The History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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[Footnote 29: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 407.
- Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap. 10. - Relacion
del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

The capital of the Incas, though falling short of the El Dorado
which had engaged their credulous fancies, astonished the
Spaniards by the beauty of its edifices, the length and
regularity of its streets, and the good order and appearance of
comfort, even luxury, visible in its numerous population. It far
surpassed all they had yet seen in the New World. The population
of the city is computed by one of the Conquerors at two hundred
thousand inhabitants, and that of the suburbs at as many more.
*30 This account is not confirmed, as far as I have seen, by any
other writer. But however it may be exaggerated, it is certain
that Cuzco was the metropolis of a great empire, the residence of
the Court and the chief nobility; frequented by the most skilful
mechanics and artisans of every description, who found a demand
for their ingenuity in the royal precincts; while the place was
garrisoned by a numerous soldiery, and was the resort, finally,
of emigrants from the most distant provinces. The quarters
whence this motley population came were indicated by their
peculiar dress, and especially their head-gear, so rarely found
at all on the American Indian, which, with its variegated colors,
gave a picturesque effect to the groups and masses in the
streets. The habitual order and decorum maintained in this
multifarious assembly showed the excellent police of the capital,
where the only sounds that disturbed the repose of the Spaniards
were the noises of feasting and dancing, which the natives, with
happy insensibility, constantly prolonged to a late hour of the
night. *31

[Footnote 30: "Esta ciudad era muy grande i mui populosa de
grandes edificios i comarcas, quando los Eespanoles entraron la
primera vex en ella havia gran cantidad de gente, seria pueblo de
mas de 40 mill. vecinos solamente lo que tomaba la ciudad, que
arravalles i comarca en deredor del Cuzco a 10 o 12 leguas creo
yo que havia docientos mill. Indios porque esto era lo mas
poblado de todos estos reinos." (Conq. i Pob. del Peru, Ms.) The
vecino or "householder" is computed, usually, as representing
five individuals. - Yet Father Valverde, in a letter written a
few years after tis, speaks of the city as having only three or
four thousand houses at the time of its occupation, and the
suburbs as having nineteen or twenty thousand. (Cart al
Emperador, Ms., 20 de Marzo, 1539.) It is possible that he took
into the account only the better kind of houses, not considering
the mud huts, or rather hovels, which made so large a part of a
Peruvian town, as deserving notice.]

[Footnote 31: "Heran tantos los atambores que de noche se oian
por todas cartes bailando y cantando y belendo que toda la mayor
parte de la noche se les pasava en esto cotidianamente." Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

The edifices of the better sort - and they were very numerous -
were of stone, or faced with stone. *32 Among the principal were
the royal residences; as each sovereign built a new palace for
himself, covering, though low, a large extent of ground. The
walls were sometimes stained of painted with gaudy tints, and the
gates, we are assured, were sometimes of colored marble. *33 In
the delicacy of the stone-work," says another of the Conquerors,
"the natives far excelled the Spaniards, though the roofs of
their dwellings, instead of tiles, were only of thatch, but put
together with the nicest art." *34 The sunny climate of Cuzco did
not require a very substantial material for defence against the
weather.

[Footnote 32: "La maggior parte di queste case sono di pietra, et
l'altre hano la meta della facciata di pietra." Ped. Sancho,
Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 413.]

[Footnote 33: The buildings were usually of freestone. There may
have been porphyry from the neighbouring mountains mixed with
this, which the Spaniards mistook for marble.]

[Footnote 34: "Todo labrado de piedra muy prima, que cierto toda
la canteria desta cibdad hace gran ventaja a la de Espana, aunque
carecen de teja que todas las casas sino es la fortaleza, que era
hecha de azoteas son cubiertas de paja, aunque tan primamente
puesta, que parece bien." Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

The most important building was the fortress, planted on a solid
rock, that rose boldly above the city. It was built of hewn
stone, so finely wrought that it was impossible to detect the
line of junction between the blocks; and the approaches to it
were defended by three semicircular parapets, composed of such
heavy masses of rock, that it bore resemblance to the kind of
work known to architects as the Cyclopean. The fortress was
raised to a height rare in Peruvian architecture; and from the
summit of the tower the eye of the spectator ranged over a
magnificent prospect, in which the wild features of the mountain
scenery, rocks, woods, and waterfalls, were mingled with the rich
verdure of the valley, and the shining city filling up the
foreground, - all blended in sweet harmony under the deep azure
of a tropical sky.

