fifty foot and fifty horse, in three vessels; and landing in Peru, he
reached San Miguel in December, 1532. Here he heard with astonishment of
Pizarro's magical success, and of the golden booty, and at once
communicated with him. At the same time his secretary secretly
forwarded a treacherous letter to Pizarro, trying to arouse enmity and
betray Almagro. The secretary had gone to the wrong man, however, for
Pizarro spurned the contemptible offer. Indeed, his treatment of his
unadmirable associate from first to last was more than just; it was
forbearing, friendly, and magnanimous to a degree. He now sent Almagro
assurance of his friendship, and generously welcomed him to share the
golden field which had been won with very little help from him. Almagro
reached Caxamarca in February, 1533, and was cordially received by his
old companion-in-arms.
The vast ransom--a treasure to which there is no parallel in
history--was now divided. This division in itself was a labor involving
no small prudence and skill. The ransom was not in coin or ingots, but
in plates, vessels, images, and trinkets varying greatly in weight and
in purity. It had to be reduced to something like a common standard.
Some of the most remarkable specimens were saved to send to Spain; the
rest was melted down to ingots by the Indian smiths, who were busy a
month with the task. The result was almost fabulous. There were
1,326,539 _pesos de oro_, commercially worth, in those days, some five
times their weight,--that is, about $6,632,695. Besides this vast sum of
gold there were 51,610 marks of silver, equivalent by the same standard
to $1,135,420 now.
The Spaniards were assembled in the public square of Caxamarca. Pizarro
prayed that God would help him to divide the treasure justly, and the
apportionment began. First, a fifth of the whole great golden heap was
weighed out for the king of Spain, as Pizarro had promised in the
_capitulacion_. Then the conquerors took their shares in the order of
their rank. Pizarro received 57,222 _pesos de oro_, and 2,350 marks of
silver, besides the golden chair of Atahualpa, which weighed $25,000.
Hernando his brother got 31,080 _pesos de oro_, and 2,350 marks of
silver. De Soto had 17,749 _pesos de oro_, and 724 marks of silver.
There were sixty cavalrymen, and most of them received 8,880 _pesos de
oro_, and 362 marks of silver. Of the one hundred and five infantry,
part got half as much as the cavalry each, and part one fourth less.
Nearly $100,000 worth of gold was set aside to endow the first church in
Peru,--that of St. Francis. Shares were also given Almagro and his
followers, and the men who had stayed behind at San Miguel. That Pizarro
succeeded in making an equitable division is best evidenced by the
absence of any complaints,--and his associates were not in the habit of
keeping quiet under even a fancied injustice. Even his defamers have
never been able to impute dishonesty to the gallant conqueror of Peru.
To put in more graphic shape the results of this dazzling windfall, we
may tabulate the list, giving each share in its value in dollars
to-day:--
To the Spanish Crown $1,553,623
" Francisco Pizarro 462,810
" Hernando Pizarro 207,100
" De Soto 104,628
" each cavalryman 52,364
" each infantryman 26,182
All this was besides the fortunes given Almagro and his men and the
church.
This is the nearest statement that can be made of the value of the
treasure. The study of the enormously complicated and varying currency
values of those days is in itself the work for a whole lifetime; but the
above figures are _practically_ correct. Prescott's estimate that the
_peso de oro_ was worth eleven dollars at that time is entirely
unfounded; it was close to five dollars. The mark of silver is much more
difficult to determine, and Prescott does not attempt it at all. The
mark was not a coin, but a weight; and its commercial value was about
twenty-two dollars at that time.
VII.
ATAHUALPA'S TREACHERY AND DEATH.
