The History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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[Footnote 28: Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1532.

According to Naharro, the Indians were less astounded by the wild
uproar caused by the sudden assault of the Spaniards, though
"this was such that it seemed as if the very heavens were
falling," than by a terrible apparition which appeared in the air
during the onslaught. It consisted of a woman and a child, and,
at their side, a horseman all clothed in white on a milk-white
charger, - doubtless the valiant St. James, - who, with his sword
glancing lightning, smote down the infidel host, and rendered
them incapable of resistance. This miracle the good father
reports on the testimony of three of his Order, who were present
in the action, and who received it from numberless of the
natives. Relacion Sumaria, Ms.]

That night Pizarro kept his engagement with the Inca, since he
had Atahuallpa to sup with him. The banquet was served in one of
the halls facing the great square, which a few hours before had
been the scene of slaughter, and the pavement of which was still
encumbered with the dead bodies of the Inca's subjects. The
captive monarch was placed next his conqueror. He seemed like
one who did not yet fully comprehend the extent of his calamity.
If he did, he showed an amazing fortitude. "It is the fortune of
war," he said; *29 and, if we may credit the Spaniards, he
expressed his admiration of the adroitness with which they had
contrived to entrap him in the midst of his own troops. *30 He
added, that he had been made acquainted with the progress of the
white men from the hour of their landing; but that he had been
led to undervalue their strength from the insignificance of their
numbers. He had no doubt he should be easily able to overpower
them, on their arrival at Caxamalca, by his superior strength;
and, as he wished to see for himself what manner of men they
were, he had suffered them to cross the mountains, meaning to
select such as he chose for his own service, and, getting
possession of their wonderful arms and horses, put the rest to
death. *31

[Footnote 29: "Diciendo que era uso de Guerra vencer, i ser
vencido." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 2, cap. 12.]

[Footnote 30: "Haciendo admiracion de la traza que tenia hecha."
Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

[Footnote 31: "And in my opinion," adds the Conqueror who reports
the speech, "he had good grounds for believing he could do this,
since nothing but the miraculous interposition of Heaven could
have saved us." Ibid., Ms.]

That such may have been Atahuallpa's purpose is not improbable.
It explains his conduct in not occupying the mountain passes,
which afforded such strong points of defence against invasion.
But that a prince so astute, as by the general testimony of the
Conquerors he is represented to have been, should have made so
impolitic a disclosure of his hidden motives is not so probable.
The intercourse with the Inca was carried on chiefly by means of
the interpreter Felipillo, or little Philip, as he was called,
from his assumed Christian name, - a malicious youth, as it
appears, who bore no good-will to Atahuallpa, and whose
interpretations were readily admitted by the Conquerors, eager to
find some pretext for their bloody reprisals.
Atahuallpa, as elsewhere notice, was, at this time, about thirty
years of age. He was well made, and more robust than usual with
his countrymen. His head was large, and his countenance might
have been called handsome, but that his eyes, which were
bloodshot, gave a fierce expression to his features. He was
deliberate in speech, grave in manner, and towards his own people
stern even to severity; though with the Spaniards he showed
himself affable, sometimes even indulging in sallies of mirth.
*32

[Footnote 32: Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p.
203.]

Pizarro paid every attention to his royal captive, and
endeavoured to lighten, if he could not dispel, the gloom which,
in spite of his assumed equanimity, hung over the monarch's brow.
He besought him not to be case down by his reverses, for his lot
had only been that of every prince who had resisted the white
men. They had come into the country to proclaim the gospel, the
religion of Jesus Christ; and it was no wonder they had
prevailed, when his shield was over them. Heaven had permitted
that Atahuallpa's pride should be humbled, because of his hostile
intentions towards the Spaniards, and the insults he had offered
to the sacred volume. But he bade the Inca take courage and
confide in him, for the Spaniards were a generous race, warring
only against those who made war on them, and showing grace to all
who submitted! *33 - Atahuallpa may have thought the massacre of
that day an indifferent commentary on this vaunted lenity.

[Footnote 33: "Nosotros vsamos de piedad con nuestros Enemigos
vencidos, i no hacemos Guerra, sino a los que nos la hacen, i
pudiendolos destruir no lo hacemos, antes los perdona mos."
Ibid., tom. III. p. 199.]

