Disorders In Peru. - March To Cuzco. - Encounter With The
Natives. - Challcuchima Burnt. - Arrival In Cuzco. - Description
Of The City. - Treasure Found There.
1533-1534.
The Inca of Peru was its sovereign in a peculiar sense. He
received an obedience from his vassals more implicit than that of
any despot; for his authority reached to the most secret conduct,
- to the thoughts of the individual. He was reverenced as more
than human. *1 He was not merely the head of the state, but the
point to which all its institutions converged, as to a common
centre, - the keystone of the political fabric, which must fall
to pieces by its own weight when that was withdrawn. So it fared
on the death of Atahuallpa. *2 His death not only left the throne
vacant, without any certain successor, but the manner of it
announced to the Peruvian people that a hand stronger than that
of their Incas had now seized the sceptre, and that the dynasty
of the Children of the Sun had passed away for ever.
[Footnote 1: "Such was the awe in which the Inca was held," says
Pizarro, "that it was only necessary for him to intimate his
commands to that effect, and a Peruvian would at once jump down a
precipice, hang himself, or put an end to his life in any way
that was prescribed." Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
[Footnote 2: Oviedo tells us, that the Inca's right name was
Atabaliva, and that the Spaniards usually misspelt it, because
they thought much more of getting treasure for themselves, than
they did of the name of the person who owned it. (Hist. de las
Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16.) Nevertheless, I have
preferred the authority of Garcilasso, who, a Peruvian himself,
and a near kinsman of the Inca, must be supposed to have been
well informed. His countrymen, he says, pretended that the cocks
imported into Peru by the Spaniards, when they crowed, uttered
the name of Atahuallpa; "and I and the other Indian boys," adds
the historian, "when we were at school, used to mimic them." Com.
Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 23.]
The natural consequences of such a conviction followed. The
beautiful order of the ancient institutions was broken up, as the
authority which controlled it was withdrawn. The Indians broke
out into greater excesses from the uncommon restraint to which
they had been before subjected. Villages were burnt, temples and
palaces were plundered, and the gold they contained was scattered
or secreted. Gold and silver acquired an importance in the eyes
of the Peruvian, when he saw the importance attached to them by
his conquerors. The precious metals, which before served only
for purposes of state or religious decoration, were now hoarded
up and buried in caves and forests. The gold and silver
concealed by the natives were affirmed greatly to exceed in
quantity that which fell into the hands of the Spaniards. *3 The
remote provinces now shook off their allegiance to the Incas.
Their great captains, at the head of distant armies, set up for
themselves. Ruminavi, a commander on the borders of Quito,
sought to detach that kingdom from the Peruvian empire, and to
reassert its ancient independence. The country, in short, was in
that state, in which old things are passing away, and the new
order of things has not yet been established. It was in a state
of revolution.
[Footnote 3: "That which the Inca gave the Spaniards, said some
of the Indian nobles to Benalcazar, the conqueror of Quito, was
but as a kernel of corn, compared with the heap before him."
(Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8 cap. 22.) See
also Pedro Pizarro Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Relacion del Primer.
Descub., Ms.]
The authors of the revolution, Pizarro and his followers,
remained meanwhile at Caxamalca. But the first step of the
Spanish commander was to name a successor to Atahuallpa. It
would be easier to govern under the venerated authority to which
the homage of the Indians had been so long paid; and it was not
difficult to find a successor. The true heir to the crown was a
second son of Huayna Capac, named Manco, a legitimate brother of
the unfortunate Huascar. But Pizarro had too little knowledge of
the dispositions of this prince; and he made no scruple to prefer
a brother of Atahuallpa, and to present him to the Indian nobles
as their future Inca. We know nothing of the character of the
young Toparca, who probably resigned himself without reluctance
to a destiny which, however humiliating in some points of view,
was more exalted than he could have hoped to obtain in the
regular course of events. The ceremonies attending a Peruvian
coronation were observed, as well as time would allow; the brows
of the young Inca were encircled with the imperial borla by the
hands of his conqueror, and he received the homage of his Indian
vassals. They were the less reluctant to pay it, as most of
those in the camp belonged to the faction of Quito.
