W. STUART WOODSON 631 Ocean Boulevard Coronado, California THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF COMMODORE BYRON MCCANDLESS .flfcontesuma BOitlon THE WORKS OF WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT TWENTY-TWO VOLUMES VOL. VI The Montezuma Edition of William H. Prescott's Works is limited to one thousand copies, of which this is tnontejitma E&ttion HISTORY OF THE Conquest of Peru BY WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT EDITED BY WILFRED HAROLD MUNRO PROFESSOR OF EUROPEAN HISTORY IN BROWN UNIVERSITY AND COMPRISING THE NOTES OF THE EDITION BY JOHN FOSTER KIRK Congestae cumulantur opes, orbisque rapinas Accipit. CLAUDIAN, In Ruf., lib. i. v. 194 So color de religion Van & buscar plata y oro Del encubierto tesoro. LOPE DE VEGA, El Nuevo Mundo, Jorn. 1 VOL. II PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY Copyright, 1847, by WILLIAM H. PRKSCOTT Copyright, 1874, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & Co. Copyright, 1874, by WILLIAM G. PRESCOTT Copyright, 1902, by JOHN FOSTER KIRK Copyright, 1904, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY Electrotyped and Printed by I. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U. S. A. CONTENTS OF VOL. II ! } c 4 v. * BOOK III CONQUEST OF PERU CHAPTER I PIZAHRO'S RECEPTION AT COURT His CAPITULATION WITH THE CROWN HE VISITS His BIRTHPLACE RETURNS TO THE NEW WORLD DIFFICULTIES WITH ALMAGBO His THIRD EXPEDITION RICH INDIAN BOOTY BATTLES IN THE ISLE OF PUNA" PAGE Pizarro in Spain 3 Gracious Reception at Court 4 Relates his Adventures to the Emperor 5 His capitulation with the Crown 7 Dignities conferred on him 7 Provisions in Behalf of the Natives 10 Grasping Spirit of Pizarro 11 He visits his Birthplace 13 The Pizarro Family 14 His Brother Hernando 14 Obstacles to the Expedition 16 Sails and crosses to Nombre de Dios 17 Almagro greatly discontented 17 A Rupture with Difficulty prevented 19 Expedition fitted out at Panamd 20 Pizarro's final Voyage to Peru ....... 22 Driven into the Bay of St. Matthew 22 Lands his Forces 22 Plunders an Indian Village 23 Division of Spoil . 24 He marches along the Coast 25 Sufferings and Discontent of the Spaniards . . . .27 They reach Puerto Viejo . . 28 Joined by Reinforcements 28 Cross to Isle of Puna 28 Conspiracy of its Inhabitants 30 They attack the Spanish Camp 31 Arrival of De Soto with Recruits ... .33 vi CONTENTS OF VOLUME II CHAPTER II PERU AT THE TIME OF THE CONQUEST REIGN OF HCAYNA CAPAC THE INCA BROTHERS CONTEST FOR THE EMPIRE TRI- UMPH AND CRUELTIES OF ATAHUALLPA PAGE The Inca Huayna Capac 35 His Apprehensions respecting the White Men . . . .37 Prognostics of Trouble in Peru 37 Atahuallpa the Inca's Son 40 Shares the Empire with his Brother Huascar . . . .40 Causes of Jealousy between them 43 Commencement of Hostilities 44 Huascar's Forces defeated 45 Ravage of Canaris 46 Atahuallpa marches on Cuzco 47 His victory at Qutpaypan 48 Capture of Huascar 48 Accounts of Atahuallpa's Cruelties 49 Reasons for doubting their Accuracy 50 Atahuallpa's Triumph 52 His Want of Foresight 53 CHAPTER III THE SPANIARDS LAND AT TCMBEZ PIZARRO RECONNOITRES THE COUNTRY FOUNDATION OF SAN MIGUEL MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR EMBASSY FROM THE INCA ADVENTURES ON THE MARCH REACH THE FOOT OF THE ANDES Spaniards pass over to Tumbez 54 The Place deserted and dismantled 55 Its Curaca captured 56 Pizarro reconnoitres the Country 58 His conciliating Policy 59 He founds San Miguel 60 Learns the State of the Kingdom 62 Determines to strike into the Interior 63 His probable Intentions 64 Boldness of the Enterprise 65 Marches through the Level Country 65 Hospitality of the Natives 66 Discontent in the Army 67 Pizarro's Expedient to quiet it 68 Reception at Zaran 69 Envoy from the Inca 70 CONTENTS OF VOLUME II vii FAGX Courteously received by Pizarro 71 His Message to the Inca 72 De Soto's Expediton 73 His Accounts of the Indian Empire 73 March towards Caxamalca 76 Contradictory Information 77 Emissary to Atahuallpa 77 Effective Eloquence of Pizarro 80 CHAPTER IV SEVERE PASSAGE OF THE ANDES EMBASSIES FROM ATAHUALLPA THE SPANIARDS REACH CAXAMALCA EMBASSY TO THE INCA INTERVIEW WITH THE INCA DESPONDENCY OF THE SPANIARDS March over the Andes 81 Fearful Passes of the Sierra 82 Toilsome and Dangerous Ascent 82 Mountain Fortresses 83 The Army gain the Summit 84 Indian Embassy 85 Lofty Tone of Pizarro 86 Return of the Spanish Envoy 87 Different Accounts of Atahuallpa 88 Bold Descent of the Cordilleras 89 Beautiful Valley of Caxamalca 89 Imposing View of the Peruvian Camp 90 Entrance into Caxamalca 91 Description of the City 92 De Soto sent to Atahuallpa 94 His Interview with the Monarch ....... 97 Haughty Demeanor of the Latter 98 His Reply to Pizarro 98 Soto's Exhibition of Horsemanship 99 Gloomy Forebodings of the Spaniards 100 Courage of Pizarro 101 Daring Plan for seizing the Inca 102 Reasons for its Adoption 103 CHAPTER V DESPERATE PLAN OF PIZARRO ATAHUALLPA VISITS THE SPANIARDS HORRIBLE MASSACRE THE INCA A PRISONER CONDUCT OF THE CONQUERORS SPLENDID PROMISES OF THE INCA DEATH OF HUASCAR Disposition of the Spanish Troops 106 Religious Ceremonies 107 viii CONTENTS OF VOLUME II FAOK Approach of the Inca 108 Designs not to enter the Town 110 Disappointment of the Spaniards 110 Atahuallpa changes his Purpose Ill Leaves his Warriors l>ehind 112 Enters the great Square 112 Urged to embrace Christianity 114 He rejects it with Disdain 115 General Attack of the Spaniards 117 Bloody Massacre of the Peruvians 118 Seizure of Atahuallpa 120 Dispersion of his Army 121 Demeanor of the Captive Monarch 123 His probable Designs 124 Courteously treated by Pizarro 125 Indian Prisoners 127 Rich Spoils of the Inca 128 Magnificent Offer of Atahuallpa 130 Accepted by Pizarro 131 Inca's Mode of Life in Captivity 132 Refuses to embrace Christianity 133 Assassination of his Brother Huascar .... . 135 CHAPTER VI GOLD ARRIVES FOR THE RANSOM VlSIT TO PACHACAMAC DEMOLI- TION OF THE IDOL THE INCA'S FAVORITE GENERAL THE INCA'S LIFE IN CONFINEMENT ENVOYS' CONDUCT IN Cuzco ARRIVAL OF ALMAOHO Slow Arrival of the Ransom 138 Rumors of an Indian Rising 139 Emissaries sent to Cuzco 140 City and Temple of Pachacamac 140 Hernando Pizarro's March thither 142 Great Road of the Incas 142 Herds of Llamas 143 Rich Cultivation of the Valleys 143 Hernando's Arrival at the City 145 Forcible Entry into the Temple 145 Horror of the Natives 146 Destruction of the Indian Idol 147 Small Amount of Booty 148 Hernando marches against Challcuchima 148 Persuades him Co visit Caxamalca 150 CONTENTS OF VOLUME II ix PAGE Interview of Atahuallpa with his General 151 The Inca's absolute Authority 151 His Personal Habits and Appearance 152 Return of the Emissaries from Cuzco 153 Magnificent Reports of the City 154 They stripped the Gold from the Temples 154 Their Insolence and Rapacity 155 Return with Loads of Treasure 156 Almagro arrives in Peru 156 Brings a large Reinforcement 156 Joins Pizarro's Camp 158 Superstitious Bodings of Atahuallpa 159 CHAPTER VII IMMENSE AMOUNT OF TREASURE ITS DIVISION AMONG THE TROOPS RUMORS OF A RISING TRIAL OF THE INCA His EXECUTION REFLECTIONS Division of the Inca's Ransom 161 Hernando takes the Royal Fifth to Spain 163 His Jealousy of Almagro 163 Enormous Amount of the Treasure 164 Difficulties in its Distribution 166 Shares of the Pizarros 168 Those of the Soldiers 168 Exclusion of Almagro and his Followers 170 Preparations for the March to Cuzco 171 The Inca demands his Liberty 171 Equivocal Conduct of Pizarro 172 The Interpreter Felipillo 173 The Inca charged with inciting Insurrection . . . .174 His Protestations of Innocence 175 His Apprehensions 175 Fears and Murmurs of the Spaniards 176 They demand the Inca's Death 176 He is brought to Trial 178 Charges against him 178 Condemned to be burnt alive 180 Some protest against the Sentence 180 The Inca entirely unmanned 182 His earnest Entreaties for Mercy 182 Led to Execution 183 Abjures his Religion 184 Perishes by the Garrote 184 His Character and Appearance 185 x CONTENTS OF VOLUME II PAGE Funeral Obsequies 186 Return of De Soto 188 His Indignation and Astonishment 188 Reflections on the Inca's Treatment 189 Responsibility of Pizarro 190 Motives of Personal Pique 192 Views of Chroniclers respecting the Execution .... 193 CHAPTER VIII DISORDERS IN PERU MARCH TO Cuzco ENCOUNTER WITH THE NATIVES CHALLCUCHIMA BURNT ARRIVAL IN Cuzco DE- SCRIPTION OF THE CITY TREASURE FOUND THERE Authority of the Inca in Peru 195 Effects of Atahuallpa's Death 196 New Inca appointed by Pizarro 197 March to Cuzco 198 Formidable Mountain-Passes 199 Tedious and painful Route 200 Conflict with the Indians 201 Pizarro halts at Xauxa 202 De Soto sent forward 202 Furiously assaulted in the Sierra 203 Fierce Battle with the Indians 203 Apprehesions of the Spaniards 204 Arrival of Succors 205 The Peruvians retreat 206 Challcuchima accused of Conspiracy 207 Death of the Inca Toparca 208 Rich Vale of Xaquixaguana 209 Trial and Condemnation of Challcuchima 210 Burned alive before the Army 210 Spaniards arrive at Cuzco 212 Entrance into the Capital 213 Its large Population 214 Gorgeous Edifices 215 Its massive Fortress 216 Temple of the Sun 218 Plunder of the Public Buildings 219 Amount of Treasure secured 220 Its Division among the Troops 221 Its Effect upon the Spaniards 222 CONTENTS OF VOLUME II xi CHAPTER IX NEW INCA CROWNED MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS TERRIBLE MARCH OF ALVARADO INTERVIEW WITH PIZARRO FOUNDATION OF LIMA HERNANDO PIZARRO REACHES SPAIN SENSATION AT COURT FEUDS OF ALMAGRO AND THE PIZARROS PAGE Inca Manco crowned 224 Spanish Government in Cuzco 226 Christian Churches founded 228 Labors of the Missionaries 229 Sharp Encounters with the Natives 230 Landing of Pedro de Alvarado 231 His March to Quito 232 Terrible Passage of the Puertos Nevados 232 Sufferings from Cold and Starvation 233 Eruption of Cotopaxi 234 Alvarado reaches the Table-land 235 Benalcazar's Expedition 236 Almagro's Pursuit 237 Agreement between Alvarado and Almagro 238 Pizarro at Xauxa 240 His Meeting with Alvarado 241 Site for a new Capital 242 Foundation of Lima 244 Almagro goes to Cuzco 246 Hernando Pizarro sent to Spain 246 Admitted to an Audience by the Emperor 247 Royal Grants to the Conquerors 248 Sensation produced by his Accounts 249 Returns with a large Armament 250 His Sufferings at Nombre de Dios 251 Elation of Almagro 252 Difficulty between him and Pizarro 254 Reconciliation effected 255 Singular Compact 255 Almagro's Expedition to Chili 256 Pizarro embelishes his Capital 258 His tranquil Occupations 258 xii CONTENTS OF VOLUME II CHAPTER X ESCAPE OF THE INCA RETURN OF HERNANDO PIZAHRO RISING OF THE PERUVIANS SIEGE AND BURNING OF Cuzco DISTRESSES OF THE SPANIARDS STORMING OF THE FORTRESS PLZARRO'S DISMAY THE INCA RAISES THE SIEGE PACK Condition of the conquered Country 260 Inca Manco 261 Conspiracy of the Peruvians 262 Escape and Recapture of the Inca 263 Kindly treated by Hernando Pizarro 264 The Inca's final Escape 265 Hotly pursued by Juan Pizarro 265 Defeated on the Yucay 268 Juan Pizarro entangled in the Mountains 268 Summoned back to Cuzco 268 The Indians besiege it 268 Anxiety of the Spaniards 269 Firing of the City 271 Terrible Conflagration 271 Perilous Condition of the Spaniards 273 Desperate Combats 274 Distress of the Besieged 276 Their resolute Determination 278 Furious Sally 279 Discipline of the Natives 279 Terrible Slaughter of them 280 The Spaniards storm the Citadel 282 Death of Juan Pizarro 283 Heroism of an Inca Noble 284 The Fortress taken 285 Scarcity of Provisions 285 Reinforcements cut off 288 Consternation of the Spaniards 288 Pizarro seeks Supplies from the North 289 The Inca withdraws his Forces 290 Chivalrous Encounters 291 Attempt to seize the Inca 292 Attack on his Quarters at Tambo 292 The Spaniards compelled to retreat 293 Biographical Notice of Pedro Pizarro 294 Notice of Montesinos . 297 CONTENTS OF VOLUME II xiii BOOK IV CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS CHAPTER I ALAMAORO'S MARCH TO CHILI SUFFERINGS OF THE TROOPS HE RETURNS AND SEIZES CUZCO ACTION OF ABANCAY CASPAR DE ESPINOSA ALMAORO LEAVES Cuzco NEGOTIATIONS WITH Pi- ZARRO PAGE Almagro sets out for Chili 301 Wild Scenery of the Andes 302 Numbers perish of Cold and Famine 302 Horrible Sufferings of his Army 302 Cruelty towards his Indian Allies 303 Overtaken by Rodrigo de Orgonez 304 Receives bad Tidings from the South 305 Returns by the Desert of Atacama 306 Many perish among the Sands 306 Arrives near Cuzco 307 Battle with the Inca's Troops 308 Claims Jurisdiction over Cuzco 308 Takes Possession of the Place 311 Captures Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro 311 Orgonez advises their Death 312 Marches against Alonso de Alvarado 312 Battle of Abancay 313 Almagro defeats and takes him Prisoner 314 Returns to Cuzco 315 Pizarro greatly alarmed 315 Sends Espinosa to negotiate 316 Death of his Emissary 317 Critical Situation of the Brothers Pizarro 318 Almagro leaves Cuzco for the Coast 319 Stormy Conference with Francisco Pizarro 321 Bitter Feelings of Almagro 322 Politic Concessions of Pizarro 323 Treaty concluded between them 323 Hernando set at Liberty 323 xiv CONTENTS OF VOLUME II CHAPTER II FIRST CIVIL WAR ALMAORO RETREATS TO Cuzco BATTLE OF LAS SALINAS CRUELTY OF THE CONQUERORS TRIAL AND EXECU- TION OF ALMAGHO His CHARACTER PAGE Pizarro prepares for War 325 Perfidiously breaks the Treaty 326 Almagro disabled by Illness 327 He retreats to Cuzco 327 Orgofiez takes Command of the Forces 328 Hernando Pizarro marches against him 330 Composition of the Army 330 His Order of Battle 331 Attacks Orgonez 332 Bloody Battle of Las Salinas 333 Heroism and Death of Orgonez 334 Rout of the Army 335 Almagro taken Prisoner 335 Assassination of Pedro de Lerma 336 Hernando occupies Cuzco 338 Illness and Distress of Almagro 338 He is brought to Trial 339 Sentenced to Death 340 Earnestly sues for Life 341 Appoints his Son his Successor 342 Is strangled in Prison 343 His Character 345 His free and liberal Temper 345 Unfortunate Connection with Pizarro 347 CHAPTER III PIZARRO REVISITS Cuzco HERNANUO RETURNS TO CASTILE His LONG IMPRISONMENT COMMISSIONER SENT TO PERU HOSTILI- TIES WITH THE INCA PlZAHRo's ACTIVE ADMINISTRATION GoN- ZALO PIZARRO Pizarro marches towards Cuzco 348 learns Almagro's Death 34?) His own Agency in it . . . . . . . . 350 His arrogant Conduct 351 dross Partiality to his Family 352 Hernando returns with much Gold to Spain 353 His Warning to his Brother 353 CONTENTS OF VOLUME H xv PAGE Coldly received at Court 355 Is thrown into Prison 356 Detained there for many Years 356 His character 357 Disorderly State of Peru 358 Commissioners sent out by the Crown 359 Vaca de Castro arrives in Peru 360 War with the Inca Manco 361 Cruelty of Pizarro to one of his Wives 363 Pizarro establishes Settlements in Peru 364 His Journey to Lima 365 His efficient Administration 365 Gonzalo Pizarro sent to Quito 366 Character of that Chief . . 366 CHAPTER IV GONZALO PIZARRO'S EXPEDITION PASSAGE ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS DISCOVERS THE NAPO INCREDIBLE SUFFERINGS ORELLANA SAILS DOWN THE AMAZON DESPAIR OF THE SPANIARDS THE SURVIVORS RETURN TO QUITO Expedition to the Land of Cinnamon 368 Gonzalo leads it 369 Tempestuous Weather on the March 370 Forests of enormous Growth 371 Miseries and Suiferings of the Spaniards 372 They arrive on the Borders of the Napo 372 Stupendous Cataract 373 Perilous Passage of the River 374 They construct a Brigantine 375 Orellana takes Command of it 376 They reach the Banks of the Amazon 377 Orellana's Wonderful Voyage 379 His subsequent Fate 380 Dismal Situation of the Spaniards 381 Courageous Spirit of Gonzalo 381 Their Return through the Wilderness 383 Frightful Mortality 383 Survivors re-enter Quito 384 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS THE ASSASSINATION OF FRANCISCO PIZARRO Frontispiece From a painting especially made for this edition by F. Courboin. FAC-SIMILE OF TWO SIGNATURES OF FRANCISCO PIZARRO. THE INCA HUASCAR 40 After the painting in the possession of the New York Historical Society. THE INCA ATAHTTALLPA 184 After the painting in the possession of the New York Historical Society. HERNANDO DE SOTO 204 After an engraving in "Ritratos de los Espagnoles illustres, 1791." THE INCA MANCO CAPAC 224 After the painting in the possession of the New York Historical Society. BOOK III CONQUEST OF PERU CONQUEST OF PERU CHAPTER I PIZARRO'S RECEPTION AT COURT HIS CAPITU- LATION WITH THE CROWN - - HE VISITS HIS BIRTHPLACE RETURNS TO THE NEW WORLD - DIFFICULTIES WITH ALMAGRO HIS THIRD EXPEDITION ADVENTURES ON THE COAST BATTLES IN THE ISLE OF PUNA 1528-1531 PIZARRO and his officer, having crossed the Isthmus, embarked at Nombre de Dios for the old country, and, after a good passage, reached Seville early in the summer of 1528. There hap- pened to be at that time in port a person well known in the history of Spanish adventure as the Bachelor Enciso. He had taken an active part in the colonization of Tierra Firme, and had a pecuniary claim against the early colonists of Darien, of whom Pizarro was one. Immediately on the landing of the latter, he was seized by Enciso's orders and held in custody for the debt. Pizarro, who had fled from his native land as a forlorn and houseless adventurer, after an ab- sence of more than twenty years, passed, most of them, in unprecedented toil and suffering, now found himself on his return the inmate of a prison. 4 CONQUEST OF PERU Such was the commencement of those brilliant fortunes which, as he had trusted, awaited him at home. The circumstance excited general in- dignation; and no sooner was the court advised of his arrival in the country, and the great pur- pose of his mission, than orders were sent for his release, with permission to proceed at once on his journey. Pizarro found the emperor at Toledo, which he was soon to quit, in order to embark for Italy. Spain was not the favorite residence of Charles the Fifth in the earlier part of his reign. He was now at that period of it when he was enjoying the full flush of his triumphs over his gallant rival of France, whom he had defeated and taken prisoner at the great battle of Pavia; and the victor was at this moment preparing to pass into Italy to receive the imperial crown from the hands of the Roman Pontiff. Elated by his successes and his elevation to the German throne, Charles made little account of his hereditary kingdom, as his ambition found so splendid a career thrown open to it on the wide field of European politics. He had hitherto received too inconsiderable re- turns from his transatlantic possessions to give them the attention they deserved. But, as the re- cent acquisition of Mexico and the brilliant antici- pations in respect to the southern continent were pressed upon his notice, he felt their importance as likely to afford him the means of prosecuting his ambitious and most expensive enterprises. Pizarro, therefore, who had now come to satisfy the royal eyes, by visible proofs, of the truth of 1528] piZARRO'S RECEPTION AT COURT 5 the golden rumors which from time to time had reached Castile, was graciously received by the emperor. Charles examined the various objects which his officer exhibited to him with great atten- tion. He was particularly interested by the ap- pearance of the llama, so remarkable as the only beast of burden yet known on the new continent; and the fine fabrics of woollen cloth which were made from its shaggy sides gave it a much higher value, in the eyes of the sagacious monarch, than what it possessed as an animal for domestic labor. But the specimens of gold and silver manufacture, and the wonderful tale which Pizarro had to tell of the abundance of the precious metals, must have satisfied even the cravings of royal cupidity. Pizarro, far from being embarrassed by the novelty of his situation, maintained his usual self- possession, and showed that decorum and even dignity in his address which belong to the Cas- tilian. He spoke in a simple and respectful style, but with the earnestness and natural eloquence of one who had been an actor in the scenes he de- scribed, and who was conscious that the impression he made on his audience was to decide his future destiny. All listened with eagerness to the ac- count of his strange adventures by sea and land, his wanderings in the forests, or in the dismal and pestilent swamps on the sea-coast, without food, almost without raiment, with feet torn and bleed- ing at every step, with his few companions be- coming still fewer by disease and death, and yet pressing on with unconquerable spirit to extend the empire of Castile and the name and power of 6 CONQUEST OF PERU her sovereign; but when he painted his lonely condition on the desolate island, abandoned by the government at home, deserted by all but a hand- ful of devoted followers, his royal auditor, though not easily moved, was affected to tears. On his departure from Toledo, Charles commended the affairs of his vassal in the most favorable terms to the consideration of the Council of the Indies. 1 There was at this time another man at court, who had come there on a similar errand from the New World, but whose splendid achievements had already won for him a name that threw the rising reputation of Pizarro comparatively into the shade. This man was Hernando Cortes, the Con- queror of Mexico. He had come home to lay an empire at the feet of his sovereign, and to demand in return the redress of his wrongs and the recom- pense of his great services. He was at the close of his career, as Pizarro was at the commencement of his; the Conqueror of the North and of the South; the two men appointed by Providence to overturn the most potent of the Indian dynasties, and to open the golden gates by which the treas- ures of the New World were to pass into the coffers of Spain. Notwithstanding the emperor's recommenda- tion, the business of Pizarro went forward at 1 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Conq. i Pob. del Pirn, MS." Hablaba tan hien en la materia, que se Ilev6 los aplausos y atencion en Toledo donde el Emperador estaba, diole audiencia con mucho pusto, tratolo amoroso, y oyole tierno, especialmente cuando le hizo relacion de su eonsistencia y de los trece compafieros en la Isla en medio de tantos trabajos." Monte- sinos, Annales, MS., afio 1528. 1529] CAPITULATION WITH THE CROWN 7 the tardy pace with which affairs are usually con- ducted in the court of Castile. He found his limited means gradually sinking under the ex- penses incurred by his present situation, and he represented that unless some measures were speed- ily taken in reference to his suit, however favor- able they might be in the end, he should be in no condition to profit by them. The queen, accord- ingly, who had charge of the business, on her hus- band's departure, expedited the affair, and on the twenty-sixth of July, 1529, she executed the memorable Capitulation which defined the powers and privileges of Pizarro.* The instrument secured to that chief the right of discovery and conquest in the province of Peru, or New Castile, as the country was then called, in the same manner as Mexico had received the name of New Spain, for the distance of two hundred leagues south of Santiago. He was to receive the titles and rank of Governor and Cap- tain-General of the province, together with those of Adelantado and Alguacil Mayor, for life ; and he was to have a salary of seven hundred and twenty-five thousand maravedis, with the obliga- tion of maintaining certain officers and military retainers, corresponding with the dignity of his station. He was to have the right to erect certain fortresses, with the absolute government of them ; * [There seems to be in this sentence a confusion of two distinct personages. On leaving Spain in 1529, Charles intrusted the govern- ment to his wife, the Empress Isabella, who therefore " had charge of the business " referred to, and may have " expedited the affair." But " the queen " in whose name the agreement with Pizarro was "executed" was the unfortunate Juana, Charles's mother. K.] 8 CONQUEST OF PERU to assign encomiendas of Indians, under the limi- tation prescribed by law; and, in fine, to exercise nearly all the prerogatives incident to the au- thority of a viceroy. His associate, Almagro, was declared com- mander of the fortress of Tumbez, with an annual rent of three hundred thousand marave- dis, and with the further rank and privileges of an hidalgo. The reverend Father Luque received the reward of his services in the bishopric of Tum- bez, and he was also declared Protector of the Indians of Peru. He was to enjoy the yearly stipend of a thousand ducats, to be derived, like the other salaries and gratuities in this instrument, from the revenues of the conquered territory. Nor were the subordinate actors in the expe- dition forgotten. Ruiz received the title of Grand Pilot of the Southern Ocean, with a liberal pro- vision; Candia was placed at the head of the artillery; and the remaining eleven companions on the desolate island were created hidalgos and cavalleros, and raised to certain municipal dig- nities, in prospect.* * [Mr. Markham, after quoting this clause of the instrument, which contains the list of names before cited as those of the men who elected to remain with Pizarro at the island of Gallo, instead of re- turning to Panama (vol. i. p. 280, note 3), observes, "It has always been supposed that these were the men who crossed the line, and hence their number has been placed at thirteen. But it is not asserted in the Capitulation that the men whose names are given in it were those who crossed the line, and it might be that Pizarro, in asking favors for his most faithful companions, on the one hand omitted one or more of those who crossed the line, and on the other included some who did not take part in that transaction, but who joined him afterwards." Proceeding on this supposition, he rejects the accounts of Cieza de Leon, Gomara, Herrera, and Garcilasso, who all concur in 1529} CAPITULATION WITH THE CROWN 9 Several provisions of a liberal tenor were also made, to encourage emigration to the country. fixing the number of those who remained at Gallo at thirteen, and accepts instead the statement of Francisco de Xerez, afterwards sec- retary of Pizarro, who, in a brief mention of the affair, gives the number at sixteen. (Reports on the Discovery of Peru, p. 8, note.) But had Mr. Markham been at the pains to read the whole of the document on whose assumed silence in regard to the point in ques- tion his argument is chiefly based, he would probably have refrained from contradicting the general mass of contemporary authorities, as well as the modern writers who have conformed to them. The pre- amble to the Capitulation, reciting the services and enterprises for which Pizarro and his companions were to be rewarded, says ex- pressly that on account of the dangers and toils of the voyage he was deserted on an uninhabited island by all the people that had gone with him, except thirteen alone, who chose to remain with him. (" Donde pasastes muchos peligros e trabajo, & causa de lo cual os dej6 toda la gente que con vos iba en una isla despoblada con solos trece hombres que no vos quisieron dejar.") This settles the number of the faithful few on the authority of Pizarro himself, and accounts for the fact that the subsequent clause, enumerating their names, mentions only in a general way " the great service they had rendered in the said voyage and discovery." It should perhaps be mentioned that Sir Arthur Helps makes the number fourteen, without citing his authority, and rejects the com- mon version of the story of " crossing the line," as an example of " the invincible passion for melodramatic representation which people of second-rate imagination delight in, those especially who have not seen much of human affairs, and who do not know in how plain and unpretending a manner the greatest things are, for the most part, transacted." (The Spanish Conquest in America, Am. ed., vol. iii. p. 409.) It may be admitted that there are many people of second-rate, or even third- or fourth-rate, imagination, who have employed them- selves either in amplifying or simplifying the events of history; but without holding any official position, one may have seen enough of " human affairs " to believe that neither the greatest nor the smallest things are always transacted with the extreme quietude and gentle- ness that accord with the tone of an idyllic historian. In regard to this particular affair, Sir Arthur Helps relies on what he calls the " simple story " told by Herrera, according to whom it was Tafur who drew the line, and who makes no mention of Pizarro's speech. Garcilasso, on the other hand, gives exactly the same re- lation as Montesinos, whom Prescott has followed; and we can feel little difficulty in agreeing with Mr. Markham that " of these two accounts [Herrera's and Garcilasso's] that of Garcilasso is far more likely to be true." K.] 10 CONQUEST OF PERU The new settlers were to be exempted from some of the most onerous but customary taxes, as the alcabala, or to be subject to them only in a miti- gated form. The tax on the precious metals drawn from mines was to be reduced, at first, to one-tenth, instead of the fifth imposed on the same metals when obtained by barter or by rapine. It was expressly enjoined on Pizarro to observe the existing regulations for the good government and protection of the natives ; and he was required to carry out with him a specified number of eccle- siastics, w r ith whom he was to take counsel in the conquest of the country, and whose efforts were to be dedicated to the service and conversion of the Indians; while lawyers and attorneys, on the other hand, whose presence was considered as boding ill to the harmony of the new settlements, were strictly prohibited from setting foot in them. Pizarro, on his part, was bound, in six months from the date of the instrument, to raise a force, well equipped for the service, of two hundred and fifty men, of whom one hundred might be drawn from the colonies; and the government engaged to furnish some trifling assistance in the purchase of artillery and military stores. Finally, he was to be prepared, in six months after his return to Panama, to leave that port and embark on his expedition. 2 2 This remarkable document, formerly in the archives of Simancas, and now transferred to the Archivo General de las Indias in Seville, was transcribed for the rich collection of the late Don Martin Fer- nandez de Xavarrete, to whose kindness I am indebted for a copy of it. It will be found printed entire, in the original, in Appendix No. 7. 1529] CAPITULATION WITH THE CROWN 11 Such are some of the principal provisions of this Capitulation, by which the Castilian govern- ment, with the sagacious policy which it usually pursued on the like occasions, stimulated the am- bitious hopes of the adventurer by high-sounding titles and liberal promises of reward contingent on his success, but took care to stake nothing itself on the issue of the enterprise. It was careful to reap the fruits of his toil, but not to pay the cost of them. A circumstance that could not fail to be re- marked in these provisions was the manner in which the high and lucrative posts were accumu- lated on Pizarro, to the exclusion of Almagro, who, if he had not taken as conspicuous a part in personal toil and exposure, had at least divided with him the original burden of the enterprise, and, by his labors in another direction, had con- tributed quite as essentially to its success. Al- magro had willingly conceded the post of honor to his confederate; but it had been stipulated, on Pizarro's departure for Spain, that, while he so- licited the office of Governor and Captain-General for himself, he should secure that of Adelantado for his companion. In like manner, he had en- gaged to apply for the see of Tumbez for the vicar of Panama, and the office of Alguacil Mayor for the pilot Ruiz. The bishopric took the direc- tion that was concerted, for the soldier could scarcely claim the mitre of the prelate; but the other offices, instead of their appropriate dis- tribution, were all concentrated in himself. Yet it was in reference to his application for his 12 CONQUEST OF PERU friends that Pizarro had promised on his depart- ure to deal fairly and honorably by them all. 3 It is stated by the military chronicler, Pedro Pi- zarro, that his kinsman did, in fact, urge the suit strongly in behalf of Almagro, but that he was refused by the government, on the ground that offices of such paramount importance could not be committed to different individuals. The ill effects of such an arrangement had been long since felt in more than one of the Indian colonies, where it had led to rivalry and fatal collision. 4 Pizarro, therefore, finding his remonstrances un- heeded, had no alternative but to combine the offices in his own person, or to see the expedition fall to the ground. This explanation of the affair has not received the sanction of other contemporary historians. The apprehensions ex- pressed by Luque, at the time of Pizarro's as- suming the mission, of some such result as actu- ally occurred, founded, doubtless, on a knowledge of his associate's character, may warrant us in dis- * " Al fin se capitulci, que Francisco Picarro negociase la Governa- cion para si: i para Diego de Almagro, el Adelantamiento: i para Hernando de Luque, el Obispado: i para Bartolome Ruiz, el Algua- cilazgo Maior: i Mercedes para los que quedahan vivos, de los trece Compafieros, afirmando siempre Francisco Picarro, que todo lo queria para ellos, i prometiendo, que negociaria lealmente, i sin ninguna cautela." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 4, lib. cap. 1. 4 " Y don Francisco Piarro pidio conforme & lo que llevava capitu- lado y hordenado con sus compafieros ya dicho, y en el consejo se le rrespondio que no avia lugar de dar governacion & dos compnfieris, & caussa de que en santa marta se avia dado ansi A dos compaiieros y el uno avia muerto al otro. . . . Pues pedido, como digo, muchas vezes por don Francisco Picarro se les hiziese la merced & ambos com- pafieros, se le rrespondio la pidiesse parassi sino que se daria A otro, y visto que no avia lugar lo que pedia y queria pedio se le hiziese la merced & el, y ansi se le hizo." Descub. y Conq., MS. 1529] CAPITULATION WITH THE CROWN 13 trusting the alleged vindication of his conduct; and our distrust will not be diminished by famil- iarity with his subsequent career. Pizarro's virtue was not of a kind to withstand temptation, though of a much weaker sort than that now thrown in his path. The fortunate cavalier was also honored with the habit of St. Jago ; 5 and he was authorized to make an important innovation in his family es- cutcheon, for by the father's side he might claim his armorial bearings. The black eagle and the two pillars emblazoned on the royal arms were incorporated with those of the Pizarros; and an Indian city, with a vessel in the distance on the waters, and the llama of Peru, revealed the theatre and the character of his exploits ; while the legend announced that " under the auspices of Charles, and by the industry, the genius, and the resources of Pizarro, the country had been discovered and reduced to tranquillity," thus modestly inti- mating both the past and prospective services of the Conqueror. 6 These arrangements having been thus com- pleted to Pizarro's satisfaction, he left Toledo for Truxillo, his native place, in Estremadura, where he thought he should be most likely to meet with adherents for his new enterprise, and where it doubtless gratified his vanity to display himself 5 Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 182. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 1. Caro de Torres, Historia de las Ordenes militares (ed. Madrid, 1629), p. 113. 8 " Caroli Caesaris auspicio, et labore, ingenio, ac impensa Ducis Pizarro inventa, et pacata." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 4, lib. 6, cap. 5. 14. CONQUEST OF PERU in the palmy, or at least promising, state of his present circumstances. If vanity be ever pardon- able, it is certainly in a man who, born in an ob- scure station in life, without family, interest, or friends to back him, has carved out his own for- tunes in the world, and, by his own resources, tri- umphed over all the obstacles which nature and accident had thrown in his way. Such was the condition of Pizarro as he now revisited the place of his nativity, where he had hitherto been known only as a poor outcast, without a home to shelter, a father to own him, or a friend to lean upon. But he now found both friends and followers, and some who were eager to claim kindred with him and take part in his future fortunes. Among these were four brothers. Three of them, like himself, were illegitimate, one of whom, named Francisco Martin de Alcantara, was related to him by the mother's side, the other two, named Gonzalo and Juan Pizarro, were descended from the father. ' They were all poor, and proud as they were poor," says Oviedo, who had seen them; " and their eagerness for gain was in proportion to their poverty." 7 The remaining and eldest brother, named Her- nando, was a legitimate son, " legitimate," con- tinues the same caustic authority, " by his pride, as well as by his birth." His features were plain, even disagreeably so; but his figure was good. He was large of stature, and, like his brother T "Trujo tres o cuatro hermanos snyos tan soberbios oomo pobres, tan sin hacienda eomo deseosos de alcanzarla." Hist, dc las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 1. 1529 J PIZARRO'S BROTHERS 15 Francis, had on the whole an imposing presence. 8 In his character he combined some of the worst defects incident to the Castilian. He was jealous in the extreme; impatient, not merely of affront, but of the least slight, and implacable in his re- sentment. He was decisive in his measures, and unscrupulous in their execution. No touch of pity had power to arrest his arm. His arrogance was such that he was constantly wounding the self-love of those with whom he acted ; thus begetting an ill will which unnecessarily multiplied obstacles in his path. In this he differed from his brother Francis, whose plausible manners smoothed away difficulties and conciliated confidence and co-oper- ation in his enterprises. Unfortunately, the evil counsels of Hernando exercised an influence over his brother which more than compensated the ad- vantages derived from his singular capacity for business. Notwithstanding the general interest which Pi- zarro's adventures excited in this country, that chief did not find it easy to comply with the pro- visions of the Capitulation in respect to the amount of his levies. Those who were most astonished by his narrative were not always most inclined to take part in his fortunes. They shrank from the unparalleled hardships which lay 8 Oviedo's portrait of him is by no means flattering. He writes like one too familiar with the original. " E de todos ellos el Hernando Pizarro solo era legitimo, mas legitimado en la soberbia, hombre de alta estatura 6 grueso, la lengua e labios gordos, 6 la punta de la nariz con sobrada carne e encendida, y este fue el desavenidor y estorbador del sosiego de todos y en especial de los dos viejos companeros Fran- cisco Pizarro Diego de Almagro." Hist, de las Indias, MS., ubi supra. 16 CONQUEST OF PERU in the path of the adventurer in that direction; and they listened with visible distrust to the gorgeous pictures of the golden temples and gardens of Tumbez, which they looked upon as indebted in some degree, at least, to the coloring of his fancy, with the obvious purpose of attracting followers to his banners. It is even said that Pizarro would have found it difficult to raise the necessary funds, but for the seasonable aid of Cortes, a native of Estremadura like himself, his companion in arms in early days, and, according to report, his kins- man. 9 No one was in a better condition to hold out a helping hand to a brother adventurer, and probably no one felt greater sympathy in Pizarro's fortunes, or greater confidence in his eventual success, than the man who had so lately trod the same career with renown. The six months allowed by the Capitulation had elapsed, and Pizarro had assembled somewhat less than his stipulated complement of men, with which he was preparing to embark in a little squadron of three vessels at Seville; but before they were wholly ready he received intelligence that the offi- cers of the Council of the Indies proposed to in- quire into the condition of the vessels and ascertain how far the requisitions had been complied with. Without loss of time, therefore, Pizarro, afraid, if the facts were known, that his enterprise might be nipped in the bud, slipped his cables, and, cross- ing the bar of San Lucar, in January, 1530, stood for the isle of Gomera, one of the Canaries, Pizarro y Orellana, Varones ilustres, p. 143. 1530] RETURNS TO THE NEW WORLD 17 where he ordered his brother Hernando, who had charge of the remaining vessels, to meet him. Scarcely had he gone, before the officers arrived to institute the search. But when they objected the deficiency of men they were easily perhaps willingly deceived by the pretext that the re- mainder had gone forward in the vessel with Pi- zarro. At all events, no further obstacles were thrown in Hernando's way, and he was permitted, with the rest of the squadron, to join his brother, according to agreement, at Gomera. After a prosperous voyage, the adventurers reached the northern coast of the great southern continent, and anchored off the port of Santa Marta. Here they received such discouraging reports of the countries to which they were bound, of forests teeming with insects and venomous ser- pents, of huge alligators that swarmed on the banks of the streams, and of hardships and perils such as their own fears had never painted, that several of Pizarro's men deserted, and their leader, thinking it no longer safe to abide in such treach- erous quarters, set sail at once for Nombre de Dios. Soon after his arrival there, he was met by his two associates, Luque and Almagro, who had crossed the mountains for the purpose of hearing from his own lips the precise import of the Ca- pitulation with the crown. Great, as might have been expected, was Almagro's discontent at learn- ing the result of what he regarded as the per- fidious machinations of his associate. " Is it thus," he exclaimed, " that you have dealt with the friend VOL. II. 2 18 CONQUEST OF PERU who shared equally with you in the trials, the dangers, and the cost of the enterprise, and this, notwithstanding your solemn engagements on your departure to provide for his interests as faithfully as your own? How could you allow me to be thus dishonored in the eyes of the world by so paltry a compensation, which seems to esti- mate my services as nothing in comparison with your own? " 10 Pizarro, in reply, assured his companion that he had faithfully urged his suit, but that the gov- ernment refused to confide powers which in- trenched so closely on one another to different hands. He had no alternative but to accept all himself or to decline all; and he endeavored to mitigate Almagro's displeasure by representing that the country was large enough for the ambi- tion of both, and that the powers conferred on himself were, in fact, conferred on Almagro, since all that he had would ever be at his friend's dis- posal, as if it were his own. But these honeyed words did not satisfy the injured party; and the two captains soon after returned to Panama with feelings of estrangement, if not hostility, towards one another, which did not augur well for their enterprise. Still, Almagro was of a generous temper, and might have been appeased by the politic conces- sions of his rival, but for the interference of Hernando Pizarro, who, from the first hour of their meeting, showed little respect for the vet- 10 Herrera, Hist, peneral, dec. 4, lib. 7, cap. 9. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 1530] DIFFICULTIES WITH ALMAGRO 19 eran, which, indeed, the diminutive person of the latter was not calculated to inspire, and who now regarded him with particular aversion as an im- pediment to the career of his brother. Almagro's friends and his frank and liberal manners had secured him many were no less dis- gusted than himself with the overbearing conduct of this new ally. They loudly complained that it was quite enough to suffer from the perfidy of Pizarro, without being exposed to the insults of his family, who had now come over with him to fatten on the spoils of conquest which belonged to their leader. The rupture soon proceeded to such a length that Almagro avowed his intention to prosecute the expedition without further co-opera- tion with his partner, and actually entered into negotiations for the purchase of vessels for that object. But Luque, and the Licentiate Espinosa, who had fortunately come over at that time from St. Domingo, now interposed to repair a breach which must end in the ruin of the enterprise and the probable destruction of those most interested in its success. By their mediation, a show of recon- ciliation was at length effected between the parties, on Pizarro's assurance that he would relinquish the dignity of Adelantado in favor of his rival, and petition the emperor to confirm him in the posses- sion of it, an assurance, it may be remarked, not easy to reconcile with his former assertion in re- spect to the avowed policy of the crown in bestow- ing this office. He was, moreover, to apply for a distinct government for his associate, so soon as he had become master of the country assigned to 20 CONQUEST OF PERU himself, and was to solicit no office for either of his own brothers until Almagro had been first pro- vided for. Lastly, the former contract in regard to the division of the spoil into three equal shares between the three original associates was con- firmed in the most explicit manner. The recon- ciliation thus effected among the parties answered the temporary purpose of enabling them to go forward in concert in the expedition. But it was only a thin scar that had healed over the wound, which, deep and rankling within, waited only fresh cause of irritation to break out with a virulence more fatal than ever. 11 No time was now lost in preparing for the voyage. It found little encouragement, however, among the colonists of Panama, who were too familiar with the sufferings on the former ex- peditions to care to undertake another, even with the rich bribe that was held out to allure them. A few of the old company were content to follow out the adventure to its close ; and some additional stragglers were collected from the province of Nicaragua, a shoot, it may be remarked, from the colony of Panama. But Pizarro made slender additions to the force brought over with him from 11 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Nahnrro, Relacion suma- ria, MS. Montesinos, Annales, MS., ano 1529. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 3. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 1. There seems to have been little good will, at bottom, between any of the confederates; for Father Luque wrote to Oviedo that both of his partners had repaid his services with ingratitude: " Padre Luque, compafiero de estos Capitanes, con cuya hacienda hicieron cllos sus hechos, puesto que el uno el otro se lo pagaron con ingratitud segun a mi me lo escribid el mismo electo de su mano." Ibid., loc. cit. 153 J HIS THIRD EXPEDITION 21 Spain, though this body was in better condition, and, in respect to arms, ammunition, and equip- ment generally, was on a much better footing, than his former levies. The whole number did not exceed one hundred and eighty men, with twenty-seven horses for the cavalry. He had pro- vided himself with three vessels, two of them of a good size, to take the place of those which he had been compelled to leave on the opposite side of the Isthmus at Nombre de Dios ; an armament small for the conquest of an empire, and far short of that prescribed by the Capitulation with the crown. With this the intrepid chief proposed to commence operations, trusting to his own suc- cesses, and the exertions of Almagro, who was to remain behind for the present, to muster rein- forcements. 12 On St. John the Evangelist's day, the banners of the company and the royal standard were con- secrated in the cathedral church of Panama; a sermon was preached before the little army by Fray Juan de Vargas, one of the Dominicans selected by the government for the Peruvian mis- sion ; and mass was performed, and the sacrament administered to every soldier previous to his en- gaging in the crusade against the infidel. 13 Hav- 11 The numerical estimates differ, as usual. I conform to the state- ment of Pizarro's secretary, Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 182. " " El qual haviendo hecho bendecir en la Iglesia mayor las ban- deras i estandarte real dia de San Juan Evangelista de dicho afio de 1530, i que todos los soldados confesasen i comulgasen en el convento de Nuestra Sefiora de la Merced, dia de los Inocentes en la misa can- tada que se celebro con toda solemnidad i sermon que predic6 el P. Present" 10 Fr. Juan de Vargas, uno de los 5 religiosos que en cumpli- 22 CONQUEST OF PERU ing thus solemnly invoked the blessing of Heaven on the enterprise, Pizarro and his followers went on board their vessels, which rode at anchor in the Bay of Panama, and early in January, 1531, sallied forth on his third and last expedition for the conquest of Peru. It was his intention to steer direct for Tumbez, which held out so magnificent a show of treasure on his former voyage. But head-winds and cur- rents, as usual, baffled his purpose, and after a run of thirteen days, much shorter than the period formerly required for the same distance, his little squadron came to anchor in the Bay of St. Mat- thew, about one degree north; and Pizarro, after consulting with his officers, resolved to disembark his forces and advance along the coast, while the vessels held their course at a convenient distance from the shore. The march of the troops was severe and pain- ful in the extreme; for the road was constantly intersected by streams, which, swollen by the winter rains, widened at their mouths into spa- cious estuaries. Pizarro, who had some previous knowledge of the country, acted as guide as well as commander of the expedition. He was ever ready to give aid where it was needed, encour- aging his followers to ford or swim the torrents as they best could, and cheering the desponding by his own buoyant and courageous spirit. At length they reached a thick-settled hamlet, or rather town, in the province of Coaque. The miento de la ohedienoia de sus prelados i orden del Kmperador pasa- ban a la conquista." Naharro, Rclncion stirnaria, MS. 1531J ADVENTURES ON THE COAST 23 Spaniards rushed on the place, and the inhabitants, without offering resistance, fled in terror to the neighboring forests, leaving their effects of much greater value than had been anticipated in the hands of the invaders. ' We fell on them, sword in hand," says one of the Conquerors, with some naivete; " for if we had advised the Indians of our approach we should never have found there such store of gold and precious stones." 14 The natives, however, according to another authority, stayed voluntarily; " for, as they had done no harm to the white men, they flattered themselves none would be offered to them, but that there would be only an interchange of good offices with the strangers," 15 an expectation founded, it may be, on the good character which the Spaniards had established for themselves on their preceding visit, but one in which the simple people now found themselves most unpleasantly deceived. Rushing into the deserted dwellings, the in- vaders found there, besides stuffs of various kinds, and food most welcome in their famished condi- tion, a large quantity of gold and silver wrought into clumsy ornaments, together with many pre- cious stones; for this was the region of the esme- raldas, or emeralds, where that valuable gem was most abundant. One of these je\vels, that fell into the hands of Pizarro in this neighborhood, was as large as a pigeon's egg. Unluckily, his rude fol- 14 " Pues llegados a este pueblo de Coaque dieron de supito sin savello la crente del porque si estuvieran avisados. Xo se tomara la cantidad de oro y esmeraldas que en el se tomaron." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 15 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 4, lib. 7, cap. 9. 24 CONQUEST OF PERU lowers did not know the value of their prize; and they broke many of them in pieces by pounding them with hammers. 16 They were led to this ex- traordinary proceeding, it is said, by one of the Dominican missionaries, Fray Reginaldo de Pe- draza, who assured them that this was the way to prove the true emerald, which could not be broken. It was observed that the good father did not sub- ject his own jewels to this wise experiment; but, as the stones, in consequence of it, fell in value, being regarded merely as colored glass, he carried back a considerable store of them to Panama. 17 The gold and silver ornaments rifled from the dwellings were brought together and deposited in a common heap; when a fifth was deducted for the crown, and Pizarro distributed the remainder in due proportions among the officers and privates of his company. This was the usage invariably observed on the like occasions throughout the Con- quest. The invaders had embarked in a common adventure. Their interest was common, and to have allowed every one to plunder on his own ac- count would only have led to insubordination and perpetual broils. All were required, therefore, on pain of death, to contribute whatever they ob- 16 Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 4. " A lo que se ha entendido en las esmeraldas ovo gran hierro y torpedad en algunas Personas por no conoscellas. Aunque quieren decir que algunos que las conoscieron las guardaron. Pcro ffinalmente muchos vbieron esmeraldas de mucho valor; vnos las pro- vavan en yunques, dandolas con martillos, diziendo que si hera esme- ralda no se quebraria; otros las despreciaban, diziendo que era vidrio." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 17 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq. MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 4, lib. 7, cap. 9. 1631 J ADVENTURES ON THE COAST 25 tained, whether by bargain or by rapine, to the general stock; and all were too much interested in the execution of the penalty to allow the un- happy culprit who violated the law any chance of escape. 18 Pizarro, with his usual policy, sent back to Pan- ama a large quantity of the gold, no less than twenty thousand castellanos in value, in the belief that the sight of so much treasure, thus speedily acquired, would settle the doubts of the wavering and decide them on joining his banner. 19 He judged right. As one of the Conquerors piously expresses it, " It pleased the Lord that we should fall in with the town of Coaque, that the riches of the land might find credit with the people, and that they should flock to it." 20 Pizarro, having refreshed his men, continued his march along the coast, but no longer accompanied 18 "Los Espanoles las rrecoxeron y juntaron el pro y la plata, porque asi estava mandado y hordenado sopena de la vida el que otra cossa hiziese, porque todos lo avian de traer d monton para que de alii el governador lo rrepartiese, dando a cada uno confforme a su persona y meritos de servicios; y esta horden se guardo en toda esta tierra en la conquista della, y al que se le hallara oro 6 plata escon- <3ido muriera por ello, y deste medio nadie oso escondello." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 18 The booty was great indeed, if, as Pedro Pizarro, one of the Conquerors present, says, it amounted in value to 200,000 gold cas- tellanos: " Aqui se hallo mucha chaquira de oro y de plata, muchas coronas hechas de oro d manera de imperiales, y otras muchas piezas en que se avaleo montar mas de dozientos mill castellanos." (Descub. y Conq., MS.) Naharro, Montesinos, and Herrera con- tent themselves with stating that he sent back 20,000 castellanos in the vessels to Panamd. K " Fueron a dar en vn pueblo que se dezia Coaque que f ue nue- stro Senor servido tapasen con el, porque con lo que en el se hallo se acredito la tierra y vino gente a ella." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 26 CONQUEST OF PERU by the vessels, which had returned for recruits to Panama. The road, as he advanced, was check- ered with strips of sandy waste, which, drifted about by the winds, blinded the soldiers, and afforded only treacherous footing for man and beast. The glare was intense; and the rays of a vertical sun beat fiercely on the iron mail and the thick quilted doublets of cotton, till the faint- ing troops were almost suffocated with the heat. To add to their distresses, a strange epidemic broke out in the little army. It took the form of ulcers, or rather hideous warts of great size, which covered the body, and when lanced, as was the case with some, discharged such a quantity of blood as proved fatal to the sufferer.* Several died of this frightful disorder, which was so sudden in its attack, and attended with such prostration of strength, that those who lay down well at night were unable to lift their hands to their heads in the morning. 21 The epidemic, which made its first appearance during this invasion, and which did not long survive it, spread over the country, sparing neither native nor white man. 22 It was 21 Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Montesinos, Annales, MS., ano 1530. 22 Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 15. * [This disease is still active in Peru, affecting especially those who dwell in the neighborhood of the Verrugas viaduct upon the line of the Oroya railway. The streamlet which bears the name of "Agua de Verrugas" flows into the Rimac River about fifty miles above the city of Lima. The writer saw many cases of the disease in 1873 when the Oroya railway was in process of construction. It was called "Verrugas" (warts) and was supposed to be caused by the water of that particular region, as cases were very rarely found elsewhere. At that time physicians were unable to discover any cure for it. M.] 1531 J ADVENTURES ON THE COAST 27 one of those plagues from the vial of wrath, which the destroying angel, who follows in the path of the conqueror, pours out on the devoted nations. The Spaniards rarely experienced on their march either resistance or annoyance from the inhabitants, who, instructed by the example of Coaque, fled with their effects into the woods and neighboring mountains. No one came out to welcome the strangers and offer the rites of hos- pitality, as on their last visit to the land. For the white men were no longer regarded as good beings that had come from heaven, but as ruthless de- stroyers, who, invulnerable to the assaults of the Indians, were borne along on the backs of fierce animals, swifter than the wind, with weapons in their hands that scattered fire and desolation as they went. Such were the stories now circulated of the invaders, which, preceding them everywhere on their march, closed the hearts, if not the doors, of the natives against them. Exhausted by the fatigue of travel and by disease, and grievously disappointed at the poverty of the land, which now offered no compensation for their toils, the soldiers of Pizarro cursed the hour in which they had enlisted under his standard, and the men of Nicaragua in particular, says the old chronicler, calling to mind their pleasant quarters in their luxurious land, sighed only to return to their Mahometan paradise. 23 23 " Aunque ellos no ninguno por aver venido, porque conio avian dexado el paraiso de mahoma que hera Nicaragua y hallaron la isla alzada y falta de comidas y la mayor parte de la gente enfferma y no oro ni plata como atras avian hallado, algunos y todos se holgaran 28 CONQUEST OF PERU At this juncture the army was gladdened by the sight of a vessel from Panama, which brought some supplies, together with the royal treasurer, the veedor or inspector, the comptroller, and other high officers appointed by the crown to attend the expedition. They had been left in Spain by Pi- zarro, in consequence of his abrupt departure from the country; and the Council of the Indies, on learning the circumstance, had sent instructions to Panama to prevent the sailing of his squadron from that port. But the Spanish government, with more wisdom, countermanded the order, only requiring the functionaries to quicken their own departure and take their place without loss of time in the expedition. The Spaniards in their march along the coast had now advanced as far as Puerto Vie jo. Here they were soon after joined by another small re- inforcement of about thirty men, under an officer named Benalcazar, who subsequently rose to high distinction in this service. Many of the followers of Pizarro would now have halted at this spot and established a colony there. But that chief thought more of conquering than of colonizing, at least for the present; and he proposed, as his first step, to get possession of Tumbez, which he regarded as the gate of the Peruvian empire. Continuing his march, therefore, to the shores of what is now called the Gulf of Guayaquil, he arrived off the little island of Puna, lying at no great distance from the Bay of Tumbez. This island, lie de volver de adonde avian venido." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 1531] ADVENTURES ON THE COAST 29 thought, would afford him a convenient place to encamp until he was prepared to make his descent on the Indian city. The dispositions of the islanders seemed to favor his purpose. He had not been long in their neighborhood before a deputation of the natives, with their cacique at their head, crossed over in their balsas to the main land to welcome the Span- iards to their residence. But the Indian inter- preters of Tumbez, who had returned with Pizarro from Spain, and continued with the camp, put their master on his guard against the meditated treachery of the islanders, whom they accused of designing to destroy the Spaniards by cutting the ropes that held together the floats and leaving those upon them to perish in the waters. Yet the cacique, when charged by Pizarro with this per- fidious scheme, denied it with such an air of con- scious innocence that the Spanish commander trusted himself and his followers, without further hesitation, to his conveyance, and was transported in safety to the shores of Puna. Here he was received in a hospitable manner, and his troops were provided with comfortable quarters. Well satisfied with his present position, Pizarro resolved to occupy it until the violence of the rainy season was past, when the arrival of the reinforcements he expected would put him in better condition for marching into the country of the Inca. The island, which lies in the mouth of the river of Guayaquil, and is about eight leagues in length by four in breadth at the widest part, was at that 30 CONQUEST OF PERU time partially covered with a noble growth of timber. But a large portion of it was subjected to cultivation, and bloomed with plantations of cacao, of the sweet potato, and the different prod- ucts of a tropical clime, evincing agricultural knowledge as well as industry in the population. They were a warlike race, but had received from their Peruvian foes the appellation of " perfidi- ous." It was the brand fastened by the Roman historians on their Carthaginian enemies, with perhaps no better reason. The bold and indepen- dent islanders opposed a stubborn resistance to the arms of the Incas; and, though they had finally yielded, they had been ever since at feud, and often in deadly hostility, with their neighbors of Tumbez. The latter had no sooner heard of Pizarro's ar- rival on the island than, trusting probably to their former friendly relations with him, they came over in some number to the Spanish quarters. The presence of their detested rivals was by no means grateful to the jealous inhabitants of Puna, and the prolonged residence of the white men on their island could not be otherwise than burdensome. In their outward demeanor they still maintained the same show of amity ; but Pizarro's interpreters again put him on his guard against the proverbial perfidy of their hosts. With his suspicions thus roused, the Spanish commander was informed that a number of the chiefs had met together to deliberate on a plan of insurrection. Not caring to wait for the springing of the mine, he sur- rounded the place of meeting with his soldiers and 1531J ADVENTURES ON THE COAST 31 made prisoners of the suspected chieftains. Ac- cording to one authority, they confessed their guilt. 24 This is by no means certain. Nor is it certain that they meditated an insurrection. Yet the fact is not improbable in itself; though it de- rives little additional probability from the asser- tion of the hostile interpreters. It is certain, how- ever, that Pizarro was satisfied of the existence of a conspiracy; and, without further hesitation, he abandoned his wretched prisoners, ten or twelve in number, to the tender mercies of their rivals of Tumbez, who instantly massacred them before his eyes. 25 Maddened by this outrage, the people of Puna sprang to arms, and threw themselves at once, with fearful yells and the wildest menaces of despair, on the Spanish camp. The odds of numbers were greatly in their favor, for they mustered several thousand warriors. But the more decisive odds of arms and discipline were on the side of their an- tagonists; and, as the Indians rushed forward in a confused mass to the assault, the Castilians coolly received them on their long pikes or swept them down by the volleys of their musketry. Their ill-protected bodies were easily cut to pieces by the sharp sword of the Spaniard; and Hernando Pizarro, putting himself at the head of the cav- alry, charged boldly into the midst, and scattered them far and wide over the field, until, panic- " 4 Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 183. 25 " Y el marques don Francisco Picarro, por tenellos por amigos V estuviesen de paz quando alia passasen, les dio algtinos principales los quales ellos matavan en presencia de los espanoles, cortandoles las cavezas por el cogote." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 32 CONQUEST OF PERU struck by the terrible array of steel-clad horsemen and the stunning reports and the flash of fire-arms, the fugitives sought shelter in the depths of their forests. Yet the victory was owing, in some de- gree, at least, if we may credit the Conquerors, to the interposition of Heaven ; for St. Michael and his legions were seen high in the air above the combatants, contending with the arch-enemy of man and cheering on the Christians by their ex- ample! 26 Not more than three or four Spaniards fell in the fight; but many were wounded, and among them Hernando Pizarro, who received a severe in- jury in the leg from a javelin. Nor did the war end here ; for the implacable islanders, taking ad- vantage of the cover of night, or of any remissness on the part of the invaders, were ever ready to steal out of their fastnesses and spring on their enemy's camp, while, by cutting off his straggling parties and destroying his provisions, they kept him in perpetual alarm. In this uncomfortable situation, the Spanish commander was gladdened by the appearance of M The city of San Miguel was so named by Pizarro to commemo- rate the event; and the existence of such a city may be considered by some as establishing the truth of the miracle. " En la batalla de Puna vieron muchos, ya de los Indios, ya de los nuestros, que habia en el aire otros dos campos, uno acaudillado por el Arcangel S n Miguel con espada y rodela, y otro por Luzbel y sus secuaces; mas apenas cantaron los Castellanos la victoria huyeron los diablos, y formando un gran torvellino de viento se oyeron en el aire unas ter- ribles voces que decian, Vencistenos ! Miguel vencistenos! De aqui torn6 D n Francisco Pizarro tanta devocion al sto Arcangel, que prometio llamar la primera ciudad que fundase de su nombre; cumpliolo asi como veremos adelante." Montesinos, Annales, MS., afto 1530. 1531] ADVENTURES ON THE COAST 33 two vessels off the island. They brought a rein- forcement consisting of a hundred volunteers, be- sides horses for the cavalry. It was commanded by Hernando de Soto, a captain afterwards famous as the discoverer of the Mississippi, which still rolls its majestic current over the place of his burial, a fitting monument for his remains, as it is of his renown. 27 This reinforcement was most welcome to Pi- zarro, who had been long discontented with his position on an island, where he found nothing to compensate the life of unintermitting hostility which he was compelled to lead. With these re- cruits he felt himself in sufficient strength to cross over to the continent and resume military opera- tions on the proper theatre for discovery and con- quest. From the Indians of Tumbez he learned that the country had been for some time distracted by a civil war between two sons of the late mon- arch, competitors for the throne. This intelligence he regarded as of the utmost importance, for he remembered the use which Cortes had made of similar dissensions among the tribes of Anahuac. Indeed, Pizarro seems to have had the example of his great predecessor before his eyes on more occasions than this. But he fell far short of his model; for, notwithstanding the restraint he sometimes put upon himself, his coarser nature and more ferocious temper often betrayed him 17 The transactions in Fund are given at more or less length by Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Montesinos, Annales, MS., ubi supra. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Xeree, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. pp. 182, 183. VOL. II. 3 34 CONQUEST OF PERU into acts most repugnant to sound policy, which would never have been countenanced by the Con- queror of Mexico.* * [The religious fanaticism which was so strongly manifested by Cortes was never seen in Pizarro. M.] CHAPTER II PERU AT THE TIME OF THE CONQUEST REIGN OF HUAYNA CAPAC THE INC A BROTHERS CON- TEST FOR THE EMPIRE TRIUMPH AND CRUELTIES OF ATAHUALLPA BEFORE accompanying the march of Pizarro and his followers into the country of the Incas, it is necessary to make the reader acquainted with the critical situation of the kingdom at this time. For the Spaniards arrived just at the consummation of an important revolution, a crisis most favorable to their views of conquest, and one, indeed, but for which the conquest, with such a handful of soldiers, could never have been achieved. In the latter part of the fifteenth century died Tupac Inca Yupanqui, one of the most renowned of the " Children of the Sun," who, carrying the Peruvian arms across the burning sands of Ata- cama, penetrated to the remote borders of Chili, while in the opposite direction he enlarged the limits of the empire by the acquisition of the southern provinces of Quito. The war in this quarter was conducted by his son Huayna Capac, who succeeded his father on the throne, and fully equalled him in military daring and in capacity for government. Under this prince, the whole of the powerful 35 36 CONQUEST OF PERU state of Quito, which rivalled that of Peru itself in wealth and refinement, was brought under the sceptre of the Incas; whose empire received by this conquest the most important accession yet made to it since the foundation of the dynasty of Manco Capac. The remaining days of the vic- torious monarch were passed in reducing the in- dependent tribes on the remote limits of his terri- tory, and, still more, in cementing his conquests by the introduction of the Peruvian polity. He was actively engaged in completing the great works of his father, especially the high-roads which led from Quito to the capital. He per- fected the establishment of posts, took great pains to introduce the Quichua dialect throughout the empire, promoted a better system of agriculture, and, in fine, encouraged the different branches of domestic industry and the various enlightened plans of his predecessors for the improvement of his people. Under his sway the Peruvian mon- archy reached its most palmy state; and under both him and his illustrious father it was ad- vancing with such rapid strides in the march of civilization as would soon have carried it to a level with the more refined despotisms of Asia, furnish- ing the world, perhaps, with higher evidence of the capabilities of the American Indian than is elsewhere to be found on the great Western conti- nent. But other and gloomier destinies were in reserve for the Indian races. The first arrival of the white men on the South American shores of the Pacific was about ten years before the death of Htiayna Capac, when 1531 J REIGN OF HUAYNA CAPAC 37 Balboa crossed the Gulf of St. Michael and ob- tained the first clear report of the empire of the Incas. Whether tidings of these adventurers reached the Indian monarch's ears is doubtful. There is no doubt, however, that he obtained the news of the first expedition under Pizarro and Almagro, when the latter commander penetrated as far as the Rio de San Juan, about the fourth degree north. The accounts which he received made a strong impression on the mind of Huayna Capac. He discerned in the formidable prowess and weapons of the invaders proofs of a civiliza- tion far superior to that of his own people. He intimated his apprehension that they would re- turn, and that at some day, not far distant per- haps, the throne of the Incas might be shaken by these strangers endowed with such incomprehen- sible powers. 1 To the vulgar eye, it was a little speck on the verge of the horizon; but that of the sagacious monarch seemed to descry in it the dark thunder-cloud that was to spread wider and wider till it burst in fury on his nation. There is some ground for believing thus much. But other accounts, which have obtained a popu- lar currency, not content with this, connect the first tidings of the white men with predictions long extant in the country, and with supernatural ap- pearances which filled the hearts of the whole na- tion with dismay. Comets were seen flaming athwart the heavens. Earthquakes shook the land; the moon was girdled with rings of fire 1 SarmSento, an honest authority, tells us he had this from some of the Inca lords who heard it. Relacion, MS., cap. 65. 38 CONQUEST OF PERU of many colors ; a thunderbolt fell on one of the royal palaces and consumed it to ashes; and an eagle, chased by several hawks, was seen, scream- ing in the air, to hover above the great square of Cuzco, when, pierced by the talons of his tor- mentors, the king of birds fell lifeless in the presence of many of the Inca nobles, who read in this an augury of their own destruction. Hu- ayna Capac himself, calling his great officers around him, as he found he was drawing near his end, announced the subversion of his empire by the race of white and bearded strangers, as the consummation predicted by the oracles after the reign of the twelfth Inca, and he enjoined it on his vassals not to resist the decrees of Heaven, but to yield obedience to its messengers. 