Before retiring for the night, Pizarro briefly addressed his
troops on their present situation. When he had ascertained that
not a man was wounded, he bade them offer up thanksgivings to
Providence for so great a miracle; without its care, they could
never have prevailed so easily over the host of their enemies;
and he trusted their lives had been reserved for still greater
things. But if they would succeed, they had much to do for
themselves. They were in the heart of a powerful kingdom,
encompassed by foes deeply attached to their own sovereign. They
must be ever on their guard, therefore, and be prepared at any
hour to be roused from their slumbers by the call of the trumpet.
*34 - Having then posted his sentinels, placed a strong guard
over the apartment of Atahuallpa, and taken all the precautions
of a careful commander, Pizarro withdrew to repose; and, if he
could really feel, that, in the bloody scenes of the past day, he
had been fighting only the good fight of the Cross, he doubtless
slept sounder than on the night preceding the seizure of the
Inca.

[Footnote 34: Ibid., ubi supra. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. i.
Conq., Ms.]

On the following morning, the first commands of the Spanish chief
were to have the city cleansed of its impurities; and the
prisoners, of whom there were many in the camp, were employed to
remove the dead, and give them decent burial. His next care was
to despatch a body of about thirty horse to the quarters lately
occupied by Atahuallpa at the baths, to take possession of the
spoil, and disperse the remnant of the Peruvian forces which
still hung about the place.

Before noon, the party which he had detached on this service
returned with a large troop of Indians, men and women, among the
latter of whom were many of the wives and attendants of the Inca.
The Spaniards had met with no resistance; since the Peruvian
warriors, though so superior in number, excellent in
appointments, and consisting mostly of able-bodied young men, -
for the greater part of the veteran forces were with the Inca's
generals at the south, - lost all heart from the moment of their
sovereign's captivity. There was no leader to take his place;
for they recognized no authority but that of the Child of the
Sun, and they seemed to be held by a sort of invisible charm near
the place of his confinement; while they gazed with superstitious
awe on the white men, who could achieve so audacious an
enterprise. *35

[Footnote 35: From this time, says Ondegardo, the Spaniards, who
hitherto had been designated as the "men with beards," barbudos,
were called by the natives, from their fair-complexioned deity,
Viracochas. The people of Cuzco, who bore no goodwill to the
captive Inca, "looked upon the strangers," says the author, "as
sent by Viracocha himself." (Rel. Prim., Ms.) It reminds us of a
superstition, or rather an amiable fancy, among the ancient
Greeks, that "the stranger came from Jupiter."]

The number of Indian prisoners was so great, that some of the
Conquerors were for putting them all to death, or, at least,
cutting off their hands, to disable them from acts of violence,
and to strike terror into their countrymen. *36 The proposition,
doubtless, came from the lowest and most ferocious of the
soldiery. But that it should have been made at all shows what
materials entered into the composition of Pizarro's company. The
chief rejected it at once, as no less impolitic than inhuman, and
dismissed the Indians to their several homes, with the assurance
that none should be harmed who did not offer resistance to the
white men. A sufficient number, however, were retained to wait
on the Conquerors, who were so well provided, in this respect,
that the most common soldier was attended by a retinue of menials
that would have better suited the establishment of a noble. *37

[Footnote 36: "Algunos fueron de opinion, que matasen a todos los
Hombres de Guerra, o les cortasen las manos." Xerez, Hist. del
Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 200.]

[Footnote 37: "Cada Espanol de los que alli ivan tomaron para si
mui gran cantidad tanto que como andava todo a rienda suelta
havia Espanol que tenia docientas piezas de Indios Indias de
servicio." Conq. i. Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

The Spaniards had found immense droves of llamas under the care
of their shepherds in the neighbourhood of the baths, destined
for the consumption of the Court. Many of them were now suffered
to roam abroad among their native mountains; though Pizarro
caused a considerable number to be reserved for the use of the
army. And this was no small quantity, if, as one of the
Conquerors says, a hundred and fifty of the Peruvian sheep were
frequently slaughtered in a day. *38 Indeed, the Spaniards were
so improvident in their destruction of these animals, that, in a
few years, the superb flocks, nurtured with so much care by the
Peruvian government, had almost disappeared from the land. *39

[Footnote 38: "Se matan cada Dia, ciento i cinquenta." Xerez,
Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 202.]

