The History Of The Conquest Of Peru
by William Hickling Prescott
Hypertext Meanings and Commentaries
from the Encyclopedia of the Self
by Mark Zimmerman
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[Footnote 4: Actto de la fundacion del Cuzco, Ms. - Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. 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
Conquerors, 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.]

[Footnote 5: Montesinos, Annales, ano 1534.]

Nor did the chief neglect the interests of religion. 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 was 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. 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 protection of the Cross.

[Footnote 6: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 20;
lib. 6, cap. 21. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms.]

[Footnote 7: Ulloa, Voyage to S. 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 attendants on the temple." (Descub. y Conq., Ms.)
- What is truth? - In statements so contradictory, we may accept
the most favorable to the Peruvian. The prejudices of the
Conqueror certainly did not lie on that side.]
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 succeeding 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 unfortunate natives. *8 They
were, many of them, men of singular humility, who followed in the
track of the conqueror to scatter the seeds of spiritual truth,
and, with disinterested zeal, devoted themselves to the
propagation of the Gospel. Thus did their pious labors prove
them the true soldiers of the Cross, and showed that the object
so ostentatiously avowed of carrying its banner among the heathen
nations was not an empty vaunt.

[Footnote 8: Such, however, it is but fair to Valverde to state,
is not the language 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 Doctrina i con quien todos los
Espanoles an tenido mucho consuelo." (Carta de la Just. y Reg. de
Xauxa, Ms.) And yet this is not incompatible with a high degree
of insensibility to the natural rights of the natives.]

The effort to Christianize the heathen is an honorable
characteristic of the Spanish conquests. The Puritan, with equal
religious zeal, did comparatively 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
solicitous 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 rational means taken to spread the
knowledge of religious truth, while he has carried his solitary
mission into remote and almost inaccessible regions, or gathered
his Indian disciples into communities, like the good Las Casas in
Cumana, or the Jesuits in California and Paraguay. At all times,
the courageous ecclesiastic has been ready to lift his voice
against the cruelty of the conqueror, and the no less wasting
cupidity of the colonist; and when his remonstrances, as was too
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 accounts of a considerable force in
the neighbourhood, under the command of Atahuallpa's officer,
Quizquiz. He accordingly detached Almagro, with a small body of
horse and a large Indian force under the Inca Manco to disperse
the enemy, and, if possible, to capture their leader. Manco was
the more ready to take part in the expedition, as the enemy were
soldiers of Quito, who, with their commander, bore no good-will
to himself.
Almagro, moving with his characteristic rapidity, was not long in
coming up with the Indian chieftain. 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,
wearied by these long and ineffectual hostilities, massacred
their commander in cold blood. *9 Thus fell the last of the two
great officers of Atahuallpa, who, if their nation had been
animated by a spirit equal to their own, might long have
successfully maintained their soil against the invader.

[Footnote 9: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Naharro,
Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte
3, lib. 8, cap. 20. - Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap Ramusio, tom. III.
fol. 408. - Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

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 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 depository of his treasures, yet
remained untouched. Affecting to consider this country as falling
without the governor's jurisdiction, he immediately turned a
large fleet, which he had intended for the Spice Islands, in the
direction of South America; and in March, 1534, he landed in the
bay of 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 formidable array that had yet
appeared in the southern seas. *10

[Footnote 10: The number is variously reported by historians.
But from a egal 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.]

Although manifestly an invasion of the territory conceded to
Pizarro by the Crown, the reckless cavalier determined to march
at once on Quito. With the assistance of an Indian guide, he
proposed to take the direct route across the mountains, 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 infantry, compelled
to make exertions, fared best. Many of the troopers were frozen
stiff in 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 without food, they waited in gloomy silence the approach
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 fragments of dress, broken harness, golden
ornaments, and other valuables plundered on their march, - by the
dead bodies of men, or by those less fortunate, who were left to
die alone in the wilderness. As for the horses, their carcasses
were not suffered 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
nature, 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 several days
with thick clouds of earthy particles and cinders, which blinded
the men, and made respiration exceedingly difficult. *11 This
phenomenon, it seems probable, was caused by an eruption of the
distant Cotopaxi, which, about twelve leagues southeast of Quito,
rears up 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 eruption, the earliest instance
of the kind on record, though doubtless not the earliest. *13
Since that period, it has been in frequent commotion, sending 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 thunders,
that, at the distance of more than a hundred leagues, sounded
like the reports of artillery! *14 Alvarado's followers,
unacquainted with the cause 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, became bewildered by
this confusion of the elements, which Nature seemed to have
contrived purposely for their destruction. Some of these men
were the 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.

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 12: 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 specify the name. Humboldt
accepts the common opinion, that Cotopaxi was intended.
Researches, I. 123.]

[Footnote 13: A popular tradition among the natives states, that
a large fragment of porphyry near the base of the cone was thrown
out in an eruption, which occurred at the moment of Atahuallpa's
death. - But such tradition will hardly pass for history.]

[Footnote 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 l'Equateur, 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.]

At length, Alvarado, after sufferings, which even the most hardy,
probably, could have endured 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 neighbourhood 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 encountered by the Spanish cavaliers, than volumes
of ordinary narrative. *15

[Footnote 15: By far the most spirited and thorough record of
Alvarado's march is given by Herrera, who has borrowed the pen of
Livy describing 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. 8, cap. 20, - and Carta de Pedro de Alvarado al
Emperador, San Miguel, 15 de Enero, 1535, Ms.

Alvarado, in the letter above cited, which is preserved in the
Munoz 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]

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 sensible 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 confidence
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 determined, 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 range of the Andes, to where it spreads out 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 standard of Castile on the ancient towers
of Atahuallpa. 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

[Footnote 16: 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 Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 19. -
Carta de Benalcazar, Ms.]

No sooner had the news of Alvarado's expedition 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 Benalcazar at once across the mountains.
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 contrast 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, perhaps sincerely, any disloyal intent in
his unauthorized expedition. Thus reinforced, the Spanish
captain coolly awaited the coming of Alvarado. The forces of the
latter, though in a less serviceable condition, were much
superior in number and appointments to those of his rival. As
they confronted each other on the broad plains of Riobamba, 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. Meanwhile Alvarado's men mingled freely
with their countrymen in the opposite army, and heard there such
magnificent reports of the wealth and wonders of Cuzco, that many
of them were inclined to change their present service for that of
Pizarro. Their own leader, too, satisfied that Quito 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 difficult for them to
effect an adjustment of difficulties; 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, Alvarado proposed,
before leaving the country, to have an interview with Pizarro.
*17

[Footnote 17: Conq. i Pob. 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 cavalier and Almagro, in
their letters to the Emperor, which have hitherto been unknown to
historians, agree in the sum given in the text. Alvarado
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.]

The governor, meanwhile, had quitted the Peruvian capital for the
sea-coast, from his desire to repel any invasion that might be
attempted in that direction by Alvarado, with whose real
movements he was still unacquainted. He left Cuzco in charge of
his brother Juan, a cavalier whose 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
garrison 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 exhibition of a great national hunt, - such as has been
already described in these pages, - in which immense numbers of
wild animals were slaughtered, and the vicunas, and other races
of Peruvian sheep, which roam over the mountains, driven into
inclosures and relieved of their delicate fleeces. *18

[Footnote 18: Carta de la Just. y Reg. de Xauja, Ms. - Relacion
del Primer. Descub., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib.
6, cap. 16. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1534.

At this place, the author of the Relacion 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
tendency 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
translation]

The Spanish governor then proceeded to Pachacamac, where he
received the grateful intelligence of the accommodation with
Alvarado; and not long afterward 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 conqueror 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 concluded, Alvarado reembarked for
his government of Guatemala, where his restless spirit soon
involved 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

[Footnote 19: Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Pedro Pizarro,
Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta Francisco Pizarro al Senor de
Molina, Ms.

Alvarado died in 1541, of an injury received from a horse which
rolled down on him as he was attempting to scale a precipitous
hill in New Galicia. 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.]

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 the Spanish power, while he advanced the line of conquest
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 colonial empire. Cuzco, withdrawn
among the mountains, 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 position, which could be easily found in one of the
fruitful valleys that bordered the Pacific. Such was that of
Pachacamac, which Pizarro now occupied. But, on further
examination, he preferred the neighbouring valley of Rimac, which
lay to the north, and which took its name, signifying in the
Quichua tongue "one who speaks," from a celebrated idol, whose
shrine was much frequented by the Indians for the oracles it
delivered. 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' distance 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 vigilant 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, sheltering it from the rays
of a tropical sun, and imperceptibly 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 sixth of
January, 1535, - 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 generation, and was supplanted by that of Lima, into which
the original Indian name of Rimac was corrupted by the Spaniards.
*21

[Footnote 20: 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, tom. II. p. 250,
nota.]

[Footnote 21: The Mss. of the old Conquerors show how, from the
very first, the name of Lima superseded the original Indian
title. "Y el marquez se passo a 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 a este Valle de Lima donde agora es esta ciudad de los i
aqui se poblo." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

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 dwellings,
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 his characteristic
energy. The Indians were collected from the distance of more
than a hundred miles to aid in the work. The Spaniards applied
themselves with vigor to the task, under the eye of their chief.
The sword was exchanged 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,
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

[Footnote 22: Montesinos, Annales, Ms. ano 1535. - Conq. i Pob.
del Piru, 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
consulted. Residence in South America, vol II. chap. 8.]

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 government. 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 January, 1534. Besides the royal fifth,
he took with him gold, to the value of half a million of pesos,
together with a large quantity of silver, the property of private
adventurers, some of whom, satisfied with their gains, had
returned to Spain in the same vessel with himself. The
custom-house was filled 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 astonishment of the spectators, who flocked from the
neighbouring country to gaze on these marvellous productions of
Indian art. *23 Most of the manufactured articles were the
property of the Crown; and Hernando Pizarro, after a short stay
at Seville, selected some of the most gorgeous specimens, and
crossed the country to Calatayud, where the emperor was holding
the cortes of Aragon.

[Footnote 23: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, ib. 6, cap. 13. -
Lista de todo lo que Hernando Pizarro trajo del Peru, ap. Mss. de
Munoz.]

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
difficulties 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 the tragic event, which
had occurred since his departure from the country, was still
unknown to him. The cavalier expatiated on the productiveness of
the soil, and on the civilization of the people, evinced by their
proficiency in various 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 advantages 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 granting the petitions
of the fortunate adventurer. All the previous grants to Francis
Pizarro and his associates were confirmed in the fullest manner;
and the boundaries of the governor's jurisdiction were extended
seventy leagues further 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 proof, still further, 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 justice 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.

[Footnote 24: 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 south of the great continent.]

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 empowered to equip
an armament, and to take command of it; and the royal officers at
Seville were required to aid him in his views and facilitate his
embarkation for the Indies. *25

[Footnote 25: Ibid., loc. cit.]

The arrival of Hernando Pizarro in the country, and the reports
spread by him and his followers, 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 expectations of wealth, of which almost every
succeeding expedition had proved the fallacy. The conquest of
Mexico, though calling forth general admiration as a brilliant
and wonderful exploit, had as yet failed to produce those golden
results which had been so fondly anticipated. The splendid
promises held out by Francis Pizarro on his recent visit to the
country 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 spendthrift 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.
Ferdinand 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-appointed armaments, probably, that
had left the shores of Spain since the great fleet of Ovando, in
the time of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was scarcely more
fortunate than this. Hardly had Ferdinand 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 harbour 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
company 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
miserable subsistence. Disease, as usual, trod closely in the
track of famine, and numbers of the unfortunate adventurers,
sinking under the unaccustomed heats of the climate, perished on
the very threshold of discovery.

It was the tale often repeated in the history of Spanish
enterprise. A few, more lucky than the rest, stumble on some
unexpected prize, and hundreds, attracted by their success, press
forward in the same path. But the rich spoil which lay on the
surface has been already swept away by the first comers, and
those who follow are to win their treasure by long-protracted and
painful 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 company. Many of them,
crossing the Isthmus with him to Panama, came in time to Peru,
where, in the desperate chances of its revolutionary struggles,
some few arrived at posts of profit and distinction. Among those
who first reached the Peruvian shore was an emissary sent by
Almagro's agents 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 Gonzalo Pizarro, who, in obedience to their brother's
commands, instantly resigned the government of the capital into
the marshal's hands. But Almagro 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 exercise 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 several 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 unscrupulous chief. *26 They now evinced little concern for
the native population of Cuzco; and, not content with the public
edifices, seized on the dwellings of individuals, where it suited
their convenience, appropriating their contents without ceremony,
- showing as little respect, in short, for person or property, as
if the place had been taken by storm. *27

[Footnote 26: 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 pasamos con el Marquez a la conquista no
ovo hombre que osase tomar vna mazorca de mahiz sin licencia."
Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 27: "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
bien 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 larga i casi
incomprehensible, la dexase al juicio de quien mas entiende
aunque en el dano rescebido por parte de los naturales cerca
deste articulo yo se harto por mis pecados que no quisiera saber
ni haver visto." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]
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 jurisdiction had been
extended seventy leagues further to the south, and he entertained
the same suspicion with Almagro, that the capital of the Incas
did not rightly come within his present limits. He saw all the
mischief likely to result from this opulent city falling into the
hands of his rival, who would thus have an almost indefinite
means of gratifying his own cupidity, and that of his followers.
He felt, that, under the present circumstances, it was not safe
to allow Almagro to anticipate 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.

Without loss of time, therefore, he sent instructions 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 unbecoming 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 himself appeared among them. *28

[Footnote 28: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera Hist.
General, dec. 5, lib. 7, cap. 6 - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

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 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 between 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 affected, on the grounds substantially 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 was provided that neither should malign nor
disparage the other, especially in their despatches to the
emperor; 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 imprecations 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! *29 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 proceeding, and the
articles of agreement, were carefully recorded by the notary in
an instrument bearing date June 12, 1535, and attested by a long
list of witnesses. *30

[Footnote 29: "E suplicamos a su infinita bondad que a qualquier
de nos que fuere en contrario de lo asi convenido, con todo rigor
de justicia permita la perdicion de su anima, tin y mal
acavamiento de su vida, destruicion y perdimientos de su familia,
honrras y hacienda." Capitulacion entre Pizarro y Almagro 12 de
Junio, 1535, Ms.]

[Footnote 30: This remarkable document, the original of which is
preserves in the archives of Simancas, may be found entire in the
Castilian, 10 Appendix, No. 11.]

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 necessary
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 differences, 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 completed,
he began his march, feeling himself insecure, with his diminished
strength, in the neighbourhood of Pizarro! *31 The remainder of
his forces, when mustered, were to follow him.

[Footnote 31: "El Adelantado Almagro despues que se vido en el
Cuzco descarnado de su jente temio al Marquez no le prendiese por
las alteraciones pasadas que havia tenido con sus hermanos como
ya hemos dicho, i dicen que por ser avisado dello tomo la posta i
se fue al pueblo de Paria donde estava su Capitan Saavedra."
Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

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, planting 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 treasures in its bosom, turned out greatest in
value. *34

[Footnote 32: Carta de F. Pizarro a Molina, Ms.]

[Footnote 33: I have before me two copies of grants of
encomiendas by Pizarro, the one dated at Xauxa, 1534, the other
at Cuzco, 1539. - They emphatically 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 indignation,
not to have been expected in the rude Conqueror, came probably
from an ecclesiastic.]

[Footnote 34: "El Marques hizo encomiendas en los Espanoles, las
quales fueron por noticias que ni el sabia lo que dava ni nadie
lo que rescebia sino a tiento ya poco mas o menos, y asi muchos
que pensaron que se les dava pocos se hallaron con mucho y al
contrario" Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]

But nothing claimed so much of Pizarro's care 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
soldier, 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 chroniclers, 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 Pizarro. - Rising Of The
Peruvians. - Siege And Burning Of Cuzco. - Distresses Of The
Spaniards. - 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 disquietude 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
parcelled out among the Spaniards, but, with the exception 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 countenanced 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 Atahuallpa;
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 barracks 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 establishments, were now
turned abroad, and became the prey of a licentious soldiery. *1 A
favorite wife of the young Inca was debauched by the Castilian
officers. The Inca, himself treated with contemptuous
indifference, found that he was a poor dependant, if not a tool,
in the hands of his conquerors. *2

[Footnote 1: So says the author of the Conquista i Poblacion del
Piru, a contemporary 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 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 politicamente 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 a 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
mamaconas que eran las que andavan como beatas i dende a dos anos
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 Pob del Piru,
Ms.]

[Footnote 2: Ibid., ubi supra.]

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
request 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.

The dissensions among the Spaniards themselves seemed to afford a
favorable opportunity for this. The Peruvian chiefs held many
conferences 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 overpower them
by superior numbers, and shake off their detested yoke before the
arrival of fresh reinforcements should rivet it for ever 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 Almagro company on the march, that he might
secure the cooperation 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 necessary 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
Canares, 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 Inca's purposes, 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 fugitive, whom he was so fortunate as
to discover in a thicket of reeds, in which he sought to conceal
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 Peruvians but to bewail their
ruined hopes, and to give utterance to their disappointment in
doleful ballads, which rehearsed the captivity of their Inca, and
the downfall of his royal house. *3
[Footnote 3: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 1, 2. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.
Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 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
conceded 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.

The new marquess 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 extended 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 bearing 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 into
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 existence 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 still further by an
account of a statue of pure gold of his father Huayna Capac,
which the wily Peruvian requested leave to bring from a secret
cave in which it was deposited, among the neighbouring Andes.
Hernando, blinded by his avarice, consented 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 expedition. A week elapsed, and yet
he did not return, nor were there any tidings to be gathered of
him. Hernando now saw his error, especially as his own
suspicions were confirmed by the unfavorable 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 discovering any vestige of the
fugitive. The country was remarkably silent and deserted, until,
as he approached 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 accompanied Manco. They informed Pizarro that
it was only at the point of the sword he could recover 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 confirmed when he
arrived at the river Yucay, on the opposite bank of which were
drawn up the Indian battalions to the number of many thousand
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 vulnerable 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 numbers. 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 armour, 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
Mexicans, in the fantastic shape of the heads of wild animals,
garnished with rows of teeth that grinned horribly above the
visage of the warrior. *4 The whole army wore an aspect of
martial ferocity, under the control of much higher military
discipline than the Spaniards had before seen in the country.

[Footnote 4: "Es gente," says Oviedo, "muy belicosa e muy
diestra; sus armas son picas, e ondas, porras e Alabardas de
Plata e oro e cobre." (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, tom. 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, tom. I. pp 178-180.) He does
not insist on their knowledge of fire-arms before the Conquest!]

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 another 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 fastnesses of the lof y 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 wounded, and were nearly 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 thunderclouds
along the slopes and summits, as if ready to pour down in fury on
the assailants. The ground, altogether unfavorable to the
manoeuvres 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 Spaniards. Juan
Pizarro did not care to entangle himself further 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 enemy, who
celebrated their success with songs or rather yells of triumph,
he arrived before nightfall in sight of the capital.

But very different was the sight which there met his eye 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 battalions stretched out to the very verge of the
mountains; while, all around, the eye saw only the crests and
waving banners of chieftains, mingled with rich panoplies of
featherwork, 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 confusion, 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.

[Footnote 5: "Pues junta toda la gente quel ynga avia embiado a
juntar que a lo que se entendio y los indios dixeron fueron
dozientos mil indios de guerra los que vinieron a poner este
cerco." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

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 prepared to open a way for themselves through the
beleaguering host. But the enemy seemed to shun the encounter;
and, falling back at their approach, left a free entrance into
the capital. The Peruvians 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

[Footnote 6: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. 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.]

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 European
valor, and bringing the two races in deadlier conflict with each
other than had yet occurred in the conquest of Peru.
[Footnote 7: "Y los pocos Espanoles que heramos aun no dozientos
todos.' Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

The numbers of the enemy seemed no less formidable 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 eyewitness, as "the stars of heaven in a
cloudless summer night." *8 Before these fires 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 better 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 wood-work in the interior of the buildings,
and broad sheets of flame mingled with smoke rose up towards the
heavens, throwing a fearful glare over every object. The
rarefied atmosphere heightened the previous impetuosity of the
wind, which, fanning the rising flames, they rapidly spread from
dwelling to dwelling, till the whole fiery mass, swayed to and
for by the tempest, surged and roared with the fury of a volcano.
The heat became intense, and clouds of smoke, gathering like a
dark pall over the city, produced a sense of suffocation and
almost blindness in those quarters where it was driven by the
winds. *10

[Footnote 8: "Pues de noche heran tantos ros fuegos que no
parecia sino vn cielo muy sereno lleno de estrellas." Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
[Footnote 9: Ibid. Ms.]

[Footnote 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 is por todas partes les diera el humo i
el calor siendo tan grande pasaron travajo, pero la divina
providencia lo estorvo." Conq. i. Pob. ded Piru, Ms.]
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 building was on fire; but,
although no efforts were made to extinguish it, the flames went
out without doing much injury. This miracle was ascribed to the
Blessed Virgin, who was distinctly seen by several of the
Christian combatants, hovering over the spot on which was to be
raised the temple dedicated to her worship. *11

[Footnote 11: The temple was dedicated to Our Blessed Lady of the
Assumption. The apparition of the Virgin was manifest not only to
Christian 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 dignus vindice nodus.]
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 endeavours to surround himself with a belt
of wasted land, when overtaken 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
unfortunate Spaniards could read the consternation depicted in
each others' 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 discerned the shadowy
forms of the An des, 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 several days before
the fury of the fire was spent. Tower and temple, hut, palace,
and hall, went down before it. Fortunately, among the buildings
that escaped were the magnificent House of the Sun and the
neighbouring Convent of the Virgins. Their insulated position
afforded the means, of which the Indians from motives of piety
were willing to avail themselves, for their preservation. *12
Full one half of the capital, so long the 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 conquerors, - their trophy and their
tomb!
[Footnote 12: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 24.
Father Valverde, Bishop of Cuzco, who took so signal a part in
the seizure of Atahuallpa, was absent from the country at this
period, but returned the following year. In a letter to the
emperor, he contrasts the flourishing 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 remarkable to be
omitted. The original letter exists in the archives of Simancas.
- "Certifico a V. M. que si no me acordara del sitio desta Ciudad
yo no la conosciera, a lo menos por los edificios y Pueblos
della; porque quando el Gobernador D. Franzisco Pizarro entro
aqui y entre yo con el 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 a vista 19 o 20,000; la fortaleza que
estava sobre la Ciudad parescia desde a parte una mui gran
fortaleza de las de Espana: 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 buena cosa, aunque segun la riqueza a havido en
esta tierra pudiera ser mas semejante al Templo de Salomon."
Carta del Obispo F. Vicente de Valverde al Emperador, Ms., 20 de
Marzo, 1539.]

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
presented 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 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
slaughter on these occasions was great, but the Indians, nothing
disheartened, usually returned with renewed 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 entangled with it the legs of his horse, so as
to bring them both to the ground. More than one Spaniard fell
into the hands of the enemy by this expedient. *14

[Footnote 13: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

"Los Indios ganaron el Cuzco casi todo desta manera que enganando
la calle hivan haciendo una pared para que los cavallos ni los
Espanoles no los pudiesen rom per." Conq. i. Pob. del Piru, Ms]

[Footnote 14: Ibid., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib.
8, cap. 4.]
Thus harassed, sleeping on their arms, with their horses picketed
by their side, ready for action at 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 completely
commanded the great square in which they were quartered, had been
so feebly garrisoned in their false sense of security, that, on
the approach of the Peruvians, it had been abandoned 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
improvident 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 Spaniards living on their insulated plantations had all
been massacred; Lima and Truxillo and the principal cities were
besieged, and must soon fall into the enemy's hands; the
Peruvians were in possession 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
besiegers. And to give greater credit to the rumors, eight or
ten human heads were rolled into the plaza, in whose
blood-stained visages the Spaniards recognized with horror the
lineaments of their companions, who they knew had been dwelling
in solitude on their estates! *15

[Footnote 15: Ibid., ubi supra. - Conq i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]
Overcome by these horrors, many were for abandoning the place at
once, as no longer tenable, 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 other 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.

[Footnote 16: "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.]

There seemed, indeed, no alternative; for every avenue to escape
was cut off by an enemy who had perfect knowledge of the country,
and possession 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. Their great army would melt away, unaccustomed as the
natives 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 position, it was absolutely
necessary to dislodge the enemy from the fortress; and, before
venturing on this dangerous service, Hernando Pizarro resolved to
strike such a blow as should intimidate the besiegers from
further attempt to molest his present quarters.

He communicated his plan of attack to his officers; and, forming
his little troop into three divisions, he placed them under
command of his brother Gonzalo, of Gabriel de Rojas, an officer
in whom he reposed great confidence, and Hernan 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 besiegers. 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 gradually 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
workmanship, and even, in a few instances, mounted on the horses
which they had taken from the white men. *17 The young Inca, 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 higher civilization than that which
belonged to the Aztec, who, in his long collision with the
Spaniards, was never so far divested of his terrors for the horse
as to venture to mount him.

[Footnote 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]

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, endeavouring 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, supporting 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 capital. *18

[Footnote 18: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Conq. i Pob.
del Piru, Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 8 cap. 4,
5.]

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 protected by two
semicircular walls, each about twelve hundred feet in length, and
of great thickness. 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
its arrows at the assailants, while their own persons were
protected by the parapet. Within the interior 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 Hernando Pizarro to his
brother Juan, a cavalier in whose bosom burned the adventurous
spirit of a knighterrant 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 unprotected, and arrived before the
outer wall of the fortress, without giving the alarm to the
garrison. *19

[Footnote 19: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

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 accomplished, 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 Pizarro,
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 the cavalry,
pouring in, rode down all who opposed them.

[Footnote 20: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms]

The parapet was now abandoned, and the enemy, hurrying with
disorderly flight across the inclosure 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 timber 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
contrast 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, 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
[Footnote 21: "Y estando batallando con ellos para echallos de
alli Joan Picarro 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
espanoles hasta que se gano este terrado y ganado le abaxaron al
Cuzco." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
[Footnote 22: "Hera valiente," says Pedro Pizarro, "y muy
animoso, gentil hombre, magnanimo y afable." (Descub. y Conq.,
Ms.) Zarate dismisses him with this brief panegyric: - "Fue gran
perdida en la Tierra, porque era Juan Picarro mui valiente, i
experimentado en las Guerras de los Indios, i bien quisto, i
amado de todos." Conq del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 3.]
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 surrendered 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.

The Spanish commander was filled with admiration 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, numerous ladders
having been planted against the tower, the Spaniards scaled it on
several quarters at the same time, and, leaping into the place,
overpowered the few combatants who still made a show of
resistance. But the Inca chieftain was not to be taken; and,
finding further resistance ineffectual, 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.

[Footnote 23: 'Y mando hernando picarro a los Espanoles que
subian que no matasen a este yndio sino que se lo tomasen a vida,
jurando de no matalle si lo avia bivo." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y
Conq. Ms.]

[Footnote 24: "Visto este orejon que se lo vian ganado y le avian
ganado y le avian tomado por dos o tres partes el fuerte,
arrojando las armas se tapo la caveca y el rrostro con la manta y
se arrojo del cubo abajo mas de cien estados, y ansi se hizo
pedazos. A hernando Picarro le peso mucho por no tomalle a
vida." Ibid., Ms.]

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 provision were
exhausted, and they had for some time depended on such scanty
supplies of grain as they could gather from the ruined magazines
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
encounter 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 remainder.
[Footnote 25: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 24]
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 succeeded in this made it probable,
that his own situation 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 succour, 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 rue, had been general throughout the country,
a east that portion of it occupied by the Spaniards It had been
so well concerted, that it broke out almost simultaneously, and
the Conquerors, who were living in careless security on their
estates, had been massacred to the number of several hundreds An
Indian force had sat down before Xauxa, and a considerable army
had occupied 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 menaced 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 inflicted on them such a severe
chastisement, that, although they still continued to hover in the
distance and cut off his communications with the interior, they
did not care to trust themselves on the other side of the Rimac.