2 Such is the report of the impressions made by the appearance of the Spaniards in the country, reminding one of the similar feelings of super- stitious terror occasioned by their appearance in Mexico. But the traditions of the latter land rest on much higher authority than those of the Peru- vians, which, unsupported by contemporary testi- mony, rest almost wholly on the naked assertion of one of their own nation, who thought to find, * A minute relation of these supernatural occurrences is given by the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega (Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 14), whose situation opened to him the very best sources of information, which is more than counterbalanced by the defects of his own char- acter as an historian, his childish credulity, and his desire to mag- nify and mystify every thing relating to his own order, and, indeed, his nation. His work is the source of most of the facts and the falsehoods that have obtained circulation in respect to the ancient Peruvians. Unfortunately, at this distance of time it is not always easy to distinguish the one from the other. 1531 ] REIGN OF HUAYNA CAPAC 39 doubtless, in the inevitable decrees of Heaven the best apology for the supineness of his country- men. It is not improbable that rumors of the advent of a strange and mysterious race should have spread gradually among the Indian tribes along the great table-land of the Cordilleras, and should have shaken the hearts of the stoutest warriors with feelings of undefined dread, as of some im- pending calamity. In this state of mind, it was natural that physical convulsions, to which that volcanic country is peculiarly subject, should have made an unwonted impression on their minds, and that the phenomena which might have been re- garded only as extraordinary, in the usual seasons of political security, should now be interpreted by the superstitious soothsayer as the handwriting on the heavens, by which the God of the Incas pro- claimed the approaching downfall of their empire. Huayna Capac had, as usual with the Peruvian princes, a multitude of concubines, by whom he left a numerous posterity. The heir to the crown, the son of his lawful wife and sister, was named Huascar. 3 At the period of the history at which 3 Huascar, in the Quichua dialect, signifies " a cable." The reason of its being given to the heir-apparent is remarkable. Huayna Capac celebrated the birth of the prince by a festival, in which he introduced a massive gold chain for the nobles to hold in their hands as they performed their national dances. The chain was seven hun- dred feet in length, and the links nearly as big round as a man's wrist! (See Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 14. Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 1.) The latter writer had the particulars, he tells us, from his old Inca uncle, who seems to have dealt largely in the marvellous; not too largely for his audience, however, as the story has been circulated without scruple by most of the Castilian writers both of that and of the succeeding age. 40 CONQUEST OF PERU we are now arrived, he was about thirty years of age. Next to the heir-apparent, by another wife, a cousin of the monarch's, came Manco Capac, a young prince who will occupy an important place in our subsequent story. But the best-beloved of the Inca's children was Atahuallpa. His mother was the daughter of the last Scyri of Quito, who had died of grief, it was said, not long after the subversion of his kingdom by Huayna Capac. The princess was beautiful, and the Inca, whether to gratify his passion, or, as the Peruvians say, willing to make amends for the ruin of her pa- rents, received her among his concubines. The historians of Quito assert that she was his lawful wife; but this dignity, according to the usages of the empire, was reserved for maidens of the Inca blood. The latter years of Huayna Capac were passed in his new kingdom of Quito. Atahuallpa was accordingly brought up under his own eye, accom- panied him, while in his tender years, in his cam- paigns, slept in the same tent with his royal father, and ate from the same plate. 4 The vivacity of the boy, his courage and generous nature, won the affections of the old monarch to such a degree that he resolved to depart from the established usages of the realm and divide his empire between him and his elder brother Huascar. On his death-bed he called the great officers of the crown around 4 " Atabalipa era bien quisto de los Capitanes viejos de su Padre y de los Soldados, porque andubo en la puerra en su nine/, y porque el en vida le mostrd tanto amor que no le dejaba comer otra cosa que lo que el le daba de su plato." Surmiento, Kelacion, MS., cap. 66. 1531 1 REIGN OF HUAYNA CAPAC 41 him, and declared it to be his will that the ancient kingdom of Quito should pass to Atahuallpa, who might be considered as having a natural claim on it, as the dominion of his ancestors. The rest of the empire he settled on Huascar; and he en- joined it on the two brothers to acquiesce in this arrangement and to live in amity with each other. This was the last act of the heroic monarch ; doubt- less the most impolitic of his whole life. With his dying breath he subverted the fundamental laws of the empire; and, while he recommended harmony between the successors to his authority, he left in this very division of it the seeds of in- evitable discord. 5 His death took place, as seems probable, at the close of 1525, not quite seven years before Pizarro's arrival at Puna. 6 The tidings of his decease spread sorrow and consternation through- out the land; for, though stern and even inexor- able to the rebel and the long-resisting foe, he was a brave and magnanimous monarch, and legislated with the enlarged views of a prince who regarded 5 Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 1, lib. 8, cap. 9. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 12. Sarmiento, Relacion, MS., cap. 65. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 201. 6 The precise date of this event, though so near the time of the Conquest, is matter of doubt. Balboa, a contemporary with the Con- querors, and who wrote at Quito, where the Inca died, fixes it at 1525. (Hist, due Prou, chap. 14.) Velasco, another inhabitant of the same place, after an investigation of the different accounts, comes to the like conclusion. (Hist, de Quito, torn. i. p. 232.) Dr. Robertson, after telling us that Huayna Capac died in 1529, speaks again of this event as having happened in 1527. (Conf. America, vol. iii. pp. 25, 381.) Any one who has been bewildered by the chronological snarl of the ancient chronicles will not be surprised at meeting occasionally with such inconsistencies in a writer who is obliged to take them as his guides. 42 CONQUEST OF PERU every part of his dominions as equally his concern. The people of Quito, flattered by the proofs which he had given of preference for them by his perma- nent residence in that country and his embellish- ment of their capital, manifested unfeigned sor- row at his loss; and his subjects at Cuzco, proud of the glory w r hich his arms and his abilities had secured for his native land, held him in no less admiration ; 7 while the more thoughtful and the more timid, in both countries, looked with appre- hension to the future, when the sceptre of the vast empire, instead of being swayed by an old and experienced hand, was to be consigned to rival princes, naturally jealous of one another, and, from their age, necessarily exposed to the un- wholesome influence of crafty and ambitious counsellors. The people testified their regret by the unwonted honors paid to the memory of the deceased Inca. His heart was retained in Quito, and his body, embalmed after the fashion of the country, was transported to Cuzco, to take its place in the great temple of the Sun, by the side of the remains of his royal ancestors. His obse- quies were celebrated with sanguinary splendor in both the capitals of his far-extended empire ; and several thousand of the imperial concubines, with numerous pages and officers of the palace, are said to have proved their sorrow, or their superstition, by offering up their own lives, that they might r One cannot doubt this monarch's popularity with the female part of his subjects, at least, if, as the historian of the Incas tells us, " he was never known to refuse a woman, of whatever ape or deprrre she might be, any favor that she asked of him" ! Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 8, cap. 7. TPIE INCA BROTHERS 43 accompany their departed lord to the bright man- sions of the Sun. 8 For nearly five years after the death of Huayna Capac, the royal brothers reigned, each over his allotted portion of the empire, without distrust of one another, or, at least, without collision. It seemed as if the wish of their father was to be completely realized, and that the two states were to maintain their respective integrity and inde- pendence as much as if they had never been united into one. But, with the manifold causes for jealousy and discontent, and the swarms of courtly sycophants who would find their account in fomenting these feelings, it was easy to see that this tranquil state of things could not long endure. Nor would it have endured so long, but for the more gentle temper of Huascar, the only party who had ground for complaint. He \vas four or five years older than his brother, and was possessed of courage not to be doubted; but he was a prince of a generous and easy nature, and perhaps, if left to himself, might have acquiesced in an arrangement which, however unpalatable, was the will of his deified father. But Atahuallpa was of a different temper. Warlike, ambitious, and daring, he was constantly engaged in enter- prises for the enlargement of his own territory, though his crafty policy was scrupulous not to aim at extending his acquisitions in the direction of his royal brother. His restless spirit, however, excited some alarm at the court of Cuzco, and ' Sarmiento, Relacion, MS., cap. 65. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 17. 44 CONQUEST OF PERU Huascar at length sent an envoy to Atahuallpa, to remonstrate with him on his ambitious enter- prises, and to require him to render him homage for his kingdom of Quito. This is one statement. Other accounts pretend that the immediate cause of rupture was a claim instituted by Huascar for the territory of Tume- bamba, held by his brother as part of his patri- monial inheritance. It matters little what was the ostensible ground of collision between persons placed by circumstances in so false a position in regard to one another that collision must, at some time or other, inevitably occur. The commencement, and, indeed, the whole course, of hostilities which soon broke out between the rival brothers are stated with irreconcilable and, considering the period was so near to that of the Spanish invasion, with unaccountable dis- crepancy. By some it is said that in Atahuallpa's first encounter with the troops of Cuzco he was defeated and made prisoner near Tumebamba, a favorite residence of his father, in the ancient territory of Quito and in the district of Canaris. From this disaster he recovered by a fortunate escape from confinement, when, regaining his capital, he soon found himself at the head of a numerous army, led by the most able and experi- enced captains in the empire. The liberal manners of the young Atahuallpa had endeared him to the soldiers, with whom, as we have seen, he served more than one campaign in his father's lifetime. These troops were the flower of the great army of the Inca, and some of them had grown gray 1531 J CONTEST FOR THE EMPIRE 45 in his long military career, which had left them at the north, where they readily transferred their allegiance to the young sovereign of Quito. They were commanded by two officers of great consid- eration, both possessed of large experience in mili- tary affairs and high in the confidence of the late Inca. One of them was named Quizquiz; the other, who was the maternal uncle of Atahuallpa, was called Challcuchima. With these practised warriors to guide him, the young monarch put himself at the head of his martial array and directed his march towards the south. He had not advanced farther than Am- bato, about sixty miles distant from his capital, when he fell in with a numerous host which had been sent against him by his brother, under the command of a distinguished chieftain of the Inca family. A bloody battle followed, which lasted the greater part of the day; and the theatre of combat was the skirts of the mighty Chimborazo. 9 The battle ended favorably for Atahuallpa, and the Peruvians were routed with great slaughter and the loss of their commander. The Prince of Quito availed himself of his advantage to push forward his march until he arrived before the gates of Tumebamba, which city, as well as the whole district of Canaris, though an ancient de- Garcilasso denies that any thing but insignificant skirmishes took place before the decisive action fought on the plains of Cuzco. But Sarmiento, who gathered his accounts of these events, as he tells us, from the actors in them, walked over the field of battle at Ambato, when the ground was still covered with the bones of the slain : " Yo h6 pasado por este Pueblo y h6 visto el Lugar donde dicen que esta Batalla se di6, y cierto segun hay la osamenta devieron aun de morir mas gente de la que cuentan." Relacion, MS., cap. 69. 46 CONQUEST OF PERU pendency of Quito, had sided with his rival in the contest. Entering the captive city like a con- queror, he put the inhabitants to the sword, and razed it with all its stately edifices, some of which had been reared by his own father, to the ground. He carried on the same war of extermination as he marched through the offending district of Canaris. In some places, it is said, bands of children, as well as of older persons, were sent out, in melancholy procession, with green branches in their hands, to deprecate his wrath; but the vin- dictive conqueror, deaf to their entreaties, laid the country waste with fire and sword, sparing no man capable of bearing arms who fell into his hands. 10 The fate of Canaris struck terror into the hearts of his enemies, and one place after another opened its gates to the victor, who held on his triumphant march towards the Peruvian capital. His arms experienced a temporary check before the island of Puna, whose bold warriors maintained the cause of his brother. After some days lost before this place, Atahuallpa left the contest to their old enemies, the people of Tumbez, who had early 10 " Cuentan muohos Indios d quien yo lo oi, que por amansar su ira, mandaron & un escuadron grande de ninos y d otro de hombres de toda edad, que saliesen hasta las ricas andas donde venia con grnn pompa, llevando en las manos ramos verdes y ojas de palma, y que le pidiesen la gracia y amistad suya para el pueblo, sin mirar la injuria pasada, y que en tantos clamores se lo suplicaron, y con tanta hu- mildad, que bastara quebrantar corazones de piedra; mas poca im- presion hicieron en el cruel de Atabalipa, porque dicen que mnndo d sus capitanes y gentes que matasen d todos aquellos que habian venido, lo cual fu hecho, no perdonando sino d algunos nifios y d las mugeres sagradas del Templo." Sarmiento, Kelacion, MS., cap. 70. 1531 J CONTEST FOR THE EMPIRE 47 given in their adhesion to him, while he resumed his march and advanced as far as Caxamalca, about seven degrees south. Here he halted with a detachment of the army, sending forward the main body under the command of his two gen- erals, with orders to move straight upon Cuzco. He preferred not to trust himself farther in the enemy's country, where a defeat might be fatal. By establishing his quarters at Caxamalca, he would be able to support his generals in case of a reverse, or, at worst, to secure his retreat on Quito until he was again in condition to renew hostilities. The two commanders, advancing by rapid marches, at length crossed the Apurimac River, and arrived within a short distance of the Peru- vian capital. Meanwhile, Huascar had not been idle. On receiving tidings of the discomfiture of his army at Ambato, he made every exertion to raise levies throughout the country. By the ad- vice, it is said, of his priests, the most incompe- tent advisers in times of danger, he chose to await the approach of the enemy in his ow r n capital; and it was not till the latter had arrived within a few leagues of Cuzco that the Inca, taking counsel of the same ghostly monitors, sallied forth to give him battle. The two armies met on the plains of Quipaypan, in the neighborhood of the Indian metropolis. Their numbers are stated with the usual discrep- ancy; but Atahuallpa's troops had considerably the advantage in discipline and experience, for many of Huascar 's levies had been drawn hastily 48 CONQUEST OF PERU together from the surrounding country. Both fought, however, with the desperation of men who felt that every thing was at stake. It was no longer a contest for a province, but for the pos- session of an empire. Atahuallpa's troops, flushed with recent success, fought with the confidence of those who relied on their superior prowess; while the loyal vassals of the Inca displayed all the self- devotion of men who held their own lives cheap in the service of their master. The fight raged with the greatest obstinacy from sunrise to sunset; and the ground was covered with heaps of the dying and the dead, whose bones lay bleaching on the battle-field long after the conquest by the Spaniards. At length, fortune declared in favor of Atahuallpa, or, rather, the usual result of superior discipline and military practice followed. The ranks of the Inca were thrown into irretrievable disorder, and gave way in all directions. The conquerors followed close on the heels of the flying. Huas- car himself, among the latter, endeavored to make his escape with about a thousand men who re- mained round his person. But the royal fugitive was discovered before he had left the field; his little party was enveloped by clouds of the enemy, and nearly every one of the devoted band perished in defence of their Inca. Huascar was made prisoner, and the victorious chiefs marched at once on his capital, which they occupied in the name of their sovereign. 11 11 Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 77. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 9. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. 1531 J CONTEST FOR THE EMPIRE 49 These events occurred in the spring of 1532, a few months before the landing of the Spaniards. The tidings of the success of his arms and the capture of his unfortunate brother reached Ata- huallpa at Caxamalca. He instantly gave orders that Huascar should be treated with the respect due to his rank, but that he should be removed to the strong fortress of Xauxa and held there in strict confinement. His orders did not stop here, if we are to receive the accounts of Gar- cilasso de la Vega, himself of the Inca race, and by his mother's side nephew of the great Huayna Capac. According to this authority, Atahuallpa invited the Inca nobles throughout the country to as- semble at Cuzco, in order to deliberate on the best means of partitioning the empire between him and his brother. When they had met in the capi- tal, they were surrounded by the soldiery of Quito and butchered without mercy. The motive for this perfidious act was to exterminate the whole of the royal family, who might each one of them show a better title to the crown than the illegiti- mate Atahuallpa. But the massacre did not end here. The illegitimate offspring, like himself, half-brothers of the monster, all, in short, who had any of the Inca blood in their veins, were in- volved in it; and, with an appetite for carnage unparalleled in the annals of the Roman Empire or of the French Republic, Atahuallpa ordered all the females of the blood royal, his aunts, nieces, iii. p. 202. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 12. Sarmiento, Rela- cion, MS., cap. 70. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. VOL. II. 4 50 CONQUEST OF PERU and cousins, to be put to death, and that, too, with the most refined and lingering tortures. To give greater zest to his revenge, many of the executions took place in the presence of Huascar himself, who was thus compelled to witness the butchery of his own wives and sisters, while, in the ex- tremity of anguish, they in vain called on him to protect them! 12 Such is the tale told by the historian of the Incas, and received by him, as he assures us, from his mother and uncle, who, being children at the time, were so fortunate as to be among the few that escaped the massacre of their house. 13 And such is the account repeated by many a Castilian writer since, without any symptom of distrust. But a tissue of unprovoked atrocities like these is too repugnant to the principles of human nature and, indeed, to common sense to warrant our belief in them on ordinary testimony. The annals of semi-civilized nations unhappily show that there have been instances of similar at- tempts to extinguish the whole of a noxious race 12 Gareilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 35-39. " A las Mu- geres, Hermanas, Tias, Sobrinas, Primas Hermanns, y Madrastras de Atahuallpa, colgavan de los Arboles, y de muchas Horcas mui altas que hicieron: a unas colgaron de los cabellos, a otras por debajo de los bracos, y a otras de otras maneras feas, que por la honestidad se callan: davanles sus hijuelos, que los tuviesen en bracos, tenianlos hasta que se les caian, y se aporreavan." (Ibid., cap. 37.) The variety of torture shows some invention in the writer, or, more probably, in the writer's uncle, the ancient Inca, the racon- teur of these Bluebeard butcheries. 11 " Las crueldades, que Atahuallpa en los de la Sangre Real hico, dir^ de Relacion de mi Maclre, y de un Hermano suio, que se llamo Don Fernando Huallpa Tupac Inca Yupanqui, que entonces eran Xifios de menos de diez Anos." Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 14. 1531 j TRIUMPH OF ATAHUALLPA 51 which had become the object of a tyrant's jeal- ousy; though such an attempt is about as chi- merical as it would be to extirpate any particular species of plant the seeds of which had been borne on every wind over the country. But, if the at- tempt to exterminate the Inca race was actually made by Atahuallpa, how comes it that so many of the pure descendants of the blood royal nearly six hundred in number are admitted by the his- torian to have been in existence seventy years after the imputed massacre? 14 Why was the massacre, instead of being limited to the legitimate members of the royal stock, who could show a better title to the crown than the usurper, extended to all, how- ever remotely or in whatever way, connected with the race? Why were aged women and young maidens involved in the proscription, and why were they subjected to such refined and super- fluous tortures, when it is obvious that beings so impotent could have done nothing to provoke the jealousy of the tyrant? Why, when so many were sacrificed from some vague apprehension of dis- tant danger, was his rival Huascar, together with his younger brother Manco Capac, the two men from whom the conqueror had most to fear, suf- fered to live? Why, in short, is the wonderful tale not recorded by others before the time of Gar- 14 This appears from a petition for certain immunities, forwarded to Spain in 1603, and signed by five hundred and sixty-seven Indians of the royal Inca race. (Ibid., Parte 3, lib. 9, cap. 40.) Oviedo says that Huayna Capac left a hundred sons and daughters, and that most of them were alive at the time his writing: " Tubo cien hijos y hijas, y la mayor parte de ellos son vivos." Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 9. 52 CONQUEST OF PERU cilasso, and nearer by half a century to the events themselves? 15 That Atahuallpa may have been guilty of ex- cesses, and abused the rights of conquest by some gratuitous acts of cruelty, may be readily believed ; for no one who calls to mind his treatment of the Canaris which his own apologists do not affect to deny 16 will doubt that he had a full measure of the vindictive temper which belongs to " Those souls of fire, and Children of the Sun, With whom revenge was virtue." But there is a wide difference between this and the monstrous and most unprovoked atrocities im- puted to him, implying a diabolical nature not to be admitted on the evidence of an Indian partisan, the sworn foe of his house, and repeated by Cas- tilian chroniclers, who may naturally seek, by blazoning the enormities of Atahuallpa, to find some apology for the cruelty of their countrymen towards him. The news of the great victory was borne on the wings of the wind to Caxamalca; and loud and long was the rejoicing, not only in the camp of 15 T have looked in vain for some confirmation of this story in Oviedo, Sarmiento, Xerez, Cieza de Leon, Zarate, Pedro Pizarro, Go- mara, all living at the time, and having access to the best sources of information, and all, it may he added, disposed to do stern justice to the evil qualities of the Indian monarch. 18 No one of the apologists of Atahuallpa goes quite so far as Father Velasco, who, in the overflowings of his loyalty for a Quito monarch, regards his massacre of the Caflaris as a very fair retribu- tion for their oifences: "Si les auteurs dont je viens de parler s'etaient trouvfo? dans les memes circonstances qu* Atahuallpa et avaient prouv6 autant d'offenses graves et de trahisons, je ne croirai jamais qu'ils eussent agi autrement." Hist, de Quito, torn, i. p. 253. 1531 1 TRIUMPH OF ATAHUALLPA 53 Atahuallpa, but in the town and surrounding country ; for all now came in, eager to offer their congratulations to the victor and do him homage. The prince of Quito no longer hesitated to assume the scarlet borla, the diadem of the Incas. His triumph was complete. He had beaten his enemies on their own ground, had taken their capital, had set his foot on the neck of his rival, and won for himself the ancient sceptre of the Children of the Sun. But the hour of triumph was destined to be that of his deepest humiliation. Atahuallpa was not one of those to whom, in the language of the Grecian bard, " the gods are willing to reveal themselves." 17 He had not read the handwriting on the heavens. The small speck which the clear- sighted eye of his father had discerned on the distant verge of the horizon, though little noticed by Atahuallpa, intent on the deadly strife with his brother, had now risen high towards the zenith, spreading wider and wider, till it wrapped the skies in darkness and was ready to burst in thun- ders on the devoted nation. ** " Ou yap iru iravrt&vi Oeol aivovrat ivapycts." OAY2, IT, V. l6l. CHAPTER III THE SPANIARDS LAND AT TUMBEZ PIZARRO REC- ONNOITRES THE COUNTRY FOUNDATION OF SAN MIGUEL MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR EMBASSY FROM THE INCA ADVENTURES ON THE MARCH ARRIVAL AT THE FOOT OF THE ANDES 1532 WE left the Spaniards at the island of Puna, preparing to make their descent on the neighboring continent at Tumbez. This port was but a few leagues distant, and Pizarro, with the greater part of his followers, passed over in the ships, while a few others were to transport the commander's baggage and the military stores on some of the Indian balsas. One of the latter ves- sels which first touched the shore was surrounded, and three persons who were on the raft were carried off by the natives to the adjacent woods and there massacred. The Indians then got pos- session of another of the balsas, containing Pi- zarro's wardrobe; but, as the men who defended it raised loud cries for help, they reached the ears of Hernando Pizarro, who, with a small body of horse, had effected a landing some way farther down the shore. A broad tract of miry ground, overflowed at high water, lay between him and the party thus rudely assailed by the natives. The tide was out, and the bottom was soft and danger- ous. With little regard to the danger, however, 54 1532] THE SPANIARDS LAND AT TUMBEZ 55 the bold cavalier spurred his horse into the slimy depths, and, followed by his men, with the mud up to their saddle-girths, plunged forward into the midst of the marauders, who, terrified by the strange apparition of the horsemen, fled precipi- tately, without show of fight, to the neighboring forests. This conduct of the natives of Tumbez is not easy to be explained, considering the friendly rela- tions maintained with the Spaniards on their pre- ceding visit, and lately renewed in the island of Puna. But Pizarro was still more astonished, on entering their town, to find it not only deserted, but, with the exception of a few buildings, entirely demolished. Four or five of the most substantial private dwellings, the great temple, and the fort- ress and these greatly damaged, and wholly de- spoiled of their interior decorations alone sur- vived to mark the site of the city and attest its former splendor. 1 The scene of desolation filled the conquerors with dismay; for even the raw recruits, who had never visited the coast before, had heard the marvellous stories of the golden treasures of Tumbez, and they had confidently looked forward to them as an easy spoil after all their fatigues. But the gold of Peru seemed only like a deceitful phantom, which, after beckoning them on through toil and danger, vanished the moment they attempted to grasp it. 1 Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 185. " Aunque lo del templo del Sol en quien ellos adoran era cosa de ver, porque tenain grandes edificios, y todo el por de dentro y de fuera pintado de grandes pinturas y ricos matizes de colores, porque los hay en aquella tierra." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 56 CONQUEST OF PERU Pizarro despatched a small body of troops in pursuit of the fugitives; and, after some slight skirmishing, they got possession of several of the natives, and among them, as it chanced, the curaca of the place. When brought before the Spanish commander, he exonerated himself from any share in the violence offered to the white men, saying that it was done by a lawless party of his people, without his knowledge at the time; and he ex- pressed his willingness to deliver them up to pun- ishment, if they could be detected. He explained the dilapidated condition of the town by the long wars carried on with the fierce tribes of Puna, who had at length succeeded in getting possession of the place and driving the inhabitants into the neighboring woods and mountains. The Inca, to whose cause they were attached, was too much occupied with his own feuds to protect them against their enemies. Whether Pizarro gave any credit to the ca- cique's exculpation of himself may be doubted. He dissembled his suspicions, however, and, as the Indian lord promised obedience in his own name and that of his vassals, the Spanish general con- sented to take no further notice of the affair. He seems now to have felt for the first time, in its full force, that it was his policy to gain the good will of the people among whom he had thrown himself in the face of such tremendous odds. It was, per- haps, the excesses of which his men had been guilty in the earlier stages of the expedition that had shaken the confidence of the people of Tumbez and incited them to this treacherous retaliation. 1532] piZARRO RECONNOITRES COUNTRY 57 Pizarro inquired of the natives who now, under promise of impunity, came into the camp, what had become of his two followers that remained with them in the former expeditions. The answers they gave were obscure and contradictory. Some said they had died of an epidemic; others, that they had perished in the war with Puna; and others intimated that they had lost their lives in consequence of some outrage attempted on the Indian women. It was impossible to arrive at the truth. The last account was not the least prob- able. But, whatever might be the cause, there was no doubt they had both perished. This intelligence spread an additional gloom over the Spaniards, which was not dispelled by the flaming pictures now given by the natives of the riches of the land, and of the state and magnifi- cence of the monarch in his distant capital among the mountains. Nor did they credit the authen- ticity of a scroll of paper which Pizarro had ob- tained from an Indian to whom it had been de- livered by one of the white men left in the country. " Know, whoever you may be," said the writing, " that may chance to set foot in this country, that it contains more gold and silver than there is iron in Biscay." This paper, when shown to his soldiers, excited only their ridicule, as a device of their captain to keep alive their chimerical hopes. 2 1 For the account of the transactions in Tumbez, see Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 1. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 4, lib. 9, cap. 1, 2. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 185. 58 CONQUEST OF PERU Pizarro now saw that it was not politic to pro- tract his stay in his present quarters, where a spirit of disaffection would soon creep into the ranks of his followers unless their spirits were stimulated by novelty or a life of incessant action. Yet he felt deeply anxious to obtain more particulars than he had hitherto gathered of the actual condi- tion of the Peruvian empire, of its strength and resources, of the monarch who ruled over it, and of his present situation. He was also desirous, before taking any decisive step for penetrating the country, to seek out some commodious place for a settlement, which might afford him the means of a regular communication with the colo- nies, and a place of strength, on which he himself might retreat in case of disaster. He decided, therefore, to leave part of his com- pany at Tumbez, including those who, from the state of their health, were least able to take the field, and with the remainder to make an excur- sion into the interior and reconnoitre the land, be- fore deciding on any plan of operations. He set out early in May, 1532, and, keeping along the more level regions himself, sent a small detach- ment under the command of Hernando de Soto to explore the skirts of the vast sierra. He maintained a rigid discipline on the march, commanding his soldiers to abstain from all acts of violence, and punishing disobedience in the most prompt and resolute manner. 3 The natives 1 " Mando el Gobernador por prepon so graves penas que no le fuese hecha fuerza ni descortesia, <5 que se les hiciese muy huen trata- miento por los Kspaftolcs (.'. sus criados." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 2. 1532] piZARRO RECONNOITRES COUNTRY 59 rarely offered resistance. When they did so, they were soon reduced, and Pizarro, far from adopt- ing vindictive measures, was open to the first demonstrations of submission. By this lenient and liberal policy he soon acquired a name among the inhabitants which effaced the unfavorable im- pressions made of him in the earlier part of the campaign. The natives, as he marched through the thick-settled hamlets which sprinkled the level region between the Cordilleras and the ocean, wel- comed him with rustic hospitality, providing good quarters for his troops, and abundant supplies, which cost but little in the prolific soil of the tierra Calient e. Everywhere Pizarro made proclamation that he came in the name of the Holy Vicar of God and of the sovereign of Spain, requiring the obedience of the inhabitants as true children of the Church and vassals of his lord and master. And, as the simple people made no opposition to a for- mula of which they could not comprehend a syl- lable, they were admitted as good subjects of the crown of Castile, and their act of homage or what was readily interpreted as such was duly recorded and attested by the notary. 4 At the expiration of some three or four weeks 4 " E mandabales notificar 6 dar & entender con las lenguas el re- querimiento que su Magestad manda que se les haga d los Indios para traellos en conocimiento de nuestra Santa fe catolica, y requiriendo- les con la paz, e que obedezcan d la Iglesia Catolica e Apostolica de Roma, 6 en lo temporal den la obediencia d su Magestad 6 d los Reyes sus succesores en los regnos de Castilla i de Leon; respondie- ron qui asi lo querian 6 harian, guardarian e cumplirian entera- mente; 6 el Gobernador los recibio por tales vasallos de sus Ma- gestades por auto publico de notaries." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., ubi supra. 60 CONQUEST OF PERU spent in reconnoitring the country, Pizarro came to the conclusion that the most eligible site for his new settlement was in the rich valley of Tanga- rala, thirty leagues south of Tumbez, traversed by more than one stream that opens a communi- cation with the ocean. To this spot, accordingly, he ordered the men left at Tumbez to repair at once in their vessels; and no sooner had they arrived than busy preparations were made for building up the town in a manner suited to the wants of the colony. Timber was procured from the neighboring woods, stones were dragged from their quarries, and edifices gradually rose, some of which made pretensions to strength, if not to elegance. Among them were a church, a maga- zine for public stores, a hall of justice, and a fortress. A municipal government was organ- ized, consisting of regidores, alcaldes, and the usual civic functionaries. The adjacent territory was parcelled out among the residents, and each colonist had a certain number of the natives al- lotted to assist him in his labors ; for, as Pizarro's secretary remarks, " it being evident that the colo- nists could not support themselves without the services of the Indians, the ecclesiastics and the leaders of the expedition all agreed that a reparti- miento of the natives would serve the cause of religion, and tend greatly to their spiritual wel- fare, since they would thus have the opportunity of being initiated in the true faith." 5 1 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS. Cieza cle Leon, Cronica, cap. 55. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. " Porque los Vecinos, sin aiuda i servicios de los Naturales no 1532] FOUNDATION OF SAN MIGUEL 61 Having made these arrangements with such conscientious regard to the welfare of the be- nighted heathen, Pizarro gave his infant city the name of San Miguel, in acknowledgment of the service rendered him by that saint in his battles with the Indians of Puna. The site originally occupied by the settlement was afterwards found to be so unhealthy that it was abandoned for another on the banks of the beautiful Piura. The town is still of some note for its manufac- tures, though dwindled from its ancient impor- tance; but the name of San Miguel de Piura, which it bears, still commemorates the foundation of the first European colony in the empire of the Incas. Before quitting the new settlement, Pizarro caused the gold and silver ornaments which he had obtained in different parts of the country to be melted down into one mass, and a fifth to be deducted for the crown. The remainder, which belonged to the troops, he persuaded them to re- linquish for the present, under the assurance of being repaid from the first spoils that fell into their hands. 6 With these funds, and other articles collected in the course of the campaign, he sent se podian sostener, ni poblarse el Pueblo. ... A esta causa, con acuerdo de el Religiose, i de los Oficiales, que les parecio convenir asi al servicio de Dios, i bien de los Naturales, el Gobernador depositb los Caciques, i Indios en los Vecinos de este Pueblo, porque los aiudasen a sostener, i los Christianos los doctrinasen en nuestra Santa Fe, con forme a los Mandamientos de su Magestad." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 187. 8 " E sacado el quinto para su Magestad, lo restante que perteneci6 al Egercito de la Conquista, el Gobernador le tom6 prestado de los companeros para se lo paga del primer oro que se obiese." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 2. 62 CONQUEST OF PERU back the vessels to Panama. The gold was ap- plied to paying off the ship-owners and those who had furnished the stores for the expedition. That he should so easily have persuaded his men to re- sign present possessions for a future contingency is proof that the spirit of enterprise was renewed in their bosoms in all its former vigor, and that they looked forward with the same buoyant con- fidence to the results. In his late tour of observation the Spanish com- mander had gathered much important intelligence in regard to the state of the kingdom. He had ascertained the result of the struggle between the Inca brothers, and that the victor now lay with his army encamped at the distance of only ten or twelve days' journey from San Miguel. The accounts he heard of the opulence and power of that monarch, and of his great southern capital, perfectly corresponded with the general rumors before received, and contained, therefore, some- thing to stagger the confidence, as well as to stimulate the cupidity, of the invaders. Pizarro would gladly have seen his little army strengthened by reinforcements, however small the amount, and on that account postponed his departure for several weeks. But no reinforce- ment arrived; and, as he received no further tidings from his associates, he judged that longer delay would probably be attended with evils greater than those to be encountered on the march; that discontents would inevitably spring up in a life of inaction, and the strength and spirits of the soldier sink under the enervating MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR 63 influence of a tropical climate. Yet the force at his command, amounting to less than two hundred soldiers in all, after reserving fifty for the pro- tection of the new settlement, seemed but a small one for the conquest of an empire. He might, indeed, instead of marching against the Inca, take a southerly direction towards the rich capital of Cuzco. But this would only be to postpone the hour of reckoning. For in what quarter of the empire could he hope to set his foot, where the arm of its master would not reach him? By such a course, moreover, he would show his own distrust of himself. He would shake that opinion of his invincible prowess which he had hitherto en- deavored to impress on the natives, and which constituted a great secret of his strength; which, in short, held sterner sway over the mind than the display of numbers and mere physical force. Worse than all, such a course would impair the confidence of his troops in themselves and their reliance on himself. This would be to palsy the arm of enterprise at once. It was not to be thought of. But, while Pizarro decided to march into the interior, it is doubtful whether he had formed any more definite plan of action. We have no means of knowing his intentions, at this distance of time, otherwise than as they are shown by his actions. Unfortunately, he could not write, and he has left no record, like the inestimable Commentaries of Cortes, to enlighten us as to his motives. His secretary, and some of his companions in arms, have recited his actions in detail; but the motives 64 CONQUEST OF PERU which led to them they were not always so com- petent to disclose. It is possible that the Spanish general, even so early as the period of his residence at San Miguel, may have meditated some daring stroke, some effective coup-de-main, which, like that of Cortes when he carried off the Aztec monarch to his quarters, might strike terror into the hearts of the people and at once decide the fortunes of the day. It is more probable, however, that he now only pro- posed to present himself before the Inca as the peaceful representative of a brother monarch, and by these friendly demonstrations disarm any feel- ing of hostility, or even of suspicion. When once in communication with the Indian prince, he could regulate his future course by circumstances. On the 24th of September, 1532, five months after landing at Tumbez, Pizarro marched out at the head of his little body of adventurers from the gates of San Miguel, having enjoined it on the colonists to treat their Indian vassals with hu- manity and to conduct themselves in such a man- ner as would secure the good will of the surround- ing tribes. Their own existence, and with it the safety of the army and the success of the under- taking, depended on this course. In the place were to remain the royal treasurer, the veedor, or inspector of metals, and other officers of the crown; and the command of the garrison was intrusted to the contador, Antonio Navarro. 7 T Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 187. Pedro Pi- zarro, Desoub. y Conq., MS. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 10. 1532] MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR 65 Then, putting himself at the head of his troops, the chief struck boldly into the heart of the coun- try in the direction where, as he was informed, lay the camp of the Inca. It was a daring enter- prise, thus to venture with a handful of followers into the heart of a powerful empire, to present himself face to face before the Indian monarch in his own camp, encompassed by the flower of his victorious army ! Pizarro had already experienced more than once the difficulty of maintaining his ground against the rude tribes of the north, so much inferior in strength and numbers to the war- like legions of Peru. But the hazard of the game, as I have already more than once had occasion to remark, constituted its great charm with the Span- iard. The brilliant achievements of his country- men, on the like occasions, with means so inade- quate, inspired him with confidence in his own good star, and this confidence was one source of his success. Had he faltered for a moment, had he stopped to calculate chances, he must inevitably have failed; for the odds were too great to be combated by sober reason. They were only to be met triumphantly by the spirit of the knight- errant. After crossing the smooth waters of the Piura, the little army continued to advance over a level district intersected by streams that descended from the neighboring Cordilleras. The face of the country was shagged over with forests of gigantic growth, and occasionally traversed by ridges of barren land, that seemed like shoots of the adjacent Andes, breaking up the surface of VOL. II 5 66 CONQUEST OF PERU the region into little sequestered valleys of singu- lar loveliness. The soil, though rarely watered by the rains of heaven, was naturally rich, and wherever it was refreshed with moisture, as on the margins of the streams, it was enamelled with the brightest verdure. The industry of the in- habitants, moreover, had turned these streams to the best account, and canals and aqueducts were seen crossing the low lands in all directions, and spreading over the country, like a vast net-work, diffusing fertility and beauty around them. The air was scented with the sweet odors of flowers, and everywhere the eye was refreshed by the sight of orchards laden with unknown fruits, and of fields waving with yellow grain and rich in luscious vegetables of every description that teem in the sunny clime of the equator. The Spaniards were among a people who had carried the refinements of husbandry to a greater extent than any yet found on the American continent; and, as they journeyed through this paradise of plenty, their condition formed a pleasing contrast to what they had before endured in the dreary wilderness of the mangroves. Everywhere, too, they were received with con- fiding hospitality by the simple people ; for which they were no doubt indebted, in a great measure, to their own inoffensive deportment. Every Spaniard seemed to be aware that his only chance of success lay in conciliating the good opinion of the inhabitants among whom he had so recklessly cast his fortunes. In most of the hamlets, arid in every place of considerable si/e, some fortress 1532] MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR 67 was to be found, or royal caravansary, destined for the Inca on his progresses, the ample halls of which furnished abundant accommodations for the Spaniards ; who were thus provided with quarters along their route at the charge of the very govern- ment which they were preparing to overturn. 8 On the fifth day after leaving San Miguel, Pi- zarro halted in one of these delicious valleys, to give his troops repose and to make a more com- plete inspection of them. Their number amounted in all to one hundred and seventy-seven, of which sixty-seven were cavalry. He mustered only three arquebusiers in his whole company, and a few crossbow-men, altogether not exceeding twenty. 9 The troops were tolerably well equipped, and in good condition. But the watchful eye of their commander noticed with uneasiness that, notwith- standing the general heartiness in the cause mani- fested by his followers, there were some among them whose countenances lowered with discontent, and who, although they did not give vent to it in open murmurs, were far from moving with their wonted alacrity. He was aware that if this spirit became contagious it would be the ruin of the enterprise; and he thought it best to exterminate s Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 4. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. * There is less discrepancy in the estimate of the Spanish force here than usual. The paucity of numbers gave less room for it. No account carries them as high as two hundred. I have adopted that of the secretary Xeres (Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 187), who has been followed by Oviedo (Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 1, cap. 3) and by the judicious Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 1, cap. 2. 68 CONQUEST OF PERU the gangrene at once, and at whatever cost, than to wait until it had infected the whole system. He came to an extraordinary resolution. Calling his men together, he told them that " a crisis had now arrived in their affairs, which it demanded all their courage to meet. No man should think of going forward in the expedition who could not do so with his whole heart, or who had the least misgiving as to its success. If any repented of his share in it, it was not too late to turn back. San Miguel was but poorly garri- soned, and he should be glad to see it in greater strength. Those who chose might return to this place, and they should be entitled to the same pro- portion of lands and Indian vassals as the present residents. With the rest, were they few or many, who chose to take their chance with him, he should pursue the adventure to the end." 10 It was certainly a remarkable proposal for a commander who was ignorant of the amount of disaffection in his ranks, and who could not safely spare a single man from his force, already far too feeble for the undertaking. Yet, by insisting on the wants of the little colony of San Miguel, he afforded a decent pretext for the secession of the malecontents, and swept away the barrier of shame which might have still held them in the 10 " Que todos los que quiriesen holverse a la ciudnd de San Miguel y avecindarse alii demas de los vecinos que alii quedaban el les de- positaria repartimientos de Indies con que se sostubiesen como lo habia hecho con los otros vecinos; que con los Kspafioles que que- dasen, pocos 6 muchos, iria & conquistar pacificar la tierra en de- manda y persecucion del camino que llevaba." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 3. 1532] MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR 69 camp. Notwithstanding the fair opening thus afforded, there were but few, nine in all, who availed themselves of the general's permission. Four of these belonged to the infantry, and five to the horse. The rest loudly declared their re- solve to go forward with their brave leader; and, if there were some whose voices were faint amidst the general acclamation, they at least relinquished the right of complaining hereafter, since they had voluntarily rejected the permission to return. 11 This stroke of policy in their sagacious captain was attended with the best effects. He had win- nowed out the few grains of discontent which, if left to themselves, might have fermented in secret till the whole mass had swelled into mutiny. Cortes had compelled his men to go forward heartily in his enterprise by burning their vessels and thus cutting off the only means of retreat. Pizarro, on the other hand, threw open the gates to the disaffected and facilitated their departure. Both judged right, under their peculiar circum- stances, and both were perfectly successful. Feeling himself strengthened, instead of weak- ened, by his loss, Pizarro now resumed his march, and on the second day arrived before a place called Zaran, situated in a fruitful valley among the mountains. Some of the inhabitants had been drawn off to swell the levies of Atahuallpa. The Spaniards had repeated experience on their march of the oppressive exactions of the Inca, who had almost depopulated some of the valleys to obtain 11 Ibid., MS., loc. cit. Herrera, Hist, genera^ dec. 5, lib. 1. cap. 2. r Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 187. 70 CONQUEST OF PERU reinforcements for his army. The curaca of the Indian town where Pizarro now arrived received him with kindness and hospitality, and the troops were quartered as usual in one of the royal tambos or caravansaries, which were found in all the prin- cipal places. 12 Yet the Spaniards saw no signs of their ap- proach to the royal encampment, though more time had already elapsed than was originally allowed for reaching it. Shortly before entering Zaran, Pizarro had heard that a Peruvian garrison was established in a place called Caxas, lying among the hills, at no great distance from his present quarters. He immediately despatched a small party under Hernando de Soto in that direc- tion, to reconnoitre the ground, and bring him intelligence of the actual state of things, at Zaran, where he would halt until his officer's return. Day after day passed on, and a week had elapsed before tidings were received of his com- panions, and Pizarro was becoming seriously alarmed for their fate, when on the eighth morn- ing Soto appeared, bringing with him an envoy from the Inca himself. He was a person of rank, and was attended by several followers of inferior condition. He had met the Spaniards at Caxas, and now accompanied them on their return, to deliver his sovereign's message, with a present to the Spanish commander. The present consisted of two fountains, made of stone, in the form of fortresses; some fine stuffs of woollen embroid- ered with gold and silver; and a quantity of "Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. 1632 J EMBASSY FROM THE INCA 71 goose-flesh, dried and seasoned in a peculiar man- ner, and much used as a perfume, in a pulverized state, by the Peruvian nobles. 13 The Indian am- bassador came charged also with his master's greeting to the strangers, whom Atahuallpa wel- comed to his country and invited to visit him in his camp among the mountains. 14 Pizarro well understood that the Inca's object in this diplomatic visit was less to do him courtesy than to inform himself of the strength and con- dition of the invaders. But he was well pleased with the embassy, and dissembled his conscious- ness of its real purpose. He caused the Peruvian to be entertained in the best manner the camp could afford, and paid him the respect, says one of the Conquerors, due to the ambassador of so great a monarch. 15 Pizarro urged him to pro- 1S " Dos Fortalecas, a manera de Fuente, figuradas en Piedra, con que beba, i dos cargas de Patos secos, desollados, para que hechos polvos, se sahume con ellos, porque asi se usa entre los Senores de su Tierra: i que le embiaba a decir, que el tiene voluntad de ser su Amigo, i esperalle de Paz en Caxamalca." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 189. 14 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 3. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 189. Garcilasso de la Vega tells us that Atahuallpa's envoy addressed the Spanish comman- der in the most humble and deprecatory manner, as Son of the Sun and of the great God Viracocha. He adds that he was loaded with a prodigious present of all kinds of game, living and dead, gold and silver vases, emeralds, turquoises, etc., etc., enough to furnish out the finest chapter of the Arabian Nights. (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 19.) It is extraordinary that none of the Conquerors, who had a quick eye for these dainties, should allude to them. One cannot but suspect that the " old uncle " was amusing himself at his young nephew's expense, and, as it has proved, at the expense of most of his readers, who receive the Inca's fairy-tales as historic facts. 15 " I mand6, que le diesen de comer a el, i a los que con el venian, i todo lo que huviesen menester, i fuesen bien aposentados, como 72 CONQUEST OF PERU long his visit for some days, which the Indian envoy declined, but made the most of his time while there, by gleaning all the information he could in respect to the use of every strange article which he saw, as well as the object of the white men's visit to the land, and the quarter whence they came. The Spanish captain satisfied his curiosity in all these particulars. The intercourse with the na- tives, it may be here remarked, was maintained by means of two of the youths who had accompanied the Conquerors on their return home from their preceding voyage. They had been taken by Pi- zarro to Spain, and, as much pains had been be- stowed on teaching them the Castilian, they now filled the office of interpreters and opened an easy communication w r ith their countrymen. It was of inestimable service; and well did the Spanish commander reap the fruits of his forecast. 16 On the departure of the Peruvian messenger, Pizarro presented him with a cap of crimson cloth, some cheap but showy ornaments of glass, and other toys, which he had brought for the purpose from Castile. He charged the envoy to tell his master that the Spaniards came from a powerful Embaj adores de tan Gran Sefior." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 189. " " Los Indios de la tierra se entendian muy hien con los Espafioles, porque aquellos mochachos Indios que en el descubrimiento de la tierra Pizarro truxo d Kspafia, entendian muy bien miestra lenpua, y los tenia alii, con los cuales se entendia muy bien con todos los natu- rales de la tierra," (Relacion del primer Descub., MS.) Yet it is a proof of the ludicrous blunders into which the Conquerors were per- petually falling, that Pizarro's secretary constantly confounds the Inca's name with that of his capital. Huayna Capac he always styles " old Cuzco," and his son Huascar " young Cuzco." 1532] ADVENTURES ON THE MARCH 73 prince who dwelt far beyond the waters ; that they had heard much of the fame of Atahuallpa's vic- tories, and were come to pay their respects to him, and to offer their services by aiding him with their arms against his enemies ; and he might be assured they would not halt on the road longer than was necessary, before presenting themselves before him. Pizarro now received from Soto a full account of his late expedition. That chief, on entering Caxas, found the inhabitants mustered in hostile array, as if to dispute his passage. But the cava- lier soon convinced them of his pacific intentions, and, laying aside their menacing attitude, they received the Spaniards with the same courtesy which had been shown them in most places on their march. Here Soto found one of the royal officers, em- ployed in collecting the tribute for the govern- ment. From this functionary he learned that the Inca was quartered with a large army at Caxa- malca, a place of considerable size on the other side of the Cordillera, where he was enjoying the luxury of the warm baths, supplied by natural springs, for which it was then famous, as it is at the present day. The cavalier gathered, also, much important information in regard to the resources and the general policy of government, the state maintained by the Inca, and the stern severity with which obedience to the law was everywhere enforced. He had some opportunity of observing this for himself, as, on entering the village, he saw several Indians hanging dead by 74 CONQUEST OF PERU their heels, having been executed for some violence offered to the Virgins of the Sun, of whom there was a convent in the neighborhood. 17 From Caxas, De Soto had passed to the adja- cent town of Guancabamba, much larger, more populous, and better built than the preceding. The houses, instead of being made of clay baked in the sun, were many of them constructed of solid stone, so nicely put together that it was impossible to detect the line of junction. A river which passed through the town was traversed by a bridge, and the high-road of the Incas which crossed this district was far superior to that which the Spaniards had seen on the sea-board. It was raised in many places, like a causeway, paved with heavy stone flags, and bordered by trees that afforded a grateful shade to the pas- senger, while streams of water were conducted through aqueducts along the sides to slake his thirst. At certain distances, also, they noticed small houses, which, they were told, were for the accommodation of the traveller, who might thus pass without inconvenience from one end of the kingdom to the other. 18 In another quarter they beheld one of those magazines destined for the army, filled with grain and with articles of IT " A la entrada del Pueblo havia ciertos Indies ahorcados de los pies: i supo de cste Principal, que Atabalipa los mand6 matar, por- que uno de ellos entr& en la Casa de las Muperes s\ dormir con una: al qual, i a todos los Porteros que oonsintieron, ahorc6." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 188. " " Van por este camino oafios de aprua de donde los caminantes beben, traidos de sus nacimientos de otras partes, y a cada Jornada una Casa a manera de Venta donde se aposentan los que van 6 vienen." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 3. 1532] ADVENTURES ON THE MARCH 75 clothing; and at the entrance of the town was a stone building, occupied by a public officer, whose business it was to collect the tolls or duties on various commodities brought into the place or carried out of it. 10 These accounts of De Soto not only confirmed all that the Spaniards had heard of the Indian empire, but greatly raised their ideas of its resources and domestic policy. They might well have shaken the confidence of hearts less courageous. Pizarro, before leaving his present quarters, de- spatched a messenger to San Miguel with par- ticulars of his movements, sending at the same time the articles received from the Inca, as well as those obtained at different places on the route. The skill shown in the execution of some of these fabrics sent to Castile excited great admiration there. The fine woollen cloths, especially, with their rich embroidery, were pronounced equal to textures of silk, from which it was not easy to distinguish them. The material was probably the delicate wool of the vicuna, none of which had then been seen in Europe. 20 Pizarro, having now acquainted himself with the most direct route to Caxamalca, the Caxa- 19 "A la entrada de este Camino en el Pueblo de Cajas esta una casa al principle de una puente donde reside una guarda que recibe el Portazgo de todos los que van 6 vienen, e paganlo en la misma cosa que llevan, y ninguno puede sacar carga del Pueblo sino la mete, y esta costumbre es alii antigua." Oviedo, Hist de las Indias, MS., ubi supra. 20 " Piezas de lana de la tierra, que era cosa mucho de ver segun su primer e gentileza, e no se sabian determinar si era seda 6 lana segun su fineza con muehas lahores i figuras de oro de martillo de tal ma- nera asentado en la ropa que era cosa de marabillar." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 4. 76 CONQUEST OF PERU marca of the present day,* resumed his march, taking a direction nearly south. The first place of any size at which he halted was Motupe, pleas- antly situated in a fruitful valley, among hills of no great elevation, which cluster round the base of the Cordilleras. The place was deserted by its curaca, who, with three hundred of its warriors, had gone to join the standard of their Inca. Here the general, notwithstanding his avowed purpose to push forward without delay, halted four days. The tardiness of his movements can be explained only by the hope which he may still have enter- tained of being joined by further reinforcements before crossing the Cordilleras. None such ap- peared, however ; and, advancing across a country in which tracts of sandy plain were occasionally relieved by a broad expanse of verdant meadow, watered by natural streams and still more abun- dantly by those brought through artificial chan- nels, the troops at length arrived at the borders of a river. It was broad and deep, and the rapidity of the current opposed more than ordi- nary difficulty to the passage. Pizarro, appre- hensive lest this might be disputed by the natives on the opposite bank, ordered his brother Her- nando to cross over with a small detachment under cover of night and secure a safe landing for the rest of the troops. At break of day Pizarro made preparations for his own passage, by hewing tim- * [The letter /, except in the combination 7i or //, which is equiva- lent to the Italian yl, is scarcely found in the Quichua according to Tschudi, only in the word lampa, a hoe. The Spaniards supplied the omission by changing r to / in several names, as Lima for Rimac. -K.] 1532] ADVENTURES ON THE MARCH 77 ber in the neighboring woods and constructing a sort of floating bridge, on which before nightfall the whole company passed in safety, the horses swimming, being led by the bridle. It was a day of severe labor, and Pizarro took his own share in it freely, like a common soldier, having ever a word of encouragement to say to his followers. On reaching the opposite side, they learned from their comrades that the people of the coun- try, instead of offering resistance, had fled in dis- may. One of them, having been taken and brought before Hernando Pizarro, refused to answer the questions put to him respecting the Inca and his army ; till, being put to the torture, he stated that Atahuallpa was encamped, with his whole force, in three separate divisions, occupying the high grounds and plains of Caxamalca. He further stated that the Inca was aware of the approach of the white men and of their small number, and that he was purposely decoying them into his own quarters, that he might have them more completely in his power. This account, when reported by Hernando to his brother, caused the latter much anxiety. As the timidity of the peasantry, however, gradually wore off, some of them mingled with the troops, and among them the curaca or principal person of the village. He had himself visited the royal camp, and he informed the general that Atahu- allpa lay at the strong town of Huamachuco, twenty leagues or more south of Caxamalca, with an army of at least fifty thousand men. These contradictory statements greatly per- 78 CONQUEST OF PERU plexed the chieftain; and he proposed to one of the Indians who had borne him company during a great part of the march, to go as a spy into the Inca's quarters and bring him intelligence of his actual position, and, as far as he could learn them, of his intentions towards the Spaniards. But the man positively declined this dangerous service, though he professed his willingness to go as an authorized messenger of the Spanish commander. Pizarro acquiesced in this proposal, and in- structed his envoy to assure the Inca that he was advancing with all convenient speed to meet him. He was to acquaint the monarch with the uni- formly considerate conduct of the Spaniards to- wards his subjects in their progress through the land, and to assure him that they were now coming in full confidence of finding in him the same ami- cable feelings towards themselves. The emissary was practically instructed to observe if the strong passes on the road were defended, or if any prep- arations of a hostile character were to be discerned. This last intelligence he was to communicate to the general by means of two or three nimble- footed attendants who were to accompany him on his mission. 21 Having taken this precaution, the wary com- mander again resumed his march, and at the end of three days reached the base of the mountain- rampart behind which lay the ancient town of Caxamalca. Before him rose the stupendous " Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 4. Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, np. Barcia, torn. iii. p 190. 1532] ADVENTURES ON THE MARCH 79 Andes, rock piled upon rock, their skirts below dark with evergreen forests, varied here and there by terraced patches of cultivated garden, with the peasant's cottage clinging to their shaggy sides, and their crests of snow glittering high in the heavens, presenting altogether such a wild chaos of magnificence and beauty as no other mountain-scenery in the world can show. Across this tremendous rampart, through a labyrinth of passes, easily capable of defence by a handful of men against an army, the troops were now to march. To the right ran a broad and level road, with its border of friendly shades, and wide enough for two carriages to pass abreast. It was one of the great routes leading to Cuzco, and seemed by its pleasant and easy access to invite the wayworn soldier to choose it in preference to the dangerous mountain-defiles. Many were accord- ingly of opinion that the army should take this course and abandon the original destination to Caxamalca. But such was not the decision of Pizarro. The Spaniards had everywhere proclaimed their purpose, he said, to visit the Inca in his camp. This purpose had been communicated to the Inca himself. To take an opposite direction now would only be to draw on them the imputation of cow- ardice, and to incur Atahuallpa's contempt. Xo alternative remained but to march straight across the sierra to his quarters. ' Let every one of you," said the bold cavalier, " take heart and go forward like a good soldier, nothing daunted by the smallness of your numbers. For in the great- 80 CONQUEST OF PERU est extremity God ever fights for his own; and doubt not he will humble the pride of the heathen, and bring him to the knowledge of the true faith, the great end and object of the Conquest." 22 Pizarro, like Cortes, possessed a good share of that frank and manly eloquence which touches the heart of the soldier more than the parade of rhet- oric or the finest flow of elocuation. He was a soldier himself, and partook in all the feelings of the soldier, his joys, his hopes, and his disappoint- ments. He was not raised by rank and education above sympathy with the humblest of his follow- ers. Every chord in their bosoms vibrated with the same pulsations as his own, and the conviction of this gave him a mastery over them. " Lead on," they shouted, as he finished his brief but ani- mating address, " lead on wherever you think best. We will follow with good will, and you shall see that we can do our duty in the cause of God and the King!" 23 There was no longer hesitation. All thoughts were now bent on the instant passage of the Cordilleras. 23 " Que todos se animasen y esforzasen a hacer como de ellos es- peraba y como buenos espafioles lo suelen hacer, 6 que no les pusiese temor la multitud que se decia que habia de gente ni el poco numero de los cristianos, que aunque menos fuesen mayor el egercito con- trario, la ayuda de Dios es mucho mayor, y en las may ores necesi- dades socorre y faborece a los suyos para desbaratar y aba jar la soberbia de los infieles & traerlos en conocimiento de nuestra S ta fe catolica." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 4. a " Todos digeron qne fuese por el Camino que quisiese i viese que mas convenia, que todos le seguirian con buena voluntad obra al tiempo del efecto, y veria lo que cada uno de ellos haria en servicio de Dios e de su Magestad." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., loc. cit. CHAPTER IV SEVERE PASSAGE OF THE ANDES EMBASSIES FROM ATAHUALLPA - THE SPANIARDS REACH CAXA- MALCA - EMBASSY TO THE INCA -- INTERVIEW WITH THE INCA DESPONDENCY OF THE SPANIARDS 1532 night Pizarro held a council of his JL principal officers, and it was determined that he should lead the advance, consisting of forty horse and sixty foot, and reconnoitre the ground; while the rest of the company, under his brother Hernando, should occupy their present position till they received further orders. At early dawn the Spanish general and his de- tachment were under arms and prepared to breast the difficulties of the sierra. These proved even greater than had been foreseen. The path had been conducted in the most judicious manner round the rugged and precipitous sides of the mountains, so as best to avoid the natural impedi- ments presented by the ground. But it was neces- sarily so steep, in many places, that the cavalry were obliged to dismount, and, scrambling up as they could, to lead their horses by the bridles. In many places, too, where some huge crag or emi- nence overhung the road, this was driven to the very verge of the precipice ; and the traveller was VOL. II. 6 81 82 CONQUEST OF PERU compelled to wind along the narrow ledge of rock, scarcely wide enough for his single steed, where a misstep would precipitate him hundreds, nay, thousands of feet into the dreadful abyss! The wild passes of the sierra, practicable for the half- naked Indian, and even for the sure and circum- spect mule, an animal that seems to have been created for the roads of the Cordilleras, were formidable to the man-at-arms encumbered with his panoply of mail. The tremendous fissures or quebradas, so frightful in this mountain-chain, yawned open, as if the Andes had been split asunder by some terrible convulsion, showing a broad expanse of the primitive rock on their sides, partially mantled over with the spontaneous vege- tation of ages; while their obscure depths fur- nished a channel for the torrents, that, rising in the heart of the sierra, worked their way gradu- ally into light and spread over the savannas and green valleys of the tierra caliente on their way to the great ocean. Many of these passes afforded obvious points of defence; and the Spaniards, as they entered the rocky defiles, looked with apprehension lest they might rouse some foe from his ambush. This apprehension was heightened as, at the summit of a steep and narrow gorge, in which they were en- gaged, they beheld a strong work, rising like a fortress, and frowning, as it were, in gloomy de- fiance on the invaders. As they drew near this building, which was of solid stone, commanding an angle of the road, they almost expected to see the dusky forms of the warriors rise over the bat- 1532J SEVERE PASSAGE OF THE ANDES 83 tlements, and to receive their tempest of missiles on their bucklers; for it was in so strong a posi- tion that a few resolute men might easily have held there an army at bay. But they had the satisfac- tion to find the place untenanted, and their spirits were greatly raised by the conviction that the Indian monarch did not intend to dispute their passage, when it would have been easy to do so with success. Pizarro now sent orders to his brother to follow without delay, and, after refreshing his men, con- tinued his toilsome ascent, and before nightfall reached an eminence crowned by another fortress, of even greater strength than the preceding. It was built of solid masonry, the lower part exca- vated from the living rock, and the whole work executed with skill not inferior to that of the European architect. 