pilotage of Ruiz, he steered for the land of Tumbez, which he had been tokd by some friendly Indians would at once bring them into the long-desired kingdom of the Incas.After twenty days, the voyagers entered the bay of Guayaquil, and pursuing their romantic course, at every league of which signs of civilization were presented to them, they anchored at length off the island of Santa Clara, at the entrance of the bay of Tumbez, for which place they steered on the following morning. As they approached, they saw a town of considerable size, seated in the middle of a fertile meadow, apparently highly cultivated. Many of the The only thought? Not so. These vessels had buildings in the town seemed to be of stone and plasbrought letters for Pizarro from Luque and Almagro. ¡ter. At a certain, distance from the shore, Pizarro They besought him to sustain his courage, and to per- | beheld standing towards him several balsas, or large sist in his design. To return would be to ruin the en- rafts. He ran alongside this Indian flotilla, and inviterprise. They pledged themselves to supply him, in ted the chiefs, who were on an expedition against the a short time, with all needful means of pursuing it.-island of Puná, to come on board of his vessel. The This sufficed for Pizarro. He had not thought of re- Peruvians were wonder-struck with all they saw, and turning. The venture he had entered upon was too were easily persuaded by Pizarro to return to land to vast, even if nature had predisposed him to the sud-report what they had seen, and to furnish his vessel den relinquishment of his deliberate plans. Draw with refreshments; his wish being to enter into a ing his sword, he traced a line with it on the sand friendly communication with the natives. from east to west. Then turning towards the south, Friends and comrades! he said, on that side are toil, hunger, nakedness,. the drenching storm, desertion, and death; on this side, ease and pleasure.ductions of that fertile valley; multitudes of natives There lies Peru with its riches; here Panamà and its poverty. Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Castilian. For my part, I go to the south.' So saying, he stepped across the line." Ruiz, the pilot, was the first to follow his example, Pedro de Candia, the second. Eleven others passed the line, and elected to share the fortune of their chief, whatever it might be. The names of this heroic handful of men have been commemorated and transmitted to posterity with honour, which their devotion nobly earned. The pilot, Ruiz, however, was permitted to return, that he might assist Luque and Almagro in their application for further aid, although Tafur looked upon the resolution of Pizarro and his companions as an act

In a short time several balsas steered for Pizarro's ship, freighted with bananas, yuca, Indian corn, sweet potatoes, pine apples, cocoanuts, and other rich pro

collected along the shore, looking on the while with the utmost astonishment. Pizarro examined with curiosity and sagacious interest the llama, several of which had been brought out to him. The mixture of wool and hair on the "little camel," which furnished the natives with the materials for their fabrics, excited his admiration, nor did he fail, on his return to Spain, to impress its importance upon the Emperor Charles V., who could not fail of seeing its valuable properties.

There was an Inca noble in Tumbez at the time. He had come out with the balsas, and evinced great curiosity to see these extraordinary strangers. Pizarro saluted him as one conscious of his rank, shewed him all parts of his vessel; explained, through his

Indian interpreters, whatever struck the Peruvian's
attention, and satisfied by the same means his num-
berless questions. He told him that he was a servant
of the most powerful monarch on the earth, and that
he had come hither to assert his master's lawful su-
He said further, that the Peruvians wor-
premacy.
shipped an evil spirit, and that it was part of his mis-
sion to extend to them a knowledge of the true and
only God. The Indian prince listened with deep at-
tention, but ignorant, doubtful, or discreet, he returned
no reply. He dined with the Spaniards, approved the
strange dishes, and was delighted with the wines,
which he declared were far superior to the beverages
of his own country. He invited his entertainers to
visit Tumbez, and on taking leave, Pizarro, among
other presents, gave him an iron hatchet, which had
captivated his fancy, the use of iron being unknown

in Peru.

66

Possessed of all the information he for the present required, Pizarro weighed anchor and steered towards the south. Wherever he touched, the same friendly and hospitable treatment awaited him, the natives bringing out to him all the luscious varieties of fruit and vegetables of the country. All were eager to have a glimpse of the strangers, the children of the sun,' as the Spaniards began already to be called, from their fair complexions, brilliant armour, and the thunderbolts which they bore in their hands." There was a general belief, too, of the courteous gentleness of their manners; but, as Prescott remarks," The ironhearted soldier had not yet disclosed the darker side of his character. He was too weak to do so. The hour of conquest had not yet come." There were credible accounts of a powerful monarch and of a splendid capital. There were abundant evidences of civilization and power, that superadded certainty to these accounts. Why need he prosecute his discoveries? Having penetrated nine degrees farther in these southern seas than any former navigator, he willingly listened to persuasion that he should return. Touching at Tumbez on his homeward voyage to Panamà, he complied with the request of some of his followers, that he would leave them at the Peruvian city. He had a wise reason for this. He knew on his return he should find them familiar with the language and manners of the natives. He obtained permission to carry with him two or three Peruvians,that they might be instructed in the Castilian. After an absence of eighteen months, Pizarro and his hardy band were safely moored in the harbour of Panamà.

