lest you should be misled by assertions that the condition of things in
Peru was differently stated by the Spanish historians, it is needful to
say one thing more. The Spanish chroniclers were not liars nor
blunderers,--any more than our own later pioneers who wrote gravely of
the Indian _King_ Philip, and the Indian _King_ Powhatan, and the Indian
_Princess_ Pocahontas. Ethnology was an unknown science then. None of
those old writers comprehended the characteristic Indian organization.
They saw an ignorant, naked, superstitious man who commanded his
ignorant followers; he was a person in authority, and they called him a
king because they did not know what else to call him. The Spaniards did
the same thing. All the world in those days had but one little foot-rule
wherewith to measure governments or organizations; and ridiculous as
some of their measurements seem now, no one then could do better. No;
the mistakes of the Spanish chroniclers were as honest and as ignorant
as those which Prescott made three centuries later, and by no means so
absurd.
Peru, however, was a very wonderful country to have been built up by
simple Indians, without even that national organization or spirit which
is the first step toward a nation. Its "cities" were substantial, and in
their construction had considerable claim to skill; the farms were
better than those of our Pueblos, because they had indigenous there the
potato and other plant-foods unknown then in our southwest, and were
watered by the same system of irrigation common to all the sedentary
tribes. They were the only shepherd Indians, and their great flocks of
llamas were a very considerable source of wealth; while the camel's-hair
cloths of their own weaving were not disdained by the proud ladies of
Spain. And above all, their rude ovens for melting metal enabled them to
supply a certain dazzling display, which was certainly not to be
expected among American Indians: indeed, it would surprise us to enter
churches anywhere and find them so bright with golden plates and images
and dados as were some of their barbaric temples. We cannot say that
they never made human sacrifices; but these hideous rites were rare, and
not to be compared with the daily horrors in Mexico. For ordinary
sacrifices, the llama was the victim.
It was into the strongholds of this piratical but uncommon Indian tribe
that Pizarro was now leading his little band.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] Pronounced Sow-sa.
V.
THE CONQUEST OF PERU.
Certainly no army ever marched in the face of more hopeless odds.
Against the countless thousands of the Peruvians, Pizarro had one
hundred and seventy-seven men. Only sixty-seven of these had horses. In
the whole command there were but three guns; and only twenty men had
even cross-bows; all the others were armed with sword, dagger, and
lance. A pretty array, truly, to conquer what was an empire in size
though not in organization!
Five days out from San Miguel, Pizarro paused to rest. Here he noticed
that the seeds of discontent were among his followers; and he adopted a
remedy characteristic of the man. Drawing up his company, he addressed
them in friendly fashion. He said he wished San Miguel might be better
guarded; its garrison was very small. If there were any now who would
rather not proceed to the unknown dangers of the interior, they were at
perfect liberty to return and help guard San Miguel, where they should
have the same grants of land as the others, besides sharing in the final
profits of the conquest.
It was an audacious yet a wise step. Four foot-soldiers and five
cavalrymen said they believed they would go back to San Miguel; and
back they went, while the loyal one hundred and sixty-eight pressed on,
pledged anew to follow their intrepid leader to the end.
De Soto, who had been out on a scout for eight days, now returned,
accompanied by a messenger from the Inca war-captain, Atahualpa. The
Indian brought gifts, and invited them to visit Atahualpa, who was now
encamped with his braves at Caxamarca.[27] Felipillo, the young Indian
from Tumbez, who had gone back to Spain with Pizarro and had learned
Spanish, now made a very useful interpreter; and through him the
Spaniards were able to converse with the Inca Indians. Pizarro treated
the messenger with his usual courtesy, and sent him home with gifts, and
marched on up the hills in the direction of Caxamarca. One of the
Indians declared that Atahualpa was simply decoying the Spaniards into
his stronghold to destroy them without the trouble of going after them,
which was quite true; and another Indian declared that the Inca
war-captain had with him a force of at least fifty thousand men. But
without faltering, Pizarro sent an Indian ahead to reconnoitre, and
pushed on through the fearful mountain passes of the Cordillera,
cheering his men with one of his characteristic speeches:--
"Let all take heart and courage to do as I expect of you,
and as good Spaniards are wont to do. And do not be alarmed
by the multitude the enemy is said to have, nor by the small
number of us Christians. For even if we were fewer and the
opposing army greater, the help of God is much greater yet;
and in the utmost need He aids and favors His own to
disconcert and humble the pride of the infidels, and bring
them to the knowledge of our holy faith."
