This captain departed with those who were to follow him on Thursday, and the Governor with the rest of the troops, and Chilichuchima with his guard left the following Monday. In the morning they were all ready with their arms and other necessary things; the journey they were to make being long, they were to leave all the baggage in Xauxa, it not being convenient to carry it with them on that journey. The Governor journeyed two days down the valley along the bank of the Xauxa River, which was very delectable and peopled in many places, and on the third day he arrived at a bridge of net-work which is over the said river and which the Indian soldiers had burned after they crossed over, but already the captain who had gone ahead had made the natives rebuild it. And in the places where they build these bridges of net-work, where the rivers are swollen, this inland country far from the sea being densely populated, and because almost none of the Indians knows how to swim, because of which even though the rivers are small and might be forded, they nevertheless throw out these bridges, and after this fashion; If the two banks of the river are stony, they raise upon them large walls of stone, and then they place four [ropes of] pliable reeds two palms or a little less in thickness, and between them, after the fashion of wattle-work, they weave green osiers two fingers thick and well intertwined, in such a way that some are not left more slack than others, and all are well tied. And upon these they place branches crosswise in such a way that the water is not seen, and in this way they make the floor of the bridge. And in the same manner they weave a balustrade of these same osiers along the side of the bridge so that no one may fall into the water, of which, in truth, there is no danger, although to one who is not used to it, the matter of crossing appears a thing of danger because, the span being long, the bridge bends when one goes over it, so that one goes continually downward until the middle is reached, and from there he keeps going up until he has finished crossing to the other bank, and when the bridge is being crossed, it trembles very much, so that it goes to the head of him who is not accustomed to it. Ordinarily they make two bridges close together, so that, as they say, the lords may cross by one and the common people by another. They keep guards over them, and the lords of all the land keep them there continuously in order that if someone should steal gold or silver or anything else from him or from some other lord of the land, he would not be able to cross. And those who guard these bridges have their houses nearby, and they always have in their hands osiers and wattles and cords in order to mend the bridges if they are injured or even to rebuild them if need were. The guards who were in charge of this bridge when the Indians who burned it passed over, hid the materials which they had for mending it, for otherwise the Indians would have burned them also, and for this reason they rebuilt it in so short a space of time in order that the Spaniards might cross over. The Spanish cavalry and the Governor crossed by one of these bridges, although, on account of its being new and not well made, they had much trouble because the captain who had gone ahead with seventy cavalrymen had made many holes in it so that it was half destroyed. Still, the horses got over without endangering themselves, although nearly all stumbled because the bridge moved and trembled so, but, as I have said, the bridge was made in such a way that even though they were thrown upon their knees, they could not fall into the water. As soon as all were over, the Governor encamped in some groves near which ran some streams of beautiful clear water. Later they proceeded on their journey two leagues along the shore of that river through a narrow valley on both sides of which were very high mountains, and in some places, this valley through which the river passes has so little space that there is not more than a stone's throw from the foot of the mountain to the river, and in other places, because of the slope of the mountain, there is but little more. Two leagues of this valley having been travelled, they came to another bridge, a small one over another river, over which the troops passed on foot while the horses forded, as much on account of the bridge being in bad order as on account of the fact that the water was low at that time. Having crossed the river, he [the Governor] began to climb a very steep and long mountain all made of steps of very small stones.[35] Here the horses toiled so much that, when they had finished going up, the greater part of them had lost their shoes and worn down the hoofs of all four feet. That mountain, which lasted for more than half a league, having been overcome, and having journeyed for a bit in the evening along a slope, the Governor with his men arrived at a village which the hostile Indians had sacked and burned, on account of which neither people nor maize was found in it, nor any other food, and the water was very far off because the Indians had broken the aqueducts which came to the city, which was a great evil and of much inconvenience for the Spaniards who, because they had found the road hard, toilsome and long on that day, needed good lodging. The next day the Governor set out from there and went to sleep in another village which, although it was very large and fine and full of houses, had as little food in it as the last one; and this village is called Panarai. The Governor wondered greatly with his men at finding here neither food nor anything else, because this place belonged to one of the lords who had been with Atabalipa and with the dead lord in the company of the Christians, and he had come in their company as far as Xauxa, [where] he said he wished to go ahead in order to prepare in this land his victuals and other things necessary for the Spaniards. And when they found here neither him nor his people, it was held to be certain that the country-side had revolted. And not having had any letter from the captain who had gone ahead with the seventy horsemen, save which let them know that he was going right after the hostile Indians, it was feared that the foe had taken some step whereby he was prevented from sending any messenger. The Spaniards sought so much, that they found some maize and ewes, ... and the next day, early, they set out and arrived at a village called Tarcos, where they met the cacique of the district and some men who told them of the day on which had passed that way some Christians who were going to fight with the enemy who had established their camp in a neighboring settlement. All received this news with great pleasure, and they found a good reception in that place, because the cacique had brought to the plaza a large quantity of maize, fire-wood, ewes, and other things of which the Spaniards had great need.