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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter X: Part I}
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$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 X: Part I

Escape Of The Inca. - Return Of Hernando Pizarro. - Rising Of The Peruvians. -
Siege And Burning Of Cuzco. - Distresses Of The Spaniards. - Storming Of The
Fortress. - Pizarro's Dismay. - The Inca Raises The Siege.

     1535-1536.

     While the absence of his rival Almagro relieved Pizarro from all
immediate disquietude from that quarter, his authority was menaced in
another, where he had least expected it.  This was from the native
population of the country.  Hitherto the Peruvians had shown only a tame
and submissive temper, that inspired their conquerors with too much
contempt to leave room for apprehension.  They had passively acquiesced in
the usurpation of the invaders; had seen one monarch butchered, another
placed on the vacant throne, their temples despoiled of their treasures,
their capital and country appropriated and parcelled out among the
Spaniards, but, with the exception of an occasional skirmish in the
mountain passes, not a blow had been struck in defence of their rights.
Yet this was the warlike nation which had spread its conquests over so
large a part of the continent!

     In his career, Pizarro, though he scrupled at nothing to effect his
object, had not usually countenanced such superfluous acts of cruelty as
had too often stained the arms of his countrymen in other parts of the
continent, and which, in the course of a few years, had exterminated
nearly a whole population in Hispaniola.  He had struck one astounding
blow, by the seizure of Atahuallpa; and he seemed willing to rely on this
to strike terror into the natives.  He even affected some respect for the
institutions of the country, and had replaced the monarch he had murdered
by another of the legitimate line.  Yet this was but a pretext.  The
kingdom had experienced a revolution of the most decisive kind.  Its
ancient institutions were subverted.  Its heaven-descended aristocracy was
levelled almost to the condition of the peasant.  The people became the
serfs of the Conquerors.  Their dwellings in the capital - at least, after
the arrival of Alvarado's officers - were seized and appropriated.  The
temples were turned into stables; the royal residences into barracks for
the troops.  The sanctity of the religious houses was violated.  Thousands
of matrons and maidens, who, however erroneous their faith, lived in
chaste seclusion in the conventual establishments, were now turned abroad,
and became the prey of a licentious soldiery. ^1 A favorite wife of the
young Inca was debauched by the Castilian officers.  The Inca, himself
treated with contemptuous indifference, found that he was a poor
dependant, if not a tool, in the hands of his conquerors. ^2

[Footnote 1: So says the author of the Conquista i Poblacion del Piru, a
contemporary writer, who describes what he saw himself as well as what he
gathered from others.  Several circumstances, especially the honest
indignation he expresses at the excesses of the Conquerors, lead one to
suppose he may have been an ecclesiastic, one of the good men who attended
the cruel expedition on an errand of love and mercy.  It is to be hoped
that his credulity leads him to exaggerate the misdeeds of his countrymen.

     According to him, there were full six thousand women of rank, living
in the convents of Cuzco, served each by fifteen or twenty female
attendants, most of whom, that did not perish in the war, suffered a more
melancholy fate, as the victims of prostitution. - The passage is so
remarkable, and the Ms. so rare, that I will cite it in the original.

     "De estas senoras del Cuzco es cierto de tener grande sentimiento el
que tuviese alguna humanidad en el pecho, que en tiempo de la prosperidad
del Cuzco quando los Espanoles entraron en el havia grand cantidad de
senoras que tenian sus casas i sus asientos mui quietas i sosegadas i
vivian mui politicamente i como mui buenas mugeres, cada senora acompanada
con quince o veinte mugeres que tenia de servicio en su casa bien traidas
i aderezadas, i no salian menos desto i con grand onestidad i gravedad i
atavio a su usanza, i es a la cantidad destas senoras principales creo yo
que en el . . . . . que avia mas de seis mil sin las de servicio que creo
yo que eran mas de veinte mil mugeres sin las de servicio i mamaconas que
eran las que andavan como beatas i dende a dos anos casi no se allava en
el Cuzco i su tierra sino cada qual i qual porque muchas murieron en la
guerra que huvo i las otras vinieron las mas a ser malas mugeres.  Senor
perdone a quien fue la causa desto i aquien no lo remedia pudiendo." Conq.
i Pob del Piru, Ms.]

[Footnote 2: Ibid., ubi supra.]