But in the midst of their happiness at this realization of their golden
dreams,--and we may half imagine how they felt, after a life of poverty
and great suffering, at now finding themselves rich men,--the Spaniards
were rudely interrupted by less pleasant realities. The plots of the
Indians, always suspected, now seemed unmistakable. News of an uprising
came in from every hand. It was reported that two hundred thousand
warriors from Quito and thirty thousand of the cannibal Caribs were on
their way to fall upon the little Spanish force. Such rumors are always
exaggerated; but this was probably founded on fact. Nothing else was to
be expected by any one even half so familiar with the Indian character
as the Spaniards were. At all events, our judgment of what followed must
be guided not merely by what _was_ true, but even more by what the
Spaniards _believed_ to be true. They had reason to believe, and there
can be no question whatever that they did believe, that Atahualpa's
machinations were bringing a vastly superior force down upon them, and
that they were in imminent peril of their lives. Their newly acquired
wealth only made them the more nervous. It is a curious but common
phase of human nature that we do not realize half so much the many
hidden dangers to our lives until we have acquired something which makes
life seem better worth the living. One may often see how a fearless man
suddenly becomes cautious, and even laughably fearful, when he gets a
dear wife or child to think of and protect; and I doubt if any stirring
boy has come to twenty years without suddenly being reminded, by the
possession of some little treasure, how many things _might_ happen to
rob him of the chance to enjoy it. He sees and feels dangers that he had
never thought of before.
The Spaniards certainly had cause enough to be alarmed for their lives,
without any other consideration; but the sudden treasure which gave
those lives such promise of new and hard-earned brightness undoubtedly
made their apprehensions more acute, and spurred them to more desperate
efforts to escape.
There is not the remotest evidence of any sort that Pizarro ever
meditated any treachery to Atahualpa; and there is very strong
circumstantial evidence to the contrary. But now his followers began to
demand what seemed necessary for their protection. Atahualpa, they
believed, had betrayed them. He had caused the murder of his brother
Huascar, who was disposed to make friends with them, for the sake of
being put by this alliance above the power of his merciless rival. He
had baited them with a golden ransom, and by delaying it had gained
time to have his forces organized to crush the Spaniards,--and now they
demanded that he must not only be punished, but be put past further
plotting. Their logic was unanswerable by any one in the same
circumstances; nor can I now bring myself to quarrel with it. Not only
did they _believe_ their accusation just,--it probably _was_ just; at
all events, they acted justly by the light they had. So serious was the
alarm that the guards were doubled, the horses were kept constantly
under saddle and bridle, and the men slept on their arms; while Pizarro
in person went the rounds every night to see that everything was ready
to meet the attack, which was expected to take place at any moment.
Yet in this crisis the Spanish leader showed a manly unwillingness even
to _seem_ treacherous. He was a man of his word, as well as a humane
man; and it was hard for him to break his promise to set Atahualpa free,
even when he was fully absolved by Atahualpa's own utter violation of
the spirit of the contract. But it was impossible to withstand the
demands of his followers; he was responsible for their lives as well as
his own, and when it came to a question between them and Atahualpa there
could be but one decision. Pizarro opposed, but the army insisted, and
at last he had to yield. Yet even then, when the enemy might come at any
moment, he insisted upon a full and formal trial for his prisoner, and
saw that it was given. The court found Atahualpa proven guilty of
causing his brother's murder, and of conspiring against the Spaniards,
and condemned him to be executed that very night. If there were any
delay, the Indian army might arrive in time to rescue their war-captain,
and that would greatly increase the odds against the Spaniards. That
night, therefore, in the plaza of Caxamarca, Atahualpa was executed by
the garrote; and the next day he was buried from the Church of St.
Francis with the highest honors.
Again the Peruvians were taken by surprise, this time by the death of
Atahualpa. Without the direction of their war-captain and the hope of
rescuing him, they found themselves hesitating at a direct attack upon
the Spaniards. They stayed at a safe distance, burning villages and
hiding gold and other articles which might "give comfort to the enemy;"
and upon the whole, though the immediate danger had been averted by the
execution of the war-captain, the outlook was still extremely ominous.
Pizarro, who did not understand the Peruvian titles better than some of
our own historians have done, and in hope of bringing about a more
peaceful feeling, appointed Toparca, another son of Huayna Capac, to be
war-captain; but this appointment did not have the desired effect.
It was now decided to undertake the long and arduous march to Cuzco, the
home and chief town of the Inca tribe, of which they had heard such
golden stories. Early in September, 1533, Pizarro and his army--now
swelled by Almagro's force to some four hundred men--set out from
Caxamarca. It was a journey of great difficulty and danger. The narrow,
steep trails led along dizzy cliffs, across bridges almost as difficult
to walk as a hammock would be, and up rocky heights where there were
only foot-holes for the agile llama. At Xauxa a great number of Indians
were drawn up to oppose them, intrenched on the farther side of a
freshet-swollen stream. But the Spaniards dashed through the torrent,
and fell upon the savages so vigorously that they presently gave way.