To this knightly speech, the men shouted that they would follow wherever
he led. Pizarro went ahead with forty horsemen and sixty infantry,
leaving his brother Hernando to halt with the remaining men until
further orders. It was no child's play, climbing those awful paths. The
horsemen had to dismount, and even then could hardly lead their horses
up the heights. The narrow trails wound under hanging cliffs and along
the brinks of gloomy _quebradas_,[28]--narrow clefts, thousands of feet
deep, where the rocky shelf was barely wide enough to creep along. The
pass was commanded by two remarkable stone forts; but luckily these were
deserted. Had an enemy occupied them, the Spaniards would have been
lost; but Atahualpa was letting them walk into his trap, confident of
crushing them there at his ease. At the top of the pass Hernando and his
men were sent for, and came up. A messenger from Atahualpa now arrived
with a present of llamas; and at about the same time Pizarro's Indian
spy returned, and reiterated that Atahualpa meant treachery. The
Peruvian messenger plausibly explained the suspicious movements related
by the spy. His explanation was far from satisfactory; but Pizarro was
too wise to show his distrust. Nothing but a confident front could save
them now.
The Spaniards suffered much from cold in crossing that lofty upland; and
even the descent on the east side of the Cordillera was full of
difficulty. On the seventh day they came in sight of Caxamarca in its
pretty oval valley,--a pocket of the great range. Off to one side was
the camp of the Inca war-captain and his army, covering a great area. On
the 15th of November, 1532, the Spaniards entered the town. It was
absolutely deserted,--a serious and dangerous omen. Pizarro halted in
the great square or common, and sent De Soto and Hernando Pizarro with
thirty-five cavalry to Atahualpa's camp to ask an interview. They found
the Indian surrounded by a luxury which startled them; and the
overwhelming number of warriors impressed them no less. To their request
Atahualpa replied that to-day he was keeping a sacred fast (itself a
highly suspicious fact), but to-morrow he would visit the Spaniards in
the town. "Take the houses on the square," he said, "and enter no
others. They are for the use of all. When I come, I will give orders
what shall be done."
The Peruvians, who had never seen a horse before, were astounded at
these mounted strangers, and doubly charmed when De Soto, who was a
gallant horseman, displayed his prowess,--not for vanity; it was a
matter of very serious importance to impress these outnumbering
barbarians with the dangerous abilities of the strangers.
The events of the next day deserve special attention, as they and their
direct consequences have been the basis of the unjust charge that
Pizarro was a cruel man. The _real_ facts are his full justification.
On the morning of November 16, after an anxious night, the Spaniards
were up with the first gray dawn. It was plain now that they had walked
right into the trap; and the chances were a hundred to one that they
would never get out. Their Indian spy had warned them truly. Here they
were cooped up in the town, one hundred and sixty-eight of them; and
within easy distance were the unnumbered thousands of the Indians. Worse
yet, they saw their retreat cut off; for in the night Atahualpa had
thrown a large force between them and the pass by which they had
entered. Their case was absolutely hopeless,--nothing but a miracle
could save them. But their miracle was ready,--it was Pizarro.
It is by one of the finest provisions of Nature that the right sort of
minds think best and swiftest when there is most need for them to think
quickly and well. In the supreme moment all the crowding, jumbled
thoughts of the full brain seem to be suddenly swept aside, to leave a
clear space down which the one great thought may leap forward like the
runner to his goal,--or like the lightning which splits the slow, tame
air asunder even as its fire dashes on its way. Most intelligent persons
have that mental lightning sometimes; and when it can be relied on to
come and instantly illumine the darkest crisis, it is the insight of
genius. It was that which made Napoleon, Napoleon; and made Pizarro,
Pizarro.
There was need of some wonderfully rapid, some almost superhuman
thinking. What could overcome those frightful odds? Ah! Pizarro had it!
He did not know, as we know now, what superstitious reasons made the
Indians revere Atahualpa so; but he did know that the influence existed.
Somewhat as Pizarro was to the Spaniards, was their war-captain to the
Peruvians,--not only their military head, but literally equal to "a host
in himself." Very well! If he could capture this treacherous chieftain,
it would reduce the odds greatly; indeed, it would be the bloodless
equivalent of depriving the hostile force of several thousand men.