     Yet the Inca Manco was a man of a lofty spirit and a courageous heart;
such a one as might have challenged comparison with the bravest of his
ancestors in the prouder days of the empire.  Stung to the quick by the
humiliations to which he was exposed, he repeatedly urged Pizarro to restore
him to the real exercise of power, as well as to the show of it. But Pizarro
evaded a request so incompatible with his own ambitious schemes, or, indeed,
with the policy of Spain, and the young Inca and his nobles were left to brood
over their injuries in secret, and await patiently the hour of vengeance.

     The dissensions among the Spaniards themselves seemed to afford a
favorable opportunity for this.  The Peruvian chiefs held many conferences
together on the subject, and the high-priest Villac Umu urged the necessity of
a rising so soon as Almagro had withdrawn his forces from the city.  It would
then be comparatively easy, by assaulting the invaders on their several posts,
scattered as they were over the country, to overpower them by superior
numbers, and shake off their detested yoke before the arrival of fresh
reinforcements should rivet it for ever on the necks of his countrymen.  A
plan for a general rising was formed, and it was in conformity to it that the
priest was selected by the Inca to bear Almagro company on the march, that he
might secure the cooperation of the natives in the country, and then secretly
return - as in fact he did - to take a part in the insurrection.

     To carry their plans into effect, it became necessary that the Inca Manco
should leave the city and present himself among his people.  He found no
difficulty in withdrawing from Cuzco, where his presence was scarcely heeded
by the Spaniards, as his nominal power was held in little deference by the
haughty and confident Conquerors.  But in the capital there was a body of
Indian allies more jealous of his movements.  These were from the tribe of the
Canares, a warlike race of the north, too recently reduced by the Incas to
have much sympathy with them or their institutions.  There were about a
thousand of this people in the place, and, as they had conceived some
suspicion of the Inca's purposes, they kept an eye on his movements, and
speedily reported his absence to Juan Pizarro.

     That cavalier, at the head of a small body of horse, instantly marched in
pursuit of the fugitive, whom he was so fortunate as to discover in a thicket
of reeds, in which he sought to conceal himself, at no great distance from the
city.  Manco was arrested, brought back a prisoner to Cuzco, and placed under
a strong guard in the fortress.  The conspiracy seemed now at an end; and
nothing was left to the unfortunate Peruvians but to bewail their ruined
hopes, and to give utterance to their disappointment in doleful ballads, which
rehearsed the captivity of their Inca, and the downfall of his royal house. ^3

[Footnote 3: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General,
dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 1, 2. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms. Zarate, Conq. del
Peru, lib. 2, cap. 3.]

     While these things were in progress, Hernando Pizarro returned to Ciudad
de los Reyes, bearing with him the royal commission for the extension of his
brother's powers, as well as of those conceded to Almagro.  The envoy also
brought the royal patent conferring on Francisco Pizarro the title of Marques
de los Atavillos, - a province in Peru.  Thus was the fortunate adventurer
placed in the ranks of the proud aristocracy of Castile, few of whose members
could boast - if they had the courage to boast - their elevation from so
humble an origin, as still fewer could justify it by a show of greater
services to the Crown.

     The new marquess resolved not to forward the commission, at present, to
the marshal, whom he designed to engage still deeper in the conquest of Chili,
that his attention might be diverted from Cuzco, which, however, his brother
assured him, now fell, without doubt, within the newly extended limits of his
own territory.  To make more sure of this important prize, he despatched
Hernando to take the government of the capital into his own hands, as the one
of his brothers on whose talents and practical experience he placed greatest
reliance.

     Hernando, notwithstanding his arrogant bearing towards his countrymen,
had ever manifested a more than ordinary sympathy with the Indians.  He had
been the friend of Atahuallpa; to such a degree, indeed, that it was said, if
he had been in the camp at the time, the fate of that unhappy monarch would
probably have been averted.  He now showed a similar friendly disposition
towards his successor, Manco.  He caused the Peruvian prince to be liberated
from confinement, and gradually admitted him into some intimacy with himself.
The crafty Indian availed himself of his freedom to mature his plans for the
rising, but with so much caution, that no suspicion of them crossed the mind
of Hernando.  Secrecy and silence are characteristic of the American, almost
as invariably as the peculiar color of his skin.  Manco disclosed to his
conqueror the existence of several heaps of treasure, and the places where
they had been secreted; and, when he had thus won his confidence, he
stimulated his cupidity still further by an account of a statue of pure gold
of his father Huayna Capac, which the wily Peruvian requested leave to bring
from a secret cave in which it was deposited, among the neighbouring Andes.
Hernando, blinded by his avarice, consented to the Inca's departure.