Their arrival so long delayed created no ordinary sensation. They had now to tell of the sufferings and the vicissitudes they had undergone; but they had also to relate that all their disasters had been

The Spanish leader, on the following day, sent one of his men named Molina on shore, accompanied by a negro, and charged with a present of swine and poultry, which were strange to the new world.The present was acknowledged by a fresh supply of fruits and vegetables, and Molina the bearer was full of what he had heard and seen. On his landing he had been surrounded by the natives, who were beyond measure surprised at his strange dress, the fairness of his complexion, and his long beard. Nor were they less astonished at the complexion of the negro, which they believed to be dyed, and which they attempted to rub off. The swine and poultry were inconceivable to them, and when the cock crew they inquired what he was saying. Molina was then taken to the house of the ruler of the district, and described the curaca as living in great state, with porters at his doors, and with a quantity of gold and silver vessels from which he was served. He saw a for-cheerfully borne, because a great purpose was in view, tress of stone in the Indian city, and near it a temple which purpose had been happily accomplished. To 'resplendent with gold and silver; in a word, his ac- Pizarro and his two associates, Luque and Almagro, count seemed so hyperbolical that Pizarro gave little this was indeed a moment of triumph. Who could credence to it, and sent on the next day Pedro de now derisively tell them that they had indulged the Candia, a confidential person, on whose report he dreams of madmen or of fools; or that they were at could rely. This knight, clad in complete armour, once avaricious and reckless projectors who had been girded with his sword, and an arquebuse on his shoul-actuated by the basest cupidity? It is true, they were der, excited, from the lustre of his accoutrements, unable to obtain effectual assistance, their credit havmore astonishment and admiration than Molina had ing been sorely strained by their past exertions, and done. They had heard of the wonderful properties hope seemed almost an extravagance, for the governof the arquebuse from the friendly Indians who had or even now, doubtful of the greatness of the discoveaccompanied Pizarro, and requested Candia "to let it ry, or, perhaps, astounded by its magnitude, not only speak to them." The flash and report of the piece, gave them no encouragement, but listened to their as at the same moment the target the knight aimed applications with a deterring coldness. at was shivered to atoms, struck them with dismay. Some fell to the ground, others approached the knight hesitatingly and with aspects of awe, but were at length reassured by the smiling expression of his countenance. That Defoe had ever read any account of this incident is most unlikely: all will remember the behaviour of Crusoe's man Friday on a like occasion. Candia's report was even more startling and attractive than that of Molina; the temple,he averred, was, as it were, tapestried with gold and silver, and imitations of fruits and vegetables, worked in fine gold and silver, shone and glowed in the convent gardens. An old writer says that the Spaniards were nearly maddened with joy on hearing these tidings. Pizarro offered thanks to heaven for this brilliant realization of his dreams. "It was manifestly the work of God."

The three confederates at length agreed, on the suggestion of Luque, to apply to the crown, who was chiefly interested in the success of the enterprise, and who was more likely to entertain their proposals, because the Emperor Charles V. was known to be sufficiently sagacious to see the importance of the expedition, and his own preponderating share of interest in it, and because it was of course in his power to supply adequate means for its accomplishment. But the question now was, which of the three should repair to Spain. Luque was tied to Panamá by his professional duties; Almagro, the blunt, ill-favoured, illiterate soldier, was unfit, and felt his unfitness, to play the courtier before Charles V. Pizarro's education was almost equally defective, but his person was good, his presence was commanding: he had great plausibility, and when earnest on a subject, could speak even with

eloquence. Almagro, the frank soldier, urged his associate to undertake the mission. There is reason to believe that Pizarro was honest in the reluctance he expressed to go upon this service. Luque, it is plain, distrusted him. "God grant, my children," he said emphatically, when he gave his consent," that one of you may not defraud the other of his blessing." In the spring of 1528, Pizarro sailed from Panamá, taking with him some of the natives, a few llamas, several fine fabrics of cloth, and ornaments and vases of gold and silver, as vouchers for the marvellous tale he had to tell.

Here we close; for it was not our intention to carry his history further. Invested by royality with the title of Governor of New Castile-for so Peru was . now called, his career as an adventurer, properly so termed, ceases; and the captain-general of a pro

vince can hardly with propriety be said to lead followers. Of the worthiest, and although not the most splendid portion of his life-for the darkest shades of. his character appeared with the first brightness of his fortune-we have given an outline. The brief task was suggested to us by a perusal of Mr. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Peru, a work which displays, and in the very highest degree, the best qualities of the historian. To a knowledge which instructs him where the most various and the most valuable materials are to be found, Mr. Prescott brings a patience which will not confess itself wearied, while any remain to be made available. But the labour that we know has been employed is nowhere apparent in the text. On the contrary, the style is fresh and smooth, and there is such a lucid order in the narrative, that one might imagine the work had been as easily written as it is read.