The accounts that the Spanish commander now eceived 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 capital. 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 natives permitted them to
march into the interior of the country, until they were fairly
entangled in the passes of the Cordilleras. They then enveloped
them with greatly superior numbers, and, occupying the heights,
showered down their fatal 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
countrymen at Lima. *26

[Footnote 26: 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 Incas, there fell in these
expeditions 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]

Pizzaro 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 neighbouring colony 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 were 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 despatching 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,
representing the gloomy state of his affairs, and invoking their
aid. His epistle to Alvarado, then established at Guatemala, is
preserved. He conjures him by every sentiment of honor and
patriotism to come to his assistance, and this before it was too
late. Without assistance, the Spaniards could no longer maintain
their footing in Peru, and that great empire would be lost to the
Castilian Crown. He finally engages to share with him such
conquests 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, Pizarro would have been willing to secure at
almost any price, are sufficient evidence of the extremity of his
distress. The succours thus earnestly solicited arrived in time,
not to quell the Indian insurrection, but to aid him in a
struggle quite as formidable with his own countrymen.

[Footnote 27: "E crea V. S *a sino somos socorridos se perdera el
Cusco, ques la cosa mas senalada e de mas importancia que se
puede descubrir, e luego nos perderemos todos: porque somos pocos
e tenemos pocas armas, e los Indios estan atrevidos." Carta de
Francisco Pizarro a D. Pedro de Alvarado, desde la Ciudad le los
Reyes. 29 de julio, 1536, Ms.]
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. 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 exterminate the white men. But the
Peruvians themselves 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 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 occupation 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 intercept supplies.
[Footnote 28: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim. y Seg., Ms.]

The Spaniards beheld with joy the mighty host which had so long
encompassed the city, now melting away. They were not slow in
profiting by the circumstance, and Hernando Pizarro took
advantage of the temporary absence to send out foraging 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 above all apprehensions on the
score of want for the present.
[Footnote 29: "Recoximos hasta dos mil cavezas de ganado." Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

Yet these forays were made at 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 supposed
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

[Footnote 30: 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. Conq., Ms.) Such atrocities are not often
noticed by the chroniclers; and we may hope they were exceptions
to the general policy of the Conquerors in this invasion.]
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. 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 frequented 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 impregnable 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.

[Footnote 31: "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.]

[Footnote 32: "El rio de yucay ques grande por aquella parte va
muy angosto y hondo." Ibid., Ms.]

Crossing the stream without much difficulty, the Spanish
commander advanced up the smooth glacis with as little noise as
possible. The morning 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 inclosure, moved quickly forward, confident that
the garrison were still buried in sleep. But thousands of eyes
were upon him; and as the Spaniards came within bow-shot, a
multitude of dark forms suddenly rose above the rampart, while
the Inca, with his lance in hand, was seen on horseback in the
inclosure, directing the operations of his troops. *33 At the
same moment the air was darkened 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.

[Footnote 33: "Parecia el Inga a caballo entre su gente, con su
lanca en la mano." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap.
7.]
[Footnote 34: "Pues hechos dos o tres acometimientos a tomar este
pueblo tantas vezes nos hizieron bolver dando de manos. Ansi
estuvimos todo este dia hasta puesta de sol; os indios sin
entendello nos hechavan el rrio en el llano donde estavamos, y
aguardar mas perescieramos aqui todos." Pedro Pizarro Descub. y
Conq. Ms.]

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
recrossed without accident, although the enemy, now confident in
their strength, rushed out of their defences, and 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 compelled 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
cavaliers, 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

[Footnote 35: Ibid., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib.
8, cap. 7.]

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 relation 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 historical 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 remainder
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
Francis Pizarro, to which Pedro was allied, also emigrated. When
that chief came over to undertake the conquest of Peru, after
receiving his commission from the emperor in 1529, Pedro Pizarro,
then only fifteen years of age, accompanied him in quality of
page. For three years he remained attached to the household of
his commander, 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 confidence 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
fortunes 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 Gonzalo 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
lieutenant, the famous Francisco de Carbajal, to whom the
chronicler had once the good fortune to render an important
service. This, Carbajal 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 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 Francis 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 eyewitness 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, - the most unpropitious in the world to both mental
and moral progress. He had the good sense, more over, 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 ornament 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 enlisted. 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
interests, 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 empire of the Cross over the darkened heathen. Gold
was his great object; the estimate by which he judged of the
value of the Conquest; 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 comprehension of
though. 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 far
abler productions at second hand. It is the rude ore, which,
submitted 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
Fernando Montesinos. He is, in every respect, the opposite of
the military 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
Historiales 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 identity of Peru with the golden
Ophir of Solomon's time! This hypothesis, 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 of the writer's title to this reproach, that reads the
absurd legends told in the 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
exclusively 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 be now difficult to meet elsewhere.

His writings have been commended by some of his learned
countrymen, 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 seventeenth century than
in one of the primitive Conquerors, whose passions had been
inflamed by long-protracted hostility. M. Ternaux-Compans has
translated the Memorias Antiguas with his usual elegance and
precision, for his collection of original documents relating 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. - Suffering Of The Troops. - He Returns
And Seizes Cuzco. - Action Of Abancay. - Gaspar De Espinosa. -
Almagro Leaves Cuzco. - Negotiations With Pizarro.

1535-1537.

While the events recorded in the preceding chapter were passing,
the Marshal Almagro 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 stupendous cataracts into the yawning
abyss; dark forests of pine that seemed to have no end, and then
again long reaches of desolate table-land, without so much as a
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 fingers themselves. and sometimes their limbs.
Others were blinded by the dazzling waste of snow, reflecting the
rays of a sun made intolerably brilliant in the thin atmosphere
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,
except 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
scantiness 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.

[Footnote 1: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 10, cap. 1 - 3.
- Oviedo Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 9, cap. 4. -
Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

Yet their own sufferings do not seem to have touched the hearts
of the Spaniards with any feeling of compassion for the weaker
natives. Their path was everywhere marked by burnt and desolated
hamlets, the inhabitants of which were compelled 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 enormities, 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
perpetrated on an unoffending people, or, at least, guilty of no
other crime than that of defending their own soil too well.

[Footnote 2: Conq. i Pob. 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 a hacer bien i a hacer buenos tratamientos a los
naturales i los favorecia no era tenido en tan buena estima, he
apuntado esto que vi con mis ejos 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"]

[Footnote 3: "I para castigarlos por la muerte destos tres
Espanoles juntolos en un aposento donde estava aposentado i mando
cavalgar la jente de cavallo i la de apie que guardasen las
puertas i todos estuviesen apercividos i los prendio i en
conclusion hizo quemar mas de 30 senores vivos atados cada uno a
su palo" (Conq. i Pob. 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.]

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 atrocities is not confined to the Spaniard.
Wherever the civilized man and the savage have come in contact,
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 Coquimbo, about the thirtieth degree of south
latitude. Here they halted to refresh themselves in its abundant
plains, after their unexampled sufferings and fatigues.
Meanwhile Almagro despatched 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 remarkable person, and intimately connected with the
subsequent fortunes of Almagro.

He was a native of Oropesa, had been trained 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 suffering. Orgonez was an
excellent soldier; true to his commander, prompt, fearless, and
unflinching in the execution of his orders. His services
attracted 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, conferring 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 doated with extravagant fondness, justified 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 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.

[Footnote 4: It is the language of a Spaniard; "i como no le
parecio bien la tierra por no ser quajada de oro." Conq. i Pob.
del Piru, Ms.]
[Footnote 5: According to Oviedo, a hundred and fifty leagues,
and very near, as they told him, to the end of the world; cerca
del fin del mundo. (Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 9,
cap. 5.) One must not expect to meet with very accurate notions
of geography in the rude soldiers of America]

Almagro now yielded, with little reluctance, to the renewed
importunities of the soldiers, and turned his face towards the
North. It is unnecessary to follow his march in detail.
Disheartened by the difficulty 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 hundred leagues to the northern borders of Chili, with
hardly a green spot in its expanse to relieve the fainting
traveller, Almagro and his men experienced 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 strength of limb and a buoyancy of spirit which
raised him to a contempt of obstacles, almost justifying the
boast of the historian, that "he contended indifferently, at the
same time, with man, with the elements, and with famine!" *6
[Footnote 6: "Peleando en un tiempo con los Enemigos, con los
Elementos, i con la Hambre." Herrera, Hist General, dec. 5, lib.
10, cap. 2]
After traversing the terrible desert, Almagro reached the ancient
town of Arequipa, about sixty leagues from Cuzco. Here he
learned with astonishment 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 neighbourhood 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 accordingly 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
[Footnote 7: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Conq. i Pob.
del Piru, Ms. - Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib.
9, cap. 6]
The Spaniards in Cuzco, startled by the appearance of this fresh
body of troops in their neighbourhood, doubted, when they learned
the quarter 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 Almagro'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 opposite camps, suspected some secret
understanding between the parties, which would compromise the
safety of the Inca. They communicated their distrust 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
[Footnote 8: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 4. - Conq. i
Pob. del Piru, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 21.]

Almagro, now joining the division left at Urcos, saw no further
impediment to his operations on Cuzco. He sent, at once, an
embassy to the municipality of the place, requiring the
recognition 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 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 hundred 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 capital 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 careful scientific observations
had been made to obtain it; and each party was prompt to assert,
as they always are in such cases, that its own claim was clear
and unquestionable. *11

[Footnote 9: "Contando diez i siete leg as i media por grado."
Herrera Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 5.]

[Footnote 10: The government had endeavoured 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 Jomas de
Berlanga, Bishop of Tierra Firme, had been sent to Lima with full
powers to determine the question 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 infecta, to his
diocese, with strong feelings of disgust towards the governor.
Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 1.]
[Footnote 11: "All say," says Oviedo, in a letter to the emperor,
"that Cuzco falls within the territory of Almagro." Oviedo was,
probably, the best-informed man in the colonies. Yet this was an
error. Carta desde Sto. Domingo, Ms., 25 de Oct. 1539.]

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
promised to do at once - with certain pilots better instructed
than themselves in the position of the Santiago. Meanwhile, a
truce was arranged between the parties, each solemnly engaging to
abstain from hostile measures, and to remain quiet in their
present quarters.

The weather now set in cold and rainy. Almagro's soldiers,
greatly discontented with their position, 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
succours. In this state of excitement, it was not very difficult
to persuade their commander - too ready to surrender his own
judgment to the rash advisers around him - to violate the treaty,
and take possession of the capital. *12

[Footnote 12: 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.]

Under cover of a dark and stormy night (April 8th, 1537), he
entered the place without opposition, made himself master of the
principal church, established strong parties of cavalry at the
head of the great avenues to prevent surprise, and detached
Orgonez 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 surrender.
Scarcely had the Spaniards left the building, when the whole roof
fell in with a tremendous crash. *13

[Footnote 13: Carta de Espinall, Tesorero de N. Toledo, 15 de
Junio, 1539. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms. - Pedro Pizarro,
Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3,
lib. 8, cap. 21.]
Almagro was now master of Cuzco. He ordered the Pizarros, with
fifteen or twenty of the principal cavaliers, to be secured and
placed in confinement. 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 installed one of
Pizarro's most able officers, Gabriel 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.

[Footnote 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.]

The marshal's first step was to send a message to Alonso de
Alvarado's camp, advising that officer 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, remained at Xauxa
with the alleged motive of protecting that settlement and the
surrounding country against the insurgents. *15 He now showed
himself loyal to his commander; and, when Almagro's ambassadors
reached his camp, he put them in irons, and sent advice of what
had been done to the governor at Lima.
[Footnote 15: Pizarro's secretary Picado had an encomienda in
that neighbourhood, and Alvarado, who was under personal
obligations to him, remained there, it is said, at his
instigation. (Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 7.)
Alvarado was a 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 possessed.]
Almagro, offended by the detention of his emissaries, prepared at
once to march against Alonso de Alvarado, and take more effectual
means to bring him to submission. His lieutenant, Orgonez,
strongly urged him before his departure to strike 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, shrunk from so violent
a measure; and, independently of other considerations, he had
still an attachment for his old associate, Francis Pizarro, and
was unwilling to sever the ties between them for ever.
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.

[Footnote 16: "El muerto no mordia." Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 2, cap.
8.]
That officer had now taken up a position on the farther side of
the Rio de Abancay, where he lay, with the strength of his little
army, in front of a bridge, by which its rapid waters are
traversed, while a strong detachment occupied a spot commanding 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 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 opposite 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 complete.

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 unfortunate chief, uncertain on whom
he could rely, surrendered 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 complete, or achieved with less cost of life; and
Almagro marched back, with an array of prisoners scarcely
inferior to his own army in number, in triumph to Cuzco. *17

[Footnote 17: Carta de Francisco Pizarro al Obispo de Tierra
Firme, Ms., 28 de Agosto, 1539. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq.,
Ms. - Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms., ubi supra. - Conq. i Pob.
del Piru, Ms. - Carta de Espinall, Ms.]

While the events related in the preceding pages were passing,
Francisco Pizarro had remained at Lima, anxiously awaiting the
arrival of the reinforcements which he had requested, to enable
him to march to the relief of the beleaguered capital of the
Incas. His appeal had not been unanswered. Among the rest was a
corps of two hundred and fifty men, led by the Licentiate Gaspar
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 drooping fortunes of his
confederates. Pizarro received 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
[Footnote 18: "Fernando Cortes embio con Rodrigo de Grijalva en
vn proprio Navio suio, desde la Nueva Espana, muchas Armas,
Tiros, Jaeces, Aderecos, Vestidos de Seda, i vna Ropa de Martas."
Gomara, Hist de las Ind., cap. 136.]

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 received
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 consternation 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, to be
directed against that capital itself. Meanwhile, far from
indulging in impotent sallies of resentment, or in complaints of
his ancient comrade, he only lamented that Almagro should have
resorted to these violent measures for the settlement 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 interests of the Crown. *19

[Footnote 19: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 2, cap. 7]
But, while busily occupied with warlike preparations, he did not
omit to try the effect of negotiation. 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 Almagro in as
favorable a mood for an accommodation 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 argument which prudence could suggest, of
moderating his demands. His claims upon Cuzco, at least, were
not to be shaken, and he declared himself ready to peril his life
in maintaining them. The licentiate coolly replied by quoting
the pithy Castilian proverb, El vencido vencido, y el vencidor
perdido; "The vanquished vanquished, and the victor undone."

What influence the temperate arguments of the licentiate might
eventually have had on the heated imagination of the soldier is
doubtful; but unfortunately 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 imputation 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
recommending them.

[Footnote 20: Carta de Pizarro al Obispo de Tierra Firme, Ms. -
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 2, cap. 13. - Carta de
Espinall, Ms.]
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, where he had served
in various capacities, sometimes as a legal functionary presiding
in the courts of justice, *21 and not unfrequently as an
efficient leader in the early expeditions of conquest and
discovery. In these manifold vocations he acquired high
reputation for probity, intelligence, and courage, and his death
at the present crisis was undoubtedly the most unfortunate event
that could befall the country.

[Footnote 21: He incurred some odium as presiding officer in the
trial and condemnation of the unfortunate Vasco Nunez de Balboa.
But it must be allowed, that he made great efforts to resist the
tyrannical proceedings of Pedrarias, and he earnestly recommended
the prisoner to mercy. See Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib.
2, cap. 21, 22.]

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 communication with the
mother-country, and here he would resume negotiations for the
settlement of his dispute 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 discomfiture, and unable,
perhaps, to rally in sufficient strength for resistance,
abandoned his strong-hold at Tambo, and retreated across the
mountains. He was hotly pursued by Orgonez over hill and valley,
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

[Footnote 22: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Conq. i Pob.
de Piru Ms.]

Before leaving the capital, Orgonez 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 for ever 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 Alvarado, brother of
that Pedro, who, as mentioned in a preceding chapter, had
conducted the unfortunate expedition to Quito. After his
brother's departure, Diego had attached himself to the fortunes
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 deserved 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 thousand gold
castellanos. He was prompt in paying the debt, but Hernando
Pizarro peremptorily declined to receive the money. By this
politic generosity, 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
Orgonez 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, Orgonez, 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.
Descending rapidly towards the coast, he reached the pleasant
vale of Chincha in the latter part of August. Here he occupied
himself with laying the foundations 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 prisoners, 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
Almagro'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 dispute to a single individual,
Fray Francisco de Bovadilla, a Brother of the Order of Mercy.
Though living in Lima, and, as might be supposed, under the
influence of Pizarro, he had a reputation for integrity that
disposed Almagro to confide the settlement of the question
exclusively to him. In this implicit confidence in the friar's
impartiality, Orgonez, of a less sanguine temper than his chief,
did not participate. *23

[Footnote 23: Carta de Gutierrez al Emperador, Ms., 10 de Feb.
1539. - Carta de Espinall, Ms. - Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., Ms.,
ubi supra. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6 lib. 2, cap. 8-14. -
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y. Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru,
lib. 3, cap. 8. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms.]

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 meetings. Almagro,
indeed, doffing his bonnet, advanced in his usual open manner to
salute his ancient comrade; but Pizarro, hardly condescending to
return the salute, haughtily demanded why the marshal had seized
upon his city of Cuzco, and imprisoned his brothers. This led to
a recrimination on the part of his associate. The discussion
assumed the tone of an angry altercation, till Almagro, 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 deliberation, 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

[Footnote 24: It was said that Gonzalo Pizarro lay in ambush with
a strong force in the neighbourhood to intercept the marshal, and
that the latter 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.]

[Footnote 25: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de
Espinall, Ms.]
This award, as may be supposed, highly satisfactory 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

[Footnote 26: 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.]
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 concerned to
abide by them. After some preliminary negotiation, another
award, more equitable, or, at all events, more to the
satisfaction of the discontented party, was given. The principal
articles of it were, that, until the arrival of some definitive
instructions 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 communicated 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!" *27

[Footnote 27: "I tomando la barba con la mano izquierda, con la
derecha hico senal de cortarse la cabeca, diciendo: Orgonez,
Orgonez, por el amistad de Don Diego de Almagro te han de cortar
esta." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 9.]

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 expressed 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 then 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, - 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, afterward escorted the cavalier to his brother's
camp, which had been transferred to the neighbouring town of
Mala. Here the party received a most cordial greeting from the
governor, who entertained them with a courtly hospitality, 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.

[Footnote 28: Ibid., loc. cit. - Carta de Descub. y Conq., Ms. -
Zarate Gutierrez, Ms. - Pedro Pizarro, 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
Almagro. - His Character.
1537-1538.

Scarcely had Almagro's officers left the 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 preparations. 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 devolve that duty on his brothers; and he
released Hernando from all his engagements to Almagro, as a
measure justified by necessity. That cavalier, with graceful
pertinacity, intimated his design to abide by the pledges he had
given, but, at length yielded a reluctant assent to the commands
of his brother, as to a measure imperatively demanded by his duty
to the Crown. *1

[Footnote 1: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 3, cap. 10.]
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.

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 recollection. The
first part of the prediction was fulfilled. 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

[Footnote 2: "Cayo enfermo i estuvo malo a punto de muerte de
bubas i dolores" (Carta de Espinall, Ms.) It was a hard penalty,
occurring at this crisis, for the sins, perhaps, of earlier days;
but

"The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to scourge us."]

In this forlorn condition, he confided the management of his
affairs to Orgonez, on whose loyalty and courage he knew he might
implicitly rely. The first step was to secure the passes of the
Guaitara, a chain of hills that hemmed in the valley of Zangalla,
where Almagro was at present established. But, by some
miscalculation, the passes were not secured in season; and the
active enemy, threading the dangerous defiles, effected a passage
across the sierra, where a much inferior force to his own might
have taken him at advantage. 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 governor and his brothers, in the mean time, after traversing
the pass of Guaitara, descended into the valley of Ica, where
Pizarro remained a considerable while, to get his troops into
order and complete his preparations for the campaign. Then,
taking leave of the army, he returned to Lima, committing the
prosecution of the war, as he had before announced, to his
younger and more active brothers. Hernando, soon after quitting
Ica, 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 him, 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
neighbourhood of Cuzco.

But Almagro 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 prevailed, 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 received 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 neighbourhood. 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 repeatedly 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 of his infantry. Thus
prepared, he calmly awaited the approach of the enemy.

It was not long before the bright arms and banners of the
Spaniards under Hernando Pizarro were seen emerging from the
mountain passes. The troops came forward 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 advanced 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

[Footnote 3: 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.]

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 children,
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
and interest to the game; and in this bloody game, they were to
play for the possession of an empire.

[Footnote 4: Herrera, Hist. General, dec 6, lib. 4, cap. 5, 6.]
[Footnote 5: Ibid., ubi supra.]

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

[Footnote 6: "I 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 aborrecimiento de ambas
partes." Ibid., cap. 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 toilsome 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,
comprehending a well-trained corps of arquebusiers, sent from St.
Domingo, whose weapons were of the improved construction recently
introduced 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
[Footnote 7: A church dedicated to Saint Lazarus was afterwards
erected on the battle-ground, 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., ano 1538,) - an indifferent authority for any
thing]

[Footnote 8: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 8. -
Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 36.]

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 disposing 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 infantry was headed by his brother
Gonzalo, supported by Pedro de Valdivia, the future hero of
Arauco, whose disastrous story forms the burden of romance as
well as of chronicle. *9

[Footnote 9: The Araucana of Ercilla 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.]

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 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 infantry, 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 Valdivia 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 squadrons of horse into one
column, crossed under cover of this well-sustained fire, and,
reaching the firm ground, rode at once against the enemy.
Orgonez, 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 was terrible; and it was hailed by the swarms of Indian
spectators on the surrounding heights with a fiendisn yell of
triumph, that rose far above the din of battle, till it was lost
in distant echoes among the mountains. *10
[Footnote 10: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 6. -
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de Espinall, Ms. -
Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 11.

Every thing relating to this battle, - the disposition of the
forces, the character of the ground, the mode of attack, are 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.]

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 Rey y Almagro," or "El Rey y Pizarro," - while 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 armour,
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 forehead, and deprived him for a moment of
reason. Before he had fully recovered, his horse was killed
under him, and though the fallen cavalier succeeded 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 Pizarro, presenting himself
as such, Orgonez gave his sword into his hands, - and the
dastard, drawing 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.
[Footnote 11: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera
Hist. General, ubi supra. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, ubi supra.]
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 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 turmoil that ensued, Lerma was unhorsed, and left on
the field covered with wounds. *12

[Footnote 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
armour, according to Garcilasso, and before the battle sent
notice of it to Orgonez, that the latter might distinguish him in
the melee. But a knight in Hernando's suite also wore the same
colors, it appears, which led Orgonez into error.]

There was no longer order, and scarcely resistance, 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 neighbouring 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, convinced 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 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 not less than a hundred and fifty,
- one of the combatants calls it two hundred, *13 - a great
number, considering the shortness of the time, and the small
amount of forces engaged. No account is given of the wounded.
Wounds were the portion 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 followers 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 Samaniego,
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 bed-side, and then, upbraiding him for the insult, 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, exclaiming "Now is the
hour!" plunged his sword into his bosom. He lived several years
to vaunt this atrocious exploit, which he proclaimed as a
reparation to his honor. It is some satisfaction to know that
the insolence of this vaunt cost him his life. *14 - Such
anecdotes, revolting as they are, illustrate not merely the
spirit of the times, but that peculiarly ferocious spirit which
is engendered by civil wars, - the most unforgiving in their
character of any, but wars of religion.

[Footnote 13: "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 partisan of Almagro, says they
massacred a hundred and fifty after the fight, in cold blood.
"Siguiecon el alcanze la mas cruelmente que en el mundo se ha
visto, porque matavan a los hombres rendidos e desarmados, e por
les quitar las armas los mataban si presto no se las quitaban, e
trayendo a las ancas de un caballo a un Ruy Diaz viniendo rendido
e desarmado le mataron, i desta manera mataron mas de ciento e
cinquenta hombres" Carta, Ms.]

[Footnote 14: 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.]

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,
descending like vultures from the mountains, took possession 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.
[Footnote 15: "Los Indios viendo la Batalla fenescida, ellos
tambien se dejaron de la suia, iendo los vnos i los otros a
desnudar los Espanoles muertos, i aun algunos vivos, que por sus
heridas no se podian defender, porque como paso el tropel de la
Gente, siguiendo la Victoria, no huvo quien se lo impidiese; de
manera que dexaron en cueros a todos los caidos." Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 11]

Indeed, the number of troops now assembled within its walls,
amounting to full thirteen hundred, composed, as they were, of
the most discordant 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
unreasonable 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 Pizarro acquiesced as far as possible in these desires,
most willing to relieve himself of such importunate 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 neighbourhood 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 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 comfort, 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 attentions, and by the speedy
prospect of freedom, gradually mended in health and spirits. *17

[Footnote 16: "Respondia Hernando Pizarro, 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.]

[Footnote 17: Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 9.]

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 appeared in the hour of his fallen fortunes, like 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 turning on
their benefactor. From these loath some sources a mass of
accusations was collected which spread over four thousand folio
pages! Yet Almagro was the idol of his soldiers! *18
[Footnote 18: "De tal manera que los Escrivanos no se davan
manos, i ia tenian oscritas mas de dos mil hojas." Ibid., dec. 6,
lib. 4, cap. 7.
Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms. -
Carta de Gutierrez, Ms. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. -
Carta de Espinall, Ms.]
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 entering 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 beheaded in the
great square of the city. Who were the judges, or what was the
tribunal that condemned 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 deputed 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. Recovering from
the first shock, "It was impossible," 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 besought his enemy
"to spare his gray hairs, and not to deprive him of the shore
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 himself 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
[Footnote 19: "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.]

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
circumstances, and that, too, when he had been urged again and
again by those around him to take it 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
[Footnote 20: Ibid., ubi supra.

The marshal appealed from the sentence of his judges to the
Crown, supplicating his conqueror, (says the treasurer 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 qe el havia sido
el primer escalon para que el 1 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 a
qualquier hombre, aunque fuera infiel, moviera a piedad." Carta,
Ms.]

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 Alvarado, on whose
integrity he had great reliance, administrator of the province
during his minority. 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 produced a deep sensation in
the community of Cuzco. All were amazed at the presumption with
which one, armed with a little brief authority, 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 cavaliers, and among them Diego de
Alvarado, to whose intercession, as we have seen Hernando
Pizarro, when a captive, had owed his own life, waited on that
commander, and endeavoured to dissuade him from so high-handed
and atrocious a proceeding. It was in vain. But it had the
effect of changing the mode of execution, which, instead of the
public square, was now to take place in prison. *21

[Footnote 21: Carta de Espinall, Ms. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms.,
ano 1538.
Bishop Valverde, as he assures the emperor, remonstrated with
Francisco 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 Espinall, then in Cuzco, made a
similar ineffectual attempt to turn Hernando from his purpose.]

On the day appointed, a strong corps of arquebusiers was drawn up
in the plaza. The guards were doubled over the houses were dwelt
the principal partisans of Almagro. The executioner, attended by
a priest, stealthily entered his prison; and the unhappy man,
after confessing and receiving the sacrament, submitted without
resistance to the garrote. Thus obscurely, in the 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 remains, 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
[Footnote 22: 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., ano 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.]

Almagro, at the time of his death, was probably not far from
seventy years of age. But this is somewhat uncertain; for
Almagro was a foundling, 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, without one friendly hand stretched forth
to steer or to save it! The name of "foundling" comprehends an
apology for much, very much, that is wrong in after life. *24

[Footnote 23: Ante, vol. I. p. 207.]

[Footnote 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., ano 1538.) It
would go hard with a Castilian, if he could not make out
something like a genealogy, - however shadowy.]
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
declaring 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 generosity was often carried to
prodigality. When he entered on the campaign of Chili, he lent a
hundred thousand gold ducats to the poorer cavaliers to equip
themselves, and afterwards gave them up the debt. *27 He was
profuse to ostentation. But his extravagance did him no harm
among the roving spirits of the camp, with whom prodigality is
apt to gain more favor than a strict and well-regulated economy.

[Footnote 25: "Hera vn hombre muy profano, de muy mala lengua,
que en enojandose tratava muy mal a todos los que con el andavan
aunque fuesen cavalleros. "(Descub. y Conq., Ms.) It is the
portrait drawn by an enemy.]

[Footnote 26: "Los Indios lloraban amargamente, diciendo, que de
el nunca recibieron mal tratamiento." Herrera, Hist. General,
dec. 6, lib. 5, cap. 1.]