     He sent with him two Spanish soldiers, less as a guard than to aid him in
the object of his expedition.  A week elapsed, and yet he did not return, nor
were there any tidings to be gathered of him.  Hernando now saw his error,
especially as his own suspicions were confirmed by the unfavorable reports of
his Indian allies.  Without further delay, he despatched his brother Juan, at
the head of sixty horse, in quest of the Peruvian prince, with orders to bring
him back once more a prisoner to his capital.

     That cavalier, with his well-armed troops, soon traversed the environs of
Cuzco without discovering any vestige of the fugitive.  The country was
remarkably silent and deserted, until, as he approached the mountain range
that hems in the valley of Yucay, about six leagues from the city, he was met
by the two Spaniards who had accompanied Manco.  They informed Pizarro that it
was only at the point of the sword he could recover the Inca, for the country
was all in arms, and the Peruvian chief at its head was preparing to march on
the capital.  Yet he had offered no violence to their persons, but had allowed
them to return in safety.

     The Spanish captain found this story fully confirmed when he arrived at
the river Yucay, on the opposite bank of which were drawn up the Indian
battalions to the number of many thousand men, who, with their young monarch
at their head, prepared to dispute his passage.  It seemed that they could not
feel their position sufficiently strong, without placing a river, as usual,
between them and their enemy.  The Spaniards were not checked by this
obstacle.  The stream, though deep, was narrow; and plunging in, they swam
their horses boldly across, amidst a tempest of stones and arrows that rattled
thick as hail on their harness, finding occasionally some crevice or
vulnerable point, - although the wounds thus received only goaded them to more
desperate efforts.  The barbarians fell back as the cavaliers made good their
landing; but, without allowing the latter time to form, they returned with a
spirit which they had hitherto seldom displayed, and enveloped them on all
sides with their greatly superior numbers.  The fight now raged fiercely.
Many of the Indians were armed with lances headed with copper tempered almost
to the hardness of steel, and with huge maces and battle-axes of the same
metal.  Their defensive armour, also, was in many respects excellent,
consisting of stout doublets of quilted cotton, shields covered with skins,
and casques richly ornamented with gold and jewels, or sometimes made like
those of the Mexicans, in the fantastic shape of the heads of wild animals,
garnished with rows of teeth that grinned horribly above the visage of the
warrior. ^4 The whole army wore an aspect of martial ferocity, under the
control of much higher military discipline than the Spaniards had before seen
in the country.

[Footnote 4: "Es gente," says Oviedo, "muy belicosa e muy diestra; sus armas
son picas, e ondas, porras e Alabardas de Plata e oro e cobre." (Hist. de las
Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 17.) Xerez has made a good enumeration of
the native Peruvian arms.  (Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 200.)
Father Velasco has added considerably to this catalogue.  According to him
they used copper swords, poniards, and other European weapons.  (Hist. de
Quito, tom. I. pp 178-180.) He does not insist on their knowledge of fire-arms
before the Conquest!]

     The little band of cavaliers, shaken by the fury of the Indian assault,
were thrown at first into some disorder, but at length, cheering on one
another with the old war-cry of "St. Jago," they formed in solid column, and
charged boldly into the thick of the enemy.  The latter, incapable of
withstanding the shock, gave way, or were trampled down under the feet of the
horses, or pierced by the lances of the riders.  Yet their flight was
conducted with some order; and they turned at intervals, to let off a volley
of arrows, or to deal furious blows with their pole-axes and war-clubs.  They
fought as if conscious that they were under the eye of their Inca.

     It was evening before they had entirely quitted the level ground, and
withdrawn into the fastnesses of the lof y range of hills which belt round the
beautiful valley of Yucay.  Juan Pizarro and his little troop encamped on the
level at the base of the mountains.  He had gained a victory, as usual, over
immense odds; but he had never seen a field so well disputed, and his victory
had cost him the lives of several men and horses, while many more had been
wounded, and were nearly disabled by the fatigues of the day.  But he trusted
the severe lesson he had inflicted on the enemy, whose slaughter was great,
would crush the spirit of resistance.  He was deceived.

     The following morning, great was his dismay to see the passes of the
mountains filled up with dark lines of warriors, stretching as far as the eye
could penetrate into the depths of the sierra, while dense masses of the enemy
were gathered like thunderclouds along the slopes and summits, as if ready to
pour down in fury on the assailants.  The ground, altogether unfavorable to
the manoeuvres of cavalry, gave every advantage to the Peruvians, who rolled
down huge rocks from their elevated position, and sent off incessant showers
of missiles on the heads of the Spaniards. Juan Pizarro did not care to
entangle himself further in the perilous defile; and, though he repeatedly
charged the enemy, and drove them back with considerable loss, the second
night found him with men and horses wearied and wounded, and as little
advanced in the object of his expedition as on the preceding evening.  From
this embarrassing position, after a day or two more spent in unprofitable
hostilities, he was surprised by a summons from his brother to return with all
expedition to Cuzco, which was now besieged by the enemy!

