The History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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[Footnote 17: This account of the personal habits of Atahuallpa
is taken from Pedro Pizarro, who saw him often in his
confinement. As his curious narrative is little known, I have
extracted the original in Appendix, No. 9.]

Not long after the arrival of the party from Pachacamac, in the
latter part of May, the three emissaries returned from Cuzco.
They had been very successful in their mission. Owing to the
Inca's order, and the awe which the white men now inspired
throughout the country, the Spaniards had everywhere met with a
kind reception. They had been carried on the shoulders of the
natives in the hamacas, or sedans, of the country; and, as they
had travelled all the way to the capital on the great imperial
road, along which relays of Indian carriers were established at
stated intervals, they performed this journey of more than six
hundred miles, not only without inconvenience, but with the most
luxurious ease. They passed through many populous towns, and
always found the simple natives disposed to venerate them as
beings of a superior nature. In Cuzco they were received with
public festivities, were sumptuously lodged, and had every want
anticipated by the obsequious devotion of the inhabitants.

Their accounts of the capital confirmed all that Pizarro had
before heard of the wealth and population of the city. Though
they had remained more than a week in this place, the emissaries
had not seen the whole of it. The great temple of the Sun they
found literally covered with plates of gold. They had entered the
interior and beheld the royal mummies, seated each in his
gold-embossed chair, and in robes profusely covered with
ornaments. The Spaniards had the grace to respect these, as they
had been previously enjoined by the Inca; but they required that
the plates which garnished the walls should be all removed. The
Peruvians most reluctantly acquiesced in the commands of their
sovereign to desecrate the national temple, which every
inhabitant of the city regarded with peculiar pride and
veneration. With less reluctance they assisted the Conquerors in
stripping the ornaments from some of the other edifices, where
the gold, however, being mixed with a large proportion of alloy,
was of much less value. *18

[Footnote 18: Rel. d'un Capitano Spagn., ap. Ramusio, tom. III.
fol. 375. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 5, lib. 2, cap. 12, 13.]

The number of plates they tore from the temple of the Sun was
seven hundred; and though of no great thickness, probably, they
are compared in size to the lid of a chest, ten or twelve inches
wide. *19 A cornice of pure gold encircled the edifice, but so
strongly set in the stone, that it fortunately defied the efforts
of the spoilers. The Spaniards complained of the want of
alacrity shown by the Indians in the work of destruction, and
said that there were other parts of the city containing buildings
rich in gold and silver which they had not been allowed to see.
In truth, their mission, which, at best, was a most ungrateful
one, had been rendered doubly annoying by the manner in which
they had executed it. The emissaries were men of a very low
stamp, and, puffed up by the honors conceded to them by the
natives, they looked on themselves as entitled to these, and
contemned the poor Indians as a race immeasurably beneath the
European. They not only showed the most disgusting rapacity, but
treated the highest nobles with wanton insolence. They even went
so far, it is said, as to violate the privacy of the convents,
and to outrage the religious sentiments of the Peruvians by their
scandalous amours with the Virgins of the Sun. The people of
Cuzco were so exasperated, that they would have laid violent
hands on them, but for their habitual reverence for the Inca, in
whose name the Spaniards had come there. As it was, the Indians
collected as much gold as was necessary to satisfy their unworthy
visitors, and got rid of them as speedily as possible. *20 It was
a great mistake in Pizarro to send such men. There were persons,
even in his company, who, as other occasions showed, had some
sense of self-respect, if not respect for the natives.

[Footnote 19: "I de las Chapas de oro, que esta Casa tenia,
quitaron setecientas Planchas . . . . . a manera de Tablas de
Caxas de a tres, i a quatro palmos de largo." Xerez, Conq. del
Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 232.]
[Footnote 20: Herrera, Hist. General, ubi supra.]

The messengers brought with them, besides silver, full two
hundred cargas or loads of gold. *21 This was an important
accession to the contributions of Atahuallpa; and, although the
treasure was still considerably below the mark prescribed, the
monarch saw with satisfaction the time drawing nearer for the
completion of his ransom.