1 Here Pizarro took up his quarters for the night. Without waiting for the arrival of the rear, on the following morning, he resumed his march, leading still deeper into the intricate gorges of the sierra. The climate had gradually changed, and the men and horses, especially the latter, suffered severely from the cold, so long accustomed as they had been to the sultry climate of the tropics. 2 The vegeta- tion also had changed its character ; and the mag- 1 " Tan ancha la Cerca como qualquier Fortaleca de Espana, con sus Puertas: que si en esta Tierra oviese los Maestros, i Herramientas de Espana, no pudiera ser mejor labrada la Cerca." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 192. 2 " Es tanto el frio que hace en esta Sierra, que como los Caballos venian hechos al calor, que en los Valles hacia, algunos de ellos se resfriaron." Ibid., p. 191. 84 CONQUEST OF PERU nificent timber which covered the lower level of the country had gradually given way to the funereal forest of pine, and, as they rose still higher, to the stunted growth of numberless Alpine plants, whose hardy natures found a congenial tempera- ture in the icy atmosphere of the more elevated regions. These dreary solitudes seemed to be nearly abandoned by the brute creation as well as by man. The light-footed vicuna, roaming in its native state, might be sometimes seen looking down from some airy cliff, where the foot of the hunter dared not venture. But instead of the feathered tribes whose gay plumage sparkled in the deep glooms of the tropical forests, the adven- turers now beheld only the great bird of the Andes, the loathsome condor, which, sailing high above the clouds, followed with doleful cries in the track of the army, as if guided by instinct in the path of blood and carnage. At length they reached the crest of the Cordil- lera, where it spreads out into a bold and bleak expanse, with scarcely a vestige of vegetation, ex- cept what is afforded by the pajonal, a dried yellow grass, which, as it is seen from below, en- circling the base of the snow-covered peaks, looks, with its brilliant straw-color lighted up in the rays of an ardent sun, like a setting of gold round pin- nacles of burnished silver. The land was sterile, as usual in mining-districts, and they were draw- ing near the once famous gold-quarries on the way to Caxamalca: M Rooks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines, That on the high equator ridgy rise." 1532] EMBASSIES FROM ATAHUALLPA 85 Here Pizarro halted for the coming up of the rear. The air was sharp and frosty; and the soldiers, spreading their tents, lighted fires, and, huddling round them, endeavored to find some re- pose after their laborious march. 3 They had not been long in these quarters, when a messenger arrived, one of those who had accom- panied the Indian envoy sent by Pizarro to Ata- huallpa. He informed the general that the road was free from enemies, and that an embassy from the Inca was on its way to the Castilian camp. Pizarro now sent back to quicken the march of the rear, as he was unwilling that the Peruvian envoy should find him with his present diminished numbers. The rest of the army were not far dis- tant, and not long after reached the encampment. In a short time the Indian embassy also arrived, which consisted of one of the Inca nobles and sev- eral attendants, bringing a welcome present of llamas to the Spanish commander. The Peru- vian bore, also, the greetings of his master, who wished to know when the Spaniards would arrive at Caxamalca, that he might provide suitable re- freshments for them. Pizarro learned that the Inca had left Huamachuco, and was now lying with a small force in the neighborhood of Caxa- malca, at a place celebrated for its natural springs 8 " fi aposentaronse los Espanoles en sus toldos 6 pabellones de algodon de la tierra que llevaban, e haciendo fuegos para defenderse del mucho frio que en aquella Sierra hacen, porque sin ellos no se pudieron valer sin padecer mucho trabajo; y segun a los cristianos les parecid, y aim eomo era lo cierto, no podia haber mas frio en parte de Espana en invierno." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 4. 86 CONQUEST OF PERU of warm water. The Peruvian was an intelligent person, and the Spanish commander gathered from him many particulars respecting the late contests which had distracted the empire. As the envoy vaunted in lofty terms the mili- tary prowess and resources of his sovereign, Pi- zarro thought it politic to show that it had no power to overawe him. He expressed his satisfac- tion at the triumphs of Atahuallpa, who, he acknowledged, had raised himself high in the rank of Indian warriors. But he was as inferior, he added with more policy than politeness, to the monarch who ruled over the white men, as the petty curacas of the country were inferior to him. This was evident from the ease with which a few Spaniards had overrun this great continent, sub- duing one nation after another that had offered resistance to their arms. He had been led by the fame of Atahuallpa to visit his dominions and to offer him his services in his wars, and, if he were received by the Inca in the same friendly spirit with which he came, he was willing, for the aid he could render him, to postpone awhile his pas- sage across the country to the opposite seas. The Indian, according to the Castilian accounts, lis- tened with awe to this strain of glorification from the Spanish commmander. Yet it is possible that the envoy was a better diplomatist than they im- agined, and that he understood it was only the game of brag at which he was playing with his more civilized antagonist. 4 4 Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 193. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 5. 1532J EMBASSIES FROM ATAHUALLPA 87 On the succeeding morning, at an early hour, the troops were again on their march, and for two days were occupied in threading the airy defiles of the Cordilleras. Soon after beginning their descent on the eastern side, another emissary arrived from the Inca, bearing a message of similar import to the preceding, and a present, in like manner, of Peruvian sheep. This was the same noble that had visited Pizarro in the valley. He now came in more state, quaffing chicha the fermented juice of the maize from golden goblets borne by his attendants, which sparkled in the eyes of the rapacious adventurers. 5 * While he was in the camp, the Indian mes- senger, originally sent by Pizarro to the Inca, returned, and no sooner did he behold the Peru- vian, and the honorable reception which he met with from the Spaniards, than he was filled with "" Este Embajador trala servicio de Senor, i cinco 6 seis Vasos de Oro fino, con que bebia, i con ellos daba a beber a los Espanoles de la Chicha que trala." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 193. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., ubi supra. The latter author, in this part of his work, has done little more than make a transcript of that of Xerez. His endorsement of Pizarro's secretary, however, is of value, from the fact that, with less temptation to mistate or overstate, he enjoyed excellent opportunities for information. * [The usual method for preparing the jora, or dried grain, for its manufacture into chicha is to crush it between two stones. This applies only to the ordinary beverage. For the choicer chicha ma,?- cada the grain is masticated, usually by the Indian women. One may see this process going on in almost any of the villages among the mountains. Occasionally a " bee," similar to the husking bees of North America, is arranged. A group of men and women seat them- selves around a heap of jora and straightway proceed to chew it up, ejecting the crushed grain from their mouths into a common recep- tacle. The mass is then boiled and left to ferment. Notwithstand- ing the superior flavor of the chicha mascada, the average traveller is likely to be satisfied with the ordinary article. M.] 88 CONQUEST OF PERU wrath, which would have vented itself in personal violence, but for the interposition of the by-stand- ers. It was hard, he said, that this Peruvian dog should be thus courteously treated, when he him- self had nearly lost his life on a similar mission among his countrymen. On reaching the Inca's camp he had been refused admission to his pres- ence, on the ground that he was keeping a fast and could not be seen. They had paid no respect to his assertion that he came as an envoy from the white men, and would, probably, not have suffered him to escape with life, if he had not assured them that any violence offered to him would be retaliated in full measure on the persons of the Peruvian envoys now in the Spanish quarters. There was no doubt, he continued, of the hostile intentions of Atahuallpa; for he was surrounded with a powerful army, strongly encamped about a league from Caxamalca, while that city was entirely evacuated by its inhabitants. To all this the Inca's envoy coolly replied that Pizarro's messenger might have reckoned on such a reception as he had found, since he seemed to have taken with him no credentials of his mission. As to the Inca's fast, that was true ; and, although he would doubtless have seen the messenger had he known there was one from the strangers, yet it was not safe to disturb him at these solemn sea- sons, when engaged in his religious duties. The troops by whom he was surrounded were not nu- merous, considering that the Inca was at that time carrying on an important war; and as to Caxa- malca, it was abandoned by the inhabitants in 1532] THE SPANIARDS REACH CAXAMALCA 89 order to make room for the white men, who were so soon to occupy it. This explanation, however plausible, did not altogether satisfy the general ; for he had too deep a conviction of the cunning of Atahuallpa, whose intentions towards the Spaniards he had long greatly distrusted. As he proposed, however, to keep on friendly relations with the monarch for the present, it was obviously not his cue to mani- fest suspicion. Affecting, therefore, to give full credit to the explanation of the envoy, he dis- missed him with reiterated assurances of speedily presenting himself before the Inca. The descent of the sierra, though the Andes are less precipitous on their eastern side than towards the west, was attended with difficulties almost equal to those of the upward march; and the Spaniards felt no little satisfaction when, on the seventh day, they arrived in view of the valley of Caxamalca, which, enamelled with all the beauties of cultivation, lay unrolled like a rich and varie- gated carpet of verdure, in strong contrast with the dark forms of the Andes, that rose up every- where around it. The valley is of an oval shape, extending about five leagues in length by three in breadth. It was inhabited by a population of a superior character to any which the Spaniards had met on the other side of the mountains, as was argued by the superior style of their attire and the greater cleanliness and comfort visible both in their persons and dwellings. 7 As far as Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 194. Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, MS., ubi supra. 7 Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 195. 90 CONQUEST OF PERU the eye could reach, the level tract exhibited the show of a diligent and thrifty husbandry. A broad river rolled through the meadows, supply- ing facilities for copious irrigation by means of the usual canals and subterraneous aqueducts. The land, intersected by verdant hedge-rows, was checkered with patches of various cultivation ; for the soil was rich, and the climate, if less stimu- lating than that of the sultry regions of the coast, was more favorable to the hardy products of the temperate latitudes. Below the adventurers, with its white houses glittering in the sun, lay the little city of Caxamalca,* like a sparkling gem on the dark skirts of the sierra. At the distance of about a league farther, across the valley, might be seen columns of vapor rising up towards the heavens, indicating the place of the famous hot-baths, much frequented by the Peruvian princes. And here, too, was a spectacle less grateful to the eyes of the Spaniards; for along the slope of the hills a white cloud of pavilions was seen covering the ground, as thick as snow-flakes, for the space, apparently, of several miles. ' It filled us all with amazement," exclaims one of the Conquerors, " to behold the Indians occupying so proud a posi- tion! So many tents, so well appointed, as were never seen in the Indies till now! The spectacle caused something like confusion and even fear in * [The description of Caxamalca given by the Secretary of Pizarro is much more minute than any that he, or indeed any other of the Conquerors, gives of other places. When their eyes had become accustomed to the startling civilization of the land, the Spaniards ceased to commit their impressions to writing. They were always prone to exaggerations. Xerez says the plaza was larger than any in Spain! M.J 1532] THE SPANIARDS REACH CAXAMALCA 91 the stoutest bosom. But it was too late to turn back, or to betray the least sign of weakness, since the natives in our own company would, in such case, have been the first to rise upon us. So, with as bold a countenance as we could v after coolly surveying the ground, we prepared for our en- trance into Caxamalca." 8 What were the feelings of the Peruvian mon- arch we are not informed, when he gazed on the martial cavalcade of the Christians, as, with ban- ners streaming, and bright panoplies glistening in the rays of the evening sun, it emerged from the dark depths of the sierra and advanced in hostile array over the fair domain which, to this period, had never been trodden by other foot than that of the red man. It might be, as several of the reports had stated, that the Inca had purposely decoyed the adventurers into the heart of his populous em- pire, that he might envelop them with his legions and the more easily become master of their prop- erty and persons. 9 Or was it from a natural f eel- 8 " Y eran tantas las tiendas que parecian, que cierto nos puso harto espanto, porque no pensabamos que Indies pudiesen tener tan so- berbia estancia, ni tantas tiendas, ni tan it punto, lo cual hasta alii en las Indias nunca se vi6, que nos caus6 a todos los Espanoles harta confusion y temor; aunque no convenia mostrarse, ni menos volver atras, porque si alguna flaqueza en nosotros sintieran, los mismos Indies que llevabamos nos mataran, y ansi con animoso semblante, despues de haber muy bien atalayado el pueblo y tiendas que he dicho, abajamos por el valle abajo, y entramos en el pueblo de Ca Ja- maica." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 8 This was evidently the opinion of the old Conqueror, whose im- perfect manuscript forms one of the best authorities for this portion of our narrative: "Teniendonos en muy poco, y no haciendo cuenta que 190 hombres le habian de ofender, dio lugar y consintio que pasa- semos por aquel paso y por otros muchos tan malos como el, porque realmente, & lo que despues se supo y averiguo, su intencion era vernos y preguntarnos, de donde veniamos? y quien nos habia he- 92 CONQUEST OF PERU ing of curiosity, and relying on their professions of friendship, that he had thus allowed them, with- out any attempt at resistance, to come into his presence? At all events, he could hardly have felt such confidence in himself as not to look with apprehension, mingled with awe, on the mysteri- ous strangers, who, coming from an unknown world and possessed of such wonderful gifts, had made their way across mountain and valley in spite of every obstacle which man and nature had opposed to them. Pizarro, meanwhile, forming his little corps into three divisions, now moved forward, at a more measured pace, and in order of battle, down the slopes that led towards the Indian city. As he drew near, no one came out to welcome him; and he rode through the streets without meeting with a living thing, or hearing a sound, except the echoes, sent back from the deserted dwellings, of the tramp of the soldiery. It was a place of considerable size, containing about ten thousand inhabitants,* somewhat more, probably, than the population assembled at this day within the walls of the modern city of Caxa- malca. 10 The houses, for the most part, were built chado alii? y que queriamos? Porque era muy sabio y discrete, y aunque sin luz ni escriptura, amigo de saber y de sotil entendimiento; y despues de holgadose con nosotros, tomarnos los caballos y las cosas que & el mas le aplacian, y sacrificar & los demas." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 10 According to Stevenson, this population, which is of a very mixed character, amounts, or did amount some thirty years ago, to about seven thousand. That sagacious traveller gives an animated description of the city, in which he resided some time, and which he seems to have regarded with peculiar predilection. Yet it does not * [Xerez says two thousand. M.] 1532] THE SPANIARDS REACH CAXAMALCA 93 of clay, hardened in the sun; the roofs thatched or of timber. Some of the more ambitious dwell- ings were of hewn stone ; and there was a convent in the place, occupied by the Virgins of the Sun, and a temple dedicated to the same tutelar deity, which last was hidden in the deep embowering shades of a grove on the skirts of the city. On the quarter towards the Indian camp was a square if square it might be called, which was almost triangular in form of an immense size, sur- rounded by low buildings. These consisted of capacious halls, with wide doors or openings com- municating with the square. They were probably intended as a sort of barracks for the Inca's sol- diers. 11 At the end of the plaza, looking towards the country, was a fortress of stone, with a stair- way leading from the city, and a private entrance from the adjoining suburbs. There was still an- other fortress on the rising ground which com- manded the town, built of hewn stone and encom- passed by three circular walls, or rather one and the same wall, which wound up spirally around it. It was a place of great strength, and the work- manship showed a better knowledge of masonry, and gave a higher impression of the architectural science of the people, than any thing the Span- iards had yet seen. 12 hold probably the relative rank at the present day that it did in that of the Incas. Residence in South America, vol. ii. p. 131. 11 Carta de Hern. Pizarro, ap. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 15. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 195. 12 " Fuercas son, que entre Indies no se han visto tales." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 195. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 94 CONQUEST OF PERU It was late in the afternoon of the fifteenth of November, 1532, when the Conquerors entered the city of Caxamalca. The weather, which had been fair during the day, now threatened a storm, and some rain mingled with hail for it was un- usually cold began to fall. 13 Pizarro, however, was so anxious to ascertain the dispositions of the Inca that he determined to send an embassy at once to his quarters. He selected for this Her- nando de Soto with fifteen horse, and, after his departure, conceiving that the number was too small in case of any unfriendly demonstrations by the Indians, he ordered his brother Hernando to follow with twenty additional troopers. This cap- tain and one other of his party have left us an account of the excursion. 14 Between the city and the imperial camp was a causeway, built in a substantial manner across the meadowland that intervened. Over this the cav- alry galloped at a rapid pace, and before they had gone a league they came in front of the Peru- " " Desde a poco rato comenco & Hover, i caer granico." (Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 195.) Caxamalca, in the In- dian tongue, signifies "place of frost;" for the temperature, though usually hland and genial, is sometimes affected by frosty winds from the east, very pernicious to vegetation. Stevenson, Residence in South America, vol. ii. p. 129. 14 Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. The Letter of Hernando Pizarro, addressed to the Royal Audience of St. Domingo, gives a full account of the extraordinary events recorded in this and the ensuing chapter, in which that cavalier took a prominent part. Allowing for the par- tialities incident to a chief nctor in the scenes he describes, no au- thority can rank higher. The indefatigable Oviedo, who resided in St. Domingo, saw its importance, and fortunately incorporated the document in his great work, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 15. The anonymous author of the Relacion del primer Descub., MS., was also detached on this service. 1532J EMBASSY TO THE INCA 95 vian encampment, where it spread along the gentle slope of the mountains. The lances of the war- riors were fixed in the ground before their tents, and the Indian soldiers were loitering without, gazing with silent astonishment at the Christian cavalcade, as with clangor of arms and shrill blast of trumpet it swept by, like some fearful appari- tion on the wings of the wind. The party soon came to a broad but shallow stream, which, winding through the meadow, formed a defence for the Inca's position. Across it was a wooden bridge ; but the cavaliers, distrust- ing its strength, preferred to dash through the waters, and without difficulty gained the oppo- site bank. A battalion of Indian warriors was drawn up under arms on the farther side of the bridge, but they offered no molestation to the Spaniards ; and these latter had strict orders from Pizarro scarcely necessary in their present cir- cumstances to treat the natives with courtesy. One of the Indians pointed out the quarter oc- cupied by the Inca. 15 It was an open court-yard, with a light building or pleasure-house in the centre, having galleries running round it, and opening in the rear on a garden. The walls were covered with a shining plaster, both white and colored, and in the area before the edifice was seen a spacious tank or reservoir of stone, fed by aqueducts that supplied it with both warm and cold water. 16 A basin of 15 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. 10 Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 202. " Y al estanque venian dos canos de agua, uno caliente y otro frio, y alii se 96 CONQUEST OF PERU hewn stone it may be of a more recent construc- tion still bears, on the spot, the name of the " Inca's bath." 17 The court was filled with Indian nobles, dressed in gayly-ornamented attire, in at- tendance on the monarch, and with women of the royal household. Amidst this assembly it was not difficult to distinguish the person of Atahuallpa, though his dress was simpler than that of his at- tendants. But he wore on his head the crimson borla or fringe, which, surrounding the forehead, hung down as low as the eyebrow. This was the well-known badge of Peruvian sovereignty, and had been assumed by the monarch only since the defeat of his brother Huascar. He was seated on a low stool or cushion, somewhat after the Morisco or Turkish fashion, and his nobles and principal officers stood around him with great ceremony, holding the stations suited to their rank. 18 The Spaniards gazed with much interest on the prince, of whose cruelty and cunning they had templava la una con la otra, para quando el Senor se queria banar 6 sus mugeres que otra persona no osava entrar en el so pena de la vida." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 11 Stevenson, Residence in South America, vol. ii. p. 164. 18 Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 196. Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. The appearance of the Peruvian monarch is described in simple but animated style by the Conqueror so often quoted, one of the party: " Llegados al patio de la dicha casa que tenia delante della, vimos estar en medio de gran muchedumbre de Indios asentado aquel gran Senor Atabalica (de quien tanta noticia, y tantas cosas nos habian dicho) con una corona en la cabeza, y una borla que le salia della, y le cubria toda la frente, la cual era la insinia real, sentado en una sillecita muy baja del suelo, como los turcos y moros acosturnbran sentarse, el cual estaba con tanta ma- gestad y aparato cual nunca se ha visto jamas, porque estaba cer- cado de mas de seiscientos Senores de su tierra." Helacion del primer Descub., MS. 1532] INTERVIEW WITH THE INCA 97 heard so much, and whose valor had secured to him the possession of the empire. But his counte- nance exhibited neither the fierce passions nor the sagacity which had been ascribed to him; and, though in his bearing he showed a gravity and a calm consciousness of authority well becoming a king, he seemed to discharge all expression from his features, and to discover only the apathy so characteristic of the American races. On the pres- ent occasion this must have been in part, at least, assumed. For it is impossible that the Indian prince should not have contemplated with curious interest a spectacle so strange, and, in some re- spects, appalling, as that of these mysterious strangers, for which no previous description could have prepared him. Hernando Pizarro and Soto, with two or three only of their followers, slowly rode up in front of the Inca ; and the former, making a respectful obeisance, but without dismounting, informed Atahuallpa that he came as an ambassador from his brother, the commander of the white men, to acquaint the monarch with their arrival in his city of Caxamalca. They were the subjects of a mighty prince across the waters, and had come, he said, drawn thither by the report of his great victories, to offer their services, and to impart to him the doctrines of the true faith which they professed ; and he brought an invitation from the general to Atahuallpa that the latter would be pleased to visit the Spaniards in their present quarters. To all this the Inca answered not a word; nor VOL. II. 7 98 CONQUEST OF PERU did he make even a sign of acknowledgment that he comprehended it; though it was translated for him by Felipillo, one of the interpreters already noticed. He remained silent, with his eyes fast- ened on the ground; but one of his nobles, stand- ing by his side, answered, " It is well." 19 This was an embarrassing situation for the Spaniards, who seemed to be as far from ascertaining the real disposition of the Peruvian monarch towards themselves as when the mountains were between them. In a courteous and respectful manner, Her- nando Pizarro again broke the silence by request- ing the Inca to speak to them himself and to in- form them what was his pleasure. 20 To this Atahuallpa condescended to reply, while a faint smile passed over his features, " Tell your cap- tain that I am keeping a fast, which will end to- morrow morning. I will then visit him, with my chieftains. In the mean time, let him occupy the public buildings on the square, and no other, till I come, when I will order what shall be done." 21 19 " Las cuales por 1 oidas, con ser su inclinacion preguntarnos y saber de donde veniamos, y que queriamos, y ver nuestras personas y caballos, tubo tanta serenidad en el rostro, y tanta gravedad en su persona, que no quiso responder palabra 6. lo que se le decia, salvo que un Senor de aquellos que estaban par de el respondia: bien esta." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. w " Visto por el dicho Hernando Pizarro que e"! no hablaba, y que aquella tercera persona respondia de suyo, torn6 le & suplicar, que el hablase por su boca, y le respondiese lo que quisiese." Ibid., MS., ubi supra. n " El cual & esto volvi6 la cabeza a mirarle sonriendose y le dijo: Decid a ese Capitan que os embia aca; que yo estoy en ayuno, y le acaho mafiana por la mafiana, que en behiendo una vez, yo ir con algunos destos principales mios a verme con el, que en tanto 1 se aposente en esas casas que cstan en la plaza que son comunes & 1532] INTERVIEW WITH THE INCA 99 Soto, one of the party present at this interview, as before noticed, was the best mounted and per- haps the best rider in Pizarro's troop. Observing that Atahuallpa looked with some interest on the fiery steed that stood before him, clamping the bit and pawing the ground with the natural impa- tience of a war-horse, the Spaniard gave him the rein, and, striking his iron heel into his side, dashed furiously over the plain, then, wheeling him round and round, displayed all the beautiful movements of his charger, and his own excellent horsemanship. Suddenly checking him in full career, he brought the animal almost on his haunches, so near the person of the Inca that some of the foam that flecked his horse's side was thrown on the royal garments. But Atahuallpa maintained the same marble composure as before, though several of his soldiers, whom De Soto passed in the course, were so much disconcerted by it that they drew back in manifest terror, an act of timidity for which they paid dearly, if, as the Spaniards assert, Atahuallpa caused them to be put to death that same evening for betraying such unworthy weakness to the strangers. 22 todos, y que no entren en otra ninguna hasta que Yo vaya, que Yo mandare lo que se ha de hacer." Relacion del primer Descub., MS., ubi supra. In this singular interview I have followed the account of the cavalier who accompanied Hernando Pizarro, in preference to that of the latter, who represents himself as talking in a lordly key, that savors too much of the vaunt of the hidalgo. 22 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. " I algunos Indies, con miedo, se desviaron de la Carrera, por lo qual Atabalipa los hico luego matar." (Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 4.) Xerez states that Atahuallpa confessed this himself, in conversation with the Spaniards after he was taken pris- oner. Soto's charger might well have made the Indians start, if, as 100 CONQUEST OF PERU Refreshments were now offered by the royal attendants to the Spaniards, which they declined, being unwilling to dismount. They did not re- fuse, however, to quaff the sparkling chicha from golden vases of extraordinary size, presented to them by the dark-eyed beauties of the harem. 23 Taking then a respectful leave of the Inca, the cavaliers rode back to Caxamalca, with many moody speculations on what they had seen : on the state and opulence of the Indian monarch ; on the strength of his military array, their excellent ap- pointments, and the apparent discipline in their ranks, all arguing a much higher degree of civi- lization, and consequently of power, than any thing they had witnessed in the lower regions of the country. As they contrasted all this with their own diminutive force, too far advanced, as they now were, for succor to reach them, they felt they had done rashly in throwing themselves into the midst of so formidable an empire, and were filled with gloomy forebodings of the result. 24 Their Balboa says, he took twenty feet at a leap, and this with a knight in armor on his back ! Hist, du Perou, cap. 29. * Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 196. 24 "Hecho esto y visto y atalayado la grandeza del ejercito, y las ticndas que era bien de ver, nos bolvimos a donde el dicho capitan nos estaba esperando, harto espantados de lo que habiamos visto, habiendo y tomando entre nosotros muchos acuerdos y opiniones de lo que se debia hacer, estando todos con mucho temor por ser tan pocos, y cstar tan metidos en la tierra donde no podiamos ser socorridos." (Rela- cion del primer Descub., MS.) Pedro Pizarro is honest enough to confirm this account of the consternation of the Spaniards. (De- scub. y Conq., MS.) Fear was a strange sensation for the Castilian cavalier. But if he did not feel some touch of it on that occasion, he must have been akin to that doughty knight who, as Charles V. pro- nounced, " never could have snuffed a candle with his fingers." 1532] DESPONDENCY OF THE SPANIARDS 101 comrades in the camp soon caught the infectious spirit of despondency, which was not lessened as night came on, and they beheld the watch-fires of the Peruvians lighting up the sides of the moun- tains and glittering in the darkness, " as thick," says one who saw them, " as the stars of heaven." : Yet there was one bosom in that little host which was not touched with the feeling either of fear or dejection. That was Pizarro's, who secretly rejoiced that he had now brought matters to the issue for which he had so long panted. He saw the necessity of kindling a similar feeling in his followers, or all would be lost. Without unfold- ing his plans, he went round among his men, be- seeching them not to show faint hearts at this crisis, when they stood face to face with the foe whom they had been so long seeking. ' They were to rely on themselves, and on that Provi- dence which had carried them safe through so many fearful trials. It would not now desert them; and if numbers, however great, were on the side of their enemy, it mattered little, when the arm of Heaven was on theirs." 26 The Span- ish cavalier acted under the combined influence of chivalrous adventure and religious zeal. The latter was the more effective in the hour of peril; and Pizarro, who understood well the characters he had to deal with, by presenting the enterprise as 25 " Hecimos la guardia en la plaza, de donde se vian los fuegos del ejercito de los Indios, lo cual era cosa espantable, que como estaban en una ladera la mayor parte, y tan juntos unos de otros, no parecia sino an cielo muy estrellado." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 28 Xerez, Conq. del Peru ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 197. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. 102 CONQUEST OF PERU a crusade, kindled the dying embers of enthusiasm in the bosoms of his followers, and restored their faltering courage. He then summoned a council of his officers, to consider the plan of operations, or rather to pro- pose to them the extraordinary plan on which he had himself decided. This was to lay an ambus- cade for the Inca and take him prisoner in the face of his whole army! It was a project full of peril, bordering, as it might well seem, on despera- tion. But the circumstances of the Spaniards were desperate. Whichever way they turned, they were menaced by the most appalling dangers ; and better was it bravely to confront the danger than weakly to shrink from it, when there was no avenue for escape. To fly was now too late. Whither could they fly? At the first signal of retreat, the whole army of the Inca would be upon them. Their move- ments would be anticipated by a foe far better acquainted with the intricacies of the sierra than themselves; the passes would be occupied, and they would be hemmed in on all sides; while the mere fact of this retrograde movement would diminish their confidence and with it their effec- tive strength, while it doubled that of their enemy. Yet to remain long inactive in their present po- sition seemed almost equally perilous. Even sup- posing that Atahuallpa should entertain friendly feelings towards the Christians, they could not confide in the continuance of such feelings. Fa- miliarity with the white men would soon destroy the idea of any thing supernatural, or even supe- 1532 J DESPONDENCY OF THE SPANIARDS 103 rior, in their natures. He would feel contempt for their diminutive numbers. Their horses, their arms and showy appointments, would be an attrac- tive bait in the eye of the barbaric monarch, and when conscious that he had the power to crush their possessors he would not be slow in finding a pretext for it. A sufficient one had already oc- curred in the high-handed measures of the Con- querors on their march through his dominions. But what reason had they to flatter themselves that the Inca cherished such a disposition towards them? He was a crafty and unscrupulous prince, and, if the accounts they had repeatedly received on their march were true, had ever regarded the coming of the Spaniards with an evil eye. It was scarcely possible he should do otherwise. His soft messages had only been intended to decoy them across the mountains, where, with the aid of his warriors, he might readily overpower them. They were entangled in the toils which the cunning monarch had spread for them. Their only remedy, then, was to turn the Inca's arts against himself; to take him, if possible, in his own snare. There was no time to be lost ; for any day might bring back the victorious legions who had recently won his battles at the south, and thus make the odds against the Spaniards far greater than now. Yet to encounter Atahuallpa in the open field would be attended with great hazard; and, even if victorious, there would be little probability that the person of the Inca, of so much importance, would fall into their hands. The invitation he 104 CONQUEST OF PERU had so unsuspiciously accepted to visit them in their quarters afforded the best means for securing this desirable prize. Nor was the en- terprise so desperate, considering the great ad- vantages afforded by the character and weapons of the invaders and the unexpectedness of the assault. The mere circumstance of acting on a concerted plan would alone make a small number more than a match for a much larger one. But it was not necessary to admit the whole of the Indian force into the city before the attack ; and the per- son of the Inca once secured, his followers, as- tounded by so strange an event, were they few or many, would have no heart for further resistance ; and with the Inca once in his power, Pizarro might dictate laws to the empire. In this daring project of the Spanish chief it was easy to see that he had the brilliant exploit of Cortes in his mind when he carried off the Aztec monarch in his capital. But that was not by vio- lence, at least not by open violence, and it re- ceived the sanction, compulsory though it were, of the monarch himself. It was also true that the results in that case did not altogether justify a repetition of the experiment, since the people rose in a body to sacrifice both the prince and his kid- nappers. Yet this was owing, in part at least, to the indiscretion of the latter. The experiment in the outset was perfectly successful; and could Pizarro once become master of the person of Atahuallpa he trusted to his own discretion for the rest. It would at least extricate him from his present critical position, by placing in his power 1532] DESPONDENCY OF THE SPANIARDS 105 an inestimable guarantee for his safety ; and if he could not make his own terms with the Inca at once, the arrival of reinforcements from home would, in all probability, soon enable him to do so. Pizarro having concerted his plans for the fol- lowing day, the council broke up, and the chief occupied himself with providing for the security of the camp during the night. The approaches to the town were defended; sentinels were posted at different points, especially on the summit of the fortress, where they were to observe the posi- tion of the enemy and to report any movement that menaced the tranquillity of the night. After these precautions, the Spanish commander and his followers withdrew to their appointed quarters, but not to sleep. At least, sleep must have come late to those who were aware of the decisive plan for the morrow; that morrow which was to be the crisis of their fate, to crown their ambi- tious schemes with full success, or consign them to irretrievable ruin! CHAPTER V DESPERATE PLAN OF PIZARRO - ATAHTJALLPA VISITS THE SPANIARDS -- HORRIBLE MASSACRE - THE INC A A PRISONER CONDUCT OF THE CONQUER- ORS SPLENDID PROMISES OF THE INCA DEATH OF HUASCAR 1532 ^ I \HE clouds of the evening had passed away, A and the sun rose bright on the following morning, the most memorable epoch in the annals of Peru. It was Saturday, the sixteenth of No- vember, 1532. The loud cry of the trumpet called the Spaniards to arms with the first streak of dawn ; and Pizarro, briefly acquainting them with the plan of the assault, made the necessary disposi- tions. The plaza, as mentioned in the preceding chap- ter, was defended on its three sides by low ranges of buildings, consisting of spacious halls with wide doors or vomitories opening into the square. In these halls he stationed his cavalry in two divisions, one under his brother Hernando, the other under De Soto. The infantry he placed in another of the buildings, reserving twenty chosen men to act with himself as occasion might require. Pedro de Candia, with a few soldiers and the artillery, comprehending under this imposing name two small pieces of ordnance, called falconets, he established in the fortress. All received orders 106 1532 J DESPERATE PLAN OF PIZARRO 107 to wait at their posts till the arrival of the Inca. After his entrance into the great square, they were still to remain under cover, withdrawn from ob- servation, till the signal was given by the discharge of a gun, when they were to cry their war-cries, to rush out in a body from their covert, and, put- ting the Peruvians to the sword, bear off the per- son of the Inca. The arrangement of the immense halls, opening on a level with the plaza, seemed to be contrived on purpose for a coup de theatre. Pizarro particularly inculcated order and implicit obedience, that in the hurry of the moment there should be no confusion. Everything depended on their acting with concert, coolness, and celerity. 1 The chief next saw that their arms were in good order, and that the breastplates of their horses were garnished with bells, to add by their noise to the consternation of the Indians. Refresh- ments were, also, liberally provided, that the troops should be in condition for the conflict. These arrangements being completed, mass was performed with great solemnity by the ecclesi- astics who attended the expedition; the God of battles was invoked to spread his shield over the soldiers who were fighting to extend the empire of the Cross; and all joined with enthusiasm in the chant, " Exsurge, Domine," :< Rise, O Lord ! and judge thine own cause." 2 One might have 1 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Relacion del primer De- scub., MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 197. Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 7. * " Los Eclesiasticos 5 Religiosos se ocuparon toda aquella noche en oracion, pidiendo d Dios el mas conveniente suceso d su sagrado 108 CONQUEST OF PERU supposed them a company of martyrs about to lay down their lives in defence of their faith, instead of a licentious band of adventurers meditating one of the most atrocious acts of perfidy on the record of history! Yet, whatever were the vices of the Castilian cavalier, hypocrisy was not among the number. He felt that he was battling for the Cross, and under this conviction, exalted as it was at such a moment as this into the predominant im- pulse, he was blind to the baser motives which mingled with the enterprise. With feelings thus kindled to a flame of religious ardor, the soldiers of Pizarro looked forward with renovated spirits to the coming conflict ; and the chieftain saw with satisfaction that in the hour of trial his men would be true to their leader and themselves. It was late in the day before any movement was visible in the Peruvian camp, where much prepa- ration was making to approach the Christian quarters with due state and ceremony. A message was received from Atahuallpa, informing the Spanish commander that he should come with his warriors fully armed, in the same manner as the Spaniards had come to his quarters the night pre- ceding. This was not an agreeable intimation to Pizarro, though he had no reason, probably, to ex- pect the contrary. But to object might imply dis- servicio, exaltacion de la fe e salvacion de tanto nurnero de almas, derramando muchas lagrimas i sangre en las disciplinas que tomaron. Francisco Pizarro animo a los soldados con una mui cristiana platica que les hizo: con que, i asegurarles los Eclesiasticos de parte de Dios i de su Madre Santisinm la vitoria, amanecicron todos mui deseosos de dar la batalla, diciendo & voces, Kxsur^e Domine, et judica causam tuam." Xahnrro, Relacion sumaria, MS. 1532] ATAHUALLPA VISITS SPANIARDS 109 trust, or perhaps disclose, in some measure, his own designs. He expressed his satisfaction, therefore, at the intelligence, assuring the Inca that, come as he would, he would be received by him as a friend and brother. 3 It was noon before the Indian procession was on its inarch, when it was seen occupying the great causeway for a long extent. In front came a large body of attendants, whose office seemed to be to sweep away every particle of rubbish from the road. High above the crowd appeared the Inca, borne on the shoulders of his principal nobles, while others of the same rank marched by the sides of his litter, displaying such a dazzling show of ornaments on their persons that, in the language of one of the Conquerors, " they blazed like the sun." 4 But the greater part of the Inca's forces mustered along the fields that lined the road, and were spread over the broad meadows as far as the eye could reach. 5 When the royal procession had arrived within 3 " El governador respondi6: Di a tu Senor, que venga en hora buena como quisiere, que de la manera que viniere lo recebire como Amigo, i Hermano." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 197. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 7. Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. * " Hera tanta la pateneria que traian d'oro y plata que hera cossa estrana lo que reluzia con el Sol." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 5 To the eye of the old Conqueror so often quoted, the number of Peruvian warriors appeared not less than 50,000; "mas de cincuenta mil que tenia de guerra." (Relacion del primer Descub., MS.) To Pizarro's secretary, as they lay encamped among the hills, they seemed about 30,000. (Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 196.) However gratifying to the imagination to repose on some precise number, it is very rarely that one can do so with safety in estimating the irregular and tumultuous levies of a barbarian host. 110 CONQUEST OF PERU half a mile of the city, it came to a halt ; and Pi- zarro saw with surprise that Atahuallpa was pre- paring to pitch his tents, as if to encamp there. A messenger soon after arrived, informing the Span- iards that the Inca would occupy his present sta- tion the ensuing night, and enter the city on the following morning. This intelligence greatly disturbed Pizarro, who had shared in the general impatience of his men at the tardy movements of the Peruvians. The troops had been under arms since daylight, the cavalry mounted, and the infantry at their post, waiting in silence the coming of the Inca. A pro- found stillness reigned throughout the town, broken only at intervals by the cry of the sentinel from the summit of the fortress, as he proclaimed the movements of the Indian army. Nothing, Pizarro well knew, was so trying to the soldier as prolonged suspense, in a critical situation like the present; and he feared lest his ardor might evaporate, and be succeeded by that nervous feel- ing natural to the bravest soul at such a crisis, and which, if not fear, is near akin to it. 6 He re- turned an answer, therefore, to Atahuallpa, depre- cating his change of purpose, and adding that he had provided every thing for his entertainment, and expected him that night to sup with him. 7 6 Pedro Pizarro says that an Indian spy reported to Atahuallpa that the white men were all huddled together in the great halls on the square, in much consternation, llenos de miedo, which was not far from the truth, adds the cavalier. (Descub. y Conq., MS.) T Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. " Asentados sus toldos envi6 & decir al gobernador que ya era tarde, que el queria dormir allf, que por la mafiana vernfa: el gobernador le envi6 a decir que le 1532] ATAHUALLPA VISITS SPANIARDS 111 This message turned the Inca from his purpose; and, striking his tents again, he resumed his march, first advising the general that he should leave the greater part of his warriors behind, and enter the place with only a few of them, and without arms, 8 as he preferred to pass the night at Caxamalca. At the same time he ordered accommodations to be provided for himself and his retinue in one of the large stone buildings, called, from a serpent sculptured on the walls, " The House of the Ser- pent." No tidings could have been more grate- ful to the Spaniards. It seemed as if the Indian monarch was eager to rush into the snare that had been spread for him ! The fanatical cavalier could not fail to discern in it the immediate finger of Providence. It is difficult to account for this wavering con- duct of Atahuallpa, so different from the bold and decided character which history ascribes to him. There is no doubt that he made his visit to the white men in perfect good faith; though Pi- zarro was probably right in conjecturing that this amiable disposition stood on a very precarious footing. There is as little reason to suppose that he distrusted the sincerity of the strangers ; or he would not thus unnecessarily have proposed to visit them unarmed. His original purpose of coming rogaba que viniese luego, porque le esperaba a cenar, e que no habia de cenar, hasta que fuese." Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. 8 " fil queria venir luego, 6 que venia sin armas. E luego Ata- baliva se movi6 para venir e dejo alii la gente con las armas, e Ilev6 consign hasta cinco 6 seis mil indios sin armas, salvo que clebajo de las camisetas traian unas porras pequenas, e hondas, e bolsas con pie- dras." Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. 8 Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 197. 112 CONQUEST OF PERU with all his force was doubtless to display his royal state, and perhaps, also, to show greater respect for the Spaniards ; but when he consented to ac- cept their hospitality and pass the night in their quarters, he was willing to dispense with a great part of his armed soldiery and visit them in a man- ner that implied entire confidence in their good faith. He was too absolute in his own empire easily to suspect ; and he probably could not com- prehend the audacity with which a few men, like those now assembled in Caxamalca, meditated an assault on a powerful monarch in the midst of his victorious army. He did not know the character of the Spaniard. It was not long before sunset when the van of the royal procession entered the gates of the city. First came some hundreds of the menials, em- ployed to clear the path of every obstacle, and singing songs of triumph as they came, " which in our ears," says one of the Conquerors, " sounded like the songs of hell " 10 Then followed other bodies of different ranks, and dressed in different liveries. Some wore a showy stuff, checkered white and red, like the squares of a chess-board. 11 Others were clad in pure white, bearing hammers or maces of silver or copper; 12 and the guards, together with those in immediate attendance on the prince, were distinguished by a rich azure livery, and a profusion of gay ornaments, while the large pendants attached to the ears indicated the Peruvian noble. 18 Relacion del primer Descub., MS. " " Blanoa y eolorada como las rasas de un ajedroz." Ibid., MS. 12 " Con martillos en las manos de cobre y plata." Ibid., MS. 1532] ATAHUALLPA VISITS SPANIARDS 113 Elevated high above his vassals came the Inca Atahuallpa, borne on a sedan or open litter, on which was a sort of throne made of massive gold of inestimable value. 13 The palanquin was lined with the richly-colored plumes of tropical birds and studded with shining plates of gold and silver. 14 The monarch's attire was much richer than on the preceding evening. Round his neck was suspended a collar of emeralds of uncommon size and brilliancy. 15 His short hair was decorated with golden ornaments, and the imperial borla en- circled his temples. The bearing of the Inca was sedate and dignified; and from his lofty station he looked down on the multitudes below with an air of composure, like one accustomed to com- mand. As the leading files of the procession entered the great square, larger, says an old chronicler, than any square in Spain, they opened to the right and left for the royal retinue to pass. Every thing was conducted with admirable order. The monarch was permitted to traverse the plaza in silence, and not a Spaniard was to be seen. When some five or six thousand of his people had entered 1S " El asiento que traia sobre las andas era un tablon de oro que pes6 un quintal de oro segun dicen los historiadores 25,000 pesos 6 ducados." Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. 14 " Luego venia niucha Gente con Armaduras, Patenas, i Coronas de Oro i Plata: entre estos venia Atabalipa, en una Litera, aforrada de Pluma de Papagaios, de muchas colores, guarnecida de chapas de Oro, i Plata." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 198. 15 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. " Venia la persona de Atabalica, la cual traian ochenta Senores en hombros todos bestidos de una librea azul muy rica, y el bestido sn persona muy ricamente con su corona en la cabeza, y al cuello un collar de esmeraldas grandes." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. VOL. II. 8 114 CONQUEST OF PERU the place, Atahuallpa halted, and, turning round with an inquiring look, demanded, " Where are the strangers ? " At this moment Fray Vicente de Valverde, a Dominican friar, Pizarro's chaplain, and after- wards Bishop of Cuzco, came forward with his breviary, or, as other accounts say, a Bible, in one hand, and a crucifix in the other, and, approach- ing the Inca, told him that he came by order of his commander to expound to him the doctrines of the true faith, for which purpose the Spaniards had come from a great distance to his country. The friar then explained, as clearly as he could, the mysterious doctrine of the Trinity, and, ascend- ing high in his account, began with the creation of man, thence passed to his fall, to his subsequent redemption by Jesus Christ, to the crucifixion, and the ascension, when the Saviour left the Apostle Peter as his Vicegerent upon earth. This power had been transmitted to the successors of the apostle, good and wise men, who, under the title of Popes, held authority over all powers and po- tentates on earth. One of the last of these Popes had commissioned the Spanish emperor, the most mighty monarch in the world, to conquer and con- vert the natives in this Western hemisphere; and his general, Francisco Pizarro, had now come to execute this important mission. The friar con- cluded with beseeching the Peruvian monarch to receive him kindly, to abjure the errors of his own faith, and embrace that of the Christians now proffered to him, the only one by which he could hope for salvation, and, furthermore, to acknowl-. 1532] ATAHUALLPA VISITS SPANIARDS 115 edge himself a tributary of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, who, in that event, would aid and pro- tect him as his loyal vassal. 16 * Whether Atahuallpa possessed himself of every link in the curious chain of argument by which the monk connected Pizarro with St. Peter, may be doubted. It is certain, however, that he must have had very incorrect notions of the Trinity, if, as Garcilasso states, the interpreter Felipillo ex- plained it by saying that " the Christians believed in three Gods and one God, and that made four." 17 But there is no doubt he perfectly comprehended that the drift of the discourse was to persuade him to resign his sceptre and acknowl- edge the supremacy of another. The eyes of the Indian monarch flashed fire, and his dark brow grew darker, as he replied, " I will be no man's tributary. I am greater than any ** Montesinos says that Valverde read to the Inca the regular for- mula used by the Spaniards in their Conquests. (Annales, MS., ano 1533.) But that address, though absurd enough, did not comprehend the whole range of theology ascribed to the chaplain on this occasion. Yet it is not impossible. But I have followed the report of Fray Na- harro, who collected his information from the actors in the tragedy, and whose minuter statement is corroborated by the more general testimony of both the Pizarros and the secretary Xerez. 17 " Por dezir Dios trino y uno dixo Dios tres y uno son quatro, sumando los numeros por darse & entender." Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 23. * [When we consider that the speech of Valverde reached Ata- huallpa through the lips of Felipillo, an Indian lad who spoke a dialect differing greatly from the language the Inca used, and that Felipillo had learned his Spanish from the illiterate soldiers and sailors who made up the Spanish expeditions, the attempt to instruct the Inca in the mysteries of the Christian religion seems like the broadest kind of a farce. No wonder that Atahuallpa was unable to comprehend the doctrine of the Trinity, and to master the arguments on which the Petrine supremacy is based. M.] 116 CONQUEST OF PERU prince upon earth. Your emperor may be a great prince; I do* not doubt it, when I see that he has sent his subjects so far across the waters; and I am willing to hold him as a brother. As for the Pope of whom you speak, he must be crazy to talk of giving away countries which do not belong to him. For my faith," he continued, " I will not change it. Your own God, as you say, was put to death by the very men whom he created. But mine," he concluded, pointing to his Deity, then, alas! sinking in glory behind the mountains, " my God still lives in the heavens and looks down on his children." 18 He then demanded of Valverde by what au- thority he had said these things. The friar pointed to the book which he held, as his authority. Ata- huallpa, taking it, turned over the pages a mo- ment, then, as the insult he had received probably flashed across his mind, he threw it down with vehemence, and exclaimed, " Tell your comrades that they shall give me an account of their doings in my land. I will not go from here till they have made me full satisfaction for all the wrongs they have committed." 19 The friar, greatly scandalized by the indignity 18 See Appendix No. 8, where the reader will find extracts in the original from several contemporary MSS., relating to the capture of Atahuallpa. 19 Some accounts describe him as taxing the Spaniards in much more unqualified terms. (See Appendix No. 8.) But language is not likely to he accurately reported in such seasons of excitement. Ac- cording to some authorities, Atahuallpa let the volume drop by acci- dent. (Montesinos, Annales, MS., afio 1533. Balboa, Hist, du Pcrou, chap. 22.) But the testimony, as far as we have it, of those present, concurs in representing it as stated in the text. And, if he spoke with the heat imputed to him, this act would only be in keeping. 1532] ATAHUALLPA VISITS SPANIARDS 117 offered to the sacred volume, stayed only to pick it up, and, hastening to Pizarro, informed him of what had been done, exclaiming, at the same time, " Do you not see that while we stand here wasting our breath in talking with this dog, full of pride as he is, the fields are filling with Indians? Set on at once; I absolve you." 20 Pizarro saw that the hour had come. He waved a white scarf in the air, the appointed signal. The fatal gun was fired from the fortress. Then, springing into the square, the Spanish captain and his followers shouted the old war-cry of " St. Jago and at them." It was answered by the battle-cry of every Spaniard in the city, as, rushing from the avenues of the great halls in which they were con- cealed, they poured into the plaza, horse and foot, each in his own dark column, and threw them- selves into the midst of the Indian crowd. The latter, taken by surprise, stunned by the report of artillery and muskets, the echoes of which 10 " Visto esto por el Frayle y lo poco que aprovechaban sus pala- bras, tom6 su libro, y aba jo su cabeza, y fuese para donde estaba el dicho Pizarro, casi corriendo, y dijole: No veis lo que pasa: para que estais en comedimientos y requerimientos con este perro lleno de so- berbia que vienen los campos llenos de Indios? Salid & el, que yo os absuelvo." (Relacion del primer Descub., MS.) The historian should be slow in ascribing conduct so diabolical to Father Valverde, without evidence. Two of the Conquerors present, Pedro Pizarro and Xerez, simply state that the monk reported to his commander the indignity offered to the secred volume. But Hernando Pizarro and the author of the Relacion del primer Descubrimiento, both eye- witnesses, and Naharro, Zarate, Gomara, Balboa, Herrera, the Inca Titucussi Yupanqui, all of whom obtained their information from persons who were eye-witnesses, state the circumstance, with little variation, as in the text. Yet Oviedo endorses the account of Xerez, and Garcilasso de la Vega insists on Valverde's innocence of any at- tempt to rouse the passions of his comrades. 118 CONQUEST OF PERU reverberated like thunder from the surrounding buildings, and blinded by the smoke which rolled in sulphurous volumes along the square, were seized with a panic. They knew not whither to fly for refuge from the coming ruin. Nobles and commoners, all were trampled down under the fierce charge of the cavalry, who dealt their blows, right and left, without sparing ; while their swords, flashing through the thick gloom, carried dismay into the hearts of the wretched natives, who now for the first time saw the horse and his rider in all their terrors. They made no resistance, as, in- deed, they had no weapons with which to make it. Every avenue to escape was closed, for the en- trance to the square was choked up with the dead bodies of men who had perished in vain efforts to fly ; and such was the agony of the survivors under the terrible pressure of their assailants that a large body of Indians, by their convulsive struggles, burst through the wall of stone and dried clay which formed part of the boundary of the plaza ! It fell, leaving an opening of more than a hun- dred paces, through which multitudes now found their way into the country, still hotly pursued by the cavalry, who, leaping the fallen rubbish, hung on the rear of the fugitives, striking them down in all directions. 21 Meanwhile the fight, or rather massacre, con- tinued hot around the Inca, whose person was the n Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peni, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 198. Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. Ovicdo, Hist, de Ins Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 7. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 5. Instruccion del Inga Titucussi Yupanqui, MS. 1532 J HORRIBLE MASSACRE 119 great object of the assault. His faithful nobles, rallying about him, threw themselves in the way of the assailants, and strove, by tearing them from their saddles, or at least by offering their own bosoms as a mark for their vengeance, to shield their beloved master. It is said by some authori- ties that they carried weapons concealed under their clothes. If so, it availed them little, as it is not pretended that they used them. But the most timid animal will defend itself when at bay. That the Indians did not do so in the present in- stance is proof that they had no weapons to use. 22 Yet they still continued to force back the cava- liers, clinging to their horses with dying grasp, and, as one was cut down, another taking the place of his fallen comrade with a loyalty truly affect- ing. The Indian monarch, stunned and bewildered, saw his faithful subjects falling around him with- out fully comprehending his situation. The litter on which he rode heaved to and fro, as the mighty press swayed backwards and forwards; and he gazed on the overwhelming ruin, like some for- lorn mariner, who, tossed about in his bark by the furious elements, sees the lightning's flash and K The author of the Relacion del primer Descubrimiento speaks of a few as having bows and arrows, and of others as armed with silver and copper mallets or maces, which may, however, have been more for ornament than for service in fight. Pedro Pizarro and some later writers say that the Indians brought thongs with them to bind the captive white men. Both Hernando Pizarro and the secretary Xerez agree that their only arms were secreted under their clothes; but, as they do not pretend that these were used, and as it was an- nounced by the Inca that he came without arms, the assertion may well be doubted, or rather discredited. All authorities, without ex- ception, agree that no active resistance was attempted. 120 CONQUEST OF PERU hears the thunder bursting around him with the consciousness that he can do nothing to avert his fate. At length, weary with the work of destruc- tion, the Spaniards, as the shades of evening grew deeper, felt afraid that the royal prize might, after all, elude them; and some of the cavaliers made a desperate attempt to end the affray at once by taking Atahuallpa's life. But Pizarro, who was nearest his person, called out, with stentorian voice, " Let no one who values his life strike at the Inca; " 23 and, stretching out his arm to shield him, received a wound on the hand from one of his own men, the only wound received by a Spaniard in the action. 24 The struggle now became fiercer than ever round the royal litter. It reeled more and more, and at length, several of the nobles who supported it having been slain, it was overturned, and the Indian prince would have come with violence to the ground, had not his fall been broken by the efforts of Pizarro and some other of the cavaliers, who caught him in their arms. The imperial borla was instantly snatched from his temples by a soldier named Estete, 25 and the unhappy monarch, ""El marquez dio bozes diciendo: Nadie hiera al indio so pena de la vida." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 14 Whatever discrepancy exists among the Castilian accounts in other respects, all concur in this remarkable fact, that no Spaniard, except their general, received a wound on that occasion. Pizarro saw in this a satisfactory argument for regarding the Spaniards, this day, as under the special protection of Providence. See Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 199. ** Miguel Estete, who long retained the silken diadem as a trophy of the exploit, according to Garcilasso de la Vega (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 27), an indifferent authority for any thing in this part of his history. This popular writer, whose work, from his superior 1532] THE INCA A PRISONER 121 strongly secured, was removed to a neighboring building, where he was carefully guarded. All attempt at resistance now ceased. The fate of the Inca soon spread over town and country. The charm which might have held the Peruvians together was dissolved. Every man thought only of his own safety. Even the soldiery encamped on the adjacent fields took the alarm, and, learn- ing the fatal tidings, were seen flying in every direction before their pursuers, who in the heat of triumph showed no touch of mercy. At length night, more pitiful than man, threw her friendly mantle over the fugitives, and the scattered troops of Pizarro rallied once more at the sound of the trumpet in the bloody square of Caxamalca. The number of slain is reported, as usual, with great discrepancy. Pizarro's secretary says two knowledge of the institutions of the country, has obtained greater credit, even in what relates to the Conquest, than the reports of the Conquerors themselves, has indulged in the romantic vein to an un- pardonable extent in his account of the capture of Atahuallpa. Ac- cording to him, the Peruvian monarch treated the invaders from the first with supreme deference, as descendants of Viracocha, predicted by his oracles as to come and rule over the land. But if this flatter- ing homage had been paid by the Inca, it would never have escaped the notice of the Conquerors. Garcilasso had read the Commentaries of Cortz, as he somewhere tells us; and it is probable that the gen- eral's account, well founded, it appears, of a similar superstition among the Aztecs, suggested to the historian the idea of a correspond- ing sentiment in the Peruvians, which, while it flattered the vanity of the Spaniards, in some degree vindicated his own countrymen from the charge of cowardice, incurred by their too ready submission; for, however they might be called on to resist men, it would have been madness to resist the decrees of Heaven. Yet Garcilasso's romantic version has something in it so pleasing to the imagination that it has ever found favor with the majority of readers. The English student might have met with a sufficient corrective in the criticism of the sa- gacious and skeptical Robertson. 122 CONQUEST OF PERU thousand natives fell. 26 A descendant of the Incas a safer authority than Garcilasso swells the number to ten thousand. 27 Truth is generally found somewhere between the extremes. The slaughter was incessant, for there was nothing to check it. That there should have been no resist- ance will not appear strange when we consider the fact that the wretched victims were without arms, and that their senses must have been completely overwhelmed by the strange and appalling spec- tacle which burst on them so unexpectedly. ' What wonder was it," said an ancient Inca to a Spaniard, who repeats it, " what wonder that our countrymen lost their wits, seeing blood run like water, and the Inca, whose person we all of us adore, seized and carried off by a handful of men?" 28 Yet, though the massacre was inces- * Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 199. " " Los mataron & todos con los Cavallos con espadas con arca- buzes como quien mata ovejas sin hacerles nadie resistencia que no se escaparon de mas de diez mil, doscientos." Instruc. del Inga Titu- cussi, MS. This document, consisting of two hundred folio pages, is signed by a Peruvian Inca, grandson of the great Huayna Capac, and nephew, consequently, of Atahuallpa. It was written in 1570, and designed to set forth to his Majesty Philip II. the claims of Titu- cussi and the members of his family to the royal bounty. In the course of the Memorial the writer takes occasion to recapitulate some of the principal events in the latter years of the empire; and, though sufficiently prolix to tax even the patience of Philip II., it is of much value as an historical document, coming from one of the royal race of Peru. M Montesinos, Annales, MS., ano 1532. According to Naharro, the Indians were less astounded by the wild uproar caused by the sudden assault of the Spaniards, though " this was such that it seemed as if the very heavens were falling," than by a terrible apparition which appeared in the air during the onslaught. It consisted of a woman and a child, and, at their side, a horseman all clothed in white on a milk-white charger, doubtless the valiant St. James, who, with his sword glancing lightning, smote down the infidel host and ren- 1532] THE INCA A PRISONER 123 sant, it was short in duration. The whole time consumed by it, the brief twilight of the tropics, did not much exceed half an hour ; a short period, indeed, yet long enough to decide the fate of Peru and to subvert the dynasty of the Incas. That night Pizarro kept his engagement with the Inca, since he had Atahuallpa to sup with him. The banquet was served in one of the halls facing the great square, which a few hours before had been the scene of slaughter, and the pavement of which was still encumbered with the dead bodies of the Inca's subjects. The captive monarch was placed next his conqueror. He seemed like one who did not yet fully comprehend the extent of his calamity. If he did, he showed an amazing fortitude. " It is the fortune of war," he said; 29 and, if we may credit the Spaniards, he expressed his admiration of the adroitness with which they had contrived to entrap him in the midst of his own troops. 30 He added that he had been made acquainted with the progress of the white men from the hour of their landing, but that he had been led to undervalue their strength from the insignificance of their numbers. He had no doubt he should be easily able to overpower them, on their arrival at Caxamalca, by his superior strength; and, as he wished to see for himself dered them incapable of resistance. This miracle the good father reports on the testimony of three of his Order, who were present in the action and who received the account from numbers of the natives. Relacion sumaria, MS. 29 " Diciendo que era uso de Giierra veneer, i ser vencido." Her- rera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 2, cap. 12. 30 " Haciendo admiracion de la traza que tenia hecha." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. CONQUEST OF PERU what manner of men they were, he had suffered them to cross the mountains, meaning to select such as he chose for his own service, and, getting possession of their wonderful arms and horses, put the rest to death. 31 That such may have been Atahuallpa's purpose is not improbable. It explains his conduct in not occupying the mountain-passes, which afforded such strong points of defence against invasion. But that a prince so astute, as by the general testi- mony of the Conquerors he is represented to have been, should have made so impolitic a disclosure of his hidden motives is not so probable. The inter- course with the Inca was carried on chiefly by means of the interpreter Felipillo, or little Philip, as he was called, from his assumed Christian name, a malicious youth, as it appears, who bore ho good will to Atahuallpa, and whose interpretations were readily admitted by the Conquerors, eager to find some pretext for their bloody reprisals. Atahuallpa, as elsewhere noticed, was at this time about thirty years of age. He was well made, and more robust than usual with his countrymen. His head was large, and his countenance might have been called handsome, but that his eyes, which were blood-shot, gave a fierce expression to his features. He was deliberate in speech, grave in manner, and towards his own people stern even to severity; though with the Spaniards he showed 11 " And in my opinion," adds the Conqueror who reports the speech, "he had pood grounds for believing he could do this, since nothing hut the miraculous interposition of Heaven could have saved us." Ibid., MS. 1532] CONDUCT OF THE CONQUERORS 125 himself affable, sometimes even indulging in sallies of mirth. 