[Footnote 39: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 80. - Ondegardo, Rel.
Seg., Ms.

"Hasta que los destruian todos sin haver Espanol ni Justicia que
lo defendiese ni amparase." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

The party sent to pillage the Inca's pleasure house brought back
a rich booty in gold and silver, consisting chiefly of plate for
the royal table, which greatly astonished the Spaniards by their
size and weight. These, as well as some large emeralds obtained
there, together with the precious spoils found on the bodies of
the Indian nobles who had perished in the massacre, were placed
in safe custody, to be hereafter divided. In the city of
Caxamalca, the troops also found magazines stored with goods,
both cotton and woollen, far superior to any they had seen, for
fineness of texture, and the skill with which the various colors
were blended. They were piled from the floors to the very roofs
of the buildings, and in such quantity, that, after every soldier
had provided himself with what he desired, it made no sensible
diminution of the whole amount. *40

[Footnote 40: Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p.
200.

There was enough, says the anonymous Conqueror, for several
ship-loads. "Todas estas cosas de tiendas y ropas de lana y
algodon eran en tan gran cantidad, que a mi parecer fueran
menester muchos navios en que supieran." Relacion del Primer.
Descub., Ms.]

Pizarro would now gladly have directed his march on the Peruvian
capital. But the distance was great, and his force was small.
This must have been still further crippled by the guard required
for the Inca, and the chief feared to involve himself deeper in a
hostile empire so populous and powerful, with a prize so precious
in his keeping. With much anxiety, therefore, he looked for
reinforcements from the colonies; and he despatched a courier to
San Miguel, to inform the Spaniards there of his recent
successes, and to ascertain if there had been any arrival from
Panama. Meanwhile he employed his men in making Caxamalca a more
suitable residence for a Christian host, by erecting a church,
or, perhaps, appropriating some Indian edifice to this use, in
which mass was regularly performed by the Dominican fathers, with
great solemnity. The dilapidated walls of the city were also
restored in a more substantial manner than before, and every
vestige was soon effaced of the hurricane that had so recently
swept over it.

It was not long before Atahuallpa discovered, amidst all the show
of religious zeal in his Conquerors, a lurking appetite more
potent in most of their bosoms than either religion or ambition.
This was the love of gold. He determined to avail himself of it
to procure his own freedom. The critical posture of his affairs
made it important that this should not be long delayed. His
brother Huascar, ever since his defeat, had been detained as a
prisoner, subject to the victor's orders. He was now at
Andamarca, at no great distance from Caxamalca; and Atahuallpa
feared, with good reason, that, when his own imprisonment was
known, Huascar would find it easy to corrupt his guards, make his
escape, and put himself at the head of the contested empire,
without a rival to dispute it.

In the hope, therefore, to effect his purpose by appealing to the
avarice of his keepers, he one day told Pizarro, that, if he
would set him free, he would engage to cover the floor of the
apartment on which they stood with gold. Those present listened
with an incredulous smile; and, as the Inca received no answer,
he said, with some emphasis, that "he would not merely cover the
floor, but would fill the room with gold as high as he could
reach"; and, standing on tiptoe, he stretched out his hand
against the wall. All stared with amazement; while they regarded
it as the insane boast of a man too eager to procure his liberty
to weigh the meaning of his words. Yet Pizarro was sorely
perplexed. As he had advanced into the country, much that he had
seen, and all that he had heard, had confirmed the dazzling
reports first received of the riches of Peru. Atahuallpa himself
had given him the most glowing picture of the wealth of the
capital, where the roofs of the temples were plated with gold,
while the walls were hung with tapestry and the floors inlaid
with tiles of the same precious metal. There must be some
foundation for all this. At all events, it was safe to accede to
the Inca's proposition; since, by so doing, he could collect, at
once, all the gold at his disposal, and thus prevent its being
purloined or secreted by the natives. He therefore acquiesced in
Atahuallpa's offer, and, drawing a red line along the wall at the
height which the Inca had indicated, he caused the terms of the
proposal to be duly recorded by the notary. The apartment was
about seventeen feet broad, by twenty-two feet long, and the line
round the walls was nine feet from the floor. *41 This space was
to be filled with gold; but it was understood that the gold was
not to be melted down into ingots, but to retain the original
form of the articles into which it was manufactured, that the
Inca might have the benefit of the space which they occupied. He
further agreed to fill an adjoining room of smaller dimensions
twice full with silver, in like manner; and he demanded two
months to accomplish all this. *42