     Without delay, he began his retreat, recrossed the valley, the recent
scene of slaughter, swam the river Yucay, and, by a rapid countermarch,
closely followed by the victorious enemy, who celebrated their success
with songs or rather yells of triumph, he arrived before nightfall in
sight of the capital.

     But very different was the sight which there met his eye from what he
had beheld on leaving it a few days before.  The extensive environs, as
far as the eye could reach, were occupied by a mighty host, which an
indefinite computation swelled to the number of two hundred thousand
warriors. ^5 The dusky lines of the Indian battalions stretched out to the
very verge of the mountains; while, all around, the eye saw only the
crests and waving banners of chieftains, mingled with rich panoplies of
featherwork, which reminded some few who had served under Cortes of the
military costume of the Aztecs.  Above all rose a forest of long lances
and battle-axes edged with copper, which, tossed to and fro in wild
confusion, glittered in the rays of the setting sun, like light playing on
the surface of a dark and troubled ocean.  It was the first time that the
Spaniards had beheld an Indian army in all its terrors; such an army as
the Incas led to battle, when the banner of the Sun was borne triumphant
over the land.

[Footnote 5: "Pues junta toda la gente quel ynga avia embiado a juntar que
a lo que se entendio y los indios dixeron fueron dozientos mil indios de
guerra los que vinieron a poner este cerco." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y
Conq., Ms.]

     Yet the bold hearts of the cavaliers, if for a moment dismayed by the
sight, soon gathered courage as they closed up their files, and prepared
to open a way for themselves through the beleaguering host.  But the enemy
seemed to shun the encounter; and, falling back at their approach, left a
free entrance into the capital.  The Peruvians were, probably, not
unwilling to draw as many victims as they could into the toils, conscious
that, the greater the number, the sooner they would become sensible to the
approaches of famine. ^6

[Footnote 6: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru,
Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 4. - Gomara, Hist. de
las Ind., cap. 133.]

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

[Footnote 7: "Y los pocos Espanoles que heramos aun no dozientos todos.' Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

     The numbers of the enemy seemed no less formidable during the night than
by the light of day: far and wide their watch-fires were to be seen gleaming
over valley and hill-top, as thickly scattered, says an eyewitness, as "the
stars of heaven in a cloudless summer night." ^8 Before these fires had become
pale in the light of the morning, the Spaniards were roused by the hideous
clamor of conch, trumpet, and atabal, mingled with the fierce war-cries of the
barbarians, as they let off volleys of missiles of every description, most of
which fell harmless within the city.  But others did more serious execution.
These were burning arrows, and red-hot stones wrapped in cotton that had been
steeped in some bituminous substance, which, scattering long trains of light
through the air, fell on the roofs of the buildings, and speedily set them on
fire. ^9 These roofs even of the better sort of edifices, were uniformly of
thatch, and were ignited as easily as tinder.  In a moment the flames burst
forth from the most opposite quarters of the city.  They quickly communicated
to the wood-work in the interior of the buildings, and broad sheets of flame
mingled with smoke rose up towards the heavens, throwing a fearful glare over
every object.  The rarefied atmosphere heightened the previous impetuosity of
the wind, which, fanning the rising flames, they rapidly spread from dwelling
to dwelling, till the whole fiery mass, swayed to and for by the tempest,
surged and roared with the fury of a volcano.  The heat became intense, and
clouds of smoke, gathering like a dark pall over the city, produced a sense of
suffocation and almost blindness in those quarters where it was driven by the
winds. ^10

[Footnote 8: "Pues de noche heran tantos ros fuegos que no parecia sino vn
cielo muy sereno lleno de estrellas." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 9: Ibid. Ms.]

[Footnote 10: "I era tanto el humo que casi los oviera de aogar i pasaron
grand travajo por esta causa i sino fuera porque de la una parte de la plaza
no havia casas i estava desconorado no pudieran escapar porque is por todas
partes les diera el humo i el calor siendo tan grande pasaron travajo, pero la
divina providencia lo estorvo." Conq. i. Pob. ded Piru, Ms.]