The streets were long and narrow. They were arranged with
perfect regularity, crossing one another at right angles; and
from the great square diverged four principal streets connecting
with the high roads of the empire. The square itself, and many
parts of the city, were paved with a fine pebble. *35 Through the
heart of the capital ran a river of pure water, if it might not
be rather termed a canal, the banks or sides of which, for the
distance of twenty leagues, were faced with stone *36 Across this
stream, bridges, constructed of similar broad flags, were thrown,
at intervals, so as to afford an easy communication between the
different quarters of the capital. *37
[Footnote 35: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III., ubi
supra.

A passage in the Letter of the Municipality of Xauxa is worth
quoting, as confirming on the best authority some of the
interesting particulars mentioned in the text. 'Esta cibdad es
la mejor e maior que en la tierra se ha visto, i aun en Yndias; e
decimos a V. M. ques tan hermosa i de tan buenos edeficios que en
Espana seria muy de ver; tiene las calles por mucho concierto en
pedradas i por medio dellas un cano enlosado. la plaza es hecha
en cuadra i empedrada de quijas pequenas todas, todas las mas de
las casas son de Senores Principales hechas de canteria. esta en
una ladera de un zerro en el cual sobre el pueblo esta una
fortaleza mui bien obrada de canteria, tan de ver que por
Espanoles que han andado Reinos estranos, dicen no haver visto
otro edeficio igual al della." Carta de la Just. y Reg. de Xauja,
Ms.]

[Footnote 36: "Un rio, el cual baja por medio de la cibdad y
desde que nace, mas de veinte leguas por aquel valle abajo donde
hay muchas poblaciones, va enlosado todo por el suelo, y las
varrancas de una parte y de otra hechas de canteria labrada, cosa
nunca vista, ni oida." Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

[Footnote 37: The reader will find a few repetitions in this
chapter of what I have already said, in the Introduction, of
Cuzco under the Incas. But the facts here stated are for the most
part drawn from other sources, and some repetition was
unavoidable in order to give a distinct image of the capital.]
The most sumptuous edifice in Cuzco, in the times of the Incas,
was undoubtedly the great temple dedicated to the Sun, which,
studded with gold plates, as already noticed, was surrounded by
convents and dormitories for the priests, with their gardens and
broad parterres sparkling with gold. The exterior ornaments had
been already removed by the Conquerors, - all but the frieze of
gold, which, imbedded in the stones, still encircled the
principal building. It is probable that the tales of wealth, so
greedily circulated among the Spaniards, greatly exceeded the
truth. If they did not, the natives must have been very
successful in concealing their treasures from the invaders. Yet
much still remained, not only in the great House of the Sun, but
in the inferior temples which swarmed in the capital.

Pizarro, on entering Cuzco, had issued an order forbidding any
soldier to offer violence to the dwellings of the inhabitants.
*38 But the palaces were numerous, and the troops lost no time in
plundering them of their contents, as well as in despoiling the
religious edifices. The interior decorations supplied them with
considerable booty. They stripped off the jewels and rich
ornaments that garnished the royal mummies in the temple of
Coricancha. Indignant at the concealment of their treasures,
they put the inhabitants, in some instances, to the torture, and
endeavoured to extort from them a confession of their
hiding-places. *39 They invaded the repose of the sepulchres, in
which the Peruvians often deposited their valuable effects, and
compelled the grave to give up its dead. No place was left
unexplored by the rapacious Conquerors, and they occasionally
stumbled on a mine of wealth that rewarded their labors.

[Footnote 38: "Pues mando el marquez dar vn pregon que ningun
espanol fuese a entrar en las casas de los naturales o tomalles
nada." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 39: Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap 123.]

In a cavern near the city they found a number of vases of pure
gold, richly embossed with the figures of serpents, locusts, and
other animals. Among the spoil were four golden llamas and ten or
twelve statues of women, some of gold, others of silver, "which
merely to see," says one of the Conquerors, with some naivete,
"was truly a great satisfaction." The gold was probably thin, for
the figures were all as large as life; and several of them, being
reserved for the royal fifth, were not recast, but sent in their
original form to Spain. *40 The magazines were stored with
curious commodities; richly tinted robes of cotton and
feather-work, gold sandals, and slippers of the same material,
for the women, and dresses composed entirely of beads of gold.
*41 The grain and other articles of food, with which the
magazines were filled, were held in contempt by the Conquerors,
intent only on gratifying their lust for gold. *42 The time came
when the grain would have been of far more value.