All thoughts were now eagerly turned towards Cuzco, of which the
most glowing accounts were circulated among the soldiers, and
whose temples and royal palaces were represented as blazing with
gold and silver. With imaginations thus excited, Pizarro and his
entire company, amounting to almost five hundred men, of whom
nearly a third, probably, were cavalry, took their departure
early in September from Caxamalca, - a place ever memorable as
the theatre of some of the most strange and sanguinary scenes
recorded in history. All set forward in high spirits, - the
soldiers of Pizarro from the expectation of doubling their
present riches, and Almagro's followers from the prospect of
sharing equally in the spoil with "the first conquerors." *4 The
young Inca and the old chief Challcuchima accompanied the march
in their litters, attended by a numerous retinue of vassals, and
moving in as much state and ceremony as if in the possession of
real power. *5
[Footnote 4: The "first conquerors," according to Garcilasso,
were held in especial honor by those who came after them, though
they were, on the whole, men of less consideration and fortune
than the later adventurers. Com. Real., Parte 1 lib. 7, cap. 9.]
[Footnote 5: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Naharro,
Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Ped. Sancho Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III.
fol. 400.]
Their course lay along the great road of the Incas, which
stretched across the elevated regions of the Cordilleras, all the
way to Cuzco. It was of nearly a uniform breadth, though
constructed with different degrees of care, according to the
ground. *6 Sometimes it crossed smooth and level valleys, which
offered of themselves little impediment to the traveller; at
other times, it followed the course of a mountain stream that
flowed round the base of some beetling cliff, leaving small space
for the foothold; at others, again, where the sierra was so
precipitous that it seemed to preclude all further progress, the
road, accommodated to the natural sinuosities of the ground,
wound round the heights which it would have been impossible to
scale directly. *7
[Footnote 6: "Va todo el camino de una traza y anchura hecho a
mano." Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]
[Footnote 7: "En muchas partes viendo lo que esta adelante,
parece cosa impossible poderlo pasar." Ibid., Ms.]
But although managed with great address, it was a formidable
passage for the cavalry. The mountain was hewn into steps, but
the rocky ledges cut up the hoofs of the horses; and, though the
troopers dismounted and led them by the bridle, they suffered
severely in their efforts to keep their footing. *8 The road was
constructed for man and the light-footed llama; and the only
heavy beast of burden at all suited to it was the sagacious and
sure-footed mule, with which the Spanish adventurers were not
then provided. It was a singular chance that Spain was the land
of the mule; and thus the country was speedily supplied with the
very animal which seems to have been created for the difficult
passes of the Cordilleras.
[Footnote 8: Ped. Sancho, Rel. ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 404.]
Another obstacle, often occurring, was the deep torrents that
rushed down in fury from the Andes. They were traversed by the
hanging bridges of osier, whose frail materials were after a time
broken up by the heavy tread of the cavalry, and the holes made
in them added materially to the dangers of the passage. On such
occasions, the Spaniards contrived to work their way across the
rivers on rafts, swimming their horses by the bridle. *9
[Footnote 9: Ibid., ubi supra. - Relacion del Primer. Descub.,
Ms.]
All along the route they found post-houses for the accommodation
of the royal couriers, established at regular intervals; and
magazines of grain and other commodities, provided in the
principal towns for the Indian armies. The Spaniards profited by
the prudent forecast of the Peruvian government.
Passing through several hamlets and towns of some note, the
principal of which were Guamachucho and Guanuco, Pizarro, after a
tedious march, came in sight of the rich valley of Xauxa. The
march, though tedious, had been attended with little suffering,
except in crossing the bristling crests of the Cordilleras, which
occasionally obstructed their path, - a rough setting to the
beautiful valleys, that lay scattered like gems along this
elevated region. In the mountain passes they found some
inconvenience from the cold; since, to move more quickly, they
had disencumbered themselves of all superfluous baggage, and were
even unprovided with tents. *10 The bleak winds of the mountains
penetrated the thick harness of the soldiers; but the poor
Indians, more scantily clothed and accustomed to a tropical
climate, suffered most severely. The Spaniard seemed to have a
hardihood of body, as of soul, that rendered him almost
indifferent to climate.
[Footnote 10: "La notte dormirono tutti in quella campagna senza
coperto alcuno, sopra la neue, ne pur hebber souuenimento di
legne ne da man giare." Ped. Sancho, Rel. ap. Ramusio, tom. III.
fol. 401.]
On the march they had not been molested by enemies. But more
than once they had seen vestiges of them in smoking hamlets and
ruined bridges. Reports, from time to time, had reached Pizarro
of warriors on his track; and small bodies of Indians were
occasionally seen like dusky clouds on the verge of the horizon,
which vanished as the Spaniards approached. On reaching Xauxa,
however, these clouds gathered into one dark mass of warriors,
which formed on the opposite bank of the river that flowed
through the valley.