32 Pizarro paid every attention to his royal cap- tive, and endeavored to lighten, if he could not dispel, the gloom which, in spite of his assumed equanimity, hung over the monarch's brow. He besought him not to be cast down by his reverses, for his lot had only been that of every prince who had resisted the white men. They had come into the country to proclaim the gospel, the religion of Jesus Christ; and it was no wonder they had prevailed, when his shield was over them. Heaven had permitted that Atahuallpa's pride should be humbled, because of his hostile intentions towards the Spaniards and the insult he had offered to the sacred volume. But he bade the Inca take cour- age and confide in him, for the Spaniards were a generous race, warring only against those who made war on them, and showing grace to all who submitted ! 33 Atahuallpa may have thought the massacre of that day an indifferent commentary on this vaunted lenity. Before retiring for the night, Pizarro briefly addressed his troops on their present situation. When he had ascertained that not a man was wounded, he bade them offer up thanksgivings to Providence for so great a miracle; without its care, they could never have prevailed so easily over the host of their enemies ; and he trusted their K Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn, iii, p. 203. " " Nosotros vsamos de piedad con nuestros Enemigos vencidos, i no hacemos Guerra, sino a los que nos la hacen, i pudiendolos destruir, no lo hacemos, antes los perdonamos." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 199. 126 CONQUEST OF PERU lives had been reserved for still greater things. But, if they would succeed, they had much to do for themselves. They were in the heart of a powerful kingdom, encompassed by foes deeply attached to their own sovereign. They must be ever on their guard, therefore, and be prepared at any hour to be roused from their slumbers by the call of the trumpet. 34 Having then posted his sentinels, placed a strong guard over the apartment of Atahuallpa, and taken all the pre- cautions of a careful commander, Pizarro with- drew to repose; and, if he could really feel that in the bloody scenes of the past day he had been fighting only the good fight of the Cross, he doubtless slept sounder than on the night pre- ceding the seizure of the Inca. On the following morning, the first commands of the Spanish chief were to have the city cleansed of its impurities; and the prisoners, of whom there were many in the camp, were employed to remove the dead and give them decent burial. His next care was to despatch a body of about thirty horse to the quarters lately occupied by Atahu- allpa at the baths, to take possession of the spoil, and disperse the remnant of the Peruvian forces which still hung about the place. Before noon, the party which he had despatched on this service returned with a large troop of Indians, men and women, among the latter of whom were many of the wives and attendants of the Inca. The Spaniards had met with no resist- ance; since the Peruvian warriors, though so supe- 14 Ibid., ubi supra. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 1532] CONDUCT OF THE CONQUERORS 127 rior in number, excellent in appointments, and consisting mostly of able-bodied young men, for the greater part of the veteran forces were with the Inca's generals at the south, lost all heart for the moment of their sovereign's captivity. There was no leader to take his place; for they recog- nized no authority but that of the Child of the Sun, and they seemed to be held by a sort of invisible charm near the place of his confinement; while they gazed with superstitious awe on the white men who could achieve so audacious an en- terprise. 35 The number of Indian prisoners was so great that some of the Conquerors were for putting them all to death, or, at least, cutting off their hands, to disable them from acts of violence and to strike terror into their countrymen. 36 The proposition, doubtless, came from the lowest and most ferocious of the soldiery. But that it should have been made at all shows what materials en- tered into the composition of Pizarro's company. The chief rejected it at once, as no less impolitic than inhuman, and dismissed the Indians to their 85 From this time, says Ondegardo, the Spaniards, who hitherto had been designated as the " men with beards," barbudos, were called by the natives, from their fair-complexion deity, Viracochas. The people of Cuzco, who bore no good will to the captive Inca, " looked upon the strangers," says the author, "as sent by Viracocha himself." (Rel. Prim., MS.) It reminds us of a superstition, or rather an amiable fancy, among the ancient Greeks, that " the stranger came from Jupiter." " ITpbs yap Aids eicriv awai-Te? Eeli/oi' Tf." OAY2, , V. 57. 88 " Algunos fueron de opinion, que matasen a todos los Hombres de Guerra, 6 les cortasen las manos." Xerez, Hist, del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 200. 128 CONQUEST OF PERU several homes, with the assurance that none should be harmed who did not offer resistance to the white men. A sufficient number, however, were retained to wait on the Conquerors, who were so well pro- vided in this respect that the most common soldier was attended by a retinue of menials that would have better suited the establishment of a noble. 37 The Spaniards had found immense droves of llamas under the care of the shepherds in the neighborhood of the baths, destined for the con- sumption of the court. Many of them were now suffered to roam abroad among their native moun- tains ; though Pizarro caused a considerable num- ber to be reserved for the use of the army. And this was no small quantity, if, as one of the Con- querors says, a hundred and fifty of the Peruvian sheep were frequently slaughtered in a day. 38 In- deed, the Spaniards were so improvident in their destruction of these animals that in a few years the superb flocks, nurtured with so much care by the Peruvian government, had almost disappeared from the land. 39 The party sent to pillage the Inca's pleasure- house brought back a rich booty in gold and silver, consisting chiefly of plate for the royal table, which greatly astonished the Spaniards by " Cada Espafiol de los que alii ivan tomaron para si mui pran cantidad tanto que como andava todo a rienda suelta havia Espafiol que tenia dooientas piezns de Indios i Indias de servicio." Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. M " Se matan cada Din, ciento i rinquenta." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 202. 18 Cie/.a de I>eon, Cronioa, cap. 80. Ondepardo, Rel. Sep., MS. " Hastn que los destruian todos sin haver Kspafiol ni Justicia que lo defendiese ni amparase." Conq. i Poh. del Piru, MS. 1532 J CONDUCT OF THE CONQUERORS 129 their size and weight. These, as well as some large emeralds obtained there, together with the precious spoils found on the bodies of the Indian nobles who had perished in the massacre, were placed in safe custody, to be hereafter divided. In the city of Caxamalca, the troops also found magazines stored with goods, both cotton and woollen, far superior to any they had seen, for fineness of texture and the skill with which the various colors were blended. They were piled from the floors to the very roofs of the buildings, and in such quantity that, after every soldier had provided himself with what he desired, it made no sensible diminution of the whole amount. 40 Pizarro would now gladly have directed his march on the Peruvian capital. But the distance was great, and his force was small. This must have been still further crippled by the guard required for the Inca, and the chief feared to involve himself deeper in a hostile empire so popu- lous and powerful, with a prize so precious in his keeping. With much anxiety, therefore, he looked for reinforcements from the colonies ; and he de- spatched a courier to San Miguel, to inform the Spaniards there of his recent successes, and to ascertain if there had been any arrival from Pan- ama. Meanwhile he employed his men in making Caxamalca a more suitable residence for a Chris- tian host, by erecting a church, or, perhaps, appro- 40 Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 200. There was enough, says the anonymous Conqueror, for several ship-loads. " Tcdas estas cosas de tiendas y ropas de lana y algodon eran en tan gran cantidad, que a mi parecer fueran menester muchos navios en que supieran." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. VOL. II. 9 130 CONQUEST OF PERU priating some Indian edifice to this use, in which mass was regularly performed by the Dominican fathers with great solemnity. The dilapidated walls of the city were also restored in a more sub- stantial manner than before, and every vestige was soon effaced of the hurricane that had so recently swept over it. It was not long before Atahuallpa discovered, amidst all the show of religious zeal in his Con- querors, a lurking appetite more potent in most of their bosoms than either religion or ambition. This was the love of gold. He determined to avail himself of it to procure his own freedom. The critical posture of his affairs made it important that this should not be long delayed. His brother Huascar, ever since his defeat, had been detained as a prisoner, subject to the victor's orders. He was now at Andamarca, at no great distance from Caxamalca; and Atahuallpa feared, with good reason, that, when his own imprisonment was known, Huascar would find it easy to corrupt his guards, make his escape, and put himself at the head of the contested empire without a rival to dispute it. In the hope, therefore, to effect his purpose by appealing to the avarice of his keepers, he one day told Pizarro that if he would set him free he would engage to cover the floor of the apartment on which they stood with gold. Those present listened with an incredulous smile; and, as the Inca received no answer, he said, with some em- phasis, that " he would not merely cover the floor, but would fill the room with gold as high as he 1532] PROMISES OF THE INCA 131 could reach ; " and, standing on tiptoe, he stretched out his hand against the wall. All stared with amazement; while they regarded it as the insane boast of a man too eager to procure his liberty to weigh the meaning of his words. Yet Pizarro was sorely perplexed. As he had advanced into the country, much that he had seen, and all that he had heard, had confirmed the dazzling reports first received of the riches of Peru. Atahuallpa him- self had given him the most glowing picture of the wealth of the capital, where the roofs of the temples were plated with gold, while the walls were hung with tapestry and the floors inlaid with tiles of the same precious metal. There must be some foundation for all this. At all events, it was safe to accede to the Inca's proposition; since by so doing he could collect at once all the gold at his disposal, and thus prevent its being purloined or secreted by the natives. He therefore acquiesced in Atahuallpa's offer, and, drawing a red line along the wall at the height which the Inca had indicated, he caused the terms of the proposal to be duly recorded by the notary. The apartment was about seventeen feet broad, by twenty-two feet long, and the line round the walls was nine feet from the floor. 41 This space was to be filled 41 1 have adopted the dimensions given by the secretary Xerez. (Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 202.) According to Her- nando Pizarro, the apartment was nine feet high, but thirty-five feet long by seventeen or eighteen feet wide. (Carta, MS.) The most moderate estimate is large enough. Stevenson says that they still show " a large room, part of the old palace, and now the residence of the Cacique Astopilca, where the ill-fated Inca was kept a pris- oner;" and he adds that the line traced on the wall is still visible. (Residence in South America, vol. ii. p. 163.) Peru abounds in re- 132 CONQUEST OF PERU with gold; but it was understood that the gold was not to be melted down into ingots, but to re- tain the original form of the articles into which it was manufactured, that the Inca might have the benefit of the space which they occupied. He further agreed to fill an adjoining room of smaller dimensions twice full with silver, in like manner; and he demanded two months to accomplish all this. 42 No sooner was this arrangement made than the Inca despatched couriers to Cuzco and the other principal places in the kingdom, with orders that the gold ornaments and utensils should be removed from the royal palaces, and from the temples and other public buildings, and transported without loss of time to Caxamalca. Meanwhile he con- tinued to live in the Spanish quarters, treated with the respect due to his rank, and enjoying all the freedom that was compatible with the security of his person. Though not permitted to go abroad, mains as ancient as the Conquest; and it would not be surprising that the memory of a place so remarkable as this should be preserved, though anything but a memorial to be cherished by the Spaniards. The facts in the preceding paragraph are told with remarkable uniformity by the ancient chroniclers. (Conf. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, ubi supra. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 6. Gomara, Hist, de las Ind., cap. 114. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 2, cap. 1.) Both Naharro and Herrera state expressly that Pizarro promised the Inca his liberation on fulfilling the compact. This is not confirmed by the other chron- iclers, who, however, do not intimate that the Spanish general de- clined the terms. And as Pizarro, by all accounts, encouraged his prisoner to perform his part of the contract, it must have been with the understanding implied, if not expressed, that he would abide by the other. It is most improbable that the Inca would have stripped himself of his treasures, if he had not so understood it. 1S32J TREATMENT OF THE INCA 133 his limbs were unshackled, and he had the range of his own apartments under the jealous surveil- lance of a guard, who knew too well the value of the royal captive to be remiss. He was allowed the society of his favorite wives, and Pizarro took care that his domestic privacy should not be vio- lated. His subjects had free access to their sov- ereign, and every day he received visits from the Indian nobles, who came to bring presents and offer condolence to their unfortunate master. On such occasions the most potent of these great vas- sals never ventured into his presence without first stripping off their sandals and bearing a load on their backs in token of reverence. The Spaniards gazed with curious eyes on these acts of homage, or rather of slavish submission, on the one side, and on the air of perfect indifference with which they were received, as a matter of course, on the other; and they conceived high ideas of the char- acter of a prince who, even in his present helpless condition, could inspire such feelings of awe in his subjects. The royal levee was so well attended, and such devotion was shown by his vassals to the captive monarch, as did not fail, in the end, to excite some feelings of distrust in his keepers. 43 Pizarro did not neglect the opportunity afforded him of communicating the truths of revelation to his prisoner, and both he and his chaplain, Father Valverde, labored in the same good work. Ata- huallpa listened with composure and apparent attention. But nothing seemed to move him so 43 Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 6. 134 CONQUEST OF PERU much as the argument with which the military polemic closed his discourse, that it could not be the true .God whom Atahuallpa worshipped, since he had suffered him to fall into the hands of his enemies. The unhappy monarch assented to the force of this, acknowledging that his Deity had indeed deserted him in his utmost need. 44 Yet his conduct towards his brother Huascar at this time too clearly proves that, whatever respect he may have shown for the teachers, the doctrines of Christianity had made little impression on his heart. No sooner had Huascar been informed of the capture of his rival, and of the large ransom he had offered for his deliverance, than, as the latter had foreseen, he made every effort to regain his liberty, and sent, or attempted to send, a mes- sage to the Spanish commander, that he would pay a much larger ransom than that promised by Atahuallpa, who, never having dwelt in Cuzco, was ignorant of the quantity of treasure there, and where it was deposited. Intelligence of all this was secretly communi- cated to Atahuallpa by the persons who had his brother in charge; and his jealousy, thus roused, was further heightened by Pizarro's declaration that he intended to have Huascar brought to Caxamalca, where he would himself examine into the controversy and determine which of the two had the better title to the sceptre of the Incas. Pizarro perceived, from the first, the advantages ** " I mas dijo Atabalipa, que estaba espantado de lo que el Go- vernador le havia dicho: que bien conocia que aquel que liablaba en su Idolo, no es Dios verdadero, pues tan poco le aiud6." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 203. DEATH OF HUASCAR 135 of a competition which would enable him, by throwing his sword into the scale he preferred, to give it a preponderance. The party who held the sceptre by his nomination would henceforth be a tool in his hands, with which to work his pleasure more effectually than he could well do in his own name. It was the game, as every reader knows, played by Edward the First in the affairs of Scot- land, and by many a monarch both before and since; and, though their examples may not have been familiar to the unlettered soldier, Pizarro was too quick in his perceptions to require, in this matter, at least, the teachings of history. Atahuallpa was much alarmed by the Spanish commander's determination to have the suit be- tween the rival candidates brought before him; for he feared that, independently of the merits of the case, the decision would be likely to go in favor of Huascar, whose mild and ductile temper would make him a convenient instrument in the hands of his conquerors. Without further hesi- tation, he determined to remove this cause of jealousy forever, by the death of his brother. His orders were immediately executed, and the unhappy prince was drowned, as was commonly reported, in the river of Andamarca, declaring with his dying breath that the white men would avenge his murder, and that his rival would not long survive him. 45 Thus perished the unfortu- 43 Both the place and the manner of Huascar's death are reported with much discrepancy by the historians. All agree in the one im- portant fact that he died a violent death at the instigation of his brother. Conf. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 2. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 204. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. 136 CONQUEST OF PERU nate Huascar, the legitimate heir of the throne of the Incas, in the very morning of life, and the commencement of his reign; a reign, however, which had been long enough to call forth the display of many excellent and amiable qualities, though his nature was too gentle to cope with the bold and fiercer temper of his brother. Such is the portrait we have of him from the Indian and Castilian chroniclers ; though the former, it should be added, were the kinsmen of Huascar, and the latter certainly bore no good will to Atahuallpa. 46 That prince received the tidings of Huascar 's death with every mark of surprise and indigna- tion. He immediately sent for Pizarro, and com- municated the event to him with expressions of the deepest sorrow. The Spanish commander refused, at first, to credit the unwelcome news, and bluntly told the Inca that his brother could not be dead, and that he should be answerable for his life. 47 To this Atahuallpa replied by renewed assurances of the fact, adding that the deed had been perpe- trated, without his privity, by Huascar's keepers, fearful that he might take advantage of the y Conq., MS. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 6. Instruc. del Inga Titucussi, MS. ** Both Garcilasso de la Vega and Titucussi Yupanqui were de- scendants from Huayna Capac, of the pure Peruvian stock, the natu- ral enemies, therefore, of their kinsman of Quito, whom they re- garded as a usurper. Circumstances brought the Castilians into direct collision with Atahuallpa, and it was natural they should seek to darken his reputation by contrast with the fair character of his rival. 41 " Sabido esto por el Gobernador, mostr6, que le pesaba mucho: i dijo que era mentira, que no le havian muerto, que lo trujesen luego vivo: i sino, que el mandaria matar a Atabalipa." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 204. 1532 J DEATH OF HUASCAR 137 troubles of the country to make his escape. Pi- zarro, on making further inquiries, found that the report of his death was but too true. That it should have been brought about by Atahuallpa's officers without his express command would only show that by so doing they had probably antici- pated their master's wishes. The crime, which assumes in our eyes a deeper dye from the rela- tion of the parties, had not the same estimation among the Incas, in whose multitudinous families the bonds of brotherhood must have sat loosely, much too loosely to restrain the arm of the despot from sweeping away any obstacle that lay in his path. CHAPTER VI GOLD ARRIVES FOR THE RANSOM VISIT TO PACHA- CAMAC DEMOLITION OF THE IDOL THE INCA's FAVORITE GENERAL THE INCA's LIFE IN CON- FINEMENT ENVOYS' CONDUCT IN cuzco- ARRIVAL OF ALMAGRO 1533 SEVERAL weeks had now passed since Ata- huallpa's emissaries had been> despatched for the gold and silver that were to furnish his ran- som to the Spaniards. But the distances were great, and the returns came in slowly. They con- sisted, for the most part, of massive pieces of plate, some of which weighed two or three arro- bas, a Spanish weight of twenty-five pounds. On some days, articles of the value of thirty or forty thousand pesos de oro were brought in, and, occasionally, of the value of fifty or even sixty thousand pesos. The greedy eyes of the Con- querors gloated on the shining heaps of treasure, which were transported on the shoulders of the Indian porters, and, after being carefully regis- tered, were placed in safe deposit under a strong guard. They now began to believe that the mag- nificent promises of the Inca would be fulfilled. But, as their avarice was sharpened by the ravish- ing display of wealth such as they had hardly 138 1533] GOLD FOR THE RANSOM 139 dared to imagine, they became more craving and impatient. They made no allowance for the dis- tance and the difficulties of the way, and loudly inveighed against the tardiness with which the royal commands were executed. They even sus- pected Atahuallpa of devising this scheme only to gain a pretext for communicating with his sub- jects in distant places, and of proceeding as dila- torily as possible, in order to secure time for the execution of his plans. Rumors of a rising among the Peruvians were circulated, and the Spaniards were in apprehension of some general and sudden assault on their quarters. Their new acquisitions gave them additional cause for solicitude: like a miser, they trembled in the midst of their treas- ures. 1 Pizarro reported to his captive the rumors that were in circulation among the soldiers, naming, as one of the places pointed out for the rendezvous of the Indians, the neighboring city of Huama- chuco. Atahuallpa listened with undisguised as- tonishment, and indignantly repelled the charge, as false from beginning to end. " No one of my subjects," said he, " would dare to appear in arms, or to raise his finger, without my orders. You have me," he continued, " in your power. Is not my life at your disposal? And what better security can you have for my fidelity? " He then represented to the Spanish commander that the distances of many of the places were very great; that to Cuzco, the capital, although a message 1 Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 6. Naharro, Relacion suma- ria, MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 204. 140 CONQUEST OF PERU might be sent by post, through a succession of couriers, in five days from Caxamalca, it would require weeks for a porter to travel over the same ground with a heavy load on his back. " But, that you may be satisfied I am proceeding in good faith," he added, " I desire you will send some of your own people to Cuzco. I will give them a safe-conduct, and, when there, they can superin- tend the execution of the commission, and see with their own eyes that no hostile movements are in- tended." It was a fair offer; and Pizarro, anx- ious to get more precise and authentic informa- tion of the state of the country, gladly availed himself of it. 2 Before the departure of these emissaries, the general had despatched his brother Hernando with about twenty horse and a small body of infantry to the neighboring town of Huamachuco, in order to reconnoitre the country and ascertain if there was any truth in the report of an armed force having assembled there. Hernando found every thing quiet, and met with a kind reception from the natives. But before leaving the place he re- ceived further orders from his brother to continue his march to Pachacamac, a town situated on the coast, at least a hundred leagues distant from Caxamalca. It was consecrated as the seat of the great temple of the deity of that name, whom the Peruvians worshipped as the Creator of the world. It is said that they found there altars raised to this god, on their first occupation of the country ; and J Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. pp. 203, 204. Naharro, Itelacion sumaria, MS. 1533 J PACHACAMAC 141 such was the veneration in which he was held by the natives that the Incas, instead of attempting to abolish his worship, deemed it more prudent to sanction it conjointly with that of their own deity, the Sun. Side by side the two temples rose on the heights that overlooked the city of Pacha- camac, and prospered in the offerings of their respective votaries. " It was a cunning arrange- ment," says an ancient writer, " by which the great enemy of man secured to himself a double harvest of souls." 3 But the temple of Pachacamac continued to maintain its ascendency ; and the oracles delivered from its dark and mysterious shrine were held in no less repute among the natives of Tavantinsuyu (or "the four quarters of the world," as Peru under the Incas was called) than the oracles of Delphi obtained among the Greeks. Pilgrimages were made to the hallowed spot from the most distant regions, and the city of Pachacamac be- came among the Peruvians what Mecca was among the Mahometans. The shrine of the deity, enriched by the tributes of the pilgrims, gradually became one of the most opulent in the land; and Atahuallpa, anxious to collect his ransom as speedily as possible, urged Pizarro to send a de- tachment in that direction, to secure the treasures before they could be secreted by the priests of the temple. It was a journey of considerable difficulty. 1 " El demonio Pachacama alegre con este concierto, afirman que mostraua en sus respuestas gran contento: pues con lo vno y lo otro era el seruido, y quedauan las animas de los simples malauenturados presas en su poder." Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 72. 142 CONQUEST OF PERU Two-thirds of the route lay along the table-land of the Cordilleras, intersected occasionally by crests of the mountain-range, that imposed no slight impediment to their progress. Fortu- nately, much of the way they had the benefit of the great road to Cuzco; and " nothing in Chris- tendom," exclaims Hernando Pizarro, " equals the magnificence of this road across the sierra." 4 In some places the rocky ridges were so precipi- tous that steps were cut in them for the travellers, and, though the sides were protected by heavy stone balustrades or parapets, it was with the greatest difficulty that the horses were enabled to scale them. The road was frequently crossed by streams, over which bridges of wood and some- times of stone were thrown; though occasionally, along the declivities of the mountains, the waters swept down in such furious torrents that the only method of passing them was by the swinging bridges of osier, of which till now the Spaniards had had little experience.* They were secured on either bank to heavy buttresses of stone. But as they were originally designed for nothing heavier than the foot-passenger and the llama, and as they had something exceedingly fragile in their appear- ance, the Spaniards hesitated to venture on them with their horses. Experience, however, soon showed they were capable of bearing a much greater weight; and though the traveller, made giddy by the vibration of the long avenue, looked * " El camino de las sierras es cosa de ver, porque en verdad en tierra tan fragosa en la cristiandad no se han visto tan hermosos caminos, toda la mayor parte de calzada." Carta, MS. * [See vol. i. p. 73, note. M.] 1533J VISIT TO PACHACAMAC with a reeling brain into the torrent that was tumbling at the depth of a hundred feet or more below him, the whole of the cavalry effected their passage without an accident. At these bridges, it may be remarked, they found persons stationed whose business it was to collect toil for the govern- ment from all travellers. 6 The Spaniards were amazed by the number as well as magnitude of the flocks of llamas which they saw browsing on the stunted herbage that grows in the elevated regions of the Andes. Sometimes they were gathered in enclosures, but more usually were roaming at large under the conduct of their Indian shepherds; and the Con- querors now learned, for the first time, that these animals were tended with as much care, and their migrations as nicely regulated, as those of the vast flocks of merinos in their own country. 6 The table-land and its declivities were thickly sprinkled with hamlets and towns, some of them of considerable size; and the country in every direction bore the marks of a thrifty husbandry. Fields of Indian corn were to be seen in all its 5 "Todos los arroyos tienen puentes de piedra 6 de madera: en un rio grande, que era muy caudaloso e muy grande, que pasamos dos veces, hallamos puentes de red, que es cosa maravillosa de ver; pasa- mos por ellas los caballos; tienen en cada pasaje dos puentes, la una por donde pasa la gente comun, la otra por donde pasa el senor de la tierra 6 sus capitanes: esta tienen siempre cerrada indios que la guardan ; estos indios cobran portazgo de los que pasan." Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. Also Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 8 A comical blunder has been made by the printer, in M. Ternaux- Compans' excellent translation of Xerez, in the account of this ex- pedition: "On trouve sur toute la route beaucoup de pores, de lamas." (Relation de la Conquete du Perou, p. 157.) The substitu- tion of pores for pares might well lead the reader into the error of supposing that swine existed in Peru before the Conquest. 144 CONQUEST OF PERU different stages, from the green and tender ear to the yellow ripeness of harvest-time. As they descended into the valleys and deep ravines that divided the crests of the Cordilleras, they were surrounded by the vegetation of a warmer climate, which delighted the eye with the gay livery of a thousand bright colors and intoxicated the senses with its perfumes. Everywhere the natural ca- pacities of the soil were stimulated by a minute system of irrigation, which drew the fertilizing moisture from every stream and rivulet that rolled down the declivities of the Andes; while the ter- raced sides of the mountains were clothed with gardens and orchards that teemed with fruits of various latitudes. The Spaniards could not suffi- ciently admire the industry with which the natives had availed themselves of the bounty of Nature, or had supplied the deficiency where she had dealt with a more parsimonious hand. Whether from the commands of the Inca, or from the awe which their achievements had spread throughout the land, the Conquerors were re- ceived, in every place through which they passed, with hospitable kindness. Lodgings were pro- vided for them, with ample refreshments from the well-stored magazines distributed at intervals along the route. In many of the towns the in- habitants came out to welcome them with singing and dancing, and, when they resumed their march, a number of able-bodied porters were furnished to carry forward their baggage. 7 T Carta de Hernando Pizarro, MS. Estete, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. pp. 206, 207. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Both the last-cited 1533 J VISIT TO PACHACAMAC 145 At length, after some weeks of travel, severe even with all these appliances, Hernando Pizarro arrived before the city of Pachacamac. It was a place of considerable population, and the edifices were, many of them, substantially built. The temple of the tutelar deity consisted of a vast stone building, or rather pile of buildings, which, clustering around a conical hill, had the air of a fortress rather than a religious establishment. But, though the walls were of stone, the roof was composed of a light thatch, as usual in countries where rain seldom or never falls, and where de- fence, consequently, is wanted chiefly against the rays of the sun. Presenting himself at the lower entrance of the temple, Hernando Pizarro was refused admit- tance by the guardians of the portal. But, ex- claiming that " he had come too far to be stayed by the arm of an Indian priest," he forced his way into the passage, and, followed by his men, wound up the gallery which led to an area on the sum- mit of the mount, at one end of which stood a sort of chapel. This was the sanctuary of the dread deity. The door was garnished with orna- ments of crystal and with turquoises and bits of coral. 8 Here again the Indians would have dis- suaded Pizarro from violating the consecrated precincts, when at that moment the shock of an author and Miguel Estete, the royal veedor or inspector, accompanied Hernando Pizarro on this expedition, and, of course, were eye-wit- nesses, like himself, of what they relate. Estete's narrative is incor- porated by the secretary Xerez in his own. "' Esta puerta era muy tejida de diversas cosas de corales y tur- quesas y cristales y otras cosas." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. VOL. II. 10 146 CONQUEST OF PERU earthquake, that made the ancient walls tremble to their foundation, so alarmed the natives, both those of Pizarro's own company and the people of the place, that they fled in dismay, nothing doubt- ing that their incensed deity would bury the in- vaders under the ruins or consume them with his lightnings. But no such terror found its way into the breasts of the Conquerors, who felt that here, at least, they were fighting the good fight of the Faith. Tearing open the door, Pizarro and his party entered. But, instead of a hall blazing, as they had fondly imagined, with gold and precious stones, offerings of the worshippers of Pacha- camac, they found themselves in a small and ob- scure apartment, or rather den, from the floor and sides of which steamed up the most offensive odors, like those of a slaughter-house. It was the place of sacrifice. A few pieces of gold and some emeralds were discovered on the ground, and, as their eyes became accommodated to the darkness, they discerned in the most retired corner of the room the figure of the deity. It was an un- couth monster, made of wood, with the head re- sembling that of a man. This was the god through whose lips Satan had breathed forth the far-famed oracles which had deluded his Indian votaries ! 9 " Aquel era Pachacama, el cual les sanaba de sus enfermedades, y & lo que alii se entendio, el Demonio aparecia en aquella cueha & aquellos sacerdotes y hablaha con ellos, y estos entraban con las peti- ciones y ofrendas de los que venian en romeria, que es cierto que del tndo el Sefiorio de Atabalica iban alii, como los Moros y Turcos van il la casa de Meca." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Also Estete, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 209. 1533 J DESTRUCTION OF THE IDOL U7 Tearing the idol from its recess, the indignant Spaniards dragged it into the open air and there broke it into a hundred fragments. The place was then purified, and a large cross, made of stone and plaster, was erected on the spot. In a few years the walls of the temple were pulled down by the Spanish settlers, who found there a con- venient quarry for their own edifices. But the cross still remained spreading its broad arms over the ruins. It stood where it was planted in the very heart of the stronghold of heathendom ; and, while all was in ruins around it, it proclaimed the permanent triumphs of the Faith. The simple natives, finding that Heaven had no bolts in store for the Conquerors, and that their god had no power to prevent the profanation of his shrine, came in gradually and tendered their homage to the strangers, whom they now re- garded with feelings of superstitious awe. Pi- zarro profited by this temper to wean them, if possible, from their idolatry; and, though no preacher himself, as he tells us, he delivered a discourse as edifying, doubtless, as could be ex- pected from the mouth of a soldier; 10 and, in conclusion, he taught them the sign of the cross, as an inestimable talisman to secure them against the future machinations of the devil. 11 But the Spanish commander was not so ab- sorbed in his spiritual labors as not to have an eye to those temporal concerns for which he had 10 " a falta de predicador les hice mi sermon, diciendo el engafio en que vivian." Carta de Hern. Pizarro, MS. 11 Ibid., MS. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Estete, ap. Bar- cia, torn. iii. p. -209. 148 CONQUEST OF PERU been sent to this quarter. He now found, to his chagrin, that he had come somewhat too late, and that the priests of Pachacamac, being advised of his mission, had secured much the greater part of the gold and decamped with it before his arrival. A quantity was afterwards discovered buried in the grounds adjoining. 12 Still, the amount ob- tained was considerable, falling little short of eighty thousand castellanos, a sum which once would have been deemed a compensation for greater fatigues than they had encountered. But the Spaniards had become familiar with gold ; and their imaginations, kindled by the romantic adven- tures in which they had of late been engaged, in- dulged in visions which all the gold of Peru would scarcely have realized. One prize, however, Hernando obtained by his expedition, which went far to console him for the loss of his treasure. While at Pachacamac, he learned that the Indian commander Challcuchima lay with a large force in the neighborhood of Xauxa, a town of some strength at a considerable distance among the mountains. This man, who was nearly related to Atahuallpa, was his most experienced general, and, together with Quizquiz, now at Cuzco, had achieved those victories at the south which placed the Inca on the throne. From his birth, his talents, and his large experience, he was accounted second to no subject in the king- 1: " Y andando los tiepos el capitan Rodrigo Orgoiiez, y Francisco de Godoy, y otros sacaron pra summa de oro y plata de los enterra- mientos. Y aim se presume y tiene por cierto, que ay mucho mas: pero como no se sabe donde esta enterrado, se pierde." Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 72. 1533 J JOURNEY TO XAUXA 149 dom. Pizarro was aware of the importance of securing his person. Finding that the Indian noble declined to meet him on his return, he de- termined to march at once on Xauxa and take the chief in his own quarters. Such a scheme, con- sidering the enormous disparity of numbers, might seem desperate even for Spaniards. But success had given them such confidence that they hardly condescended to calculate chances. The road across the mountains presented greater difficulties than those on the former march. To add to the troubles of the cavalry, the shoes of their horses were worn out, and their hoofs suffered severely on the rough and stony ground. There was no iron at hand, nothing but gold and silver. In the present emergency they turned even these to account ; and Pizarro caused the horses of the whole troop to be shod with silver. The work was done by the Indian smiths, and it answered so well that in this precious material they found a substitute for iron during the remainder of the march. 13 Xauxa was a large and populous place ; though we shall hardly credit the assertion of the Con- querors, that a hundred thousand persons as- sembled habitually in the great square of the 11 " Hicieron hacer herrage de herraduras clavos para sus Cabal- los de Plata, los cuales hicieron los cien Indies fundidores muy buenos cuantos quisieron de ellos, con el cual herrage andubieron dos meses." (Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16.) The author of the Relacion del primer Descubrimiento, MS., says they shod the horses with silver and copper. And another of the Peruvian Conquerors assures us they used gold and silver. (Re- latione d'un Capitano Spagnuolo ap. Ramusio, Navigation! et Viaggi, Venetia, 1565, torn. iii. fol. 376.) All agree as to the silver. 150 CONQUEST OF PERU city. 14 * The Peruvian commander was en- camped, it was said, with an army of five-and- thirty thousand men, at only a few miles' distance from the town. With some difficulty he was per- suaded to an interview with Pizarro. The latter addressed him courteously, and urged his return with him to the Castilian quarters in Caxamalca, representing it as the command of the Inca. Ever since the capture of his master, Challcuchima had remained uncertain what course to take. The cap- ture of the Inca in this sudden and mysterious manner by a race of beings who seemed to have dropped from the clouds, and that too in the very hour of his triumph, had entirely bewildered the Peruvian chief. He had concerted no plan for the rescue of Atahuallpa, nor, indeed, did he know whether any such movement would be acceptable to him. He now acquiesced in his commands, and was willing, at all events, to have a personal inter- view with his sovereign. Pizarro gained his end without being obliged to strike a single blow to effect it. The barbarian, when brought into con- tact with the white man, would seem to have been rebuked by his superior genius, in the same manner as the wild animal of the forest is said to quail before the steady glance of the hunter. Challcuchima came attended by a numerous ret- inue. He was borne in his sedan on the shoulders 14 " Era mucha la Gente de aquel Pueblo, i de sus Comarcas, que al parecer de los Espafioles, se juntaban cada Dia en la Placa Princi- pal cien mil Personas." Estete, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 230. * [Its population may now be 3000 or 4000. It is quite impossible that 100,000 persons ever assembled in the great plaza. M.] 1533] THE INCA IN CONFINEMENT 151 of his vassals, and, as he accompanied the Span- iards on their return through the country, received everywhere from the inhabitants the homage paid only to the favorite of a monarch. Yet all this pomp vanished on his entering the presence of the Inca, whom he approached with his feet bare, while a light burden, which he had taken from one of the attendants, was laid on his back. As he drew near, the old warrior, raising his hands to heaven, exclaimed, " Would that I had been here! this would not then have happened; " then, kneeling down, he kissed the hands and feet of his royal master and bathed them with his tears. Atahu- allpa, on his part, betrayed not the least emotion, and showed no other sign of satisfaction at the presence of his favorite counsellor than by simply bidding him welcome. The cold demeanor of the monarch contrasted strangely with the loyal sensi- bility of the subject. 15 The rank of the Inca placed him at an immeas- urable distance above the proudest of his vassals; and the Spaniards had repeated occasion to ad- mire the ascendency which, even in his present fallen fortunes, he maintained over his people, and the awe with which they approached him. Pedro Pizarro records an interview, at which he was present, between Atahuallpa and one of his great nobles, who had obtained leave to visit some remote part of the country on condition of return- ing by a certain day. He was detained somewhat 15 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. " The like of it," exclaims Estete, " was never before seen since the Indies were discovered." Ibid., p. 231. 152 CONQUEST OF PERU beyond the appointed time, and on entering the presence with a small propitiatory gift for his sov- ereign his knees shook so violently that it seemed, says the chronicler, as if he would have fallen to the ground. His master, however, received him kindly, and dismissed him without a word of re- buke. 16 Atahuallpa in his confinement continued to re- ceive the same respectful treatment from the Spaniards as hitherto. They taught him to play with dice, and the more intricate game of chess, in which the royal captive became expert, and loved to beguile with it the tedious hours of his imprisonment. Towards his own people he main- tained as far as possible his wonted state and cere- monial. He was attended by his wives and the girls of his harem, who, as was customary, waited on him at table and discharged the other menial offices about his person. A body of Indian nobles were stationed in the antechamber, but never en- tered the presence unbidden; and when they did enter it they submitted to the same humiliating ceremonies imposed on the greatest of his subjects. The service of his table was gold and silver plate. His dress, which he often changed, was composed of the wool of the vicuna wrought into mantles, so fine that it had the appearance of silk. He sometimes exchanged these for a robe made of the skins of bats, as soft and sleek as velvet. Round his head he wore the llautu, a woollen tur- ban or shawl of the most delicate texture, wreathed in folds of various bright colors ; and he still con- ' Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 1533] THE ENVOYS IN CUZCO 153 tinued to encircle his temples with the borla, the crimson threads of which, mingled with gold, de- scended so as partly to conceal his eyes. The image of royalty had charms for him, when its substance had departed. No garment or utensil that had once belonged to the Peruvian sovereign could ever be used by another. When he laid it aside, it was carefully deposited in a chest, kept for the purpose, and afterwards burned. It would have been sacrilege to apply to vulgar uses that which had been consecrated by the touch of the Inca. 17 Not long after the arrival of the party from Pachacamac, in the latter part of May, the three emissaries returned from Cuzco. They had been very successful in their mission. Owing to the Inca's order, and the awe which the white men now inspired throughout the country, the Span- iards had everywhere met with a kind reception. They had been carried on the shoulders of the natives in the hamacas, or sedans, of the country; and, as they had travelled all the way to the capital on the great imperial road, along which relays of Indian carriers were established at stated inter- vals, they performed this journey of more than six hundred miles, not only without inconvenience, but with the most luxurious ease. They passed through many populous towns, and always found the simple natives disposed to venerate them as beings of a superior nature. In Cuzco 1T This account of the personal habits of Atahuallpa is taken from Pedro Pizarro, who saw him often in his confinement. As his curious narrative is little known, I have extracted the original in Appendix No. 9. 154 CONQUEST OF PERU they were received with public festivities, were sumptuously lodged, and had every want antici- pated by the obsequious devotion of the inhabi- tants. Their accounts of the capital confirmed all that Pizarro had before heard of the wealth and popu- lation of the city. Though they had remained more than a week in this place, the emissaries had not seen the whole of it. The great temple of the Sun they found literally covered with plates of gold. They had entered the interior and beheld the royal mummies, seated each in his gold-em- bossed chair and in robes profusely covered with ornaments. The Spaniards had the grace to re- spect these, as they had been previously enjoined by the Inca; but they required that the plates which garnished the walls should be all removed. The Peruvians most reluctantly acquiesced in the commands of their sovereign to desecrate the national temple, which every inhabitant of the city regarded with peculiar pride and veneration. With less reluctance they assisted the Conquerors in stripping the ornaments from some of the other edifices, where the gold, however, being mixed with a larger proportion of alloy, was of much less value. 18 The number of plates they tore from the temple of the Sun was seven hundred ; and though of no great thickness, probably, they are compared in size to the lid of a chest, ten or twelve inches 18 Rel. d'un Capitano Spapn., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 375. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 2, cap. 12, 13. 1533] ENVOY'S CONDUCT IN CUZCO 155 wide. 10 A cornice of pure gold encircled the edifice, but so strongly set in the stone that it fortunately defied the efforts of the spoilers. The Spaniards complained of the want of alacrity shown by the Indians in the work of destruction, and said that there were other parts of the city containing buildings rich in gold and silver which they had not been allowed to see. In truth, their mission, which at best was a most ungrateful one, had been rendered doubly annoying by the manner in which they had executed it. The emissaries were men of a very low stamp, and, puffed up by the honors conceded to them by the natives, they looked on themselves as entitled to these, and contemned the poor Indians as a race immeas- urably beneath the European. They not only showed the most disgusting rapacity, but treated the highest nobles with wanton insolence. They even went so far, it is said, as to violate the pri- vacy of the convents, and to outrage the religious sentiments of the Peruvians by their scandalous amours with the Virgins of the Sun. The people of Cuzco were so exasperated that they would have laid violent hands on them, but for their habitual reverence for the Inca, in whose name the Spaniards had come there. As it was, the Indians collected as much gold as was necessary to satisfy their unworthy visitors, and got rid of them as speedily as possible. 20 It was a great mis- take in Pizarro to send such men. There were 19 " I de las Chapas de oro, que esta Casa tenia, quitaron setecientas Plane-has . . . a manera de Tahlas de Caxas de a tres, i a quatro palmos de largo." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 232. * Herrera, Hist, general, ubi supra. 156 CONQUEST OF PERU persons, even in his company, who, as other occa- sions showed, had some sense of self-respect, if not respect for the natives. The messengers brought with them, besides silver, full two hundred car gas or loads of gold. 21 This was an important accession to the contribu- tions of Atahuallpa; and, although the treasure was still considerably below the mark prescribed, the monarch saw with satisfaction the time draw- ing nearer for the completion of his ransom. Not long before this, an event had occurred which changed the condition of the Spaniards and had an unfavorable influence on the fortunes of the Inca. This was the arrival of Almagro at Caxamalca, with a strong reinforcement. That chief had succeeded, after great efforts, in equipping three vessels and assembling a body of one hundred and fifty men, with which he sailed from Panama the latter part of the pre- ceding year. On his voyage he was joined by a small additional force from Nicaragua, so that his whole strength amounted to one hundred and fifty foot and fifty horse, well provided with the munitions of war. His vessels were steered by the old pilot Ruiz; but, after making the Bay of St. Matthew, he crept slowly along the coast, baffled as usual by winds and currents, and experiencing "So says Pizarro's secretary: "I vinieron docientas cargas de Oro, i veinte i cinco de Plata." (Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, ubi supra.) A load, he says, was brought by four Indians. "Cargas de Paligueres, que las traen quatro Indios." The meaning of pali- ffueres not a Spanish word is doubtful. Ternaux-Compans sup- poses, ingeniously enough, that it may have something of the same meaning with palanquin, to which it bears some resemblance. 1533 J ARRIVAL OF ALMAGRO 157 all the hardships incident to that protracted navi- gation. From some cause or other, he was not so fortunate as to obtain tidings of Pizarro; and so disheartened were his followers, most of whom were raw adventurers, that when arrived at Puerto Vie jo they proposed to abandon the expedition and return at once to Panama. Fortunately, one of the little squadron which Almagro had sent forward to Tumbez brought intelligence of Pi- zarro and of the colony he had planted at San Miguel. Cheered by the tidings, the cavalier re- sumed his voyage, and succeeded at length, to- wards the close of December, 1532, in bringing his whole party safe to the Spanish settlement. He there received the account of Pizarro's march across the mountains, his seizure of the Inca, and, soon afterwards, of the enormous ran- som offered for his liberation. Almagro and his companions listened with undisguised amazement to this account of his associate, and of a change in his fortunes so rapid and wonderful that it seemed little less than magic. At the same time he re- ceived a caution from some of the colonists not to trust himself in the power of Pizarro, who was known to bear him no good will. Not long after Almagro's arrival at San Miguel, advices were sent of it to Caxamalca, and a private note from his secretary Perez in- formed Pizarro that his associate had come with no purpose of co-operating with him, but with the intention to establish an independent government. Both of the Spanish captains seem to have been surrounded by mean and turbulent spirits, who 158 CONQUEST OF PERU sought to embroil them with each other, trusting, doubtless, to find their own account in the rupture. For once, however, their malicious machinations failed. Pizarro was overjoyed at the arrival of so con- siderable a reinforcement, which would enable him to push his fortunes as he had desired, and go forward with the conquest of the country. He laid little stress on the secretary's communication, since, whatever might have been Almagro's origi- nal purpose, Pizarro knew that the richness of the vein he had now opened in the land would be cer- tain to secure his co-operation in working it. He had the magnanimity, therefore, for there is something magnanimous in being able to stifle the suggestions of a petty rivalry in obedience to sound policy, to send at once to his ancient comrade, and invite him, with many assurances of friendship, to Caxamalca. Almagro, who was of a frank and careless nature, received the communi- cation in the spirit in which it was made, and, after some necessary delay, directed his march into the interior. But before leaving San Miguel, having become acquainted with the treacherous conduct of his secretary, he recompensed his treason by hanging him on the spot. 22 Almagro reached Caxamalca about the middle of February, 1533. The soldiers of Pizarro came out to welcome their countrymen, and the two captains embraced each other with every mark of 22 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. pp. 204, 205. Relacion sumaria, MS. Conq. i Poh. del Piru, MS. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 1. 1533 J ARRIVAL OF ALMAGRO 159 cordial satisfaction. All past differences were buried in oblivion, and they seemed only prepared to aid one another in following up the brilliant career now opened to them in the conquest of an empire. There was one person in Caxamalca on whom this arrival of the Spaniards produced a very dif- ferent impression from that made on their own countrymen. This was the Inca Atahuallpa. He saw in the newcomers only a new swarm of locusts to devour his unhappy country ; and he felt that, with his enemies thus multiplying around him, the chances were diminished of recovering his free- dom, or of maintaining it if recovered. A little circumstance, insignificant in itself, but magnified by superstition into something formidable, oc- curred at this time to cast an additional gloom over his situation. A remarkable appearance, somewhat of the nature of a meteor, or it may have been a comet, was seen in the heavens by some soldiers and pointed out to Atahuallpa. He gazed on it with fixed attention for some minutes, and then ex- claimed, with a dejected air, that " a similar sign had been seen in the skies a short time before the death of his father Huayna Capac." 23 From this day a sadness seemed to take possession of him, as he looked with doubt and undefined dread to the future. Thus it is that in seasons of danger the mind, like the senses, becomes morbidly acute in its perceptions, and the least departure from " Rel. d'un Capitano Spagn., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 377. Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 65. 160 CONQUEST OF PERU the regular course of nature, that would have passed unheeded in ordinary times, to the super- stitious eye seems pregnant with meaning, as in some way or other connected with the destiny of the individual. CHAPTER VII IMMENSE AMOUNT OF TREASURE ITS DIVISION AMONG THE TROOPS RUMORS OF A RISING - TRIAL OF THE INCA HIS EXECUTION REFLEC- TIONS 1533 ' I ^HE arrival of Almagro produced a consider- JL able change in Pizarro's prospects, since it enabled him to resume active operations and push forward his conquests in the interior. The only obstacle in his way was the Inca's ransom, and the Spaniards had patiently waited, till the return of the emissaries from Cuzco swelled the treasure to a large amount, though still below the stipulated limit. But now their avarice got the better of their forbearance, and they called loudly for the immediate division of the gold. To \vait longer would only be to invite the assault of their ene- mies, allured by a bait so attractive. While the treasure remained uncounted, no man knew its value, nor what was to be his own portion. It was better to distribute it at once, and let every one possess and defend his own. Several, more- over, were now disposed to return home and take their share of the gold with them, w r here they could place it in safety. But these were few; while much the larger part were only anxious to leave their present quarters and march at once to Cuzco. More gold, they thought, awaited them VOL. II. 11 161 162 CONQUEST OF PERU in that capital than they could get here by pro- longing their stay ; while every hour was precious, to prevent the inhabitants from secreting their treasures, of which design they had already given indication. Pizarro was especially moved by the last con- sideration ; and he felt that without the capital he could not hope to become master of the empire. Without further delay, the division of the treasure was agreed upon. Yet, before making this, it was necessary to re- duce the whole to ingots of a uniform standard, for the spoil was composed of an infinite variety of articles, in which the gold was of very different degrees of purity. These articles consisted of goblets, ewers, salvers, vases of every shape and size, ornaments and utensils for the temples and the royal palaces, tiles and plates for the decora- tion of the public edifices, curious imitations of different plants and animals. Among the plants, the most beautiful was the Indian corn, in which the golden ear was sheathed in its broad leaves of silver, from which hung a rich tassel of threads of the same precious metal. A fountain was also much admired, which sent up a sparkling jet of gold, while birds and animals of the same material played in the waters at its base. The delicacy of the workmanship of some of these, and the beauty and ingenuity of the design, attracted the admira- tion of better judges than the rude Conquerors of Peru. 1 1 Relatione de Pedro Sancho, ap. Ramusio, Viappi, torn. iii. fol. 399. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 233. Zarate, 1533] DIVISION OF THE TREASURE 163 Before breaking up these specimens of Indian art, it was determined to send a quantity, which should be deducted from the royal fifth, to the emperor. It would serve as a sample of the in- genuity of the natives, and would show him the value of his conquests. A number of the most beautiful articles was selected, of the value of a hundred thousand ducats, and Hernando Pizarro was appointed to be the bearer of them to Spain. He was to obtain an audience of Charles, and at the same time that he laid the treasures before him he was to give an account of the proceedings of the Conquerors, and to seek a further augmenta- tion of their powers and dignities. No man in the army was better qualified for this mission, by his address and knowledge of affairs, than Hernando Pizarro ; no one would be so likely to urge his suit with effect at the haughty Cas- tilian court. But other reasons influenced the selection of him at the present juncture. His former jealousy of Almagro still rankled in his bosom, and he had beheld that chief's arrival at the camp with feelings of disgust, which he did not care to conceal. He looked on him as coming to share the spoils of victory and defraud his brother of his legitimate honors. Instead of ex- changing the cordial greetings proffered by Al- magro at their first interview, the arrogant cava- lier held back in sullen silence. His brother Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 7. Oviedo saw at St. Domingo the articles which Hernando Pizarro was bearing to Castile; and he expatiates on several beautifully wrought vases, richly chased, of very fine gold, and measuring twelve inches in height and thirty round. Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16. 164 CONQUEST OF PERU Francis was greatly displeased at conduct which threatened to renew their ancient feud, and he induced Hernando to accompany him to Alma- gro's quarters and make some acknowledgment for his uncourteous behavior. 2 But, notwithstand- ing this show of reconciliation, the general thought the present a favorable opportunity to remove his brother from the scene of operations, where his factious spirit more than counterbalanced his emi- nent services. 3 The business of melting down the plate was in- trusted to the Indian goldsmiths, who were thus required to undo the work of their own hands. They toiled day and night, but such was the quan- tity to be recast that it consumed a full month. When the whole was reduced to bars of a uniform standard, they were nicely weighed, under the superintendence of the royal inspectors. The total amount of the gold was found to be one million three hundred and twenty-six thousand five hundred and thirty-nine pesos de oro, which, allowing for the greater value of money in the sixteenth century, which would be equivalent, probably, at the present time, to near three mil- lions and a half of pounds sterling, or somewhat less than fifteen millions and a half of dollars. 4 1 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 2, cap. 3. * According to Oviedo, it was agreed that Hernando should have a share much larger than he was entitled to of the Inca's ransom, in the hope that he would feel so rich as never to desire to return again to Peru: "Trabajaron de le embiar rico por quitarle de entre ellos, y porque yendo muy rico como fue no tubiese voluntad de tornar a aquellas partes." Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16. 4 Acta de Reparticion del Rescate de Atahuallpa, MS. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 232. In reducing the sums 1533] IMMENSE AMOUNT OF TREASURE 1C5 The quantity of silver was estimated at fifty-one thousand six hundred and ten marks. History mentioned in this work, I have availed myself as I before did, in the History of the Conquest of Mexico of the labors of SeAor Cle- mencin, formerly Secretary of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid. This eminent scholar, in the sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Academy, prepared wholly by himself, has introduced an elab- orate essay on the value of the currency in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Although this period the close of the fifteenth cen- tury was somewhat earlier than that of the Conquest of Peru, yet his calculations are sufficiently near the truth for our purpose, since the Spanish currency had not as yet been much affected by that dis- turbing cause, the influx of the precious metals from the New World. In inquiries into the currency of a remote age, we may consider, in the first place, the specific value of the coin, that is, the value which it derives from the weight, purity, etc., of the metal, circumstances easily determined. In the second place, we may inquire into the commercial or comparative worth of the money, that is, the value founded on a comparison of the difference between the amount of commodities which the same sum would purchase formerly and at the present time. The latter inquiry is attended with great embarrass- ment, from the difficulty of finding any one article which may be taken as the true standard of value. Wheat, from its general cultiva- tion and use, has usually been selected by political economists as this standard; and Clemencin has adopted it in his calculations. Assum- ing wheat as the standard, he has endeavored to ascertain the value of the principal coins in circulation at the time of the " Catholic Kings." He makes no mention in his treatise of the peso de oro, by which denomination the sums in the early part of the sixteenth cen- tury were more frequently expressed than by any other. But he as- certains both the specific and the commercial value of the castellano, which several of the old writers, as Oviedo, Herrera, and Xerez, con- cur in stating as precisely equivalent to the peso de oro. From the results of his calculations, it appears that the specific value of the castellano, as stated by him in reals, is equal to three dollars and seven cents of our own currency, while the commercial value is nearly four times as great, or eleven dollars sixty-seven cents, equal to two pounds twelve shillings and sixpence sterling. By adopting this a* the approximate value of the peso de oro in the early part of the six- teenth century, the reader may easily compute for himself the value, at that period, of the sums mentioned in these pages; most of which are expressed in that denomination. I have been the more particular in this statement since in my former work I confined myself to the commercial value of the money, which, being much greater than the specific value, founded on the quality and weight of the metal, was 166 CONQUEST OF PERU affords no parallel of such a booty and that, too, in the most convertible form, in ready money, as it were having fallen to the lot of a little band of military adventurers, like the Conquerors of Peru. The great object of the Spanish expedi- tions in the New World was gold. It is remark- able that their success should have been so com- plete. Had they taken the track of the English, the French, or the Dutch, on the shores of the northern continent, how different would have been the result! It is equally worthy of remark that the wealth thus suddenly acquired, by diverting them from the slow but surer and more perma- nent sources of national prosperity, has in the end glided from their grasp and left them among the poorest of the nations of Christendom. A new difficulty now arose in respect to the division of the treasure. Almagro's followers claimed to be admitted to a share of it; which, as they equalled and, indeed, somewhat exceeded in number Pizarro's company, would reduce the gains of these last very materially. ' We were not here, it is true," said Almagro's soldiers to their comrades, " at the seizure of the Inca, but we have taken our turn in mounting guard over him since his capture, have helped you to defend thought by an ingenious correspondent to give the reader an exag- gerated estimate of the sums mentioned in the history. But it seems to me that it is only this comparative or commercial value with which the reader has any concern, indicating what amount of commodities any given sum represents, that he may thus know the real worth of that sum, thus adopting the principle, though conversely stated, of the old Hudihrastic maxim, " What is worth in any tiling. But HO much money as 't will bring?" 1533] ITS DIVISION AMONG THE TROOPS 167 your treasures, and now give you the means of going forward and securing your conquests. It is a common cause," they urged, " in which all are equally embarked, and the gains should be shared equally between us." But this way of viewing the matter was not at all palatable to Pizarro's company, who alleged that Atahuallpa's contract had been made exclu- sively with them; that they had seized the Inca, had secured the ransom, had incurred, in short, all the risk of the enterprise, and were not now dis- posed to share the fruits of it with every one who came after them. There was much force, it could not be denied, in this reasoning, and it was finally settled between the leaders that Almagro's fol- lowers should resign their pretensions for a stipu- lated sum of no great amount, and look to the career now opened to them for carving out their fortunes for themselves. This delicate affair being thus harmoniously adjusted, Pizarro prepared, with all solemnity, for a division of the imperial spoil. The troops were called together in the great square, and the Spanish commander, " with the fear of God be- fore his eyes," says the record, " invoked the assist- ance of Heaven to do the work before him con- scientiously and justly." 5 The appeal may seem somewhat out of place at the distribution of spoil so unrighteously acquired; yet in truth, consider- ing the magnitude of the treasure, and the power B " Segun Dios Nuestro Senor se diere d entender teniendo su conciencia y para lo mejor hazer pedia al ayuda de Dios Nuestro Senor, 6 imboco el auxilio divino." Acta de Reparticion del Rescate, MS. 168 CONQUEST OF PERU assumed by Pizarro to distribute it according to the respective deserts of the individuals, there were few acts of his life involving a heavier responsi- bility. On his present decision might be said to hang the future fortunes of each one of his fol- lowers, poverty or independence during the re- mainder of his days. The royal fifth was first deducted, including the remittance already sent to Spain. The share appropriated by Pizarro amounted to fifty-seven thousand two hundred and twenty-two pesos of gold, and two thousand three hundred and fifty marks of silver. He had besides this the great chair or throne of the Inca, of solid gold, and valued at twenty-five thousand pesos de oro. To his brother Hernando were paid thirty-one thou- sand and eighty pesos of gold, and two thousand three hundred and fifty marks of silver. De Soto received seventeen thousand seven hundred and forty pesos of gold, and seven hundred and twenty-four marks of silver. Most of the re- maining cavalry, sixty in number, received each eight thousand eight hundred and eighty pesos of gold, and three hundred and sixty-two marks of silver, though some had more, and a few con- siderably less. The infantry mustered in all one hundred and five men. Almost one-fifth of them were allowed, each, four thousand four hundred and forty pesos of gold, and one hundred and eighty marks of silver, half of the compensation of the troopers. The remainder received one- fourth part less; though here again there were exceptions, and some were obliged to content 1533J ITS DIVISION AMONG THE TROOPS 169 themselves with a much smaller share of the spoil. * The new church of San Francisco, the first Christian temple in Peru, was endowed with two thousand two hundred and twenty pesos of gold. The amount assigned to Almagro's company was not excessive, if it was not more than twenty thousand pesos ; 7 and that reserved for the colo- nists of San Miguel, which amounted only to fifteen thousand pesos, was unaccountably small. 8 There were among them certain soldiers who, at an early period of the expedition, as the reader may remember, abandoned the march and returned to San Miguel. These, certainly, had little claim to be remembered in the division of booty. But the greater part of the colony consisted of in- valids, men whose health had been broken by their previous hardships, but who still, with a stout and The particulars of the distribution are given in the A eta de Re- partition del Rescate, an instrument drawn up and signed by the royal notary. The document, which is therefore of unquestionable authority, is among the MSS. selected for me from the collection of Munoz. 7 " Se diese &. la gente que vino con el Capitan Diego de Almagro para ayuda fl pagar sus deudas y fletes y suplir algunas necesidades que traian, veinte mil pesos." (Acta de Reparticion del Rescate, MS.) Herrera says that 100,000 pesos were paid to Almagro's men. (Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 2, cap. 3.) But it is not so set down in the instrument. 