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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter VIII: Part I}
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$Author{Prescott, William H.}
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$Date{1864}
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Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Book:        Book III: Conquest Of Peru
Author:      Prescott, William H.
Date:        1864

Chapter VIII: Part I

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to pieces by its own weight when that was withdrawn.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.]