The Spaniards advanced to the stream, which, swollen by the
melting of the snows, was now of considerable width, though not
deep. The bridge had been destroyed; but the Conquerors, without
hesitation, dashing boldly in, advanced, swimming and wading, as
they best could, to the opposite bank. The Indians, disconcerted
by this decided movement, as they had relied on their watery
defences, took to flight, after letting off an impotent volley of
missiles. Fear gave wings to the fugitives; but the horse and
his rider were swifter, and the victorious pursuers took bloody
vengeance on their enemy for having dared even to meditate
resistance.
Xauxa was a considerable town. It was the place already noticed
as having been visited by Hernando Pizarro. It was seated in the
midst of a verdant valley, fertilized by a thousand little rills,
which the thrifty Indian husbandman drew from the parent river
that rolled sluggishly through the meadows. There were several
capacious buildings of rough stone in the town, and a temple of
some note in the times of the Incas. But the strong arm of
Father Valverde and his countrymen soon tumbled the heathen
deities from their pride of place, and established, in their
stead, the sacred effigies of the Virgin and Child.
Here Pizarro proposed to halt for some days, and to found a
Spanish colony. It was a favorable position, he thought, for
holding the Indian mountaineers in check, while, at the same
time, it afforded an easy communication with the sea-coast.
Meanwhile he determined to send forward De Soto, with a
detachment of sixty horse, to reconnoitre the country in advance,
and to restore the bridges where demolished by the enemy. *11
[Footnote 11: Carta de la Justicia y Regi miento de la Ciudad de
Xauja, Ms - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq. Ms. - Conq. i Pob. del
Piru, Ms - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5 lib. 4, cap. 10. -
Relacion de Primer. Descub., Ms.]
That active cavalier set forward at once, but found considerable
impediments to his progress. The traces of an enemy became more
frequent as he advanced. The villages were burnt, the bridges
destroyed, and heavy rocks and trees strewed in the path to
impede the march of the cavalry. As he drew near to Bilcas, once
an important place, though now effaced from the map, he had a
sharp encounter with the natives, in a mountain defile, which
cost him the lives of two or three troopers. The loss was light;
but any loss was felt by the Spaniards, so little accustomed, as
they had been of late, to resistance.
Still pressing forward, the Spanish captain crossed the river
Abancay, and the broad waters of the Apurimac; and, as he drew
near the sierra of Vilcaconga, he learned that a considerable
body of Indians lay in wait for him in the dangerous passes of
the mountains. The sierra was several leagues from Cuzco; and
the cavalier, desirous to reach the further side of it before
nightfall, incautiously pushed on his wearied horses. When he
was fairly entangled in its rocky defiles, a multitude of armed
warriors, springing, as it seemed, from every cavern and thicket
of the sierra, filled the air with their war-cries, and rushed
down, like one of their own mountain torrents, on the invaders,
as they were painfully tolling up the steeps. Men and horses
were overturned in the fury of the assault, and the foremost
files, rolling back on those below, spread ruin and consternation
in their ranks. De Soto in vain endeavoured to restore order,
and, if possible, to charge the assailants. The horses were
blinded and maddened by the missiles, while the desperate
natives, clinging to their legs, strove to prevent their ascent
up the rocky pathway. De Soto saw, that, unless he gained a
level ground which opened at some distance before him, all must
be lost. Cheering on his men with the old battle-cry, that
always went to the heart of a Spaniard, he struck his spurs deep
into the sides of his wearied charger, and, gallantly supported
by his troop, broke through the dark array of warriors, and,
shaking them off to the right and left, at length succeeded in
placing himself on the broad level.
Here both parties paused, as if by mutual consent, for a few
moments. A little stream ran through the plain, at which the
Spaniards watered their horses; *12 and the animals, having
recovered wind, De Soto and his men made a desperate charge on
their assailants. The undaunted Indians sustained the shock with
firmness; and the result of the combat was still doubtful, when
the shades of evening, falling thicker around them, separated the
combatants.
[Footnote 12: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol.
405.]
Both parties then withdrew from the field, taking up their
respective stations within bow-shot of each other, so that the
voices of the warriors on either side could be distinctly heard
in the stillness of the night. But very different were the
reflections of the two hosts. The Indians, exulting in their
temporary triumph, looked with confidence to the morrow to
complete it. The Spaniards, on the other hand, were
proportionably discouraged. They were not prepared for this
spirit of resistance in an enemy hitherto so tame. Several
cavaliers had fallen; one of them by a blow from a Peruvian
battle-axe, which clove his head to the chin, attesting the power
of the weapon, and of the arm that used it. *13 Several horses,
too, had been killed; and the loss of these was almost as
severely felt as that of their riders, considering the great cost
and difficulty of transporting them to these distant regions.