[Footnote 21: So says Pizarro's secretary. "I vinieron docientas
cargas de Oro, i veinte i cinco de Plata." (Xerez, Conq. del
Peru, ap. Barcia, ubi supra.) A load, he says, was brought by
four Indians "Cargas de Paligueres, que las traen quatro Indios."
The meaning of paligueres - not a Spanish word - is doubtful.
Ternaux-Compans supposes, ingeniously enough, that it may have
something of the same meaning with palanquin, to which it bears
some resemblance]

Not long before this, an event had occurred which changed the
condition of the Spaniards, and had an unfavorable influence on
the fortunes of the Inca. This was the arrival of Almagro at
Caxamalca, with a strong reinforcement. That chief had
succeeded, after great efforts, in equipping three vessels, and
assembling a body of one hundred and fifty men, with which he
sailed from Panama, the latter part of the preceding year. On
his voyage, he was joined by a small additional force from
Nicaragua, so that his whole strength amounted to one hundred and
fifty foot and fifty horse, well provided with the munitions of
war. His vessels were steered by the old pilot Ruiz; but after
making the Bay of St. Matthew, he crept slowly along the coast,
baffled as usual by winds and currents, and experiencing all the
hardships incident to that protracted navigation. From some
cause or other, he was not so fortunate as to obtain tidings of
Pizarro; and so disheartened were his followers, most of whom
were raw adventurers, that, when arrived at Puerto Viejo, they
proposed to abandon the expedition, and return at once to Panama.
Fortunately, one of the little squadron which Almagro had sent
forward to Tumbez brought intelligence of Pizarro and of the
colony he had planted at San Miguel. Cheered by the tidings, the
cavalier resumed his voyage, and succeeded, at length, towards
the close of December, 1532, in bringing his whole party safe to
the Spanish settlement.

He there received the account of Pizarro's march across the
mountains, his seizure of the Inca, and, soon afterwards, of the
enormous ransom offered for his liberation. Almagro and his
companions listened with undisguised amazement to this account of
his associate, and of a change in his fortunes so rapid and
wonderful that it seemed little less than magic. At the same
time, he received a caution from some of the colonists not to
trust himself in the power of Pizarro, who was known to bear him
no goodwill.
Not long after Almagro's arrival at San Miguel, advices were sent
of it to Caxamalca, and a private note from his secretary Perez
informed Pizarro that his associate had come with no purpose of
cooperating with him, but with the intention to establish an
independent government. Both of the Spanish captains seem to
have been surrounded by mean and turbulent spirits, who sought to
embroil them with each other, trusting, doubtless, to find their
own account in the rupture. For once, however, their malicious
machinations failed.

Pizarro was overjoyed at the arrival of so considerable a
reinforcement, which would enable him to push his fortunes as he
had desired, and go forward with the conquest of the country. He
laid little stress on the secretary's communication, since,
whatever might have been Almagro's original purpose, Pizarro knew
that the richness of the vein he had now opened in the land would
be certain to secure his cooperation in working it. He had the
magnanimity, therefore, - for there is something magnanimous in
being able to stifle the suggestions of a petty rivalry in
obedience to sound policy, -to send at once to his ancient
comrade, and invite him, with many assurances of friendship, to
Caxamalca. Almagro, who was of a frank and careless nature,
received the communication in the spirit in which it was made,
and, after some necessary delay, directed his march into the
interior. But before leaving San Miguel, having become
acquainted with the treacherous conduct of his secretary, he
recompensed his treason by hanging him on the spot. *22

[Footnote 22: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Xerez, Conq.
del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. pp. 204, 205. - Relacion Sumaria,
Ms. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms - Relacion del Primer. Descub.
Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 1.]

Almagro reached Caxamalca about the middle of February, 1533.
The soldiers of Pizarro came out to welcome their countrymen, and
the two captains embraced each other with every mark of cordial
satisfaction. All past differences were buried in oblivion, and
they seemed only prepared to aid one another in following up the
brilliant career now opened to them in the conquest of an empire.

There was one person in Caxamalca on whom this arrival of the
Spaniards produced a very different impression from that made on
their own countrymen. This was the Inca Atahuallpa. He saw in
the new-comers only a new swarm of locusts to devour his unhappy
country; and he felt, that, with his enemies thus multiplying
around him, the chances were diminished of recovering his
freedom, or of maintaining it, if recovered. A little
circumstance, insignificant in itself, but magnified by
superstition into something formidable, occurred at this time to
cast an additional gloom over his situation.