[Footnote 41: I have adopted the dimensions given by the
secretary Xerez, (Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 202.)
According to Hernando Pizarro, the apartment was nine feet high,
but thirty-five feet long by seventeen or eighteen feet wide.
(Carta, Ms.) The most moderate estimate is large enough.
Stevenson says that they still show "a large room, part of the
old palace, and now the residence of the Cacique Astopilca, where
the ill-fated Inca was kept a prisoner"; and he adds that the
line traced on the wall is still visible. (Residence in South
America, vol. II. p. 163.) Peru abounds in remains as ancient as
the Conquest; and it would not be surprising that the memory of a
place so remarkable as this should be preserved, - though any
thing but a memorial to be cherished by the Spaniards.]

[Footnote 42: The facts in the preceding paragraph are told with
remarkable uniformity by the ancient chroniclers. (Conf. Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de Hern. Pizarro, Ms. -
Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, ubi supra. - Naharro, Relacion
Sumaria, Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 6. - Gomara,
Hist. de las Ind., cap. 114. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5,
lib. 2, cap. 1.)

Both Naharro and Herrera state expressly that Pizarro promised
the Inca his liberation on fulfilling the compact. This is not
confirmed by the other chroniclers, who, however, do not intimate
that the Spanish general declined the terms. And as Pizarro, by
all accounts, encouraged his prisoner to perform his part of the
contract, it must have been with the understanding implied, if
not expressed, that he would abide by the other. It is most
improbable that the Inca would have stripped himself of his
treasures, if he had not so understood it.]

No sooner was this arrangement made, than the Inca despatched
couriers to Cuzco and the other principal places in the kingdom,
with orders that the gold ornaments and utensils should be
removed from the royal palaces, and from the temples and other
public buildings, and transported without loss of time to
Caxamalca. Meanwhile he continued to live in the Spanish
quarters, treated with the respect due to his rank, and enjoying
all the freedom that was compatible with the security of his
person. Though not permitted to go abroad, his limbs were
unshackled, and he had the range of his own apartments under the
jealous surveillance of a guard, who knew too well the value of
the royal captive to be remiss. He was allowed the society of
his favorite wives, and Pizarro took care that his domestic
privacy should not be violated. His subjects had free access to
their sovereign, and every day he received visits from the Indian
nobles, who came to bring presents, and offer condolence to their
unfortunate master. On such occasions, the most potent of these
great vassals never ventured into his presence, without first
stripping off their sandals, and bearing a load on their backs in
token of reverence. The Spaniards gazed with curious eyes on
these acts of homage, or rather of slavish submission, on the one
side, and on the air of perfect indifference with which they were
received, as a matter of course, on the other; and they conceived
high ideas of the character of a prince who, even in his present
helpless condition, could inspire such feelings of awe in his
subjects. The royal levee was so well attended, and such
devotion was shown by his vassals to the captive monarch, as did
not fail, in the end, to excite some feelings of distrust in his
keepers. *43

[Footnote 43: Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms. - Naharro,
Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru lib. 2, cap. 6.]

Pizarro did not neglect the opportunity afforded him of
communicating the truths of revelation to his prisoner, and both
he and his chaplain, Father Valverde, labored in the same good
work. Atahuallpa listened with composure and apparent attention.
But nothing seemed to move him so much as the argument with which
the military polemic closed his discourse, - that it could not be
the true God whom Atahuallpa worshipped, since he had suffered
him to fall into the hands of his enemies. The unhappy monarch
assented to the force of this, acknowledging that his Deity had
indeed deserted him in his utmost need. *44

[Footnote 44: "I mas dijo Atabalipa, que estaba espantado de lo
que el Governador le havia dicho: que bien conocia que aquel que
hablaba en su Idolo, no es Dios verdadero pues tan poco le
aiudo." Xerez Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 203.]