IRISH SUPERSTITIONS.

afforded relaxation to the young, the gay, and the light-hearted. Of the orchard, so celebrated even in Tim's remembrance, not a tree remains. In short, the branches of this ancient family, whose pride could not brook any diminution of those luxuries in which their forefathers had indulged, were doomed to wither one by one; and there stand the miserable remnants of their possessions, falling away year after year, stone after stone, attesting that

"to provide and give great gifts, And all out of an empty coffer,"

is, even in this ingenious country, a vain effort!

Ir is perhaps easier to imagine than define what | after being driven from one of their strongest castles superstition actually is, where it begins, or where it by Ingoldsby's forces, and now nearly obliterated. ends; but this I believe we may say, that superstition A few sheep or cattle find an occasional shelter is the offspring of ignorance, and that people are within the bare deserted walls of what was once a credulous in proportion to the weakness of their brains. banqueting room-a pig or two may be occasionAs an indolent mind finds ease in drawing its con-ally seen rooting among earth and stones, where, at clusions from heresay, so does cunning gather a happier period, ancient lawns and pleasure grounds strength; and crafty inventors having once succeeded in lowering the standard of intelligence, can always take further liberties with their prostrate captives. An intelligent and active capacity will be contented with nothing short of the most perfectly attainable evidence of facts. We are happily approaching the age of PROOFS-every thing shows it-the minds of men are hungering and thirsting after them; and though numbers are impatient, and think that we should discard all out-of-the-way customs, beliefs and prejudices, at once; bundle them up, in short, and throw them overboard in a lump, I am not sure that this would be altogether so well; the vessel might then be too light, and upset; and I would rather see people convinced than drowned. In the latter, casc, too, I should lose my gardener, Timothy Cormick, whose ghost-stories have so often amused me; and the more so, as he being am implicit believer in giants; witches, fairies, devils, and hobgoblins of every shape and size, perfect beings, whether from thirty feet in height, down to the thirtieth part of an inch, can enter into minutiæ and descriptions which are perfectly astonishing, When or how he has imbibed these strange vagaries I never could find out. Previous, perhaps, to his taking the temperance pledge from Father Mathew, whiskey might have had something to do with it; as of all other spirits this was the decided leader in bothering our poor people, blinding some, and with others establishing a second sight, by making them see double. Be this as it may, all I know is, that Tim's father, and probably his grandfather and great-grandfather, lived with the O'Neills, a family once great and powerful enough, but now, at "Oh, no, by no manes, yer honor. The ould least in this country, nearly extinguished. It so hap-master wouldn't make a noise, by rason he had no pens that my present residence is near the last re-head; but I'll engage he sot boult upright, an' I mains of an old house which the O'Neills inhabited, knew him in a minute, an' counted five gentlemen

It is among these ruins that Tim often walks and meditates, taking special care, however, never to approach them after sunset. Now this man is clever enough in his occupation, a good gardener and faithful sort of fellow; yet all the logic in the world would not reason with him out of his belief in supernatural appearances and events. He can remember the family coach and four, the appearance of his old master, the coachman and the footman behind; and insists upon it, that the ancient equipage may still be occasionally heard rattling down the avenue. Indeed, upon one occasion, seeing him considerably excited, I with some difficulty got from him the following account:

Why, plase your honor, if I must tell your honor the thruth, I seen the ould master last night, and was wondering yer honor hadn't heerd the noise." What, Tim," I said, "did your old master make a noise ?"

sitting with him within the coach, an' the coachman drivhin' an the box, an' the footman houlding an behind, an' not one av them had a head! So plase yer honor, how could I be mistaken, an' not a bit frightened? Sure I knew the carriage as well as when I was a little boy, an' so I pulled off my hat, as I used to do, when the ould master would smile an' give me a nod, an' sometimes throw a penny, or maybe an odd sixpence, out of the windy. But av' coorse nothin' kem this turn, not even a nod from one o' them; for how could they nod without their heads? But, praise be to God, they didn't beckon me !"

Perhaps that was lucky, Tim. You mean, I suppose, if they had beckoned you, it would have been an evil sign."

"Troth, for the matter o' that, yer honor, it would have been a warning to quit, yer honor, an' that's what I wouldn't like to do if I could help it. Next turn, maybe, I'll be better prepared."