A remarkable appearance, somewhat of the nature of a meteor, or
it may have been a comet, was seen in the heavens by some
soldiers and pointed out to Atahuallpa. He gazed on it with
fixed attention for some minutes, and then exclaimed, with a
dejected air, that "a similar sign had been seen in the skies a
short time before the death of his father Huayna Capac." *23 From
this day a sadness seemed to take possession of him, as he looked
with doubt and undefined dread to the future. - Thus it is, that,
in seasons of danger, the mind, like the senses, becomes morbidly
acute in its perceptions; and the least departure from the
regular course of nature, that would have passed unheeded in
ordinary times, to the superstitious eye seems pregnant with
meaning, as in some way or other connected with the destiny of
the individual.

[Footnote 23: Rel. d'un Capitano Spagn., ap. Ramusio, tom. III.
fol. 377 - Ciez de Leon, Cronica, cap. 65.]

Chapter VII

Immense Amount Of Treasure. - Its Division Among The Troops -
Rumors Of A Rising. - Trial Of The Inca. - His Execution -
Reflections.

1533.

The arrival of Almagro produced a considerable change in
Pizarro's prospects, since it enabled him to resume active
operations, and push forward his conquests in the interior. The
only obstacle in his way was the Inca's ransom, and the Spaniards
had patiently waited, till the return of the emissaries from
Cuzco swelled the treasure to a large amount, though still below
the stipulated limit. But now their avarice got the better of
their forbearance, and they called loudly for the immediate
division of the gold. To wait longer would only be to invite the
assault of their enemies, allured by a bait so attractive. While
the treasure remained uncounted, no man knew its value, nor what
was to be his own portion. It was better to distribute it at
once, and let every one possess and defend his own. Several,
moreover, were now disposed to return home, and take their share
of the gold with them, where they could place it in safety But
these were few, while much the larger part were only anxious to
leave their present quarters, and march at once to Cuzco. More
gold, they thought, awaited them in that capital, than they could
get here by prolonging their stay; while every hour was precious,
to prevent the inhabitants from secreting their treasures, of
which design they had already given indication.

Pizarro was especially moved by the last consideration; and he
felt, that, without the capital, he could not hope to become
master of the empire. Without further delay, the division of the
treasure was agreed upon.
Yet, before making this, it was necessary to reduce the whole to
ingots of a uniform standard, for the spoil was composed of an
infinite variety of articles, in which the gold was of very
different degrees of purity. These articles consisted of
goblets, ewers, salvers, vases of every shape and size, ornaments
and utensils for the temples and the royal palaces, tiles and
plates for the decoration of the public edifices, curious
imitations of different plants and animals. Among the plants,
the most beautiful was the Indian corn, in which the golden ear
was sheathed in its broad leaves of silver, from which hung a
rich tassel of threads of the same precious metal. A fountain was
also much admired, which sent up a sparkling jet of gold, while
birds and animals of the same material played in the waters at
its base. The delicacy of the workmanship of some of these, and
the beauty and ingenuity of the design, attracted the admiration
of better judges than the rude Conquerors of Peru. *1

[Footnote 1: Relatione de Pedro Sancho, ap. Ramusio, Viaggi, tom.
III. fol. 399. - Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p.
233. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 7.

Oviedo saw at St. Domingo the articles which Ferdinand Pizarro
was bearing to Castile; and he expatiates on several beautifully
wrought vases, richly chased, of very fine gold, and measuring
twelve inches in height and thirty round. Hist. de las Indias,
Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16.]

Before breaking up these specimens of Indian art, it was
determined to send a quantity, which should be deducted from the
royal fifth, to the Emperor. It would serve as a sample of the
ingenuity of the natives, and would show him the value of his
conquests. A number of the most beautiful articles was selected,
to the amount of a hundred thousand ducats, and Hernando Pizarro
was appointed to be the bearer of them to Spain. He was to
obtain an audience of Charles, and, at the same time that he laid
the treasures before him, he was to give an account of the
proceedings of the Conquerors, and to seek a further augmentation
of their powers and dignities.
No man in the army was better qualified for this mission, by his
address and knowledge of affairs, than Hernando Pizarro; no one
would be so likely to urge his suit with effect at the haughty
Castilian court. But other reasons influenced the selection of
him at the present juncture.