In this pretty valley Pizarro had a notion to found a colony; and here
he made a brief halt, sending De Soto ahead with a scouting-party of
sixty men. De Soto began to find ominous signs at once. Villages had
been burned and bridges destroyed, so that the crossing of those awful
_quebradas_ was most difficult. Wherever possible, too, the road had
been blocked with logs and rocks, so that the passage of the cavalry was
greatly impeded. Near Bilcas he had a sharp brush with the Indians; and
though the Spaniards were victorious, they lost several men. De Soto,
however, resolutely pushed on. Just as the wearied little troop was
toiling up the steep and winding defile of the Vilcaconga, the wild
whoop of the Indians rang out, and a host of warriors sprang from their
hiding-places behind rock and tree, and fell with fury upon the
Spaniards. The trail was steep and narrow, the horses could barely keep
their footing; and under the crash of this dusky avalanche rider and
horse went rolling down the steep. The Indians fairly swarmed upon the
Spaniards like bees, trying to drag the soldiers from their saddles,
even clinging desperately to the horses' legs, and dealing blows with
agile strength. Farther up the rocky pathway was a level space; and De
Soto saw that unless he could gain this, all was lost. By a supreme
effort of muscle and will, he brought his little band to the top against
such heavy odds; and after a brief rest, he made a charge upon the
Indians, but could not break that grim, dark mass. Night came on, and
the worn and bleeding Spaniards--for few men or horses had escaped
without wounds from that desperate melee, and several of both had been
killed--rested as best they might with weapons in their hands. The
Indians were fully confident of finishing them on the morrow, and the
Spaniards themselves had little room for hope to the contrary. But far
in the night they suddenly heard Spanish bugles in the pass below, and a
little later were embracing their unexpected countrymen, and thanking
God for their deliverance. Pizarro, learning of the earlier dangers of
their march, had hurriedly despatched Almagro with a considerable force
of cavalry to help De Soto; and the reinforcement by forced marches
arrived just in the nick of time. The Peruvians, seeing in the morning
that the enemy was reinforced, pressed the fight no further, and
retreated into the mountains. The Spaniards, moving on to a securer
place, camped to await Pizarro.
He soon came up, having left the treasure at Xauxa, with forty men to
guard it. But he was greatly troubled by the aspect of affairs. These
organized and audacious attacks by the enemy, and the sudden death of
Toparca under suspicious circumstances, led him to believe that
Chalicuchima, the second war-captain, was acting treacherously,--as he
very probably was. After rejoining Almagro, Pizarro had Chalicuchima
tried; and being found guilty of treason, he was promptly executed. We
cannot help being horrified at the manner of the execution, which was by
fire; but we must not be too hasty in calling the responsible individual
a cruel man for all that. All such things must be measured by
comparison, and by the general spirit of the age. The world did not then
deem the stake a cruelty; and more than a hundred years later, when the
world was much more enlightened, Christians in England and France and
New England saw no harm in that sort of an execution for certain
offences,--and surely we shall not say that our Puritan forefathers were
wicked and cruel men. They hanged witches and whipped infidels, not from
cruelty, but from the blind superstition of their time. It seems a
hideous thing now, but it was not thought so then; and we must not
expect that Pizarro should be wiser and better than the men who had so
many advantages that he had not. I certainly wish that he had not
allowed Chalicuchima to be burned; but I also wish that the shocking
pages of Salem and slavery could be blotted from our own story. In
neither case, however, would I brand Pizarro as a monster, nor the
Puritans as a cruel people.
At this juncture, the Inca Indian Manco came in gorgeous fashion to
Pizarro and proposed an alliance. He claimed to be the rightful
war-chief, and desired that the Spaniards recognize him as such. His
proposition was gladly accepted.