[Footnote 27: If we may credit Herrera, he distributed a hundred
and eighty roads of silver and twenty of gold among his
followers! "Mando sacar de su Posada mas de ciento i ochenta
cargas de Plata i veinte de Oro, i las repartio." (Dec. 5, lib.
7, cap. 9.) A load was what a man could easily carry. Such a
statement taxes our credulity, but it is difficult to set the
proper limits to one's credulity, in what relates to this land of
gold.]
He was a good soldier, careful and judicious in his plans,
patient and intrepid in their execution. His body was covered
with the scars of his battles, till the natural plainness of his
person was converted almost into deformity. He must not be
judged by his closing campaign, when, depressed by disease, he
yielded to the superior genius of his rival; but by his numerous
expeditions by land and by water for the conquest of Peru and the
remote Chili. Yet it may be doubted whether he possessed those
uncommon qualities, either as a warrior or as a man, that, in
ordinary circumstances, would have raised him to distinction. He
was one of the three, or, to speak more strictly, of the two
associates, who had the good fortune and the glory to make one of
the most splendid discoveries in the Western World. He shares
largely in the credit of this with Pizarro; for, when he did not
accompany that leader in his perilous expeditions, he contributed
no less to their success by his exertions in the colonies.

Yet his connection with that chief can hardly be considered a
fortunate circumstance in his career. A partnership between
individuals for discovery and conquest is not likely to be very
scrupulously observed, especially by men more accustomed to
govern others than to govern themselves. If causes for discord
do not arise before, they will be sure to spring up on division
of the spoil. But this association was particularly
ill-assorted. For the free, sanguine, and confiding temper of
Almagro was no match for the cool and crafty policy of Pizarro;
and he was invariably circumvented by his companion, whenever
their respective interests came in collision.

Still the final ruin of Almagro may be fairly imputed to himself.
He made two capital blunders. The first was his appeal to arms
by the seizure of Cuzco. The determination of a boundary-line
was not to be settled by arms. It was a subject for arbitration;
and, if arbitrators could not be trusted, it should have been
referred to the decision of the Crown. But, having once appealed
to arms, he should not then have resorted to negotiation, - above
all, to negotiation with Pizarro. This was his second and
greatest error. He had seen enough of Pizarro to know that he
was not to be trusted. Almagro did trust him, and he paid for it
with his life.

Chapter III

Pizarro Revisits Cuzco. - Hernando Returns To Castile. - His long
Imprisonment. - Commissioner Sent To Peru. - Hostilities With The
Inca. -Pizarro's Active Administration. - Gonzalo Pizarro.

1539-1540.

On the departure of his brother in pursuit of Almagro, the
Marquess Francisco Pizarro, as we have seen, returned to Lima.
There he anxiously awaited the result of the campaign; and on
receiving the welcome tidings of the victory of Las Salinas, he
instantly made preparations for his march to Cuzco. At Xauxa,
however, he was long detained by the distracted state of the
country, and still longer, as it would seem, by a reluctance to
enter the Peruvian capital while the trial of Almagro was
pending.

He was met at Xauxa by the marshal's son Diego, who had been sent
to the coast by Hernando Pizarro. The young man was filled with
the most gloomy apprehensions respecting his father's fate, and
he besought the governor not to allow his brother to do him any
violence. Pizarro, who received Diego with much apparent
kindness, bade him take heart, as no harm should come to his
father; *1 adding, that he trusted their ancient friendship would
soon be renewed. The youth, comforted by these assurances, took
his way to Lima, where, by Pizarro's orders, he was received into
his house, and treated as a son.

[Footnote 1: "I dixo, que no tuviese ninguna pena, porque no
consentiria, que su Padre fuese muerto." Herrera, Hist. General,
dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 3.]
The same assurances respecting the marshal's safety were given by
the governor to Bishop Valverde, and some of the principal
cavaliers who interested themselves in behalf of the prisoner. *2
Still Pizarro delayed his march to the capital; and when he
resumed it, he had advanced no farther than the Rio de Abancay
when he received tidings of the death of his rival. He appeared
greatly shocked by the intelligence, his whole frame was
agitated, and he remained for some time with his eyes bent on the
ground, showing signs of strong emotion. *3

[Footnote 2: "Que lo haria asi como lo decia, i que su de seo no
era otro, sino ver el Reino en paz; i que en lo que tocaba al
Adelantado, perdiese cuidado, que bolveria a tener el antigua
amistad con el." Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 4, cap. 9.]

[Footnote 3: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

He even shed many tears, derramo muchas lagrimas, according to
Herrera, who evidently gives him small credit for them. Ibid.,
dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 7. - Conf. lib 5 cap. 1.]

Such is the account given by his friends. A more probable
version of the matter represents him to have been perfectly aware
of the state of things at Cuzco. When the trial was concluded,
it is said he received a message from Hernando, inquiring what
was to be done with the prisoner. He answered in a few words: -
"Deal with him so that he shall give us no more trouble." *4 It
is also stated that Hernando, afterwards, when laboring under the
obloquy caused by Almagro's death, shielded himself under
instructions affirmed to have been received from the governor. *5
It is quite certain, that, during his long residence at Xauxa,
the latter was in constant communication with Cuzco; and that had
he, as Valverde repeatedly urged him, *6 quickened his march to
that capital, he might easily have prevented the consummation of
the tragedy. As commander-in-chief, Almagro's fate was in his
hands; and, whatever his own partisans may affirm of his
innocence, the impartial judgment of history must hold him
equally accountable with Hernando for the death of his associate.
[Footnote 4: "Respondio, que hiciese de manera, que el Adelantado
no los pusiese en mas alborotos." (Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 6, cap.
7.) "De todo esto," says Espinall, "fue sabidor el dicho
Governador Pizarro a lo que mi juicio i el de otros que en ello
quisieron mirar alcanzo." Carta de Espinall, Ms.]
[Footnote 5: Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 5, cap. 1.

Herrera's testimony is little short of that of a contemporary,
since it was derived, he tells us, from the correspondence of the
Conquerors, and the accounts given him by their own sons. Lib.
6, cap. 7.]

[Footnote 6: Carta de Valverde al Emperador, Ms.]

Neither did his subsequent conduct show any remorse for these
proceedings. He entered Cuzco, says one who was present there to
witness it, amidst the flourish of clarions and trumpets, at the
head of his martial cavalcade, and dressed in the rich suit
presented him by Cortes, with the proud bearing and joyous mien
of a conqueror. *7 When Diego de Alvarado applied to him for the
government of the southern provinces, in the name of the young
Almagro, whom his father, as we have seen, had consigned to his
protection, Pizarro answered, that "the marshal, by his
rebellion, had forfeited all claims to the government." And, when
he was still further urged by the cavalier, he bluntly broke off
the conversation by declaring that "his own territory covered all
on this side of Flanders"! *8 - intimating, no doubt, by this
magnificent vaunt, that he would endure no rival on this side of
the water.

[Footnote 7: "En este medio tiempo vino a la dicha cibdad del
Cuzco el Gobernador D. Franco Pizarro, el qual entro con
tronpetas i chirimias vestido con ropa de martas que fue e luto
con que entro." Carta de Espinall, Ms.]

[Footnote 8: Carta de Espinall, Ms.

"Mui asperamente le respondio el Governador, diciendo, que su
Governacion no tenia Termino, i que llegaba hasta Flandes."
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 7.]

In the same spirit, he had recently sent to supersede Benalcazar,
the conqueror of Quito, who, he was informed, aspired to an
independent government. Pizarro's emissary had orders to send
the offending captain to Lima; but Benalcazar, after pushing his
victorious career far into the north, had returned to Castile to
solicit his guerdon from the emperor.
To the complaints of the injured natives, who invoked his
protection, he showed himself strangely insensible, while the
followers of Almagro he treated with undisguised contempt. The
estates of the leaders were confiscated, and transferred without
ceremony to his own partisans. Hernando had made attempts to
conciliate some of the opposite faction by acts of liberality,
but they had refused to accept any thing from the man whose hands
were stained with the blood of their commander. *9 The governor
held to them no such encouragement; and many were reduced to such
abject poverty, that, too proud to expose their wretchedness to
the eyes of their conquerors, they withdrew from the city, and
sought a retreat among the neighbouring mountains. *10

[Footnote 9: "Avia querido hazer amigos de los principales de
Chile, y ofrecidoles daria rrepartimientos y no lo avian aceptado
ni querido." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 10: "Viendolas oy en dia, muertos de ambre, fechos
pedazos e adeudados, andando por los montes desesperados por no
parecer ante gentes, porque no tienen otra cosa que se vestir
sino ropa de los Indios, ni dineros con que lo comprar" Carta de
Espinall, Ms.]

For his own brothers he provided by such ample repartimientos, as
excited the murmurs of his adherents. He appointed Gonzalo to
the command of a strong force destined to act against the natives
of Charcas, a hardy people occupying the territory assigned by
the Crown to Almagro. Gonzalo met with a sturdy resistance, but,
after some severe fighting, succeeded in reducing the province to
obedience. He was recompensed, together with Hernando, who aided
him in the conquest, by a large grant in the neighbourhood of
Porco, the productive mines of which had been partially wrought
under the Incas. The territory, thus situated, embraced part of
those silver hills of Potosi which have since supplied Europe
with such stores of the precious metals. Hernando comprehended
the capabilities of the ground, and he began working the mines on
a more extensive scale than that hitherto adopted, though it does
not appear that any attempt was then made to penetrate the rich
crust of Potosi. *11 A few years more were to elapse before the
Spaniards were to bring to light the silver quarries that lay
hidden in the bosom of its mountains. *12

[Footnote 11: "Con la quietud," writes Hernando Pizarro to the
emperor, "questa tierra agora tiene han descubierto i descubren
cada dia los vecinos muchas minas ricas de oro i plata, de que
los quintos i rentas reales de V. M. cada dia se le ofrecen i
hacer casa a todo el Mundo." Carta al Emperador, Ms., de Puerto
Viejo, 6 de Julii, 1539.]
[Footnote 12: Carta de Carbajal al Emperador, Ms., del Cuzco, 3
de Nov. 1539. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Montesinos,
Annales, Ms., ano 1539.

The story is well known of the manner in which the mines of
Potosi were discovered by an Indian, who pulled a bush out of the
ground to the fibres of which a quantity of silver globules was
attached. The mine was not registered till 1545. The account is
given by Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 6.]
It was now the great business of Hernando to collect a sufficient
quantity of treasure to take with him to Castile. Nearly a year
had elapsed since Almagro's death; and it was full time that he
should return and present himself at court, where Diego de
Alvarado and other friends of the marshal, who had long since
left Peru, were industriously maintaining the claims of the
younger Almagro, as well as demanding redress for the wrongs done
to his father. But Hernando looked confidently to his gold to
dispel the accusations against him.

Before his departure, he counselled his brother to beware of the
"men of Chili," as Almagro's followers were called; desperate
men, who would stick at nothing, he said, for revenge. He
besought the governor not to allow them to consort together in
any number within fifty miles of his person; if he did, it would
be fatal to him. And he concluded by recommending a strong
body-guard; "for I," he added, "shall not be here to watch over
you." But the governor laughed at the idle fears, as he termed
them, of his brother, bidding the latter take no thought of him,
"as every hair in the heads of Almagro's followers was a guaranty
for his safety." *13 He did not know the character of his enemies
so well as Hernando.

[Footnote 13: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 10. -
Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 12. - Gomara, Hist de las
Ind., cap. 142.
"No consienta vuestra senoria que se junten diez juntos en
cinquenta leguas alrrededor de adonde vuestra senoria estuviere,
porque si los dexa juntar le an de matar. Si a Vuestra Senoria
matan, yo negociare mal y de vuestra senoria no quedara memoria.
Estas palabras dixo Hernando Picarro altas que todos le oymos. Y
abracando al marquez se partio y se fue." Pedro Pizarro, Descub.
y Conq., Ms.]

The latter soon after embarked at Lima in the summer of 1539. He
did not take the route of Panama, for he had heard that it was
the intention of the authorities there to detain him. He made a
circuitous passage, therefore, by way of Mexico, landed in the
Bay of Tecoantepec, and was making his way across the narrow
strip that divides the great oceans, when he was arrested and
taken to the capital. But the Viceroy Mendoza did not consider
that he had a right to detain him, and he was suffered to embark
at Vera Cruz, and to proceed on his voyage. Still he did not
deem it safe to trust himself in Spain without further advices.
He accordingly put in at one of the Azores, where he remained
until he could communicate with home. He had some powerful
friends at court, and by them he was encouraged to present
himself before the emperor. He took their advice, and, shortly
after, reached the Spanish coast in safety. *14
[Footnote 14: Carta de Hernando Pizarro al Emperador, Ms. -
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 10. - Montesinos,
Annales, Ms., ano 1539.]
The Court was at Valladolid; but Hernando, who made his entrance
into that city, with great pomp and a display of his Indian
riches, met with a reception colder than he had anticipated. *15
For this he was mainly indebted to Diego de Alvarado, who was
then residing there, and who, as a cavalier of honorable
standing, and of high connections, had considerable influence.
He had formerly, as we have seen, by his timely interposition,
more than once saved the life of Hernando; and he had consented
to receive a pecuniary obligation from him to a large amount.
But all were now forgotten in the recollection of the wrong done
to his commander; and, true to the trust reposed in him by that
chief in his dying hour, he had come to Spain to vindicate the
claims of the young Almagro.
[Footnote 15: Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 143.]

But although coldly received at first, Hernando's presence, and
his own version of the dispute with Almagro, aided by the golden
arguments which he dealt with no stinted hand, checked the
current of indignation, and the opinion of his judges seemed for
a time suspended. Alvarado, a cavalier more accustomed to the
prompt and decisive action of a camp than to the tortuous
intrigues of a court, chafed at the delay, and challenged
Hernando to settle their quarrel by single combat. But his
prudent adversary had no desire to leave the issue to such an
ordeal; and the affair was speedily terminated by the death of
Alvarado himself, which happened five days after the challenge.
An event so opportune naturally suggested the suspicion of
poison. *16

[Footnote 16: "Pero todo lo atajo la repentina muerte de Diego de
Alvarado, que sucedio luego en cinco dias, no sin sospecha de
veneno." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 8, cap. 9.]

But his accusations had not wholly fallen to the ground; and
Hernando Pizarro had carried measures with too high a hand, and
too grossly outraged public sentiment, to be permitted to escape.
He received no formal sentence, but he was imprisoned in the
strong fortress of Medina del Campo, where he was allowed to
remain for twenty years, when in 1560, after a generation had
nearly passed away, and time had, in some measure, thrown its
softening veil over the past, he was suffered to regain his
liberty. *17 But he came forth an aged man, bent down with
infirmities and broken in spirit, - an object of pity, rather
than indignation. Rarely has retributive justice been meted out
in fuller measure to offenders so high in authority, - most
rarely in Castile. *18

[Footnote 17: This date is established by Quintana, from a legal
process instituted by Hernando's grandson, in vindication of the
title of Marquess, in the year 1625.]

[Footnote 18: Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Pizarro y
Orellana, Varones Ilustres p 341. - Montesinos, Annales, M., ano
1539. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 142.]

Yet Hernando bore this long imprisonment with an equanimity
which, had it been founded on principle, might command our
respect. He saw brothers and kindred, all on whom he leaned for
support cut off one after another; his fortune, in part,
confiscated, while he was involved in expensive litigation for
the remainder; *19 his fame blighted, his career closed in an
untimely hour, himself an exile in the heart of his own country;
- yet he bore it all with the constancy of a courageous spirit.
Though very old when released, he still survived several years,
and continued to the extraordinary age of a hundred. *20 He lived
long enough to see friends, rivals, and foes all called away to
their account before him.

[Footnote 19: Caro de Torres gives a royal cedula in reference to
the working of the silver mines of Porco, still owned by Hernando
Pizarro, in 1555; and another document of nearly the same date,
noticing his receipt of ten thousand ducats by the fleet from
Peru. (Historia de las Ordenes Militares Madrid, 1629, p. 144.)
Hernando's grandson was created by Philip IV. Marquess of the
Conquest, Marques de la Conquista, with a liberal pension from
government. Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilustres, p. 342, and
Discurso, p. 72.]

[Footnote 20: "Multos da, Jupiter, annos", the greatest boon, in
Pizarro y Orellana's opinion, that Heaven can confer! "Diole
Dios, por todo, el premio mayor desta vida, pues fue tan larga,
que excedio de cien anos." (Varones Ilustres, p. 342) According
to the same somewhat partial authority, Hernando died, as he had
lived, in the odor of sanctity! "Viviendo aprender a morir, y
saber morir, quando llego la muerte.]
Hernando Pizarro was in many respects a remarkable character. He
was the eldest of the brothers, to whom he was related only by
the father's side, for he was born in wedlock, of honorable
parentage on both sides of his house. In his early years, he
received a good education, - good for the time. He was taken by
his father while quite young, to Italy, and there learned the art
of war under the Great Captain. Little is known of his history
after his return to Spain; but, when his brother had struck out
for himself his brilliant career of discovery in Peru, Hernando
consented to take part in his adventures.

He was much deferred to by Francisco, not only as his elder
brother, but from his superior education and his knowledge of
affairs. He was ready in his perceptions, fruitful in resources,
and possessed of great vigor in action. Though courageous, he
was cautious; and his counsels, when not warped by passion, were
wise and wary. But he had other qualities, which more than
counterbalanced the good resulting from excellent parts and
attainments. His ambition and avarice were insatiable. He was
supercilious even to his equals; and he had a vindictive temper,
which nothing could appease. Thus, instead of aiding his brother
in the Conquest, he was the evil genius that blighted his path.
He conceived from the first an unwarrantable contempt for
Almagro, whom he regarded as his brother's rival, instead of what
he then was, the faithful partner of his fortunes. He treated
him with personal indignity, and, by his intrigues at court, had
the means of doing him sensible injury. He fell into Almagro's
hands, and had nearly paid for these wrongs with his life. This
was not to be forgiven by Hernando, and he coolly waited for the
hour of revenge. Yet the execution of Almagro was a most
impolitic act; for an evil passion can rarely be gratified with
impunity. Hernando thought to buy off justice with the gold of
Peru. He had studied human nature on its weak and wicked side,
and he expected to profit by it. Fortunately, he was deceived.
He had, indeed, his revenge; but the hour of his revenge was that
of his ruin.

The disorderly state of Peru was such as to demand the immediate
interposition of government. In the general license that
prevailed there, the rights of the Indian and of the Spaniard
were equally trampled under foot. Yet the subject was one of
great difficulty; for Pizarro's authority was now firmly
established over the country, which itself was too remote from
Castile to be readily controlled at home. Pizarro, moreover, was
a man not easy to be approached, confident in his own strength,
jealous of interference, and possessed of a fiery temper, which
would kindle into a flame at the least distrust of the
government. It would not answer to send out a commission to
suspend him from the exercise of his authority until his conduct
could be investigated, as was done with Cortes, and other great
colonial officers, on whose rooted loyalty the Crown could
confidently rely. Pizarro's loyalty sat, it was feared, too
lightly on him to be a powerful restraint on his movements; and
there were not wanting those among his reckless followers, who,
in case of extremity, would be prompt to urge him to throw off
his allegiance altogether, and set up an independent government
for himself.

Some one was to be sent out, therefore, who should possess, in
some sort, a controlling, or, at least, concurrent power with the
dangerous chief, while ostensibly he should act only in
subordination to him. The person selected for this delicate
mission, was the Licentiate Vaca de Castro, a member of the Royal
Audience of Valladolid. He was a learned judge, a man of
integrity and wisdom, and, though not bred to arms, had so much
address, and such knowledge of character, as would enable him
readily to turn the resources of others to his own account.

His commission was guarded in a way which showed the
embarrassment of the government. He was to appear before Pizarro
in the capacity of a royal judge; to consult with him on the
redress of grievances, especially with reference to the
unfortunate natives; to concert measures for the prevention of
future evils; and above all, to possess himself faithfully of the
condition of the country in all its details, and to transmit
intelligence of it to the Court of Castile. But, in case of
Pizarro's death, he was to produce his warrant as royal governor,
and as such to claim the obedience of the authorities throughout
the land. - Events showed the wisdom of providing for this latter
contingency. *21
[Footnote 21: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Gomara, Hist.
de las Ind., cap. 146. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 8,
cap 9. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms. ano 1540.

This latter writer sees nothing short of a "divine mystery" in
this forecast of government, so singularly sustained by events.
"Prevencion del gran espiritu del Rey, no sin misterio." Ubi
supra.]

The licentiate, thus commissioned, quitted his quiet residence at
Valladolid, embarked at Seville, in the autumn of 1540, and,
after a tedious voyage across the Atlantic, he traversed the
Isthmus, and, encountering a succession of tempests on the
Pacific, that had nearly sent his frail bark to the bottom, put
in with her, a mere wreck, at the northerly port of Buenaventura.
*22 The affairs of the country were in a state to require his
presence.

[Footnote 22: Or, as the port should rather be called, Mala
Ventura, as Pedro Pizarro punningly remarks. "Tuvo tan mal viaje
en la mar que vbo de desembarcar en la Buena Ventura, aunque yo
la llamo Mala. Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

The civil war which had lately distracted the land had left it in
so unsettled a state, that the agitation continued long after the
immediate cause had ceased. This was especially the case among
the natives. In the violent transfer of repartimientos, the poor
Indian hardly knew to whom he was to look as his master. The
fierce struggles between the rival chieftains left him equally in
doubt whom he was to regard as the rulers of the land. As to the
authority of a common sovereign, across the waters, paramount
over all, he held that in still greater distrust; for what was
the authority which could not command the obedience even of its
own vassals? *23 The Inca Manco was not slow in taking advantage
of this state of feeling. He left his obscure fastnesses in the
depths of the Andes, and established himself with a strong body
of followers in the mountain country lying between Cuzco and the
coast. From this retreat, he made descents on the neighbouring
plantations, destroying the houses, sweeping off the cattle, and
massacring the people. He fell on travellers, as they were
journeying singly or in caravans from the coast, and put them to
death - it is told by his enemies - with cruel tortures. Single
detachments were sent against him, from time to time, but without
effect. Some he eluded, others he defeated; and, on one
occasion, cut off a party of thirty troopers, to a man. *24

[Footnote 23: "Piensan que les mienten los que aca les dizen que
ai un gran Senor en Castilla, viendo que aca pelean unos
capitanes contra otros; y piensan que no ai otro Rei sino aquel
que venze al otro, porque aca entrellos no se acostumbra que un
capitan pelee contra otro, estando entrambos debaxo de un Senor"
Carta de Valverde al Emperador, Ms.]
[Footnote 24: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib 6, cap. 7. -
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de Espinall, Ms. -
Carta de Valverde al Emperador, Ms.]

At length, Pizarro found it necessary to send a considerable
force under his brother Gonzalo against the Inca. The hardy
Indian encountered his enemy several times in the rough passes of
the Cordilleras. He was usually beaten, and sometimes with heavy
loss, which he repaired with astonishing facility; for he always
contrived to make his escape, and so true were his followers,
that, in defiance of pursuit and ambuscade, he found a safe
shelter in the secret haunts of the sierra.

Thus baffled, Pizarro determined to try the effect of pacific
overtures. He sent to the Inca, both in his own name, and in
that of the Bishop of Cuzco, whom the Peruvian prince held in
reverence, to invite him to enter into negotiation. *25 Manco
acquiesced, and indicated, as he had formerly done with Almagro,
the valley of Yucay, as the scene of it. The governor repaired
thither, at the appointed time, well guarded, and, to propitiate
the barbarian monarch, sent him a rich present by the hands of an
African slave. The slave was met on the route by a party of the
Inca's men, who, whether with or without their master's orders,
cruelly murdered him, and bore off the spoil to their quarters.
Pizarro resented this outrage by another yet more atrocious.

[Footnote 25: The Inca declined the interview with the bishop, on
the ground that he had seen him pay obeisance by taking off his
cap to Pizarro. It proved his inferiority to the latter, he
said, and that he could never protect him against the governor.
The passage in which it is related is curious. "Preguntando a
indios del inca que anda alzado que si sabe el inca que yo soi
venido a la tierra en nombre de S. M. para defendellos, dixo que
mui bien lo sabia; y preguntado que porque no se benia a mi de
paz, dixo el indio que dezia el inca que porque yo quando vine
hize la mocha al gobernador, que quiere dezir que le quite el
Bonete; que no queria venir a mi de paz, que el que no havia de
venir de paz sino a uno que viniese de castilla que no hiziese la
mocha al gobernador, porque le paresze a el que este lo podra
defender por lo que ha hecho y no otro." Carta de Valverde al
Emperador, Ms]

Among the Indian prisoners was one of the Inca's wives, a young
and beautiful woman, to whom he was said to be fondly attached.
The governor ordered her to be stripped naked, bound to a tree,
and, in presence of the camp, to be scourged with rods, and then
shot to death with arrows. The wretched victim bore the
execution of the sentence with surprising fortitude. She did not
beg for mercy, where none was to be found. Not a complaint,
scarcely a groan, escaped her under the infliction of these
terrible torments. The iron Conquerors were amazed at this power
of endurance in a delicate woman, and they expressed their
admiration, while they condemned the cruelty of their commander,
- in their hearts. *26 Yet constancy under the most excruciating
tortures that human cruelty can inflict is almost the universal
characteristic of the American Indian.
[Footnote 26: At least, we may presume they did so, since they
openly condemn him in their accounts of the transaction. I quote
Pedro Pizarro, not disposed to criticise the conduct of his
general too severely. "Se tomo una muger de mango ynga que le
queria mucho y se guardo, creyendo que por ella saldria de paz.
Esta muger mando matar al marquez despues en Yncay, haziendola
varear con varas y flechar con flechas por una burla que mango
ynga le hizo que aqui contare, y entiendo yo que por esta
crueldad y otra hermana del ynga que mando matar en Lima quando
los yndios pusieron cerco sobrella que se llamava Acarpay. me
paresce a mi que nuestro senor le castigo en el fin que tuvo."
Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

Pizarro now prepared, as the most effectual means of checking
these disorders among the natives, to establish settlements in
the heart of the disaffected country. These settlements, which
received the dignified name of cities, might be regarded in the
light of military colonies. The houses were usually built of
stone, to which were added the various public offices, and
sometimes a fortress. A municipal corporation was organized.
Settlers were invited by the distribution of large tracts of land
in the neighbourhood, with a stipulated number of Indian vassals
to each. The soldiers then gathered there, sometimes accompanied
by their wives and families; for the women of Castile seem to
have disdained the impediments of sex, in the ardor of conjugal
attachment, or, it may be, of romantic adventure. A populous
settlement rapidly grew up in the wilderness, affording
protection to the surrounding territory, and furnishing a
commercial depot for the country, and an armed force ready at all
times to maintain public order.

Such a settlement was that now made at Guamanga, midway between
Cuzco and Lima, which effectually answered its purpose by
guarding the communications with the coast. *27 Another town was
founded in the mining district of Charcas, under the appropriate
name of the Villa de la Plata, the "City of Silver." And Pizarro,
who journeyed by a circuitous route along the shores of the
southern sea towards Lima, established the city of Arequipa,
since arisen to such commercial celebrity.

[Footnote 27: Cieza de Leon notices the uncommon beauty and
solidity of the buildings at Guamanga. "La qual han edificado
las mayores y mejores casas que ay en todo el Peru, todas de
piedra, ladrillo, y teja, con grandes torres: de manera que no
falta aposentos. La placa esta llana y bien grande' Cronica,
cap. 87.]

Once more in his favorite capital of Lima, the governor found
abundant occupation in attending to its municipal concerns, and
in providing for the expansive growth of its population. Nor was
he unmindful of the other rising settlements on the Pacific. He
encouraged commerce with the remoter colonies north of Peru, and
took measures for facilitating internal intercourse. He
stimulated industry in all its branches, paying great attention
to husbandry, and importing seeds of the different European
grains, which he had the satisfaction, in a short time, to see
thriving luxuriantly in a country where the variety of soil and
climate afforded a home for almost every product. *28 Above all,
he promoted the working of the mines, which already began to make
such returns, that the most common articles of life rose to
exorbitant prices, while the precious metals themselves seemed
the only things of little value. But they soon changed hands, and
found their way to the mother-country, where they rose to their
true level as they mingled with the general currency of Europe.
The Spaniards found that they had at length reached the land of
which they had been so long in search, - the land of gold and
silver. Emigrants came in greater numbers to the country, and,
spreading over its surface, formed in the increasing population
the most effectual barrier against the rightful owners of the
soil. *29

[Footnote 28: "I con que ia comencaba a haver en aquellas Tierras
cosecha de Trigo, Cevada, i otras muchas cosas de Castilla."
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 2.]

