Tupac Inca sailed away on this memorable voyage of discovery, disappearing below the horizon of those who gazed from the hills round Tumbez. To them it must have seemed an enterprise as appalling as it was unprecedented. If the Inca ever returned, his people would be convinced that there was nothing he might not do. It is said that he reached the islands, and that he was absent for nine months. Sarmiento believed that he reached the Solomon Islands, but there can be little doubt that it was two of the Galapagos Islands that the Inca discovered and explored. Sarmiento says that he brought back gold, a chair of brass, and the skin and jawbone of a horse, which were preserved in the fortress at Cuzco. It is more likely that the nature of these curiosities was not understood, and that they were really specimens of the large terrapins and other products of the Galapagos Islands.
The conquest and settlement of Chinchay-suyu by the Incas must be looked upon as the greatest of their military achievements. It occupied several years, and there were a number of campaigns. Still, when the immense distances from their base, the care and forethought needed to keep the army properly supplied, the inaccessible character of a great part of the country, and the necessity for adapting the troops to very different kinds of warfare, often in the face of the enemy, are considered, it must be acknowledged that the genius and ability of this remarkable race is very striking. The