Few either of the men or horses escaped without wounds, and the
Indian allies suffered still more severely.
[Footnote 13: Ibid., loc cit.]
It seemed probable, from the pertinacity and a certain order
maintained in the assault, that it was directed by some leader of
military experience; perhaps the Indian commander Quizquiz, who
was said to be hanging round the environs of Cuzco with a
considerable force.
Notwithstanding the reasonable cause of apprehension for the
morrow, De Soto, like a stout-hearted cavalier, as he was, strove
to keep up the spirits of his followers. If they had beaten off
the enemy when their horses were jaded, and their own strength
nearly exhausted, how much easier it would be to come off
victorious when both were restored by a night's rest; and he told
them to "trust in the Almighty, who would never desert his
faithful followers in their extremity." The event justified De
Soto's confidence in this seasonable succour.
From time to time, on his march, he had sent advices to Pizarro
of the menacing state of the country, till his commander,
becoming seriously alarmed, was apprehensive that the cavalier
might be over powered by the superior numbers of the enemy. He
accordingly detached Almagro, with nearly all the remaining
horse, to his support, - unencumbered by infantry, that he might
move the lighter. That efficient leader advanced by forced
marches, stimulated by the tidings which met him on the road; and
was so fortunate as to reach the foot of the sierra of Vilcaconga
the very night of the engagement.
There hearing of the encounter, he pushed forward without
halting, though his horses were spent with travel. The night was
exceedingly dark, and Almagro, afraid of stumbling on the enemy's
bivouac, and desirous to give De Soto information of his
approach, commanded his trumpets to sound, till the notes,
winding through the defiles of the mountains, broke the slumbers
of his countrymen, sounding like blithest music in their ears.
They quickly replied with their own bugles, and soon had the
satisfaction to embrace their deliverers. *14
[Footnote 14: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera,
Hist. General, sec. 3, lib. 5, cap. 3.]
Great was the dismay of the Peruvian host, when the morning light
discovered the fresh reinforcement of the ranks of the Spaniards.
There was no use in contending with an enemy who gathered
strength from the conflict, and who seemed to multiply his
numbers at will. Without further attempt to renew the fight,
they availed themselves of a thick fog, which hung over the lower
slopes of the hills, to effect their retreat, and left the passes
open to the invaders. The two cavaliers then continued their
march until they extricated their forces from the sierra, when,
taking up a secure position, they proposed to await there the
arrival of Pizarro. *15
[Footnote 15: The account of De Soto's affair with the natives is
given in more or less detail, by Ped. Sancho Rel., ap. Ramusio,
tom. III. fol. 405, - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms., - Relacion del
Primer. Descub., Ms., -Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms, -
parties al present in the army.]
The commander-in-chief, meanwhile, lay at Xauxa, where he was
greatly disturbed by the rumors which reached him of the state of
the country. His enterprise, thus far, had gone forward so
smoothly, that he was no better prepared than his lieutenant to
meet with resistance from the natives. He did not seem to
comprehend that the mildest nature might at last be roused by
oppression; and that the massacre of their Inca, whom they
regarded with such awful veneration, would be likely, if any
thing could do it, to wake them from their apathy.
The tidings which he now received of the retreat of the Peruvians
were most welcome; and he caused mass to be said, and
thanksgivings to be offered up to Heaven, "which had shown itself
thus favorable to the Christians throughout this mighty
enterprise." The Spaniard was ever a Crusader. He was, in the
sixteenth century, what Coeur de Lion and his brave knights were
in the twelfth, with this difference; the cavalier of that day
fought for the Cross and for glory, while gold and the Cross were
the watchwords of the Spaniard. The spirit of chivalry had waned
somewhat before the spirit of trade; but the fire of religious
enthusiasm still burned as bright under the quilted mail of the
American Conqueror, as it did of yore under the iron panoply of
the soldier of Palestine.
It seemed probable that some man of authority had organized, or
at least countenanced, this resistance of the natives, and
suspicion fell on the captive chief Challcuchima, who was accused
of maintaining a secret correspondence with his confederate,
Quizquiz. Pizarro waited on the Indian noble, and, charging him
with the conspiracy, reproached him, as he had formerly done his
royal master, with ingratitude towards the Spaniards, who had
dealt with him so liberally. He concluded by the assurance,
that, if he did not cause the Peruvians to lay down their arms,
and tender their submission at once, he should be burnt alive, so
soon as they reached Almagro's quarters. *16
[Footnote 16: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Ped. Sancho,
Rel., ap Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 406.]