[Footnote 29: Carta de Carvajal al Emperador, Ms. - Montesinos,
Annales, Ms., anos 1539 et 1541. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y
Conq., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6 lib. 7, cap. 1. -
Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 76 et alibi.]
Pizarro, strengthened by the arrival of fresh adventurers, now
turned his attention to the remoter quarters of the country.
Pedro de Valdivia was sent on his memorable expedition to Chili;
and to his own brother Gonzalo the governor assigned the
territory of Quito, with instructions to explore the unknown
country towards the east, where, as report said, grew the
cinnamon. As this chief, who had hitherto acted but a
subordinate part in the Conquest, is henceforth to take the most
conspicuous, it may be well to give some account of him.

Little is known of his early life, for he sprang from the same
obscure origin with Francisco, and seems to have been as little
indebted as his elder brother to the fostering care of his
parents. He entered early on the career of a soldier; a career
to which every man in that iron age, whether cavalier or
vagabond, seems, if left to himself, to have most readily
inclined. Here he soon distinguished himself by his skill in
martial exercises, was an excellent horseman, and, when he came
to the New World, was esteemed the best lance in Peru. *30

[Footnote 30: The cavalier Pizarro y Orellana has given
biographical notices of each of the brothers. It requires no
witchcraft to detect that the blood of the Pizarros flowed in the
veins of the writer to his fingers' ends. Yet his facts are less
suspicious than his inferences.]
In talent and in expansion of views, he was inferior to his
brothers. Neither did he discover the same cool and crafty
policy; but he was equally courageous, and in the execution of
his measures quite as unscrupulous. He had a handsome person,
with open, engaging features, a free, soldier-like address, and a
confiding temper, which endeared him to his followers. His
spirit was high and adventurous, and, what was equally important,
he could inspire others with the same spirit, and thus do much to
insure the success of his enterprises. He was an excellent
captain in guerilla warfare, an admirable leader in doubtful and
difficult expeditions; but he had not the enlarged capacity for a
great military chief, still less for a civil ruler. It was his
misfortune to be called to fill both situations.

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.

1540-1542.

Gonzalo Pizarro received the news of his appointment to the
government of Quito with undisguised pleasure; not so much for
the possession that it gave him of this ancient Indian province,
as for the field that it opened for discovery towards the east, -
the fabled land of Oriental spices, which had long captivated the
imagination of the Conquerors. He repaired to his government
without delay, and found no difficulty in awakening a kindred
enthusiasm to his own in the bosoms of his followers. In a short
time, he mustered three hundred and fifty Spaniards, and four
thousand Indians. One hundred and fifty of his company were
mounted, and all were equipped in the most thorough manner for
the undertaking. He provided, moreover, against famine by a
large stock of provisions, and an immense drove of swine which
followed in the rear *1

[Footnote 1: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. lib. 8, cap. 6, 7. -
Garcilasso, Com Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 2. - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 1, 2. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap.
143. - Montesinos, Annales, ano 1539.
Historians differ as to the number of Gonzalo's forces, - of his
men, his horses, and his hogs. The last, according to Herrera,
amounted to no less than 5000; a goodly supply of bacon for so
small a troop, since the Indians, doubtless, lived on parched
corn, coca, which usually formed their only support on the
longest journeys.]

It was the beginning of 1540, when he set out on this celebrated
expedition. The first part of the journey was attended with
comparatively little difficulty, while the Spaniards were yet in
the land of the Incas; for the distractions of Peru had not been
felt in this distant province, where the simple people still
lived as under the primitive sway of the Children of the Sun.
But the scene changed as they entered the territory of Quixos,
where the character of the inhabitants, as well as of the
climate, seemed to be of another description. The country was
traversed by lofty ranges of the Andes, and the adventurers were
soon entangled in their deep and intricate passes. As they rose
into the more elevated regions, the icy winds that swept down the
sides of the Cordilleras benumbed their limbs, and many of the
natives found a wintry grave in the wilderness. While crossing
this formidable barrier, they experienced one of those tremendous
earthquakes which, in these volcanic regions, so often shake the
mountains to their base. In one place, the earth was rent
asunder by the terrible throes of Nature, while streams of
sulphurous vapor issued from the cavity, and a village with some
hundreds of houses was precipitated into the frightful abyss! *2

[Footnote 2: Zarate states the number with precision at five
hundred houses. "Sobrevino vn tan gran Terremoto, con temblor, i
tempestad de Agua, i Relampagos, i Raios, i grandes Truenos, que
abriendose la Tierra por muchas partes, se hundieron quinientas
Casas." (Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 2.) There is nothing so
satisfactory to the mind of the reader as precise numbers; and
nothing so little deserving of his confidence.]
On descending the eastern slopes, the climate changed; and, as
they came on the lower level, the fierce cold was succeeded by a
suffocating heat, while tempests of thunder and lightning,
rushing from out the gorges of the sierra, poured on their heads
with scarcely any intermission day or night, as if the offended
deities of the place were willing to take vengeance on the
invaders of their mountain solitudes. For more than six weeks
the deluge continued unabated, and the forlorn wanderers, wet,
and weary with incessant toil, were scarcely able to drag their
limbs along the soil broken up and saturated with the moisture.
After some months of toilsome travel, in which they had to cross
many a morass and mountain stream, they at length reached
Canelas, the Land of Cinnamon. *3 They saw the trees bearing the
precious bark, spreading out into broad forests; yet, however
valuable an article for commerce it might have proved in
accessible situations, in these remote regions it was of little
worth to them. But, from the wandering tribes of savages whom
they had occasionally met in their path, they learned that at ten
days' distance was a rich and fruitful land abounding with gold,
and inhabited by populous nations. Gonzalo Pizarro had already
reached the limits originally proposed for the expedition. But
this intelligence renewed his hopes, and he resolved to push the
adventure farther. It would have been well for him and his
followers, had they been content to return on their footsteps.

[Footnote 3: Canela is the Spanish for cinnamon.]

Continuing their march, the country now spread out into broad
savannas terminated by forests, which, as they drew near, seemed
to stretch on every side to the very verge of the horizon. Here
they beheld trees of that stupendous growth seen only in the
equinoctial regions. Some were so large, that sixteen men could
hardly encompass them with extended arms! *4 The wood was thickly
matted with creepers and parasitical vines, which hung in
gaudy-colored festoons from tree to tree, clothing them in a
drapery beautiful to the eye, but forming an impenetrable
network. At every step of their way, they were obliged to hew
open a passage with their axes, while their garments, rotting
from the effects of the drenching rains to which they had been
exposed, caught in every bush and bramble, and hung about them in
shreds. *5 Their provisions, spoiled by the weather, had long
since failed, and the live stock which they had taken with them
had either been consumed or made their escape in the woods and
mountain passes. They had set out with nearly a thousand dogs,
many of them of the ferocious breed used in hunting down the
unfortunate natives. These they now gladly killed, but their
miserable carcasses furnished a lean banquet for the famishing
travellers; and, when these were gone, they had only such herbs
and dangerous roots as they could gather in the forest. *6

[Footnote 4: This, allowing six feet for the spread of a man's
arms, would be about ninety-six feet in circumference, or
thirty-two feet in diameter; larger, probably, than the largest
tree known in Europe. Yet it falls short of that famous giant of
the forests mentioned by M. de Humboldt as still flourishing in
the intendancy of Oaxaca, which, by the exact measurement of a
traveller in 1839, was found to be a hundred and twelve feet in
circumference at the height of four feet from the ground. This
height may correspond with that of the measurement taken by the
Spaniards. See a curious and learned article on Forest-trees in
No. 124 of the North American Review.]
[Footnote 5: The dramatist Molina, in his play of "Las Amazonas
en las Indias," has devoted some dozen columns of redondillas to
an account of the sufferings of his countrymen in the expedition
to the Amazon. The poet reckoned confidently on the patience of
his audience. The following verses describe the miserable
condition to which the Spaniards were reduced by the incessant
rains.

"Sin que el Sol en este tiempo
Su cara ver nos permita,
Ni las nubes taberneras
Cessen de echamos encima
Dilubios inagotables,
Que hasta el alma nos bautizan.
Cayeron los mas enfermos,
Porque las ropas podridas
Con el eterno agua va,
Nos dexo en las carnes vivas."]

[Footnote 6: Capitulacion con Orellana, Ms. - Pedro Pizarro,
Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 143. -
Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 2. - Herrera, Hist. General,
dec. 6, lib. 8, cap. 6, 7. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2,
lib. 3, cap. 2.

The last writer obtained his information, as he tells us, from
several who were present in the expedition. The reader may be
assured that it has lost nothing is coming through his hands.]

At length the way-worn company came on a broad expanse of water
formed by the Napo, one of the great tributaries of the Amazon,
and which, though only a third or fourth rate river in America,
would pass for one of the first magnitude in the Old World. The
sight gladdened their hearts, as, by winding along its banks,
they hoped to find a safer and more practicable route. After
traversing its borders for a considerable distance, closely beset
with thickets which it taxed their strength to the utmost to
overcome, Gonzalo and his party came within hearing of a rushing
noise that sounded like subterranean thunder. The river, lashed
into fury, tumbled along over rapids with frightful velocity, and
conducted them to the brink of a magnificent cataract, which, to
their wondering fancies, rushed down in one vast volume of foam
to the depth of twelve hundred feet! *7 The appalling sounds
which they had heard for the distance of six leagues were
rendered yet more oppressive to the spirits by the gloomy
stillness of the surrounding forests. The rude warriors were
filled with sentiments of awe. Not a bark dimpled the waters.
No living thing was to be seen but the wild tenants of the
wilderness, the unwieldy boa, and the loathsome alligator basking
on the borders of the stream. The trees towering in wide-spread
magnificence towards the heavens, the river rolling on in its
rocky bed as it had rolled for ages, the solitude and silence of
the scene, broken only by the hoarse fall of waters, or the faint
rustling of the woods, - all seemed to spread out around them in
the same wild and primitive state as when they came from the
hands of the Creator.

[Footnote 7: "Al cabo de este largo camino hallaron que el rio
hazia vn salto de una pena de mas de dozientas bracas de alto:
que hazia tan gran ruydo, que lo oyeron mas de seys leguas antes
que llegassen a el." (Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, nb. 3,
cap. 3.) I find nothing to confirm or to confute the account of
this stupendous cataract in later travellers, not very numerous
in these wild regions. The alleged height of the falls, twice
that of the great cataract of the Tequendama in the Bogota, as
measured by Humboldt, usually esteemed the highest in America, is
not so great as that of some of the cascades thrown over the
precipices in Switzerland. Yet the estimates of the Spaniards,
who, in the gloomy state of their feelings, were doubtless keenly
alive to impressions of the sublime and the terrible, cannot
safely be relied on.]

For some distance above and below the falls, the bed of the river
contracted so that its width did not exceed twenty feet. Sorely
pressed by hunger, the adventurers determined, at all hazards, to
cross to the opposite side, in hopes of finding a country that
might afford them sustenance. A frail bridge was constructed by
throwing the huge trunks of trees across the chasm, where the
cliffs, as if split asunder by some convulsion of nature,
descended sheer down a perpendicular depth of several hundred
feet. Over this airy causeway the men and horses succeeded in
effecting their passage with the loss of a single Spaniard, who,
made giddy by heedlessly looking down, lost his footing and fell
into the boiling surges below.

Yet they gained little by the exchange. The country wore the
same unpromising aspect, and the river-banks were studded with
gigantic trees, or fringed with impenetrable thickets. The
tribes of Indians, whom they occasionally met in the pathless
wilderness, were fierce and unfriendly, and they were engaged in
perpetual skirmishes with them. From these they learned that a
fruitful country was to be found down the river at the distance
of only a few days' journey, and the Spaniards held on their
weary way, still hoping and still deceived, as the promised land
flitted before them, like the rain bow, receding as they
advanced.
At length, spent with toil and suffering, Gonzalo resolved to
construct a bark large enough to transport the weaker part of his
company and his baggage. The forests furnished him with timber;
the shoes of the horses which had died on the road or been
slaughtered for food, were converted into nails; gum distilled
from the trees took the place of pitch, and the tattered garments
of the soldiers supplied a substitute for oakum. It was a work
of difficulty; but Gonzalo cheered his men in the task, and set
an example by taking part in their labors. At the end of two
months a brigantine was completed, rudely put together, but
strong and of sufficient burden to carry half the company, - the
first European vessel that ever floated on these inland waters.

Gonzalo gave the command to Francisco de Orellana, a cavalier
from Truxillo, on whose courage and devotion to himself he
thought he could rely. The troops now moved forward, still
following the descending course of the river, while the
brigantine kept alongside; and when a bold promontory or more
impracticable country intervened, it furnished timely aid by the
transportation of the feebler soldiers. In this way they
journeyed, for many a wearisome week, through the dreary
wilderness on the borders of the Napo. Every scrap of provisions
had been long since consumed. The last of their horses had been
devoured. To appease the gnawings of hunger, they were fain to
eat the leather of their saddles and belts. The woods supplied
them with scanty sustenance, and they greedily fed upon toads,
serpents, and such other reptiles as they occasionally found. *8

[Footnote 8: "Yeruas y rayzes, y fruta siluestre, sapos, y
culebras, y otras malas sauandijas, si las auia por aquellas
montanas que todo les hazia buen estomago a los Espanoles; que
peor les yua con la falta de cosas tan viles." Garcilasso, Com.
Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 4 - Capitulacion con Orellana, Ms -
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 8, cap. 7. - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 3, 4. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap.
143.]

They were now told of a rich district, inhabited by a populous
nation, where the Napo emptied into a still greater river that
flowed towards the east. It was, as usual, at the distance of
several days' journey; and Gonzalo Pizarro resolved to halt where
he was and send Orellana down in his brigantine to the confluence
of the waters to procure a stock of provisions, with which he
might return and put them in condition to resume their march.
That cavalier, accordingly, taking with him fifty of the
adventurers, pushed off into the middle of the river, where the
stream ran swiftly, and his bark, taken by the current, shot
forward with the speed of an arrow, and was soon out of sight.
Days and weeks passed away, yet the vessel did not return; and no
speck was to be seen on the waters, as the Spaniards strained
their eyes to the farthest point, where the line of light faded
away in the dark shadows of the foliage on the borders.
Detachments were sent out, and, though absent several days, came
back without intelligence of their comrades. Unable longer to
endure this suspense, or, indeed, to maintain themselves in their
present quarters, Gonzalo and his famishing followers now
determined to proceed towards the junction of the rivers. Two
months elapsed before they accomplished this terrible journey, -
those of them who did not perish on the way, - although the
distance probably did not exceed two hundred leagues; and they at
length reached the spot so long desired, where the Napo pours its
tide into the Amazon, that mighty stream, which, fed by its
thousand tributaries, rolls on towards the ocean, for many
hundred miles, through the heart of the great continent, - the
most majestic of American rivers.

But the Spaniards gathered no tidings of Orellana, while the
country, though more populous than the region they had left, was
as little inviting in its aspect, and was tenanted by a race yet
more ferocious. They now abandoned the hope of recovering their
comrades, who they supposed must have miserably perished by
famine or by the hands of the natives. But their doubts were at
length dispelled by the appearance of a white man wandering
half-naked in the woods, in whose famine-stricken countenance
they recognized the features of one of their countrymen. It was
Sanchez de Vargas, a cavalier of good descent, and much esteemed
in the army. He had a dismal tale to tell.

Orellana, borne swiftly down the current of the Napo, had reached
the point of its confluence with the Amazon in less than three
days; accomplishing in this brief space of time what had cost
Pizarro and his company two months. He had found the country
altogether different from what had been represented; and, so far
from supplies for his country men, he could barely obtain
sustenance for himself. Nor was it possible for him to return as
he had come, and make head against the current of the river;
while the attempt to journey by land was an alternative scarcely
less formidable. In this dilemma, an idea flashed across his
mind. It was to launch his bark at once on the bosom of the
Amazon, and descend its waters to its mouth. He would then visit
the rich and populous nations that, as report said, lined its
borders, sail out on the great ocean, cross to the neighbouring
isles, and return to Spain to claim the glory and the guerdon of
discovery. The suggestion was eagerly taken up by his reckless
companions, welcoming any course that would rescue them from the
wretchedness of their present existence, and fired with the
prospect of new and stirring adventure, - for the love of
adventure was the last feeling to become extinct in the bosom of
the Castilian cavalier. They heeded little their unfortunate
comrades, whom they were to abandon in the wilderness! *9

[Footnote 9: This statement of De Vargas was confirmed by
Orellana, as appears from the language of the royal grant made to
that cavalier on his return to Castile. The document is
preserved entire in the Munoz collection of Mss.

"Haviendo vos ido con ciertos companeros un rio abajo a buscar
comida, con la corriente fuistes metidos por el dicho rio mas de
200 leguas donde no pudistes dar la buelta e por esta necesidad e
por la mucha noticia que tuvistes de la grandeza e riqueza de la
tierra, posponiendo vuestro peligro, sin interes ninguno por
servir a S. M. os aventurastes a saber lo que havia en aquellas
provincias, e ansi descubristes e hallastes grandes poblaciones."
Capitulacion con Orellana, Ms.]

This is not the place to record the circumstances of Orellana's
extraordinary expediton. expedition. He succeeded in his
enterprise. But it is marvellous that he should have escaped
shipwreck in the perilous and unknown navigation of that river.
Many times his vessel was nearly dashed to pieces on its rocks
and in its furious rapids; *10 and he was in still greater peril
from the warlike tribes on its borders, who fell on his little
troop whenever he attempted to land, and followed in his wake for
miles in their canoes. He at length emerged from the great
river; and, once upon the sea, Orellana made for the isle of
Cubagua; thence passing over to Spain, he repaired to court, and
told the circumstances of his voyage, - of the nations of Amazons
whom he had found on the banks of the river, the El Dorado which
report assured him existed in the neighbourhood, and other
marvels, - the exaggeration rather than the coinage of a
credulous fancy. His audience listened with willing ears to the
tales of the traveller; and in an age of wonders, when the
mysteries of the East and the West were hourly coming to light,
they might be excused for not discerning the true line between
romance and reality. *11
[Footnote 10: Condamine, who, in 1743, went down the Amazon, has
often occasion to notice the perils and perplexities in which he
was involved in the navigation of this river, too difficult, as
he says, to be undertaken without the guidance of a skilful
pilot. See his Relation Abregee d'un Voyage fait dans
l'Interieur de l'Amerique Meridionale. (Maestricht, 1778.)]

[Footnote 11: It has not been easy to discern the exact line in
later times, with all the lights of modern discovery. Condamine,
after a careful investigation, considers that there is good
ground for believing in the existence of a community of armed
women, once living somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Amazon,
though they have now disappeared. It would be hard to disprove
the fact, but still harder, considering the embarrassments in
perpetuating such a community, to believe it. Voyage dans
l'Amerique Meridionale, p. 99, et seq.]

He found no difficulty in obtaining a commission to conquer and
colonize the realms he had discovered. He soon saw himself at
the head of five hundred followers, prepared to share the perils
and the profits of his expedition. But neither he, nor his
country, was destined to realize these profits. He died on his
outward passage, and the lands washed by the Amazon fell within
the territories of Portugal. The unfortunate navigator did not
even enjoy the undivided honor of giving his name to the waters
he had discovered. He enjoyed only the barren glory of the
discovery, surely not balanced by the iniquitous circumstances
which attended it. *12

[Footnote 12: "His crime is, in some measure, balanced by the
glory of having ventured upon a navigation of near two thousand
leagues, through unknown nations, in a vessel hastily
constructed, with green timber, and by very unskilful hands,
without provisions, without a compass, or a pilot." (Robertson,
America, (ed. London, 1796,) vol. III. p. 84.) The historian of
America does not hold the moral balance with as unerring a hand
as usual, in his judgment of Orellana's splendid enterprise. No
success, however splendid, in the language of one, not too severe
a moralist,

"Can blazon evil deeds or consecrate a crime."]

One of Orellana's party maintained a stout opposition to his
proceedings, as repugnant both to humanity and honor. This was
Sanchez de Vargas and the cruel commander was revenged on him by
abandoning him to his fate in the desolate region where he was
now found by his countrymen. *13
[Footnote 13: An expedition more remarkable than that of Orellana
was performed by a delicate female, Madame Godin, who, in 1769,
attempted to descend the Amazon in an open boat to its mouth.
She was attended by seven persons, two of them her brothers, and
two her female domestics. The boat was wrecked, and Madame Godin,
narrowly escaping with her life, endeavoured with her party to
accomplish the remainder of her journey on foot. She saw them
perish, one after another, of hunger and disease, till she was
left alone in the howling wilderness. Still, like Milton's lady
in Comus, she was permitted to come safely out of all these
perils, and, after unparalleled sufferings, falling in with some
friendly Indians, she was conducted by them to a French
settlement. Though a young woman, it will not be surprising that
the hardships and terrors she endured turned her hair perfectly
white. The details of the extraordinary story are given in a
letter to M. de la Condamine by her husband, who tells them in an
earnest, unaffected way that engages our confidence. Voyage dans
l'Amerique Meridionale, p. 329, et seq.]
The Spaniards listened with horror to the recital of Vargas, and
their blood almost froze in their veins as they saw themselves
thus deserted in the heart of this remote wilderness, and
deprived of their only means of escape from it. They made an
effort to prosecute their journey along the banks, but, after
some toilsome days, strength and spirits failed, and they gave up
in despair!

Then it was that the qualities of Gonzalo Pizarro, as a fit
leader in the hour of despondency and danger, shone out
conspicuous. To advance farther was hopeless. To stay where
they were, without food or raiment, without defence from the
fierce animals of the forest and the fiercer natives, was
impossible. One only course remained; it was to return to Quito.
But this brought with it the recollection of the past, of
sufferings which they could too well estimate, - hardly to be
endured even in imagination. They were now at least four hundred
leagues from Quito, and more than a year had elapsed since they
had set out on their painful pilgrimage. How could they
encounter these perils again! *14
[Footnote 14: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 5. -
Herrera, Hist. General dec. 6, lib. 8, cap. 8. - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 5. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 143.

One must not expect from these wanderers in the wilderness any
exact computation of time or distance, destitute, as they were,
of the means of making a correct observation of either.]

Yet there was no alternative. Gonzalo endeavoured to reassure
his followers by dwelling on the invincible constancy they had
hitherto displayed; adjuring them to show themselves still worthy
of the name of Castilians. He reminded them of the glory they
would for ever acquire by their heroic achievement, when they
should reach their own country. He would lead them back, he
said, by another route, and it could not be but that they should
meet somewhere with those abundant regions of which they had os
so often heard. It was something, at least, that every step
would take them nearer home; and as, at all events, it was
clearly the only course now left, they should prepare to meet it
like men. The spirit would sustain the body; and difficulties
encountered in the right spirit were half vanquished already!

The soldiers listened eagerly to his words of promise and
encouragement. The confidence of their leader gave life to the
desponding. They felt the force of his reasoning, and, as they
lent a willing ear to his assurances, the pride of the old
Castilian honor revived in their bosoms, and every one caught
somewhat of the generous enthusiasm of their commander. He was,
in truth, entitled to their devotion. From the first hour of the
expedition, he had freely borne his part in its privations. Far
from claiming the advantage of his position, he had taken his lot
with the poorest soldier; ministering to the wants of the sick,
cheering up the spirits of the desponding, sharing his stinted
allowance with his famished followers, bearing his full part in
the toil and burden of the march, ever showing himself their
faithful comrade, no less than their captain. He found the
benefit of this conduct in a trying hour like the present.

I will spare the reader the recapitulation of the sufferings
endured by the Spaniards on their retrograde march to Quito.
They took a more northerly route than that by which they had
approached the Amazon; and, if it was attended with fewer
difficulties, they experienced yet greater distresses from their
greater inability to overcome them. Their only nourishment was
such scanty fare as they could pick up in the forest, or happily
meet with in some forsaken Indian settlement, or wring by
violence from the natives. Some sickened and sank down by the
way, for there was none to help them. Intense misery had made
them selfish; and many a poor wretch was abandoned to his fate,
to die alone in the wilderness, or, more probably, to be
devoured, while living, by the wild animals which roamed over it.

At length, in June, 1542, after somewhat more than a year
consumed in their homeward march, the way-worn company came on
the elevated plains in the neighbourhood of Quito. But how
different their aspect from that which they had exhibited on
issuing from the gates of the same capital, two years and a half
before, with high romantic hope and in all the pride of military
array! Their horses gone, their arms broken and rusted, the
skins of wild animals instead of clothes hanging loosely about
their limbs, their long and matted locks streaming wildly down
their shoulders, their faces burned and blackened by the tropical
sun, their bodies wasted by famine and sorely disfigured by
scars, - it seemed as if the charnel-house had given up its dead,
as, with uncertain step, they glided slowly onwards like a troop
of dismal spectres! More than half of the four thousand Indians
who had accompanied the expedition had perished, and of the
Spaniards only eighty, and many of these irretrievably broken in
constitution, returned to Quito. *15

[Footnote 15: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 5. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 143.
- Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 15. - Herrera,
Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 3, cap. 14.

The last historian, in dismissing his account of the expedition,
passes a panegyric on the courage and constancy of his
countrymen, which we must admit to be well deserved.

"Finalmente, Goncalo Picarro entro en el Quito, triunfando del
valor, i sufrimiento, i de la constancia, recto, e immutable
vigor del animo, pues Hombres Humanos no se hallan haver tanto
sufrido ni padecido tantas desventuras.' Ibid., ubi supra.]

The few Christian inhabitants of the place, with their wives and
children, came out to welcome their countrymen. They ministered
to them all the relief and refreshment in their power; and, as
they listened to the sad recital of their sufferings, they
mingled their tears with those of the wanderers. The whole
company then entered the capital, where their first act - to
their credit be it mentioned - was to go in a body to the church,
and offer up thanksgivings to the Almighty for their miraculous
preservation through their long and perilous pilgrimage. *16 Such
was the end of the expedition to the Amazon; an expedition which,
for its dangers and hardships, the length of their duration, and
the constancy with which they were endured, stands, perhaps,
unmatched in the annals of American discovery.

[Footnote 16: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 5.]

Chapter V

The Almagro Faction. - Their Desperate Condition. - Conspiracy
Against Francisco Pizarro. - Assassination Of Pizarro. - Acts Of
The Conspirators. - Pizarro's Character

1541.

When Gonzalo Pizarro reached Quito, he received tidings of an
event which showed that his expedition to the Amazon had been
even more fatal to his interests than he had imagined. A
revolution had taken place during his absence, which had changed
the whole condition of things in Peru.
In a preceding chapter we have seen, that, when Hernando Pizarro
returned to Spain, his brother the marquess repaired to Lima,
where he continued to occupy himself with building up his infant
capital, and watching over the general interests of the country.
While thus employed, he gave little heed to a danger that hourly
beset his path, and this, too, in despite of repeated warnings
from more circumspect friends.

After the execution of Almagro, his followers, to the number of
several hundred, remained scattered through the country; but,
however scattered, still united by a common sentiment of
indignation against the Pizarros, the murderers, as they regarded
them, of their leader. The governor was less the object of these
feelings than his brother Hernando, as having been less
instrumental in the perpetration of the deed. Under these
circumstances, it was clearly Pizarro's policy to do one of two
things; to treat the opposite faction either as friends, or as
open enemies. He might conciliate the most factious by acts of
kindness, efface the remembrance of past injury, if he could, by
present benefits; in short, prove to them that his quarrel had
been with their leader, not with themselves, and that it was
plainly for their interest to come again under his banner. This
would have been the most politic, as well as the most magnanimous
course; and, by augmenting the number of his adherents, would
have greatly strengthened his power in the land. But, unhappily,
he had not the magnanimity to pursue it. It was not in the
nature of a Pizarro to forgive an injury, or the man whom he had
injured. As he would not, therefore, try to conciliate Almagro's
adherents, it was clearly the governor's policy to regard them as
enemies, - not the less so for being in disguise, - and to take
such measures as should disqualify them for doing mischief. He
should have followed the counsel of his more prudent brother
Hernando, and distributed them in different quarters, taking care
that no great number should assemble at any one point, or, above
all, in the neighbourhood of his own residence.

But the governor despised the broken followers of Almagro too
heartily to stoop to precautionary measures. He suffered the son
of his rival to remain in Lima, where his quarters soon became
the resort of the disaffected cavaliers. The young man was well
known to most of Almagro's soldiers, having been trained along
with them in the camp under his father's eye, and, now that his
parent was removed, they naturally transferred their allegiance
to the son who survived him.