His former jealousy of Almagro still rankled in his bosom, and he
had beheld that chief's arrival at the camp with feelings of
disgust, which he did not care to conceal. He looked on him as
coming to share the spoils of victory, and defraud his brother of
his legitimate honors. Instead of exchanging the cordial greeting
proffered by Almagro at their first interview, the arrogant
cavalier held back in sullen silence. His brother Francis was
greatly displeased at a conduct which threatened to renew their
ancient feud, and he induced Hernando to accompany him to
Almagro's quarters, and make some acknowledgment for his
uncourteous behaviour. *2 But, notwithstanding this show of
reconciliation, the general thought the present a favorable
opportunity to remove his brother from the scene of operations,
where his factious spirit more than counterbalanced his eminent
services. *3

[Footnote 2: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 2, cap. 3.]

[Footnote 3: According to Oviedo it was agreed that Hernando
should have a share, much larger than he was entitled to, of the
Inca's ransom, in the hope that he would feel so rich as never to
desire to return again to Peru. "Trabajaron de le embiar rico por
quitarle de entre ellos, y porque yendo muy rico como fue no
tubiese voluntad de tornar a aquellas partes." Hist. de las
Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8 cap. 16.]

The business of melting down the plate was intrusted to the
Indian goldsmiths, who were thus required to undo the work of
their own hands. They toiled day and night, but such was the
quantity to be recast, that it consumed a full month. When the
whole was reduced to bars of a uniform standard, they were nicely
weighed, under the superintendence of the royal inspectors. The
total amount of the gold was found to be one million, three
hundred and twenty-six thousand, five hundred and thirty-nine
pesos de oro, which, allowing for the greater value of money in
the sixteenth century, would be equivalent, probably, at the
present time, to near three millions and a half of pounds
sterling, or somewhat less than fifteen millions and a half of
dollars. *4 The quantity of silver was estimated at fifty-one
thousand six hundred and ten marks. History affords no parallel
of such a booty - and that, too, in the most convertible form, in
ready money, as it were - having fallen to the lot of a little
band of military adventurers, like the Conquerors of Peru. The
great object of the Spanish expeditions in the New World was
gold. It is remarkable that their success should have been so
complete. Had they taken the track of the English, the French,
or the Dutch, on the shores of the northern continent, how
different would have been the result! It is equally worthy of
remark, that the wealth thus suddenly acquired, by diverting them
from the slow but surer and more permanent sources of national
prosperity, has in the end glided from their grasp, and left them
among the poorest of the nations of Christendom.

[Footnote 4: Acta de Reparticion del Rescate de Atahuallpa, Ms -
Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 232.

In reducing the sums mentioned in this work, I have availed
myself -as I before did, in the History of the Conquest of Mexico
- of the labors of Senor Clemencin, formerly Secretary of the
Royal Academy of History at Madrid. This eminent scholar, in the
sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Academy, prepared wholly by
himself, has introduced an elaborate essay on the value of the
currency in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Although this
period - the close of the fifteenth century - was somewhat
earlier than that of the Conquest of Peru, yet his calculations
are sufficiently near the truth for our purpose, since the
Spanish currency had not as yet been much affected by that
disturbing cause, - the influx of the precious metals from the
New World.

