River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana's Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon

347 Pages·2011·3.77 MB·English

by  Buddy Levy

BUDDY LEVY
ALSO BY
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Copyright © 2011 by Buddy Levy All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing
Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BANTAM BOOKS and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Levy, Buddy.
River of darkness: Francisco Orellana’s legendary voyage of death and discovery down the
Amazon / Buddy Levy
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-55390810-7
1. Orellana, Francisco de, d. ca. 1546. 2. Amazon River Region—
Discovery and exploration—Spanish. I. Title.
E125.O6 L48 2011 2010041849
981/.01 22
Map copyright © 2011 by David Lindroth www.bantamdell.com
Jacket design: Tom McKeveny
Jacket illustration: color lithograph after Jean-Baptiste Debret, “Indians Using a Fallen Tree-
Trunk to Cross the Rio Paraiba do Sul,” from Voyage Pittoresque et Historique au Brésil
(Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris/Archives Charmet/ Bridgeman Art Library International)
v3.1_r1
For my father, Buck Levy,
who first took me to the river
We seldom or never find any nation hath endured so many
misadventures and miseries as the Spaniards have done in their Indian
discoveries. Yet persisting in their enterprises, with invincible constancy,
they have annexed to their kingdom so many goodly provinces, as bury
the remembrance of all dangers past.… Many years have passed over
some of their heads in search of not so many leagues: Yea, more than
one or two have spent their labour, their wealth, and their lives, in
search of a golden kingdom, without getting further notice of it than
what they had at their first setting forth.
—S W R , The History of the World, 1614
IR ALTER ALEIGH
There is something in a tropical forest akin to the ocean in its effect on
the mind. Man feels so completely his insignificance there and the
vastness of nature.
—H W B , The Naturalist on the River Amazons, 1892
ENRY ALTER ATES
In human terms, Francisco Orellana’s is probably the most compelling
narrative from the entire conquistador period, for the simple reason that
this time it was the Europeans who suffered so desperately, and who
needed all their powers of endurance as they battled with a savage
environment.
—P W , Newfound Lands
ETER HITFIELD
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
MAP
PROLOGUE
1 A Confluence of Conquistadors
2 Birth of the Golden Dream
3 Into the Andes
4 El Barco and the San Pedro
5 The Split
6 The Plight of Gonzalo Pizarro
7 St. Eulalia’s Confluence—The Amazon
8 The Victoria
9 River of Darkness, Brothers of Doom
10 The Assassination of Francisco Pizarro
11 On the Maranon to the Realm of Machiparo
12 Among the Omagua
13 Big Blackwater River
14 Encountering the Amazons
15 The Trumpeter’s Tale
Photo Insert
16 Tides of Change and a Sweetwater Sea
17 The Homeward Reach
18 The Last Stand of the Last Pizarro
19 The Expedition to New Andalusia—
Return to the Amazon
Epilogue
CHRONOLOGY
A NOTE ON THE TEXT AND SOURCES
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
About the Author