The Indian chief listened to the terrible menace with the utmost
composure. He denied having had any communication with his
countrymen, and said, that, in his present state of confinement,
at least, he could have no power to bring them to submission. He
then remained doggedly silent, and Pizarro did not press the
matter further. *17 But he placed a strong guard over his
prisoner, and caused him to be put in irons. It was an ominous
proceeding, and had been the precursor of the death of
Atahuallpa.
[Footnote 17: Ibid., ubi supra.]
Before quitting Xauxa, a misfortune befell the Spaniards in the
death of their creature, the young Inca Toparca. Suspicion, of
course, fell on Challcuchima, now selected as the scape-goat for
all the offences of his nation. *18 It was a disappointment to
Pizarro, who hoped to find a convenient shelter for his future
proceedings under this shadow of royalty. *19
[Footnote 18: It seems, from the language of the letter addressed
to the Emperor by the municipality of Xauxa, that the troops
themselves were far from being convinced of Challcuchima's guilt.
"Publico fue, aunque dello no ubo averiguacion in certenidad, que
el capitan Chaliconiman le abia dado ierbas o a beber con que
murio." Carta de la Just. v Reg. de Xauja, Ms.]
[Footnote 19: According to Velasco, Toparsa, whom, however, he
calls by another name, tore off the diadem bestowed on him by
Pizarro, with disdain, and died in a few weeks of chagrin.
(Hist. de Quito, tom. I. p. 377.) This writer, a Jesuit of Quito,
seems to feel himself bound to make out as good a case for
Atahuallpa and his family, as if he had been expressly retained
in their behalf. His vouchers - when he condescends to give any
- too rarely bear him out in his statements to inspire us with
much confidence in his correctness.]
The general considered it most prudent not to hazard the loss of
his treasures by taking them on the march, and he accordingly
left them at Xauxa, under a guard of forty soldiers, who remained
there in garrison. No event of importance occurred on the road,
and Pizarro, having effected a junction with Almagro, their
united forces soon entered the vale of Xaquixaguana, about five
leagues from Cuzco. This was one of those bright spots, so often
found embosomed amidst the Andes, the more beautiful from
contrast with the savage character of the scenery around it. A
river flowed through the valley, affording the means of
irrigating the soil, and clothing it in perpetual verdure; and
the rich and flowering vegetation spread out like a cultivated
garden. The beauty of the place and its delicious coolness
commended it as a residence for the Peruvian nobles, and the
sides of the hills were dotted with their villas, which afforded
them a grateful retreat in the heats of summer. *20 Yet the
centre of the valley was disfigured by a quagmire of some extent,
occasioned by the frequent overflowing of the waters; but the
industry of the Indian architects had constructed a solid
causeway, faced with heavy stone, and connected with the great
road, which traversed the whole breadth of the morass. *21
[Footnote 20: "Auia en este valle muy sumptuosos aposentos y
ricos adonde los senores del Cuzco salian a tomar sus plazeres y
solazes.' Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 91.]
[Footnote 21: Ibid., ubi supra.]
In this valley Pizarro halted for several days, while he
refreshed his troops from the well-stored magazines of the Incas.
His first act was to bring Challcuchima to trial; if trial that
could be called, where sentence may be said to have gone hand in
hand with accusation. We are not informed of the nature of the
evidence. It was sufficient to satisfy the Spanish captains of
the chieftain's guilt. Nor is it at all incredible that
Challcuchima should have secretly encouraged a movement among the
people, designed to secure his country's freedom and his own. He
was condemned to be burnt alive on the spot. "Some thought it a
hard measure," says Herrera; "but those who are governed by
reasons of state policy are apt to shut their eyes against every
thing else." *22 Why this cruel mode of execution was so often
adopted by the Spanish Conquerors is not obvious; unless it was
that the Indian was an infidel, and fire, from ancient date,
seems to have been considered the fitting doom of the infidel, as
the type of that inextinguishable flame which awaited him in the
regions of the damned.
[Footnote 22: Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 6 cap. 3.]
Father Valverde accompanied the Peruvian chieftain to the stake.
