To Almagro’s lot it fell to make the preparations for the voyage. Two small vessels were fitted out at _Panamá_, the first of which set sail from that port with about a hundred men on board, under the command of Pizarro, in November 1524: Almagro was to follow in the second. Pizarro, after touching at the _Isle of Pearls_, steered his way across the Gulf of _San Miguel_, and, doubling the port of _Pinas_, entered the river _Biru_, of which word the modern name of that part of the world is believed to be a corruption. Sailing up this stream for two leagues, Pizarro caused his small force to disembark, and proceeded to explore the country. It was the rainy season, and the ground was a vast swamp, fringed with a tangled undergrowth of wood, behind which lay a hilly country, rough and rocky. The heat was at times oppressive. Under these discouraging circumstances, his men being famished and weary, Pizarro returned to his vessel, which, having dropped down the river to the ocean, proceeded on its southern course. At a few leagues’ distance he again landed to take in wood and water, after which he once more proceeded southwards. He now encountered a terrific tropical storm, and for ten days it required all the efforts of the crew to prevent the ship from foundering. They suffered likewise from an extreme dearth of food and water, and were not sorry to retrace their course and regain the port where they had last landed.
The same discouraging aspect of the country which had met them on the _Biru_, they now encountered here. In their hungry and miserable condition the beauties of the tangled thicket, with its network of creepers and flowering vines, were thrown away upon their eyes; they were alive to nothing but the incessant rain, the intolerable mud, and the unbroken solitude.
The spirit of Pizarro, however, was unsubdued. At the demand of his followers he consented to send back the vessel to the Isle of Pearls to lay in a fresh stock of provisions, but with the condition that he himself should meanwhile explore the adjacent country. No trace of a human dwelling, however, rewarded his search, whilst the only source of nourishment to his people was in the shell-fish they might pick up on the shore, or such berries and herbs as might be found in the woods. He was indefatigable in attending to the wants of his men, or endeavouring to alleviate their sufferings; more than twenty of them, however, died during the weary weeks succeeding the vessel’s departure.