Yet his conduct towards his brother Huascar, at this time, too
clearly proves, that, whatever respect he may have shown for the
teachers, the doctrines of Christianity had made little
impression on his heart. No sooner had Huascar been informed of
the capture of his rival, and of the large ransom he had offered
for his deliverance, than, as the latter had foreseen, he made
every effort to regain his liberty, and sent, or attempted to
send, a message to the Spanish commander, that he would pay a
much larger ransom than that promised by Atahuallpa, who, never
having dwelt in Cuzco, was ignorant of the quantity of treasure
there, and where it was deposited.
Intelligence of all this was secretly communicated to Atahuallpa
by the persons who had his brother in charge; and his jealousy,
thus roused, was further heightened by Pizarro's declaration,
that he intended to have Huascar brought to Caxamalca, where he
would himself examine into the controversy, and determine which
of the two had best title to the sceptre of the Incas. Pizarro
perceived, from the first, the advantages of a competition which
would enable him, by throwing his sword into the scale he
preferred, to give it a preponderance. The party who held the
sceptre by his nomination would henceforth be a tool in his
hands, with which to work his pleasure more effectually than he
could well do in his own name. It was the game, as every reader
knows, played by Edward the First in the affairs of Scotland, and
by many a monarch, both before and since, - and though their
examples may not have been familiar to the unlettered soldier,
Pizarro was too quick in his perceptions to require, in this
matter, at least, the teachings of history.
Atahuallpa was much alarmed by the Spanish commander's
determination to have the suit between the rival candidates
brought before him; for he feared, that, independently of the
merits of the case, the decision would be likely to go in favor
of Huascar, whose mild and ductile temper would make him a
convenient instrument in the hands of his conquerors. Without
further hesitation, he determined to remove this cause of
jealousy for ever, by the death of his brother.

His orders were immediately executed, and the unhappy prince was
drowned, as was commonly reported, in the river of Andamarca,
declaring with his dying breath that the white men would avenge
his murder, and that his rival would not long survive him. *45 -
Thus perished the unfortunate Huascar, the legitimate heir of the
throne of the Incas, in the very morning of life, and the
commencement of his reign; a reign, however, which had been long
enough to call forth the display of many excellent and amiable
qualities, though his nature was too gentle to cope with the bold
and fiercer temper of his brother. Such is the portrait we have
of him from the Indian and Castilian chroniclers, though the
former, it should be added, were the kinsmen of Huascar, and the
latter certainly bore no goodwill to Atahuallpa. *46

[Footnote 45: Both the place and the manner of Huascar's death
are reported with much discrepancy by the historians. All agree
in the one important fact, that he died a violent death at the
instigation of his brother. Conf. Herrera, Hist. General, dec.
5, lib. 3, cap. 2. - Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III.
p. 204. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Naharro, Relacion
Sumaria, Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 6. - Instruc.
del Inga Titucussi, Ms.]

[Footnote 46: Both Garcillaso de la Vega and Titucussi Yupanqui
were descendants from Huayna Capac, of the pure Peruvian stock,
the natural enemies, therefore, of their kinsman of Quito, whom
they regarded as a usurper. Circumstances brought the Castilians
into direct collision with Atahuallpa, and it was natural they
should seek to darken his reputation by contrast with the fair
character of his rival.]

That prince received the tidings of Huascar's death with every
mark of surprise and indignation. He immediately sent for
Pizarro, and communicated the event to him with expressions of
the deepest sorrow. The Spanish commander refused, at first, to
credit the unwelcome news, and bluntly told the Inca, that his
brother could not be dead, and that he should be answerable for
his life. *47 To this Atahuallpa replied by renewed assurances of
the fact, adding that the deed had been perpetrated, without his
privity, by Huascar's keepers, fearful that he might take
advantage of the troubles of the country to make his escape.
Pizarro, on making further inquiries, found that the report of
his death was but too true. That it should have been brought
about by Atahuallpa's officers, without his express command,
would only show, that, by so doing, they had probably anticipated
their master's wishes. The crime, which assumes in our eyes a
deeper dye from the relation of the parties, had not the same
estimation among the Incas, in whose multitudinous families the
bonds of brotherhood must have sat loosely, - much too loosely to
restrain the arm of the despot from sweeping away any obstacle
that lay in his path.