Moving onward, the Spaniards were again ambushed in a defile, but beat
off their assailants; and at last entered Cuzco November 15, 1533. It
was the largest Indian "city" in the western hemisphere, though not
greatly larger than the pueblo of Mexico; and its superior buildings and
furnishings filled the Spaniards with wonder. A great deal of gold was
found in caves and other hiding-places. In one spot were several large
gold vases, gold and silver images of llamas and human beings, and
cloths adorned with gold and silver beads. Among other treasures Pedro
Pizarro, an eye-witness and chronicler, mentions ten rude "planks" of
silver twenty feet long, a foot wide, and two inches thick. The total
treasure secured footed up 580,200 _pesos de oro_ and 215,000 marks of
silver, or an equivalent of about $7,600,000.
Pizarro now formally crowned Manco as "ruler" of Peru, and the natives
seemed very well pleased. Good Father Valverde was made bishop of Cuzco;
a cathedral was founded; and the devoted Spanish missionaries began
actively the work of educating and converting the heathen,--a work which
they continued with their usual effectiveness.
Quizquiz, one of Atahualpa's subordinate war-captains and a leader of no
small prowess, still kept the field. Almagro with a few cavalry, and
Manco with his native followers, were sent out and routed the hostiles;
but Quizquiz held out until put to death by his own men.
In March, 1534, Pedro de Alvarado, Cortez's gallant lieutenant, who had
been rewarded for his services in Mexico by being made governor of
Guatemala, landed and marched on Quito, only to discover that it was in
Pizarro's territory. A compromise was made between him and Pizarro;
Alvarado received a compensation for his fruitless expedition, and went
back to Guatemala.
Pizarro was now very busy in developing the new country he had
conquered, and in laying the cornerstone of a nation. January 6, 1535,
he founded the Ciudad de los Reyes, the City of the Kings, in the lovely
valley of Rimac. The name was soon changed to Lima; and Lima, the
capital of Peru, remains to this day. The remarkable conqueror was now
showing another side of his character,--his genius as an organizer and
administrator of affairs. He addressed himself to the task of upbuilding
Lima with energy, and his direction of all the affairs of his young
government showed great foresight and wisdom.
Meantime Hernando, his brother, had been sent to Spain with the treasure
for the Crown, arriving there in January, 1534. Besides the "royal
fifth" he carried half a million _pesos de oro_ belonging to those
adventurers who had decided to enjoy their money at home. Hernando made
a great impression in Spain. The Crown fully confirmed all former
grants to Pizarro, and extended his territory seventy leagues to the
south; while Almagro was empowered to conquer Chile (then called New
Toledo), beginning at the south end of Pizarro's domain and running
south two hundred leagues. Hernando was knighted, and given command of
an expedition,--one of the largest and best equipped that had sailed
from Spain. He and his followers had a terrible time in getting back to
Peru, and many perished on the way.
VIII.
FOUNDING A NATION.--THE SIEGE OF CUZCO.
But before Hernando reached Peru, one of his company carried thither to
Almagro the news of his promotion; and this prosperity at once turned
the head of the coarse and unprincipled soldier. Forgetful of all
Pizarro's favors, and that Pizarro had made him all he was, the false
friend at once set himself up as master of Cuzco.
It was shameful ingratitude and rascality, and very nearly precipitated
the Spaniards into a civil war. But the forbearance of Pizarro bridged
the difficulty at last; and on the 12th of June, 1535, the two captains
renewed their friendly agreement. Almagro soon marched off to try--and
to fail in--the conquest of Chile; and Pizarro turned his attention
again to developing his conquered province.
In the few years of his administrative career Pizarro achieved
remarkable results. He founded several new towns on the coast, naming
one Truxillo in memory of his birthplace. Above all, he delighted in
upbuilding and beautifying his favorite city of Lima, and promoting
commerce and other necessary factors in the development of the new
nation. How wise were his provisions is attested by a striking contrast.