He seems always to have been present at this dreary moment,
anxious to profit by it, if possible, to work the conversion of
the victim. He painted in gloomy colors the dreadful doom of the
unbeliever, to whom the waters of baptism could alone secure the
ineffable glories of paradise. *23 It does not appear that he
promised any commutation of punishment in this world. But his
arguments fell on a stony heart, and the chief coldly replied, he
"did not understand the religion of the white men." *24 He might
be pardoned for not comprehending the beauty of a faith which, as
it would seem, had borne so bitter fruits to him. In the midst
of his tortures, he showed the characteristic courage of the
American Indian, whose power of endurance triumphs over the power
of persecution in his enemies, and he died with his last breath
invoking the name of Pachacamac. His own followers brought the
fagots to feed the flames that consumed him. *25
[Footnote 23: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol.
406.]
[Footnote 24: Ibid., loc. cit.]
[Footnote 25: Ibid. loc. cit. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq.,
Ms.
The Ms. of the old Conqueror is so much damaged in this part of
it that much of his account is entirely effaced.]
Soon after this tragic event, Pizarro was surprised by a visit
from a Peruvian noble, who came in great state, attended by a
numerous and showy retinue. It was the young prince Manco,
brother of the unfortunate Huascar, and the rightful successor to
the crown. Being brought before the Spanish commander, he
announced his pretensions to the throne, and claimed the
protection of the strangers. It is said he had meditated
resisting them by arms, and had encouraged the assaults made on
them on their march; but, finding resistance ineffectual, he had
taken this politic course, greatly to the displeasure of his more
resolute nobles. However this may be, Pizarro listened to his
application with singular contentment, for he saw in this new
scion of the true royal stock, a more effectual instrument for
his purposes than he could have found in the family of Quito,
with whom the Peruvians had but little sympathy. He received the
young man, therefore, with great cordiality, and did not hesitate
to assure him that he had been sent into the country by his
master, the Castilian sovereign, in order to vindicate the claims
of Huascar to the crown, and to punish the usurpation of his
rival. *26
[Footnote 26: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 406.
- Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
Taking with him the Indian prince, Pizarro now resumed his march.
It was interrupted for a few hours by a party of the natives, who
lay in wait for him in the neighbouring sierra. A sharp skirmish
ensued, in which the Indians behaved with great spirit, and
inflicted some little injury on the Spaniards; but the latter, at
length, shaking them off, made good their passage through the
defile, and the enemy did not care to follow them into the open
country.
It was late in the afternoon when the Conquerors came in sight of
Cuzco. *27 The descending sun was streaming his broad rays full
on the imperial city, where many an altar was dedicated to his
worship. The low ranges of buildings, showing in his beams like
so many lines of silvery light, filled up the bosom of the valley
and the lower slopes of the mountains, whose shadowy forms hung
darkly over the fair city, as if to shield it from the menaced
profanation. It was so late, that Pizarro resolved to defer his
entrance till the following morning.
[Footnote 27: "Y dos horas antes que el Sol se pusiese, llegaron
a vista de la ciudad del Cuzco. "Relacion del Primer. Descub.,
Ms]
That night vigilant guard was kept in the camp, and the soldiers
slept on their arms. But it passed away without annoyance from
the enemy, and early on the following day, November 15, 1533,
Pizarro prepared for his entrance into the Peruvian capital. *28
[Footnote 28: The chronicles differ as to the precise date.
There can be no better authorities than Pedro Sancho's narrative
and the Letter of the Magistrates of Xauxa, which have followed
in the text]
The little army was formed into three divisions, of which the
centre, or "battle," as it was called, was led by the general.
The suburbs were thronged with a countless multitude of the
natives, who had flocked from the city and the surrounding
country to witness the showy, and, to them, startling pageant.
All looked with eager curiosity on the strangers, the fame of
whose terrible exploits had spread to the remotest parts of the
empire. They gazed with astonishment on their dazzling arms and
fair complexions, which seemed to proclaim them the true Children
of the Sun; and they listened with feelings of mysterious dread,
as the trumpet sent forth its prolonged notes through the streets
of the capital, and the solid ground shook under the heavy tramp
of the cavalry.
The Spanish commander rode directly up the great square. It was
surrounded by low piles of buildings, among which were several
palaces of the Incas. One of these, erected by Huayna Capac, was
surmounted by a tower, while the ground-floor was occupied by one
or more immense halls, like those described in Caxamalca, where
the Peruvian nobles held their fetes in stormy weather. These
buildings afforded convenient barracks for the troops, though,
during the first few weeks, they remained under their tents in
the open plaza, with their horses picketed by their side, ready
to repulse any insurrection of the inhabitants. *29
[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.]