Besides, Atahualpa would be a pledge for the peace of his people. And as
the only way out of destruction, Pizarro determined to capture the
war-captain.
For this brilliant strategy he at once made careful preparations. The
cavalry, in two divisions commanded respectively by Hernando de Soto and
Hernando Pizarro, was hidden in two great hallways which opened into the
square. In a third hallway were put the infantry; and with twenty men
Pizarro took his position at a fourth commanding point. Pedro de Candia,
with the artillery,--two poor little falconets,--was stationed on the
top of a strong building. Pizarro then made a devout address to his
soldiers; and with public prayers to God to aid and preserve them, the
little force awaited its enemy.
The day was nearly gone when Atahualpa entered town, riding on a golden
chair borne high on the shoulders of his servants. He had promised to
come for a friendly visit, and unarmed; but singularly his friendly
visit was made with a following of several thousand athletic warriors!
Ostensibly they were unarmed; but underneath their cloaks they clutched
bows and knives and war-clubs. Atahualpa was certainly not above
curiosity, unconcerned as he had seemed. This new sort of men was too
interesting to be exterminated at once. He wished to see more of them,
and so came, but perfectly confident, as a cruel boy might be with a
fly. He could watch its buzzings for a time; and whenever he was tired
of that, he had but to turn down his thumb and crush the fly upon the
pane. He reckoned too soon. A hundred and seventy Spanish bodies might
be easily crushed; but not when they were animated by one such mind as
their leader's.
Even now Pizarro was ready to adopt peaceful measures. Good Fray Vicente
de Valverde, the chaplain of the little army, stepped forth to meet
Atahualpa. It was a strange contrast,--the quiet, gray-robed missionary,
with his worn Bible in his hand, facing the cunning Indian on his golden
throne, with golden ornaments and a necklace of emeralds. Father
Valverde spoke. He said they came as servants of a mighty king and of
the true God. They came as friends; and all they asked was that the
Indian chief should abandon his idols and submit to God, and accept the
king of Spain as his _ally_, not as his sovereign.
Atahualpa, after looking curiously at the Bible (for of course he had
never seen a book before), dropped it, and answered the missionary
curtly and almost insultingly. Father Valverde's exhortations only
angered the Indian, and his words and manner grew more menacing.
Atahualpa desired to see the sword of one of the Spaniards, and it was
shown him. Then he wished to draw it; but the soldier wisely declined to
allow him. Father Valverde did not, as has been charged, then urge a
massacre; he merely reported to Pizarro the failure of his conciliatory
efforts. The hour had come. Atahualpa might now strike at any moment;
and if he struck first, there was absolutely no hope for the Spaniards.
Their only salvation was in turning the tables, and surprising the
surprisers. Pizarro waved his scarf to Candia; and the ridiculous little
cannon on the housetop boomed across the square. It did not hit anybody,
and was not meant to; it was merely to terrify the Indians, who had
never heard a gun, and to give the signal to the Spaniards. The
descriptions of how the "smoke from the artillery rolled in sulphurous
volumes along the square, blinding the Peruvians, and making a thick
gloom," can best be appreciated when we remember that all this deadly
cloud had to come from two little pop-cannon that were carried over the
mountains on horseback, and three old flintlock muskets! Yet in such a
ridiculous fashion have most of the events of the conquest been written
about.
Not less false and silly are current descriptions of the "massacre"
which ensued. The Spaniards all sallied out at the signal and fell upon
the Indians, and finally drove them from the square. We cannot believe
that two thousand were slain, when we consider how many Indians one man
would be capable of killing with a sword or clubbed musket or cross-bow
in half an hour's running fight, and multiplying that by one hundred and
sixty-eight; for after such a computation we should believe, not that
two thousand, but two hundred is about the right figure for those killed
at Caxamarca.
