History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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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 effected, 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

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
neighborhood of Pizarro! 31 The remainder of his forces, when
mustered, were to follow him.

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

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.

Book 3

Chapter 10

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
inroad, 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

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
forever on the necks of his countrymen. A plan for a general rising was
formed, and it was in conformity to it that the priest was selected by the
Inca to bear 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

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 neighboring 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.

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
warclubs. 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 lofty range of hills which belt round
the beautiful valley of Yucay. Juan Pizarro and his little troop encamped
on the level at the base of the mountains. He had gained a victory, as
usual, over immense odds; but he had never seen a field so well disputed,
and his victory had cost him the lives of several men and horses, while
many more had been 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 thunder-clouds along the slopes and
sumrafts, 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
feather-work, which reminded some few who had served under Cortes of
the military costume of the Aztecs. Above all rose a forest of long lances
and battle-axes edged with copper, which, tossed to and fro in wild
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.

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 willing
to draw as many victims as they could into the toils, conscious that, the
greater the number, the sooner they would become sensible to the
approaches of famine.6

Hernando Pizarro greeted his brother with no little satisfaction; for he
brought an important addition to his force, which now, when all were
united, did not exceed two hundred, horse and foot,7 besides a thousand
Indian auxiliaries; an insignificant number, in comparison with the
countless multitudes that were swarming at the gates. That night was
passed by the Spaniards with feelings of the deepest anxiety, as they
looked forward with natural apprehension to the morrow. It was early in
February, 1536, when the siege of Cuzco commenced; a siege
memorable as calling out the most heroic displays of Indian and
European valor, and bringing the two races in deadlier conflict with each
other than had yet occurred in the conquest of Peru.

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 redhot stones wrapped in cotton that had been
steeped in some bituminous substance, which, scattered 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 fro 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

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

Fortunately, the open space around Hernando's little company separated
them from the immediate scene of conflagration. It afforded a means of
preservation similar to that employed by the American hunter, who
endeavors to surround 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 Andes, soaring up in solitary grandeur into the
regions of eternal silence, far beyond the wild tumult that raged so
fearfully at their base.

Such was the extent of the city, that it was 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 neighboring 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!