That the young Almagro, however, might be less able to maintain
this retinue of unprofitable followers, he was deprived by
Pizarro of a great part of his Indians and lands, while he was
excluded from the government of New Toledo, which had been
settled on him by his father's testament. *1 Stripped of all
means of support, without office or employment of any kind, the
men of Chili, for so Almagro's adherents continued to be called,
were reduced to the utmost distress. So poor were they, as is
the story of the time, that twelve cavaliers, who lodged in the
same house, could muster only one cloak among them all; and, with
the usual feeling of pride that belongs to the poor hidalgo,
unwilling to expose their poverty, they wore this cloak by turns,
those who had no right to it remaining at home. *2 Whether true
or not, the anecdote well illustrates the extremity to which
Almagro's faction was reduced. And this distress was rendered
yet more galling by the effrontery of their enemies, who,
enriched by their forfeitures, displayed before their eyes all
the insolent bravery of equipage and apparel that could annoy
their feelings.

[Footnote 1: Carta de Almagro, Ms.]

[Footnote 2: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 8, cap. 6.]
Men thus goaded by insult and injury were too dangerous to be
lightly regarded. But, although Pizarro received various
intimations intended to put him on his guard, he gave no heed to
them. "Poor devils!" he would exclaim, speaking with
contemptuous pity of the men of Chili; "they have had bad luck
enough. We will not trouble them further." *3 And so little did
he consider them, that he went freely about, as usual, riding
without attendants to all parts of the town and to its immediate
environs. *4

[Footnote 3: Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 144.]

[Footnote 4: Garcilasso, Com Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 6.]
News now reached the colony of the appointment of a judge by the
Crown to take cognizance of the affairs of Peru. Pizarro,
although alarmed by the intelligence, sent orders to have him
well entertained on his landing, and suitable accommodations
prepared for him on the route. The spirits of Almagro's followers
were greatly raised by the tidings. They confidently looked to
this high functionary for the redress of their wrongs; and two of
their body, clad in suits of mourning, were chosen to go to the
north, where the judge was expected to land, and to lay their
grievances before him.

But months elapsed, and no tidings came of his arrival, till, at
length, a vessel, coming into port, announced that most of the
squadron had foundered in the heavy storms on the coast, and that
the commissioner had probably perished with them. This was
disheartening intelligence to the men of Chili, whose "miseries,"
to use the words of their young leader, "had become too grievous
to be borne." *5 Symptoms of disaffection had already begun
openly to manifest themselves. The haughty cavaliers did not
always doff their bonnets, on meeting the governor in the street;
and on one occasion, three ropes were found suspended from the
public gallows, with labels attached to them, bearing the names
of Pizarro, Velasquez the judge, and Picado the governor's
secretary. *6 This last functionary was peculiarly odious to
Almagro and his followers. As his master knew neither how to
read nor write, all his communications passed through Picado's
hands; and, as the latter was of a hard and arrogant nature,
greatly elated by the consequence which his position gave him, he
exercised a mischievous influence on the governor's measures.
Almagro's poverty-stricken followers were the objects of his open
ridicule, and he revenged the insult now offered him by riding
before their young leader's residence, displaying a tawdry
magnificence in his dress, sparkling with gold and silver, and
with the inscription, "For the Men of Chili," set in his bonnet.
It was a foolish taunt; but the poor cavaliers who were the
object of it, made morbidly sensitive by their sufferings, had
not the philosophy to despise it. *7

[Footnote 5: "My sufferings," says Almagro, in his letter to the
Royal Audience of Panama, "were enough to unsettle my reason."
See his Letter in the original, Appendix, No. 12.]

[Footnote 6: "Hizo Picado el secreptario del Marquez mucho dano a
muchos, porque el marquez don Francisco Picarro como no savia ler
ni escrivir fiavase del y no hacia mas de lo que el le aconsejava
y ansi hizo este mucho mal en estos rreinos, porque el que no
andava a su voluntad sirviendole aunque tuviese meritos le
destruya y este Picado fue causa de que los de Chile tomasen mas
odio al marquez por donde le mataron. Porque queria este que
todos lo reverenciasen, y los de chile no hazian caso del, y por
esta causa los perseguia este mucho, y ansi vinieron a hazer lo
que hizieron los de Chile." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. -
Also Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 6.]

[Footnote 7: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Garcilasso,
Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 6. - Herrera, Hist. General,
dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 2.]

At length, disheartened by the long protracted coming of Vaca de
Castro, and still more by the recent reports of his loss,
Almagro's faction, despairing of redress from a legitimate
authority, determined to take it into their own hands. They came
to the desperate resolution of assassinating Pizarro. The day
named for this was Sunday, the twenty-sixth of June, 1541. The
conspirators, eighteen or twenty in number, were to assemble in
Almagro's house, which stood in the great square next to the
cathedral, and, when the governor was returning from mass, they
were to issue forth and fall on him in the street. A white flag,
unfurled at the same time from an upper window in the house, was
to be the signal for the rest of their comrades to move to the
support of those immediately engaged in the execution of the
deed. *8
[Footnote 8: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Montesinos,
Annales, Ms., ano 1541. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap.
6.]

These arrangements could hardly have been concealed from Almagro,
since his own quarters were to be the place of rendezvous. Yet
there is no good evidence of his having taken part in the
conspiracy. *9 He was, indeed, too young to make it probable that
he took a leading part in it. He is represented by contemporary
writers to have given promise of many good qualities, though,
unhappily, he was not placed in a situation favorable for their
development. He was the son of an Indian woman of Panama; but
from early years had followed the troubled fortunes of his
father, to whom he bore much resemblance in his free and generous
nature, as well as in the violence of his passions. His youth
and inexperience disqualified him from taking the lead in the
perplexing circumstances in which he was placed, and made him
little more than a puppet in the hands of others. *10

[Footnote 9: Yet this would seem to be contradicted by Almagro's
own letter to the audience of Panama, in which he states, that,
galled by intolerable injuries, he and his followers had resolved
to take the remedy into their own hands, by entering the
governor's house and seizing his person. (See the original in
Appendix, No. 12.) It is certain, however, that in the full
accounts we have of the affair by writers who had the best means
of information, we do not find Almagro's name mentioned as one
who took an active part in the tragic drama. His own letter
merely expresses that it was his purpose to have taken part in it
with the further declaration, that it was simply to seize, not to
slay, Pizarro; - a declaration that no one who reads the history
of the transaction will be very ready to credit.]

[Footnote 10: "Mancebo virtuoso, i de grande Animo, i bien
ensenado: i especialmente se havia exercitado mucho en cavalgar a
Caballo, de ambas sillas, lo qual hacia con mucha gracia, i
destreca, i tambien en escrevir, i leer, lo qual hacia mas
liberalmente, i mejor de lo que requeria su Profesion. De este
tenia cargo, como Aio, Juan de Herrada." Zarate, Conq. del Peru,
lib. 4, cap. 6.]

The most conspicuous of his advisers was Juan de Herrada, or
Rada, as his name is more usually spelt, - a cavalier of
respectable family, but who, having early enlisted as a common
soldier, had gradually risen to the highest posts in the army by
his military talents. At this time he was well advanced in
years; but the fires of youth were not quenched in his bosom, and
he burned with desire to avenge the wrongs done to his ancient
commander. The attachment which he had ever felt for the elder
Almagro he seems to have transferred in full measure to his son;
and it was apparently with reference to him, even more than to
himself, that he devised this audacious plot, and prepared to
take the lead in the execution of it.

There was one, however, in the band of conspirators who felt some
compunctions of conscience at the part he was acting, and who
relieved his bosom by revealing the whole plot to his confessor.
The latter lost no time in reporting it to Picado, by whom in
turn it was communicated to Pizarro. But, strange to say, it
made little more impression on the governor's mind than the vague
warnings he had so frequently received. "It is a device of the
priest," said he; "he wants a mitre." *11 Yet he repeated the
story to the judge Velasquez, who, instead of ordering the
conspirators to be seized, and the proper steps taken for
learning the truth of the accusation, seemed to be possessed with
the same infatuation as Pizarro; and he bade the governor be
under no apprehension, "for no harm should come to him, while the
rod of justice," not a metaphorical badge of authority in
Castile, "was in his hands." *12 Still, to obviate every
possibility of danger, it was deemed prudent for Pizarro to
abstain from going to mass on Sunday, and to remain at home on
pretence of illness.

[Footnote 11: "Pues un dia antes un sacerdote clerigo llamado
Benao fue de noche y avisso a Picado el secreptario y dixole
manana Domingo quando el marquez saliere a misa tienen concertado
los de Chile de matar al marquez y a vos y a sus amigos. Esto me
a dicho vno en confision para que os venga a avisar. Pues savido
esto Picado se fue luego y lo conto al marquez y el le
rrespondio. Ese clerigo obispado quiere." Pedro Pizarro, Descub.
y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 12: "El Juan Velazquez le dixo. No tema vuestra
senoria que mientras yo tuviere esta vara en la mano nadie se
atrevera." Pedro Pizarro, Descub, y Conq., Ms.]

On the day appointed, Rada and his companions met in Almagro's
house, and waited with anxiety for the hour when the governor
should issue from the church. But great was their consternation,
when they learned that he was not there, but was detained at
home, as currently reported, by illness. Little doubting that
their design was discovered, they felt their own ruin to be the
inevitable consequence, and that, too, without enjoying the
melancholy consolation of having struck the blow for which they
had incurred it. Greatly perplexed, some were for disbanding, in
the hope that Pizarro might, after all, be ignorant of their
design. But most were for carrying it into execution at once, by
assaulting him in his own house. The question was summarily
decided by one of the party, who felt that in this latter course
lay their only chance of safety. Throwing open the doors, he
rushed out, calling on his comrades "to follow him, or he would
proclaim the purpose for which they had met." There was no longer
hesitation, and the cavaliers issued forth, with Rada at their
head, shouting, as they went, "Long live the king! Death to the
tyrant!" *13
[Footnote 13: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 6. -
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru,
lib. 4, cap. 8. - Naharro, Rel. Sumaria, Ms. - Carta del Maestro,
Martin de Arauco, Ms., 15 de Julio, 1541.]

It was the hour of dinner, which, in this primitive age of the
Spanish colonies, was at noon. Yet numbers, roused by the cries
of the assailants, came out into the square to inquire the cause.
"They are going to kill the marquess," some said very coolly;
others replied, "It is Picado." No one stirred in their defence.
The power of Pizarro was not seated in the hearts of his people.

As the conspirators traversed the plaza, one of the party made a
circuit to avoid a little pool of water that lay in their path.
"What!" exclaimed Rada, "afraid of wetting your feet, when you
are to wade up to your knees in blood!" And he ordered the man to
give up the enterprise and go home to his quarters. The anecdote
is characteristic. *14
[Footnote 14: "Gomez Perez por haver alli agua derramada de una
acequia, rodeo algun tanto por no mojarse; reparo en ello Juan de
Rada, y entrandose atrevido por e agua le dijo: i Bamos a
banarnos en sangre humana, y rehusais mojaros los pies en agua?
Ea volveos. hizolo volver y no asistio al hecho.' Montesinos,
Annales, Ms., ano 1541.]
The governor's palace stood on the opposite side of the square.
It was approached by two courtyards.  The entrance to the outer
one was protected by a massive gate, capable of being made good
against a hundred men or more. But it was left open, and the
assailants, hurrying through to the inner court, still shouting
their fearful battle-cry, were met by two domestics loitering in
the yard. One of these they struck down. The other, flying in
all haste towards the house, called out, "Help, help! the men of
Chili are all coming to murder the marquess!"

Pizarro at this time was at dinner, or, more probably, had just
dined. He was surrounded by a party of friends, who had dropped
in, it seems, after mass, to inquire after the state of his
health, some of whom had remained to partake of his repast.
Among these was Don Martinez de Alcantara, Pizarro's half-brother
by the mother's side, the judge Velasquez, the bishop elect of
Quito, and several of the principal cavaliers in the place, to
the number of fifteen or twenty. Some of them, alarmed by the
uproar in the court-yard, left the saloon, and, running down to
the first landing on the stairway, inquired into the cause of the
disturbance. No sooner were they informed of it by the cries of
the servant, than they retreated with precipitation into the
house; and, as they had no mind to abide the storm unarmed, or at
best imperfectly armed, as most of them were, they made their way
to the a corridor that overlooked the gardens, into which they
easily let themselves down without injury. Velasquez, the judge,
the better to have the use of his hands in the descent, held his
rod of office in his mouth, thus taking care, says a caustic old
chronicler, not to falsify his assurance, that "no harm should
come to Pizarro while the rod of justice was in his hands"! *15
[Footnote 15: "En lo qual no paresce haver quebrantado su
palabra, porque despues huiendo (como adelante se dira) al
tiempo, que quisieron matar al Marques, se hecho de vna Ventana
abajo, a la Huerta, llevando la Vara en la boca." Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 7.

Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria,
Ms. - Carta del Maestro, Martin de Arauco, Ms. - Carta de Fray
Vicente de Valverde a la Audiencia de Panama, Ms., desde Tumbez,
15 Nov. 1541. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 145.]

Meanwhile, the marquess, learning the nature of the tumult,
called out to Francisco de Chaves, an officer high in his
confidence, and who was in the outer apartment opening on the
staircase, to secure the door, while he and his brother Alcantara
buckled on their armour. Had this order, coolly given, been as
coolly obeyed, it would have saved them all, since the entrance
could easily have been maintained against a much larger force,
till the report of the cavaliers who had fled had brought support
to Pizarro. But unfortunately, Chaves, disobeying his commander,
half opened the door, and attempted to enter into a parley with
the conspirators. The latter had now reached the head of the
stairs, and cut short the debate by running Chaves through the
body, and tumbling his corpse down into the area below. For a
moment they were kept at bay by the attendants of the slaughtered
cavalier, but these too, were quickly despatched; and Rada and
his companions, entering the apartment, hurried across it,
shouting out, "Where is the marquess? Death to the tyrant!"
Martinez de Alcantara, who in the adjoining room was assisting
his brother to buckle on his mail, no sooner saw that the
entrance to the antechamber had been gained, than he sprang to
the doorway of the apartment, and, assisted by two young men,
pages of Pizarro, and by one or two cavaliers in attendance,
endeavoured to resist the approach of the assailants. A
desperate struggle now ensued. Blows were given on both sides,
some of which proved fatal, and two of the conspirators were
slain, while Alcantara and his brave companions were repeatedly
wounded.
At length, Pizarro, unable, in the hurry of the moment, to adjust
the fastenings of his cuirass threw it away, and enveloping one
arm in his cloak, with the other seized his sword, and sprang to
his brother's assistance. It was too late; for Alcantara was
already staggering under the loss of blood, and soon fell to the
ground. Pizarro threw himself on his invaders, like a lion
roused in his lair, and dealt his blows with as much rapidity and
force, as if age had no power to stiffen his limbs. "What ho!" he
cried, "traitors! have you come to kill me in my own house?" The
conspirators drew back for a moment, as two of their body fell
under Pizarro's sword; but they quickly rallied, and, from their
superior numbers, fought at great advantage by relieving one
another in the assault. Still the passage was narrow, and the
struggle lasted for some minutes, till both of Pizarro's pages
were stretched by his side, when Rada, impatient of the delay,
called out, "Why are we so long about it? Down with the tyrant!"
and taking one of his companions, Narvaez, in his arms, he thrust
him against the marquess. Pizarro, instantly grappling with his
opponent, ran him through with his sword. But at that moment he
received a wound in the throat, and reeling, he sank on the
floor, while the swords of Rada and several of the conspirators
were plunged into his body. "Jesu!" exclaimed the dying man and,
tracing a cross with his finger on the bloody floor, he bent down
his head to kiss it, when a stroke, more friendly than the rest,
put an end to his existence. *16
[See Assassination Of Pizarro: He traced a cross with his finger
on the bloody floor and bent his head down to kiss it, when a
stroke, more friendly than the rest, put an end to his
existence.]

[Footnote 16: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 8. - Naharro,
Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. -
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 6. - Carta de la
Justicia y Regimiento de la Ciudad de los Reyes, Ms., 15 de
Julio, 1541. - Carta del Maestro, Martin de Arauco, Ms. - Carta
de Fray Vicente Valverde, desde Tumbez, Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de
las Ind., ubi supra. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1541.

Pizarro y Orellana seems to have no doubt that his slaughtered
kinsman died in the odor of sanctity. - "Alli le acabaron los
traidores enemigos, dandole cruelissimas heridas, con que acabo
el Julio Cesar Espanol, estando tan en si que pidiendo confession
con gran acto de contricion, haziendo la senal de la Cruz con su
misma sangre, y besandola murio." Varones Ilustres, p. 186.

According to one authority, the mortal blow was given by a
soldier named Borregan, who, when Pizarro was down, struck him on
the back of the head with a water-jar, which he had snatched from
the table. (Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 6.)
Considering the hurry and confusion of the scene, the different
narratives of the catastrophe, though necessarily differing in
minute details have a remarkable agreement with one another.]

The conspirators, having accomplished their bloody deed, rushed
into the street, and, brandishing their dripping weapons, shouted
out, "The tyrant is dead! The laws are restored! Long live our
master the emperor, and his governor, Almagro!" The men of Chili,
roused by the cheering cry, now flocked in from every side to
join the banner of Rada, who soon found himself at the head of
nearly three hundred followers, all armed and prepared to support
his authority. A guard was placed over the houses of the
principal partisans of the late governor, and their persons were
taken into custody. Pizarro's house, and that of his secretary
Picado, were delivered up to pillage, and a large booty in gold
and silver was found in the former. Picado himself took refuge
in the dwelling of Riquelme, the treasurer; but his hiding-place
was detected, - betrayed, according to some accounts, by the
looks, though not the words, of the treasurer himself, - and he
was dragged forth and committed to a secure prison. *17 The whole
city was thrown into consternation, as armed bodies hurried to
and fro on their several errands, and all who were not in the
faction of Almagro trembled lest they should be involved in the
proscription of their enemies. So great was the disorder, that
the Brothers of Mercy, turning out in a body, paraded the streets
in solemn procession, with the host elevated in the air, in hopes
by the presence of the sacred symbol to calm the passions of the
multitude.

[Footnote 17: "No se olvidaron de buscar a Antonio Picado, i
iendo en casa del Tesorero Alonso Riquelme, el mismo iba
diciendo: No se adonde esta el Senor Picado, i con los ojos le
mostraba, i le hallaron debaxo de la cama." Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 7.

We find Riquelme's name, soon after this, enrolled among the
municipality of Lima, showing that he found it convenient to give
in his temporary adhesion, at least, to Almagro. Carta de la
Justicia y Regimiento de la Ciudad de los Reyes, Ms.]

But no other violence was offered by Rada and his followers than
to apprehend a few suspected persons, and to seize upon horses
and arms wherever they were to be found. The municipality was
then summoned to recognize the authority of Almagro; the
refractory were ejected without ceremony from their offices, and
others of the Chili faction were substituted. The claims of the
new aspirant were fully recognized; and young Almagro, parading
the streets on horseback, and escorted by a well-armed body of
cavaliers, was proclaimed by sound of trumpet governor and
captain-general of Peru.

Meanwhile, the mangled bodies of Pizarro and his faithful
adherents were left weltering in their blood. Some were for
dragging forth the governor's corpse to the market-place, and
fixing his head upon a gibbet. But Almagro was secretly prevailed
on to grant the entreaties of Pizarro's friends, and allow his
interment. This was stealthily and hastily performed, in the
fear of momentary interruption. A faithful attendant and his
wife, with a few black domestics, wrapped the body in a cotton
cloth and removed it to the cathedral. A grave was hastily dug
in an obscure corner, the services were hurried through, and, in
secrecy, and in darkness dispelled only by the feeble glimmering
of a few tapers furnished by these humble menials, the remains of
Pizarro, rolled in their bloody shroud, were consigned to their
kindred dust. Such was the miserable end of the Conqueror of
Peru, - of the man who but a few hours before had lorded it over
the land with as absolute a sway as was possessed by its
hereditary Incas. Cut off in the broad light of day, in the
heart of his own capital, in the very midst of those who had been
his companions in arms and shared with him his triumphs and his
spoils, he perished like a wretched outcast. "There was none
even," in the expressive language of the chronicler "to say, God
forgive him!" *18

[Footnote 18: "Murio pidiendo confesion, i haciendo la Cruz, sin
que nadie lijese, Dios te perdone." Gomara, Hist de las Ind.,
cap. 144.
Ms. de Caravantes. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 8. -
Carta del Maestro, Martin de Arauco, Ms. - Carta de Fray Vicente
Valverde, desde Tumbez, Ms.]

A few years later, when tranquillity was restored to the country,
Pizarro's remains were placed in a sumptuous coffin and deposited
under a monument in a conspicuous part of the cathedral. And in
1607, when time had thrown its friendly mantle over the past, and
the memory of his errors and his crimes was merged in the
consideration of the great services he had rendered to the Crown
by the extension of her colonial empire, his bones were removed
to the new cathedral, and allowed to repose side by side with
those of Mendoza, the wise and good viceroy of Peru. *19
[Footnote 19: "Sus huesos encerrados en una caxa guarnecida de
terciopelo morado con passamanos de oro que yo he visto." Ms. de
Caravantes.]
Pizarro was, probably, not far from sixty-five years of age at
the time of his death; though this, it must be added, is but
loose conjecture, since there exists no authentic record of the
date of his birth. *20 He was never married; but by an Indian
princess of the Inca blood, daughter of Atahuallpa and
granddaughter of the great Huayna Capac, he had two children, a
son and a daughter. Both survived him; but the son did not live
to manhood. Their mother, after Pizarro's death, wedded a
Spanish cavalier, named Ampuero, and removed with him to Spain.
Her daughter Francisca accompanied her, and was there
subsequently married to her uncle Hernando Pizarro, then a
prisoner in the Mota del Medina. Neither the title nor estates
of the Marquess Francisco descended to his illegitimate
offspring. But in the third generation, in the reign of Philip
the Fourth, the title was revived in favor of Don Juan Hernando
Pizarro, who, out of gratitude for the services of his ancestor,
was created Marquess of the Conquest, Marques de la Conquista,
with a liberal pension from government. His descendants, bearing
the same title of nobility, are still to be found, it is said, at
Truxillo, in the ancient province of Estremadura, the original
birthplace of the Pizarros. *21

[Footnote 20: Ante, Book 2, chap. 2, note 1.]

[Footnote 21: Ms. de Caravantes. - Quintana, Espanoles Celebres,
tom. II., p. 417.

See also the Discurso, Legal y Politico, annexed by Pizarro y
Orellana to his bulky tome, in which that cavalier urges the
claims of Pizarro. It is in the nature of a memorial to Philip
IV in behalf of Pizarro's descendants, in which the writer, after
setting forth the manifold services of the Conqueror, shows how
little his posterity had profited by the magnificent grants
conferred on him by the Crown. The argument of the Royal
Counsellor was not without its effect.]
Pizarro's person has been already described. He was tall in
stature, well-proportioned, and with a countenance not
unpleasing. Bred in camps, with nothing of the polish of a
court, he had a soldier-like bearing, and the air of one
accustomed to command. But though not polished, there was no
embarrassment or rusticity in his address, which, where it served
his purpose, could be plausible and even insinuating. The proof
of it is the favorable impression made by him, on presenting
himself, after his second expedition - stranger as he was to all
its forms and usages - at the punctilious court of Castile.

Unlike many of his countrymen, he had no passion for ostentatious
dress, which he regarded as an incumbrance. The costume which he
most affected on public occasions was a black cloak, with a white
hat, and shoes of the same color; the last, it is said, being in
imitation of the Great Captain, whose character he had early
learned to admire in Italy, but to which his own, certainly, bore
very faint resemblance. *22
[Footnote 22: Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 144. - Zarate,
Conq. del Peru. lib. 4, cap. 9.

The portrait of Pizarro, in the viceregal palace at Lima,
represents him in a citizen's dress, with a sable cloak, - the
capa y espada of a Spanish gentleman. Each panel in the spacious
sala de los Vireyes was reserved for the portrait of a viceroy.
The long file is complete, from Pizarro to Pezuela; and it is a
curious fact, noticed by Stevenson, that the last panel was
exactly filled when the reign of the viceroys was abruptly
terminated by the Revolution. (Residence in South America, vol.
I. p. 228.) It is a singular coincidence that the same thing
should have occurred at Venice, where, if my memory serves me,
the last niche reserved for the effigies of its doges was just
filled, when the ancient aristocracy was overturned.]
He was temperate in eating, drank sparingly, and usually rose an
hour before dawn. He was punctual in attendance to business, and
shrunk from no toil. He had, indeed, great powers of patient
endurance. Like most of his nation, he was fond of play, and
cared little for the quality of those with whom he played;
though, when his antagonist could not afford to lose, he would
allow himself, it is said, to be the loser; a mode of conferring
an obligation much commended by a Castilian writer, for its
delicacy. *23
[Footnote 23: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 9.]
Though avaricious, it was in order to spend and not to hoard.
His ample treasures, more ample than those, probably, that ever
before fell to the lot of an adventurer, *24 were mostly
dissipated in his enterprises, his architectural works, and
schemes of public improvement, which, in a country where gold and
silver might be said to have lost their value from their
abundance, absorbed an incredible amount of money. While he
regarded the whole country, in a manner, as his own, and
distributed it freely among his captains, it is certain that the
princely grant of a territory with twenty thousand vassals, made
to him by the Crown, was never carried into effect; nor did his
heirs ever reap the benefit of it. *25

[Footnote 24: "Hallo, i tuvo mas Oro, i Plata, que otro ningun
Espanol de quantos han pasado a Indias, ni que ninguno de quantos
Capitanes han sido por el Mundo." Gomara Hist. de las Ind., cap.
144.]

[Footnote 25: Ms. de Caravantes. - Pizarro y Orellana, Discurso
Leg. y Pol., ap. Varones Ilust. Gonzalo Pizarro, when taken
prisoner by President Gasca, challenged him to point out any
quarter of the country in which the royal grant had been carried
into effect by a specific assignment of land to his brother. See
Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 5, cap. 36.]
To a man possessed of the active energies of Pizarro, sloth was
the greatest evil. The excitement of play was in a manner
necessary to a spirit accustomed to the habitual stimulants of
war and adventure. His uneducated mind had no relish for more
refined, intellectual recreation. The deserted foundling had
neither been taught to read nor write. This has been disputed by
some, but it is attested by unexceptionable authorities. *26
Montesinos says, indeed, that Pizarro, on his first voyage, tried
to learn to read; but the impatience of his temper prevented it,
and he contented himself with learning to sign his name. *27 But
Montesinos was not a contemporary historian. Pedro Pizarro, his
companion in arms, expressly tells us he could neither read nor
write; *28 and Zarate, another contemporary, well acquainted with
the Conquerors, confirms this statement, and adds, that Pizarro
could not so much as sign his name. *29 This was done by his
secretary - Picado, in his latter years - while the governor
merely made the customary rubrica or flourish at the sides of his
name. This is the case with the instruments I have examined, in
which his signature, written probably by his secretary, or his
title of Marques, in later life substituted for his name, is
garnished with a flourish at the ends, executed in as bungling a
manner as if done by the hand of a ploughman. Yet we must not
estimate this deficiency as we should in this period of general
illumination, - general, at least, in our own fortunate country.
Reading and writing, so universal now, in the beginning of the
sixteenth century might be regarded in the light of
accomplishments; and all who have occasion to consult the
autograph memorials of that time will find the execution of them,
even by persons of the highest rank, too often such as would do
little credit to a schoolboy of the present day.

[Footnote 26: Even so experienced a person as Munoz seems to have
fallen into this error. On one of Pizarro's letters I find the
following copy of an autograph memorandum by this eminent
scholar: - Carta de Francisco Pizarro, su letra i buena letra.]

[Footnote 27: "En este viage trato Pizarro de aprender a leer; no
le dio su viveza lugar a ello; contentose solo con saber firmar,
de lo que se veia Almagro, y decia, que firmar sin saber leer era
lo mismo que recibir herida, sin poder darla. En adelante firmo
siempre Pizarro por si, y por Almagro su Secretario." Montesinos,
Annales, Ms., ano 1525.]
[Footnote 28: "Porque el marquez don Francisco Picarro como no
savia ler ni escrivir." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms]

[Footnote 29: "Siendo personas," says the author, speaking both
of Pizarro and Almagro, "no solamente, no leidas, pero que de
todo punto no sabian leer, ni aun firmar, que en ellos fue cosa
de gran defecto. . . . . . Fue el Marques tan confiado de sus
Criados, i Amigos, que todos los Despachos, que hacia, asi de
Governacion, como de Repartimientos de Indios, libraba ha ciendo
el dos senales, en medio de las quales Antonio Picado, su
Secretario, firmaba el nombre de Francisco Picarro." Zarate,
Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 9.]