The chief efforts of the Spaniards were necessarily not to kill, but to
drive off the other Indians and capture Atahualpa. Pizarro had given
stern orders that the chief must not be hurt. He did not wish to kill
him, but to secure him alive as a hostage for the peaceful conduct of
his people. The bodyguard of the war-captain made a stout resistance;
and one excited Spaniard hurled a missile at Atahualpa. Pizarro sprang
forward and took the wound in his own arm, saving the Indian chief. At
last Atahualpa was secured unhurt, and was placed in one of the
buildings under a strong guard. He admitted--with the characteristic
bravado of an Indian, whose traditional habit it is to show his courage
by taunting his captors--that he had let them come in, secure in his
overwhelming numbers, to make slaves of such as pleased him, and put
the others to death. He might have added that had the wily war-chief
his father been alive, this never would have happened. Experienced old
Huayna Capac would never have let the Spaniards enter the town, but
would have entangled and annihilated them in the wild mountain passes.
But Atahualpa, being more conceited and less prudent, had taken a
needless risk, and now found himself a prisoner and his army routed. The
biter was bitten.
The distinguished captive was treated with the utmost care and kindness.
He was a prisoner only in that he could not go out; but in the spacious
and pleasant rooms assigned him he had every comfort. His family lived
with him; his food, the best that could be procured, he ate from his own
dishes; and every wish was gratified except the one wish to get out and
rally his Indians for war. Father Valverde, and Pizarro himself, labored
earnestly to convert Atahualpa to Christianity, explaining the
worthlessness and wickedness of his idols, and the love of the true
God,--as well as they could to an Indian, to whom, of course, a
Christian God was incomprehensible. The worthlessness of his own gods
Atahualpa was not slow to admit. He frankly declared that they were
nothing but liars. Huayna Capac had consulted them, and they answered
that he would live a great while yet,--and Huayna Capac had promptly
died. Atahualpa himself had gone to ask the oracle if he should attack
the Spaniards: the oracle had answered yes, and that he would easily
conquer them. No wonder the Inca war-chief had lost confidence in the
makers of such predictions.
The Spaniards gathered many llamas, considerable gold, and a large store
of fine garments of cotton and camel's-hair. They were no longer
molested; for the Indians without their professional war-maker were even
more at a loss than a civilized army would be without its officers, for
the Indian leader has a priestly as well as a military office,--and
their leader was a prisoner.
At last Atahualpa, anxious to get back to his forces at any cost, made a
proposition so startling that the Spaniards could scarce believe their
ears. If they would set him free, he promised to fill the room wherein
he was a prisoner as high as he could reach with gold, and a smaller
room with silver! The room to be filled with golden vessels and trinkets
(nothing so compact as ingots) is said to have been twenty-two feet long
and seventeen wide; and the mark he indicated on the wall with his
fingers was nine feet from the floor!
FOOTNOTES:
[27] Pronounced Cash-a-_mar_-ca.
[28] Pronounced kay-_brah_-das.
VI.
THE GOLDEN RANSOM.
There is no reason whatever to doubt that Pizarro accepted this
proposition in perfect good faith. The whole nature of the man, his
religion, the laws of Spain, and the circumstantial evidence of his
habitual conduct lead us to believe that he intended to set Atahualpa
free when the ransom should have been paid. But later circumstances, in
which he had neither blame nor control, simply forced him to a different
course.
Atahualpa's messengers dispersed themselves through Peru to gather the
gold and silver for the ransom. Meanwhile, Huascar,--who, you will
remember, was a prisoner in the hands of Atahualpa's men,--having heard
of the arrangement, sent word to the Spaniards setting forth his own
claims. Pizarro ordered that he should be brought to Caxamarca to tell
his story. The only way to learn which of the rival war-captains was
right in his claims was to bring them together and weigh their
respective pretensions. But this by no mean suited Atahualpa. Before
Huascar could be brought to Caxamarca he was assassinated by his Indian
keepers, the henchmen of Atahualpa,--and, it is commonly agreed, by
Atahualpa's orders.
The gold and silver for the ransom came in slowly. Historically there is
no doubt what was Atahualpa's plan in the whole arrangement. He was
merely _buying time_,--alluring the Spaniards to wait and wait, until he
could collect his forces to his rescue, and then wipe out the invaders.
This, indeed, began to dawn on the Spaniards. Tempting as was the golden
bait, they suspected the trap behind it. It was not long before their
fears were confirmed. They began to learn of the secret rallying of the
Indian forces. The news grew worse and worse; and even the daily arrival
of gold--some days as high as $50,000 in weight--could not blind them to
the growing danger.