In inquiries into the currency of a remote age, we may consider,
in the first place, the specific value of the coin, - that is,
the value which it derives from the weight, purity, &c., of the
metal, circumstances easily determined. In the second place, we
may inquire into the commercial or comparative worth of the
money, - that is, the value founded on a comparison of the
differences between the amount of commodities which the same sum
would purchase formerly, and at the present time. The last
inquiry is attended with great embarrassment, from the difficulty
of finding any one article which may be taken as the true
standard of value. Wheat, from its general cultivation and use,
has usually been selected by political economists as this
standard; and Clemencin has adopted it in his calculations.
Assuming wheat as the standard, he has endeavoured to ascertain
the value of the principal coins in circulation, at the time of
the "Catholic Kings." He makes no mention in his treatise of the
peso de oro, by which denomination the sums in the early part of
the sixteenth century were more frequently expressed than by any
other. But he ascertains both the specific and the commercial
value of the castellano, which several of the old writers, as
Oviedo, Herrera, and Xerez, concur in stating as precisely
equivalent to the peso de oro. From the results of his
calculations, it appears that the specific value of the
castellano, as stated by him in reals, is equal to three dollars
and seven cents of our own currency, while the commercial value
is nearly four times as great, or eleven dollars sixty-seven
cents, equal to two pounds twelve shillings and sixpence
sterling. By adopting this as the approximate value of the peso
de oro, in the early part of the sixteenth century, the reader
may easily compute for himself the value, at that period, of the
sums mentioned in these pages; most of which are expressed in
that denomination.
I have been the more particular in this statement, since, in my
former work, I confined myself to the commercial value of the
money, which, being much greater than the specific value, founded
on the quality and weight of the metal, was thought by an
ingenious correspondent to give the reader an exaggerated
estimate of the sums mentioned in the history. But it seems to
me that it is only this comparative or commercial value with
which the reader has any concern, indicating what amount of
commodities any given sum represents, that he may thus know the
real worth of that sum; - thus adopting the principle, though
conversely stated, of the old Hudibrastic maxim, -
"What is worth in anything,
But so much money as 't will bring."]

A new difficulty now arose in respect to the division of the
treasure. Almagro's followers claimed to be admitted to a share
of it; which, as they equalled, and, indeed, somewhat exceeded in
number Pizarro's company, would reduce the gains of these last
very materially. "We were not here, it is true," said Almagro's
soldiers to their comrades, "at the seizure of the Inca, but we
have taken our turn in mounting guard over him since his capture,
have helped you to defend your treasures, and now give you the
means of going forward and securing your conquests. It is a
common cause," they urged, "in which all are equally embarked,
and the gains should be shared equally between us."

But this way of viewing the matter was not at all palatable to
Pizarro's company, who alleged that Atahuallpa's contract had
been made exclusively with them; that they had seized the Inca,
had secured the ransom, had incurred, in short, all the risk of
the enterprise, and were not now disposed to share the fruits of
it with every one who came after them. - There was much force, it
could not be denied, in this reasoning, and it was finally
settled between the leaders, that Almagro's followers should
resign their pretensions for a stipulated sum of no great amount,
and look to the career now opened to them for carving out their
fortunes for themselves.

This delicate affair being this harmoniously adjusted, Pizarro
prepared, with all solemnity, for a division of the imperial
spoil. The troops were called together in the great square, and
the Spanish commander, "with the fear of God before his eyes,"
says the record, "invoked the assistance of Heaven to do the work
before him conscientiously and justly." *5 The appeal may seem
somewhat out of place at the distribution of spoil so
unrighteously acquired; yet, in truth, considering the magnitude
of the treasure, and the power assumed by Pizarro to distribute
it according to the respective deserts of the individuals, there
were few acts of his life involving a heavier responsibility. On
his present decision might be said to hang the future fortunes of
each one of his followers, - poverty or independence during the
remainder of his days.

[Footnote 5: "Segun Dios Nuestro Senor a diere a entender
teniendo su conciencia y para lo mejor hazer pedia el ayuda de
Dios Nuestro Senor, e imboco el auxilio divino." Acta de
Reparticion del Rescate, Ms.]

The royal fifth was first deducted, including the remittance
already sent to Spain. The share appropriated by Pizarro
amounted to fifty-seven thousand two hundred and twenty-two pesos
of gold, and two thousand three hundred and fifty marks of
silver. He had besides this the great chair or throne of the
Inca, of solid gold, and valued at twenty-five thousand pesos de
oro. To his brother Hernando were paid thirty-one thousand and
eighty pesos of gold, and two thousand three hundred and fifty
marks of silver. De Soto received seventeen thousand seven
hundred and forty pesos of gold, and seven hundred and
twenty-four marks of silver Most of the remaining cavalry, sixty
in number, received each eight thousand eight hundred and eighty
pesos of gold, and three hundred and sixty-two marks of silver,
though some had more, and a few considerably less. The infantry
mustered in all one hundred and five men. Almost one fifth of
them were allowed, each, four thousand four hundred and forty
pesos of gold, and one hundred and eighty marks of silver, half
of the compensation of the troopers. The remainder received one
fourth part less; though here again there were exceptions, and
some were obliged to content themselves with a much smaller share
of the spoil. *6