Though bold in action and not easily turned from his purpose,
Pizarro was slow in arriving at a decision. This gave him an
appearance of irresolution foreign to his character. *30 Perhaps
the consciousness of this led him to adopt the custom of saying
'No," at first, to applicants for favor; and afterwards, at
leisure, to revise his judgment, and grant what seemed to him
expedient. He took the opposite course from his comrade Almagro,
who, it was observed, generally said "Yes," but too often failed
to keep his promise. This was characteristic of the careless and
easy nature of the latter, governed by impulse rather than
principle. *31
[Footnote 30: This tardiness of resolve has even led Herrera to
doubt his resolution altogether; a judgment certainly
contradicted by the whole tenor of his history. "Porque aunque
era astuto, i recatado, por la maior parte fue de animo suspenso,
i no mui resoluto." Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 7, cap. 13.]

[Footnote 31: "Tenia por costumbre de quando algo le pedian dezir
siempre de no. esto dezia el que hazia por no faltar su palabra,
y no obstante que dezia no, correspondia con hazer lo que le
pedian no aviendo inconvenimente. . . . . . Don Diego de Almagro
hera a la contra que a todos dezia si, y con pocos lo cumplia."
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

It is hardly necessary to speak of the courage of a man pledged
to such a career as that of Pizarro. Courage, indeed, was a
cheap quality among the Spanish adventurers, for danger was their
element. But he possessed something higher than mere animal
courage, in that constancy of purpose which was rooted too deeply
in his nature to be shaken by the wildest storms of fortune. It
was this inflexible constancy which formed the key to his
character, and constituted the secret of his success. A
remarkable evidence of it was given in his first expedition,
among the mangroves and dreary marshes of Choco. He saw his
followers pining around him under the blighting malaria, wasting
before an invisible enemy, and unable to strike a stroke in their
own defence. Yet his spirit did not yield, nor did he falter in
his enterprise.

There is something oppressive to the imagination in this war
against nature. In the struggle of man against man, the spirits
are raised by a contest conducted on equal terms; but in a war
with the elements, we feel, that, however bravely we may contend,
we can have no power to control. Nor are we cheered on by the
prospect of glory in such a contest; for, in the capricious
estimate of human glory, the silent endurance of privations,
however painful, is little, in comparison with the ostentatious
trophies of victory. The laurel of the hero - alas for humanity
that it should be so! - grows best on the battle-field.
This inflexible spirit of Pizarro was shown still more strongly,
when, in the little island of Gallo, he drew the line on the
sand, which was to separate him and his handful of followers from
their country and from civilized man. He trusted that his own
constancy would give strength to the feeble, and rally brave
hearts around him for the prosecution of his enterprise. He
looked with confidence to the future, and he did not
miscalculate. This was heroic, and wanted only a nobler motive
for its object to constitute the true moral sublime.

Yet the same feature in his character was displayed in a manner
scarcely less remarkable, when, landing on the coast and
ascertaining the real strength and civilization of the Incas, he
persisted in marching into the interior at the head of a force of
less than two hundred men. In this he undoubtedly proposed to
himself the example of Cortes, so contagious to the adventurous
spirits of that day, and especially to Pizarro, engaged, as he
was, in a similar enterprise. Yet the hazard assumed by Pizarro
was far greater than that of the Conqueror of Mexico, whose force
was nearly three times as large, while the terrors of the Inca
name - however justified by the result - were as widely spread as
those of the Aztecs.
It was doubtless in imitation of the same captivating model, that
Pizarro planned the seizure of Atahuallpa. But the situations of
the two Spanish captains were as dissimilar as the manner in
which their acts of violence were conducted. The wanton massacre
of the Peruvians resembled that perpetrated by Alvarado in
Mexico, and might have been attended with consequences as
disastrous, if the Peruvian character had been as fierce as that
of the Aztecs. *32 But the blow which roused the latter to
madness broke the tamer spirits of the Peruvians. It was a bold
stroke, which left so much to chance, that it scarcely merits the
name of policy.
[Footnote 32: See Conquest of Mexico, Book 4, chap 8.]

When Pizarro landed in the country, he found it distracted by a
contest for the crown. It would seem to have been for his
interest to play off one party against the other, throwing his
own weight into the scale that suited him. Instead of this, he
resorted to an act of audacious violence which crushed them both
at a blow. His subsequent career afforded no scope for the
profound policy displayed by Cortes, when he gathered conflicting
nations under his banner, and directed them against a common foe.
Still less did he have the opportunity of displaying the tactics
and admirable strategy of his rival. Cortes conducted his
military operations on the scientific principles of a great
captain at the head of a powerful host. Pizarro appears only as
an adventurer, a fortunate knight-errant. By one bold stroke, he
broke the spell which had so long held the land under the
dominion of the Incas. The spell was broken, and the airy fabric
of their empire, built on the superstition of ages, vanished at a
touch. This was good fortune, rather than the result of policy.

Pizarro was eminently perfidious. Yet nothing is more opposed to
sound policy. One act of perfidy fully established becomes the
ruin of its author. The man who relinquishes confidence in his
good faith gives up the best basis for future operations. Who
will knowingly build on a quicksand? By his perfidious treatment
of Almagro, Pizarro alienated the minds of the Spaniards. By his
perfidious treatment of Atahuallpa, and subsequently of the Inca
Manco, he disgusted the Peruvians. The name of Pizarro became a
by-word for perfidy. Almagro took his revenge in a civil war;
Manco in an insurrection which nearly cost Pizarro his dominion.
The civil war terminated in a conspiracy which cost him his life.
Such were the fruits of his policy. Pizarro may be regarded as a
cunning man; but not, as he has been often eulogized by his
countrymen, as a politic one.
When Pizarro obtained possession of Cuzco, he found a country
well advanced in the arts of civilization; institutions under
which the people lived in tranquillity and personal safety; the
mountains and the uplands whitened with flocks; the valleys
teeming with the fruits of a scientific husbandry; the granaries
and warehouses filled to overflowing; the whole land rejoicing in
its abundance; and the character of the nation, softened under
the influence of the mildest and most innocent form of
superstition, well prepared for the reception of a higher and a
Christian civilization. But, far from introducing this, Pizarro
delivered up the conquered races to his brutal soldiery; the
sacred cloisters were abandoned to their lust; the towns and
villages were given up to pillage; the wretched natives were
parcelled out like slaves, to toil for their conquerors in the
mines; the flocks were scattered, and wantonly destroyed; the
granaries were dissipated; the beautiful contrivances for the
more perfect culture of the soil were suffered to fall into
decay; the paradise was converted into a desert. Instead of
profiting by the ancient forms of civilization, Pizarro preferred
to efface every vestige of them from the land, and on their ruin
to erect the institutions of his own country. Yet these
institutions did little for the poor Indian, held in iron
bondage. It was little to him that the shores of the Pacific
were studded with rising communities and cities, the marts of a
flourishing commerce. He had no share in the goodly heritage.
He was an alien in the land of his fathers.
The religion of the Peruvian, which directed him to the worship
of that glorious luminary which is the best representative of the
might and beneficence of the Creator, is perhaps the purest form
of superstition that has existed among men. Yet it was much,
that, under the new order of things, and through the benevolent
zeal of the missionaries, some glimmerings of a nobler faith were
permitted to dawn on his darkened soul. Pizarro, himself, cannot
be charged with manifesting any overweening solicitude for the
propagation of the Faith. He was no bigot, like Cortes. Bigotry
is the perversion of the religious principle; but the principle
itself was wanting in Pizarro. The conversion of the heathen was
a predominant motive with Cortes in his expedition. It was not a
vain boast. He would have sacrificed his life for it at any
time; and more than once, by his indiscreet zeal, he actually did
place his life and the success of his enterprise in jeopardy. It
was his great purpose to purify the land from the brutish
abominations of the Aztecs, by substituting the religion of
Jesus. This gave to his expedition the character of a crusade.
It furnished the best apology for the Conquest, and does more
than all other considerations towards enlisting our sympathies on
the side of the conquerors.

But Pizarro's ruling motives, so far as they can be scanned by
human judgment, were avarice and ambition. The good
missionaries, indeed, followed in his train to scatter the seeds
of spiritual truth, and the Spanish government, as usual,
directed its beneficent legislation to the conversion of the
natives. But the moving power with Pizarro and his followers was
the lust of gold. This was the real stimulus to their toil, the
price of perfidy, the true guerdon of their victories. This gave
a base and mercenary character to their enterprise; and when we
contrast the ferocious cupidity of the conquerors with the mild
and inoffensive manners of the conquered, our sympathies, the
sympathies even of the Spaniard, are necessarily thrown into the
scale of the Indian. *33

[Footnote 33: The following vigorous lines of Southey condense,
in a small compass, the most remarkable traits of Pizarro. The
poet's epitaph may certainly be acquitted of the imputation,
generally well deserved, of flattery towards the subject of it.

"For A Column At Truxillo.

"Pizarro here was born; a greater name
The list of Glory boasts not. Toil and Pain,
Famine, and hostile Elements, and Hosts
Embattled, failed to check him in his course,
Not to be wearied, not to be deterred,
Not to be overcome. A mighty realm
He overran, and with relentless arm
Slew or enslaved its unoffending sons,
And wealth and power and fame were his rewards.
There is another world, beyond the grave,
According to their deeds where men are judged.
O Reader! if thy daily bread be earned
By daily labor, - yea, however low,
However wretched, be thy lot assigned,
Thank thou, with deepest gratitude, the God
Who made thee, that thou art not such as he."]

But as no picture is without its lights, we must not, in justice
to Pizarro, dwell exclusively on the darker features of his
portrait. There was no one of her sons to whom Spain was under
larger obligations for extent of empire; for his hand won for her
the richest of the Indian jewels that once sparkled in her
imperial diadem. When we contemplate the perils he braved, the
sufferings he patiently endured, the incredible obstacles he
overcame, the magnificent results he effected with his single
arm, as it were, unaided by the government, - though neither a
good, nor a great man in the highest sense of that term, it is
impossible not to regard him as a very extraordinary one.

Nor can we fairly omit to notice, in extenuation of his errors,
the circumstances of his early life; for, like Almagro, he was
the son of sin and sorrow, early cast upon the world to seek his
fortunes as he might. In his young and tender age he was to take
the impression of those into whose society he was thrown. And
when was it the lot of the needy outcast to fall into that of the
wise and the virtuous? His lot was cast among the licentious
inmates of a camp, the school of rapine, whose only law was the
sword, and who looked on the wretched Indian and his heritage as
their rightful spoil.

Who does not shudder at the thought of what his own fate might
have been, trained in such a school? The amount of crime does
not necessarily show the criminality of the agent. History,
indeed, is concerned with the former, that it may be recorded as
a warning to mankind; but it is He alone who knoweth the heart,
the strength of the temptation, and the means of resisting it,
that can determine the measure of the guilt

Chapter VI

Movements Of The Conspirators. - Advance Of Vaca De Castro -
Proceedings Of Almagro. - Progress Of The Governor. - The Forces
Approach Each Other. - Bloody Plains Of Chupas. - Conduct Of
Vaca De Castro.

1541-1543.

The first step of the conspirators, after securing possession of
the capital, was to send to the different cities, proclaiming the
revolution which had taken place, and demanding the recognition
of the young Almagro as governor of Peru. Where the summons was
accompanied by a military force, as at Truxillo and Arequipa, it
was obeyed without much cavil. But in other cities a colder
assent was given, and in some the requisition was treated with
contempt. In Cuzco, the place of most importance next to Lima, a
considerable number of the Almagro faction secured the ascendency
of their party; and such of the magistracy as resisted were
ejected from their offices to make room for others of a more
accommodating temper. But the loyal inhabitants of the city,
dissatisfied with this proceeding, privately sent to one of
Pizarro's captains, named Alvarez de Holguin, who lay with a
considerable force in the neighbourhood; and that officer,
entering the place, soon dispossessed the new dignitaries of
their honors, and restored the ancient capital to its allegiance.

The conspirators experienced a still more determined opposition
from Alonso de Alvarado. one of the principal captains of
Pizarro, - defeated, as the reader will remember, by the elder
Almagro at the bridge of Abancay, - and now lying in the north
with a corps of about two hundred men, as good troops as any in
the land. That officer, on receiving tidings of his general's
assassination, instantly wrote to the Licentiate Vaca de Castro,
advising him of the state of affairs in Peru, and urging him to
quicken his march towards the south. *1

[Footnote 1: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 13. - Herrera,
Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 7. - Declaracion de
Uscategui, Ms. - Carta del Maestro, Martin de Arauco, Ms. - Carta
de Fray Vicente Valverde, desde Tumbez, Ms.]

This functionary had been sent out by the Spanish Crown, as
noticed in a preceding chapter, to cooperate with Pizarro in
restoring tranquillity to the country, with authority to assume
the government himself, in case of that commander's death. After
a long and tempestuous voyage, he had landed, in the spring of
1541, at the port of Buena Ventura, and, disgusted with the
dangers of the sea, preferred to continue his wearisome journey
by land. But so enfeebled was he by the hardships he had
undergone, that it was full three months before he reached
Popayan, where he received the astounding tidings of the death of
Pizarro. This was the contingency which had been provided for,
with such judicious forecast, in his instructions. Yet he was
sorely perplexed by the difficulties of his situation. He was a
stranger in the land, with a very imperfect knowledge of the
country, without an armed force to support him, without even the
military science which might be supposed necessary to avail
himself of it. He knew nothing of the degree of Almagro's
influence, or of the extent to which the insurrection had spread,
- nothing, in short, of the dispositions of the people among whom
he was cast.

In such an emergency, a feebler spirit might have listened to the
counsels of those who advised to return to Panama, and stay there
until he had mustered a sufficient force to enable him to take
the field against the insurgents with advantage. But the
courageous heart of Vaca de Castro shrunk from a step which would
proclaim his incompetency to the task assigned him. He had
confidence in his own resources, and in the virtue of the
commission under which he acted. He relied, too, on the habitual
loyalty of the Spaniards; and, after mature deliberation, he
determined to go forward, and trust to events for accomplishing
the objects of his mission.

He was confirmed in this purpose by the advices he now received
from Alvarado; and without longer delay, he continued his march
towards Quito. Here he was well received by Gonzalo Pizarro's
lieutenant, who had charge of the place during his commander's
absence on his expedition to the Amazon. The licentiate was also
joined by Benalcazar, the conqueror of Quito, who brought a small
reinforcement, and offered personally to assist him in the
prosecution of his enterprise. He now displayed the royal
commission, empowering him, on Pizarro's death, to assume the
government. That contingency had arrived, and Vaca de Castro
declared his purpose to exercise the authority conferred on him.
At the same time, he sent emissaries to the principal cities,
requiring their obedience to him as the lawful representative of
the Crown, - taking care to employ discreet persons on the
mission, whose character would have weight with the citizens. He
then continued his march slowly towards the south. *2
[Footnote 2: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 4. -
Carta de Benalcazar al Emperador, desde Cali, Ms., 20 Septiembre,
1542.
Benalcazar urged Vaca de Castro to assume only the title of
Judge, and not that of Governor, which would conflict with the
pretensions of Almagro to that part of the country known as New
Toledo and bequeathed to him by his father "Porque yo le avise
muchas veces no entrase en la tierra como Governador, sino como
Juez de V. M que venia a desagraviar a los agraviados, porque
todos lo rescibirian de buena gana." Ubi supra.]
He was willing by his deliberate movements to give time for his
summons to take effect, and for the fermentation caused by the
late extraordinary events to subside. He reckoned confidently on
the loyalty which made the Spaniard unwilling, unless in cases of
the last extremity, to come into collision with the royal
authority; and, however much this popular sentiment might be
disturbed by temporary gusts of passion, he trusted to the
habitual current of their feelings for giving the people a right
direction. In this he did not miscalculate; for so deep-rooted
was the principle of loyalty in the ancient Spaniard, that ages
of oppression and misrule could alone have induced him to shake
off his allegiance. Sad it is, but not strange, that the length
of time passed under a bad government has not qualified him for
devising a good one.

While these events were passing in the north, Almagro's faction
at Lima was daily receiving new accessions of strength. For, in
addition to those who, from the first, had been avowedly of his
father's party, there were many others who, from some cause or
other, had conceived a disgust for Pizarro, and who now willingly
enlisted under the banner of the chief that had overthrown him.

The first step of the young general, or rather of Rada, who
directed his movements, was to secure the necessary supplies for
the troops, most of whom, having long been in indigent
circumstances, were wholly unprepared for service. Funds to a
considerable amount were raised, by seizing on the moneys of the
Crown in the hands of the treasurer. Pizarro's secretary, Picado,
was also drawn from his prison, and interrogated as to the place
where his master's treasures were deposited. But, although put to
the torture, he would not - or, as is probable, could not - give
information on the subject; and the conspirators, who had a long
arrear of injuries to settle with him, closed their proceedings
by publicly beheading him in the great square of Lima. *3

[Footnote 3: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de
Barrio Nuevo, Ms. - Carta de Fray Vicente Valverde, desde Tumbez,
Ms.]

Valverde, Bishop of Cuzco, as he himself assures us, vainly
interposed in his behalf. It is singular, that, the last time
this fanatical prelate appears on the stage, it should be in the
benevolent character of a supplicant for mercy. *4 Soon
afterwards, he was permitted, with the judge, Velasquez, and some
other adherents of Pizarro, to embark from the port of Lima. We
have a letter from him, dated at Tumbez, in November, 1541;
almost immediately after which he fell into the hands of the
Indians, and with his companions was massacred at Puna. A
violent death not unfrequently closed the stormy career of the
American adventurer. Valverde was a Dominican friar, and, like
Father Olmedo in the suite of Cortes, had been by his commander's
side throughout the whole of his expedition. But he did not
always, like the good Olmedo, use his influence to stay the
uplifted hand of the warrior. At least, this was not the mild
aspect in which he presented himself at the terrible massacre of
Caxamalca. Yet some contemporary accounts represent him, after
he had been installed in his episcopal office, as unwearied in
his labors to convert the natives, and to ameliorate their
condition; and his own correspondence with the government, after
that period, shows great solicitude for these praiseworthy
objects. Trained in the severest school of monastic discipline,
which too often closes the heart against the common charities of
life, he could not, like the benevolent Las Casas, rise so far
above its fanatical tenets as to regard the heathen as his
brother, while in the state of infidelity; and, in the true
spirit of that school, he doubtless conceived that the sanctity
of the end justified the means, however revolting in themselves.
Yet the same man, who thus freely shed the blood of the poor
native to secure the triumph of his faith, would doubtless have
as freely poured out his own in its defence. The character was
no uncommon one in the sixteenth century. *5
[Footnote 4: "Siendo informado que andavan ordenando la muerte a
Antonio Picado secretario del Marques que tenian preso, fui a Don
Diego e a eu Capitan General Joan de Herrada e a todos sus
capitanes, i les puse delante el servicio de Dios i de S. M. i
que bastase en lo fecho por respeto de Dios, humillandome a sus
pies porque no lo matasen: i no basto que luego dende a pocos
dias lo sacaron a la plaza desta cibdad donde le cortaron la
cabeza." Carta de Fray Vicente de Valverde, desde Tumbez, Ms]
[Footnote 5: "Quel Senor obispo Fray Vicente de Balverde como
persona que jamas ha tenido fin ni zelo al servicio de Dios ni de
S. M. ni menos en la conversion de los naturales en los poner e
dotrinar en las cosas de nuestra santa fee catholica, ni menos en
entender en la paz e sosiego destos reynos, sino a sus intereses
propios dando mal ejemplo a todos." (Carta de Almagro a la
Audiencia de Panama, Ms. , 8 de Nov. 1541.) The writer, it must
be remembered was his personal enemy.]

Almagro's followers, having supplied themselves with funds, made
as little scruple to appropriate to their own use such horses and
arms, of every description, as they could find in the city. And
this they did with the less reluctance, as the inhabitants for
the most part testified no good-will to their cause. While thus
employed, Almagro received intelligence that Holguin had left
Cuzco with a force of near three hundred men, with which he was
preparing to effect a junction with Alvarado in the north. It
was important to Almagro's success that he should defeat this
junction. If to procrastinate was the policy of Vaca de Castro,
it was clearly that of Almagro to quicken operations, and to
bring matters to as speedy an issue as possible; to march at once
against Holguin, whom he might expect easily to overcome with his
superior numbers; then to follow up the stroke by the still
easier defeat of Alvarado, when the new governor would be, in a
manner, at his mercy. It would be easy to beat these several
bodies in detail, which, once united, would present formidable
odds. Almagro and his party had already arrayed themselves
against the government by a proceeding too atrocious, and which
struck too directly at the royal authority, for its perpetrators
to flatter themselves with the hopes of pardon. Their only
chance was boldly to follow up the blow, and, by success, to
place themselves in so formidable an attitude as to excite the
apprehensions of government. The dread of its too potent vassal
might extort terms that would never be conceded to his prayers.

But Almagro and his followers shrunk from this open collision
with the Crown. They had taken up rebellion because it lay in
their path, not because they had wished it. They had meant only
to avenge their personal wrongs on Pizarro, and not to defy the
royal authority. When, therefore, some on the more resolute, who
followed things fearlessly to their consequences, proposed to
march at once against Vaca de Castro, and, by striking at the
head, settle the contest by a blow, it was almost universally
rejected; and it was not till after long debate that it was
finally determined to move against Holguin, and cut off his
communication with Alonso de Alvarado.

Scarcely had Almagro commenced his march on Xauxa, where he
proposed to give battle to his enemy, than he met with a severe
misfortune in the death of Juan de Rada. He was a man somewhat
advanced in years; and the late exciting scenes, in which he had
taken the principal part, had been too much for a frame greatly
shattered by a life of extraordinary hardship. He was thrown
into a fever, of which he soon after died. By his death, Almagro
sustained an inestimable loss; for, besides his devoted
attachment to his young leader, he was, by his large experience,
and his cautious though courageous character, better qualified
than any other cavalier in the army to conduct him safely through
the stormy sea on which he had led him to embark.

Among the cavaliers of highest consideration after Rada's death,
the two most aspiring were Christoval de Sotelo, and Garcia de
Alvarado; both possessed of considerable military talent, but the
latter marked by a bold, presumptuous manner, which might remind
one of his illustrious namesake, who achieved much higher renown
under the banner of Cortes. Unhappily, a jealousy grew up between
these two officers; that jealousy, so common among the Spaniards,
that it may seem a national characteristic; an impatience of
equality, founded on a false principle of honor, which has ever
been the fruitful source of faction among them, whether under a
monarchy or a republic.

This was peculiarly unfortunate for Almagro, whose inexperience
led him to lean for support on others, and who, in the present
distracted state of his council, knew scarcely where to turn for
it. In the delay occasioned by these dissensions, his little
army did not reach the valley of Xauxa till after the enemy had
passed it. Almagro followed close, leaving behind his baggage
and artillery that he might move the lighter. But the golden
opportunity was lost. The rivers, swollen by autumnal rains,
impeded his pursuit; and, though his light troops came up with a
few stragglers of the rear-guard, Holguin succeeded in conducting
his forces through the dangerous passes of the mountains, and in
effecting a junction with Alonso de Alvarado, near the northern
seaport of Huaura.
Disappointed in his object, Almagro prepared to march on Cuzco, -
the capital, as he regarded it, of his own jurisdiction, - to get
possession of that city, and there make preparations to meet his
adversary in the field. Sotelo was sent forward with a small
corps in advance. He experienced no opposition from the now
defenceless citizens; the government of the place was again
restored to the hands of the men of Chili, and their young leader
soon appeared at the head of his battalions, and established his
winter-quarters in the Inca capital.

Here, the jealousy of the rival captains broke out into an open
feud. It was ended by the death of Sotelo, treacherously
assassinated in his own apartment by Garcia de Alvarado.
Almagro, greatly outraged by this atrocity, was the more
indignant, as he felt himself too weak to punish the offender.
He smothered his resentment for the present, affecting to treat
the dangerous officer with more distinguished favor. But
Alvarado was not the dupe of this specious behaviour. He felt
that he had forfeited the confidence of his commander. In
revenge, he laid a plot to betray him; and Almagro, driven to the
necessity of self-defence, imitated the example of his officer,
by entering his house with a party of armed men, who, laying
violent hands on the insurgent, slew him on the spot. *6
[Footnote 6: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 10 - 14. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap.
147.
Declaracion de Uscategui, Ms. - Carta de Barrio Nuevo, Ms. -
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6 lib. 10, cap. 13; dec. 7 lib. 3
cap. 1, 5.]
This irregular proceeding was followed by the best consequences.
The seditious schemes of Alvarado perished with him. The seeds
of insubordination were eradicated, and from that moment Almagro
experienced only implicit obedience and the most loyal support
from his followers. From that hour, too, his own character seemed
to be changed; he relied far less on others than on himself, and
developed resources not to have been anticipated in one of his
years; for he had hardly reached the age of twenty-two. *7 From
this time he displayed an energy and forecast, which proved him,
in despite of his youth, not unequal to the trying emergencies of
the situation in which it was his unhappy lot to be placed.
[Footnote 7: "Hico mas que su edad requeria, porque seria de edad
de veinte i dos anos." Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 20.]
He instantly set about providing for the wants of his men, and
strained every nerve to get them in good fighting order for the
approaching campaign. He replenished his treasury with a large
amount of silver which he drew from the mines of La Plata
Saltpetre, obtained in abundance in the neighbourhood of Cuzco,
furnished the material for gunpowder. He caused cannon, some of
large dimensions, to be cast under the superintendence of Pedro
de Candia, the Greek, who, it may be remembered, had first come
into the country with Pizarro, and who, with a number of his
countrymen, - Levantines, as they were called, - was well
acquainted with this manufacture. Under their care, fire-arms
were made, together with cuirasses and helmets, in which silver
was mingled with copper, *8 and of so excellent a quality, that
they might vie, says an old soldier of the time, with those from
the workshops of Milan. *9 Almagro received a seasonable supply,
moreover, from a source scarcely to have been expected. This was
from Manco, the wandering Inca, who, detesting the memory of
Pizarro, transferred to the young Almagro the same friendly
feelings which he had formerly borne to his father; heightened,
it may be, by the consideration that Indian blood flowed in the
veins of the young commander. From this quarter Almagro obtained
a liberal supply of swords, spears, shields, and arms and armour
of every description, chiefly taken by the Inca at the memorable
siege of Cuzco. He also received the gratifying assurance, that
the latter would support him with a detachment of native troops
when he opened the campaign.

[Footnote 8: "Y demas de esto hico armas para la Gente de su
Real, que no las tenia, de pasta de Plata, i Cobre, mezclado, de
que salen mui buenos Coseletes: haviendo corregido, demas de
esto, todas las armas de la Tierra; de manera, que el que menos
Armas tenia entre su Gente, era Cota, i Coracinas, o Coselete, i
Celadas de la mesma Pasta, que los Indios hacen diestramente, por
muestras de las Milan." Zarate, Conq. de Peru, lib. 4, cap. 14.]

[Footnote 9: "Hombres de armas con tan buenas celadas borgonesas
como se hacen en Milan." Carta de Ventura Beltran al Emperador,
Ms desde Vilcas, 8 Octubre, 1542.]

Before making a final appeal to arms, however, Almagro resolved
to try the effect of negotiation with the new governor. In the
spring, or early in the summer, of 1542, he sent an embassy to
the latter, then at Lima, in which he deprecated the necessity of
taking arms against an officer of the Crown. His only desire, he
said, was to vindicate his own rights; to secure the possession
of New Toledo, the province bequeathed to him by his father, and
from which he had been most unjustly excluded by Pizarro. He did
not dispute the governor's authority over New Castile, as the
country was designated which had been assigned to the marquess;
and he concluded by proposing that each party should remain
within his respective territory until the determination of the
Court of Castile could be made known to them. To this
application, couched in respectful terms, Almagro received no
answer.