[Footnote 40: "Et fra l'altre cose singolari, era veder quattro
castrati di fin oro molto grandi, et 10 o 12 statue di done,
della grandezza delle done di quel paese tutte d'oro fino, cosi
belle et ben fatte come se fossero viue. . . . . . Queste furono
date nel quinto che toccaua a S. M." (Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap.
Ramusio, tom. III fol.409.) "Muchas estatuas y figuras de oro y
plata enteras, hecha la forma toda de una muger, y del tamano
della, muy bien labradas." Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

[Footnote 41: "Avia ansi mismo miscmo otras muchas plumas de
diferentes colores para este efecto de hacer rropas que vestian
los senores y senoras y no otto otro en los tiempos de sus
fiestas; avia tambien mantas hechas de chaquira, de oro, y de
plata, que heran vnas quentecitas muy delicadas, que parecia cosa
de espanto ver su hechura." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 42: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]

Yet the amount of treasure in the capital did not equal the
sanguine expectations that had been formed by the Spaniards. But
the deficiency was supplied by the plunder which they had
collected at various places on their march. In one place, for
example, they met with ten planks or bars of solid silver, each
piece being twenty feet in length, one foot in breadth, and two
or three inches thick. They were intended to decorate the
dwelling of an Inca noble. *43

[Footnote 43: "Pues andando yo buscando mahiz o otras cosas para
comer, acaso entre en vn buhio donde halle estos tablones de
plata que tengo dicho que heran hasta diez y de largo tenian
veinte pies y de anchor de vno y de gordor de tres dedos, di
noticia dello al marquez y el y todos los demas que con e.
estavan entraron a vello." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
The whole mass of treasure was brought into a common heap, as in
Caxamalca; and after some of the finer specimens had been
deducted for the Crown, the remainder was delivered to the Indian
goldsmiths to be melted down into ingots of a uniform standard.
The division of the spoil was made on the same principle as
before. There were four hundred and eighty soldiers, including
the garrison of Xauxa, who were each to receive a share, that of
the cavalry being double that of the infantry. The amount of
booty is stated variously by those present at the division of it.
According to some, it considerably exceeded the ransom of
Atahuallpa. Others state it as less. Pedro Pizarro says that
each horseman got six thousand pesos de oro, and each one of the
infantry half that sum; *44 though the same discrimination was
made by Pizarro as before, in respect to the rank of the parties,
and their relative services. But Sancho, the royal notary, and
secretary of the commander, estimates the whole amount as far
less, - not exceeding five hundred and eighty thousand and two
hundred pesos de oro, and two hundred and fifteen thousand marks
of silver. *45 In the absence of the official returns, it is
impossible to determine which is correct. But Sancho's narrative
is countersigned, it may be remembered, by Pizarro and the royal
treasurer Riquelme, and doubtless, therefore, shows the actual
amount for which the Conquerors accounted to the Crown.

[Footnote 44: Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 45: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol.
409.]

Whichever statement we receive, the sum, combined with that
obtained at Caxamalca, might well have satisfied the cravings of
the most avaricious. The sudden influx of so much wealth, and
that, too, in so transferable a form, among a party of reckless
adventures little accustomed to the possession of money, had its
natural effect. It supplied them with the means of gaming, so
strong and common a passion with the Spaniards, that it may be
considered a national vice. Fortunes were lost and won in a
single day, sufficient to render the proprietors independent for
life; and many a desperate gamester, by an unlucky throw of the
dice or turn of the cards, saw himself stripped in a few hours of
the fruits of years of toil, and obliged to begin over again the
business of rapine. Among these, one in the cavalry service is
mentioned, named Leguizano, who had received as his share of the
booty the image of the Sun, which, raised on a plate of burnished
gold, spread over the walls in a recess of the great temple, and
which, for some reason or other, - perhaps because of its
superior fineness, - was not recast like the other ornaments.
This rich prize the spendthrift lost in a single night; whence it
came to be a proverb in Spain, Juega el Sol antes que amanezca,
"Play away the Sun before sunrise." *46

[Footnote 46: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1 lib. 3, cap. 20]
The effect of such a surfeit of the precious metals was instantly
felt on prices. The most ordinary articles were only to be had
for exorbitant sums. A quire of paper sold for ten pesos de oro;
a bottle of wine, for sixty; a sword, for forty or fifty; a
cloak, for a hundred, - sometimes more; a pair of shoes cost
thirty or forty pesos de oro, and a good horse could not be had
for less than twenty-five hundred. *47 Some brought a still
higher price. Every article rose in value, as gold and silver,
the representatives of all, declined. Gold and silver, in short,
seemed to be the only things in Cuzco that were not wealth. Yet
there were some few wise enough to return contented with their
present gains to their native country. Here their riches brought
them consideration and competence, and, while they excited the
envy of their countrymen, stimulated them to seek their own
fortunes in the like path of adventure.

[Footnote 47: Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p.
233.]

