Francisco de Xeres, the Secretary of Pizarro, wrote his account of the early days of the conquest of Peru, on the spot, by order of his master. He sailed from San Lucar, with Pizarro, in January 1530, was with the conqueror in his voyage, in his march along the Peruvian coast and across the Andes, and was an eye-witness of the events at Cassamarca, down to the murder of the Ynca Atahuallpa. He returned to Seville on July 3rd, 1534, after an absence of four years and a half, with the first instalments of gold. His friends lived at Seville, and I gather from Argote de Molina that he came of a respectable family settled at Ubeda; but nothing is known of himself personally, beyond what can be deduced from his narrative.

The narrative of Xeres appears to have been printed at Seville in 1534, the year of his return, but this first edition is extremely scarce. The second edition, which was very carelessly printed, appeared at Salamanca in 1547, and is also very rare. The third, and best known Spanish edition, was published at Madrid, in the collection of Don Andres Gonzalez Barcia, in 1749. The work was translated into Italian by a native of Tudela, named Domingo de Gaztelù, who was Secretary to Lope de Soria, Ambassador to Venice for Charles V, and published at Venice in 1535. A second edition of the Italian version was published at Venice, in the collection of Ramusio, in 1556.