Frustrated in his hopes of a peaceful accommodation, the young
captain now saw that nothing was left but the arbitrament of
arms. Assembling his troops, preparatory to his departure from
the capital, he made them a brief address. He protested that the
step which he and his brave companions were about to take was not
an act of rebellion against the Crown. It was forced on them by
the conduct of the governor himself. The commission of that
officer gave him no authority over the territory of New Toledo,
settled on Almagro's father, and by his father bequeathed to him.
If Vaca de Castro, by exceeding the limits of his authority,
drove him to hostilities, the blood spilt in the quarrel would
lie on the head of that commander, not on his. "In the
assassination of Pizarro," he continued, "we took that justice
into our own hands which elsewhere was denied us. It is the same
now, in our contest with the royal governor. We are as
true-hearted and loyal subjects of the Crown as he is." And he
concluded by invoking his soldiers to stand by him heart and hand
in the approaching contest, in which they were all equally
interested with himself.

The appeal was not made to an insensible audience. There were
few among them who did not feel that their fortunes were
indissolubly connected with those of their commander; and while
they had little to expect from the austere character of the
governor, they were warmly attached to the person of their young
chief, who, with all the popular qualities of his father, excited
additional sympathy from the circumstances of his age and his
forlorn condition. Laying their hands on the cross, placed on an
altar raised for the purpose, the officers and soldiers severally
swore to brave every peril with Almagro, and remain true to him
to the last.

In point of numbers, his forces had not greatly strengthened
since his departure from Lima. He mustered but little more than
five hundred in all; but among them were his father's veterans,
well seasoned by many an Indian campaign. He had about two
hundred horse, many of them clad in complete mail, a circumstance
not too common in these wars, where a stuffed doublet of cotton
was often the only panoply of the warrior. His infantry, formed
of pikemen and arquebusiers, was excellently armed. But his
strength lay in his heavy ordnance, consisting of sixteen pieces,
eight large and eight smaller guns, or falconets, as they were
called, forming, says one who saw it, a beautiful park of
artillery, that would have made a brave show on the citadel of
Burgos. *10 The little army, in short, though not imposing from
its numbers, was under as good discipline, and as well appointed,
as any that ever fought on the fields of Peru; much better than
any which Almagro's own father or Pizarro ever led into the field
and won their conquests with. Putting himself at the head of his
gallant company, the chieftain sallied forth from the walls of
Cuzco about midsummer, in 1542, and directed his march towards
the coast in expectation of meeting the enemy. *11

[Footnote 10: "El artilleria hera suficiente para hazer bateria
en el castillo de Burgos." Dicho del Capitan Francisco de
Carvajal sobre la pregunta 38 de la informacion hecha en el Cuzco
en 1543, a favor de Vaca de Castro, Ms.]

[Footnote 11: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Declaracion
de Uscategui, Ms. - Garcilasso, Com. Real, Real., Parte 2, lib.
2, cap. 13. - Carta del Cabildo de Arequipa al Emperador, San
Joan de la Frontera, Ms., 24 de Sep. 1542 - Herrera, Hist.
General, dez lib. 3, cap. 1, 2.]
While the events detailed in the preceding pages were passing,
Vaca de Castro, whom we left at Quito in the preceding year, was
advancing slowly towards the south. His first act, after leaving
that city, showed his resolution to enter into no compromise with
the assassins of Pizarro. Benalcazar, the distinguished officer
whom I have mentioned as having early given in his adherence to
him, had protected one of the principal conspirators, his
personal friend, who had come into his power, and had facilitated
his escape. The governor, indignant at the proceeding, would
listen to no explanation, but ordered the offending officer to
return to his own district of Popayan. It was a bold step, in
the precarious state of his own fortunes.

As the governor pursued his march, he was well received by the
people on the way; and when he entered the city of San Miguel, he
was welcomed with loyal enthusiasm by the inhabitants, who
readily acknowledged his authority though they showed little
alacrity to take their chance with him in the coming struggle.

After lingering a long time in each of these places, he resumed
his march and reached the camp of Alonso de Alvarado at Huaura,
early in 1542. Holguin had established his quarters at some
little distance from his rival; for a jealousy had sprung up, as
usual, between these two captains, who both aspired to the
supreme command of Captain-General of the army. The office of
governor, conferred on Vaca de Castro, might seem to include that
of commander-in-chief of the forces. But De Castro was a
scholar, bred to the law; and, whatever authority he might
arrogate to himself in civil matters, the two captains imagined
that the military department he would resign into the hands of
others. They little knew the character of the man.

Though possessed of no more military science than belonged to
every cavalier in that martial age, the governor knew that to
avow his ignorance, and to resign the management of affairs into
the hands of others, would greatly impair his authority, if not
bring him into contempt with the turbulent spirits among whom he
was now thrown. He had both sagacity and spirit, and trusted to
be able to supply his own deficiencies by the experience of
others. His position placed the services of the ablest men in
the country at his disposal, and with the aid of their counsels
he felt quite competent to decide on his plan of operations, and
to enforce the execution of it. He knew, moreover, that the only
way to allay the jealousy of the two parties in the present
crisis was to assume himself the office which was the cause of
their dissension.
Still he approached his ambitious officers with great caution;
and the representations, which he made through some judicious
persons who had the most intimate access to them, were so
successful, that both were in a short time prevailed on to
relinquish their pretensions in his favor. Holguin, the more
unreasonable of the two, then waited on him in his rival's
quarters, where the governor had the further satisfaction to
reconcile him to Alonso de Alvarado. It required some address,
as their jealousy of each other had proceeded to such lengths
that a challenge had passed between them.

Harmony being thus restored, the licentiate passed over to
Holguin's camp, where he was greeted with salvoes of artillery,
and loud acclamations of "Viva el Rey" from the loyal soldiery.
Ascending a platform covered with velvet, he made an animated
harangue to the troops; his commission was read aloud by the
secretary; and the little army tendered their obedience to him as
the representative of the Crown.
Vaca de Castro's next step was to send off the greater part of
his force, in the direction of Xauxa, while, at the head of a
small corps, he directed his march towards Lima. Here he was
received with lively demonstrations of joy by the citizens, who
were generally attached to the cause of Pizarro, the founder and
constant patron of their capital. Indeed, the citizens had lost
no time after Almagro's departure in expelling his creatures from
the municipality, and reasserting their allegiance. With these
favorable dispositions towards himself, the governor found no
difficulty in obtaining a considerable loan of money from the
wealthier inhabitants. But he was less successful, at first, in
his application for horses and arms, since the harvest had been
too faithfully gleaned, already, by the men of Chili. As,
however, he prolonged his stay some time in the capital, he
obtained important supplies, before he left it, both of arms and
ammunition, while he added to his force by a considerable body of
recruits. *12

[Footnote 12: Declaracion de Uscategui, Ms. - Pedro Pizarro,
Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 1,
cap. 1. - Carta de Barrio Nuevo, Ms. - Carta de Benalcazar al
Emperador, Ms.]
As he was thus employed, he received tidings that the enemy had
left Cuzco, and was on his march towards the coast. Quitting Los
Reyes, therefore, with his trusty followers, Vaca de Castro
marched at once to Xauxa, the appointed place of rendezvous.
Here he mustered his forces, and found that they amounted to
about seven hundred men. The cavalry, in which lay his strength,
was superior in numbers to that of his antagonist, but neither so
well mounted or armed. It included many cavaliers of birth, and
well-tried soldiers, besides a number who, having great interests
at stake, as possessed of large estates in the country, had left
them at the call of government, to enlist under its banners. *13
His infantry, besides pikes, was indifferently well supplied with
fire-arms; but he had nothing to show in the way of artillery
except three or four ill-mounted falconets. Yet, notwithstanding
these deficiencies, the royal army, if so insignificant a force
can deserve that name, was so far superior in numbers to that of
his rival, that the one might be thought, on the whole, to be no
unequal match for the other. *14

[Footnote 13: The Municipality of Arequipa, most of whose members
were present in the army, stoutly urge their claims to a
compensation for thus promptly leaving their estates, and taking
up arms at the call of government. Without such reward, they
say, their patriotic example will not often be followed. The
document, which is important for its historical details, may be
found in the Castilian, in Appendix, No. 13.]
[Footnote 14: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 15. - Carta de Barrio Nuevo, Ms

Chapter VI

Carbajal notices the politic manner in which his commander bribed
recruits into his service, - paying them with promises and fair
words when ready money failed him. "Dando a unos dineros, e a
otros armas i caballos, i a otros palabras, i a otros promesas, i
a otros graziosas respuestas de lo que con el negoziaban para
tenerlos a todos muy conttentos i presttos en el servicio de S.
M. quando fuese menestter." Dicho del Capitan Francisco de
Carbajal sobre la informacion hecha en el Cuzco en 1543, favor de
Vaca de Castro, Ms.]

The reader, familiar with the large masses employed in European
warfare, may smile at the paltry forces of the Spaniards. But in
the New World, where a countless host of natives went for little,
five hundred well-trained Europeans were regarded as a formidable
body. No army, up to the period before us, had ever risen to a
thousand. Yet it is not numbers, as I have already been led to
remark, that give importance to a conflict; but the consequences
that depend on it, - the magnitude of the stake, and the skill
and courage of the players. The more limited the means, even,
the greater may be the science shown in the use of them; until,
forgetting the poverty of the materials, we fix our attention on
the conduct of the actors, and the greatness of the results.
While at Xauxa, Vaca de Castro received an embassy from Gonzalo
Pizarro, returned from his expedition from the "Land of
Cinnamon," in which that chief made an offer of his services in
the approaching contest. The governor's answer showed that he was
not wholly averse to an accommodation with Almagro, provided it
could be effected without compromising the royal authority. He
was willing, perhaps, to avoid the final trial by battle, when he
considered, that, from the equality of the contending forces, the
issue must be extremely doubtful. He knew that the presence of
Pizarro in the camp, the detested enemy of the Almagrians, would
excite distrust in their bosoms that would probably baffle every
effort at accommodation. Nor is it likely that the governor
cared to have so restless a spirit introduced into his own
councils. He accordingly sent to Gonzalo, thanking him for the
promptness of his support, but courteously declined it, while he
advised him to remain in his province, and repose after the
fatigues of his wearisome expedition. At the same time, he
assured him that he would not fail to call for his services when
occasion required it. - The haughty cavalier was greatly
disgusted by the repulse. *15

[Footnote 15: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 15.]

The governor now received such an account of Almagro's movements
as led him to suppose that he was preparing to occupy Guamanga, a
fortified place of considerable strength, about thirty leagues
from Xauxa. *16 Anxious to secure this post, he broke up his
encampment, and by forced marches, conducted in so irregular a
manner as must have placed him in great danger if his enemy had
been near to profit by it, he succeeded in anticipating Almagro,
and threw himself into the place while his antagonist was at
Bilcas, some ten leagues distant.

[Footnote 16: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 85.]

At Guamanga, Vaca de Castro received another embassy from
Almagro, of similar import with the former. The young chief
again deprecated the existence of hostilities between brethren of
the same family, and proposed an accommodation of the quarrel on
the same basis as before. To these proposals the governor now
condescended to reply. It might be thought, from his answer,
that he felt some compassion for the youth and inexperience of
Almagro, and that he was willing to distinguish between him and
the principal conspirators, provided he could detach him from
their interests. But it is more probable that he intended only
to amuse his enemy by a show of negotiation, while he gained time
for tampering with the fidelity of his troops.

He insisted that Almagro should deliver up to him all those
immediately implicated in the death of Pizarro, and should then
disband his forces. On these conditions the government would
pass over his treasonable practices, and he should be reinstated
in the royal favor. Together with this mission, Vaca de Castro,
it is reported, sent a Spaniard, disguised as an Indian, who was
instructed to communicate with certain officers in Almagro's
camp, and prevail on them, if possible, to abandon his cause and
return to their allegiance. Unfortunately, the disguise of the
emissary was detected. He was seized, put to the torture, and,
having confessed the whole of the transaction, was hanged as a
spy.
Almagro laid the proceeding before his captains. The terms
proffered by the governor were such as no man with a particle of
honor in his nature could entertain for a moment; and Almagro's
indignation, as well as that of his companions, was heightened by
the duplicity of their enemy, who could practise such insidious
arts, while ostensibly engaged in a fair and open negotiation.
Fearful, perhaps, lest the tempting offers of their antagonist
might yet prevail over the constancy of some of the weaker
spirits among them, they demanded that all negotiation should be
broken off, and that they should be led at once against the
enemy. *17
[Footnote 17: Dicho del Capitan Francisco de Carbajal sobre la
informacion hecha en el Cuzco en 1543, a favor de Vaca de Castro,
Ms. - Zarate, Conq del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 16. - Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 7, lib. 3, cap. 8. - Carta de Ventura Beltran, Ms.
- Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 149]
The governor, meanwhile, finding the broken country around
Guamanga unfavorable for his cavalry, on which he mainly relied,
drew off his forces to the neighbouring lowlands, known as the
Plains of Chupas. It was the tempestuous season of the year, and
for several days the storm raged wildly among the hills, and,
sweeping along their sides into the valley, poured down rain,
sleet, and snow on the miserable bivouacs of the soldiers, till
they were drenched to the skin and nearly stiffened by the cold.
*18 At length, on the sixteenth of September, 1542, the scouts
brought in tidings that Almagro's troops were advancing, with the
intention, apparently, of occupying the highlands around Chupas.
The war of the elements had at last subsided, and was succeeded
by one of those brilliant days which are found only in the
tropics. The royal camp was early in motion, as Vaca de Castro,
desirous to secure the heights that commanded the valley,
detached a body of arquebusiers on that service, supported by a
corps of cavalry, which he soon followed with the rest of the
forces. On reaching the eminence, news was brought that the
enemy had come to a halt, and established himself in a strong
position at less than a league's distance.

[Footnote 18: "Tuvieron tan gran tempestad de agua, Truenos, i
Nieve, que pensaron perecer; i amaneciendo con dia claro, i
sereno" Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 3, cap. 8.]

It was now late in the afternoon, and the sun was not more than
two hours above the horizon. The governor hesitated to begin the
action when they must so soon be overtaken by night. But Alonso
de Alvarado assured him that "now was the time, for the spirits
of his men were hot for fight, and it was better to take the
benefit of it than to damp their ardor by delay." The governor
acquiesced, exclaiming at the same time, - "O for the might of
Joshua, to stay the sun in his course!" *19 He then drew up his
little army in order of battle, and made his dispositions for the
attack.
[Footnote 19: "Yasi Vaca de Castro signio su parescer, temiendo
toda via la falta del Dia, i dijo, que quisiera tener el poder de
Josue, para detener el Sol." Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap.
18.]
In the centre he placed his infantry, consisting of arquebusiers
and pikemen, constituting the battle, as it was called. On the
flanks, he established his cavalry, placing the right wing,
together with the royal standard, under charge of Alonso de
Alvarado, and the left under Holguin, supported by a gallant body
of cavaliers. His artillery, too insignificant to be of much
account, was also in the centre. He proposed himself to lead the
van, and to break the first lance with the enemy; but from this
chivalrous display he was dissuaded by his officers, who reminded
him that too much depended on his life to have it thus wantonly
exposed. The governor contented himself, therefore, with heading
a body of reserve, consisting of forty horse, to act on any
quarter as occasion might require. This corps, comprising the
flower of his chivalry, was chiefly drawn from Alvarado's troop,
greatly to the discontent of that captain. The governor himself
rode a coal-black charger, and wore a rich surcoat of brocade
over his mail, through which the habit and emblems of the
knightly order of St. James, conferred on him just before his
departure from Castile, were conspicuous. *20 It was a point of
honor with the chivalry of the period to court danger by
displaying their rank in the splendor of their military attire
and the caparisons of their horses.
[Footnote 20: "I visto esto por el dicho senor Governador, mando
dar al arma a mui gran priesa, i mando a este testigo que sacase
toda la gente al campo, i el se entro en su tienda a se armar, i
dende a poco salio della encima de un cavallo morcillo rabicano
armado en blanco i con una ropa de brocado encima de las armas
con el abito de Santiago en los pechos." Dicho del Capitan
Francisco de Carbajal sobre la informacion hecha en e Cuzco en
1543, a favor de Vaca de Castro, Ms.]

Before commencing the assault, Vaca de Castro addressed a few
remarks to his soldiers, in order to remove any hesitation that
some might yet feel, who recollected the displeasure shown by the
emperor to the victors as well as the vanquished after the battle
of Salinas. He told them that their enemies were rebels. They
were in arms against him, the representative of the Crown, and it
was his duty to quell this rebellion and punish the authors of
it. He then caused the law to be read aloud, proclaiming the
doom of traitors. By this law, Almagro and his followers had
forfeited their lives and property, and the governor promised to
distribute the latter among such of his men as showed the best
claim to it by their conduct in the battle. This last politic
promise vanquished the scruples of the most fastidious; and,
having completed his dispositions in the most judicious and
soldier-like manner, Vaca de Castro gave the order to advance.
*21

[Footnote 21: The governor's words, says Carbajal, who witnessed
their effect, stirred the heart of the troops, so that they went
to the battle as to a ball. "En pocas palabras comprehendio tan
grandes cosas que la gente de S. M. covro tan grande animo con
ellas, que tan determinadamente se partieron de alli para ir a
los enemigos como si fueron a fiestas donde estuvieran
convidados." Dicho del Capitan Francisco de Carbajal, sobre la
informacion hecha en el Cuzco en 1543, a favor de Vaca de Castro,
Ms.]
As the forces turned a spur of the hills which had hitherto
screened them from their enemies, they came in sight of the
latter, formed along the crest of a gentle eminence, with their
snow-white banners, the distinguishing color of the Almagrians,
floating above their heads, and their bright arms flinging back
the broad rays of the evening sun. Almagro's disposition of his
troops was not unlike that of his adversary. In the centre was
his excellent artillery, covered by his arquebusiers and
spearmen; while his cavalry rode on the flanks. The troops on
the left he proposed to lead in person. He had chosen his
position with judgment, as the character of the ground gave full
play to his guns, which opened an effective fire on the
assailants as they drew near. Shaken by the storm of shot, Vaca
de Castro saw the difficulty of advancing in open view of the
hostile battery. He took the counsel, therefore, of Francisco de
Carbajal, who undertook to lead the forces by a circuitous, but
safer, route. This is the first occasion on which the name of
this veteran appears in these American wars, where it was
afterwards to acquire a melancholy notoriety. He had come to the
country after the campaigns of forty years in Europe, where he
had studied the art of war under the Great Captain, Gonsalvo de
Cordova. Though now far advanced in age, he possessed all the
courage and indomitable energy of youth, and well exemplified the
lessons he had studied under his great commander.
Taking advantage of a winding route that sloped round the
declivity of the hills, he conducted the troops in such a manner,
that, until they approached quite near the enemy, they were
protected by the intervening ground. While thus advancing, they
were assailed on the left flank by the Indian battalions under
Paullo, the Inca Manco's brother; but a corps of musketeers,
directing a scattering fire among them, soon rid the Spaniards of
this annoyance. When, at length, the royal troops, rising above
the hill, again came into view of Almagro's lines, the artillery
opened on them with fatal effect. It was but for a moment,
however, as, from some unaccountable cause, the guns were pointed
at such an angle, that, although presenting an obvious mark, by
far the greater part of the shot passed over their heads.
Whether this was the result of treachery, or merely of
awkwardness, is uncertain. The artillery was under charge of the
engineer, Pedro de Candia. This man, who, it may be remembered,
was one of the thirteen that so gallantly stood by Pizarro in the
island of Gallo, had fought side by side with his leader through
the whole of the Conquest. He had lately, however, conceived
some disgust with him, and had taken part with the faction of
Almagro. The death of his old commander, he may perhaps have
thought, had settled all their differences, and he was now
willing to return to his former allegiance. At least, it is
said, that, at this very time, he was in correspondence with Vaca
de Castro. Almagro himself seems to have had no doubt of his
treachery. For, after remonstrating in vain with him on his
present conduct, he ran him through the body, and the unfortunate
cavalier fell lifeless on the field. Then, throwing himself on
one of the guns, Almagro gave it a new direction, and that so
successfully, that, when it was discharged, it struck down
several of the cavalry. *22

[Footnote 22: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 17-19. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. -
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 3, cap. 11. - Dicho del
Capitan Francisco de Carbajal sobre la informacion hecha en el
Cuzco en 1543, a favor de Vaca de Castro, Ms. - Carta del Cabildo
de Arequipa al Emperador, Ms. - Carta de Ventura Beltran, Ms. -
Declaracion de Uscategui, Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap.
149.

According to Garcilasso, whose guns usually do more execution
than those of any other authority, seventeen men were killed by
this wonderful shot. See Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 16.]
The firing now took better effect, and by one volley a whole file
of the royal infantry was swept off, and though others quickly
stepped in to fill up the ranks, the men, impatient of their
sufferings, loudly called on the troopers, who had halted for a
moment, to quicken their advance. *23 This delay had been caused
by Carbajal's desire to bring his own guns to bear on the
opposite columns. But the design was quickly abandoned; the
clumsy ordnance was left on the field, and orders were given to
the cavalry to charge; the trumpets sounded, and, crying their
war-cries, the bold cavaliers struck their spurs into their
steeds, and rode at full speed against the enemy.

[Footnote 23: The officers drove the men according to Zarate, at
the point of their swords, to take the places of their fallen
comrades. "Porque vn tiro llevo toda vna hilera, e hico abrir el
Escuadron, i los Capitanes pusieron gran diligencia en hacerlo
cerrar, amenacando de muerte a los Soldados, con las Espadas
desenvainadas, i se cerro." Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 1.]

Well had it been for Almagro, if he had remained firm on the post
which gave him such advantage. But from a false point of honor,
he thought it derogatory to a brave knight passively to await the
assault, and, ordering his own men to charge, the hostile
squadrons, rapidly advancing against each other, met midway on
the plain. The shock was terrible. Horse and rider reeled under
the force of it. The spears flew into shivers; *24 and the
cavaliers, drawing their swords, or wielding their maces and
battle-axes, - though some of the royal troopers were armed only
with a common axe, - dealt their blows with all the fury of civil
hate. It was a fearful struggle, not merely of man against man,
but, to use the words of an eyewitness, of brother against
brother, and friend against friend. *25 No quarter was asked; for
the wrench that had been strong enough to tear asunder the
dearest ties of kindred left no hold for humanity. The excellent
arms of the Almagrians counterbalanced the odds of numbers; but
the royal partisans gained some advantage by striking at the
horses instead of the mailed bodies of their antagonists.
[Footnote 24: "Se encontraron de suerte, que casi todas las
lancas quebraron, quedando muchos muertos, i caidos de ambas
partes." (Ibid., ubi supra.) Zarate writes on this occasion with
the spirit and strength of Thucydides. He was not present, but
came into the country the following year, when he gleaned the
particulars of the battle from the best informed persons there,
to whom his position gave him ready access.]
[Footnote 25: It is the language of the Conquerors themselves,
who, in their letter to the Emperor, compare the action to the
great battle of Ravenna. "Fue tan renida i porfiada, que despues
de la de Rebena, no se ha visto entre tan poca gente mas cruel
batalla, donde hermanos a hermanos, ni deudos a deudos, ni amigos
a amigos no se davan vida uno a otro." Carta de Cabildo de
Arequipa al Emperador. Ms.]

The infantry, meanwhile, on both sides, kept up a sharp
cross-fire from their arquebuses, which did execution on the
ranks of the cavaliers, as well as on one another. But Almagro's
battery of heavy guns, now well directed, mowed down the
advancing columns of foot. The latter, staggering, began to fall
back from the terrible fire, when Francisco de Carbajal, throwing
himself before them, cried out, "Shame on you, my men! Do you
give way now? I am twice as good a mark for the enemy as any of
you!" He was a very large man; and, throwing off his steel helmet
and cuirass, that he might have no advantage over his followers,
he remained lightly attired in his cotton doublet, when, swinging
his partisan over his head, he sprang boldly forward through
blinding volumes of smoke and a tempest of musket-balls, and,
supported by the bravest of his troops, overpowered the gunners,
and made himself master of their pieces.

The shades of night had now, for some time, been coming thicker
and thicker over the field. But still the deadly struggle went
on in the darkness, as the red and white badges intimated the
respective parties, and their war-cries rose above the din, -
"Vaca de Castro y el Rey," - "Almagro y el Rey," - while both
invoked the aid of their military apostle St. James. Holguin,
who commanded the royalists on the left, pierced through by two
musket-balls, had been slain early in the action. He had made
himself conspicuous by a rich sobrevest of white velvet over his
armour. Still a gallant band of cavaliers maintained the fight
so valiantly on that quarter, that the Almagrians found it
difficult to keep their ground. *26

[Footnote 26: The battle was so equally contested, says Beltran,
one of Vaca de Castro's captains, that it was long doubtful on
which side victory was to incline. "I la batalla estuvo mui gran
rato en peso sin conoscerse vitoria de la una parte a la otra."
Carta de Ventura Beltran, Ms.]
It fared differently on the right, where Alonso de Alvarado
commanded. He was there encountered by Almagro in person, who
fought worthy of his name. By repeated charges on his opponent,
he endeavoured to bear down his squadrons, so much worse mounted
and worse armed than his own. Alvarado resisted with
undiminished courage; but his numbers had been thinned, as we
have seen, before the battle, to supply the governor's reserve,
and, fairly overpowered by the superior strength of his
adversary, who had already won two of the royal banners, he was
slowly giving ground. "Take, but kill not!" shouted the generous
young chief, who felt himself sure of victory. *27

[Footnote 27: "Gritaba, Victoria; i decia, Prender i no matar."
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 3, cap. 11.]

But at this crisis, Vaca de Castro, who, with his reserve, had
occupied a rising ground that commanded the field of action, was
fully aware that the time had now come for him to take part in
the struggle. He had long strained his eyes through the gloom to
watch the movements of the combatants, and received constant
tidings how the fight was going. He no longer hesitated, but,
calling on his men to follow, led off boldly into the thickest of
the melee to the support of his stouthearted officer. The
arrival of a new corps on the field, all fresh for action, gave
another turn to the tide. *28 Alvarado's men took heart and
rallied. Almagro's, though driven back by the fury of the
assault, quickly returned against their assailants. Thirteen of
Vaca de Castro's cavaliers fell dead from their saddles. But it
was the last effort of the Almagrians. Their strength, though
not their spirit, failed them. They gave way in all directions,
and, mingling together in the darkness, horse, foot, and
artillery, they trampled one another down, as they made the best
of their way from the press of their pursuers. Almagro used
every effort to stay them. He performed miracles of valor, says
one who witnessed them; but he was borne along by the tide, and,
though he seemed to court death, by the freedom with which he
exposed his person to danger yet he escaped without a wound.

[Footnote 28: The letter of the municipality of Arequipa gives
the governor credit for deciding the fate of the day by this
movement, and the writers express their "admiration of the
gallantry and courage he displayed, so little to have been
expected from his age and profession." See the original in
Appendix, No. 13.]

Others there were of his company, and among them a young cavalier
named Geronimo de Alvarado, who obstinately refused to quit the
field; and shouting out, - "We slew Pizarro! we killed the
tyrant!" they threw themselves on the lances of their conquerors,
preferring death on the battle-field to the ignominious doom of
the gibbet. *29

[Footnote 29: "Se arrojaron en los Enemigos, como desesperados,
hiriendo a todas partes, diciendo cada vno por su nombre: Yo soi
Fulano, que mate al Marques; i asi anduvieron hasta, que los
hicieron pedacos.' Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 19.]

It was nine o'clock when the battle ceased, though the firing was
heard at intervals over the field at a much later hour, as some
straggling party of fugitives were overtaken by their pursuers.
Yet many succeeded in escaping in the obscurity of night, while
some, it is said, contrived to elude pursuit in a more singular
way; tearing off the badges from the corpses of their enemies,
they assumed them for themselves, and, mingling in the ranks as
followers of Vaca de Castro, joined in the pursuit.
That commander, at length, fearing some untoward accident, and
that the fugitives, should they rally again under cover of the
darkness, might inflict some loss on their pursuers, caused his
trumpets to sound, and recalled his scattered forces under their
banners. All night they remained under arms on the field, which,
so lately the scene of noisy strife, was now hushed in silence,
broken only by the groans of the wounded and the dying. The
natives, who had hung, during the fight, like a dark cloud, round
the skirts of the mountains, contemplating with gloomy
satisfaction the destruction of their enemies, now availed
themselves of the obscurity to descend, like a pack of famished
wolves, upon the plains, where they stripped the bodies of the
slain, and even of the living, but disabled wretches, who had in
vain dragged themselves into the bushes for concealment. The
following morning, Vaca de Castro gave orders that the wounded -
those who had not perished in the cold damps of the night -
should be committed to the care of the surgeons, while the
priests were occupied with administering confession and
absolution to the dying. Four large graves or pits were dug, in
which the bodies of the slain - the conquerors and the conquered
- were heaped indiscriminately together. But the remains of
Alvarez de Holguin and several other cavaliers of distinction
were transported to Guamanga, where they were buried with the
solemnities suited to their rank; and the tattered banners won
from their vanquished countrymen waved over their monuments, the
melancholy trophies of their victory.

