Having travelled above thirty leagues westwards through this province of the cow-herds, they discovered a ridge of vast mountains still farther to the west, which from their own scouts and the information of the Indians, they learnt were barren, desert, and unpeopled. They were also informed, that if they bent their course to the right hand, they would come into a desert country; but that to the left, though a longer way, they would travel through inhabited and plentiful countries188. Considering what they had endured in their late march through the desert intervening between Auche and the country of Los Vaqueros, they had determined upon giving up their first plan of proceeding by land to Mexico, thinking it better to return to the great river, and so proceed to the sea pursuant to the plan originally proposed by their late general. They accordingly took long marches to the southwards, taking care not to offend the barbarians, yet they were teased by frequent attacks while leaving the country of the cow-herds. On one of these occasions a soldier was wounded by an arrow, which penetrated through his greaves and thigh, and passing through the saddle lap, ran two fingers breadth into the horses side, the arrow being made of reed with no other head than the reed itself hardened in the fire and sloped to a point. The wounded soldier was lifted from his horse, the arrow being previously cut off between his thigh and the saddle, and he was left to cure himself, as he had formerly performed many wonderful cures on his comrades with only oil and wool, assisted by prayers. But since the battle of Mavila, in which all the oil was lost, he had never attempted to cure either others or himself, though twice wounded before, believing that the cure could not be performed without oil and dirty wool. In this distress, he swore that he would not submit to the surgeons, and would rather die than allow them to dress his wound. Having no oil, he substituted hogs lard, and procured some wool from an Indian mantle, as the Spaniards had now no shirts or any other linen among them, and to the astonishment of every one he was so sound in four days that he was able to mount his horse on the fifth day. He now begged pardon of the soldiers for having allowed so many of his comrades to perish, by refusing to cure them, as he had believed the efficacy of his mode of cure depended on the oil, but as he now found that it consisted in the holy words he had pronounced over the dressings, he desired they might again recur to him when wounded, and he would exert himself as formerly. This soldier, named Sanjurgo Gallego, was very chaste, a good Christian, ever ready to serve all men, and had many other virtues189.

After leaving the territories of the cow-herds, the Spaniards marched for twenty days through the lands of other tribes. Being of opinion that they had declined too much from, the direction of Guachacoya, to which place they now proposed returning, the Spaniards now directed their course eastwards, still inclining somewhat towards the north, so that in this way they crossed the direction they had formerly gone in their march from Auche to the country of the cow-herds, yet without perceiving it. When at length they reached the great river, it was the middle of September, having travelled three months from leaving Guachacoya; and though they had fought no pitched battle during all that time, they were never free from alarm night or day, so that they had lost forty soldiers during this last useless and circuitous march. The Indians on every opportunity shot all who happened to stray from the main body, and would often crawl on all fours at night into their quarters, shoot their arrows, and make their escape, unseen by the centinels. To add to their distresses, the winter now began to set in, with much rain, snow and excessive cold weather. On coming to where they proposed quartering for the night, though wet, cold, weary and hungry, they were obliged to send parties in advance to secure them, generally, by force, and after all were mostly under the necessity of procuring provisions by means of their swords. Besides all this, they were often forced to construct rafts or floats on which to pass rivers, which sometimes occupied them five or six days. The horsemen were frequently obliged to pass the night on horseback, and the infantry to stand up to their knees in mire and water, with hardly any clothes to cover them, and such as they had always wet. Owing to these accumulated hardships, many of the Spaniards and their Indian attendants fell sick, and the distemper proceeded to the horses, so that sometimes four or five men and horses died in a day, and sometimes seven, whom they scarcely had leisure to bury for haste in pursuing their march.

In this miserable condition they came to the great river about the latter end of November190. In their march on the west side of the great river, from leaving the territory of Guachacoya to their arrival at their new winter quarters, they had marched by estimation 350 leagues, and lost 100 men and 80 horses by the way, without counting their Indian servants, who were of vast use. This was the only fruit of their long and painful march westwards in quest of New Spain, and of refusing to follow the plan which had been devised by their late general for descending the great river to the sea. At this period they were much gratified by finding two contiguous towns on the great river of 200 houses each, which were enclosed by a wet ditch drawn from the river. They were now reduced to 320 foot and 70 horse, or 390 in all, who now remained of 900 men and 330 horses which had landed in the bay of Espiritu Santo at the end of May 1539, four years and a half before. Yet inured to hardships and accustomed to conquer, they immediately attacked and gained possession of these towns, from which the inhabitants fled, having heard of the irresistible valour of the Spaniards from other tribes. They had the good fortune to find plenty of provisions in these towns, and to remain undisturbed by the Indians, so that they soon recovered from their fatigues; yet several died in consequence of their past sufferings, and among the rest Juan Ortiz, their chief interpreter and an excellent soldier.

Having determined to take up their quarters at this place, they fortified one of the towns to serve as quarters for the winter. This province, called Aminoya, lay seventeen leagues farther up the river than Guachacoya, to which they had endeavoured to direct their course on returning from the province of Los Vaqueros. Being somewhat recovered towards the end of January 1543, they set to work to cut down and prepare timber for building their brigantines. At this place, an old Indian, who had been unable to make his escape along with the rest, objected to their staying in their present quarters for the winter, saying that the river was in use to overflow every fourteen years, and that this was the expected season of its doing so. They refused however to profit by this information, of which they had sufficient reason to repent in the sequel. The return of the Spaniards to the great river was soon known in all the neighbouring districts. Upon which the cacique of Anilco, to prevent them from favouring the Guachacoyans as formerly, sent an embassy to Alvarado, offering his friendship and making mighty promises. The ambassador sent upon this occasion by Anilco was his Apu or lieutenant-general, who brought great abundance of fruit and other things to the Spaniards, and 200 Indian, servants to attend upon them and supply their wants. Having delivered his message, the Apu sent back the answer to the cacique, and remained with the Spaniards. The cacique of Guachacoya came likewise to wait upon the Spanish general, with a great present, to confirm the former friendship, and though he saw the lieutenant of his enemy among the Spaniards, he took no notice of the circumstance. On consultation about the brigantines, it was found that it would require seven of them to accommodate all the people; and the timber being all hewed and ready, the work was begun in earnest, and occupied their utmost diligence all the months of February, March and April 1543, during all which time they were amply supplied with all necessaries by Anilco, who even furnished them with blankets and mantles to defend themselves from the cold. These articles of clothing were manufactured by the Indians from an herb resembling mallows, which has fibres like those of flax; and the dresses which are made of this substance are afterwards dyed according to their fancies. On the present occasion, the Spaniards reserved the new blankets and mantles furnished by Anilco for sails to their brigantines, and broke up those which were old and useless to serve as oakum for caulking their vessels. Of the same materials the Spaniards made all kinds of cordage for their brigantines, from the smallest ropes up to cables; and in every thing the cacique Anilco, to whom they had formerly done so much injury, assisted the Spaniards to the utmost of his power, while Guachacoya was exceedingly dissatisfied at seeing the intimacy between them.