Chapter IX

New Inca Crowned. - Municipal Regulations. - Terrible March Of
Alvarado. - Interview With Pizarro. - Foundation Of Lima. -
Hernando Pizarro Reaches Spain. - Sensation At Court. - Feuds Of
Almagro And The Pizarros.
1534-1535.

The first care of the Spanish general, after the division of the
booty, was to place Manco on the throne, and to obtain for him
the recognition of his countrymen. He, accordingly, presented
the young prince to them as their future sovereign, the
legitimate son of Huayna Capac, and the true heir of the Peruvian
sceptre. The annunciation was received with enthusiasm by the
people, attached to the memory of his illustrious father, and
pleased that they were still to have a monarch rule over them of
the ancient line of Cuzco.

Every thing was done to maintain the illusion with the Indian
population. The ceremonies of a coronation were studiously
observed. The young prince kept the prescribed fasts and vigils;
and on the appointed day, the nobles and the people, with the
whole Spanish soldiery, assembled in the great square of Cuzco to
witness the concluding ceremony. Mass was publicly performed by
Father Valverde, and the Inca Manco received the fringed diadem
of Peru, not from the hand of the high-priest of his nation, but
from his Conqueror, Pizarro. The Indian lords then tendered
their obeisance in the customary form; after which the royal
notary read aloud the instrument asserting the supremacy of the
Castilian Crown, and requiring the homage of all present to its
authority. This address was explained by an interpreter, and the
ceremony of homage was performed by each one of the parties
waving the royal banner of Castile twice or thrice with his
hands. Manco then pledged the Spanish commander in a golden
goblet of the sparkling chicha; and, the latter having cordially
embraced the new monarch, the trumpets announced the conclusion
of the ceremony. *1 But it was not the note of triumph, but of
humiliation; for it proclaimed that the armed foot of the
stranger was in the halls of the Peruvian Incas; that the
ceremony of coronation was a miserable pageant; that their prince
himself was but a puppet in the hands of his Conqueror; and that
the glory of the Children of the Sun had departed for ever!

[Footnote 1: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Ped. Sancho,
Rel., ap Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 407.]

Yet the people readily gave in to the illusion, and seemed
willing to accept this image of their ancient independence. The
accession of the young monarch was greeted by all the usual fetes
and rejoicings. The mummies of his royal ancestors, with such
ornaments as were still left to them, were paraded in the great
square. They were attended each by his own numerous retinue, who
performed all the menial offices, as if the object of them were
alive and could feel their import. Each ghostly form took its
seat at the banquet-table - now, alas! stripped of the
magnificent service with which it was wont to blaze at these high
festivals - and the guests drank deep to the illustrious dead.
Dancing succeeded the carousal, and the festivities, prolonged to
a late hour, were continued night after night by the giddy
population, as if their conquerors had not been intrenched in the
capital! *2 - What a contrast to the Aztecs in the conquest of
Mexico!

[Footnote 2: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms

"Luego por la manana iba al enterramiento donde estaban cada uno
por orden embalsamados como es dicho, y asentados en sus sillas,
y con mucha veneracion y respeto, todos por orden los sacaban de
alli y los trahian a la ciudad, teniendo cada uno su litera, y
hombres con su librea, que le trujesen, y ansi desta manera todo
el servicio y aderezos como si estubiera vivo." Relacion del
Primer. Descub, Ms.]

Pizarro's next concern was to organize a municipal government for
Cuzco, like those in the cities of the parent country. Two
alcaldes were appointed, and eight regidores, among which last
functionaries were his brothers Gonzalo and Juan. The oaths of
office were administered with great solemnity, on the
twenty-fourth of March, 1534, in presence both of Spaniards and
Peruvians, in the public square; as if the general were willing
by this ceremony to intimate to the latter, that, while they
retained the semblance of their ancient institutions, the real
power was henceforth vested in their conquerors. *3 He invited
Spaniards to settle in the place by liberal grants of land and
houses, for which means were afforded by the numerous palaces and
public buildings of the Incas; and many a cavalier, who had been
too poor in his own country to find a place to rest in, now saw
himself the proprietor of a spacious mansion that might have
entertained the retinue of a prince. *4 From this time, says an
old chronicler, Pizarro, who had hitherto been distinguished by
his military title of "Captain-General," was addressed by that of
"Governor." *5 Both had been bestowed on him by the royal grant.
[Footnote 3: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 409.
- Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1534. - Actto de la fundacion del
Cuzco, Ms.

This instrument, which belongs to the collection of Munoz,
records not only the names of the magistrates, but of the vecinos
who formed the first population of the Christian capital.]

[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.