8 " En treinta personas que quedaron en la ciudad de san Miguel de Piura dolientes y otros que no vinieron ni se hallaron en la prision de Atagualpa y toma del oro porque algunos son pobres y otros tie- nen necesidad senalaba 15,000 p s de oro para los repartir S. Senoria entre las dichas personas." Ibid., MS. * [Report on the Distribution of the Ransom of Atahualipa, by Pedro Sancho (Notary), Translated by C. R. Markham. Published by the Hakluyt Society in the " Reports on the Discovery of Peru." M.] 170 CONQUEST OF PERU willing heart, did good service in their military post on the sea-coast. On what grounds they had forfeited their claims to a more ample remunera- tion it is not easy to explain. Nothing is said, in the partition, of Almagro himself, who, by the terms of the original contract, might claim an equal share of the spoil with his associate. As little notice is taken of Luque, the remaining partner. Luque himself was, indeed, no longer to be benefited by worldly treasure. He had died a short time before Almagro's departure from Panama ; 9 too soon to learn the full success of the enterprise, which, but for his exertions, must have failed; too soon to become acquainted with the achievements and the crimes of Pizarro. But the Licentiate Espinosa, whom he repre- sented, and who, it appears, had advanced the funds for the expedition, was still living at St. Domingo, and Luque's pretensions were explicitly transferred to him. Yet it is unsafe to pronounce, at this distance of time, on the authority of mere negative testimony; and it must be admitted to form a strong presumption in favor of Pizarro 's general equity in the distribution, that no com- plaint of it has reached us from any of the parties present, nor from contemporary chroniclers. 10 Montesinos, Annales, MS., afio 1533. 10 The " Spanish Captain," several times cited, who tells us he was one of the men appointed to guard the treasure, does indeed com- plain that a large quantity of gold vases and other articles re- mained undivided, a palpable injustice, he thinks, to the honest Conquerors, who had earned all by their hardships. (Rel. d'un Capitano Spagn., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 378, 379.) The writer, throughout his Relation, shows a full measure of the coarse and covetous spirit which marked the adventurers of Peru. 1533] TREATMENT OF THE INCA 171 The division of the ransom being completed by the Spaniards, there seemed to be no further ob- stacle to their resuming active operations and com- mencing the march to Cuzco. But what was to be done with Atahuallpa? In the determination of this question, whatever was expedient was just. 11 To liberate him would be to set at large the very man who might prove their most dan- gerous enemy, one whose birth and royal station would rally round him the whole nation, place all the machinery of government at his control, and all its resources, one, in short, whose bare word might concentrate all the energies of his people against the Spaniards, and thus delay for a long period, if not wholly defeat, the conquest of the country. Yet to hold him in captivity was at- tended with scarcely less difficulty ; since to guard so important a prize would require such a division of their force as must greatly cripple its strength, and how could they expect, by any vigilance, to secure their prisoner against rescue in the perilous passes of the mountains ? The Inca himself now loudly demanded his freedom. The proposed amount of the ransom had, indeed, not been fully paid. It may be doubted whether it ever w r ould have been, consider- ing the embarrassments thrown in the way by the guardians of the temples, who seemed dispose to secrete the treasures, rather than despoil these sacred depositories to satisfy the cupidity of the 11 "Y esto tenia por justo, pues era provechoso." It is the senti- ment imputed to Pizarro by Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 4. 172 CONQUEST OF PERU strangers. It was unlucky, too, for the Indian monarch that much of the gold, and that of the best quality, consisted of flat plates or tiles, which, however valuable, lay in a compact form that did little towards swelling the heap. But an immense amount had been already realized, and it would have been a still greater one, the Inca might allege, but for the impatience of the Spaniards. At all events, it was a magnificent ransom, such as was never paid by prince or potentate before. These considerations Atahuallpa urged on sev- eral of the cavaliers, and especially on Hernando de Soto, who was on terms of more familiarity with him than Pizarro. De Soto reported Ata- huallpa's demands to his leader; but the latter evaded a direct reply. He did not disclose the dark purposes over which his mind was brooding. 12 Not long afterwards he caused the notary to pre- pare an instrument in which he fully acquitted the Inca of further obligation in respect to the ransom. This he commanded to be publicly pro- claimed in the camp, while at the same time he openly declared that the safety of the Spaniards required that the Inca should be detained in con- finement until they were strengthened by addi- tional reinforcements. 13 " " I como no ahondaban los designios que tenia le replicaban ; pero el respondia, que iba mirando en ello." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib 3, cap. 4. la Fatta quella fusione, il Governatore fece vn atto innanzi al no- taro nel quale liberaua il Cacique Atabalipa et Tabsolueua della pro- messa et parola die haueua data a gli Spagnuoli che lo presero della casa d'oro c'haueua lor cocessa, il quale fece publicar publicamete a suon di trombe nclla piazza di quella citta di Caxamalca." (Pedro Sancho, Kel., ap. Knnmsio, torn. iii. fol. 399.) The authority is un- 1533 J RUMORS OF A RISING 173 Meanwhile the old rumors of a meditated attack by the natives began to be current among the soldiers. They were repeated from one to another, gaining something by every repetition. An im- mense army, it was reported, was mustering at Quito, the land of Atahuallpa's birth, and thirty thousand Caribs were on their way to support it. 14 The Caribs were distributed by the early Span- iards rather indiscriminately over the different parts of America, being invested with peculiar horrors as a race of cannibals. It was not easy to trace the origin of these rumors. There was in the camp a considerable number of Indians, who belonged to the party of Huascar, and who were, of course, hostile to Atahuallpa. But his worst enemy was Felipillo, the interpreter from Tumbez, already mentioned in these pages. This youth had conceived a pas- sion for, or, as some say, had been detected in an intrigue with, one of the royal concubines. 15 impeachable, for any fact, at least, that makes against the Con- querors, since the Relatione was by one of Pizarro's own secretaries, and was authorized under the hands of the general and his great officers. 14 " De la gente Natural de Quito vienen docientos mil Hombres de Guerra, i treinta mil Caribes, que comen Carne Humana." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 233. See also Pedro Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, ubi supra. 15 " Pues estando asi atravesose un demonio de una lengua que se dezia ffelipillo uno de los muchachos que el marquez avia llevado a Espana que al presente hera lengua y andava enamorado de una muger de Atabalipa." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. The amour and the malice of Felipillo, which, Quintana seems to think, rest chiefly on Garcilasso's authority (see Espanoles celebres, torn. ii. p. 210, nota), are stated very explicitly by Zarate, Xaharro, Gomara, Balboa, all contemporaneous, though not, like Pedro Pizarro, per- sonally present in the army. 174 CONQUEST OF PERU The circumstance had reached the ears of Ata- huallpa, who felt himself deeply outraged by it. " That such an insult should have been offered by so base a person was an indignity," he said, " more difficult to bear than his imprisonment; " 16 and he told Pizarro " that, by the Peruvian law, it could be expiated, not by the criminal's own death alone, but by that of his whole family and kindred." 17 But Felipillo was too important to the Spaniards to be dealt with so summarily ; nor did they probably attach such consequence to an offence which, if report be true, they had counte- nanced by their own example. 18 Felipillo, how- ever, soon learned the state of the Inca's feelings towards himself, and from that moment he re- garded him with deadly hatred. Unfortunately, his malignant temper found ready means for its indulgence. The rumors of a rising among the natives pointed to Atahuallpa as the author of it. Chall- cuchima was examined on the subject, but avowed his entire ignorance of any such design, which he pronounced a malicious slander. Pizarro next laid the matter before the Inca himself, repeating to him the stories in circulation, with the air of one who believed them. ' What treason is this," said the general, " that you have meditated against me, me, who have ever treated you with honor, 14 " Diciendo que sentia mas aquel desacato, que su prision." Za- rate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 7. " Ibid., loc. cit. " " fi le habian tornado sus muperes repartidolas en su presencia 6 usaban de ellas de sus adulteries." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 22. 16aa i RUMORS OF A RISING 175 confiding in your words, as in those of a brother? " ' You jest," replied the Inca, who perhaps did not feel the weight of this confidence; " you are always jesting with me. How could I or my people think of conspiring against men so valiant as the Span- iards? Do not jest with me thus, I beseech you." 19 ' This," continues Pizarro's secretary, " he said in the most composed and natural manner, smiling all the while to dissemble his falsehood, so that we were all amazed to find such cunning in a bar- barian." 20 But it was not with cunning, but with the con- sciousness of innocence, as the event afterwards proved, that Atahuallpa thus spoke to Pizarro. He readily discerned, however, the causes, per- haps the consequences, of the accusation. He saw a dark gulf opening beneath his feet ; and he was surrounded by strangers, on none of whom he could lean for counsel or protection. The life of the captive monarch is usually short; and Ata- huallpa might have learned the truth of this, when he thought of Huascar. Bitterly did he now la- ment the absence of Hernando Pizarro, for, strange as it may seem, the haughty spirit of this cavalier had been touched by the condition of the royal prisoner, and he had treated him with a deference which won for him the peculiar regard and confidence of the Indian. Yet the latter lost 18 " Burlaste conmigo? siempre me hablas cosas de burlas? Que parte somos Yo, i toda mi Gente, para enojar a tan valientes Hom- bres como vosotros? No me digas esas burlas." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 234. 20 " De que los Espanoles que se las ban oldo, estan espantados de ver en vn Hombre Barbaro tanta prudencia." Ibid., loc. cit. 176 CONQUEST OF PERU no time in endeavoring to efface the general's sus- picions and to establish his own innocence. "Am I not," said he to Pizarro, " a poor captive in your hands? How could I harbor the designs you im- pute to me, when I should be the first victim of the outbreak? And you little know my people, if you think that such a movement would be made without my orders; when the very birds in my dominions," said he, with somewhat of an hyper- bole, " would scarcely venture to fly contrary to my will." 21 But these protestations of innocence had little effect on the troops ; among whom the story of a general rising of the natives continued to gain credit every hour. A large force, it was said, was already gathered at Huamachuco, not a hundred miles from the camp, and their assault might be hourly expected. The treasure which the Span- iards had acquired afforded a tempting prize, and their own alarm was increased by the apprehension of losing it. The patrols were doubled. The horses were kept saddled and bridled. The sol- diers slept on their arms ; Pizarro went the rounds regularly to see that every sentinel was on his post. The little army, in short, was in a state of prepa- ration for instant attack. Men suffering from fear are not likely to be too scrupulous as to the means of removing the cause of it. Murmurs, mingled with gloomy menaces, were now heard against the Inca, the author of these machinations. Many began to demand his " " Pues si Yo no lo quiero, ni las Aves bolaran en mi Tierra." Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 7. 1533 J RUMORS OF A RISING 177 life, as necessary to the safety of the army. Among these the most vehement were Almagro and his followers. They had not witnessed the seizure of Atahuallpa. They had no sympathy with him in his fallen state. They regarded him only as an encumbrance, and their desire now was to push their fortunes in the country, since they had got so little of the gold of Caxamalca. They were supported by Riquelme, the treasurer, and by the rest of the royal officers. These men had been left at San Miguel by Pizarro, who did not care to have such official spies on his movements. But they had come to the camp with Almagro, and they loudly demanded the Inca's death, as indis- pensable to the tranquillity of the country and the interests of the crown. 22 To these dark suggestions Pizarro turned or seemed to turn an unwilling ear, showing visible reluctance to proceed to extreme measures with his prisoner. 23 They were some few, and among others Hernando de Soto, who supported him in these views, and who regarded such measures as not at all justified by the evidence of Atahuallpa's guilt. In this state of things, the Spanish com- mander determined to send a small detachment to Huamachuco, to reconnoitre the country and as- certain what ground there was for the rumors of - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Relacion del primer De- scub., MS. Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 400. These cavaliers were all present in the camp. 23 " Aunque contra voluntad del dieho Gobernador, que nunca estubo bien en ello." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. So also Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap, Ra- musio, ubi supra. VOL. II. 12 178 CONQUEST OF PERU an insurrection. De Soto was placed at the head of the expedition, which, as the distance was not great, would occupy but a few days. After that cavalier's departure, the agitation among the soldiers, instead of diminishing, in- creased to such a degree that Pizarro, unable to reisist their importunities, consented to bring Ata- huallpa to instant trial. It was but decent, and certainly safer, to have the forms of a trial. A court was organized, over which the two captains, Pizarro and Almagro, were to preside as judges. An attorney-general was named to prosecute for the crown, and counsel was assigned to the pris- oner. The charges preferred against the Inca, drawn up in the form of interrogatories, were twelve in number. The most important were, that he had usurped the crown and assassinated his brother Huascar; that he had squandered the public revenues since the conquest of the country by the Spaniards, and lavished them on his kindred and his minions; that he was guilty of idolatry, and of adulterous practices, indulging openly in a plurality of wives ; finally, that he had attempted to excite an insurrection against the Spaniards. 24 14 The specification of the charges against the Inca is given by Garcilasso de la Vega. (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 37.) One could have wished to find them specified by some of the actors in the tragedy. But Garcilasso had access to the best sources of informa- tion, and where there was no motive for falsehood, as in the present instance, his word may probably be taken. The fact of a process being formally instituted against the Indian monarch is explicitly recognized by several contemporary writers, by Gomara, Oviedo, and Pedro Sancho. Oviedo characterizes the indictment as " a badly contrived and worse written document, devised by a factious and un- 1533J TRIAL OF THE INCA 179 These charges, most of which had reference to national usages, or to the personal relations of the Inca, over which the Spanish conquerors had clearly no jurisdiction, are so absurd that they might well provoke a smile, did they not excite a deeper feeling. The last of the charges was the only one of moment in such a trial ; and the weak- ness of this may be inferred from the care taken to bolster it up with the others. The mere specifi- cation of the articles must have been sufficient to show that the doom of the Inca was already sealed. A number of Indian witnesses were examined, and their testimony, filtrated through the inter- pretation of Felipillo, received, it is said, when necessary, a very different coloring from that of the original. The examination was soon ended, and " a warm discussion," as we are assured by one of Pizarro's own secretaries, " took place in re- spect to the probable good or evil that would re- sult from the death of Atahuallpa." 25 It was a question of expediency. He was found guilty, whether of all the crimes alleged we are not in- principled priest, a clumsy notary without conscience, and others of the like stamp, who were all concerned in this villany." Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 22.) Most authorities agree in the two principal charges, the assassination of Huascar, and the con- spiracy against the Spaniards. 25 " Doppo 1'essersi molto disputato, et ragionato del danno et vtile che saria potuto auuenire per il viuere o morire di Atabalipa, fu riso- luto che si facesse giustitia di lui." Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 400.) It is the language of a writer who may be taken as the mouthpiece of Pizarro himself. According to him, the con- clave which agitated this " question of expediency " consisted of the " officers of the crown and those of the army, a certain doctor learned in the law, that chanced to be with them, and the reverend Father Vicente de Valverde." 180 CONQUEST OF PERU formed, and he was sentenced to be burnt alive in the great square of Caxamalca. The sentence was to be carried into execution that very night. They were not even to wait for the return of De Soto, when the information he would bring would go far to establish the truth or the falsehood of the reports respecting the insurrection of the na- tives. It was desirable to obtain the countenance of Father Valverde to these proceedings, and a copy of the judgment was submitted to the friar for his signature, which he gave without hesita- tion, declaring that, " in his opinion, the Inca, at all events, deserved death." 26 Yet there were some few in that martial con- clave who resisted these high-handed measures. They considered them as a poor requital of all the favors bestowed on them by the Inca, who hitherto had received at their hands nothing but wrong. They objected to the evidence as wholly insufficient ; and they denied the authority of such a tribunal to sit in judgment on a sovereign prince in the heart of his own dominions. If he were to be tried, he should be sent to Spain, and his cause brought before the emperor, who alone had power to determine it. But the great majority and they were ten to one overruled these objections, by declaring there was no doubt of Atahuallpa's guilt, and they were willing to assume the responsibility of his punishment. A full account of the proceed- * " Respond5<5, que firmaria, que era hastante, para que el Tnga fuese condenado & muerte, porque aim en lo exterior quisieron justi- ficar su Sntento." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 4. 1533] TRIAL OF THE INCA 181 ings would be sent to Castile, and the emperor should be informed who were the loyal servants of the crown, and who were its enemies. The dispute ran so high that for a time it menaced an open and violent rupture ; till, at length, convinced that resistance was fruitless, the weaker party, silenced, but not satisfied, contented themselves with enter- ing a written protest against these proceedings, which would leave an indelible stain on the names of all concerned in them. 27 When the sentence was communicated to the Inca, he was greatly overcome by it. He had, indeed, for some time, looked to such an issue as 17 Garcilasso has preserved the names of some of those who so courageously, though ineffectually, resisted the popular cry for the Inca's blood.* (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 37.) They were doubtless correct in denying the right of such a tribunal to sit in judgment on an independent prince like the Inca of Peru, but not so correct in supposing that their master the emperor had a better right. Vattel (book ii. ch. 4) especially animadverts on this pretended trial of Atahuallpa, as a manifest outrage on the law of nations. * [1. Hernando de Soto. Discoverer of the Mississippi. 2. Francisco de Chaves. Murdered while defending Pizarro against his assassins. Zarate esteemed him the most im- portant man in Peru, next to Pizarro. 3. Diego de Chaves. Brother of 2. 4. Francisco de Fuentes. 5. Pedro de Ayala. 6. Diego de Mora. Became Corregidor of Lima. 7. Francisco Moscoso. 8. Hernando de Haro. 9. Pedro de Mendoza. 10. Juan de Herrada, A strong partisan of Almagro. 11. Alonzo de Avila. 12. Bias de Atienza. Balboa says that Atienza was of those who crossed the line with Pizarro. The names of De Soto, Francisco de Cheves, De Fuentes, and De Mendoza appear in the list of those who shared the ransom of AtahuaJlpa. Markham thinks the others must have come with Almagro. M.J 182 CONQUEST OF PERU probable, and had been heard to intimate as much to those about him. But the probability of such an event is very different from its certainty, and that, too, so sudden and speedy. For a moment, the overwhelming conviction of it unmanned him, and he exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, " What have I done, or my children, that I should meet such a fate? And from your hands, too," said he, addressing Pizarro ; " you, who have met with friendship and kindness from my people, with whom I have shared my treasures, who have re- ceived nothing but benefits from my hands! " In the most piteous tones, he then implored that his life might be spared, promising any guarantee that might be required for the safety of every Spaniard in the army, promising double the ran- som he had already paid, if time were only given him to obtain it. 28 An eye-witness assures us that Pizarro was visibly affected, as he turned away from the Inca, to whose appeal he had no power to listen in oppo- sition to the voice of the army and to his own sense of what was due to the security of the coun- try. 28 Atahuallpa, finding he had no power to turn his Conqueror from his purpose, recovered his habitual self-possession, and from that moment submitted himself to his fate with the courage of an Indian warrior. "Pedro Pizarro, Descuh. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 4. /arate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 7. ** " I myself," says Pedro Pizarro, "saw the peneral weep." " Yo vide llorar al marques de pesar por no podelle dar la vida porque cierto temio los requirimientos y el rriezpo que avia en la tierra si se oltava." Descub. y Conq., MS. 1533 J HIS EXECUTION 183 The doom of the Inca was proclaimed by sound of trumpet in the great square of Caxamalca ; and, two hours after sunset, the Spanish soldiery as- sembled by torch-light in the plaza to witness the execution of the sentence. It was on the twenty- ninth of August, 1533. Atahuallpa was led out chained hand and foot, for he had been kept in irons ever since the great excitement had prevailed in the army respecting an assault. Father Vicente de Valverde was at his side, striving to administer consolation, and, if possible, to persuade him at this last hour to abjure his superstition and em- brace the religion of his Conquerors. He was willing to save the soul of his victim from the terrible expiation in the next world to which he had so cheerfully consigned his mortal part in this. During Atahuallpa's confinement, the friar had repeatedly expounded to him the Christian doc- trines, and the Indian monarch discovered much acuteness in apprehending the discourse of his teacher. But it had not carried conviction to his mind, and, though he listened with patience, he had shown no disposition to renounce the faith of his fathers. The Dominican made a last ap- peal to him in this solemn hour; and, when Ata- huallpa was bound to the stake, with the fagots that were to kindle his funeral pile lying around him, Valverde, holding up the cross, besought him to embrace it and be baptized, promising that, by so doing, the painful death to which he had been sentenced should be commuted for the milder form of the garrote, a mode of pun- 184 CONQUEST OF PERU ishment by strangulation, used for criminals in Spain. 30 The unhappy monarch asked if this were really so, and, on its being confirmed by Pizarro, he con- sented to abjure his own religion and receive bap- tism. The ceremony was performed by Father Valverde, and the new convert received the name of Juan de Atahuallpa, the name of Juan being conferred in honor of John the Baptist, on whose day the event took place. 31 Atahuallpa expressed a desire that his remains might be transported to Quito, the place of his birth, to be preserved with those of his maternal ancestors. Then, turning to Pizarro, as a last re- quest, he implored him to take compassion on his young children and receive them under his pro- tection. Was there no other one in that dark com- pany who stood grimly around him, to whom he could look for the protection of his offspring? Perhaps he thought there was no other so compe- tent to afford it, and that the wishes so solemnly expressed in that hour might meet with respect even from his Conqueror. Then, recovering his stoical bearing, which for a moment had been shaken, he submitted himself calmly to his fate, "Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. in. p. 234. Pedro Pi- zarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS. Fed. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 400. The garrote is a mode of execution by means of a noose drawn round the criminal's neck, to the back part of which a stick is attached. By twisting this stick the noose is tightened and suffocation is produced. This was the mode, probably, of Atahuallpa's execution. In Spain, instead of the cord, an iron collar is substituted, which, by means of a screw, is compressed round the throat of the sufferer. " Velasco, Hist, de Quito, torn. i. p. 372 1533 1 HIS EXECUTION 185 while the Spaniards, gathering around, mut- tered their credos for the salvation of his soul ! t2 Thus by the death of a vile malefactor perished the last of the Incas! I have already spoken of the person and the qualities of Atahuallpa. He had a handsome countenance, though with an expression somewhat too fierce to be pleasing. His frame was muscu- lar and well proportioned; his air commanding; and his deportment in the Spanish quarters had a degree of refinement, the more interesting that it was touched with melancholy. He is accused of having been cruel in his wars and bloody in his revenge. 33 It may be true, but the pencil of an 32 " Ma quando se lo vidde appressare per douer esser morto, disse che raccomandaua al Gouernatore i suoi piccioli figliuoli che volesse tenersegli appresso, & con queste ultime parole, & dicendo per 1'ani- ma sua li Spagnuoli che erano all' intorno il Credo, fu subito affo- gato." Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 399. Xerez, Conq. del Peru. ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 234. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 7. The death of Atahuallpa has many points of resemblance to that of Caupolican, the great Araucanian chief, as described in the historical epic of Ercilla. Both embraced the re- ligion of their conquerors at the stake, though Caupolican was so far less fortunate than the Peruvian monarch that his conversion did not save him from the tortures of a most agonizing death. He was im- paled and shot with arrows. The spirited verses reflect so faithfully the character of these early adventurers, in which the fanaticism of the Crusader was mingled with the cruelty of the conqueror, and they are so germane to the present subject, that I would willingly quote the passage were it not too long. See La Araucana, Parte 2, canto 24. 33 " Thus he paid the penalty of his errors and cruelties," says Xerez, " for he was the greatest butcher, as all agree, that the world ever saw; making nothing of razing a whole town to the ground for the most trifling offence, and massacring a thousand persons for the fault of one!" (Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 234.) Xerez was the private secretary of Pizarro. Sancho, who, on the departure of Xerez for Spain, succeeded him in the same office, pays a more 186 CONQUEST OF PERU enemy would be likely to overcharge the shadows of the portrait. He is allowed to have been bold, high-minded, and liberal. 34 All agree that he showed singular penetration and quickness of perception. His exploits as a warrior had placed his valor beyond dispute. The best homage to it is the reluctance shown by the Spaniards to re- store him to freedom. They dreaded him as an enemy, and they had done him too many wrongs to think that he could be their friend. Yet his con- duct towards them from the first had been most friendly; and they repaid it with imprisonment, robbery, and death. The body of the Inca remained on the place of execution through the night. The following morning it was removed to the church of San Francisco, where his funeral obsequies were per- formed with great solemnity. Pizarro and the principal cavaliers went into mourning, and the troops listened with devout attention to the service of the dead from the lips of Father Valverde. 35 The ceremony was interrupted by the sound of loud cries and wailing, as of many voices at the doors of the church. These were suddenly thrown open, and a number of Indian women, the wives decent tribute to the memory of the Inca, who, he trusts, " is received into glory, since he died penitent for his sins, and in the true faith of a Christian." Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 399. M " El hera muy repalado, y muy Seftor," says Pedro Pizarro. (Desouh. y Conq., MS.) " Mui dispuesto, sabio, animoso, franco," says Gomara. (Hist, de las Ind., cap. 118.) "The secretary Sancho seems to think that the Peruvians must have regarded these funeral honors as an ample compensation to Ata- huallpa for any wronps he may have sustained, since they at once raised him to a level with the Spaniards ! Ibid., loc. cit. 1533 1 HIS FUNERAL RITES 187 and sisters of the deceased, rushing up the great aisle, surrounded the corpse. This was not the way, they cried, to celebrate the funeral rites of an Inca; and they declared their intention to sacrifice themselves on his tomb and bear him com- pany to the land of spirits. The audience, out- raged by this frantic behavior, told the intruders that Atahuallpa had died in the faith of a Chris- tian, and that the God of the Christians abhorred such sacrifices. They then caused the women to be excluded from the church, and several, retiring to their own quarters, laid violent hands on them- selves, in the vain hope of accompanying their beloved lord to the bright mansions of the Sun. 3 ' 5 Atahuallpa's remains, notwithstanding his re- quest, were laid in the cemetery of San Fran- cisco. 37 But from thence, as is reported, after the Spaniards left Caxamalca, they were secretly removed, and carried, as he had desired, to Quito. The colonists of a later time supposed that some treasures might have been buried with the body. But, on excavating the ground, neither treasure nor remains were to be discovered. 38 36 Relacion del primer Descub., MS. See Appendix No. 10, where I have cited in the original several of the contemporary notices of Atahuallpa's execution, which being in manuscript are not very ac- cessible, even to Spaniards. 37 " Oi dicen los indios que estd su sepulcro junto d una Cruz de Piedra Blanca que esta en el Cementerio del Convento de S n Fran- cisco." Montesinos, Annales, MS., ano 1533. 38 Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 23. Accord- ing to Stevenson, " In the chapel belonging to the common gaol, which was formerly part of the palace, the altar stands on the stone on which Atahuallpa was placed by the Spaniards and strangled, and under which he was buried." (Residence in South America, vol. ii. p. 163.) Montesinos, who wrote more than a century after the Con- 188 CONQUEST OF PERU A day or two after these tragic events, Hernando de Soto returned from his excursion. Great was his astonishment and indignation at learning what had been done in his absence. He sought out Pizarro at once, and found him, says the chronicler, " with a great felt hat, by way of mourning, slouched over his eyes," and in his dress and demeanor exhibiting all the show of sorrow. 39 ' You have acted rashly," said De Soto to him bluntly; " Atahuallpa has been basely slandered. There was no enemy at Huamachuco; no rising among the natives. I have met with nothing on the road but demon- strations of good will, and all is quiet. If it was necessary to bring the Inca to trial, he should have been taken to Castile and judged by the emperor. I would have pledged myself to see him safe on board the vessel." 40 Pizarro con- fessed that he had been precipitate, and said that he had been deceived by Riquelme, Valverde, and the others. These charges soon reached the ears of the treasurer and the Dominican, who, in their turn, exculpated themselves, and upbraided Pi- zarro to his face, as the only one responsible for the deed. The dispute ran high; and the parties were heard by the by-standers to give one another quest, tells us that " spots of blood were still visible on a broad flag- stone, in the prison of Caxamalca, on which Atahuallpa was be- headed." (Annales, MS., aflo 1533.) Ignorance and credulity could scarcely go further. " Hallaronle monstrando mucho sentimiento con un gran som- brero de fieltro puesto en la c.ibeza por Into 6 muy calado sobre los ojos." Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 22. "Ibid., MS., ubi supra. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. See Appendix No. 10. REFLECTIONS 189 the lie! 41 This vulgar squabble among the leaders, so soon after the event, is the best commentary on the iniquity of their own proceedings and the inno- cence of the Inca. The treatment of Atahuallpa, from first to last, forms undoubtedly one of the darkest chapters in Spanish colonial history. There may have been massacres perpetrated on a more extended scale, and executions accompanied with a greater refine- ment of cruelty. But the blood-stained annals of the Conquest afford no such example of cold- hearted and systematic persecution, not of an enemy, but of one whose whole deportment had been that of a friend and a benefactor. From the hour that Pizarro and his followers had entered within the sphere of Atahuallpa's in- fluence, the hand of friendship had been extended to them by the natives. Their first act, on cross- ing the mountains, was to kidnap the monarch and massacre his people. The seizure of his person might be vindicated, by those who considered the end as justifying the means, on the ground that it was indispensable to secure the triumphs of the Cross. But no such apology can be urged for the massacre of the unarmed and helpless population, as wanton as it was wicked. 41 This remarkable account is given by Oviedo, not in the body of his narrative, but in one of those supplementary chapters which he makes the vehicle of the most miscellaneous, yet oftentimes impor- tant, gossip, respecting the great transactions of his history. As he knew familiarly the leaders in these transactions, the testimony which he collected, somewhat at random, is of high authority. The reader will find Oviedo's account of the Inca's death extracted, in the original, amon ; the other notices of this catastrophe, in Appendix No. 10. 190 CONQUEST OF PERU The long confinement of the Inca had been used by the Conquerors to wring from him his treasures with the hard gripe of avarice. During the whole of this dismal period he had conducted himself with singular generosity and good faith. He had opened a free passage to the Spaniards through every part of his empire, and had furnished every facility for the execution of their plans. When these were accomplished, and he remained an en- cumbrance on their hands, notwithstanding their engagement, expressed or implied, to release him, and Pizarro, as we have seen, by a formal act acquitted his captive of any further obligation on the score of the ransom, he was arraigned before a mock tribunal, and, under pretences equally false and frivolous, was condemned to an excruci- ating death. From first to last, the policy of the Spanish conquerors towards their unhappy victim is stamped with barbarity and fraud. It is not easy to acquit Pizarro of being in a great degree responsible for this policy. His par- tisans have labored to show that it was forced on him by the necessity of the case, and that in the death of the Inca, especially, he yielded reluc- tantly to the importunities of others. 42 But, weak as is this apology, the historian who has the means of comparing the various testimony of the period 41 " Contra su voluntad sentencio A muerte A Atabalipa." (Pedro Pizarro, Dcscuh. y Conq., MS.) "Contra voluntad del dicho Gober- nador." (Relaeion del primer Desouh., MS.) " Ancora olie molto li dispiaeesse di venir a qnesto atto." (Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ra- musio, torn. iii. fol. 399.) Even Oviedo seems willing to admit it pos- sible that Pizarro may have been somewhat deceived by others: " Que tambien se puede creer que era enpanado." Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 22. 1533 J REFLECTIONS 191 will come to a different conclusion. To him it will appear that Pizarro had probably long felt the removal of Atahuallpa to be essential to the suc- cess of his enterprise. He foresaw the odium that would be incurred by the death of his royal cap- tive without sufficient grounds; while he labored to establish these, he still shrank from the respon- sibility of the deed, and preferred to perpetrate it in obedience to the suggestions of others, rather than his own. Like many an unprincipled poli- tician, he wished to reap the benefit of a bad act and let others bear the blame of it. Almagro and his followers are reported by Pi- zarro 's secretaries to have first insisted on the Inca's death. They were loudly supported by the treasurer and the royal officers, who considered it as indispensable to the interests of the crown; and, finally, the rumors of a conspiracy raised the same cry among the soldiers, and Pizarro, with all his tenderness for his prisoner, could not refuse to bring him to trial. The form of a trial was necessary to give an appearance of fairness to the proceedings. That it was only form is evident from the indecent haste with which it was con- ducted, the examination of evidence, the sen- tence, and the execution being all on the same day- The multiplication of the charges, designed to place the guilt of the accused on the strongest ground, had, from their very number, the oppo- site effect, proving only the determination to con- vict him. If Pizarro had felt the reluctance to his conviction which he pretended, why did he send De Soto, Atahuallpa's best friend, away, when 192 CONQUEST OF PERU the inquiry was to be instituted? Why was the sentence so summarily executed, as not to afford opportunity, by that cavalier's return, of dis- proving the truth of the principal charge, the only one, in fact, with which the Spaniards had any concern? The solemn farce of mourning and deep sorrow affected by Pizarro, who by these honors to the dead would intimate the sincere regard he had entertained for the living, was too thin a veil to impose on the most credulous. It is not intended by these reflections to excul- pate the rest of the army, and especially its officers, from their share in the infamy of the transaction. But Pizarro, as commander of the army, was mainly responsible for its measures. For he was not a man to allow his own authority to be wrested from his grasp, or to yield timidly to the impulses of others. He did not even yield to his own. His whole career shows him, whether for good or for evil, to have acted with a cool and calculating policy. A story has been often repeated, which refers the motives of Pizarro's conduct, in some degree at least, to personal resentment. The Inca had requested one of the Spanish soldiers to write the name of God on his nail. This the monarch showed to several of his guards successively, and, as they read it, and each pronounced the same word, the sagacious mind of the barbarian was delighted with what seemed to him little short of a miracle, to which the science of his own nation afforded no analogy. On showing the writing to Pizarro, that chief remained silent ; and the Inca, 1533J REFLECTIONS 193 finding he could not read, conceived a contempt for the commander who was even less informed than his soldiers. This he did not wholly conceal, and Pizarro, aware of the cause of it, neither for- got nor forgave it. 43 The anecdote is reported not on the highest authority. It may be true; but it is unnecessary to look for the motives of Pizarro's conduct in personal pique, when so many proofs are to be discerned of a dark and deliberate policy. Yet the arts of the Spanish chieftain failed to reconcile his countrymen to the atrocity of his proceedings. It is singular to observe the differ- ence between the tone assumed by the first chron- iclers of the transaction, while it was yet fresh, and that of those who wrote when the lapse of a few years had shown the tendency of public opinion. The first boldly avow the deed as de- manded by expediency, if not necessity; while they deal in no measured terms of reproach with the character of their unfortunate victim. 44 The latter, on the other hand, while they extenuate the errors of the Inca, and do justice to his good faith, are unreserved in their condemnation of the Con- " The story is to be found in Garcilasso de la Vega (Com. Real., Parte 2, cap. 38), and in no other writer of the period, so far as I am aware. 44 I have already noticed the lavish epithets heaped by Xerez on the Inca's cruelty. This account was printed in Spain, in 1534, the year after the execution. " The proud tyrant," says the other secretary, Sancho, " would have repaid the kindness and good treatment he had received from the governor and every one of us with the same coin with which he usually paid his own followers, without any fault on their part, by putting them to death." (Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ra- musio, torn. iii. fol. 399.) " He deserved to die," says the old Spanish Conqueror before quoted, "and all the country was rejoiced that he was put out of the way." Rel. d'un Capitano Spagn., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 377. VOL. II. 13 194 CONQUEST OF PERU querors, on whose conduct, they say, Heaven set the seal of its own reprobation, by bringing them all to an untimely and miserable end. 45 The sen- tence of contemporaries has been fully ratified by that of posterity; 46 and the persecution of Ata- huallpa is regarded with justice as having left a stain, never to be effaced, on the Spanish arms in the New World. 45 " Las demostraciones que despues se vieron bien manifiestan lo mui injusta que fu, . . . puesto que todos quantos entendieron en ella tuvieron despues mui desastradas muertes." (Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS.) Gomara uses nearly the same language. " No ai que reprehender a los que le mataron, pues el tiempo, i sus pacados los castigaron despues; ca todos ellos acabaron mal." (Hist, de las Ind., cap. 118.) According to the former writer, Felipillo paid the forfeit of his crimes, some time afterwards, being hanged by Almagro on the expedition to Chili, when, as " some say, he confessed having per- verted testimony given in favor of Atahuallpa's innocence, directly against that monarch." Oviedo, usually ready enough to excuse the excesses of his countrymen, is unqualified in his condemnation of this whole proceeding (see Appendix No. 10), which, says another con- temporary, " fills every one with pity who has a spark of humanity in his bosom." Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. "The most eminent example of this is given by Quintana in his memoir of Pizarro (Espanoles celebres, torn, ii.), throughout which the writer, rising above the mists of national prejudice, which too often blind the eyes of his countrymen, holds the scale of historic criticism with an impartial hand, and deals a full measure of repro- bation to the actors in these dismal scenes. CHAPTER VIII DISORDERS IN PERU MARCH TO CUZCO EN- COUNTER WITH THE NATIVES CHALLCUCHIMA BURNT ARRIVAL IN CUZCO DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY TREASURE FOUND THERE 1533-1534 ' I ^HE Inca of Peru was its sovereign in a pecu- A liar sense. He received an obedience from his vassals more implicit than that of any despot; for his authority reached to the most secret con- duct, to the thoughts of the individual. He was reverenced as more than human. 1 He was not merely the head of the state, but the point to which all its institutions converged, as to a com- mon centre, the keystone of the political fabric, which must fall to pieces by its own weight when that was withdrawn. So it fared on the death of Atahuallpa. 2 His death not only left the throne 1 " Such was the awe in which the Inca was held," says Pedro Pi- zarro, " that it was only necessary for him to intimate his commands to that effect, and a Peruvian would at once jump down a precipice, hang himself, or put an end to his life in any way that was pre- scribed." Descub. y Conq., MS. 1 Oviedo tells us that the Inca's right name was A tabaliva, and that the Spaniards usually misspelt it, because they thought much more of getting treasure for themselves than they did of the name of the per- son who owned it. (Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16.) Nevertheless, I have preferred the authority of Garcilasso, who, a Pe- ruvian himself, and a near kinsman of the Inca, must be supposed to have been well informed. His countrymen, he says, pretended that the cocks imported into Peru by the Spaniards, when they crowed, 195 196 CONQUEST OF PERU vacant, without any certain successor, but the man- ner of it announced to the Peruvian people that a hand stronger than that of their Incas had now seized the sceptre, and that the dynasty of the Children of the Sun had passed away forever. The natural consequences of such a conviction followed. The beautiful order of the ancient in- stitutions was broken up, as the authority which controlled it was withdrawn. The Indians broke out into greater excesses from the uncommon re- straint to which they had been before subjected. Villages were burnt, temples and palaces were plundered, and the gold they contained was scat- tered or secreted. Gold and silver acquired an importance in the eyes of the Peruvian, when he saw the importance attached to them by his con- querors. The precious metals, which before served only for purposes of state or religious decoration, were now hoarded up and buried in caves and forests. The gold and silver concealed by the natives were affirmed greatly to exceed in quantity that which fell into the hands of the Spaniards. 3 The remote provinces now shook off their allegiance to the Incas. Their great cap- tains, at the head of distant armies, set up for themselves. Ruminavi, a commander on the bor- ders of Quito, sought to detach that kingdom uttered the name of Atahuallpa; " and I and the other Indian hoys," adds the historian, " when we were at school, used to mimic them." Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 23. 1 " That which the Inca gave the Spaniards, said some of the Indian nobles to Benalcazar, the conqueror of Quito, was but as a kernel of corn, compared with a heap before him." (Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 22.) See also Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 1533 J DISORDERS IN PERU 197 from the Peruvian empire and to reassert its ancient independence. The country, in short, was in that state in which old things are passing away and the new order of things has not yet been established. It was in a state of revolution. The authors of the revolution, Pizarro and his followers, remained meanwhile at Caxamalca. But the first step of the Spanish commander was to name a successor to Atahuallpa. It would be easy to govern under the venerated authority to which the homage of the Indians had been so long paid; and it was not difficult to find a suc- cessor. The true heir to the crown was a second son of Huayna Capac, named Manco, a legitimate brother of the unfortunate Huascar. But Pizarro had too little knowledge of the dispositions of this prince ; and he made no scruple to prefer a brother of Atahuallpa and to present him to the Indian nobles as their future Inca. We know nothing of the character of the young Toparca, who prob- ably resigned himself without reluctance to a destiny which, however humiliating in some points of view, was more exalted than he could have hoped to obtain in the regular course of events. The ceremonies attending a Peruvian coronation were observed, as well as time would allow; the brows of the young Inca were encircled with the imperial borla by the hands of his conqueror, and he received the homage of his Indian vassals. They were the less reluctant to pay it, as most of those in the camp belonged to the faction of Quito. All thoughts were now eagerly turned towards 198 CONQUEST OF PERU Cuzco, of which the most glowing accounts were circulated among the soldiers, and whose temples and royal palaces were represented as blazing with gold and silver. With imaginations thus excited, Pizarro and his entire company, amounting to almost five hundred men, of whom nearly a third, probably, were cavalry, took their departure early in September from Caxamalca, a place ever memorable as the theatre of some of the most strange and sanguinary scenes recorded in his- tory. All set forward in high spirits, the soldiers of Pizarro from the expectation of doubling their present riches, and Almagro's followers from the prospect of sharing equally in the spoil with " the first conquerors." 4 The young Inca and the old chief Challcuchima accompanied the march in their litters, attended by a numerous retinue of vassals, and moving in as much state and ceremony as if in the possession of real power. 5 Their course lay along the great road of the Incas, which stretched across the elevated regions of the Cordilleras, all the way to Cuzco. It was of nearly a uniform breadth, though constructed with different degrees of care, according to the ground. 6 Sometimes it crossed smooth and level valleys, which offered of themselves little impedi- ment to the traveller; at other times it followed 4 The " first conquerors," according to Garcilasso, were held in especial honor by those who came after them, though they were, on the whole, men of less consideration and fortune than the later adventurers. Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap. 9. 1 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Naharro, Relacion suma- ria, MS. Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 400. * " Va todo el camino de mm traza y anchura hecho & mano." Re- lacion del primer Descub., MS. 1533 J MARCH TO CUZCO 199 the course of a mountain-stream that flowed round the base of some beetling cliff, leaving small space for the foothold ; at others, again, where the sierra was so precipitous that it seemed to preclude all farther progress, the road, accommodated to the natural sinuosities of the ground, wound round the heights which it would have been impossible to scale directly. 7 But, although managed with great address, it was a formidable passage for the cavalry. The mountain was hewn into steps, but the rocky ledges cut up the hoofs of the horses ; and, though the troopers dismounted and led them by the bridle, they suffered severely in their efforts to keep their footing. 8 The road was constructed for man and the light-footed llama ; and the only heavy beast of burden at all suited to it was the sagacious and sure-footed mule, with which the Spanish adventurers were not then provided. It was a singular chance that Spain was the land of the mule; and thus the country was speedily sup- plied with the very animal which seems to have been created for the difficult passes of the Cordil- leras. Another obstacle, often occurring, was the deep torrents that rushed down in fury from the Andes. They were traversed by the hanging bridges of osier, whose frail materials were after a time broken up by the heavy tread of the cavalry, and the holes made in them added materially to the T " En mtichas partes vicndo lo que estd adelante, parece cosa im- possible poderlo pasar." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. " Fed. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 404. 200 CONQUEST OF PERU dangers of the passage. On such occasions the Spaniards contrived to work their way across the rivers on rafts, swimming their horses by the bridle. 9 All along the route they found post-houses for the accommodation of the royal couriers, estab- lished at regular intervals; and magazines of grain and other commodities, provided in the principal towns for the Indian armies. The Spaniards profited by the prudent forecast of the Peruvian government. Passing through several hamlets and towns of some note, the principal of which were Huama- chuco and Huanuco, Pizarro, after a tedious march, came in sight of the rich valley of Xauxa. The march, though tedious, had been attended with little suffering, except in crossing the brist- ling crests of the Cordilleras, which occasionally obstructed their path, a rough setting to the beautiful valleys that lay scattered like gems along this elevated region. In the mountain- passes they found some inconvenience from the cold; since, to move more quickly, they had dis- encumbered themselves of all superfluous bag- gage, and were even unprovided with tents. 10 The bleak winds of the mountains penetrated the thick harness of the soldiers; but the poor Indians, more scantily clothed, and accustomed to a tropical climate, suffered most severely. The Fed. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, ubi supra. Relacion del primer Desouh., MS. 10 " La notte dormirono tutti in quella oampapna senzi coperto alcuno, sopra la neue, ne pur liebher souuenimento di letrne ne da mangiare." Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 401. 1533] MARCH TO CUZCO 201 Spaniard seemed to have a hardihood of body, as of soul, that rendered him almost indifferent to climate. On the march they had not been molested by enemies. But more than once they had seen ves- tiges of them in smoking hamlets and ruined bridges. Reports, from time to time, had reached Pizarro of warriors on his track ; and small bodies of Indians were occasionally seen like dusky clouds on the verge of the horizon, which van- ished as the Spaniards approached. On reaching Xauxa, however, these clouds gathered into one dark mass of warriors, which formed on the oppo- site bank of the river that flowed through the valley. The Spaniards advanced to the stream, which, swollen by the melting of the snows, was now of considerable width, though not deep. The bridge had been destroyed; but the Conquerors, without hesitation, dashing boldly in, advanced, swimming and wading, as they best could, to the opposite bank. The Indians, disconcerted by this decided movement, as they had relied on their watery de- fences, took to flight, after letting off an impo- tent volley of missiles. Fear gave wings to the fugitives ; but the horse and his rider were swifter, and the victorious pursuers took bloody vengeance on their enemy for having dared even to meditate resistance. Xauxa was a considerable town. It was the place already noticed as having been visited by Hernando Pizarro. It was seated in the midst of a verdant valley, fertilized by a thousand little 202 CONQUEST OF PERU rills, which the thrifty Indian husbandmen drew from the parent river that rolled sluggishly through the meadows. There were several capacious buildings of rough stone in the town, and a temple of some note in the times of the Incas. But the strong arm of Father Valverde and his countrymen soon tumbled the heathen deities from their pride of place, and established, in their stead, the sacred effigies of the Virgin and Child. Here Pizarro proposed to halt for some days, and to found a Spanish colony. It was a favor- able position, he thought, for holding the Indian mountaineers in check, while at the same time it afforded an easy communication with the sea- coast. Meanwhile he determined to send forward De Soto, with a detachment of sixty horse, to reconnoitre the country in advance, and to restore the bridges where demolished by the enemy. 11 That active cavalier set forward at once, but found considerable impediments to his progress. The traces of an enemy became more frequent as he advanced. The villages were burnt, the bridges destroyed, and heavy rocks and trees strewed in the path to impede the march of the cavalry. As he drew near to Bilcas, once an important place, though now effaced from the map, he had a sharp encounter with the natives, in a mountain-defile, which cost him the lives of two or three troopers. 11 Carta de la Justioia y Repimiento de la Ciudad de Xauja, MS. Pedro Pi/arro, Deseub. y Conq., MS. Conq. i Poh. del Piru, MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 10. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 1533 1 MARCH TO CUZCO 203 The loss was light; but any loss was felt by the Spaniards, so little accustomed as they had been of late to resistance. Still pressing forward, the Spanish captain crossed the river Abancay and the broad waters of the Apurimac ; and, as he drew near the sierra of Vilcaconga, he learned that a considerable body of Indians lay in wait for him in the dangerous passes of the mountains. The sierra was several leagues from Cuzco; and the cavalier, desirous to reach the farther side of it before nightfall, in- cautiously pushed on his wearied horses. When he was fairly entangled in its rocky defiles, a multi- tude of armed warriors, springing, as it seemed, from every cavern and thicket of the sierra, filled the air with their war-cries, and rushed down, like one of their own mountain-torrents, on the in- vaders, as they were painfully toiling up the steeps. Men and horses were overturned in the fury of the assault, and the foremost files, rolling back on those below, spread ruin and consterna- tion in their ranks. De Soto in vain endeavored to restore order, and, if possible, to charge the assailants. The horses were blinded and mad- dened by the missiles, while the desperate natives, clinging to their legs, strove to prevent their as- cenv up the rocky pathway. De Soto saw that, unless he gained a level ground which opened at some distance before him, all must be lost. Cheer- ing on his men with the old battle-cry, that always w r ent to the heart of a Spaniard, he struck his spurs deep into the sides of his wearied charger, and, gallantly supported by his troop, broke through 204 CONQUEST OF PERU the dark array of warriors, and, shaking them off to the right and left, at length succeeded in placing himself on the broad level. Here both parties paused, as if by mutual con- sent, for a few moments. A little stream ran through the plain, at which the Spaniards watered their horses ; 12 and, the animals having recovered wind, De Soto and his men made a desperate charge on their assailants. The undaunted In- dians sustained the shock with firmness; and the result of the combat was still doubtful, when the shades of evening, falling thicker around them, separated the combatants. Both parties then withdrew from the field, taking up their respective stations within bow- shot of each other, so that the voices of the war- riors on either side could be distinctly heard in the stillness of the night. But very different were the reflections of the two hosts. The Indians, exulting in their temporary triumph, looked with confidence to the morrow to complete it. The Spaniards, on the other hand, were proportion- ately discouraged. They were not prepared for this spirit of resistance in an enemy hitherto so tame. Several cavaliers had fallen, one of them by a blow from a Peruvian battle-axe, which clove his head to the chin, attesting the power of the weapon and of the arm that used it. 13 Several horses, too, had been killed; and the loss of these was almost as severely felt as that of their riders, considering the great cost and difficulty of trans- " Fed. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 405. " Ped. Sanoho, Rel., up. Ramusio, loc. cit. 1533 1 MARCH TO CUZCO 205 porting them to these distant regions. Few either of the men or horses had escaped without wounds, and the Indian allies had suffered still more severely. It seemed probable, from the pertinacity and a certain order maintained in the assault, that it was directed by some leader of military experience, perhaps the Indian commander Quizquiz, who was said to be hanging round the environs of Cuzco with a considerable force. Notwithstanding the reasonable cause of appre- hension for the morrow, De Soto, like a stout- hearted cavalier as he was, strove to keep up the spirits of his followers. If they had beaten off the enemy when their horses were jaded and their own strength nearly exhausted, how much easier it would be to come off victorious when both were restored by a night's rest! and he told them to " trust in the Almighty, who would never desert his faithful followers in their extremity." The event justified De Soto's confidence in this season- able succor. From time to time, on his march, he had sent advices to Pizarro of the menacing state of the country, till his commander, becoming seriously alarmed, was apprehensive that the cavalier might be overpowered by the superior numbers of the enemy. He accordingly detached Almagro, with nearly all the remaining horse, to his support, unencumbered by infantry, that he might move the faster. That efficient leader advanced by forced marches, stimulated by the tidings which met him on the road, and was so fortunate as to 206 CONQUEST OF PERU reach the foot of the sierra of Vilcaconga the very night of the engagement. There, hearing of the encounter, he pushed for- ward without halting, though his horses were spent with travel. The night was exceedingly dark, and Almagro, afraid of stumbling on the enemy's bivouac, and desirous to give De Soto information of his approach, commanded his trumpets to sound, till the notes, winding through the defiles of the mountains, broke the slumbers of his countrymen, sounding like blithest music in their ears. They quickly replied with their own bugles, and soon had the satisfaction to embrace their deliverers. 14 Great was the dismay of the Peruvian host when the morning light discovered the fresh reinforce- ment of the ranks of the Spaniards. There was no use in contending with an enemy who gathered strength from the conflict, and who seemed to multiply his numbers at will. Without further attempt to renew the fight, they availed themselves of a thick fog, which hung over the lower slopes of the hills, to effect their retreat, and left the passes open to the invaders. The two cavaliers then continued their march until they extricated their forces from the sierra, when, taking up a secure position, they proposed to await there the arrival of Pizarro. 15 " Pedro Pizarro, Desouh. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 5, cap. 3. 15 The account of De Soto's affair with the natives is given in more or less detail, by Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 405, Conq. i Pob. del Pirn, MS. Relacion del primer Desoub., MS., Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS., persons all present in the army. 1533J MARCH TO CUZCO 207 The commander-in-chief, meanwhile, lay at Xauxa, where he was greatly disturbed by the rumors which reached him of the state of the country. His enterprise, thus far, had gone for- ward so smoothly that he was no better prepared than his lieutenant to meet with resistance from the natives. He did not seem to comprehend that the mildest nature might at last be roused by oppression, and that the massacre of their Inca, whom they regarded with such awful veneration, would be likely, if any thing could do it, to wake them from their apathy. The tidings which he now received of the re- treat of the Peruvians were most welcome; and he caused mass to be said, and thanksgiving to be offered up to Heaven, " which had shown itself thus favorable to the Christians throughout this mighty enterprise." The Spaniard was ever a Crusader. He was in the sixteenth century what Cceur de Lion and his brave knights were in the twelfth, with this difference; the cavalier of that day fought for the Cross and for glory, while gold and the Cross were the watchwords of the Spaniard. The spirit of chivalry had waned somewhat before the spirit of trade; but the fire of religious enthusiasm still burned as bright under the quilted mail of the American Conqueror as it did of yore under the iron panoply of the soldier of Palestine. It seemed probable that some man of authority had organized, or at least countenanced, this re- sistance of the natives; and suspicion fell on the captive chief Challcuchima, who was accused of 208 CONQUEST OF PERU maintaining a secret correspondence with his con- federate Quizquiz. Pizarro waited on the Indian noble, and, charging him with the conspiracy, re- proached him, as he had formerly done his royal master, with ingratitude towards the Spaniards, who had dealt with him so liberally. He con- cluded by the assurance that, if he did not cause the Peruvians to lay down their arms and tender their submission at once, he should be burnt alive so soon as they reached Almagro's quarters. 10 The Indian chief listened to the terrible menace with the utmost composure. He denied having had any communications with his countrymen, and said that, in his present state of confinement at least, he could have no power to bring them to submission. He then remained doggedly silent, and Pizarro did not press the matter further. 17 But he placed a strong guard over his prisoner, and caused him to be put in irons. It was an ominous proceeding, and had been the precursor of the death of Atahuallpa. Before quitting Xauxa, a misfortune befell the Spaniards, in the death of their creature the young Inca Toparca. Suspicion, of course, fell on Chall- cuchima, now selected as the scape-goat for all the offences of his nation. 18 It was a disappointment "Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 406. " Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, ubi supra. 18 It seems, from the language of the letter addressed to the empe- ror by the municipality of Xauxa, that the troops themselves were far from being convinced of Challcuchima's guilt: " Publico fue, aunque dello no ubo averiguacion in certenidad, que el capitan Chaliconiman le abia dado ierbas o a beher con que murio." Carta de la Just, y Reg. de Xauja, MS. 1533 J MARCH TO CUZCO 209 to Pizarro, who hoped to find a convenient shelter for his future proceedings under this shadow of royalty. 19 The general considered it most prudent not to hazard the loss of his treasures by taking them on the march, and he accordingly left them at Xauxa, under a guard of forty soldiers, who remained there in garrison. No event of importance oc- curred on the road, and, Pizarro having effected a junction with Almagro, their united forces soon entered the vale of Xaquixaguana, about five leagues from Cuzco. This was one of those bright spots, so often found embosomed amidst the Andes, the more beautiful from contrast with the savage character of the scenery around it. A river flowed through the valley, affording the means of irrigating the soil and clothing it in perpetual verdure; and the rich and flowering vegetation spread out like a cultivated garden. The beauty of the place and its delicious coolness commended it as a residence for the Peruvian nobles, and the sides of the hills were dotted with their villas, which afforded them a grateful re- treat in the heats of summer. 20 Yet the centre of the valley was disfigured by a quagmire of some ia According to Velasco, Toparca, whom, however, he calls by another name, tore off the diadem bestowed on him by Pizarro, with disdain, and died in a few weeks of chagrin. (Hist, de Quito, torn, i. p. 377.) This writer, a Jesuit of Quito, seems to feel himself bound to make out as good a case for Atahuallpa and his family as if he had been expressly retained in their behalf. His vouchers when he con- descends to give any too rarely bear him out in his statements to inspire us with much confidence in his correctness. 20 " Ania en este valle muy sumptuosos aposentos y ricos adonde los senores del Cuzco salian a tomar sus plazeres y solazes." Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 91. VOL. II. 14 210 CONQUEST OF PERU extent, occasioned by the frequent overflowing of the waters; but the industry of the Indian archi- tects had constructed a solid causeway, faced with heavy stone, and connected with the great road, which traversed the whole breadth of the morass. 21 In this valley Pizarro halted for several days, while he refreshed his troops from the well-stored magazines of the Incas. His first act was to bring Challcuchima to trial, if trial that could be called, where sentence may be said to have gone hand in hand with accusation. We are not informed of the nature of the evidence. It was sufficient to satisfy the Spanish captains of the chieftain's guilt. Nor is it at all incredible that Challcu- chima should have secretly encouraged a move- ment among the people, designed to secure his country's freedom and his own. He was con- demned to be burnt alive on the spot. " Some thought it a hard measure," says Herrera; "but those who are governed by reasons of state policy are apt to shut their eyes against every thing else." 22 Why this cruel mode of execution was so often adopted by the Spanish Conquerors is not obvious; unless it was that the Indian was an in- fidel, and fire, from ancient date, seems to have been considered the fitting doom of the infidel, as the type of that inextinguishable flame which awaited him in the regions of the damned. Father Valverde accompanied the Peruvian chieftain to the stake. He seems always to have been present at this dreary moment, anxious to 11 Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 91. " Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 6, cap. 3. 1533 J EXECUTION OF CHALLCUCHIMA 211 profit by it, if possible, to work the conversion of the victim. He painted in gloomy colors the dreadful gloom of the unbeliever, to whom the waters of baptism could alone secure the ineffable glories of paradise. 23 It does not appear that he promised any commutation of punishment in this world. But his arguments fell on a stony heart, and the chief coldly replied, he " did not under- stand the religion of the white men." 24 He might be pardoned for not comprehending the beauty of a faith which, as it would seem, had borne so bitter fruits to him. In the midst of his tortures he showed the characteristic courage of the American Indian, whose power of endurance triumphs over the power of persecution in his enemies, and he died with his last breath invoking the name of Pachacamac. His own followers brought the fagots to feed the flames that consumed him. 25 Soon after this tragic event, Pizarro was sur- prised by a visit from a Peruvian noble, who came in great state, attended by a numerous and showy retinue. It was the young prince Manco, brother of the unfortunate Huascar, and the rightful suc- cessor to the crown. Being brought before the Spanish commander, he announced his pretensions to the throne, and claimed the protection of the strangers. It is said he had meditated resisting them by arms, and had encouraged the assaults made on them on their march, but, finding resist- M Fed. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 406. '* Ibid., loc. cit. 15 Pedro Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, loc. cit. Pedro Pizarro, De- scub. y Conq., MS. The MS. of the old Conqueror is so much dam- aged in this part of it that much of his account is entirely effaced. 212 CONQUEST OF PERU ance ineffectual, he had taken this politic course, greatly to the displeasure of his more resolute nobles. However this may be, Pizarro listened to his application with singular contentment, for he saw in this new scion of the true royal stock a more effectual instrument for his purposes than he could have found in the family of Quito, with whom the Peruvians had but little sympathy. He received the young man, therefore, with great cor- diality, and did not hesitate to assure him that he had been sent into the country by his master, the Castilian sovereign, in order to vindicate the claims of Huascar to the crown and to punish the usurpa- tion of his rival. 20 Taking with him the Indian prince, Pizarro now resumed his march. It was interrupted for a few hours by a party of the natives, who lay in wait for him in the neighboring sierra. A sharp skir- mish ensued, in which the Indians behaved with great spirit and inflicted some little injury on the Spaniards; but the latter at length, shaking them off, made good their passage through the defile, and the enemy did not care to follow them into the open country. It was late in the afternoon when the Con- querors came in sight of Cuzco. 27 The descend- ing sun was streaming his broad rays full on the imperial city, where many an altar was dedicated to his worship. The low ranges of buildings, show- ing in his beams like so many lines of silvery light, 24 Fed. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 406. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. " " Y dos horas antes que el Sol se pusicse, llegaron d vista de la ciudad del Cuzco." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 1533 J ARRIVAL AT CUZCO 213 filled up the bosom of the valley and the lower slopes of the mountains, whose shadowy forms hung darkly over the fair city, as if to shield it from the menaced profanation. It was so late that Pizarro resolved to defer his entrance till the following morning. That night vigilant guard was kept in the camp, and the soldiers slept on their arms. But it passed away without annoyance from the enemy, and early on the following day, November 15th, 1533, Pizarro prepared for his entrance into the Peru- vian capital. 