I tried, of course, to reason Tim out of this phantasy. I desired him to recollect that the night he described, though light, had been stormy, and that there had been some thunder and lightning; but all I would not do. He persisted in his story, as if it would have been madness to disbelieve it, and cut me vexatiously short by saying:

"Sure yer honor woudln't have me to disbelieve what I seen with my own two eyes as plain as I see this spade in my hand! An' by the same token, whin the master passed me quite fair an' asy in the coach, ould Corney gave a crack wid his whip that wint aff like the shot of a pistle; an' away wint the four black horses, an' the coach after thim, as quick as the wind, an' down the avenue wid 'em like a flash of lightning, an' through the first big gate, tho' meself had put an the chain an' padlock only a minute or two before, an' not a bar broke. An' thin I heerd such whippin' an' crackin', an' seen the fire an' shmoke flying out of the horses' mouths, an' such a racket with their shoes they made! An' in one minute it was all quite and still as before-the Lord be praised!"

wasn't she next dure all 's one as dhrown'd in the bog hole, you rimimber-I mane when they sed she overritched hersilf afther her ould kittle? Well, that was jist to begin wid her thrubbles-an' then didn't she lose her two front teeth in a skrimmidge, and sarve her right? An' thin whin the divil (the Lord save us!) druv her into the sup o' dhrink, wasn't she turn'd into a HARE? An' a mad hare she was! An' by the same token, was n't it Micky Miligan first saw her, an' he wondering how in the world a hare could milk a cow! An' there he seen her, milking his red cow he had turned out there beyant an the cregs, wid her two fore-paws, an' she standin' up an the two hind legs av her, an' looking over her bit of a tail, wid the ears an' eyes av her turn'd back-an' when she caught the laste taste in life of Micky's face, aff she set wid hersilf, tearin' away, an' Micky afther her in no time, an' away to her ould cummerade Molle Dowling, an' jumped up over the half dure, an' into the cabin wid hersilf, an' thried bitther hard to hide hersilf undher Molly's bed, in a dark corner there was. But all her mannewvers wouldn't serve her turn, an' Micky up wid a flail, an' hot her a side pelt, an' broke one of her milking-paws, and' thin when he considherd he had the hare all as one for himsilf, an' wint down upon his hands an' knees to rech her out av that, who should he see but Peggy Grady hersilf, rowlin' about in her ould red petticoat, bawlin' out murder for the broken arm she'd got, an' skreetchin' for the bone setther-Glory be to God!

In this tale, which I have actually heard thus related, and which all my humble neighbours are in the habit of hearing, and many, I fear, of believing, one can trace no mitigating cause for the invention, or excuse for credulity, the whole thing being a tissue of falsehood and improbability; but admitting it to be so, does it therefore follow that no other people deal in such superstitions? I for one can declare that I have heard in my youth things quite as strange and improbable in many parts of England; and in Germany I once lodged twelve months in a clergyman's family, all the servants of which believed in witchcraft, and Now, though perfectly able to trace the combina- on stormy moonlight nights would often look out for tions which produced this effect on Tim's intellect, I witches riding in the air on broomsticks to the Hartz might as well have tried to move a mountain as stir his mountains. They would also affirm to the truth of a belief-a belief not formed alone on that which he devil, who, in the likeness of a trumpeter, in the Saxfancied he had seen, but, grafted on the ancient super- on Switzerland, flew clean off with one hundred and stitions attached to the house, and probably (in a great- thirty little children in one night, their cradles being er or less degree) upon the minds of all that had dwelt all found empty the next morning! Think of one there for a hundred years before. Neither will I go so hundred and thirty little empty cradles, and one hunfar as to affirm that the whole of my people and neigh-dred and thirty unhappy mothers, all crying and wringbours believe this tale, though pretty sure that too many of them do; and that, upon the whole, Tim is infinitely more successful in making converts to his belief than I to mine. And this I can further state, that almost as many believe in the existence of witches, and many more in fairies, whose power they consider to be unlimited.

ing their hands at the same time!

So much in excuse for my dear countrymen,though dearer by far will they be to me, should I live to see their superstitions extinguished, together with all those trains of exaggeration and blarney, which are such appropriate companions to them. Thank God! I have seen Ireland emancipated from the horrors of Let us just hear the following account of the mis-intoxication; and as sober people are not generally fortunes of Peggy Grady, as related by my neighbour superstitious, I shall not despair of the rest. Truth, Billy Donellan; only premising how extremely dan- industry, and sobriety are seldom long or widely sepgerous it is generally considered to be even to think arated! of the "good people," as they are called, with the slightest disrespect.

'Oh ay, indeed! Peggy Grady, God help her! that wanst made game o' the good people, an' said

In the mean time, while children are silly, we must do our best to make them wiser, and as it is written, "Qui parcit virgam odit filium,"

she didn't care that for the fairies! An' thin what administer even the rod, if nothing else will do; but kem av Peggy afther that "harrang" I wonder? But I prefer laughing at them, and by and by, when they