It was necessary to learn more of the situation than they could know
while shut up in Caxamarca; and Hernando Pizarro was sent out with a
small force to scout to Guamachucho and thence to Pachacamac, three
hundred miles. It was a difficult and dangerous reconnoissance, but full
of interest. Their way along the table-land of the Cordillera was a
toilsome one. The story of great military roads is largely a myth,
though much had been done to improve the trails,--a good deal after the
rude fashion of the Pueblos of New Mexico, but on a larger scale. The
improvements, however, had been only to adapt the trails for the
sure-footed llama; and the Spanish horses could with great difficulty be
hauled and pushed up the worst parts. Especially were the Spaniards
impressed with the rude but effective swinging bridges of vines, with
which the Indians had spanned narrow but fearful chasms; yet even these
swaying paths were most difficult to be crossed with horses.
[Illustration: AN ANGLE OF THE FORTRESS OF THE SACSAHUAMAN.
_See page 278._]
After several weeks of severe travel, the party reached Pachacamac
without opposition. The famous temple there had been stripped of its
treasures, but its famous god--an ugly idol of wood--remained. The
Spaniards dethroned and smashed this pagan fetich, purified the temple,
and set up in it a large cross to dedicate it to God. They explained to
the natives, as best they could, the nature of Christianity, and tried
to induce them to adopt it.
Here it was learned that Chalicuchima, one of Atahualpa's subordinate
war-captains, was at Xauxa with a large force; and Hernando decided to
visit him. The horses were in ill shape for so hard a march; for their
shoes had been entirely worn out in the tedious journey, and how to shoe
them was a puzzle: there was no iron in Peru. But Hernando met the
difficulty with a startling expedient. If there was no iron, there was
plenty of silver; and in a short time the Spanish horses were shod with
that precious metal, and ready for the march to Xauxa. It was an arduous
journey, but well worth making. Chalicuchima voluntarily decided to go
with the Spaniards to Caxamarca to consult with his superior, Atahualpa.
Indeed, it was just the chance he desired. A personal conference would
enable them to see exactly what was best to be done to get rid of these
mysterious strangers. So the adventurous Spaniards and the wily
sub-chief got back at last to Caxamarca together.
Meanwhile Atahualpa had fared very well at the hands of his captors.
Much as they had reason to distrust, and did distrust, the treacherous
Indian, they treated him not only humanely but with the utmost kindness.
He lived in luxury with his family and retainers, and was much
associated with the Spaniards. They seem to have been trying their
utmost to make him their friend,--which was Pizarro's principle all
along. Prejudiced historians can find no answer to one significant fact.
The Indians came to regard Pizarro and his brothers Gonzalo and Juan as
their friends,--and an Indian, suspicious and observant far beyond us,
is one of the last men in the world to be fooled in such things. Had the
Pizarros been the cruel, merciless men that partisan and ill-informed
writers have represented them to be, the aborigines would have been the
first to see it and to hate them. The fact that the people they
conquered became their friends and admirers is the best of testimony to
their humanity and justice.
Atahualpa was even taught to play chess and other European games; and
besides these efforts for his amusement, pains was also taken to give
him more and more understanding of Christianity. Notwithstanding all
this, his unfriendly plots were continually going on.
In the latter part of May the three emissaries who had been sent to
Cuzco for a portion of the ransom got back to Caxamarca with a great
treasure. From the famous Temple of the Sun alone the Indians had given
them seven hundred golden plates; and that was only a part of the
payment from Cuzco. The messengers brought back two hundred loads of
gold and twenty-five of silver, each load being carried on a sort of
hand-barrow by four Indians. This great contribution swelled the ransom
perceptibly, though the room was not yet nearly filled to the mark
agreed upon. Pizarro, however, was not a Shylock. The ransom was not
complete, but it was enough; and he had his notary draw up a document
formally freeing Atahualpa from any further payment,--in fact, giving
him a receipt in full. But he felt obliged to delay setting the
war-captain at liberty. The murder of Huascar and similar symptoms
showed that it would be suicidal to turn Atahualpa loose now. His
intentions, though masked, were fully suspected, and so Pizarro told him
that it would be necessary to keep him as a hostage a little longer.
Before it would be safe for him to release Atahualpa he knew that he
must have a larger force to withstand the attack which Atahualpa was
sure at once to organize. He was rather better acquainted with the
Indian vindictiveness than some of his closet critics are.