28 The little army was formed into three divisions, of which the centre, or " battle," as it was called, was led by the general. The suburbs were thronged with a countless multitude of the na- tives, who had flocked from the city and the surrounding country to witness the showy and, to them, startling pageant. All looked with eager curiosity on the strangers, the fame of whose terrible exploits had spread to the remotest parts of the empire. They gazed with astonish- ment on their dazzling arms and fair complexions, which seemed to proclaim them the true Children of the Sun; and they listened with feelings of mysterious dread as the trumpet sent forth its prolonged notes through the streets of the capital and the solid ground shook under the heavy tramp of the cavalry. The Spanish commander rode directly up the **The chronicles differ as to the precise date. There can be no better authorities than Pedro Sancho's narrative and the Letter of the Magistrates of Xauxa, which I have followed in the text. 214 CONQUEST OF PERU great square. It was surrounded by low piles of buildings, among which were several palaces of the Incas. One of these, erected by Huayna Capac, was surmounted by a tower, while the ground-floor was occupied by one or more im- mense halls, like those described in Caxamalca, where the Peruvian nobles held their fetes in stormy weather. These buildings afforded con- venient barracks for the troops, though during the first few weeks they remained under their tents in the open plaza, with their horses picketed by their side, ready to repulse any insurrection of the inhabitants. 29 The capital of the Incas, though falling short of the El Dorado which had engaged their credu- lous fancies, astonished the Spaniards by the beauty of its edifices, the length and regularity of its streets, and the good order and appearance of comfort, even luxury, visible in its numerous population. It far surpassed all they had yet seen in the New World. The population of the city is computed by one of the Conquerors at two hundred thousand inhabitants, and that of the suburbs at as many more. 30 This account is not " Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 407. Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap. 10. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. m " Esta ciudad era muy grande i mui populosa de grandes edificios i cotnarcas, quando los Kspafioles entraron la primera vez en ella havia gran cantidad de gente, seria pueblo de mas de 40 mill, vecinos solamente lo que tomaba la ciudad, que arravalles i comarca en dere- dor del Cuzco & 10 6 12 leguas ereo yo que havia docientos mill. In- dios, porque esto era lo mas poblado de todos estos reinos." (Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS.) The vcrinrt or "householder" is computed, usually, as representing five individuals. Vet Father Valverdc, in a 1533 J CUZCO 215 confirmed, as far as I have seen, by any other writer. But, however it may be exaggerated, it is certain that Cuzco was the metropolis of a great empire, the residence of the court and the chief nobility ; frequented by the most skilful mechanics and artisans of every description, who found a demand for their ingenuity in the royal precincts ; while the place was garrisoned by a numerous soldiery, and was the resort, finally, of emigrants from the most distant provinces. The quarters whence this motley population came were indi- cated by their peculiar dress, and especially their head-gear, so rarely found at all on the American Indian, which, with its variegated colors, gave a picturesque effect to the groups and masses in the streets. The habitual order and decorum main- tained in this multifarous assembly showed the excellent police of the capital, where the only sounds that disturbed the repose of the Spaniards were the noises of feasting and dancing, which the natives, with happy insensibility, constantly prolonged to a late hour of the night. 31 The edifices of the better sort and they were very numerous were of stone, or faced with letter written a few years after this, speaks of the city as having only three or four thousand houses at the time of its occupation, and the suburbs as having nineteen or twenty thousand. (Carta al Empera- dor, MS., 20 de Marzo, 1539.) It is possible that he took into the account only the better kind of houses, not considering the mud huts, or rather hovels, which made so large a part of a Peruvian town, as deserving notice. 31 " Reran tantos los atambores que de noche se oian por todas partes bailando y cantando y bebiendo que toda la mayor parte de la noche se les pasava en esto cotidianamente." Pedro Pizarro, De- scub. y Conq., MS. 216 CONQUEST OF PERU stone. 32 Among the principal were the royal residences; as each sovereign built a new palace for himself, covering, though low, a large extent of ground. The walls were sometimes stained or painted with gaudy tints, and the gates, we are assured, were sometimes of colored marble. 33 " In the delicacy of the stone-work," says an- other of the Conquerors, " the natives far excelled the Spaniards, though the roofs of their dwellings, instead of tiles, were only of thatch, but put together with the nicest art." 34 The sunny climate of Cuzco did not require a very substantial material for defence against the weather. The most important building was the fortress, planted on a solid rock that rose boldly above the city. It was built of hewn stone, so finely wrought that it was impossible to detect the line of junction between the blocks ; and the approaches to it were defended by three semicircular parapets, com- posed of such heavy masses of rock that it bore resemblance to the kind of work known to archi- B " La maggior parte di queste case sono di pietra, et 1'altre hano la meta della facciata di pietra." Fed. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 413. * " Che sono le principali della citta dipinte et lauorate, et di pietra: et la miglior d'esse e la casa di Guainacaba Cacique vecchio, et la porta d'essa e di marmo bianco et rosso, et d'altri colori." (Ibid., ubi supra.) The buildings were usually of freestone. There may have been porphyry from the neighboring mountains mixed with this, which the Spaniards mistook for marble. 84 " Todo labrado de piedra muy prima, que cierto toda la canteria desta cibdad hace gran ventaja & la de Espafia, aunque carecen de teja que todas las casas sino es la fortaleza, que era hecha de azoteas, son cubiertas de paja, aunque tan primnmente puesta, que parece bien." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 1533 1 CUZCO 217 tects as the Cyclopean.* The fortress was raised to a height rare in Peruvian architecture; and from the summit of the tower the eye of the spectator ranged over a magnificent prospect, in which the wild features of the mountain-scenery, rocks, woods, and waterfalls, were mingled with the rich verdure of the valley, and the shining city filling up the foreground, all blended in sweet harmony under the deep azure of a tropical sky. The streets were long and narrow. They were arranged with perfect regularity, crossing one another at right angles; and from the great square diverged four principal streets connect- ing with the high-roads of the empire. The square itself, and many parts of the city, were paved with a fine pebble. 35 Through the heart of the capital ran a river of pure water, if it might not be rather termed a canal, the banks or sides of which, for the distance of twenty leagues, were " Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn, iii., ubi supra. A passage in the Letter of the Municipality of Xauxa is worth quoting, as con- firming on the best authority some of the interesting particulars men- tioned in the text: " Esta cibdad es la mejor e maior qtie en la tierra se ha visto, i aun en Yndias; e decimos a V. M. ques tan hermosa i de tan buenos edeficios que en Espana seria muy de ver; tiene las calles por mticho concierto en pedradas i por medio dellas un cano enlosado, la plaza es hecha en cuadra i empedrada de quijas pequenas todas, todas las mas de las casas son de Senores Principales hechas de canteria, esta en una ladera de un zerro en el cual sobre el pueblo esta una fortaleza mui bien obrada de canteria, tan de ver que por Kspanoles que han andado Reinos estranos dicen no haver visto otro edeficio igual al della." Carta de la Just, y Reg. de Xauja, MS. * [Mr. Markham, who examined the ruins in 1853, has given a minute description of this " gigantic treble line of Cyclopean fortifi- cation," which, he says, "must fill the mind of every traveller with astonishment and admiration." Translation of Cieza de Leon, p. 325, note. K.] 218 CONQUEST OF PERU faced with stone. 36 Across this stream, bridges, constructed of similar broad flags, were thrown at intervals, so as to afford an easy communication between the different quarters of the capital. 37 The most sumptuous edifice in Cuzco in the times of the Incas was undoubtedly the great temple dedicated to the Sun, which, studded with gold plates, as already noticed, was surrounded by convents and dormitories for the priests, with their gardens and broad parterres sparkling with gold. The exterior ornaments had been removed by the Conquerors, all but the frieze of gold, which, im- bedded in the stones, still encircled the principal building. It is probable that the tales of wealth so greedily circulated among the Spaniards greatly exceeded the truth. If they did not, the natives must have been very successful in concealing their treasures from the invaders. Yet much remained, not only in the great House of the Sun, but in the inferior temples which swarmed in the capital. Pizarro, on entering Cuzco, had issued an order forbidding any soldier to offer violence to the dwellings of the inhabitants. 38 But the palaces " " Un rio, el cual baja por medio de la cibdad y desde que nace, mas de veinte leguas por aquel valle aba jo donde hay muchas pobla- ciones, va enlosado todo por el suelo, y las varrancas de una parte y de otra hechas de canteria labrada, cosa nunca vista, ni oicla." Rela- cion del primer Descub., MS. " The reader will find a few repetitions in this chapter of what I have already said, in the Introduction, of Cuzco under the Incas. But the facts here stated are for the most part drawn from other sources, and some repetition was unavoidable in order to give a distinct image of the capital. 18 " Pues mando el marquez dar vn pregon que ningun esp.nnol fuese & entrar en las casas de los naturales 6 tomalles nada." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 1533J TREASURE DISCOVERED IN CUZCO 219 were numerous, and the troops lost no time in plundering them of their contents, as well as in despoiling the religious edifices. The interior dec- orations supplied them with considerable booty. They stripped off the jewels and rich ornaments that garnished the royal mummies in the temple of Coricancha. Indignant at the concealment of their treasures, they put the inhabitants, in some instances, to the torture, and endeavored to extort from them a confession of their hiding-places. 39 They invaded the repose of the sepulchres, in which the Peruvians often deposited their valu- able effects, and compelled the grave to give up its dead. No place was left unexplored by the rapacious Conquerors; and they occasionally stumbled on a mine of wealth that rewarded their labors. In a cavern near the city they found a number of vases of pure gold, richly embossed with the figures of serpents, locusts, and other animals. Among the spoil were four golden llamas and ten or twelve statues of women, some of gold, others of silver, " w r hich merely to see," says one of the Conquerors, with some naivete, " was truly a great satisfaction." The gold was probably thin, for the figures were all as large as life; and several of them, being reserved for the royal fifth, were not recast, but sent in their original form to Spain. 40 The magazines \vere stored with curious " Gomara, Hist, de las Ind., cap. 123. 40 " Et fra 1'altre cose singolari, era vedcr quattro castrati di fin oro molto grandi, et 10 b 12 statue di d5ne, della grandezza delle done di quel paese tutte d'oro fino, cosi belle et hen fatte come se fossero viue. . . . Queste furono date nel quinto che toccaua a S. M." (Fed. San- 220 CONQUEST OF PERU commodities; richly-tinted robes of cotton and feather-work, gold sandals, and slippers of the same material, for the women, and dresses com- posed entirely of beads of gold. 41 The grain and other articles of food, with which the magazines were filled, were held in contempt by the Con- querors, intent only on gratifying their lust for gold. 42 The time came when the grain would have been of far more value. Yet the amount of treasure in the capital did not equal the sanguine expectations that had been formed by the Spaniards. But the deficiency was supplied by the plunder which they had collected at various places on their march. In one place, for example, they met with ten planks or bars of solid silver, each piece being twenty feet in length, one foot in breadth, and tw r o or three inches thick. They were intended to decorate the dwelling of an Inca noble. 43 The whole mass of treasure was brought into a common heap, as in Caxamalca; and, after some cho, Rel., np. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 409.) " Muchas estatuas y figu- ras de oro y plata enteras, hecha la forma toda de una muger, y del tamano della, muy hien labradas." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 41 " Avia ansi mismo otras muchas plumas de diferentes colores para este efecto de hacer rropas que vestian los sefiores y senoras y no otro en los tiempos de sus fiestas, avia tambien mantas hechas de chaqtiira, de oro, y de plata, que heran vnas quentecitas muy deli- eadas, que parecia cosa de espanto ver su hechura." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. "Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., MS. ** " Pues andando yo buscando mahiz 6 otras cosas para comer, acaso entre en vn buhio donde halle estos tablones de plata que tengo dicho que heran hasta diez y de largo tenian veinte pies y de anchor de vno y de gordor de tres dedos, di noticia dello al marquez y el y todos los demas que con el estavan entraron a vello." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 1533] DIVISION OF THE SPOIL 221 of the finer specimens had been deducted for the crown, the remainder was delivered to the Indian goldsmiths to be melted down into ingots of a uniform standard. The division of the spoil was made on the same principle as before. There were four hundred and eighty soldiers, including the garrison of Xauxa, who were each to receive a share, that of the cavalry being double that of the infantry. The amount of booty is stated variously by those present at the division of it. According to some, it considerably exceeded the ransom of Atahuallpa. Others state it as less. Pedro Pi- zarro says that each horseman got six thousand pesos de oro, and each one of the infantry half that sum ; 44 though the same discrimination was made by Pizarro as before, in respect to the rank of the parties, and their relative services. But Sancho, the royal notary, and secretary of the commander, estimates the whole amount as far less, not exceeding five hundred and eighty thousand and two hundred pesos de oro, and two hundred and fifteen thousand marks of silver. 45 In the absence of the official returns, it is impos- sible to determine which is correct. But Sancho's narrative is countersigned, it may be remembered, by Pizarro and the royal treasurer Riquelme, and doubtless, therefore, shows the actual amount for which the Conquerors accounted to the crown. Whichever statement we receive, the sum, com- bined with that obtained at Caxamalca, might well have satisfied the cravings of the most avaricious. "Descub. y Conq., MS. * 5 Fed. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 409. 222 CONQUEST OF PERU The sudden influx of so much wealth, and that, too, in so transferable a form, among a party of reckless adventurers little accustomed to the pos- session of money, had its natural effect. It sup- plied them with the means of gaming, so strong and common a passion with the Spaniards that it may be considered a national vice. Fortunes were lost and won in a single day, sufficient to render the proprietors independent for life; and many a desperate gamester, by an unlucky throw of the dice or turn of the cards, saw himself stripped in a few hours of the fruits of years of toil and obliged to begin over again the business of rapine. Among these, one in the cavalry service is men- tioned, named Leguizano,* who had received as his share of the booty the image of the Sun, which, raised on a plate of burnished gold, spread over the walls in a recess of the great temple, and which, for some reason or other, perhaps because of its superior fineness, was not recast like the other ornaments. This rich prize the spendthrift lost in a single night; whence it came to be a proverb in Spain, Juega el Sol antes que ama- nezca, " He plays away the Sun before sunrise." 46 The effect of such a surfeit of the precious metals was instantly felt on prices. The most * Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 20. * [Or Lejesema, the same person whose will is referred to in Book I. chap. 5, note 37, and printed in Appendix No. 4. According to Garcilasso, he had been " a great gambler," but his loss on the present occasion proved his salvation, as he " hated play ever after- wards," and devoted himself with zeal and diligence to the public service. He held several offices, married an Inca princess, took part in the civil wars, generally on the winning side, and survived all his old companions in arms. K.] 1533 J RISE IN PRICES 223 ordinary articles were only to be had for exorbi- tant sums. A quire of paper was sold for ten pesos de oro; a bottle of wine, for sixty ; a sword, for forty or fifty ; a cloak, for a hundred, some- times more; a pair of shoes cost thirty or forty pesos de oro, and a good horse could not be had for less than twenty-five hundred. 47 Some brought a still higher price. Every article rose in value, as gold and silver, the representatives of all, declined. Gold and silver, in short, seemed to be the only things in Cuzco that were not wealth. Yet there were some few wise enough to return contented with their present gains to their native country. Here their riches brought them consideration and competence, and, while they excited the envy of their countrymen, stimulated them to seek their own fortunes in the like path of adventure. * T Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 233. CHAPTER IX NEW INCA CROWNED MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS TERRIBLE MARCH OF ALVARADO INTERVIEW WITH PIZARRO FOUNDATION OF LIMA HER- NANDO PIZARRO REACHES SPAIN SENSATION AT COURT FEUDS OF ALMAGRO AND THE PIZARROS 1534-1535 'T^HE first care of the Spanish general, after A the division of the booty, was to place Manco on the throne and to obtain for him the recognition of his countrymen. He, accordingly, presented the young prince to them as their future sovereign, the legitimate son of Huayna Capac, and the true heir of the Peruvian sceptre. The annunciation was received with enthusiasm by the people, attached to the memory of his illustrious father, and pleased that they were still to have a monarch rule over them of the ancient line of Cuzco. Every thing was done to maintain the illusion with the Indian population. The ceremonies of a coronation were studiously observed. The young prince kept the prescribed fasts and vigils; and on the appointed day the nobles and the people, with the whole Spanish soldiery, assembled in the great square of Cuzco to witness the concluding ceremony. Mass was publicly performed by Father Valverde, and the Inca Manco received 224 1534] NEW INCA CROWNED 225 the fringed diadem of Peru, not from the hand of the high-priest of his nation, but from his con- queror, Pizarro. The Indian lords then tendered their obeisance in the customary form ; after which the royal notary read aloud the instrument assert- ing the supremacy of the Castilian crown, and requiring the homage of all present to its au- thority. This address was explained by an inter- preter, and the ceremony of homage was per- formed by each one of the parties waving the royal banner of Castile twice or thrice with his hands. Manco then pledged the Spanish com- mander in a golden goblet of the sparkling chicha; and, the latter having cordially embraced the new monarch, the trumpets announced the conclusion of the ceremony. 1 But it was not the note of triumph, but of humiliation; for it proclaimed that the armed foot of the stranger was in the halls of the Peruvian Incas; that the ceremony of coronation was a miserable pageant ; that their prince himself was but a puppet in the hands of his conqueror; and that the glory of the Children of the Sun had departed forever! Yet the people readily yielded to the illusion, and seemed willing to accept this image of their ancient independence. The accession of the young monarch was greeted by all the usual fetes and rejoicings. The mummies of his royal ancestors, with such ornaments as were still left to them, were paraded in the great square. They were attended each by his own numerous retinue, who performed 1 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 407. Voi,. II. 15 226 CONQUEST OF PERU all the menial offices, as if the object of them were alive and could feel their import. Each ghostly form took its seat at the banquet-table, now, alas! stripped of the magnificent service with which it was wont to blaze at these high festivals, and the guests drank deep to the illustrious dead. Dancing succeeded the carousal, and the festivities, prolonged to a late hour, were con- tinued night after night by the giddy population, as if their conquerors had not been intrenched in the capital ! 2 What a contrast to the Aztecs in the conquest of Mexico ! Pizarro's next concern was to organize a mu- nicipal government for Cuzco, like those in the cities of the parent country. Two alcaldes were appointed, and eight regidores, among which last functionaries were his brothers Gonzalo and Juan. The oaths of office were administered with great solemnity, on the twenty-fourth of March, 1534, in presence both of Spaniards and Peruvians, in the public square; as if the general w r ere willing by this ceremony to intimate to the latter that, while they retained the semblance of their ancient institutions, the real power was henceforth vested in their conquerors. 3 He invited Spaniards to 1 Pedro Pizarro, Descuh. y Conq., MS. " Luepo por la mafiana iba al enterramiento donde estahan cada uno por orclen embalsamados como es dicho, y asentados en sus sillas, y con mucha veneracion y respeto, todos por orden los saoaban de alii y los trahian it la cludad, teniendo cada uno su litera, y hombres con su librea, que le trujesen, y ansi desta manera todo el servicio y aderezos como si estubiera vivo." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. * Ped. Sancho, Hel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 409. Montesinos, Annales, MS., afio 1.534. Actto de la fundacion del Cuzro, MS. This instrument, which belongs to the collection of Mufioz, records 1534] MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS 227 settle in the place by liberal grants of lands and houses, for which means were afforded by the numerous palaces and public buildings of the Incas; and many a cavalier who had been too poor in his own country to find a place to rest in now saw himself the proprietor of a spacious mansion that might have entertained the retinue of a prince. 4 From this time, says an old chron- icler, Pizarro, who had hitherto been distinguished by his military title of " Captain-General," was addressed by that of " Governor." 5 Both had been bestowed on him by the royal grant. Nor did the chief neglect the interests of re- ligion. Father Valverde, whose nomination as Bishop of Cuzco not long afterwards received the papal sanction, prepared to enter on the duties of his office. A place was selected for the cathedral of his diocese, facing the plaza.* A spacious monastery subsequently rose on the ruins of the gorgeous House of the Sun ; its walls were constructed of the ancient stones; the altar w r as raised on the spot where shone the bright image of the Peruvian deity, and the cloisters of the Indian temple were trodden by the friars of St. not only the names of the magistrates, but of the vecinos who formed the first population of the Christian capital. * Actto de la fundacion del Cuzco, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descuh. y Conq., MS. Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap. 9, et seq. When a building was of immense size, as happened with some of the temples and palaces, it was assigned to two or even three of the Con- querors, who each took his share of it. Garcilasso, who describes the city as it was soon after the Conquest, commemorates with sufficient prolixity the names of the cavaliers among whom the buildings were distributed. 8 Montesinos, Annales, ano 1534. * [The palace of the Inca Viracocha. M.] 228 CONQUEST OF PERU Dominic. 6 To make the metamorphosis more complete, the House of the Virgins of the Sun was replaced by a Roman Catholic nunnery. 7 Christian churches and monasteries gradually supplanted the ancient edifices, and such of the latter as were suffered to remain, despoiled of their heathen insignia, were placed under the pro- tection of the Cross. The Fathers of St. Dominic, the Brethren of the Order of Mercy, and other missionaries, now busied themselves in the good work of conversion. We have seen that Pizarro was required by the crown to bring out a certain number of these holy men in his own vessels; and every succeed- ing vessel brought an additional reinforcement of ecclesiastics. They were not all like the Bishop of Cuzco, with hearts so seared by fanaticism as to be closed against sympathy with the unfortu-. nate natives. 8 They were, many of them, men Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 20; lib. 6, cap. 21. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. 7 Ulloa, Voyage to South America, book 7, ch. 12. " The Indian nuns," says the author of the Relacion del primer Descub., " lived chastely and in a holy manner." " Their chastity was all a feint," says Pedro Pizarro, " for they had constant amours with the attend- ants of the temple." (Descub. y Conq., MS.) What is truth? In statements so contradictory, we may accept the most favorable to the Peruvians. The prejudices of the Conquerors certainly did not lie on that side. * Such, however, it is but fair to Valverde to state, is not the lan- guage applied to him by the rude soldiers of the Conquest. The municipality of Xauxa, in a communication to the Court, extol the Dominican as an exemplary and learned divine, who had afforded much serviceable consolation to his countrymen: " Es persona de mucho exemplo i Dootrina i con quien todos los Espaftoles an tenido mucho consuelo." (Carta de la Just, y Rep. de Xauxa, MS.) And yet this is not incompatible with a high degree of insensibility to the natural rights of the natives. MISSIONARY ZEAL 229 of singular humility, who followed in the track of the conqueror to scatter the seeds of spiritual truth, and, with disinterested zeal, devoted them- selves to the propagation of the gospel. Thus did their pious labors prove them the true soldiers of the cross, and show that the object so ostenta- tiously avowed of carrying its banner among the heathen nations was not an empty vaunt. The effort to Christianize the heathen is an honorable characteristic of the Spanish conquests. The Puritan, with equal religious zeal, did com- paratively little for the conversion of the Indian, content, as it would seem, with having secured to himself the inestimable privilege of worshipping God in his own way. Other adventurers who have occupied the New World have often had too little regard for religion themselves, to be very solicit- ous about spreading it among the savages. But the Spanish missionary, from first to last, has shown a keen interest in the spiritual welfare of the natives. Under his auspices, churches on a magnificent scale have been erected, schools for elementary instruction founded, and every ra- tional means taken to spread the knowledge of religious truth, while he has carried his solitary mission into remote and almost inaccessible re- gions, or gathered his Indian disciples into com- munities, like the good Las Casas in Cumana, or the Jesuits in California and Paraguay. At all events, the courageous ecclesiastic has been ready to lift his voice against the cruelty of the con- queror and the no less wasting cupidity of the colonist; and w r hen his remonstrances, as was too 230 CONQUEST OF PERU often the case, have proved unavailing, he has still followed to bind up the broken-hearted, to teach the poor Indian resignation under his lot, and light up his dark intellect with the revelation of a holier and happier existence. In reviewing the blood-stained records of Spanish colonial history, it is but fair, and at the same time cheering, to reflect that the same nation which sent forth the hard-hearted conqueror from its bosom sent forth the missionary to do the work of beneficence and spread the light of Christian civilization over the farthest regions of the New World. While the governor, as we are henceforth to style him, lay at Cuzco, he received repeated ac- counts of a considerable force in the neighbor- hood, under the command of Atahuallpa's officer, Quizquiz. He accordingly detached Almagro, with a small body of horse and a large native force under the Inca Manco, to disperse the enemy, and, if possible, to capture the leader. Manco was the more ready to take part in the expedition, as the hostile Indians were soldiers of Quito, who, with their commander, bore no good will to himself. Almagro, moving with characteristic rapidity, was not long in coming up with the Indian chief- tain. Several sharp encounters followed, as the army of Quito fell back on Xauxa, near which a general engagement decided the fate of the war by the total discomfiture of the natives. Quizquiz fled to the elevated plains of Quito, where he still held out with undaunted spirit against a Spanish force in that quarter, till at length his own soldiers, 1534 1 ARRIVAL OF ALVARADO 231 wearied by these long and ineffectual hostilities, massacred their commander in cold blood. Thus fell the last of the two great officers of Atahu- allpa, who, if their nation had been animated by a spirit equal to their own, might long have successfully maintained their soil against the in- vader. Some time before this occurrence, the Spanish governor, while in Cuzco, received tidings of an event much more alarming to him than any Indian hostilities. This was the arrival on the coast of a strong Spanish force, under the command of Don Pedro de Alvarado, the gallant officer who had served under Cortes with such renown in the war of Mexico. That cavalier, after forming a brilliant alliance in Spain, to which he was entitled by his birth and military rank, had returned to his government of Guatemala, where his avarice had been roused by the magnificent reports he daily received of Pizarro's conquests. These conquests, he learned, had been confined to Peru; while the northern kingdom of Quito, the ancient residence of Atahuallpa, and, no doubt, the principal de- pository of his treasures, yet remained untouched. Affecting to consider this country as falling with- out the governor's jurisdiction, he immediately turned a large fleet, which he had intended for the Spice Islands, in the direction of South Amer- ica; and in March, 1534, he landed in the Bav of 9 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Oviedo, Hist, de las indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 20. Fed. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 409. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 232 CONQUEST OF PERU Caraques, with five hundred followers,* of whom half were mounted, and all admirably provided with arms and ammunition. It was the best equipped and most f ormdiable array that had yet appeared in the Southern seas. 10 Although manifestly an invasion of the terri- tory conceded to Pizarro by the crown, the reck- less cavalier determined to march at once on Quito. With the assistance of an Indian guide, he pro- posed to take the direct route across the moun- tains, a passage of exceeding difficulty, even at the most favorable season. After crossing the Rio Dable, Alvarado's guide deserted him, so that he was soon entangled in the intricate mazes of the sierra ; and, as he rose higher and higher into the regions of winter, he became surrounded with ice and snow, for which his men, taken from the warm countries of Guatemala, were but ill prepared. As the cold grew more intense, many of them were so benumbed that it was with difficulty they could proceed. The in- fantry, compelled to make exertions, fared best. Many of the troopers were frozen stiff to their saddles. The Indians, still more sensible to the cold, perished by hundreds. As the Spaniards huddled round their wretched bivouacs, with such scanty fuel as they could glean, and almost with- out food, they waited in gloomy silence the ap- 10 The number is variously reported by historians. But, from a. legal investigation made in Guatemala, it appears that the whole force amounted to 500, of which 230 were cavalry. Informacion echa en Santiago, Set. 15, 1536, MS. * [Among them was the father of Garcilasso de la Vega. M.] 1534 1 SUFFERINGS OF ALVAR ADO'S TROOPS 233 proach of morning. Yet the morning light, which gleamed coldly on the cheerless waste, brought no joy to them. It only revealed more clearly the extent of their wretchedness. Still struggling on through the winding Puertos Nevados, or Snowy Passes, their track was dismally marked by frag- ments of dress, broken harness, golden ornaments, and other valuables plundered on their march, by the dead bodies of men, or by those, less fortu- nate, who were left to die alone in the wilderness. As for the horses, their carcasses were not suf- fered long to cumber the ground, as they were quickly seized and devoured half raw by the starving soldiers, who, like the famished condors, now hovering in troops above their heads, greedily banqueted on the most offensive offal to satisfy the gnawings of hunger. Alvarado, anxious to secure the booty which had fallen into his hands at an earlier part of his march, encouraged every man to take what gold he wanted from the common heap, reserving only the royal fifth. But they only answered, with a ghastly smile of derision, " that food was the only gold for them." Yet in this extremity, which might seem to have dissolved the very ties of na- ture, there are some affecting instances recorded of self-devotion, of comrades who lost their lives in assisting others, and of parents and husbands (for some of the cavaliers were accompanied by their wives) who, instead of seeking their own safety, chose to remain and perish in the snows with the objects of their love. To add to their distress, the air was filled for 234 CONQUEST OF PERU several days with thick clouds of earthy particles and cinders, which blinded the men and made respiration exceedingly difficult. 11 This phenome- non, it seems probable, was caused by an eruption of the distant Cotopaxi, which, about twelve leagues southeast of Quito, rears its colossal and perfectly symmetrical cone far above the limits of eternal snow, the most beautiful and the most terrible of the American volcanoes. 12 At the time of Alvarado's expedition it was in a state of erup- tion, the earliest instance of the kind on record, though doubtless not the earliest. 13 Since that period it has been in frequent commotion, send- ing up its sheets of flame to the height of half a mile, spouting forth cataracts of lava that have overwhelmed towns and villages in their career, and shaking the earth with subterraneous thun- ders, that, at the distance of more than a hundred leagues, sounded like the reports of artillery! 14 Alvarado's followers, unacquainted with the cause 11 " It began to rain earthy particles from the heavens," says Oviedo, " that blinded the men and horses, so that the trees and bushes were full of dirt." Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 20. " Garcilasso says the shower of ashes came from the " volcano of Quito." (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 2.) Cieza de Leon only says from one of the volcanoes in that region. (Cronica, cap. 41.) Neither of them specifies the name. Humboldt accepts the common opinion, that Cotopaxi was intended. Researches, i. 123. 18 A popular tradition among the natives states that a large frag- ment of porphyry near the base of the cone was thrown out in an eruption which occurred at the moment of Atnhuallpa's death. But such tradition will hardly pass for history. 14 A minute account of this formidable mountain is given by M. de Humboldt (Researches, i. 118, et seq.), and more circumstantially by Condamine. (Voyage a 1'fiquateur, pp. 48-56, 156-160.) The latter philosopher would have attempted to scale the almost perpendicular walls of the volcano, but no one was hardy enough to second him. 1534] SUFFERINGS OF ALVARADO'S TROOPS 235 of the phenomenon, as they wandered over tracts buried in snow, the sight of which was strange to them, in an atmosphere laden with ashes, be- came bewildered by this confusion of the elements, which Nature seemed to have contrived purposely for their destruction. Some of these men were soldiers of Cortes, steeled by many a painful march and many a sharp encounter with the Aztecs. But this war of the elements, they now confessed, was mightier than all. At length, Alvarado, after sufferings which even the most hardy, probably, could have en- dured but a few days longer, emerged from the Snowy Pass, and came on the elevated table-land, which spreads out, at the height of more than nine thousand feet above the ocean, in the neighbor- hood of Riobamba. But one-fourth of his gallant army had been left to feed the condor in the wilderness, besides the greater part, at least two thousand, of his Indian auxiliaries. A great number of his horses, too, had perished; and the men and horses that escaped were all of them more or less injured by the cold and the extremity of suffering. Such was the terrible passage of the Puertos Nevados, which I have only briefly noticed as an episode to the Peruvian conquest, but the account of which, in all its details, though it occupied but a few weeks in duration, would give one a better idea of the difficulties encoun- tered by the Spanish cavaliers than volumes of ordinary narrative. 15 15 By far the most spirited and thorough record of Alvarado's march is given by Herrera, who has borrowed the pen of Lhy describing 236 CONQUEST OF PERU As Alvarado, after halting some time to restore his exhausted troops, began his march across the broad plateau, he was astonished by seeing the prints of horses' hoofs on the soil. Spaniards, then, had been there before him, and, after all his toil and suffering, others had forestalled him in the enterprise against Quito! It is necessary to say a few words in explanation of this. When Pizarro quitted Caxamalca, being sen- sible of the growing importance of San Miguel, the only port of entry then in the country, he despatched a person in whom he had great con- fidence to take charge of it. This person was Sebastian Benalcazar, a cavalier who afterwards placed his name in the first rank of the South American conquerors, for courage, capacity, and cruelty. But this cavalier had hardly reached his government when, like Alvarado, he received such accounts of the riches of Quito that he de- termined, with the force at his command, though without orders, to undertake its reduction. At the head of about a hundred and forty soldiers, horse and foot, and a stout body of Indian auxiliaries, he marched up the broad ranges of the Andes, to where it spread out the Alpine march of Hannibal. (Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 6, cap. 1, 2, 7, 8, 9.) See also Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS., Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. H, cup. 20, and Carta de Pedro de Alvarado al Krnperador, San Miguel, 15 de Knero, 1535, MS. Alvarado, in the letter above cited, which is preserved in the Muiioz collection, explains to the emperor the grounds of his expedition, with no little effrontery. In this document he touches very briefly on the march, being chiefly occupied by the negotiations with Almagro, and accompanying his remarks with many dark suggestions as to the policy pursued by the Conquerors. 1534 J BENALCAZAR'S MARCH 237 into the table-land of Quito, by a road safer and more expeditious than that taken by Alvarado. On the plains of Riobamba he encountered the Indian general Ruminavi. Several engagements followed, with doubtful success, when, in the end, science prevailed where courage was well matched, and the victorious Benalcazar planted the stand- ard of Castile on the ancient towers of Atahu- allpa. The city, in honor of his general, Francis Pizarro, he named San Francisco del Quito. But great was his mortification on finding that either the stories of its riches had been fabricated, or that these riches were secreted by the natives. The city was all that he gained by his victories, the shell without the pearl of price which gave it its value. While devouring his chagrin, as he best could, the Spanish captain received tidings of the approach of his superior, Almagro. 16 No sooner had the news of Alvarado's expedi- tion reached Cuzco than Almagro left the place with a small force for San Miguel, proposing to strengthen himself by a reinforcement from that quarter, and to march at once against the invaders. Greatly was he astonished, on his arrival in that city, to learn the departure of its commander. Doubting the loyalty of his motives, Almagro, with the buoyancy of spirit which belongs to youth, though in truth somewhat enfeebled by the infirmities of age, did not hesitate to follow Ben- alcazar at once across the mountains. " Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 11, 18; lib. 6, cap. 5, 6. Oviedo, Hist, de las In- dias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 19. Carta de Benalcazar, MS. 238 CONQUEST OF PERU With his wonted energy, the intrepid veteran, overcoming all the difficulties of his march, in a few weeks placed himself and his little company on the lofty plains which spread around the Indian city of Riobamba; though in his progress he had more than one hot encounter with the natives, whose courage and perseverance formed a con- trast sufficiently striking to the apathy of the Peruvians. But the fire only slumbered in the bosom of the Peruvian. His hour had not yet come. At Riobamba, Almagro was soon joined by the commander of San Miguel, who disclaimed, per- haps sincerely, any disloyal intent in his unau- thorized expedition. Thus reinforced, the Spanish captain coolly awaited the coming of Alvarado. The forces of the latter, though in a less service- able condition, were much superior in number and appointments to those of his rival. As they con- fronted each other on the broad plains of Rio- bamba, it seemed probable that a fierce struggle must immediately follow, and the natives of the country have the satisfaction to see their wrongs avenged by the very hands that inflicted them. But it was Almagro's policy to avoid such an issue. Negotiations were set on foot, in which each party stated his claims to the country. Mean- while Alvarado's men mingled freely with their countrymen in the opposite army, and heard there such magnificent reports of the wealth and won- ders of Cuzco that many of them were inclined to change their present service for that of Pi- zarro. Their own leader, too, satisfied that Quito 1534 J ALVARADO IS BOUGHT OFF 239 held out no recompense worth the sacrifices he had made, and was like to make by insisting on his claim, became now more sensible of the rashness of a course which must doubtless incur the censure of his sovereign. In this temper, it was not diffi- cult for them to effect an adjustment of diffi- culties; and it was agreed, as the basis of it, that the governor should pay one hundred thousand pesos de oro to Alvarado, in consideration of which the latter was to resign to him his fleet, his forces, and all his stores and munitions. His vessels, great and small, amounted to twelve in number, and the sum he received, though large, did not cover his expenses. This treaty being settled, Al- varado proposed, before leaving the country, to have an interview with Pizarro. 17 The governor, meanwhile, had quitted the Pe- ruvian capital for the sea-coast, from his desire to repel any invasion that might be attempted in that direction by Alvarado, with whose real move- ments he was still unacquainted. He left Cuzco in charge of his brother Juan, a cavalier whose 1T Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 6, cap. 8-10. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 20. Carta de Benalcazar, MS. The amount of the bonus paid to Alvarado is stated very differently by writers. But both that cava- lier and Almagro, in their letters to the emperor, which have hitherto been unknown to historians, agree in the sum given in the text. Al- varado complains that he had no choice but to take it, although it was greatly to his own loss, and, by defeating his expedition, as he modestly intimates, to the loss of the crown. (Carta de Alvarado al Emperador, MS.) Almagro, however, states that the sum paid was three times as much as the armament was worth; "a sacrifice," he adds, " which he made to preserve peace, never dear at any price." Strange sentiment for a Castilian conqueror! Carta de Diego de Almagro al Emperador, MS., Oct. 15, 1534. 240 CONQUEST OF PERU manners were such as, he thought, would be likely to gain the good will of the native population. Pizarro also left ninety of his troops, as the gar- rison of the capital and the nucleus of his future colony. Then, taking the Inca Manco with him, he proceeded as far as Xauxa. At this place he was entertained by the Indian prince with the ex- hibition of a great national hunt, such as has been already described in these pages, in which immense numbers of wild animals were slaught- ered, and the vicunas, and other races of Peruvian sheep, which roam over the mountains, driven into enclosures and relieved of their delicate fleeces. 18 The Spanish governor then proceeded to Pacha- camac, where he received the grateful intelligence of the accommodation with Alvarado; and not 1 Carta de la Just, y Reg. de Xauja, MS. Relacion del primer Descub., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 6, cap. 16. Mon- tesinos, Annales, MS., ano 1534. At this place the author of the Re- lacion del primer Descubrimiento del Peru, the MS. so often quoted in these pages, abruptly terminates his labors. He is a writer of sense and observation; and, though he has his share of the national ten- dency to exaggerate and overcolor, he writes like one who means to be honest and who has seen what he describes. At Xauxa, also, the notary Pedro Sancho ends his Relacion, which embraces a much shorter period than the preceding narrative, but which is equally authentic. Coming from the secretary of Pizarro, and countersigned by that general himself, this Relation, indeed, may be regarded as of the very highest authority. And yet large deductions must obviously be made for the source whence it springs; for it may be taken as Pizarro's own account of his doings, some of which stood much in need of apology. It must be added, in justice both to the general and to his secretary, that the Relation does not differ substantially from other contemporary accounts, and that the attempt to varnish over the exceptionable passages in the conduct of the Conquerors is not obtrusive. For the publication of this journal we are indebted to Ramusio, whose enlightened labors have preserved to us more than one contemporary production of value, though in the form of trans- lation. ALVARADO 241 long afterwards he was visited by that cavalier himself, previously to his embarkation. The meeting was conducted with courtesy and a show, at least, of good will on both sides, as there was no longer real cause for jealousy between the parties; and each, as may be imagined, looked on the other with no little interest, as having achieved such distinction in the bold path of adventure. In the comparison, Alvarado had somewhat the advantage; for Pizarro, though of commanding presence, had not the brilliant exterior, the free and joyous manner, which, no less than his fresh complexion and sunny locks, had won for the con- queror of Guatemala, in his campaigns against the Aztecs, the sobriquet of Tonatiuh, or " Child of the Sun." Blithe were the revels that now rang through the ancient city of Pachacamac ; where, instead of songs, and of the sacrifices so often seen there in honor of the Indian deity, the walls echoed to the noise of tourneys and Moorish tilts of reeds, with which the martial adventurers loved to recall the sports of their native land. When these were con- cluded, Alvarado re-embarked for his government of Guatemala, where his restless spirit soon in- volved him in other enterprises that cut short his adventurous career. His expedition to Peru was eminently characteristic of the man. It was founded in injustice, conducted with rashness, and ended in disaster. 19 19 Naharro, Relacion sumarin, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Carta de Francisco Pizarro al Senor de Molina, MS. Alvarado died in 1541, of an injury received from a horse which VOL. II 16 CONQUEST OF PERU The reduction of Peru might now be considered as, in a manner, accomplished. Some barbarous tribes in the interior, it is true, still held out, and Alonso de Alvarado, a prudent and able officer, was employed to bring them into subjection. Benalcazar was still at Quito, of which he was subsequently appointed governor by the crown. There he was laying deeper the foundation of Spanish power, while he advanced the line of con- quest still higher towards the north. But Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Indian monarchy, had submitted. The armies of Atahuallpa had been beaten and scattered. The empire of the Incas was dissolved; and the prince who now wore the Peruvian diadem was but the shadow of a king, who held his commission from his conqueror. The first act of the governor was to determine on the site of the future capital of this vast colo- nial empire. Cuzco, withdrawn among the moun- tains, was altogether too far removed from the sea-coast for a commercial people. The little settlement of San Miguel lay too far to the north. It was desirable to select some more central posi- tion, which could be easily found in one of the fruitful valleys that bordered the Pacific. Such was that of Pachacamac, which Pizarro now oc- cupied. But, on further examination, he pre- ferred the neighboring valley of Rimac, which lay to the north, and which took its name, signify- ing in the Quichua tongue " one who speaks," rolled down on him as he was attempting to srale a precipitous hill in New Galacia. In the same year, by a singular coincidence, perished his beautiful wife, at her own residence in Guatemala, which was overwhelmed by a torrent from the adjacent mountains. 1535] THE FOUNDING OF LIMA 243 from a celebrated idol, whose shrine was much frequented by the Indians for the oracles it de- livered. Through the valley flowed a broad stream, which, like a great artery, was made, as usual by the natives, to supply a thousand finer veins that meandered through the beautiful meadows. On this river Pizarro fixed the site of his new capital, at somewhat less than two leagues' dis- tance from its mouth, which expanded into a commodious haven for the commerce that the prophetic eye of the founder saw would one day and no very distant one float on its waters. The central situation of the spot recommended it as a suitable residence for the Peruvian viceroy, whence he might hold easy communication with the different parts of the country and keep vigi- lant watch over his Indian vassals. The climate was delightful, and, though only twelve degrees south of the line, was so far tempered by the cool breezes that generally blow from the Pacific, or from the opposite quarter down the frozen sides of the Cordilleras, that the heat was less than in corresponding latitudes on the continent. It never rained on the coast ; but this dryness was corrected by a vaporous cloud, which, through the summer months, hung like a curtain over the valley, shel- tering it from the rays of a tropical sun, and im- perceptibly distilling a refreshing moisture, that clothed the fields in the brightest verdure. The name bestowed on the infant capital was Ciudad de los Reyes, or City of the Kings, in honor of the day, being the 6th of January, 1535, 244 CONQUEST OF PERU the festival of Epiphany, when it was said to have been founded, or more probably when its site was determined; as its actual foundation seems to have been twelve days later. 20 But the Castilian name ceased to be used even within the first gen- eration, and was supplanted by that of Lima, into which the original Indian name of Rimac was corrupted by the Spaniards. 21 * 10 So says Quintana, who follows in this what he pronounces a sure authority, Father Bernabe Cobo, in his book entitled Fundacion de Lima. Espanoles celebres, torn. ii. p. 250, nota. n The MSS. of the old Conquerors show how, from the very first, the name of Lima superseded the original Indian title: " Y el mar- quez se passo & Lima y fundo la ciudad de los rreyes que agora es." (Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS.) " Asimismo ordenaron que se pasasen el pueblo que tenian en Xauxa poblado & este Valle de Lima donde agora es esta ciudad de los Reyes, i aqui se poblo." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS. * [The climate of Lima cannot be called delightful. It certainly is not tropical, notwithstanding the latitude 12 2' 34" S. During the winter season i.e., from June to November, inclusive the mercury ranges from 57 to 61 F., a delightful temperature for the temperate zone. But here thick clothing is necessary both indoors and out. The " poncho " (a blanket, with a hole in the mid- dle for the head) is seen everywhere upon the shoulders of the natives as they walk about the streets. This is because of the thick fogs which prevail. For many days at a time the sun is invisible, and a drizzle like a heavy Scotch mist fills the air. This mist the guara saturates the clothing, settles in puddles upon the flat roofs, so that drops fall therefrom upon the people sleeping under them, even forces itself through the house walls so that they exude moisture. There are no fireplaces, or stoves for heating purposes, and so a thick coating of mildew soon covers everything that is not regularly cared for, and diseases consequent upon the dampness pervade the city. The strangest thing connected with the guara is the fact that it is local. In places like Miraflores and Chorillos, five and nine miles away, bright sunshine prevails while Lima is shrouded in fogs. Possibly the cold winds that sweep down the valley of the Rimac, and, meeting the warmer air currents blowing in from the Pacific, rob them of their moisture, may account for the phenomenon. Cer- tain it is that Lima is, and always has been, a most unhealthy city. The tradition, no doubt baseless, that when the Inca heard where 1535 J LIMA 24-5 The city was laid out on a very regular plan. The streets were to be much wider than usual in Spanish towns, and perfectly straight, crossing one another at right angles, and so far asunder as to afford ample space for gardens to the dwell- ings, and for public squares. It was arranged in a triangular form, having the river for its base, the waters of which were to be carried, by means of stone conduits through all the principal streets, affording facilities for irrigating the grounds around the houses. No sooner had the governor decided on the site and on the plan of the city than he commenced operations with characteristic energy. The In- dians were collected from a distance of more than a hundred miles to aid in the work. The Span- iards applied themselves with vigor to the task, under the eye of their chief. The sword was ex- changed for the tool of the artisan. The camp was converted into a hive of diligent laborers ; and the sounds of war were succeeded by the peaceful hum of a busy population. The plaza, which was extensive, was to be surrounded by the cathedral, the palace of the viceroy, that of the municipality, Pizarro proposed to build his capital he rejoiced greatly because " soon no Spaniard would be left alive," expresses the general im- pression concerning its climate. Von Tschadi wrote in 1868 : " It may be regarded as certain that two-thirds of the people of Lima are suffering at all times from tercianos (intermittent fevers) or from the consequences of the disease." (Travels in Peru, p. 160.) The river Rimac, which flows through the city, is for a large part of the year only a net-work of streamlets losing themselves in a wide and shallow bed. Only when the summer suns send the melting snows down from the mountains and the summer cloud-bursts fill the far away Que- bradas with rushing torrents does it become the " broad stream " of which Prescott speaks. M.] 246 CONQUEST OF PERU and other public buildings ; and their foundations were laid on a scale and with a solidity which defied the assaults of time, and, in some instances, even the more formidable shock of earthquakes, that, at different periods, have laid portions of the fair capital in ruins. 22 While these events were going on, Almagro, the Marshal, as he is usually termed by chroniclers of the time, had gone to Cuzco, whither he was sent by Pizarro to take command of that capital. He received also instructions to undertake, either by himself or by his captains, the conquest of the countries towards the south, forming part of Chili. Almagro, since his arrival at Caxamalca, had seemed willing to smother his ancient feelings of resentment towards his associate, or, at least, to conceal the expression of them, and had consented to take command under him in obedience to the royal mandate. He had even, in his despatches, the magnanimity to make honorable mention of Pizarro, as one anxious to promote the interests of the crown. Yet he did not so far trust his companion as to neglect the precaution of sending a confidential agent to represent his own services, when Hernando Pizarro undertook his mission to the mother-country. That cavalier, after touching at St. Domingo, had arrived without accident at Seville in Janu- ary, 1534. Besides the royal fifth, he took with 22 Montesinos, Annalcs, MS., afio 1535. Conq. i Fob. del Pirn, MS. The remains of Pizarro's palace may still be discerned in the Callejon de Petateros, says Stevenson, who gives the best account of Lima to be found in any modern book of travels which I have con- sulted. Residence in Soutli America, vol. ii. chap. 8. 1535 J HERNANDO PIZARRO IN SPAIN 247 him gold to the value of half a million of pesos, together with a large quantity of silver, the prop- erty of private adventurers, some of whom, sat- isfied with their gains, had returned to Spain in the same vessel with himself. The custom-house was rilled with solid ingots, and with vases of different forms, imitations of animals, flowers, fountains, and other objects, executed with more or less skill, and all of pure gold, to the astonish- ment of the spectators, who flocked from the neighboring country to gaze on these marvellous productions of Indian art. 23 Most of the manu- factured articles were the property of the crown; and Hernando Pizarro, after a short stay at Se- ville, selected some of the most gorgeous speci- mens, and crossed the country to Calatayud, where the emperor was holding the cortes of Aragon. Hernando was instantly admitted to the royal presence, and obtained a gracious audience. He was more conversant with courts than either of his brothers, and his manners, when in situations that imposed a restraint on the natural arrogance of his temper, were graceful and even attractive. In a respectful tone, he now recited the stirring adventures of his brother and his little troop of followers, the fatigues they had endured, the diffi- culties they had overcome, their capture of the Peruvian Inca, and his magnificent ransom. He had not to tell of the massacre of the unfortunate prince, for that tragic event, which had occurred since his departure from the country, was still - 3 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 6, cap. 13. Lista de todo lo que Hernando Pizarro trajo del Peru, ap. MSS. de Munoz. 248 CONQUEST OF PERU unknown to him. The cavalier expatiated on the productiveness of the soil, and on the civilization of the people, evinced by their proficiency in vari- ous mechanic arts ; in proof of which he displayed the manufactures of wool and cotton and the rich ornaments of gold and silver. The monarch's eyes sparkled with delight as he gazed on these last. He was too sagacious not to appreciate the advan- tages of a conquest which secured to him a country so rich in agricultural resources. But the returns from these must necessarily be gradual and long deferred; and he may be excused for listening with still greater satisfaction to Pizarro's tales of its mineral stores; for his ambitious projects had drained the imperial treasury, and he saw in the golden tide thus unexpectedly poured in upon him the immediate means of replenishing it. Charles made no difficulty, therefore, in grant- ing the petitions of the fortunate adventurer. All the previous grants to Francisco Pizarro and his associates were confirmed in the fullest manner; and the boundaries of the governor's jurisdiction were extended seventy leagues farther towards the south. Nor did Almagro's services, this time, go unrequited. He was empowered to discover and occupy the country for the distance of two hundred leagues, beginning at the southern limit of Pizarro's territory. 24 Charles, in still further ** The country to be occupied received the name of New Toledo in the royal grant, as the conquests of Pizarro had been designated by that of New Castile. But the present attempt to change the Indian name was as ineffectual as the former, and the ancient title of Chili still designates that narrow strip of fruitful land between the Andes and the ocean, which stretches to the southern extremity of the con- tinent. 1535 J HERNANDO PIZARRO IN SPAIN 249 proof of his satisfaction, was graciously pleased to address a letter to the two commanders, in which he complimented them on their prowess and thanked them for their services. This act of jus- tice to Almagro would have been highly honorable to Hernando Pizarro, considering the unfriendly relations in which they stood to each other, had it not been made necessary by the presence of the marshal's own agents at court, who, as already noticed, stood ready to supply any deficiency in the statements of the emissary. In this display of the royal bounty, the envoy, as will readily be believed, did not go without his reward. He was lodged as an attendant of the court; was made a knight of Santiago, the most prized of the chivalric orders in Spain; was em- powered to equip an armament, and to take com- mand of it; and the royal officers at Seville were required to aid him in his views and facilitate his embarkation for the Indies. 25 The arrival of Hernando Pizarro in the coun- try, and the reports spread by him and his fol- lowers, created a sensation among the Spaniards such as had not been felt since the first voyage of Columbus. The discovery of the New World had filled the minds of men with indefinite expecta- tions of wealth, of which almost every succeeding expedition had proved the fallacy. The conquest of Mexico, though calling forth general admira- tion as a brilliant and wonderful exploit, had as yet failed to produce those golden results which had been so fondly anticipated. The splendid 25 Herrera, Hist, general, loc. cit. 250 CONQUEST OF PERU promises held out by Francisco Pizarro on his re- cent visit to Spain had not revived the confidence of his countrymen, made incredulous by repeated disappointment. All that they were assured of was the difficulties of the enterprise; and their distrust of its results was sufficiently shown by the small number of followers, and those only of the most desperate stamp, who were willing to take their chance in the adventure. But now these promises were realized. It was no longer the golden reports that they were to trust, but the gold itself, which was displayed in such profusion before them. All eyes were now turned towards the West. The broken spend- thrift saw in it the quarter where he was to repair his fortunes as speedily as he had ruined them. The merchant, instead of seeking the precious commodities of the East, looked in the opposite direction, and counted on far higher gains, where the most common articles of life commanded so exorbitant prices. The cavalier, eager to win both gold and glory at the point of his lance, thought to find a fair field for his prowess on the mountain- plains of the Andes. Hernando Pizarro found that his brother had judged rightly in allowing as many of his company as chose to return home, confident that the display of their wealth would draw ten to his banner for every one that quitted it. In a short time that cavalier saw himself at the head of one of the most numerous and well-ap- pointed armaments, probably, that had left the shores of Spain since the great fleet of Ovando, 1535 1 HERNANDO PIZARRO LEAVES SPAIN 251 in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was scarcely more fortunate than this. Hardly had Hernando put to sea when a violent tempest fell on the squadron and compelled him to return to port and refit. At length he crossed the ocean, and reached the little harbor of Nombre de Dios in safety. But no preparations had been made for his coming, and, as he was detained here some time before he could pass the mountains, his com- pany suffered greatly from scarcity of food. In their extremity, the most unwholesome articles were greedily devoured, and many a cavalier spent his little savings to procure himself a miser- able subsistence. Disease, as usual, trod closely in the track of famine, and numbers of the un- fortunate adventurers, sinking under the unac- customed heats of the climate, perished on the very threshold of discovery. It was the tale so often repeated in the history of Spanish enterprise. A few, more lucky than the rest, stumbled on some unexpected prize, and hundreds, attracted by their success, pressed for- ward in the same path. But the rich spoil which lay on the surface had been already swept away by the first comers, and those who followed were to win their treasure by long-protracted and pain- ful exertion. Broken in spirit and in fortune, many returned in disgust to their native shores, while others remained where they were, to die in despair. They thought to dig for gold; but they dug only their graves. Yet it fared not thus with all Pizarro's com- pany. Many of them, crossing the Isthmus with 252 CONQUEST OF PERU him to Panama, came in time to Peru, where, in the desperate chances of its revolutionary strug- gles, some few arrived at posts of profit and dis- tinction. Among those who first reached the Pe- ruvian shore was an emissary sent by Almagro's agent to inform him of the important grant made to him by the crown. The tidings reached him just as he was making his entry into Cuzco, where he was received with all respect by Juan and Gon- zalo Pizarro, who, in obedience to their brother's commands, instantly resigned the government of the capital into the marshal's hands. But Al- magro was greatly elated on finding himself now placed by his sovereign in a command that made him independent of the man who had so deeply wronged him; and he intimated that in the exer- cise of his present authority he acknowledged no superior. In this lordly humor he was confirmed by several of his followers, who insisted that Cuzco fell to the south of the territory ceded to Pizarro, and consequently came within that now granted to the marshal. Among these followers were sev- eral of Alvarado's men, who, though of better condition than the soldiers of Pizarro, were under much worse discipline, and had acquired, indeed, a spirit of unbridled license under that unscrupu- lous chief. 26 They now evinced little concern for the native population of Cuzco, and, not content * In point of discipline they presented a remarkable contrast to the Conquerors of Peru, if we may take the word of Pedro Pizarro, who assures us that his comrades would not have plucked so much as an ear of corn without leave from their commander: " Que los que pasa- mos con el Marquez & la conquista no ovo homhre que osase tomar vna mazorca de mahiz sin licencia." Descub. y Conq., MS. io35j FEUDS AMONG THE CONQUERORS 253 with the public edifices, seized on the dwellings of individuals, where it suited their convenience, ap- propriating their contents without ceremony, showing as little respect, in short, for person or property as if the place had been taken by storm. 27 While these events were passing in the ancient Peruvian capital, the governor was still at Lima, where he was greatly disturbed by the accounts he received of the new honors conferred on his associate. He did not know that his own juris- diction had been extended seventy leagues farther to the south, and he entertained the same suspicion with Almagro, that the capital of the Incas did not rightfully come within his present limits. He saw all the mischief likely to result from this opu- lent city falling into the hands of his rival, who would thus have an almost indefinite means of gratif}nng his own cupidity and that of his fol- lowers. He felt that, under the present circum- stances, it was not safe to allow Almagro to an- ticipate the possession of power to which, as yet, he had no legitimate right; for the despatches containing the warrant for it still remained with Hernando Pizarro, at Panama, and all that had reached Peru was a copy of a garbled extract. " Se entraron de paz en la ciudad del Cuzco i los salieron todos los naturales a rescibir i les tomaron la Ciudad con todo quanto havia de dentro llenas las casas de mucha ropa i algunas oro i plata i otras muchas cosas, i las que no estaban hien llenas las enchian de lo que tomaban de las demas casas de la dicha ciudad, sin pensar que en ello hacian ofensa alguna Divina ni humana, i porquesta es una cosa larpa i casi incomprehensible, la dexase al juicio de quien mas entiende aunque en el da no rescebido por parte de los naturales cerca deste articulo yo se h irto por mis pecados que no quisiera saber ni haver visto." Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. 254 CONQUEST OF PERU Without loss of time, therefore, he sent instruc- tions to Cuzco for his brothers to resume the government, while he defended the measure to Almagro on the ground that when he should hereafter receive his credentials it would be un- becoming to be found already in possession of the post. He concluded by urging him to go forward without delay in his expedition to the south. But neither the marshal nor his friends were pleased with the idea of so soon relinquishing the authority which they now considered as his right. The Pizarros, on the other hand, were pertinacious in reclaiming it. The dispute grew warmer and warmer. Each party had its supporters ; the city was split into factions; and the municipality, the soldiers, and even the Indian population took sides in the struggle for power. Matters were proceeding to extremity, menacing the capital with violence and bloodshed, when Pizarro him- self appeared among them. 28 On receiving tidings of the fatal consequences of his mandates, he had posted in all haste to Cuzco, where he was greeted with undisguised joy by the natives, as well as by the more temperate Spaniards, anxious to avert the impending storm. The governor's first interview was with Almagro, whom he embraced with a seeming cordiality in his manner, and, without any show of resentment, inquired into the cause of the present disturbances. To this the marshal replied by throwing the blame on Pizarro's brothers; but, although the governor " Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib 7, cap. G. Conq. i Pol), del Piru, MS. 1535J FEUDS AMONG THE CONQUERORS 255 reprimanded them with some asperity for their violence, it was soon evident that his sympathies were on their side, and the dangers of a feud be- tween the two associates seemed greater than ever. Happily, it was postponed by the intervention of some common friends, who showed more discretion than their leaders. With their aid a reconciliation was at length effected, on the grounds substan- tially of their ancient compact. It was agreed that their friendship should be maintained inviolate; and, by a stipulation that reflects no great credit on the parties, it w r as pro- vided that neither should malign nor disparage the other, especially in their despatches to the em- peror, and that neither should hold communication with the government without the knowledge of his confederate; lastly, that both the expenditures and the profits of future discovery should be shared equally by the associates. The wrath of Heaven was invoked by the most solemn impre- cations on the head of whichever should violate this compact, and the Almighty was implored to visit the offender with loss of property and of life in this world, and with eternal perdition in that to come ! 2E The parties further bound themselves to the observance of this contract by a solemn oath taken on the sacrament, as it was held in the hands of Father Bartolome de Segovia, who concluded the ceremony by performing mass. The whole 29 " E suplicamos d su infinita bondad que & qualquier de nos que fuere en oontrario de lo asi convenido, con todo rigor de justicia per- mita la perdicion de su anima, fin y mal acavamiento de su vida, de- struicion y perdimiento de su familia, honrras, y hacienda." Capitu- lacion entre Pizarro y Almagro, 12 de Junio, 1535, MS. 256 CONQUEST OF PERU proceeding, and the articles of agreement, were carefully recorded by the notary, in an instrument bearing date June 12th, 1535, and attested by a long list of witnesses. 30 Thus did these two ancient comrades, after trampling on the ties of friendship and honor, hope to knit themselves to each other by the holy bands of religion. That it should have been neces- sary to resort to so extraordinary a measure might have furnished them with the best proof of its inefficacy. Not long after this accommodation of their dif- ferences, the marshal raised his standard for Chili ; and numbers, won by his popular manners and by his liberal largesses, liberal to prodigality, eagerly joined in the enterprise, which they fondly trusted would lead even to greater riches than they had found in Peru. Two Indians, Paullo Topa, a brother of the Inca Manco, and Villac Umu, the high-priest of the nation, were sent in advance, with three Spaniards, to prepare the way for the little army. A detachment of a hundred and fifty men, under an officer named Saavedra, next followed. Almagro remained behind to collect further recruits; but before his levies were com- pleted he began his march, feeling himself in- secure, with his diminished strength, in the neigh- borhood of Pizarro ! 