When the Spaniards first came to Caxamarca a pair of spurs was worth
$250 in gold! A few years before Pizarro's death the first cow brought
to Peru was sold for $10,000; two years later the best cow in Peru could
be bought for less than $200. The first barrel of wine sold for $1600;
but three years later native wine had taken the place of imported, and
was to be had in Lima at a cheap price. So it was with almost
everything. A sword had been worth $250; a cloak, $500; a pair of shoes,
$200; a horse, $10,000; but under Pizarro's surprising business ability
it took but two or three years to place the staples of life within the
reach of every one. He encouraged not only commerce but home industry,
and developed agriculture, mining, and the mechanical arts. Indeed, he
was carrying out with great success that general Spanish principle that
the chief wealth of a country is not its gold or its timber or its
lands, but its _people_. It was everywhere the attempt of the Spanish
Pioneers to uplift and Christianize and civilize the savage inhabitants,
so as to make them worthy citizens of the new nation, instead of wiping
them off the face of the earth to make room for the new-comers, as has
been the general fashion of some European conquests. Now and then there
were mistakes and crimes by individuals; but the great principle of
wisdom and humanity marks the whole broad course of Spain,--a course
which challenges the admiration of every manly man.
While Pizarro was busy with his work, Manco showed his true colors. It
is not at all improbable that he had meditated treachery throughout, and
had made alliance with the Spaniards simply to get them in his power. At
all events he now suddenly slipped away, without provocation, to raise
forces to attack the Spaniards, thinking to overcome them while they
were scattered at work in their various colonies. The loyal Indians
warned Juan Pizarro, who captured and imprisoned Manco. Just then
Hernando Pizarro arrived from Spain, and Francisco gave him command at
Cuzco. The wily Manco fooled Hernando into setting him free, and at once
began to rally his forces. Juan was sent out with sixty mounted men, and
finally met Manco's thousands at Yucay. In a terrible struggle of two
days the Spaniards held their ground, though with heavy loss, and then
were startled by a messenger with the news that Cuzco itself was
besieged by the savages. By a forced march they got back to the city by
nightfall, and found it surrounded by a vast host. The Indians suffered
them to enter,--evidently desiring to have all their mice in one
trap,--and then closed in upon the doomed city.
Hernando and Juan were now shut up in Cuzco. They had less than two
hundred men, while outside, the slopes far and near were dotted with the
camp-fires of the enemy,--so innumerable as to seem "like a sky full of
stars." Early in the morning (in February, 1536), the Indians attacked.
They hurled into the town fire-balls and burning arrows, and soon had
set fire to the thatched roofs. The Spaniards could not extinguish the
fire, which raged for several days. The only thing that saved them from
being smothered or roasted to death was the public square, in which they
huddled. They made several sallies, but the Indians had driven stakes
and prepared other obstacles in which the horses became entangled.
The Spaniards, however, cleared the road under a fierce fire and made a
gallant charge, which was as gallantly resisted. The Indians were expert
not only with the bow but with the _reata_ as well, and many Spaniards
were lassoed and slain. The charge drove the savages back somewhat, but
at heavy cost to the Spaniards, who had to return to town. They had no
chance for rest; the Indians kept up their harrying assaults, and the
outlook was very black. Francisco Pizarro was besieged in Lima; Xauxa
was also blockaded; and the Spaniards in the smaller colonies had been
overpowered and slain. Their ghastly heads were hurled into Cuzco, and
rolled at the feet of their despairing countrymen. The case seemed so
hopeless that many were for trying to cut through the Indians and escape
to the coast; but Hernando and Juan would not hear of it.
Upon the hill overlooking Cuzco was--and is to this day--the remarkable
Inca fortress of the Sacsahuaman. It is a cyclopean work. On the side
toward the city, the almost impregnable bluff was made fully impregnable
by a huge wall twelve hundred feet long and of great thickness. On the
other side of the hill the gentler slope was guarded by two walls, one
above the other, and each twelve hundred feet long. The stones in these
walls were fitted together with surprising skill; and some single stones
were thirty-eight feet long, eighteen feet wide, and six feet thick!
And, most wonderful of all, they had been quarried at least twelve miles
away, and then transported by the Indians to their present site! The top
of the hill was further defended by great stone towers.
This remarkable aboriginal fortress was in the hands of the Indians, and
enabled them to harass the beleaguered Spaniards much more effectively.
It was plain that they must be dislodged. As a preliminary to this
forlorn hope, the Spaniards sallied out in three detachments, commanded
by Gonzalo Pizarro, Gabriel de Rojas, and Hernando Ponce de Leon, to
beat off the Indians. The fighting was thoroughly desperate. The Indians
tried to crush their enemies to the earth by the mad rush of numbers;
but at last the Spaniards forced the stubborn foe to give ground, and
fell back to the city.