The number of killed is variously reported, - from three hundred
to five hundred on both sides. *30 The mortality was greatest
among the conquerors, who suffered more from the cannon of the
enemy before the action, than the latter suffered in the rout
that followed it. The number of wounded was still greater; and
full half of the survivors of Almagro's party were made
prisoners. Many, indeed, escaped from the field to the
neighbouring town of Guamanga, where they took refuge in the
churches and monasteries. But their asylum was not respected,
and they were dragged forth and thrown into prison. Their brave
young commander fled with a few followers only to Cuzco, where he
was instantly arrested by the magistrates whom he had himself
placed over the city. *31

[Footnote 30: Zarate estimates the number at three hundred.
Uscategui, who belonged to the Almagrian party, and Garcilasso,
both rate it as high as five hundred.]

[Footnote 31: The particulars of the action are gathered from
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de Ventura Beltran,
Ms. - Zarate, Zarate Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 17-20. -
Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Dicho del Capitan Francisco de
Carbajal sobre la informacion hecha en el Cuzco en 1543 a favor
de Vaca de Castro, Ms. - Carta del Cabildo de Arequipa al
Emperador, Ms. - Carta de Barrio Nuevo, Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de
las Ind., cap. 149. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 3,
cap. 15-18. - Declaracion de Uscategui, Ms.

Many of these authorities were personally present on the field;
and it is rare that the details of a battle are drawn from more
authentic testimony. The student of history will not be
surprised that in these details there should be the greatest
discrepancy.]

At Guamanga, Vaca de Castro appointed a commission, with the
Licentiate de la Gama at its head, for the trial of the
prisoners; and justice was not satisfied, till forty had been
condemned to death, and thirty others - some of them with the
loss of one or more of their members - sent into banishment. *32
Such severe reprisals have been too common with the Spaniards in
their civil feuds. Strange that they should so blindly plunge
into these, with this dreadful doom for the vanquished!
[Footnote 32: Declaracion de Uscategui, Ms. - Carta de Ventura
Beltran, Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 21.

The loyal burghers of Arequipa seem to have been well contented
with these executions. "If night had not overtaken us," they
say, alluding to the action, in their letter to the emperor,
"your Majesty would have had no reason to complain; but what was
omitted then is made up now, since the governor goes on
quartering every day some one or other of the traitors who
escaped from the field." See the original in Appendix, No. 13.]
From the scene of this bloody tragedy, the governor proceeded to
Cuzco, which he entered at the head of his victorious battalions,
with all the pomp and military display of a conqueror. He
maintained a corresponding state in his way of living, at the
expense of a sneer from some, who sarcastically contrasted this
ostentatious profusion with the economical reforms he
subsequently introduced into the finances. *33 But Vaca de Castro
was sensible of the effect of this outward show on the people
generally, and disdained no means of giving authority to his
office. His first act was to determine the fate of his prisoner,
Almagro. A council of war was held. Some were for sparing the
unfortunate chief, in consideration of his youth, and the strong
cause of provocation he had received. But the majority were of
opinion that such mercy could not be extended to the leader of
the rebels, and that his death was indispensable to the permanent
tranquillity of the country.

[Footnote 33: Herrera, Hist. General, dec 7, lib. 4, cap. 1.]
When led to execution in the great square of Cuzco, - the same
spot where his father had suffered but a few years before, -
Almagro exhibited the most perfect composure, though, as the
herald proclaimed aloud the doom of the traitor, he indignantly
denied that he was one. He made no appeal for mercy to his
judges, but simply requested that his bones might be laid by the
side of his father's. He objected to having his eyes bandaged,
as was customary on such occasions, and, after confession, he
devoutly embraced the cross, and submitted his neck to the stroke
of the executioner. His remains, agreeably to his request, were
transported to the monastery of La Merced, where they were
deposited side by side with those of his unfortunate parent. *34

[Footnote 34: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Zarate,
Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 21. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms.
- Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 6, cap. 1.]

There have been few names, indeed, in the page of history, more
unfortunate than that of Almagro. Yet the fate of the son
excites a deeper sympathy than that of the father; and this, not
merely on account of his youth, and the peculiar circumstances of
his situation. He possessed many of the good qualities of the
elder Almagro, with a frank and manly nature, in which the
bearing of the soldier was somewhat softened by the refinement of
a better education than is to be found in the license of a camp.
His career, though short, gave promise of considerable talent,
which required only a fair field for its development. But he was
the child of misfortune, and his morning of life was overcast by
clouds and tempests. If his character, naturally benignant,
sometimes showed the fiery sparkles of the vindictive Indian
temper, some apology may be found, not merely in his blood, but
in the circumstances of his situation. He was more sinned
against than sinning; and, if conspiracy could ever find a
justification, it must be in a case like his, where, borne down
by injuries heaped on his parent and himself, he could obtain no
redress from the only quarter whence he had a right to look for
it. With him, the name of Almagro became extinct, and the faction
of Chili, so long the terror of the land, passed away for ever.

While these events were occurring in Cuzco, the governor learned
that Gonzalo Pizarro had arrived at Lima, where he showed himself
greatly discontented with the state of things in Peru. He loudly
complained that the government of the country, after his
brother's death, had not been placed in his hands; and, as
reported by some, he was now meditating schemes for getting
possession of it. Vaca de Castro well knew that there would be
no lack of evil counsellors to urge Gonzalo to this desperate
step; and, anxious to extinguish the spark of insurrection before
it had been fanned by these turbulent spirits into a flame, he
detached a strong body to Lima to secure that capital. At the
same time he commanded the presence of Gonzalo Pizarro in Cuzco.

That chief did not think it prudent to disregard the summons; and
shortly after entered the Inca capital, at the head of a
well-armed body of cavaliers. He was at once admitted into the
governor's presence, when the latter dismissed his guard,
remarking that he had nothing to fear from a brave and loyal
knight like Pizarro. He then questioned him as to his late
adventures in Canelas, and showed great sympathy for his
extraordinary sufferings. He took care not to alarm his jealousy
by any allusion to his ambitious schemes, and concluded by
recommending him, now that the tranquillity of the country was
reestablished, to retire and seek the repose he so much needed,
on his valuable estates at Charcas. Gonzalo Pizarro, finding no
ground opened for a quarrel with the cool and politic governor,
and probably feeling that he was, at least not now, in sufficient
strength to warrant it, thought it prudent to take the advice,
and withdrew to La Plata, where he busied himself in working
those rich mines of silver that soon put him in condition for a
more momentous enterprise than any he had yet attempted. *35

[Footnote 35: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera,
Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 4, cap. 1; lib. 6, cap 3. - Zarate,
Conq. del Peru lib. 1, cap. 22.]

Thus rid of his formidable competitor, Vaca de Castro occupied
himself with measures for the settlement of the country. He
began with his army, a part of which he had disbanded. But many
cavaliers still remained, pressing their demands for a suitable
recompense for their services. These they were not disposed to
undervalue, and the governor was happy to rid himself of their
importunities by employing them on distant expeditions, among
which was the exploration of the country watered by the great Rio
de la Plata. The boiling spirits of the high-mettled cavaliers,
without some such vent, would soon have thrown the whole country
again into a state of fermentation.

His next concern was to provide laws for the better government of
the colony. He gave especial care to the state of the Indian
population; and established schools for teaching them
Christianity. By various provisions, he endeavoured to secure
them from the exactions of their conquerors, and he encouraged
the poor natives to transfer their own residence to the
communities of the white men. He commanded the caciques to
provide supplies for the tambos, or houses for the accommodation
of travellers, which lay in their neighbourhood, by which
regulation he took away from the Spaniards a plausible apology
for rapine, and greatly promoted facility of intercourse. He was
watchful over the finances, much dilapidated in the late
troubles, and in several instances retrenched what he deemed
excessive repartimientos among the Conquerors. This last act
exposed him to much odium from the objects of it. But his
measures were so just and impartial, that he was supported by
public opinion. *36
[Footnote 36: Ibid., ubi supra. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 7,
lib. 6, cap. 2.]

Indeed, Vaca de Castro's conduct, from the hour of his arrival in
the country, had been such as to command respect, and prove him
competent to the difficult post for which he had been selected.
Without funds, without troops, he had found the country, on his
landing, in a state of anarchy; yet, by courage and address, he
had gradually acquired sufficient strength to quell the
insurrection. Though no soldier, he had shown undaunted spirit
and presence of mind in the hour of action, and made his military
preparations with a forecast and discretion that excited the
admiration of the most experienced veterans.

If he may be thought to have abused the advantages of victory by
cruelty towards the conquered, it must be allowed that he was not
influenced by any motives of a personal nature. He was a lawyer,
bred in high notions of royal prerogative. Rebellion he looked
upon as an unpardonable crime; and, if his austere nature was
unrelenting in the exaction of justice, he lived in an iron age,
when justice was rarely tempered by mercy.

In his subsequent regulations for the settlement of the country,
he showed equal impartiality and wisdom. The colonists were
deeply sensible of the benefits of his administration, and
afforded the best commentary on his services by petitioning the
Court of Castile to continue him in the government of Peru. *37
Unfortunately, such was not the policy of the Crown.

[Footnote 37: "I asi lo escrivieron al Rei la Ciudad del Cuzco,
la Villa de la Plata, i otras Comunidades, suplicandole, que los
dexase por Governador a Vaca de Castro, como Persona, que
procedia con rectitud, i que ia entendia el Govierno de aquellos
Reinos." Herrera, Ibid., loc. cit.]

Chapter VII

Abuses By The Conquerors. - Code For The Colonies. - Great
Excitement In Peru. - Blasco Nunez The Viceroy. - His Severe
Policy. - Opposed By Gonzalo Pizarro.
1543-1544.

Before continuing the narrative of events in Peru, we must turn
to the mother-country, where important changes were in progress
in respect to the administration of the colonies.

Since his accession to the Crown, Charles the Fifth had been
chiefly engrossed by the politics of Europe, where a theatre was
opened more stimulating to his ambition than could be found in a
struggle with the barbarian princes of the New World. In this
quarter, therefore, an empire almost unheeded, as it were, had
been suffered to grow up, until it had expanded into dimensions
greater than those of his European dominions, and destined soon
to become far more opulent. A scheme of government had, it is
true, been devised, and laws enacted from time to time for the
regulation of the colonies. But these laws were often
accommodated less to the interests of the colonies themselves,
than to those of the parent country; and, when contrived in a
better spirit, they were but imperfectly executed; for the voice
of authority, however loudly proclaimed at home, too often died
away in feeble echoes before it had crossed the waters.
This state of things, and, indeed, the manner in which the
Spanish territories in the New World had been originally
acquired, were most unfortunate both for the conquered races and
their masters. Had the provinces gained by the Spaniards been
the fruit of peaceful acquisition, - of barter and negotiation, -
or had their conquest been achieved under the immediate direction
of government, the interests of the natives would have been more
carefully protected. From the superior civilization of the
Indians in the Spanish American colonies, they still continued
after the Conquest to remain on the ground, and to mingle in the
same communities, with the white men; in this forming an obvious
contrast to the condition of our own aborigines, who, shrinking
from the contact of civilization, have withdrawn, as the latter
has advanced, deeper and deeper into the heart of the wilderness.
But the South American Indian was qualified by his previous
institutions for a more refined legislation than could be adapted
to the wild hunters of the forest; and, had the sovereign been
there in person to superintend his conquests, he could never have
suffered so large a portion of his vassals to be wantonly
sacrificed to the cupidity and cruelty of the handful of
adventurers who subdued them.
But, as it was, the affair of reducing the country was committed
to the hands of irresponsible individuals, soldiers of fortune,
desperate adventurers, who entered on conquest as a game, which
they were to play in the most unscrupulous manner, with little
care but to win it. Receiving small encouragement from the
government, they were indebted to their own valor for success;
and the right of conquest, they conceived, extinguished every
existing right in the unfortunate natives. The lands, the
persons, of the conquered races were parcelled out and
appropriated by the victors as the legitimate spoils of victory;
and outrages were perpetrated every day, at the contemplation of
which humanity shudders.

These outrages, though nowhere perpetrated on so terrific a scale
as in the islands, where, in a few years, they had nearly
annihilated the native population, were yet of sufficient
magnitude in Peru to call down the vengeance of Heaven on the
heads of their authors; and the Indian might feel that this
vengeance was not long delayed, when he beheld his oppressors,
wrangling over their miserable spoil, and turning their swords
against each other. Peru, as already mentioned, was subdued by
adventurers, for the most part, of a lower and more ferocious
stamp than those who followed the banner of Cortes. The
character of the followers partook, in some measure, of that of
the leaders in their respective enterprises. It was a sad
fatality for the Incas; for the reckless soldiers of Pizarro were
better suited to contend with the fierce Aztec than with the more
refined and effeminate Peruvian. Intoxicated by the unaccustomed
possession of power, and without the least notion of the
responsibilities which attached to their situation as masters of
the land, they too often abandoned themselves to the indulgence
of every whim which cruelty or caprice could dictate. Not
unfrequently, says an unsuspicious witness, I have seen the
Spaniards, long after the Conquest, amuse themselves by hunting
down the natives with bloodhounds for mere sport, or in order to
train their dogs to the game! *1 The most unbounded scope was
given to licentiousness. The young maiden was torn without
remorse from the arms of her family to gratify the passion of her
brutal conqueror. *2 The sacred houses of the Virgins of the Sun
were broken open and violated, and the cavalier swelled his harem
with a troop of Indian girls, making it seem that the Crescent
would have been a much more fitting symbol for his banner than
the immaculate Cross. *3

[Footnote 1: "Espanoles hai que crian perros carniceros i los
avezan a matar Indios, lo qual procuran a las veces por
pasatiempo, i ver si lo hacen bien los perros." Relacion que dio
el Provisor Morales sobre las cosas que convenian provarse en el
Peru, Ms.]

[Footnote 2: "Que los Justicias dan cedulas de Anaconas que por
otros terminos los hacen esclavos e vivir contra su voluntad,
diciendo: Por la presente damos licencia a vos Fulano, para que
os podais servir de tal Indio o de tal India e lo podais tomar e
sacar donde quiera que lo hallaredes." Rel. del Provisor Morales,
Ms.]

[Footnote 3: "Es general el vicio del amancebamiento con Indias,
i algunos tienen cantidad dellas como en serrallo." Ibid., Ms.]

But the dominant passion of the Spaniard was the lust of gold.
For this he shrunk from no toil himself, and was merciless in his
exactions of labor from his Indian slave. Unfortunately, Peru
abounded in mines which too well repaid this labor; and human
life was the item of least account in the estimate of the
Conquerors. Under his Incas, the Peruvian was never suffered to
be idle; but the task imposed on him was always proportioned to
his strength. He had his seasons of rest and refreshment, and
was well protected against the inclemency of the weather. Every
care was shown for his personal safety. But the Spaniards, while
they taxed the strength of the native to the utmost, deprived him
of the means of repairing it, when exhausted. They suffered the
provident arrangements of the Incas to fall into decay. The
granaries were emptied; the flocks were wasted in riotous living.
They were slaughtered to gratify a mere epicurean whim, and many
a llama was destroyed solely for the sake of the brains, - a
dainty morsel, much coveted by the Spaniards. *4 So reckless was
the spirit of destruction after the Conquest, says Ondegardo, the
wise governor of Cuzco, that in four years more of these animals
perished than in four hundred, in the times of the Incas. *5 The
flocks, once so numerous over the broad table-lands, were now
thinned to a scanty number, that sought shelter in the fastnesses
of the Andes. The poor Indian, without food, without the warm
fleece which furnished him a defence against the cold, now
wandered half-starved and naked over the plateau. Even those who
had aided the Spaniards in the conquest fared no better; and many
an Inca noble roamed a mendicant over the lands where he once
held rule, and if driven, perchance, by his necessities, to
purloin something from the superfluity of his conquerors, he
expiated it by a miserable death. *6
[Footnote 4: "Muchos Espanoles han muerto i matan increible
cantidad de ovejas por comer solo los sesos, hacer pasteles del
tuetano i candelas de la grasa. De ai hambre general." Ibid.,
Ms.]

[Footnote 5: "Se puede afirmar que hicieron mas dano los
Espanoles en solos quatro anos que el Inga en quatrocientos."
Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.]

[Footnote 6: "Ahora no tienen que comer ni donde sembrar, i asi
van a hurtallo como solian, delito por que han aorcado a muchos."
Rel. del Provisor Morales, Ms.

This, and some of the preceding citations, as the reader will
see, have been taken from the Ms. of the Bachelor Luis de
Morales, who lived eighteen or twenty years in Cuzco; and, in
1541, about the time of Vaca de Castro's coming to Peru, prepared
a Memorial for the government, embracing a hundred and nine
chapters. It treats of the condition of the country, and the
remedies which suggested themselves to the benevolent mind of its
author. The emperor's notes on the margin show that it received
attention at court. There is no reason, as far as I am aware, to
distrust the testimony of the writer, and Munoz has made some
sensible extracts from it for his inestimable collection.]

It is true, there were good men, missionaries, faithful to their
calling, who wrought hard in the spiritual conversion of the
native, and who, touched by his misfortunes, would gladly have
interposed their arm to shield him from his oppressors. *7 But
too often the ecclesiastic became infected by the general spirit
of licentiousness; and the religious fraternities, who led a life
of easy indulgence on the lands cultivated by their Indian
slaves, were apt to think less of the salvation of their souls
than of profiting by the labor of their bodies. *8

[Footnote 7: Father Naharro notices twelve missionaries, some of
his own order, whose zealous labors and miracles for the
conversion of the Indians he deems worthy of comparison with
those of the twelve Apostles of Christianity. It is a pity that
history, while it has commemorated the names of so many
persecutors of the poor heathen, should have omitted those of
their benefactors.

"Tomo su divina Magestad por instrumento 12 solos religiosos
pobres, descalzos i desconocidos, 5 del orden de la Merced, 4 de
Predicadores, i 3 de San Francisco, obraron lo mismo que los 12
apostolos en la conversion de todo el universo mundo." Naharro,
Relacion Sumaria, Ms.]
[Footnote 8: "Todos los conventos de Dominicos i Mercenarios
tienen repartimientos. Ninguno dellos ha dotrinado ni convertido
un Indio. Procuran sacar dellos quanto pueden, trabajarles en
grangerias; con esto i con otras limosnas enriquecen. Mal
egemplo. Ademas convendra no pasen frailes sino precediendo
diligente examen de vida i dotrina." (Relacion de las cosas que
S. M. deve proveer para los reynos del Peru, embiada desde los
Reyes a la Corte por el Licenciado Martel Santoyo, de quien va
firmada en principios de 1542, Ms.) This statement of the
licentiate shows a different side of the picture from that above
quoted from Father Naharro. Yet they are not irreconcilable.
Human nature has both its lights and its shadows.]

Yet still there were not wanting good and wise men in the
colonies, who, from time to time, raised the voice of
remonstrance against these abuses, and who carried their
complaints to the foot of the throne. To the credit of the
government, it must also be confessed, that it was solicitous to
obtain such information as it could, both from its own officers,
and from commissioners deputed expressly for the purpose, whose
voluminous communications throw a flood of light on the internal
condition of the country, and furnish the best materials for the
historian. *9 But it was found much easier to get this
information than to profit by it.
[Footnote 9: I have several of these Memorials or Relaciones, as
they are called, in my possession, drawn up by residents in
answer to queries propounded by government. These queries, while
their great object is to ascertain the nature of existing abuses,
and to invite the suggestion of remedies, are often directed to
the laws and usages of the ancient Incas. The responses,
therefore, are of great value to the historical inquirer. The
most important of these documents in my possession is that by
Ondegardo, governor of Cuzco, covering near four hundred folio
pages, once forming part of Lord Kingsborough's valuable
collection. It is impossible to peruse those elaborate and
conscientious reports without a deep conviction of the pains
taken by the Crown to ascertain the nature of the abuses in the
domestic government of the colonies, and their honest purpose to
amend them. Unfortunately, in this laudable purpose they were
not often seconded by the colonist themselves.]

In 1541, Charles the Fifth, who had been much occupied by the
affairs of Germany, revisited his ancestral dominions, where his
attention was imperatively called to the state of the colonies.
Several memorials in relation to it were laid before him; but no
one pressed the matter so strongly on the royal conscience as Las
Casas, afterwards Bishop of Chiapa. This good ecclesiastic,
whose long life had been devoted to those benevolent labors which
gained him the honorable title of Protector of the Indians, had
just completed his celebrated treatise on the Destruction of the
Indies, the most remarkable record, probably, to be found, of
human wickedness, but which, unfortunately, loses much of its
effect from the credulity of the writer, and his obvious tendency
to exaggerate.
In 1542, Las Casas placed his manuscript in the hands of his
royal master. That same year, a council was called at
Valladolid, composed chiefly of jurists and theologians, to
devise a system of laws for the regulation of the American
colonies.

Las Casas appeared before this body, and made an elaborate
argument, of which a part only has been given to the public. He
there assumes, as a fundamental proposition, that the Indians
were by the law of nature free; that, as vassals of the Crown,
they had a right to its protection, and should be declared free
from that time, without exception and for ever. *10 He sustains
this proposition by a great variety of arguments, comprehending
the substance of most that has been since urged in the same cause
by the friends of humanity. He touches on the ground of
expediency, showing, that, without the interference of
government, the Indian race must be gradually exterminated by the
systematic oppression of the Spaniards. In conclusion, he
maintains, that, if the Indians, as it was pretended, would not
labor unless compelled, the white man would still find it for his
interest to cultivate the soil; and that if he should not be able
to do so, that circumstance would give him no right over the
Indian, since God does not allow evil that good may come of it.
*11 - This lofty morality, it will be remembered, was from the
lips of a Dominican, in the sixteenth century, one of the order
that founded the Inquisition, and in the very country where the
fiery tribunal was then in most active operation! *12

[Footnote 10: The perpetual emancipation of the Indians is urged
in the most emphatic manner by another bishop, also a Dominican,
but bearing certainly very little resemblance to Las Casas. Fray
Valverde makes this one of the prominent topics in a
communication, already cited, to the government, the general
scope of which must be admitted to do more credit to his humanity
than some of the passages recorded of him in history. - "A V. M.
representaran alla los conquistadores muchos servicios, dandolos
por causa para que los dexen servir de los indios como de
esclavos: V. M. se los tiene mui bien pagados en los provechos
que han avido desta tierra, y no los ha de pagar con hazer a sus
vasallos esclavos." Carta de Valverde al Emperador, Ms.]

[Footnote 11: "La loi de Dieu detend de faire le mal pour qu'il
en resulte du bien." Oeuvres de Las Casas, eveque de Chiapa,
trad. par Llorente, (Paris, 1822,) tom. l. p. 251.]

[Footnote 12: It is a curious coincidence, that this argument of
Las Casas should have been first published - in a translated
form, indeed - by a secretary of the Inquisition, Llorente. The
original still remains in Ms. It is singular that these volumes,
containing the views of this great philanthropist on topics of
such interest to humanity, should not have been more freely
consulted, or at least cited, by those who have since trod in his
footsteps. They are an arsenal from which many a serviceable
weapon for the good cause might be borrowed.]

The arguments of Las Casas encountered all the opposition
naturally to be expected from indifference, selfishness, and
bigotry. They were also resisted by some persons of just and
benevolent views in his audience, who, while they admitted the
general correctness of his reasoning, and felt deep sympathy for
the wrongs of the natives, yet doubted whether his scheme of
reform was not fraught with greater evils than those it was
intended to correct. For Las Casas was the uncompromising friend
of freedom. He intrenched himself strongly on the ground of
natural right; and, like some of the reformers of our own day,
disdained to calculate the consequences of carrying out the
principle to its full and unqualified extent. His earnest
eloquence, instinct with the generous love of humanity, and
fortified by a host of facts, which it was not easy to assail,
prevailed over his auditors. The result of their deliberations
was a code of ordinances, which, however, far from being limited
to the wants of the natives, had particular reference to the
European population, and the distractions of the country. It was
of general application to all the American colonies. It will be
necessary here only to point out some of the provisions having
immediate reference to Peru.

The Indians were declared true and loyal vassals of the Crown,
and their freedom as such was fully recognized. Yet, to maintain
inviolate the guaranty of the government to the Conquerors, it
was decided, that those lawfully possessed of slaves might still
retain them; but, at the death of the present proprietors, they
were to revert to the Crown.
It was provided, however, that slaves, in any event, should be
forfeited by all those who had shown themselves unworthy to hold
them by neglect or ill-usage; by all public functionaries, or
such as had held offices under the government; by ecclesiastics
and religious corporations; and lastly, - a sweeping clause, - by
all who had taken a criminal part in the feuds of Almagro and
Pizarro.

It was further ordered, that the Indians should be moderately
taxed; that they should not be compelled to labor where they did
not choose, and that where, from particular circumstances, this
was made necessary, they should receive a fair compensation. It
was also decreed, that, as the repartimientos of land were often
excessive, they should in such cases be reduced; and that, where
proprietors had been guilty of a notorious abuse of their slaves,
their estates should be forfeited altogether.
As Peru had always shown a spirit of insubordination, which
required a more vigorous interposition of authority than was
necessary in the other colonies, it was resolved to send a
viceroy to that country, who should display a state, and be armed
with powers, that might make him a more fitting representative of
the sovereign. He was to be accompanied by a Royal Audience,
consisting of four judges, with extensive powers of jurisdiction,
both criminal and civil, who, besides a court of justice, should
constitute a sort of council to advise with and aid the viceroy.
The Audience of Panama was to be dissolved, and the new tribunal,
with the vice-king's court, was to be established at Los Reyes,
or Lima, as it now began to be called, - henceforth the
metropolis of the Spanish empire on the Pacific. *13

[Footnote 13: The provisions of this celebrated code are to be
found, with more or less - generally less - accuracy, in the
various contemporary writers. Herrera gives them in extenso.
Hist. General, dec 7 lib. 6, cap. 5.]

Such were some of the principal features of this remarkable code,
which, touching on the most delicate relations of society, broke
up the very foundations of property, and, by a stroke of the pen,
as it were, converted a nation of slaves into freemen. It would
have required, we may suppose, but little forecast to divine,
that in the remote regions of America, and especially in Peru,
where the colonists had been hitherto accustomed to unbounded
license, a reform, so salutary in essential points, could be
enforced thus summarily only at the price of a revolution. - Yet
the ordinances received the sanction of the emperor that same
year, and in November, 1543, were published at Madrid. *14
[Footnote 14: Las Casas pressed the matter home on the royal
conscience, by representing that the Papal See conceded the right
of conquest to the Spanish sovereigns on the exclusive condition
of converting the heathen, and that the Almighty would hold him
accountable for the execution of this trust. Oeuvres de Las
Casas, ubi supra.]

No sooner was their import known than it was conveyed by numerous
letters to the colonists, from their friends in Spain. The
tidings flew like wild-fire over the land, from Mexico to Chili.
Men were astounded at the prospect of the ruin that awaited them.
In Peru, particularly, there was scarcely one that could hope to
escape the operation of the law. Few there were who had not
taken part, at some time or other, in the civil feuds of Almagro
and Pizarro; and still fewer of those that remained that would
not be entangled in some one or other of the insidious clauses
that seemed spread out, like a web, to ensnare them.

The whole country was thrown into commotion. Men assembled
tumultuously in the squares and public places, and, as the
regulations were made known, they were received with universal
groans and hisses. "Is this the fruit," they cried, "of all our
toil? Is it for this that we have poured out our blood like
water? Now that we are broken down by hardships and sufferings,
to be left at the end of our campaigns as poor as at the
beginning! Is this the way government rewards our services in
winning for it an empire? The government has done little to aid
us in making the conquest, and for what we have we may thank our
own good swords; and with these same swords," they continued,
warming into menace, "we know how to defend it." Then, stripping
up his sleeve, the war-worn veteran bared his arm, or, exposing
his naked bosom, pointed to his scars, as the best title to his
estates. *15