31 The remainder of his forces, when mustered, were to follow him. 80 This remarkable document, the original of which is preserved in the archives of Simancas, may he found entire in the Castilian, in Appendix No. 11. n " El Adelantado Almajfro despues que se vido en el Cuzco descar- nado de su jente temio al Marquez no le prendiese por las alteraciones 1535] FOUNDING OF TRUXILLO 257 Thus relieved of the presence of his rival, the governor returned without further delay to the coast, to resume his labors in the settlement of the country. Besides the principal city of ' The Kings," he established others along the Pacific, destined to become hereafter the flourishing marts of commerce. The most important of these, in honor of his birthplace, he named Truxillo, plant- ing it on a site already indicated by Almagro. 32 He made also numerous repartimientos both of lands and Indians among his followers, in the usual manner of the Spanish Conquerors ; 33 though here the ignorance of the real resources of the country led to very different results from what he had intended, as the territory smallest in extent not unfrequently, from the hidden treas- ures in its bosoms, turned out greatest in value. 34 But nothing claimed so much of Pizarro's care pasadas que havia tenido con sus hermanos como ya hemos dicho, i dicen que por ser avisado dello tom6 la posta i se fue al pueblo de Paria donde estava su Capitan Saavedra." Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. 32 Carta de F. Pizarro a Molina, MS. 43 1 have before me copies of two grants of encomiendas by Pizarro, the one dated at Xauxa, 1534, the other at Cuzco, 1539. They em- phatically enjoin on the colonist the religious instruction of the natives under his care, as well as kind and considerate usage. How ineffectual were the recommendations may be inferred from the lament of the anonymous contemporary often cited, that " from this time forth the pest of personal servitude was established among the Indians, equally disastrous to body and soul of both the master and the slave." (Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS.) This honest burst of indig- nation, not to have been expected in the rude Conqueror, came probably from an ecclesiastic. 34 " El Marques hizo encomiendas en los Espanoles, las quales f ue- ron por noticias que ni el sabia lo que dava ni nadie lo que rescebia sino a tiento ya poco mas 6 menos, y asi muchos que pensaron que se les dava pocos se hallaron con mucho y al contrario." Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., MS. VOL. II. 17 258 CONQUEST OF PERU as the rising metropolis of Lima; and so eagerly did he press forward the work, and so well was he seconded by the multitude of laborers at his command, that he had the satisfaction to see his young capital, with its stately edifices and its pomp of gardens, rapidly advancing towards completion. It is pleasing to contemplate the softer features in the character of the rude sol- dier, as he was thus occupied with healing up the ravages of war and laying broad the foundations of an empire more civilized than that which he had overthrown. This peaceful occupation formed a contrast to the life of incessant turmoil in which he had been hitherto engaged. It seemed, too, better suited to his own advancing age, which naturally invited to repose. And, if we may trust his chron- iclers, there was no part of his career in which he took greater satisfaction. It is certain there is no part which has been viewed with greater satisfaction by posterity; and, amidst the woe and desolation which Pizarro and his followers brought on the devoted land of the Incas, Lima, the beautiful City of the Kings, still survives as the most glorious work of his creation, the fairest gem on the shores of the Pacific. CHAPTER X ESCAPE OF THE INCA RETURN OF HERNANDO PI- ZARRO RISING OF THE PERUVIANS SIEGE AND BURNING OF CUZCO DISTRESSES OF THE SPAN- IARDS STORMING OF THE FORTRESS PIZARRO's DISMAY THE INCA RAISES THE SIEGE 1535-1536 WHILE the absence of his rival Almagro relieved Pizarro from all immediate dis- quietude from that quarter, his authority was menaced in another, where he had least expected it. This was from the native population of the country. Hitherto the Peruvians had shown only a tame and submissive temper, that inspired their conquerors with too much contempt to leave room for apprehension. They had passively acquiesced in the usurpation of the invaders, had seen one monarch butchered, another placed on the vacant throne, their temples despoiled of their treasures, their capital and country appropriated and par- celled out among the Spaniards, but, with the ex- ception of an occasional skirmish in the mountain- passes, not a blow had been struck in defence of their rights. Yet this was the warlike nation which had spread its conquests over so large a part of the continent ! In his career, Pizarro, though he scrupled at nothing to effect his object, had not usually coun- 259 260 CONQUEST OF PERU tenanced such superfluous acts of cruelty as had too often stained the arms of his countrymen in other parts of the continent, and which in the course of a few years had exterminated nearly a whole population in Hispaniola. He had struck one astounding blow, by the seizure of Atahu- allpa; and he seemed willing to rely on this to strike terror into the natives. He even affected some respect for the institutions of the country, and had replaced the monarch he had murdered by another of the legitimate line. Yet this was but a pretext. The kingdom had experienced a revolution of the most decisive kind. Its ancient institutions were subverted. Its heaven-descended aristocracy was levelled almost to the condition of the peasant. The people became the serfs of the Conquerors. Their dwellings in the capital at least, after the arrival of Alvarado's officers- were seized and appropriated. The temples were turned into stables; the royal residences into bar- racks for the troops. The sanctity of the religious houses was violated. Thousands of matrons and maidens, who, however erroneous their faith, lived in chaste seclusion in the conventual establish- ments, were now turned abroad and became the prey of a licentious soldiery. 1 A favorite wife 1 So says the author of the Conquista i Poblacion del Piru, a con- temporary writer, who describes what he saw himself, as well as what he gathered from others. Several circumstances, especially the honest indignation he expresses at the excesses of the Conquerors, lead one to suppose he may have been an ecclesiastic, one of the good men who attended the cruel expedition on an errand of love and mercy. It is to be hoped that his credulity leads him to exaggerate the misdeeds of his countrymen. According to him, there were full six thousand women of rank living in the convents of Cuzco, served 1535] THE INCA MANCO 261 of the young Inca was debauched by the Castilian officers. The Inca, himself treated with con- temptuous indifference, found that he was a poor dependent, if not a tool, in the hands of the conquerors. 2 Yet the Inca Manco was a man of a lofty spirit and a courageous heart ; such a one as might have challenged comparison with the bravest of his ancestors in the prouder days of the empire. Stung to the quick by the humiliations to which he was exposed, he repeatedly urged Pizarro to restore him to the real exercise of power, as well as to the show of it. But Pizarro evaded a re- quest so incompatible with his own ambitious schemes, or, indeed, with the policy of Spain, and the young Inca and his nobles were left to brood over their injuries in secret and await patiently the hour of vengeance. each by fifteen or twenty female attendants, most of whom that did not perish in the war suffered a more melancholy fate, as the victims of prostitution. The passage is so remarkable, and the MS. so rare, that I will cite it in the original: " De estas senoras del Cuzco es cierto de tener grande sentimiento el que tuviese alguna humanidad en el pecho, que en tiempo de la prosperidad del Cuzco quando los Espanoles entraron en el havia grand cantidad de senoras que tenian sus casas i sus asientos mui quietas i sosegadas i vivian mui politica- mente i como mui buenas mugeres, cada senora acompanada con quince o veinte mugeres que tenia de servicio en su casa bien traidas i aderezadas, i no salian menos desto i con grand onestidad i gravedad i atavio d su usanza, i es a la cantidad destas senoras principales creo yo que en el ... que avia mas de seis mil sin las de servicio que creo yo que eran mas de veinte mil mugeres sin las de servicio i rnama- conas que eran las que andavan como beatas, i dende d dos afios casi no se allava en el Cuzco i su tierra sino cada qual i qual porque muchas murieron en la guerra que huvo i las otras vinieron las mas a ser malas mugeres. Senor perdone a quien fue la causa desto i aquien no lo remedia pudiendo." Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. 2 Ibid., ubi supra. 262 CONQUEST OF PERU The dissensions among the Spaniards them- selves seemed to afford a favorable opportunity for this. The Peruvian chiefs held many confer- ences together on the subject, and the high-priest Villac Umu urged the necessity of a rising so soon as Almagro had withdrawn his forces from the city. It would then be comparatively easy, by assaulting the invaders on their several posts, scattered as they were over the country, to over- power them by superior numbers, and shake off their detested yoke before the arrival of fresh re- inforcements should rivet it forever on the necks of his countrymen. A plan for a general rising was formed, and it was in conformity to it that the priest was selected by the Inca to bear Al- magro company on the march, that he might secure the co-operation of the natives in the country, and then secretly return as in fact he did to take a part in the insurrection. To carry their plans into effect, it became neces- sary that the Inca Manco should leave the city and present himself among his people. He found no difficulty in withdrawing from Cuzco, where his presence was scarcely heeded by the Spaniards, as his nominal power was held in little deference by the haughty and confident Conquerors. But in the capital there was a body of Indian allies more jealous of his movements. These were from the tribe of the Canaris, a warlike race of the north, too recently reduced by the Incas to have much sympathy with them or their institutions. There were about a thousand of this people in the place, and, as they had conceived some suspicion of the RETURN OF HERNANDO PIZARRO 263 Inca's purpose, they kept an eye on his movements and speedily reported his absence to Juan Pizarro. That cavalier, at the head of a small body of horse, instantly marched in pursuit of the fugi- tive, whom he was so fortunate as to discover in a thicket of reeds, in which he had sought to con- ceal himself, at no great distance from the city. Manco was arrested, brought back a prisoner to Cuzco, and placed under a strong guard in the fortress. The conspiracy seemed now at an end; and nothing was left to the unfortunate Peru- vians but to bewail their ruined hopes, and to give utterance to their disappointment in doleful bal- lads, which rehearsed the captivity of their Inca and the downfall of his royal house. 3 While these things were in progress, Hernando Pizarro returned to Ciudad de los Reyes, bearing with him the royal commission for the extension of his brother's powers, as well as of those con- ceded to Almagro. The envoy also brought the royal patent conferring on Francisco Pizarro the title of Marques de los Atavillos,* a province in Peru. Thus was the fortunate adventurer placed in the ranks of the proud aristocracy of Castile, few of whose members could boast if they had the courage to boast their elevation from so humble an origin, as still fewer could justify it by a show of greater services to the crown. 3 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 1, 2. Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 3. * [Markham asserts that there is no record whatever that a special designation for his marquisate was ever granted to Pizarro. He signed himself simply the Marquis Pizarro. M.] 264 CONQUEST OF PERU The new marquis resolved not to forward the commission at present, to the marshal, whom he designed to engage still deeper in the conquest of Chili, that his attention might be diverted from Cuzco, which, however, his brother assured him, now fell, without doubt, within the newly-ex- tended limits of his own territory. To make more sure of this important prize, he despatched Hernando to take the government of the capital into his own hands, as the one of his brothers on whose talents and practical experience he placed greatest reliance. Hernando, notwithstanding his arrogant bear- ing towards his countrymen, had ever manifested a more than ordinary sympathy with the Indians. He had been the friend of Atahuallpa, to such a degree, indeed, that it was said, if he had been in the camp at the time, the fate of that unhappy monarch would probably have been averted. He now showed a similar friendly disposition towards his successor, Manco. He caused the Peruvian prince to be liberated from confinement, and gradually admitted him to some intimacy with himself. The crafty Indian availed himself of his freedom to mature his plans for the rising, but with so much caution that no suspicion of them crossed the mind of Hernando. Secrecy and silence are characteristic of the American, almost as invariably as the peculiar color of his skin. Manco disclosed to his conqueror the exist- ence of several heaps of treasure and the places where they had been secreted; and when he had thus won his confidence he stimulated his cupidity ESCAPE OF THE INCA 265 still further by an account of a statue of pure gold of his father Huayna Capac, which the wily Pe- ruvian requested leave to bring from a secret cave in which it was deposited, among the neighboring Andes. Hernando, blinded by his avarice, con- sented to the Inca's departure. He sent with him two Spanish soldiers, less as a guard than to aid him in the object of his expe- dition. A week elapsed, and yet he did not re- turn, nor were there any tidings to be gathered of him. Hernando now saw his error, especially as his own suspicions were confirmed by the un- favorable reports of his Indian allies. Without further delay, he despatched his brother Juan, at the head of sixty horse, in quest of the Peruvian prince, with orders to bring him back once more a prisoner to his capital. That cavalier, with his well-armed troops, soon traversed the environs of Cuzco, without discover- ing any vestige of the fugitive. The country was remarkably silent and deserted, until, as he ap- proached the mountain-range that hems in the valley of Yucay, about six leagues from the city, he was met by the two Spaniards who had accom- panied Manco. They informed Pizarro that it was only at the point of the sword he could re- cover the Inca, for the country was all in arms, and the Peruvian chief at its head was preparing to march on the capital. Yet he had offered no violence to their persons, but had allowed them to return in safety. The Spanish captain found this story fully con- firmed when he arrived at the river Yucay, on 66 CONQUEST OF PERU the opposite bank of which were drawn up the Indian battalions to the number of many thou- sand men, who, with their young monarch at their head, prepared to dispute his passage. It seemed that they could not feel their position sufficiently strong without placing a river, as usual, between them and their enemy. The Spaniards were not checked by this obstacle. The stream, though deep, was narrow; and, plunging in, they swam their horses boldly across, amidst a tempest of stones and arrows that rattled thick as hail on their harness, finding occasionally some crevice or vul- nerable point, although the wounds thus received only goaded them to more desperate efforts. The barbarians fell back as the cavaliers made good their landing; but, without allowing the latter time to form, they returned with a spirit which they had hitherto seldom displayed, and enveloped them on all sides with their greatly superior num- bers. The fight now raged fiercely. Many of the Indians were armed with lances headed with copper tempered almost to the hardness of steel, and with huge maces and battle-axes of the same metal. Their defensive armor, also, was in many respects excellent, consisting of stout doublets of quilted cotton, shields covered with skins, and casques richly ornamented with gold and jewels, or sometimes made like those of the Mexican, in the fantastic shape of the heads of wild animals, garnished with rows of teeth that grinned hor- ribly above the visage of the warrior. 4 The whole * " Es gente," says Oviedo, " muy belicosa ( muy diestra; sus armas son picas, ondas, porras Alabardas de Plata (' oro cobre." 1535 1 RISING OF THE PERUVIANS 267 army wore an aspect of martial ferocity, under the control of much higher military discipline than the Spaniards had before seen in the country. The little band of cavaliers, shaken by the fury of the Indian assault, were thrown at first into some disorder, but at length, cheering on one an- other with the old war-cry of " St. Jago," they formed in solid column and charged boldly into the thick of the enemy. The latter, incapable of withstanding the shock, gave way, or were trampled down under the feet of the horses or pierced by the lances of the riders. Yet their flight was conducted with some order; and they turned at intervals, to let off a volley of arrows or to deal furious blows with their pole-axes and war-clubs. They fought as if conscious that they were under the eye of their Inca. It was evening before they had entirely quitted the level ground and withdrawn into the fast- nesses of the lofty range of hills which belt round the beautiful valley of Yucay. Juan Pizarro and his little troop encamped on the level at the base of the mountains. He had gained a victory, as usual, over immense odds; but he had never seen a field so well disputed, and his victory had cost him the lives of several men and horses, while many more had been \vounded, and were nearly (Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 17.) Xerez has made a good enumeration of the native Peruvian arms. (Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, torn. iii. p. 200.) Father Velasco has added considerably to this catalogue. According to him, they used copper swords, poniards, and other European weapons. (Hist, de Quito, torn. i. pp. 178-180.) He does not insist on their knowledge of fire-arms before the Conquest ! 268 CONQUEST OF PERU disabled by the fatigues of the day. But he trusted the severe lesson he had inflicted on the enemy, whose slaughter was great, would crush the spirit of resistance. He was deceived. The following morning, great was his dismay to see the passes of the mountains filled up with dark lines of warriors, stretching as far as the eye could penetrate into the depths of the sierra, while dense masses of the enemy were gathered like thunder-clouds along the slopes and summits, as if ready to pour down in fury on the assailants. The ground, altogether unfavorable to the ma- noeuvres of cavalry, gave every advantage to the Peruvians, who rolled down huge rocks from their elevated position and sent off incessant showers of missiles on the heads of the Span- iards. Juan Pizarro did not care to entangle himself farther in the perilous defile; and, though he repeatedly charged the enemy and drove them back with considerable loss, the second night found him with men and horses wearied and wounded, and as little advanced in the object of his expedition as on the preceding evening. From this embarrassing position, after a day or two more spent in unprofitable hostilities, he was surprised by a summons from his brother to return with all expedition to Cuzco, which was now besieged by the enemy! Without delay he began his retreat, recrossed the valley, the recent scene of slaughter, swam the river Yucay, and, by a rapid countermarch, closely followed by the victorious Indians, who celebrated their success with songs or rather yells 1536 1 RISING OF THE PERUVIANS 269 of triumph, he arrived before nightfall in sight of the capital. But very different was the sight which there met his eyes from what he had beheld on leaving it a few days before. The extensive environs, as far as the eye could reach, were occupied by a mighty host, which an indefinite computation swelled to the number of two hundred thousand warriors. 5 The dusky lines of the Indian battal- ions stretched out to the very verge of the moun- tains ; while, all around, the eye saw only the crests and waving banners of chieftains, mingled with rich panoplies of feather-work, which reminded some few who had served under Cortes of the military costume of the Aztecs. Above all rose a forest of long lances and battle-axes edged with copper, which, tossed to and fro in wild confu- sion, glittered in the rays of the setting sun, like light playing on the surface of a dark and troubled ocean. It was the first time that the Spaniards had beheld an Indian army in all its terrors, such an army as the Incas led to battle, when the banner of the Sun was borne triumphant over the land. Yet the bold hearts of the cavaliers, if for a moment dismayed by the sight, soon gathered courage as they closed up their files and pre- pared to open a way for themselves through the beleaguering host. But the enemy seemed to shun the encounter, and, falling back at their approach, 5 " Pues junta toda la gente quel ynga avia embiado d juntar que & lo que se entendio y los indios dixeron fueron dozientos mil indios de guerra los que vinieron d poner este cerco." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 270 CONQUEST OF PERU left a free entrance into the capital. The Peru- vians were probably not unwilling to draw as many victims as they could into the toils, conscious that the greater the number the sooner they would become sensible to the approaches of famine. 6 Hernando Pizarro greeted his brother with no little satisfaction; for he brought an important addition to his force, which now, when all were united, did not exceed two hundred, horse and foot, 7 besides a thousand Indian auxiliaries; an insignificant number, in comparison with the countless multitudes that were swarming at the gates. That night was passed by the Spaniards with feelings of the deepest anxiety, as they looked forward with natural apprehension to the morrow. It was early in February, 1536, when the siege of Cuzco commenced, a siege memorable as calling out the most heroic displays of Indian and Euro- pean valor, and bringing the two races into dead- lier conflict with each other than had yet occurred in the conquest of Peru. The numbers of the enemy seemed no less for- midable during the night than by the light of day: far and wide their watch-fires were to be seen gleaming over valley and hill-top, as thickly scattered, says an eye-witness, as " the stars of heaven in a cloudless night." Before these fires Pedro Pizarro, Dcscuh. y Conq., MS. Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 4. Gomara, Hist, de las Ind., cap. 133. 7 " Y los pocos Kspafioles que heramos aun no dozientos todos." Pedro Pizarro, Descuh. y Conq., MS. * " Pues de noche heran tantos los fuepos que no parecia sino vn c!elo muy sereno lleno de estrellas." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 153g ] RISING OF THE PERUVIANS 271 had become pale in the light of the morning, the Spaniards were roused by the hideous clamor of conch, trumpet, and atabal, mingled with the fierce war-cries of the barbarians, as they let off volleys of missiles of every description, most of which fell harmless within the city. But others did more serious execution. These were burning arrows, and red-hot stones wrapped in cotton that had been steeped in some bituminous substance, which, scattering long trains of light through the air, fell on the roofs of the buildings and speedily set them on fire. 9 These roofs, even of the bet- ter sort of edifices, were uniformly of thatch, and were ignited as easily as tinder. In a moment the flames burst forth from the most opposite quarters of the city. They quickly communicated to the woodwork in the interior of the buildings, and broad sheets of flame mingled with smoke rose up towards the heav- ens, throwing a fearful glare over every object. The rarefied atmosphere heightened the pre- vious impetuosity of the wind, which fanning the rising flames, they rapidly spread from dwelling to dwelling, till the whole fiery mass, swayed to and fro by the tempest, surged and roared with the fury of a volcano. The heat be- came intense, and clouds of smoke, gathering in a dark pall over the city, produced a sense of 8 " Unas piedras rredondas y hechallas en el fuego y hazellas asqua embolvianlas en vnos algodones y poniendolas en hondas las tiravan a las cassas donde no alcanzavan fl poner fuego con las manos, y ansi nos quemavan las cassas sin entendello. Otras veces con flechas en- cendidas tirandolas A las casas que como heran de paja luego se en- cendian." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 272 CONQUEST OF PERU suffocation and almost blindness in those quarters where it was driven by the winds. 10 The Spaniards were encamped in the great square, partly under awnings, and partly in the hall of the Inca Viracocha, on the ground since covered by the cathedral. Three times in the course of that dreadful day the roof of the build- ing was on fire; but, although no efforts were made to extinguish it, the flames went out with- out doing much injury. This miracle was as- cribed to the Blessed Virgin, who was distinctly seen by several of the Christian combatants, hover- ing over the spot on which was to be raised the temple dedicated to her worship. 11 Fortunately, the open space around Hernando's little company separated them from the immediate scene of conflagration. It afforded a means of preservation similar to that employed by the American hunter who endeavors to surround him- self with a belt of wasted land when overtaken 10 " I era tanto el humo que casi los oviera de aogar i pasaron grand travajo por esta causa i sino fuera porque de la una parte de la plaza no havia casas i estava desconorado no pudieran escapar porque si por todas partes les diera el humo i el calor siendo tan grande pasaron travajo, pero la divina providencia lo estorv6." Conq. i Fob. del Peru, MS. 11 The Temple was dedicated to Our Blessed Lady of the Assump- tion. The apparition of the Virgin was manifest not only to Chris- tian but to Indian warriors, many of whom reported it to Garcilasso de la Vega, in whose hands the marvellous rarely loses any of its gloss. (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 25.) It is further attested by Father Acosta, who came into the country forty years after the event (lib. 7, cap. 27). Both writers testify to the seasonable aid rendered by St. James, who with his buckler, displaying the device of his Military Order, and armed with his flaming sword, rode his white charger into the thick of the enemy. The patron Saint of Spain might always be relied on when his presence was needed: dignits vindice nodus. 153 J SIEGE AND BURNING OF CUZCO 273 by a conflagration in the prairies. All day the fire continued to rage, and at night the effect was even more appalling; for by the lurid flames the un- fortunate Spaniards could read the consternation depicted in each other's ghastly countenances, while in the suburbs, along the slopes of the surrounding hills, might be seen the throng of besiegers, gazing with fiendish exultation on the work of destruction. High above the town, to the north, rose the gray fortress, which now showed ruddy in the glare, looking grimly down on the ruins of the fair city which it was no longer able to protect; and in the distance were to be dis- cerned the shadowy forms of the Andes, soaring up in solitary grandeur into the regions of eternal silence, far beyond the wild tumult that raged so fearfully at their base. Such was the extent of the city that it was sev- eral days before the fury of the fire was spent. Tower and temple, hut, palace, and hall, went down before it. Fortunately, among the build- ings that escaped were the magnificent House of the Sun and the neighboring Convent of the Vir- gins. Their insulated position afforded the means, of which the Indians from motives of piety were willing to avail themselves, for their preserva- tion. 12 Full one-half of the capital, so long the " Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 24. Father Valverde, Bishop of Cuzco, who took so signal a part in the seizure of Atahu- allpa, was absent from the country at this period, but returned the following year. In a letter to the emperor, he contrasts the flourish- ing condition of the capital when he left it and that in which he now found it, despoiled, as well as its beautiful suburbs, of its ancient glories. "If I had not known the site of the city," he says, " I should not have recognized it as the same." The passage is too VOL. II. 18 274 CONQUEST OF PERU chosen seat of Western civilization, the pride of the Incas, and the bright abode of their tutelar deity, was laid in ashes by the hands of his own children. It was some consolation for them to reflect that it burned over the heads of its con- querors, their trophy and their tomb! During the long period of the conflagration the Spaniards made no attempt to extinguish the flames. Such an attempt would have availed nothing. Yet they did not tamely submit to the assaults of the enemy, and they sallied forth from time to time to repel them. But the fallen timbers and scattered rubbish of the houses pre- sented serious impediments to the movements of horse ; and when these were partially cleared away by the efforts of the infantry and the Indian allies, the Peruvians planted stakes and threw barricades across the path, which proved equally embarrassing. 13 To remove them was a work of remarkable to be omitted. The original letter exists in the archives of Simancas: " Certifico d V. M. que si no me acordara del sitio desta Ciudad yo no la conosciera, d lo menos por los edificios y Pue- blos della: porque quando el Gobernador D. Franzisco Pizarro entr6 aqui y entre" yo con 1 estava este valle tan hermoso en edificios y poblazion que en torno tenia que era cosa de admiracion vello, porque aunque la Ciudad en si no ternia mas de 3 o 4000 casas, ternia en torno quasi & vista 19 o 20,000; la fortaleza que estava sobre la Ciudad parescia desde d parte una mui gran fortaleza de las de Espafia: agora la mayor parte de la Ciudad esta toda derivada y quemada; la fortaleza no tiene quasi nada enhiesso; todos los pueblos de alderredor no tiene sino las paredes que por maravilla ai casa cubierta! La cosa que mas contentamiento me dio en esta Ciudad fue la Iglesia, que para en Indias es harto huena cosa, aunque segun la riqueza a havido en esta tierra pudiera ser mas semejante al Tempio de Salomon." Carta del Obispo F. Vicente de Valverde al Emperador, MS., 20 de Marzo, 1539. 13 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. " Los Indios ganaron el Cuzco casi todo dcsta rnanera que enganando la calle hivan haciendo 1536 J SIEGE AND BURNING OF CUZCO 275 time and no little danger, as the pioneers were exposed to the whole brunt of the enemy's archery, and the aim of the Peruvian was sure. When at length the obstacles were cleared away and a free course was opened to the cavalry, they rushed with irresistible impetuosity on their foes, who, falling back in confusion, were cut to pieces by the riders or pierced through with their lances. The slaugh- ter on these occasions was great ; but the Indians, nothing disheartened, usually returned with re- newed courage to the attack, and, while fresh reinforcements met the Spaniards, in front, others, lying in ambush among the ruins, threw the troops into disorder by assailing them on the flanks. The Peruvians were expert both with bow and sling; and these encounters, notwithstanding the superiority of their arms, cost the Spaniards more lives than in their crippled condition they could afford to spare, a loss poorly compensated by that of tenfold the number of the enemy. One weapon, peculiar to South American warfare, was used with some effect by the Peruvians. This was the lasso, a long rope with a noose at the end, which they adroitly threw over the rider, or en- tangled with it the legs of his horse, so as to bring them both to the ground. More than one Span- iard fell into the hands of the enemy by this expe- dient. 14 Thus harassed, sleeping on their arms, with their horses picketed by their side, ready for action at una pared para que los cavallos ni los Espanoles no los pudiesen romper." Conq. i Fob. del Pirn, MS. 14 Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 4. 276 CONQUEST OF PERU any and every hour, the Spaniards had no rest by night or by day. To add to their troubles, the fortress which overlooked the city, and com- pletely commanded the great square in which they were quartered, had been so feebly gar- risoned in their false sense of security that on the approach of the Peruvians it had been aban- doned without a blow in its defence. It was now occupied by a strong body of the enemy, who from his elevated position sent down showers of missiles, from time to time, which added greatly to the annoyance of the besieged. Bitterly did their captain now repent the improvi- dent security which had led him to neglect a post so important. Their distresses were still further aggravated by the rumors which continually reached their ears of the state of the country. The rising, it was said, was general throughout the land; the Span- iards living on their insulated plantations had all been massacred ; Lima and Truxillo and the prin- cipal cities were besieged, and must soon fall into the enemy's hands ; the Peruvians were in posses- sion of the passes, and all communications were cut off, so that no relief was to be expected from their countrymen on the coast. Such were the dismal stories (which, however exaggerated, had too much foundation in fact) that now found their way into the city from the camp of the be- siegers. And, to give greater credit to the rumors, eight or ten human heads were rolled into the plaza, in whose blood-stained visages the Span- iards recognized with horror the lineaments of 1536] DISTRESSES OF THE SPANIARDS 277 their companions who they knew had been dwell- ing in solitude on their estates! 10 Overcome by these horrors, many were for abandoning the place at once, as no longer ten- able, and for opening a passage for themselves to the coast with their own good swords. There was a daring in the enterprise which had a charm for the adventurous spirit of the Castilian. Better, they said, to perish in a manly struggle for life than to die thus ignominiously, pent up like foxes in their holes to be suffocated by the hunter! But the Pizarros, De Rojas, and some others of the principal cavaliers refused to acquiesce in a measure which, they said, must cover them with dishonor. 16 Cuzco had been the great prize for which they had contended ; it was the ancient seat of empire, and, though now in ashes, would again rise from its ruins as glorious as before. All eyes would be turned on them, as its defenders, and their failure, by giving confidence to the enemy, might decide the fate of their countrymen throughout the land. They were placed in that post as the post of honor, and better would it be to die there than to desert it. There seemed, indeed, no alternative ; for every avenue to escape was cut off by an enemy who had perfect knowledge of the country and pos- 13 Herrera, His. general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 4. Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. " " Pues Hernando Picarro nunca estuvo en ello y les respondia que todos aviamos de morir y no desamparar el cuzco. Juntavanse a estas consultas Hernando Picarro y sus hermanos, Graviel de Rojas, Hernan Ponce de Leon, el Thesorero Riquelme." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 278 CONQUEST OF PERU session of all its passes. But this state of things could not last long. The Indian could not, in the long run, contend with the white man. The spirit of insurrection would die out of itself. The great army would melt away, unaccustomed as the na- tives were to the privations incident to a protracted campaign. Reinforcements would be daily coming in from the colonies ; and, if the Castilians would be but true to themselves for a season, they would be relieved by their own countrymen, who would never suffer them to die like outcasts among the mountains. The cheering words and courageous bearing of the cavaliers went to the hearts of their followers; for the soul of the Spaniard readily responded to the call of honor, if not of humanity. All now agreed to stand by their leader to the last. But, if they would remain longer in their present posi- tion, it was absolutely necessary to dislodge the enemy from the fortress; and, before venturing on this dangerous service, Hernando Pizarro re- solved to strike such a blow as should intimidate the besiegers from further attempts to molest his present quarters. He communicated his plan of attack to his offi- cers ; and, forming his little troop into three divi- sions, he placed them under command of his brother Gonzalo, of Gabriel de Rojas, an officer in whom he reposed great confidence, and of Her- nan Ponce de Leon. The Indian pioneers were sent forward to clear away the rubbish, and the several divisions moved simultaneously up the principal avenues towards the camp of the be- 1536J STORMING OF THE FORTRESS 279 siegers. Such stragglers as they met in their way were easily cut to pieces, and the three bodies, bursting impetuously on the disordered lines of the Peruvians, took them completely by surprise. For some moments there was little resistance, and the slaughter was terrible. But the Indians grad- ually rallied, and, coming into something like order, returned to the fight with the courage of men who had long been familiar with danger. They fought hand to hand with their copper- headed war-clubs and pole-axes, while a storm of darts, stones, and arrows rained on the well- defended bodies of the Christians. The barbarians showed more discipline than was to have been expected; for which, it is said, they were indebted to some Spanish prisoners, from several of whom the Inca, having generously spared their lives, took occasional lessons in the art of war. The Peruvians had also learned to manage with some degree of skill the weapons of their conquerors; and they were seen armed with bucklers, helmets, and swords of European work- manship, and even, in a few instances, mounted on the horses which they had taken from the white men. 17 The young Inca 5 in particular, accoutred in the European fashion, rode a war-horse, which he managed with considerable address, and, with a long lance in his hand, led on his followers to the attack. This readiness to adopt the superior arms and tactics of the Conquerors intimates a 17 Herrera assures us that the Peruvians even turned the fire-arms of their Conquerors against them, compelling their prisoners to put the muskets in order and manufacture powder for them. Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 5, 6. 280 CONQUEST OF PERU higher civilization than that which belonged to the Aztec, who, in his long collision with the Span- iards, was never so far divested of his terror of the horse as to venture to mount him. But a few days or weeks of training were not enough to give familiarity with weapons, still less with tactics, so unlike those to which the Peruvians had been hitherto accustomed. The fight on the present occasion, though hotly contested, was not of long duration. After a gallant struggle, in which the natives threw themselves fearlessly on the horsemen, endeavoring to tear them from their saddles, they were obliged to give way before the repeated shock of their charges. Many were trampled under foot, others cut down by the Spanish broadswords, while the arquebusiers, sup- porting the cavalry, kept up a running fire that did terrible execution on the flanks and rear of the fugitives. At length, sated with slaughter, and trusting that the chastisement he had inflicted on the enemy would secure him from further annoyance for the present, the Castilian general drew back his forces to their quarters in the capi- tal. 18 His next step was the recovery of the citadel. It was an enterprise of danger. The fortress, which overlooked the northern section of the city, stood high on a rocky eminence, so steep as to be inaccessible on this quarter, where it was defended only by a single wall. Towards the open country it was more easy of approach; but there it was " Pedro Pizarro, Descuh. y Conq., MS. Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 4, 5. 1536] STORMING OF THE FORTRESS 281 protected by two semicircular walls,* each about twelve hundred feet in length, and of great thick- ness. They were built of massive stones, or rather rocks, put together without cement, so as to form a kind of rustic-work. The level of the ground between these lines of defence was raised up so as to enable the garrison to discharge their arrows at the assailants while their own persons were protected by the parapet. Within the in- terior wall was the fortress, consisting of three strong towers, one of great height, which, with a smaller one, was now held by the enemy, under the command of an Inca noble, a warrior of well-tried valor, prepared to defend it to the last extremity. The perilous enterprise was intrusted by Her- nando Pi'zarro to his brother Juan, a cavalier in whose bosom burned the adventurous spirit of a knight-errant of romance. As the fortress was to be approached through the mountain-passes, it became necessary to divert the enemy's attention to another quarter. A little while before sunset, Juan Pizarro left the city with a picked corps of horsemen, and took a direction opposite to that of the fortress, that the besieging army might suppose the object was a foraging expedition. But, secretly countermarching in the night, he fortunately found the passes undefended, and arrived before the outer wall of the fortress with- out giving the alarm to the garrison. 19 "Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. * [There were three semicircular walls. (See note, vol. i. p. 20. M.] 282 CONQUEST OF PERU The entrance was through a narrow opening in the centre of the rampart ; but this was now closed up with heavy stones, that seemed to form one solid work with the rest of the masonry. It was an affair of time to dislodge these huge masses in such a manner as not to rouse the garrison. The Indian nations, who rarely attacked in the night, were not sufficiently acquainted with the art of war even to provide against surprise by posting sentinels. When the task was accom- plished, Juan Pizarro and his gallant troop rode through the gateway and advanced towards the second parapet. But their movements had not been conducted so secretly as to escape notice, and they now found the interior court swarming with warriors, who, as the Spaniards drew near, let off clouds of missiles that compelled them to come to a halt. Juan Pi- zarro, aware that no time was to be lost, ordered one-half of his corps to dismount, and, putting himself at their head, prepared to make a breach as before in the fortifications. He had been wounded some days previously in the jaw, so that, finding his helmet caused him pain, he rashly dispensed with it, and trusted for protection to his buckler. 20 Leading on his men, he encouraged them in the work of demolition, in the face of such a storm of stones, javelins, and arrows as might have made the stoutest heart shrink from encountering it. The good mail of the Spaniards did not always protect them; but others took the place of such as fell, until a breach was made, and " Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 1536] STORMING OF THE FORTRESS 283 the cavalry pouring in, rode down all who opposed them. The parapet was now abandoned, and the In- dians, hurrying with disorderly flight across the enclosure, took refuge on a kind of platform or terrace, commanded by the principal tower. Here, rallying, they shot off fresh volleys of missiles against the Spaniards, while the garrison in the fortress hurled down fragments of rock and tim- ber on their heads. Juan Pizarro, still among the foremost, sprang forward on the terrace, cheering on his men by his voice and example; but at this moment he was struck by a large stone on the head, not then protected by his buckler, and was stretched on the ground. The dauntless chief still continued to animate his followers by his voice, till the terrace was carried and its miserable defenders were put to the sword. His sufferings were then too much for him, and he was removed to the town below, where, notwithstanding every exertion to save him, he survived the injury but a fortnight, and died in great agony. 21 To say that he was a Pizarro is enough to attest his claim to valor. But it is his praise that his valor was tempered by courtesy. His own nature appeared mild by con- trast with the haughty temper of his brothers, and his manners made him a favorite of the army. He had served in the conquest of Peru from the first, 51 " Y estando batallando con ellos para echallos de alii Joan Pizarro se descuido descubrirse la cabeca con la adarga y con las muchas pedradas que tiravan le acertaron vna en la caveca que le quebraron los cascos y dende A quince dias murio desta herida y ansi herido estuvo forcejando con los yndios y espafioles hasta que se gano este terrado y ganado le abaxaron al Cuzco." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 284. CONQUEST OF PERU and no name on the roll of its conquerors is less tarnished by the reproach of cruelty or stands higher in all the attributes of a true and valiant knight. 22 Though deeply sensible to his brother's disaster, Hernando Pizarro saw that no time was to be lost in profiting by the advantages already gained. Committing the charge of the town to Gonzalo, he put himself at the head of the assailants and laid vigorous siege to the fortresses. One sur- rendered after a short resistance. The other and more formidable of the two still held out under the brave Inca noble who commanded it. He was a man of an athletic frame, and might be seen striding along the battlements, armed with a Spanish buckler and cuirass, and in his hand wielding a formidable mace, garnished with points or knobs of copper. With this terrible weapon he struck down all who attempted to force a passage into the fortress. Some of his own followers who proposed a surrender he is said to have slain with his own hand. Hernando prepared to carry the place by escalade. Ladders were planted against the walls ; but no sooner did a Spaniard gain the topmost round than he was hurled to the ground by the strong arm of the Indian warrior. His activity was equal to his strength; and he seemed to be at every point the moment that his presence was needed. " " Hera valiente," says Pedro Pizarro, " y muy animoso, gentil hombre, magnanimo y afahle." (Descub. y Conq., MS.) Zarate dismisses him with this brief panegyric: " Fue gran perdida en la Tierra, porque era Juan Pizarro mui valiente, i experimentado en las Guerras de los Indios, i bien quisto, i amado de todos." Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 3. 1536J STORMING OF THE FORTRESS 285 The Spanish commander was filled with admira- tion at this display of valor; for he could admire valor even in an enemy. He gave orders that the chief should not be injured, but be taken alive, if possible. 23 This was not easy. At length, nu- merous ladders having been planted against the tower, the Spaniards scaled it on several quarters at the same time, and, leaping into the place, over- powered the few combatants who still made a show of resistance. But the Inca chieftain was not to be taken; and, finding further resistance ineffec- tual, he sprang to the edge of the battlements, and, casting away his war-club, wrapped his mantle around him and threw himself headlong from the summit. 24 He died like an ancient Roman. He had struck his last stroke for the freedom of his country, and he scorned to survive her dishonor. The Castilian commander left a small force in garrison to secure his conquest, and returned in triumph to his quarters. Week after week rolled away, and no relief came to the beleaguered Spaniards. They had long since begun to feel the approaches of famine. Fortunately, they were provided with water from the streams which flowed through the city. But, though they had well husbanded their resources, their provisions were exhausted, and they had for 23 " Y mando hernando pi^arro & los Espanoles que subian que no matasen & este yndio sino que se lo tomasen & vida, jurando de no matalle si lo avia bivo." Pedro Pizarro, Descuh, y Conq., MS. 24 " Visto este orejon que se lo avian ganado y le avian tornado por dos 6 tres partes el fuerte, arrojando las armas se tapo la oaveca y el rrostro con la manta y se arrojo del cubo abajo mas de cien estados, y ansi se hizo pedazos. A hernando Pizarro le peso mucho por no tomalle a vida." Ibid., MS. 286 CONQUEST OF PERU some time depended on such scanty supplies of grain as they could gather from the ruined maga- zines and dwellings, mostly consumed by the fire, or from the produce of some successful foray. 25 This latter resource was attended with no little difficulty; for every expedition led to a fierce en- counter with the enemy, which usually cost the lives of several Spaniards and inflicted a much heavier injury on the Indian allies. Yet it was at least one good result of such loss that it left fewer to provide for. But the whole number of the besieged was so small that any loss greatly increased the difficulties of defence by the re- mainder. As months passed away without bringing any tidings of their countrymen, their minds were haunted with still gloomier apprehensions as to their fate. They well knew that the governor would make every effort to rescue them from their desperate condition. That he had not suc- ceeded in this made it probable that his own situa- tion was no better than theirs, or perhaps he and his followers had already fallen victims to the fury of the insurgents. It was a dismal thought that they alone were left in the land, far from all human succor, to perish miserably by the hands of the barbarians among the mountains. Yet the actual state of things, though gloomy in the extreme, was not quite so desperate as their imaginations had painted it. The insurrection, it is true, had been general throughout the country, at least that portion of it occupied by the Span- M Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 24. 1536 J PIZARRO'S DISMAY 287 iards. It had been so well concerted that it broke out almost simultaneously, and the Conquerors, who were living in careless security on their es- tates, had been massacred to the number of sev- eral hundreds. An Indian force had sat down before Xauxa, and a considerable army had oc- cupied the valley of Rimac, and laid siege to Lima. But the country around that capital was of an open, level character, very favorable to the action of cavalry. Pizarro no sooner saw himself men- aced by the hostile array than he sent such a force against the Peruvians as speedily put them to flight; and, following up his advantage, he in- flicted on them such a severe chastisement that, although they still continued to hover in the dis- tance and cut off his communications with the in- terior, they did not care to trust themselves on the other side of the Rimac. The accounts that the Spanish commander now received of the state of the country filled him with the most serious alarm. He was particularly solicitous for the fate of the garrison at Cuzco, and he made repeated efforts to relieve that capi- tal. Four several detachments, amounting to more than four hundred men in all, half of them cavalry, were sent by him at different times, under some of his bravest officers. But none of them reached their place of destination. The wily na- tives permitted them to march into the interior of the country until they were fairly entangled in the passes of the Cordilleras. They then envel- oped them with greatly superior numbers, and, occupying the heights, sho\vered down their fatal 288 CONQUEST OF PERU missiles on the heads of the Spaniards, or crushed them under the weight of fragments of rock which they rolled on them from the mountains. In some instances the whole detachment was cut off to a man. In others, a few stragglers only survived to return and tell the bloody tale to their country- men at Lima. 26 Pizarro was now filled with consternation. He had the most dismal forebodings of the fate of the Spaniards dispersed throughout the country, and even doubted the possibility of maintaining his own foothold in it without assistance from abroad. He despatched a vessel to the neighbor- ing colonists at Truxillo, urging them to abandon the place, with all their effects, and to repair to him at Lima. The measure was, fortunately, not adopted. Many of his men w r ere for availing themselves of the vessels which rode at anchor in the port to make their escape from the country at once and take refuge in Panama. Pizarro would not hearken to so dastardly a counsel, which involved the desertion of the brave men in the interior who still looked to him for protection. He cut off the hopes of these timid spirits by despatch- ing all the vessels then in port on a very different mission. He sent letters by them to the governors of Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico, "Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 5. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 5. Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 28. According to the historian of the Inoas, there fell in these expedi- tions four hundred and seventy Spaniards. Cieza de Leon computes the whole number of Christians who perished in this insurrection at seven hundred, many of them, he adds, under circumstances of great cruelty. (Cronica, cap. 82.) The estimate, considering the spread and spirit of the insurrection, does not seem extravagant. 1536 J PIZARRO'S DISMAY 289 representing the gloomy state of his affairs, and invoking their aid. His epistle to Alvarado, then established at Guatemala, has been preserved. He conjures him by every sentiment of honor and pa- triotism to come to his assistance, and this before it is too late. Without assistance, the Spaniards can no longer maintain their footing in Peru, and that great empire will be lost to the Castilian crown. He finally engages to share with him such con- quests as they may make with their united arms. 27 Such concessions to the very man whose absence from the country, but a few months before, Pi- zarro would have been willing to secure at almost any price, are sufficient evidences of the extremity of his distress. The succors thus earnestly solicited arrived in time, not to quell the Indian insurrec- tion, but to aid him in a struggle quite as formid- able with his own countrymen. It was now August. More than five months had elapsed since the commencement of the siege of Cuzco, yet the Peruvian legions still lay encamped around the city. The siege had been protracted much beyond what was usual in Indian warfare, and showed the resolution of the natives to exter- minate the white men. But the Peruvians them- selves had for some time been straitened by the want of provisions. It was no easy matter to feed so numerous a host; and the obvious resource of 17 crea V. S a sino somos socorridos se perdera cl Cusco, ques la cosa mas senalada e de mas importancia que se puede descubrir, 6 luego nos perdermos todos; porque somos pocos e tenemos pocas armas, los Indies estan atrevidos." Carta de Francisco Pizarro a D. Pedro de Alvarado, desde la Ciudad de los Reyes, 29 de Julio, 1536, MS. VOL. II. 19 290 CONQUEST OF PERU the magazines of grain, so providently prepared by the Incas, did them but little service, since their contents had been most prodigally used, and even dissipated, by the Spaniards, on their first occu- pation of the country. 28 The season for planting had now arrived, and the Inca well knew that if his followers were to neglect it they would be visited by a scourge even more formidable than their invaders. Disbanding the greater part of his forces, therefore, he ordered them to withdraw to their homes, and, after the labors of the field were over, to return and resume the blockade of the capital. The Inca reserved a considerable force to attend on his own person, with which he retired to Tambo, a strongly fortified place south of the valley of Yucay, the favorite residence of his ancestors. He also posted a large body as a corps of observation in the environs of Cuzco, to watch the movements of the enemy and to inter- cept supplies. The Spaniards beheld with joy the mighty host which had so long encompassed the city now melt- ing away. They were not slow in profiting by the circumstance, and Hernando Pizarro took advan- tage of the temporary absence to send out for- aging-parties to scour the country and bring back supplies to his famishing soldiers. In this he was so successful that on one occasion no less than two thousand head of cattle the Peruvian sheep- were swept away from the Indian plantations and brought safely to Cuzco. 29 This placed the army "Ondegardo, Rel. Prim, y Seg., MS. 29 " Reooximos hasta dos mil cavezas de ganado." Pedro Pi/.arro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 1536J THE INCA RAISES THE SIEGE 291 above all apprehensions on the score of want for the present. Yet these forays were made with the point of the lance, and many a desperate contest ensued, in which the best blood of the Spanish chivalry was shed. The contests, indeed, were not confined to large bodies of troops, but skirmishes took place between smaller parties, which sometimes took the form of personal combats. Nor were the parties so unequally matched as might have been sup- posed in these single rencontres ; and the Peruvian warrior, with his sling, his bow, and his lasso, proved no contemptible antagonist for the mailed horseman, whom he sometimes even ventured to encounter, hand to hand, with his formidable battle-axe. The ground around Cuzco became a battle-field, like the vega of Granada, in which Christian and Pagan displayed the characteristics of their peculiar warfare; and many a deed of heroism was performed, which wanted only the song of the minstrel to shed around it a glory like that which rested on the last days of the Moslem of Spain. 30 But Hernando Pizarro was not content to act wholly on the defensive; and he meditated a bold stroke by which at once to put an end to the war. 80 Pedro Pizarro recounts several of these deeds of arms, in some of which his own prowess is made quite apparent. One piece of cruelty recorded by him is little to the credit of his commander, Hernando Pizarro, who, he says, after a desperate rencontre, caused the right hands of his prisoners to be struck off, and sent them in this mutilated condition back to their countrymen. (Descub. y Conq., MS.) Such atrocities are not often noticed by the chroniclers; and we may hope they were exceptions to the general policy of the Con- querors in this invasion. 292 CONQUEST OF PERU This was the capture of the Inca Manco, whom he hoped to surprise in his quarters at Tambo. For this service he selected about eighty of his best-mounted cavalry, with a small body of foot, and, making a large detour through the less fre- quented mountain-defiles, he arrived before Tambo without alarm to the enemy. He found the place more strongly fortified than he had imagined. The palace, or rather fortress, of the Incas stood on a lofty eminence, the steep sides of which, on the quarter where the Spaniards approached, were cut into terraces, defended by strong walls of stone and sunburnt brick. 31 The place was im- pregnable on this side. On the opposite, it looked towards the Yucay, and the ground descended by a gradual declivity towards the plain through which rolled its deep but narrow current. 32 This was the quarter on which to make the assault. Crossing the stream without much difficulty, the Spanish commander advanced up the smooth glacis with as little noise as possible. The morn- ing light had hardly broken on the mountains ; and Pizarro, as he drew near the outer defences, which, as in the fortress of Cuzco, consisted of a stone parapet of great strength drawn round the en- closure, moved quickly forward, confident that the garrison were still buried in sleep. But thou- sands of eyes were upon him; and as the Span- iards came within bow-shot, a multitude of dark " " Tambo tan fortalescido que hera cosa de grima, porquel assiento donde Tambo esta es muy fuerte, de andenes muy altos y de muy gran canterias fortalescidos." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. ** " El rio de yueay ques grande por aquella parte va muy angosto y Hondo." Ibid!, MS. 1536] ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE THE INCA 293 forms suddenly rose above the rampart, while the Inca, with his lance in land, was seen on horseback in the enclosure, directing the operations of his troops. 3 ' At the same moment the air was dark- ened with innumerable missiles, stones, javelins, and arrows, which fell like a hurricane on the troops, and the mountains rang to the wild war- whoop of the enemy. The Spaniards, taken by surprise, and many of them sorely wounded, were staggered; and, though they quickly rallied, and made two attempts to renew the assault, they were at length obliged to fall back, unable to endure the violence of the storm. To add to their confusion, the lower level in their rear was flooded by the waters, which the natives, by opening the sluices, had diverted from the bed of the river, so that their position was no longer tenable. 34 A council of war was then held, and it was decided to abandon the attack as desperate, and to retreat in as good order as possible. The day had been consumed in these ineffectual operations; and Hernando, under cover of the friendly darkness, sent forward his infantry and baggage, taking command of the centre himself, and trusting the rear to his brother Gonzalo. The river was happily re-crossed without acci- dent, although the Indians, now confident in their strength, rushed out of their defences and 33 " Parecia el Inga a cahallo entre su gente, con su lanca en la mano." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 7. 34 " Pues hechos dos 6 tres acometimientos & tomar este pueblo tan- tas vezes nos hizieron bolver dando de manos. Ansi estuvimos todo este dia hasta puesta de sol ; los indios sin entendello nos hechavan el rrio en el lino donde estavamos, y aguardar mas perescieramos aqui todos." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. 294 PEDRO PIZARRO followed up the retreating Spaniards, whom they annoyed with repeated discharges of arrows. More than once they pressed so closely on the fugitives that Gonzalo and his chivalry were com- pelled to turn and make one of those desperate charges that effectually punished their audacity and stayed the tide of pursuit. Yet the victorious foe still hung on the rear of the discomfited cava- liers, till they had emerged from the mountain- passes and come within sight of the blackened walls of the capital. It was the last triumph of the Inca. 35 Among the manuscripts for which I am indebted to the liberality of that illustrious Spanish scholar the lamented Navarrete, the most remarkable, in connection with this history, is the work of Pedro Pizarro; Relaciones del Descubrimiento y Conquista de los Reynos del Peru, But a single copy of this important document appears to have been preserved, the existence of which was but little known till it came into the hands of Senor de Navarrete; though it did not escape the indefatigable researches of Herrera, as is evident from the mention of several incidents, some of them having personal rela- tion to Pedro Pizarro himself, which the historian of the Indies could have derived through no other channel. The manuscript has lately been given to the public as part of the inestimable collection of his- torical documents now in process of publication at Madrid, under auspices which, we may trust, will insure its success. As the printed work did not reach me till my present labors were far advanced, I have preferred to rely on the manuscript copy for the brief remain- der of my narrative, as I had been compelled to do for the previous portion of it. Nothing, that I am aware of, is known respecting the author but what is to be gleaned from incidental notices of himself in his own history. He was born at Toledo in Estremadura, the fruitful province of adventurers to the New World, whence the family of Francisco Pizarro, to which Pedro was allied, also emigrated. When that chief came over to undertake the conquest of Peru, after re- ceiving his commission from the emperor in 1529, Pedro Pizarro, then only fifteen years of age, accompanied him in quality of page. K Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 7. PEDRO PIZARRO 295 For three years he remained attached to the household of his com- mander, and afterwards continued to follow his banner as a soldier of fortune. He was present at most of the memorable events of the Conquest, and seems to have possessed in a great degree the confi- dence of his leader, who employed him on some difficult missions, in which he displayed coolness and gallantry. It is true, we must take the author's own word for all this. But he tells his exploits with an air of honesty and without any extraordinary effort to set them off in undue relief. He speaks of himself in the third person, and, as his manuscript was not intended solely for posterity, he would hardly have ventured on great misrepresentation, where fraud could so easily have been exposed. After the Conquest, our author still remained attached to the for- tunes of his commander, and stood by him through all the troubles which ensued; and on the assassination of that chief he withdrew to Arequipa to enjoy in quiet the repartimiento of lands and Indians which had been bestowed on him as the recompense of his services. He was there on the breaking out of the great rebellion under Gon- zalo Pizarro. But he was true to his allegiance, and chose rather, as he tells us, to be false to his name and his lineage than to his loyalty. Gonzalo, in retaliation, seized his estates, and would have proceeded to still further extremities against him, when Pedro Pizarro had fallen into his hands at Lima, but for the interposition of his lieu- tenant, the famous Francisco de Carbajal, to whom the chronicler had once the good fortune to render an important service. This Car- bajal requited by sparing his life on two occasions, but on the second coolly remarked, "No man has a right to a brace of lives; and if you fall into my hands a third time, God only can grant you another." Happily, Pizarro did not find occasion to put this menace to the test. After the pacification of the country, he again retired to Arequipa; but, from the querulous tone of his remarks, it would seem he was not fully reinstated in the possessions he had sacrificed by his loyal devotion to the government. The last we hear of him is in 1571, the date which he assigns as that of the completion of his history. Pedro Pizarro's narrative covers the whole ground of the Conquest, from the date of the first expedition that sallied out from Panama to the troubles that ensued on the departure of President Gasca. The first part of the work was gathered from the testimony of others, and, of course, cannot claim the distinction of rising to the highest class of evidence. But all that follows the return of Francisco Pizarro from Castile, all, in short, which constitutes the conquest of the country, may be said to be reported on his own observation as an eye-witness and an actor. This gives to his narrative a value to which it could have no pretensions on the score of its literary execution. Pizarro was a soldier, with as little education, probably, as usually falls to those who have been trained from youth in this rough school, 296 MONTESINOS the most unpropitious in the world to both mental and moral progress. He had the good sense, moreover, not to aspire to an excellence which he could not reach. There is no ambition of fine writing in his chronicle; there are none of those affectations of orna- ment which only make more glaring the beggarly condition of him who assumes them. His object was simply to tell the story of the Conquest, as he had seen it. He was to deal with facts, not with words, which he wisely left to those who came into the field after the laborers had quitted it, to garner up what they could at second hand. Pizarro's situation may be thought to have necessarily exposed him to party influences and thus given an undue bias to his narrative. It is not difficult, indeed, to determine under whose banner he had en- listed. He writes like a partisan, and yet like an honest one, who is no further warped from a correct judgment of passing affairs than must necessarily come from preconceived opinions. There is no management to work a conviction in his reader on this side or the other, still less any obvious perversion of fact. He evidently believes what he says, and this is the great point to be desired. We can make allowance for the natural influences of his position. Were he more impartial than this, the critic of the present day, by making allowance for a greater amount of prejudice and partiality, might only be led into error. Pizarro is not only independent, but occasionally caustic in his condemnation of those under whom he acted. This is particularly the case where their measures bear too unfavorably on his own in- terests, or those of the army. As to the unfortunate natives, he no more regards their sufferings than the Jews of old did those of the Philistines, whom they considered as delivered up to their swords, and whose lands they regarded as their lawful heritage. There is no mercy shown by the hard Conqueror in his treatment of the infidel. Pizarro was the representative of the age in which he lived. Yet it is too much to cast such obloquy on the age. He represented more truly the spirit of the fierce warriors who overturned the dynasty of the Incas. He was not merely a crusader, fighting to extend the em- pire of the Cross over the darkened heathen. Gold was his great object, the estimate by which he judged of the value of the Con- quest, the recompense that he asked for a life of toil and danger. It was with these golden visions, far more than with visions of glory, above all, of celestial glory, that the Peruvian adventurer fed his gross and worldly imagination. Pizarro did not rise above his caste. Neither did he rise above it in a mental view, any more than in a moral. His history displays no great penetration, or vigor and com- prehension of thought. It is the work of a soldier, telling simply his tale of blood. Its value is that it is told by him who acted it. And this, to the modern compiler, renders it of higher worth than fnr abler productions at second hand. It is the rude ore, which, sub- MONTESINOS 297 mitted to the regular process of purification and refinement, may receive the current stamp that fits it for general circulation. Another authority, to whom I have occasionally referred, and whose writings still slumber in manuscript, is the Licentiate Her- nando Montesinos. He is in every respect the opposite of the mili- tary chronicler who has just come under our notice. He flourished about a century after the Conquest. Of course the value of his writings as an authority for historical facts must depend on his superior opportunities for consulting original documents. For this his advantages were great. He was twice sent in an official capacity to Peru, which required him to visit the different parts of the country. These two missions occupied fifteen years; so that, while his position gave him access to the colonial archives and literary repositories, he was enabled to verify his researches, to some extent, by actual observation of the country. The result was his two historical works, Memorias antiguas hittori- ales del Peru, and his Annales, sometimes cited in these pages. The former is taken up with the early history of the country, very early, it must be admitted, since it goes back to the deluge. The first part of this treatise is chiefly occupied with an argument to show the iden- tity of Peru with the golden Ophir of Solomon's time ! This hypoth- esis, by no means original with the author, may give no unfair notion of the character of his mind. In the progress of his work he follows down the line of Inca princes, whose exploits, and names even, by no means coincide with Garcilasso's catalogue, a circumstance, however, far from establishing their inaccuracy. But one will have little doubt that the writer merits this reproach, after reading the absurd legends told in a grave tone of reliance by Montesinos, who shared largely in the credulity and the love of the marvellous which belong to an earlier and less enlightened age. These same traits are visible in his Annals, which are devoted ex- clusively to the Conquest. Here, indeed, the author, after his cloudy flight, has descended on firm ground, where gross violations of truth, or at least of probability, are not to be expected. But any one who has occasion to compare his narrative with that of contemporary writers will find frequent cause to distrust it. Yet Montesinos has one merit. In his extensive researches, he became acquainted with original instruments, which he has occasionally transferred to his own pages, and which it would now be difficult to meet with else- where. His writings have been commended by some of his learned coun- trymen, as showing diligent research and information. My own experience would not assign them a high rank as historical vouchers. They seem to me entitled to little praise, either for the accuracy of their statements or the sagacity of their reflections. The spirit of cold indifference which they manifest to the sufferings of the natives is an odious feature, for which there is less apology in a writer of the 298 CONQUEST OF PERU seventeenth century than in one of the primitive Conquerors, whose passions had been inflamed by long-protracted hostility. M. Ter- naux-Compans has translated the Memorias antiguas with his usual elegance and precision, for his collection of original documents re- lating to the New World. He speaks in the Preface of doing the same kind office to the Annales at a future time. I am not aware that he has done this; and I cannot but think that the excellent translator may find a better subject for his labors in some of the rich collection of the Munoz manuscripts in his possession. BOOK IV CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS CHAPTER I ALMAGRO'S MARCH TO CHILI SUFFERINGS OF THE TROOPS HE RETURNS AND SEIZES CUZCO - ACTION OF ABANCAY CASPAR DE ESPINOSA - ALMAGRO LEAVES CUZCO NEGOTIATIONS WITH PIZARRO 1535-1537 WHILE the events recorded in the preceding chapter were passing, the Marshal Alma- gro was engaged in his memorable expedition to Chili. He had set out, as we have seen, with only part of his forces, leaving his lieutenant to follow him with the remainder. During the first part of the way he profited by the great military road of the Incas, which stretched across the table-land far towards the south. But as he drew near to Chili the Spanish commander became entangled in the defiles of the mountains, where no vestige of a road was to be discerned. Here his progress was impeded by all the obstacles which belong to the wild scenery of the Cordilleras : deep and ragged ravines, round whose sides a slender sheep-path wound up to a dizzy height over the precipices below; rivers rushing in fury down the slopes of the mountains and throwing themselves in stu- pendous cataracts into the yawning abyss; dark forests of pine that seemed to have no end, and then again long reaches of desolate table-land, 801 302 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS without so much as bush or shrub to shelter the shivering traveller from the blast that swept down from the frozen summits of the sierra. The cold was so intense that many lost the nails of their fingers, their ringers themselves, and some- times their limbs. Others were blinded by the dazzling waste of snow, reflecting the rays of a sun made intolerably brilliant in the thin atmos- phere of these elevated regions. Hunger came, as usual, in the train of woes; for in these dismal solitudes no vegetation that would suffice for the food of man was visible, and no living thing, ex- cept only the great bird of the Andes hovering over their heads in expectation of his banquet. This was too frequently afforded by the number of wretched Indians who, unable, from the scanti- ness of their clothing, to encounter the severity of the climate, perished by the way. Such was the pressure of hunger that the miserable survivors fed on the dead bodies of their countrymen, and the Spaniards forced a similar sustenance from the carcasses of their horses, literally frozen to death in the mountain-passes. 