Note 508 — Chapter CVII

Before the defeat and death of the viceroy Blasco Nuñez de Vela, near Quito in January 1546, Gonzalo Pizarro had sent his lieutenant Carbajal to reduce the province of Charcas, and put down a revolt headed by Diego Centeno and Lope de Mendoza. Centeno fled, closely pursued by Carbajal, and hid himself in a cave somewhere near Arequipa for eight months. The aged veteran Francisco de Carbajal, having run this fox to earth, then marched into Charcas, and captured Lope de Mendoza and Nicolas de Heredia, both of whom he hung. Carbajal sent the heads of his victims to Arequipa, while he busied himself in collecting silver from the rich mines of Potosi, to supply the needs of his commander.