1 Such were the terrible penalties which Nature imposed on those who rashly intruded on these her solitary and most savage haunts. Yet their own sufferings do not seem to have touched the hearts of the Spaniards with any feel- ing of compassion for the weaker natives. Their path was everywhere marked by burnt and deso- lated hamlets, the inhabitants of which were com- 1 Herrera, His. general, dec. 5, lib. 10, cap. 1-3. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 9, cap. 4. Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. 1535 1 ALMAGRO'S MARCH TO CHILI 303 pelled to do them service as beasts of burden. They were chained together in gangs of ten or twelve, and no infirmity or feebleness of body excused the unfortunate captive from his full share of the common toil, till he sometimes dropped dead, in his very chains, from mere exhaustion ! 2 Alvarado's company are accused of having been more cruel than Pizarro's; and many of Almagro's men, it may be remembered, were recruited from that source. The commander looked with displeasure, it is said, on these enor- mities, and did what he could to repress them. Yet he did not set a good example in his own conduct, if it be true that he caused no less than thirty Indian chiefs to be burnt alive for the massacre of three of his followers ! 3 The heart sickens at the recital of such atrocities perpe- *Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. The writer must have made one on this expedition, as he speaks from personal observation. The poor natives had at least one friend in the Christian camp. " I si en el Real havia algun Espanol que era buen rancheador i cruel i matava muchos Indios tenianle por buen hombre i en grand reputacion i el que era inclinado & hacer bien i d hacer buenos tratamientos a los naturales i los favorecia no era tenido en tan buena estima, he apun- tado esto que vi con mis ojos I en que por mis pecados anduve porque entiendan los que esto leyeren que de la manera que aqui digo i con mayores crueldades harto se hizo esta Jornada i descubrimiento de Chile." 8 "I para castigarlos por la muerte destos tres Espanoles juntolos en un aposento donde estava aposentado i mand6 cavalgar la jente de cavallo i la de apie que guardasen las puertas i todos estuviesen aper- cividos i los prendio i en conclusion hizo quemar mas de 30 senores vivos atados cada uno a su palo." (Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS.) Oviedo, who always shows the hard feeling of the colonist, excuses this on the old plea of necessity, fue necesario este castigo, and adds that after this a Spaniard might send a messenger from one end of the country to the other, without fear of injury. Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 9, cap. 4. 304 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS trated on an unoffending people, or, at least, guilty of no other crime than that of defending their own soil too well. There is something in the possession of superior strength most dangerous, in a moral view, to its possessor. Brought in contact with semi-civilized man, the European, with his endowments and effective force so immeasurably superior, holds him as little higher than the brute, and as born equally for his service. He feels that he has a natural right, as it were, to his obedience, and that this obedience is to be measured, not by the powers of the barbarian, but by the will of his conqueror. Resistance becomes a crime to be washed out only in the blood of the victim. The tale of such atro- cities is not confined to the Spaniard. Wherever the civilized man and the savage have come in con- tact, in the East or in the West, the story has been too often written in blood. From the wild chaos of mountain-scenery the Spaniards emerged on the green vale of Co- quimbo, about the thirtieth degree of south lati- tude. Here they halted, to refresh themselves in its abundant plains, after their unexampled suf- ferings and fatigues. Meanwhile Almagro de- spatched an officer with a strong party in advance, to ascertain the character of the country towards the south. Not long after, he was cheered by the arrival of the remainder of his forces under his lieutenant Rodrigo de Orgonez. This was a re- markable person, intimately connected with the subsequent fortunes of Almagro. He was a native of Oropesa, had been trained 1535 1 ALMAGRO'S MARCH TO CHILI 305 in the Italian wars, and held the rank of ensign in the army of the Constable of Bourbon at the famous sack of Rome. It was a good school in which to learn his iron trade and to steel the heart against any too ready sensibility to human suffer- ing. Orgonez was an excellent soldier, true to his commander, prompt, fearless, and unflinching in the execution of his orders. His services at- tracted the notice of the crown, and shortly after this period he was raised to the rank of Marshal of New Toledo. Yet it may be doubted whether his character did not qualify him for an executive and subordinate station, rather than for one of higher responsibility. Almagro received also the royal warrant con- ferring on him his new powers and territorial jurisdiction. The instrument had been detained by the Pizarros to the very last moment. His troops, long since disgusted with their toilsome and unprofitable march, were now clamorous to return. Cuzco, they said, undoubtedly fell within the limits of his government, and it was better to take possession of its comfortable quarters than to wander like outcasts in this dreary wilderness. They reminded their commander that thus only could he provide for the interests of his son Diego. This was an illegitimate son of Almagro, on whom his father doted with extravagant fondness, jus- tified more than usual by the promising character of the youth. After an absence of about two months, the officer sent on the exploring expedition returned, bringing unpromising accounts of the southern VOL. II. 20 regions of Chili. The only land of promise for the Castilian was one that teemed with gold. 4 He had penetrated to the distance of a hundred leagues, to the limits, probably, of the conquests of the Incas on the river Maule. 5 The Spaniards had fortunately stopped short of the land of Arauco, where the blood of their countrymen was soon after to be poured out like water, and which still maintains a proud independence amidst the general humiliation of the Indian races around it. Almagro now yielded, with little reluctance, to the renewed importunities of the soldiers, and turned his face towards the north. It is unneces- sary to follow his march in detail. Disheartened by the difficulties of the mountain-passage, he took the road along the coast, which led him across the great desert of Atacama. In crossing this dreary waste, which stretches for nearly a hun- dred leagues to the northern borders of Chili, with hardly a green spot in its expanse to relieve the fainting traveller, Almagro and his men experi- enced as great sufferings, though not of the same kind, as those which they had encountered in the passes of the Cordilleras. Indeed, the captain would not easily be found at this day who would venture to lead his army across this dreary region. But the Spaniard of the sixteenth century had a 4 It is the language of a Spaniard : " i como no le parecio bien la tierra por no ser quajada de oro." Conq. i Poh. del Piru, MS. 5 According to Oviedo, a hundred and fifty leagues, and very near, as they told him, to the end of the world: cerea del fin del mundo. (Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lih. 9, cap. 5.) One must not ex- pect to meet with very accurate notions of geography in the rude soldiers of America. 1537] HE RETURNS AND SEIZES CUZCO 307 strength of limb and a buoyancy of spirit which raised him to a contempt of obstacles almost justi- fying the boast of the historian that " he con- tended indifferently at the same time with man, with the elements, and with famine ! " After traversing the terrible desert, Almagro reached the ancient town of Arequipa, about sixty leagues from Cuzco. Here he learned with aston- ishment the insurrection of the Peruvians, and, further, that the young Inca Manco still lay with a formidable force at no great distance from the capital. He had once been on friendly terms with the Peruvian prince, and he now resolved, before proceeding farther, to send an embassy to his camp and arrange an interview with him in the neighborhood of Cuzco. Almagro's emissaries were well received by the Inca, who alleged his grounds of complaint against the Pizarros, and named the vale of Yucay as the place where he would confer with the marshal. The Spanish commander accord- ingly resumed his march, and, taking one-half of his force, whose whole number fell somewhat short of five hundred men, he repaired in person to the place of rendezvous; while the remainder of his army established their quarters at Urcos, about six leagues from the capital. 7 The Spaniards in Cuzco, startled by the appear- ance of this fresh body of troops in their neigh- borhood, doubted, when they learned the quarter 8 " Peleando en un tiempo con los Enemigos, con los Elementos, i con la Hambre." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 10, cap. 2. 7 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. Oviedo, His. de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 9, cap. 7. 308 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS whence they came, whether it betided them good or evil. Hernando Pizarro marched out of the city with a small force, and, drawing near to Urcos, heard with no little uneasiness of Alma- gro's purpose to insist on his pretensions to Cuzco. Though much inferior in strength to his rival, he determined to resist him. Meanwhile, the Peruvians, who had witnessed the conference between the soldiers of the oppo- site camps, suspected some secret understanding between the parties, which would compromise the safety of the Inca. They communicated their dis- trust to Manco, and the latter, adopting the same sentiments, or perhaps from the first meditating a surprise of the Spaniards, suddenly fell upon the latter in the valley of Yucay with a body of fifteen thousand men. But the veterans of Chili were too familiar with Indian tactics to be taken by surprise ; and, though a sharp engagement ensued, which lasted more than an hour, in which Orgonez had a horse killed under him, the natives were finally driven back with great slaughter, and the Inca was so far crippled by the blow that he was not likely for the present to give further molestation. 8 Almagro, now joining the division left at Ur- cos, saw no further impediment to his operations on Cuzco. He sent at once an embassy to the municipality of the place, requiring the recogni- tion of him as its lawful governor, and presenting at the same time a copy of his credentials from the crown. But the question of jurisdiction was " Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 4. Conq. i Pol), del Pirn, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 21. 1537] HE RETURNS AND SEIZES CUZCO 309 not one easy to be settled, depending as it did on a knowledge of the true parallels of latitude, not very likely to be possessed by the rude followers of Pizarro. The royal grant had placed under his jurisdiction all the country extending two hun- dred and seventy leagues south of the river of Santiago, situated one degree and twenty minutes north of the equator. Two hundred and seventy leagues on the meridian, by our measurement, would fall more than a degree short of Cuzco, and, indeed, would barely include the city of Lima itself. But the Spanish leagues, of only seventeen and a half to a degree, 9 would remove the southern boundary to nearly half a degree beyond the capi- tal of the Incas, which would thus fall within the jurisdiction of Pizarro. 10 Yet the division-line ran so close to the disputed ground that the true result might reasonably be doubted, where no care- ful scientific observations had been made to obtain it ; and each party was prompt to assert, as always happens in such cases, that its own claim was clear and unquestionable. 11 " Contando diez i siete leguas i media por grade." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 5. 10 The government had endeavored early to provide against any dispute in regard to the limits of the respective jurisdictions. The language of the original grants gave room to some misunderstanding; and, as early as 1536, Fray Jomds de Berlanga, Bishop of Tierra Firme, had been sent to Lima with full powers to determine the ques- tion of boundary, by fixing the latitude of the river of Santiago and measuring two hundred and seventy leagues south on the meridian. But Pizarro, having engaged Almagro in his Chili expedition, did not care to revive the question, and the bishop returned, re infectd, to his diocese, with strong feelings of disgust towards the governor. Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 1. " " All say," says Oviedo, in a letter to the emperor, " that Cuzco falls within the territory of Almagro." Oviedo was, probably, the 310 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS Thus summoned by Almagro, the authorities of Cuzco, unwilling to give umbrage to either of the contending chiefs, decided that they must wait until they could take counsel which they prom- ised to do at once with certain pilots better in- structed than themselves in the position of the Santiago. Meanwhile, a truce was arranged be- tween the parties, both solemnly engaging to abstain from hostile measures and to remain quiet in their present quarters. The weather now set in cold and rainy. Alma- gro's soldiers, greatly discontented with their posi- tion, flooded as it was by the waters, were quick to discover that Hernando Pizarro was busily employed in strengthening himself in the city, contrary to agreement. They also learned with dismay that a large body of men, sent by the governor from Lima, under command of Alonso de Alvarado, was on the march to relieve Cuzco. They exclaimed that they were betrayed, and that the truce had been only an artifice to secure their inactivity until the arrival of the expected succors. In this state of excitement, it was not very diffi- cult to persuade their commander too ready to surrender his own judgment to the rash advisers around him to violate the treaty and take pos- session of the capital. 12 Under cover of a dark and stormy night ( April best-informed man in the colonies. Yet this was an error. Carta desde Sto. Domingo, MS., 25 de Oct. 1539. 11 According to Zarate, Almagro, on entering the capital, found no appearance of the designs imputed to Hernando, and exclaimed that "he had been deceived." (Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 4.) He was probably easy of faith in the matter. 1537 3 HE RETURNS AND SEIZES CUZCO 311 8th, 1537), he entered the place without opposi- tion, made himself master of the principal church, established strong parties of cavalry at the head of the great avenues to prevent surprise, and de- tached Orgoiiez with a body of infantry to force the dwelling of Hernando Pizarro. That captain was lodged with his brother Gonzalo in one of the large halls built by the Incas for public diversions, with immense doors of entrance that opened on the plaza. It was garrisoned by about twenty soldiers, who, as the gates were burst open, stood stoutly to the defence of their leader. A smart struggle ensued, in which some lives were lost, till at length Orgonez, provoked by the obstinate resistance, set fire to the combustible roof of the building. It was speedily in flames, and the burning rafters falling on the heads of the inmates, they forced their reluctant leader to an unconditional surren- der. Scarcely had the Spaniards left the build- ing, when the whole roof fell in with a tremendous crash. 13 Almagro was now master of Cuzco. He ordered the Pizarros, with fifteen or twenty of the prin- cipal cavaliers, to be secured and placed in con- finement. Except so far as required for securing his authority, he does not seem to have been guilty of acts of violence to the inhabitants, 14 and he " Carta de Espinall, Tesorero de N. Toledo, 15 de Junio, 1539. Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 21. 14 So it would appear from the general testimony; yet Pedro Pizarro, one of the opposite faction, and among those imprisoned by Almagro, complains that that chief plundered them of their horses and other property. Descub. y Conq., MS. 312 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS installed one of Pizarro's most able officers, Ga- briel de Rojas, in the government of the city. The municipality, whose eyes were now open to the validity of Almagro's pretensions, made no further scruple to recognize his title to Cuzco. The marshal's first step was to send a message to Alonso de Alvarado's camp, advising that offi- cer of his occupation of the city, and requiring his obedience to him, as its legitimate master. Alvarado was lying, with a body of five hundred men, horse and foot, at Xauxa, about thirteen leagues from the capital. He had been detached several months previously for the relief of Cuzco, but had, most unaccountably, and, as it proved, most unfortunately for the Peruvian capital, re- mained at Xauxa, with the alleged motive of pro- tecting that settlement and the surrounding coun- try against the insurgents. 15 He now showed himself loyal to his commander; and when Al- magro's ambassadors reached his camp he put them in irons, and sent advice of what had been done to the governor at Lima. Almagro, offended by the detention of his emis- saries, prepared at once to march against Alonso de Alvarado and take more effectual measures to bring him to submission. His lieutenant, Orgonez, strongly urged him before his departure to strike "Pizarro's secretary Picado had an encomienda in that neighbor- hood, and Alvarado, who was under personal obligations to him, re- mained there, it is said, at his instigation. (Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 7.) Alvarado was n good officer, and largely trusted, both before and after, by the Pizarros; and we may presume there was some explanation of his conduct, of which we are not pos- sessed. 1537 J ACTION OF ABANCAY 813 off the heads of the Pizarros, alleging " that, while they lived, his commander's life would never be safe," and concluding with the Spanish proverb, " Dead men never bite." 16 But the marshal, though he detested Hernando in his heart, shrank from so violent a measure ; and, independently of other considerations, he had still an attachment for his old associate, Francisco Pizarro, and was unwilling to sever the ties between them forever. Contenting himself, therefore, with placing his prisoners under strong guard in one of the stone buildings belonging to the House of the Sun, he put himself at the head of his forces and left the capital in quest of Alvarado. That officer had now taken up a position on the farther side of the Rio de Abancay, where he lay, with the bulk of his little army, in front of a bridge, by which its rapid waters are traversed, while a strong detachment occupied a spot com- manding a ford lower down the river. But in this detachment was a cavalier of much consideration in the army, Pedro de Lerma, who, from some pique against his commander, had entered into treasonable correspondence with the opposite party. By his advice, Almagro, on reaching the border of the river, established himself against the bridge in face of Alvarado, as if prepared to force a passage, thus concentrating his adversary's attention on that point. But when darkness had set in he detached a large body under Orgonez to pass the ford and operate in concert with Lerma. Orgonez executed this commission 18 " El muerto no mordia." Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 2, cap. 8. 314 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS with his usual promptness. The ford was crossed, though the current ran so swiftly that several of his men were swept away by it and perished in the waters. Their leader received a severe wound himself in the mouth, as he was gaining the oppo- site bank, but, nothing daunted, he cheered on his men and fell with fury on the enemy. He was speedily joined by Lerma and such of the soldiers as he had gained over, and, unable to distinguish friend from foe, the enemy's confusion was com- plete. Meanwhile, Alvarado, roused by the noise of the attack on this quarter, hastened to the support of his officer, when Almagro, seizing the occasion, pushed across the bridge, dispersed the small body left to defend it, and, falling on Alvarado's rear, that general saw himself hemmed in on all sides. The struggle did not last long; and the unfortu- nate chief, uncertain on whom he could rely, sur- rendered with all his force, those only excepted who had already deserted to the enemy. Such was the battle of Abancay, as it was called, from the river on whose banks it was fought, on the twelfth of July, 1537. Never was a victory more com- plete or achieved with less cost of life; and Al- magro marched back, with an array of prisoners scarcely inferior to his own army in number, in triumph to Cuzco. 17 While the events related in the preceding pages were passing, Francisco Pizarro had remained at 11 Carta de Francisco Pizarro al Ohispo de Tierra Firme, MS., 29 de Agosto, 1,539. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., ubi supra. Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS. Carta de Espinall, MS. 1537 J PIZARRO AIDED BY CORTES 315 Lima, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the rein- forcements which he had requested, to enable him to march to the relief of the beleaguered capital of the Incas. His appeal had not been unan- swered. Among the rest was a corps of two hundred and fifty men, led by the Licentiate Caspar de Espinosa, one of the three original associates, it may be remembered, who engaged in the conquest of Peru. He had now left his own residence at Panama, and came in person, for the first time, it would seem, to revive the droop- ing fortunes of his confederates. Pizarro re- ceived also a vessel laden with provisions, military stores, and other necessary supplies, besides a rich wardrobe for himself, from Cortes, the Conqueror of Mexico, who generously stretched forth his hand to aid his kinsman in the hour of need. 18 With a force amounting to four hundred and fifty men, half of them cavalry, the governor quitted Lima and began his march on the Inca capital. He had not advanced far when he re- ceived tidings of the return of Almagro, the seizure of Cuzco, and the imprisonment of his brothers ; and before he had time to recover from this astounding intelligence he learned the total defeat and capture of Alvarado. Filled with con- sternation at these rapid successes of his rival, he now returned in all haste to Lima, which he put in the best posture of defence, to secure it against the hostile movements not unlikely, as he thought, ""Fernando Corts embi& con Rodriero de Grijalva en vn proprio Xavio suio, desde la Nueva Espafia, muehas Armas, Tiros, Jaeces, Aderecos, Vestidos de Seda, i rna Ropa de Martas." Gomara, Hist, de las Ind., cap. 136. 316 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS to be directed against that capital itself. Mean- while, far from indulging in impotent sallies of resentment, or in complaints of his ancient com- rade, he only lamented that Almagro should have resorted to these violent measures for the settle- ment of their dispute, and this less if we may take his word for it from personal considerations than from the prejudice it might do to the in- terests of the crown. 19 But, while busily occupied with warlike prepa- rations, he did not omit to try the effect of nego- tiation. He sent an embassy to Cuzco, consisting of several persons in whose discretion he placed the greatest confidence, with Espinosa at their head, as the party most interested in an amicable arrangement. The licentiate, on his arrival, did not find Al- magro in as favorable a mood for an accommo- dation as he could have wished. Elated by his recent successes, he now aspired not only to the possession of Cuzco, but of Lima itself, as falling within the limits of his jurisdiction. It was in vain that Espinosa urged the propriety, by every argu- ment which prudence could suggest, of moder- ating his demands. His claims upon Cuzco, at least, were not to be shaken, and he declared him- self ready to peril his life in maintaining them. The licentiate coolly replied by quoting the pithy Castilian proverb, El vencido vencido, y el ven- cidor per dido: " The vanquished vanquished, and the victor undone." What influence the temperate arguments of the 19 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 2, cap. 7. 15S7 J GASPAR DE ESPINOSA 317 licentiate might eventually have had on the heated imagination of the soldier is doubtful; but, un- fortunately for the negotiation, it was abruptly terminated by the death of Espinosa himself, which took place most unexpectedly, though, strange to say, in those times, without the impu- tation of poison. 20 He was a great loss to the parties in the existing fermentation of their minds; for he had the weight of character which belongs to wise and moderate counsels, and a deeper interest than any other man in recom- mending them. The name of Espinosa is memorable in history from his early connection with the expedition to Peru, which, but for the seasonable though secret application of his funds, could not then have been compassed. He had long been a resident in the Spanish colonies of Tierra Firme and Panama, \vhere he had served in various capacities, some- times as a legal functionary presiding in the courts of justice, 21 and not unfrequently as an efficient leader in the early expeditions of con- quest and discovery. In these manifold vocations he acquired a high reputation for probity, intel- ligence, and courage, and his death at the present crisis was undoubtedly the most unfortunate event that could have befallen the country. 30 Carta de Pizarro al Obispo de Tierra Firme, MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 2, cap. 13. Carta de Espinall, MS. 21 He incurred some odium as presiding officer in the trial and con- demnation of the unfortunate Vasco Nunez de Balboa. But it must be allowed that he made great efforts to resist the tyrannical proceed- ings of Pedr.-rias, and he earnestly recommended the prisoner to mercy. See Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 2, cap. 21, 22. 318 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS All attempt at negotiation was now abandoned ; and Almagro announced his purpose to descend to the sea-coast, where he could plant a colony and establish a port for himself. This would secure him the means, so essential, of communicating with the mother-country, and here he would re- sume negotiations for the settlement of his dis- pute with Pizarro. Before quitting Cuzco, he sent Orgonez with a strong force against the Inca, not caring to leave the capital exposed in his absence to further annoyance from that quarter. But the Inca, discouraged by his late discom- fiture, and unable, perhaps, to rally in sufficient strength for resistance, abandoned his stronghold at Tambo and retreated across the mountains. He was hotly pursued by Orgofiez over hill and val- ley, till, deserted by his followers, and with only one of his wives to bear him company, the royal fugitive took shelter in the remote fastnesses of the Andes. 22 Before leaving the capital, Orgofiez again urged his commander to strike off the heads of the Pizarros and then march at once upon Lima. By this decisive step he would bring the war to an issue, and forever secure himself from the insidious machinations of his enemies. But in the mean time a new friend had risen up to the captive brothers. This was Diego de Alva- rado, brother of that Pedro who, as mentioned in a preceding chapter, had conducted the unfortu- nate expedition to Quito. After his brother's w Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Conq. i Pob. del Piru, MS. 1537 J ALMAGRO LEAVES CUZCO 319 departure, Diego had attached himself to the for- tunes of Almagro, had accompanied him to Chili, and, as he was a cavalier of birth, and possessed of some truly noble qualities, he had gained de- served ascendency over his commander. Alvarado had frequently visited Hernando Pizarro in his confinement, where, to beguile the tediousness of captivity, he amused himself with gaming, the passion of the Spaniard. They played deep, and Alvarado lost the enormous sum of eighty thou- sand gold castellanos. He was prompt in pay- ing the debt, but Hernando Pizarro peremptorily declined to receive the money. By this politic gen- erosity he secured an important advocate in the council of Almagro. It stood him now in good stead. Alvarado represented to the marshal that such a measure as that urged by Orgofiez would not only outrage the feelings of his followers, but would ruin his fortunes by the indignation it must excite at court. When Almagro acquiesced in these views, as in truth most grateful to his own nature, Orgofiez, chagrined at his determination, declared that the day would come when he would repent this mistaken lenity. " A Pizarro," he said, "was never known to forget an injury; and that which they had already received from Almagro was too deep for them to forgive." Prophetic words ! On leaving Cuzco, the marshal gave orders that Gonzalo Pizarro and the other prisoners should be detained in strict custody. Hernando he took with him, closely guarded, on his march. Descend- ing rapidly towards the coast, he reached the pleas- 320 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS ant vale of Chincha in the latter part of August. Here he occupied himself with laying the founda- tions of a town bearing his own name, which might serve as a counterpart to the City of the Kings, thus bidding defiance, as it were, to his rival on his own borders. While occupied in this manner, he received the unwelcome tidings that Gonzalo Pizarro, Alonso de Alvarado, and the other pris- oners, having tampered with their guards, had effected their escape from Cuzco, and he soon after heard of their safe arrival in the camp of Pizarro. Chafed by this intelligence, the marshal was not soothed by the insinuations of Orgonez, that it was owing to his ill-advised lenity; and it might have gone hard with Hernando, but that Alma- gro's attention was diverted by the negotiation which Francisco Pizarro now proposed to resume. After some correspondence between the parties, it was agreed to submit the arbitration of the dis- pute to a single individual, Fray Francisco de Bovadilla, a Brother of the Order of Mercy. Though living in Lima, and, as might be sup- posed, under the influence of Pizarro, he had a reputation for integrity that disposed Almagro to confide the settlement of the question exclu- sively to him. In this implicit confidence in the friar's impartiality, Orgonez, of a less sanguine temper than his chief, did not participate. 23 M Carta de Gutierrez al Emperador, MS., 10 de Feb. 1539. Carta de Espinall, MS. Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., ubi supra. Her- rera, Hist, general, dec. fi, lib. 2, cap. ft-14. Pedro Pizarro, Desoub. y Conq., MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 8. Naharro, Re- lacion stimaria, MS. 1537 J NEGOTIATIONS WITH PIZARRO 321 An interview was arranged between the rival chiefs. It took place at Mala, November 13th, 1537; but very different was the deportment of the two commanders towards each other from that which they had exhibited at their former meeting's. Almagro, indeed, doffing his bonnet, advanced in his usual open manner to salute his ancient comrade ; but Pizarro, hardly condescend- ing to return the salute, haughtily demanded why the marshal had seized upon his city of Cuzco and imprisoned his brothers. This led to a recrimina- tion on the part of his associate. The discussion assumed the tone of an angry altercation, till Al- magro, taking a hint or what he conceived to be such from an attendant, that some treachery was intended, abruptly quitted the apartment, mounted his horse, and galloped back to his quarters at Chincha. 24 The conference closed, as might have been anticipated from the heated temper of their minds when they began it, by widening the breach it was intended to heal. The friar, now left wholly to himself, after some de- 14 It was said that Gonzalo Pizarro lay in ambush with a strong force in the neighborhood to intercept the marshal, and that the lat- ter was warned of his danger by an honorable cavalier of the opposite party, who repeated a distich of an old ballad, " Tiempo es el Caballero Tiempo es de andar de aqui." (Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 4.) Pedro Pizarro admits the truth of the design imputed to Gonzalo, which he was prevented from putting into execution by the commands of the governor, who, the chronicler, with edifying simplicity, or assurance, informs us, was a man that scrupulously kept his word: " Porque el marquez don Francisco Picarro hera hombre que guardava mucho su palabra." Descub. y Conq., MS. VOL. II. 21 322 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS liberation, gave his award. He decided that a vessel, with a skilful pilot on board, should be sent to determine the exact latitude of the river of Santiago, the northern boundary of Pizarro's territory, by which all the measurements were to be regulated. In the mean time, Cuzco was to be delivered up by Almagro, and Hernando Pizarro to be set at liberty, on condition of his leaving the country in six weeks for Spain. Both parties were to retire within their undisputed territories, and to abandon all further hostilities. 25 This award, as may be supposed, highly satis- factory to Pizarro, was received by Almagro's men with indignation and scorn. They had been sold, they cried, by their general, broken, as he was, by age and infirmities. Their enemies were to occupy Cuzco and its pleasant places, while they were to be turned over to the barren wilderness of Charcas. Little did they dream that under this poor exterior were hidden the rich treasures of Potosi. They denounced the umpire as a hireling of the governor, and murmurs were heard among the troops, stimulated by Orgonez, demanding the head of Hernando. Never was that cavalier in greater danger. But his good genius in the form of Alvarado again interposed to protect him. His life in captivity was a succession of reprieves. 26 " Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Carta de Espinall, MS. ** Espinall, Almagro's treasurer, denounces the friar " as proving himself a very devil" by this award. (Carta al Emperador, MS.) And Oviedo, a more dispassionate judge, quotes, without condemning, a cavalier who told the father that "a sentence so unjust had not been pronounced since the time of Pontius Pilate"! Hist, de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 21. 1537 1 NEGOTIATIONS WITH PIZARRO 323 Yet his brother, the governor, was not disposed to abandon him to his fate. On the contrary, he was now prepared to make every concession to secure his freedom. Concessions, that politic chief well knew, cost little to those who are not con- cerned to abide by them. After some preliminary negotiation, another award, more equitable, or, at all events, more to the satisfaction of the discon- tented party, was given. The principal articles of it were, that, until the arrival of some definite in- structions on the point from Castile, the city of Cuzco, with its territory, should remain in the hands of Almagro; and that Hernando Pizarro should be set at liberty, on the condition, above stipulated, of leaving the country in six weeks. When the terms of this agreement were commu- nicated to Orgonez, that officer intimated his opinion of them by passing his finger across his throat, and exclaiming, " What has my fidelity to my commander cost me ! " 2T Almagro, in order to do greater honor to his prisoner, visited him in person and announced to him that he was from that moment free. He ex- pressed a hope, at the same time, that " all past differences would be buried in oblivion, and that henceforth they should live only in the recollection of their ancient friendship." Hernando replied, with apparent cordiality, that " he desired nothing better for himself." He then swore in the most solemn manner, and pledged his knightly honor, 47 " I tomando la barba con la mano izquierda, con la derecha hico serial de cortarse la cabeca, diciendo: Orgonez, Orgonez, por el amistad de Don Diego de Almagro te ban de cortar esta." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 9. CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS the latter, perhaps, a pledge of quite as much weight in his own mind as the former, that he would faithfully comply with the terms stipulated in the treaty. He was next conducted by the marshal to his quarters, where he partook of a collation in company with the principal officers; several of whom, together with Diego Almagro, the general's son, afterwards escorted the cavalier to his brother's camp, which had been transferred to the neighboring town of Mala. Here the party received a most cordial greeting from the gov- ernor, who entertained them with a courtly hospi- tality, and lavished many attentions, in particular, on the son of his ancient associate. In short, such, on their return, was the account of their reception, that it left no doubt in the mind of Almagro that all was at length amicably settled. 28 He did not know Pizarro. 28 Ibid., loc. cit. Carta de Gutierrez, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 9. CHAPTER II FIRST CIVIL WAR ALMAGRO RETREATS TO CUZCO - BATTLE OF LAS SALINAS CRUELTY OF THE CONQUERORS TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF AL- MAGRO HIS CHARACTER 1537-1538 QCARCELY had Almagro's officers left the O governor's quarters, when the latter, calling his little army together, briefly recapitulated the many wrongs which had been done him by his rival, the seizure of his capital, the imprisonment of his brothers, the assault and defeat of his troops; and he concluded with the declaration heartily echoed back by his military audience that the time had now come for revenge. All the while that the negotiations were pending, Pizarro had been busily occupied with military prepara- tions. He had mustered a force considerably larger than that of his rival, drawn from various quarters, but most of them familiar with service. He now declared that, as he was too old to take charge of the campaign himself, he should de- volve that duty on his brothers; and he released Hernando from all his engagements to Almagro, as a measure justified by necessity. That cava- lier, with graceful pertinacity, intimated his de- sign to abide by the pledges he had given, but at length yielded a reluctant assent to the commands 325 326 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS of his brother, as to a measure imperatively de- manded by his duty to the crown. 1 The governor's next step was to advise Almagro that the treaty was at an end. At the same time, he warned him to relinquish his pretensions to Cuzco and withdraw into his own territory, or the responsibility of the consequences would lie on his own head. After reposing in his false security, Almagro was now fully awakened to the consciousness of the error he had committed; and the warning voice of his lieutenant may have risen to his recol- lection. The first part of the prediction was ful- filled. And what should prevent the latter from being so? To add to his distress, he was laboring at this time under a grievous malady, the result of early excesses, which shattered his constitution and made him incapable alike of mental and bodily exertion. 2 In this forlorn condition, he confided the man- agement of his affairs to Orgonez, on whose loy- alty and courage he knew he might implicitly rely. The first step was to secure the passes of the Guai- tara, a chain of hills that hemmed in the valley of Zangalla, where Almagro was at present estab- lished. But, by some miscalculation, the passes were not secured in season ; and the active enemy, threading the dangerous defiles, effected a passage 1 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 10. * " Cay6 enfermo i estuvo malo a punto de muerte de bubas i dolo- res." (Carta de Espinall, MS.) It was a hard penalty, occurring at this crisis, for the sins, perhaps, of earlier days; but " The Rods are just, and of our pleasant vices Make instruments to scoun?e us." 1538] FIRST CIVIL WAR 327 across the sierra, where a much inferior force to his own might have taken him at a disadvantage. The fortunes of Almagro were on the wane. His thoughts were now turned towards Cuzco, and he was anxious to get possession of this capital before the arrival of the enemy. Too feeble to sit on horseback, he was obliged to be carried in a litter; and when he reached the ancient town of Bilcas, not far from Guamanga, his indisposition was so severe that he was compelled to halt and remain there three weeks before resuming his march. The governors and his brothers, in the mean time, after traversing the pass of Guaitara, de- scended into the valley of lea, where Pizarro re- mained a considerable while, to get his troops into order and complete his preparations for the cam- paign. Then, taking leave of the army, he re- turned to Lima, committing the prosecution of the war, as he had before announced, to his younger and more active brothers. Hernando, soon after quitting lea, kept along the coast as far as Nasca, proposing to penetrate the country by a circuitous route in order to elude the enemy, who might have greatly embarrassed him in some of the passes of the Cordilleras. But, unhappily for himself, this plan of operations, which would have given him such manifest advantage, was not adopted by Almagro; and his adversary, without any other impediment than that arising from the natural difficulties of the march, arrived, in the latter part of April, 1538, in the neighborhood of Cuzco. 328 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS Almagro, however, was already in possession of that capital, which he had reached ten days before. A council of war was held by him respecting the course to be pursued. Some were for making good the defence of the city. Almagro would have tried what could be done by negotiation. But Orgonez bluntly replied, " It is too late: you have liberated Hernando Pizarro, and nothing remains but to fight him." The opinion of Orgonez finally pre- vailed, to march out and give the enemy battle on the plains. The marshal, still disabled by illness from taking the command, devolved it on his trusty lieutenant, who, mustering his forces, left the city, and took up a position at Las Salinas, less than a league distant from Cuzco. The place re- ceived its name from certain pits or vats in the ground, used for the preparation of salt, that was obtained from a natural spring in the neighbor- hood. It was an injudicious choice of ground, since its broken character was most unfavorable to the free action of cavalry, in which the strength of Almagro's force consisted. But, although re- peatedly urged by the officers to advance into the open country, Orgonez persisted in his position, as the most favorable for defence, since the front was protected by a marsh, and by a little stream that flowed over the plain. His forces amounted in all to about five hundred, more than half of them horse. His infantry was deficient in fire- arms, the place of which was supplied by the long pike. He had also six small cannon, or falconets, as they were called, which, with his cavalry, formed into two equal divisions, he disposed on the flanks 1538] FIRST CIVIL WAR 329 of his infantry. Thus prepared, he calmly awaited the approach of the enemy. It was not long be- fore the bright arms and banners of the Spaniards under Hernando Pizarro were seen emerging from the mountain-passes. The troops came for- ward in good order, and like men whose steady step showed that they had been spared in the march and were now fresh for action. They ad- vanced slowly across the plain, and halted on the opposite border of the little stream which covered the front of Orgonez. Here Hernando, as the sun had set, took up his quarters for the night, proposing to defer the engagement till daylight. 3 The rumors of the approaching battle had spread far and wide over the country, and the mountains and rocky heights around were thronged with multitudes of natives, eager to feast their eyes on a spectacle where, whichever side were victorious, the defeat would fall on their enemies. 4 The Castilian women and chil- dren, too, with still deeper anxiety, had thronged out from Cuzco to witness the deadly strife in which brethren and kindred were to contend for mastery. 5 The whole number of the combatants was insignificant; though not as compared with those usually engaged in these American wars. It is not, however, the number of the players, but the magnitude of the stake, that gives importance "Carta de Gutierrez, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 1-5. Carta de Espinall, MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 10, 11. Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 36, 37. 4 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 5, 6. * Ibid., ubi supra. 330 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS and interest to the game ; and in this bloody game they were to play for the possession of an empire. The night passed away in silence, unbroken by the vast assembly which covered the surrounding hill-tops. Nor did the soldiers of the hostile camps, although keeping watch within hearing of one another, and with the same blood flowing in their veins, attempt any communication. So deadly was the hate in their bosoms ! 6 The sun rose bright, as usual in this beautiful climate, on Saturday, the twenty-sixth day of April, 1538. 7 But long before his beams were on the plain the trumpet of Hernando Pizarro had called his men to arms. His forces amounted in all to about seven hundred. They were drawn from various quarters, the veterans of Pizarro, the followers of Alonso de Alvarado, many of whom, since their defeat, had found their way back to Lima, and the late reinforcement from the isles, most of them seasoned by many a toil- some march in the Indian campaigns, and many a hard-fought field. His mounted troops were inferior to those of Almagro; but this was more than compensated by the strength of his infantry, " T fue cosa de notar, que se estuvieron toda la Noche, sin que nadie de la vna i otra parte pensase en mover tratos de Paz: tanta era la ira i aborreoimiento de ambas partes." Herrera, Hist, gene- ral, dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 6. T A church dedicated to Saint Lazarus was afterwards erected on the battle-pround, and the bodies of those slain in the action were interred within its walls. This circumstance leads Garcilasso to suppose that the battle took place on Saturday, the sixth, the day after the Feast of Saint Lazarus, and not on the twenty-sixth of April, as commonly reported. Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 38. See also Montesinos (Annales, MS., afio 1538), an indifferent authority for anything. 1538] FIRST CIVIL WAR 331 comprehending a well-trained corps of arque- busiers, sent from St. Domingo, whose weapons were of the improved construction recently intro- duced from Flanders. They were of a large calibre, and threw double-headed shot, consisting of bullets linked together by an iron chain. It was doubtless a clumsy weapon compared with modern fire-arms, but, in hands accustomed to wield it, proved a destructive instrument. 8 Hernando Pizarro drew up his men in the same order of battle as that presented by the enemy, throwing his infantry into the centre, and dis- posing his horse on the flanks ; one corps of which he placed under command of Alonso de Alvarado, and took charge of the other himself. The in- fantry was headed by his brother Gonzalo, sup- ported by Pedro de Valdivia, the future hero of Arauco, whose disastrous story forms the burden of romance as well as of chronicle. 9 Mass was said, as if the Spaniards were about to fight what they deemed the good fight of the faith; instead of imbruing their hands in the blood of their countrymen. Hernando Pizarro then made a brief address to his soldiers. He touched on the personal injuries he and his family had received from Almagro; reminded his brother's veterans that Cuzco had been 8 /arate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 8. Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 36. 8 The Araucana of Krcilla may claim the merit, indeed, if it be a merit, of combining both romance and history in one. Surely never did the Muse venture on such a specification of details, not merely poetical, but political, geographical, and statistical, as in this celebrated Castilian epic. It is a military journal done into rhyme. 332 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS wrested from their possession; called up the glow of shame on the brows of Alvarado's men as he talked of the rout of Abancay; and, pointing out the Inca metropolis that sparkled in the morning sunshine, he told them that there was the prize of the victor. They answered his appeal with acclamations; and, the signal being given, Gonzalo Pizarro, heading his battalion of in- fantry, led it straight across the river. The water was neither broad nor deep, and the soldiers found no difficulty in gaining a landing, as the enemy's horse was prevented by the marshy ground from approaching the borders. But, as they worked their way across the morass, the heavy guns of Orgonez played with effect on the leading files, and threw them into disorder. Gonzalo and Val- divia threw themselves into the midst of their followers, menacing some, encouraging others, and at length led them gallantly forward to the firm ground. Here the arquebusiers, detaching themselves from the rest of the infantry, gained a small eminence, whence, in their turn, they opened a galling fire on Orgonez, scattering his array of spearmen, and sorely annoying the cavalry on the flanks. Meanwhile, Hernando, forming his two squad- rons of horse into one column, crossed under cover of this well-sustained fire, and, reaching the firm ground, rode at once against the enemy. Or- gonez, whose infantry was already much crippled, advancing his horse, formed the two squadrons into one body, like his antagonist, and spurred at full gallop against the assailants. The shock 1538] BATTLE OF LAS SALINAS 333 was terrible; and it was hailed by the swarms of Indian spectators on the surrounding heights with a fiendish yell of triumph, that rose far above the din of battle, till it was lost in distant echoes among the mountains. 10 The struggle was desperate. For it was not that of the white man against the defenceless Indian, but of Spaniard against Spaniard; both parties cheering on their comrades with their battle-cries of "El Eey y Almagro" or "El Eey y Pizarro," w r hile they fought with a hate to which national antipathy was as nothing, a hate strong in proportion to the strength of the ties that had been rent asunder. In this bloody field well did Orgonez do his duty, fighting like one to whom battle was the natural element. Singling out a cavalier whom, from the color of the sobre-vest on his armor, he erroneously supposed to be Hernando Pizarro, he charged him in full career, and overthrew him with his lance. Another he ran through in like manner, and a third he struck down with his sword, as he was prematurely shouting " Victory! " But, while thus doing the deeds of a paladin of romance, he was hit by a chain-shot from an arquebuse, which, penetrating the bars of his visor, grazed his fore- head and deprived him for a moment of reason. 10 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 6. Pedro Pizarro, De- scub. y Conq., MS. Carta de Espinall, MS. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 11. Everything relating to this battle the disposition of the forces, the character of the ground, the mode of attack is told as variously and confusedly as if it had been a contest between two great armies instead of a handful of men on either side. It would seem that truth is nowhere so difficult to come at as on the battle- field. 334 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS Before he had fully recovered, his horse was killed under him, and, though the fallen cavalier suc- ceeded in extricating himself from the stirrups, he was surrounded, and soon overpowered by numbers. Still refusing to deliver up his sword, he asked "if there was no knight to whom he could surrender." One Fuentes, a menial of Pi- zarro, presenting himself as such, Orgonez gave his sword into his hands, and the dastard, draw- ing his dagger, stabbed his defenceless prisoner to the heart ! His head, then struck off, was stuck on a pike, and displayed, a bloody trophy, in the great square of Cuzco, as the head of a traitor. 11 Thus perished as loyal a cavalier, as decided in council, and as bold in action, as ever crossed to the shores of America. The fight had now lasted more than an hour, and the fortune of the day was turning against the followers of Almagro. Orgonez being down, their confusion increased. The infantry, unable to endure the fire of the arquebusiers, scattered and took refuge behind the stone walls that here and there straggled across the country. Pedro de Lerma, vainly striving to rally the cavalry, spurred his horse against Hernando Pizarro, with whom he had a personal feud. Pizarro did not shrink from the encounter. The lances of both the knights took effect. That of Hernando penetrated the thigh of his opponent, while Lerma's weapon, glancing by his adversary's saddle-bow, struck him with such force above 11 Pedro Pizarro, Desoub. y Conq., MS. Herrera, Hist, general, ubi supra. Zarate, Conq. del Peru, ubi supra. 1538] BATTLE OF LAS SALINAS 335 the groin that it pierced the joints of his mail, slightly wounding the cavalier, and forcing his horse back on his haunches. But the press of the fight soon parted the combatants, and, in the tur- moil that ensued, Lerma was unhorsed, and left on the field, covered with wounds. 12 There was no longer order, and scarcely resist- ance, among the followers of Almagro. They fled, making the best of their way to Cuzco, and happy was the man who obtained quarter when he asked it. Almagro himself, too feeble to sit so long on his horse, reclined on a litter, and from a neighboring eminence surveyed the battle, watching its fluctuations with all the interest of one who felt that honor, fortune, life itself, hung on the issue. With agony not to be described, he had seen his faithful followers, after their hard struggle, borne down by their opponents, till, con- vinced that all was lost, he succeeded in mounting a mule, and rode off for a temporary refuge to the fortress of Cuzco. Thither he was speedily followed, taken, and brought in triumph to the capital, where, ill as he was, he was thrown into irons and confined in the same apartment of the stone building in which he had imprisoned the Pizarros. The action lasted not quite two hours. The number of killed, variously stated, was probably 12 Herrera, Hist, general, ubi supra. Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 36. Hernando Pizarro wore a surcoat of orange- colored velvet over his armor, according to Garcilasso, and before the battle sent notice of it to Orgonez, that the latter might dis- tinguish him in the mette. But a knight in Hernando's suite also wore the same colors, it appears, which led Orgonez into error. 336 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS not less than a hundred and fifty, one of the combatants calls it two hundred, 13 a great num- ber, considering the shortness of the time, and the small amount of the forces engaged. No account is given of the wounded. Wounds were the por- tion of the cavalier. Pedro de Lerma is said to have received seventeen, and yet was taken alive from the field! The loss fell chiefly on the fol- lowers of Almagro. But the slaughter was not confined to the heat of the action. Such was the deadly animosity of the parties that several were murdered in cold blood, like Orgonez, after they had surrendered. Pedro de Lerma himself, while lying on his sick couch in the quarters of a friend in Cuzco, was visited by a soldier, named Sama- niego, whom he had once struck for an act of disobedience. This person entered the solitary chamber of the wounded man, took his place by his bedside, and then, upbraiding him for the in- sult, told him that he had come to wash it away in his blood! Lerma in vain assured him that, when restored to health, he would give him the satisfaction he desired. The miscreant, exclaim- ing, " Now is the hour! " plunged his sword into his bosom. He lived several years to vaunt this " " Murieron en esta Batalla de las Salinas casi dozientos hombres de vna parte y de otra." (Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS.) Most authorities rate the loss at less. The treasurer Espinall, a par- tisan of Almagro, says they massacred a hundred and fifty after the fight, in cold blood: " Siguieron el alcanze la mas cruelmente que en el mundo se ha visto, porque matavan a los hombres rendidos e des- armados, e por les quitar las armas los mataban si presto no se las quitaban, e trayendo & las ancas de un caballo a un Ruy Dint viniendo rendido e desarmado le mataron, i desta manera mataron mas de ciento fc cinquenta hombres." Carta, MS. 1538 J CRUELTY OF THE CONQUERORS 337 atrocious exploit, which he proclaimed as a repa- ration to his honor. It was some satisfaction to know that the insolence of this vaunt cost him his life. 14 Such anecdotes, revolting as they are, illus- trate not merely the spirit of the times, but that peculiarly ferocious spirit which is engendered by civil wars, the most unforgiving in their char- acter of any but wars of religion. In the hurry of the flight of one party, and the pursuit by the other, all pouring towards Cuzco, the field of battle had been deserted. But it soon swarmed with plunderers, as the Indians, descend- ing like vultures from the mountains, took pos- session of the bloody ground, and, despoiling the dead, even to the minutest article of dress, left their corpses naked on the plain. 15 It has been thought strange that the natives should not have availed themselves of their superior numbers to fall on the victors after they had been exhausted by the battle. But the scattered bodies of the Peruvians were without a leader ; they were broken in spirits, moreover, by recent reverses, and the Castilians, although weakened for the moment by the struggle, were in far greater strength in Cuzco than they had ever been before. "Carta de Espinall, MS. Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 38. He was hanged for this very crime by the governor of Puerto Viejo, about five years after this time, having outraged the feelings of that officer and the community by the insolent and open manner in which he boasted of his atrocious exploit. 15 " Ixis Indios viendo la Batalla fenescida, ellos tambien se dejaron de la suia, iendo los vnos i los otros a desnudar los Espafioles muer- tos, i aim algunos vivos, que por sus heridas no se podian defender, porque como pas6 el tropel de la Gente, siguiendo la Victoria, no htivo quien se lo impidiese; de manera que dexaron en cueros todos los caldos." Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 11. VOL. II. 22 338 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS Indeed, the number of troops now assembled within its walls, amounting to full thirteen hun- dred, composed, as they were, of the most discord- ant materials, gave great uneasiness to Hernando Pizarro. For there were enemies glaring on each other and on him with deadly though smothered rancor, and friends, if not so dangerous, not the less troublesome from their craving and unreason- able demands. He had given the capital up to pillage, and his followers found good booty in the quarters of Almagro's officers. But this did not suffice the more ambitious cavaliers; and they clamorously urged their services, and demanded to be placed in charge of some expedition, nothing doubting that it must prove a golden one. All were in quest of an El Dorado. Hernando Pi- zarro acquiesced as far as possible in these desires, most willing to relieve himself of such importu- nate creditors. The expeditions, it is true, usually ended in disaster; but the country was explored by them. It was the lottery of adventure; the prizes were few, but they were splendid; and, in the excitement of the game, few Spaniards paused to calculate the chances of success. Among those who left the capital was Diego, the son of Almagro. Hernando was mindful to send him, with a careful escort, to his brother the governor, desirous to remove him at this crisis from the neighborhood of his father. Meanwhile, the marshal himself was pining away in prison under the combined influence of bodily illness and distress of mind. Before the battle of Salinas, it had been told to Hernando Pizarro that Almagro 1538] IMPRISONMENT OF ALMAGRO 339 was like to die. " Heaven forbid," he exclaimed, " that this should come to pass before he falls into my hands ! " 16 Yet the gods seemed now disposed to grant but half of this pious prayer, since his captive seemed about to escape him just as he had come into his power. To console the unfortunate chief, Hernando paid him a visit in his prison, and cheered him with the assurance that he only waited for the governor's arrival to set him at liberty; adding " that if Pizarro did not come soon to the capital he himself would assume the responsibility of releasing him, and would furnish him with a conveyance to his brother's quarters." At the same time, with considerate attention to his com- fort, he inquired of the marshal " what mode of conveyance would be best suited to his state of health." After this he continued to send him delicacies from his own table to revive his faded appetite. Almagro, cheered by these kind atten- tions and by the speedy prospect of freedom, gradually mended in health and spirits. 17 He little dreamed that all this while a process was industriously preparing against him. It had been instituted immediately on his capture, and every one, however humble, who had any cause of complaint against the unfortunate prisoner, was invited to present it. The summons was readily answered; and many an enemy now ap- peared in the hour of his fallen fortunes, like 16 " Respondia Hernando Fizarro, que no le haria Dios tan gran mal, que le dexase morir, sin que le huviese a las manos." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 5. 17 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 9. 340 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS the base reptiles crawling into light amidst the ruins of some noble edifice; and more than one who had received benefits from his hands were willing to court the favor of his enemy by turn- ing on their benefactor. From these loathsome sources a mass of accusations was collected which spread over four thousand folio pages! Yet Al- magro was the idol of his soldiers! 18 Having completed the process (July 8th, 1538) , it was not difficult to obtain a verdict against the prisoner. The principal charges on which he was pronounced guilty were those of levying war against the crown and thereby occasioning the death of many of his Majesty's subjects, of enter- ing into conspiracy with the Inca, and, finally, of dispossessing the royal governor of the city of Cuzco. On these charges he was condemned to suffer death as a traitor, by being publicly be- headed in the great square of the city. Who were the judges, or what was the tribunal that con- demned him, we are not informed. Indeed, the whole trial was a mockery, if that can be called a trial where the accused himself is not even aware of the accusation. The sentence was communicated by a friar de- puted for the purpose to Almagro. The unhappy man, who all the while had been unconsciously slumbering on the brink of a precipice, could not at first comprehend the nature of his situation. 18 " De tal manera que los Escrivanos no se davan manos, i ia tenian esoritas mas de dos mil hojas." Ibid., dec. (i, lib. 4, cap. 7. Naharro, Ilelacion sumaria, MS.Conq. i Fob. del Piru, MS. Carta de Gutierrez, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Carta de Espinall, MS. 1538] TRIAL OF ALMAGRO 341 Recovering from the first shock, " It was impos- sible," he said, " that such wrong could be done him, he would not believe it." He then besought Hernando Pizarro to grant him an interview. That cavalier, not unwilling, it would seem, to witness the agony of his captive, consented; and Almagro was so humbled by his misfortunes that he condescended to beg for his life with the most piteous supplications. He reminded Hernando of his ancient relations with his brother, and the good offices he had rendered him and his family in the earlier part of their career. He touched on his acknowledged services to his country, and be- sought his enemy " to spare his gray hairs, and not to deprive him of the short remnant of an existence from which he had now nothing more to fear." To this the other coldly replied that " he was surprised to see Almagro demean him- self in a manner so unbecoming a brave cavalier; that his fate was no worse than had befallen many a soldier before him; and that, since God had given him the grace to be a Christian, he should employ his remaining moments in making up his account with Heaven." 19 But Almagro was not to be silenced. He urged the service he had rendered Hernando himself. ' This was a hard requital," he said, " for having spared his life so recently under similar circum- stances, and that, too, when he had been urged again and again by those around him to take it " I que pues tuvo tanta gracia de Dios, que le hico Christiano, ordenase su Alma, i temiese a Dios." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 5, cap. 1. 342 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS away." And he concluded by menacing his enemy with the vengeance of the emperor, who would never suffer this outrage on one who had rendered such signal services to the crown to go unrequited. It was all in vain ; and Hernando abruptly closed the conference by repeating that " his doom was inevitable, and he must prepare to meet it." 20 Almagro, finding that no impression was to be made on his iron-hearted conqueror, now seriously addressed himself to the settlement of his affairs. By the terms of the royal grant he was empowered to name his successor. He accordingly devolved his office on his son, appointing Diego de Alva- rado, on whose integrity he had great reliance, administrator of the province during his mi- nority. All his property and possessions in Peru, of whatever kind, he devised to his master the emperor, assuring him that a large balance was still due to him in his unsettled accounts with Pizarro. By this politic bequest he hoped to secure the monarch's protection for his son, as well as a strict scrutiny into the affairs of his enemy. The knowledge of Almagro's sentence pro- duced a deep sensation in the community of M Ibid., ubi supra. The marshal appealed from the sentence of his judges to the crown, supplicating his conqueror (says the treas- urer Espinall, in his letter to the emperor) in terms that would have touched the heart of an infidel: " De la qual el dicho Adelantado apelo para ante V. M. i le rogo que por amor de Dios hincado de rodillas le otorgase el apelacion, diciendole que mirase sus canas e vejez e quanto havia servido a V. M. i q e el havia sido el primer escalon para que el i sus hermanos subiesen en el estado en que estavan, i diciendole otras muchas palabras de dolor e compasion que despues de muerto supe que dixo, que & qualquier hombre, aunque fuera infiel, moviera & piedad." Carta, MS. 1538J EXECUTION OF ALMAGRO 343 Cuzco. All were amazed at the presumption with which one armed with a little brief au- thority ventured to sit in judgment on a person of Almagro's station. There were few who did not call to mind some generous or good-natured act of the unfortunate veteran. Even those who had furnished materials for the accusation, now startled by the tragic result to which it was to lead, were heard to denounce Hernando's conduct as that of a tyrant. Some of the principal cava- liers, and among them Diego de Alvarado, to whose intercession, as we have seen, Hernando Pizarro, when a captive, had owned his own life, waited on that commander and endeavored to dis- suade him from so high-handed and atrocious a proceeding. It was in vain. But it had the effect of changing the mode of the execution, which, instead of the public square, was now to take place in prison. 21 On the day appointed, a strong corps of arque- busiers was drawn up in the plaza. The guards were doubled over the houses where dwelt the principal partisans of Almagro. The executioner, attended by a priest, stealthily entered his prison; and the unhappy man, after confessing and re- ceiving the sacrament, submitted without resist- ance to the garrote. Thus obscurely, in the "Carta de Espinall, MS. Montesinos, Annales, MS., afto 1538. Bishop Valverde, as he assures the emperor, remonstrated with Fran- cisco Pizarro in Lima against allowing violence towards the marshal, urging it on him, as an imperative duty, to go himself at once to Cuzco and set him at liberty. " It was too grave a matter," he rightly added, " to trust to a third party." (Carta al Emperador, MS.) The treasurer Kspinall, then in Cuzco, made a similar in- effectual attempt to turn Hernando from his purpose. 344 CIVIL WARS OF THE CONQUERORS gloomy silence of a dungeon, perished the hero of a hundred battles! His corpse was removed to the great square of the city, where, in obedience to the sentence, the head was severed from the body. A herald proclaimed aloud the nature of the crimes for which he had suffered; and his re- mains, rolled in their bloody shroud, were borne to the house of his friend Hernan Ponce de Leon, and the next day laid with all due solemnity in the church of Our Lady of Mercy. The Pizarros appeared among the principal mourners. It was remarked that their brother had paid similar honors to the memory of Atahuallpa. 22 Almagro, at the time of his death, was prob- ably not far from seventy years of age. But this is somewhat uncertain ; for Almagro was a found- ling, and his early history is lost in obscurity. 23 He had many excellent qualities by nature; and his defects, which were not few, may reasonably be palliated by the circumstances of his situation. For what extenuation is not authorized by the position of a foundling, without parents, or early friends, or teacher to direct him, his little bark set adrift on the ocean of life, to take its chance among the rude billows and breakers, with- out one friendly hand stretched forth to steer or to save it! The name of " foundling" compre- M Carta de Espinall, MS. Herrera, Hist, general, loc. cit. Carta de Valverde al Emperador, MS. Carta de Gutierrez, MS. Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS. Montesinos, Annales, MS., afio 1538. The date of Almagro's execution is not given, a strange omission, but of little moment, as that event must have followed soon on the condemnation. "Ante, vol. ii. p. 186. 1538 J CHARACTER OF ALMAGRO 345 hends an apology for much, very much, that is wrong in after-life. 24 He was a man of strong passions, and not too well used to control them. 25 But he was neither vindictive nor habitually cruel. I have mentioned one atrocious outrage which he committed on the natives. But insensibility to the rights of the Indian he shared with many a better-instructed Spaniard. Yet the Indians, after his conviction, bore testimony to his general humanity, by de- claring that they had no such friend among the white men. 26 Indeed, far from being vindictive, he was placable, and easily yielded to others. The facility with which he yielded, the result of good- natured credulity, made him too often the dupe of the crafty; and it showed, certainly, a want of that self-reliance which belongs to great strength of character. Yet his facility of temper, and the generosity of his nature, made him popular with his followers. No commander was ever more beloved by his soldiers. His gen- erosity was often carried to prodigality. When he entered on the campaign of Chili, he lent a hundred thousand gold ducats to the poorer cava- 24 Montesinos, for want of a better pedigree, says, " He was the son of his own great deeds, and such has been the parentage of many a famous hero!" (Annales, MS., afio 1538.) It would go hard with a Castilian if he could not make out something like a genealogy, however shadowy. " Hera vn hombre muy profano, de muy mala lengua, que en enojandose tratava muy mal