     The Spaniards were encamped in the great square, partly under awnings,
and partly in the hall of the Inca Viracocha, on the ground since covered by
the cathedral.  Three times in the course of that dreadful day, the roof of
the building was on fire; but, although no efforts were made to extinguish it,
the flames went out without doing much injury.  This miracle was ascribed to
the Blessed Virgin, who was distinctly seen by several of the Christian
combatants, hovering over the spot on which was to be raised the temple
dedicated to her worship. ^11

[Footnote 11: The temple was dedicated to Our Blessed Lady of the Assumption.
The apparition of the Virgin was manifest not only to Christian but to Indian
warriors, many of whom reported it to Garcilasso de la Vega, in whose hands
the marvellous rarely loses any of its gloss. (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2,
cap. 25.) It is further attested by Father Acosta, who came into the country
forty years after the event.  (lib. 7, cap. 27.) Both writers testify to the
seasonable aid rendered by St. James, who with his buckler, displaying the
device of his Military Order, and armed with his flaming sword, rode his white
charger into the thick of the enemy.  The patron Saint of Spain might always
be relied on when his presence was needed dignus vindice nodus.]

     Fortunately, the open space around Hernando's little company separated
them from the immediate scene of conflagration.  It afforded a means of
preservation similar to that employed by the American hunter, who endeavours
to surround himself with a belt of wasted land, when overtaken by a
conflagration in the prairies.  All day the fire continued to rage, and at
night the effect was even more appalling; for by the lurid flames the
unfortunate Spaniards could read the consternation depicted in each others'
ghastly countenances, while in the suburbs, along the slopes of the
surrounding hills, might be seen the throng of besiegers, gazing with fiendish
exultation on the work of destruction.  High above the town to the north, rose
the gray fortress, which now showed ruddy in the glare, looking grimly down on
the ruins of the fair city which it was no longer able to protect; and in the
distance were to be discerned the shadowy forms of the An des, soaring up in
solitary grandeur into the regions of eternal silence, far beyond the wild
tumult that raged so fearfully at their base.

     Such was the extent of the city, that it was several days before the fury
of the fire was spent.  Tower and temple, hut, palace, and hall, went down
before it.  Fortunately, among the buildings that escaped were the magnificent
House of the Sun and the neighbouring Convent of the Virgins. Their insulated
position afforded the means, of which the Indians from motives of piety were
willing to avail themselves, for their preservation. ^12 Full one half of the
capital, so long the chosen seat of Western civilization, the pride of the
Incas, and the bright abode of their tutelar deity, was laid in ashes by the
hands of his own children. It was some consolation for them to reflect, that
it burned over the heads of its conquerors, - their trophy and their tomb!

[Footnote 12: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 24.

     Father Valverde, Bishop of Cuzco, who took so signal a part in the
seizure of Atahuallpa, was absent from the country at this period, but
returned the following year.  In a letter to the emperor, he contrasts the
flourishing condition of the capital when he left it, and that in which he now
found it, despoiled, as well as its beautiful suburbs, of its ancient glories.
"If I had not known the site of the city," he says, "I should not have
recognized it as the same." The passage is too remarkable to be omitted.  The
original letter exists in the archives of Simancas. - "Certifico a V. M. que
si no me acordara del sitio desta Ciudad yo no la conosciera, a lo menos por
los edificios y Pueblos della; porque quando el Gobernador D. Franzisco
Pizarro entro aqui y entre yo con el estava este valle tan hermoso en
edificios y poblazion que en torno tenia que era cosa de admiracion vello,
porque aunque la Ciudad en si no ternia mas de 3 o 4000 casas, ternia en torno
quasi a vista 19 o 20,000; la fortaleza que estava sobre la Ciudad parescia
desde a parte una mui gran fortaleza de las de Espana: agora la mayor parte de
la Ciudad esta toda derivada y quemada; la fortaleza no tiene quasi nada
enhiesso; todos los pueblos de alderredor no tiene sino las paredes que por
maravilla ai casa cubierta! La cosa que mas contentamiento me dio en esta
Ciudad fue la Iglesia, que para en Indias es harto buena cosa, aunque segun la
riqueza a havido en esta tierra pudiera ser mas semejante al Templo de
Salomon." Carta del Obispo F. Vicente de Valverde al Emperador, Ms., 20 de
Marzo, 1539.]

     During the long period of the conflagration, the Spaniards made no
attempt to extinguish the flames.  Such an attempt would have availed nothing.
Yet they did not tamely submit to the assaults of the enemy, and they sallied
forth from time to time to repel them.  But the fallen timbers and scattered
rubbish of the houses presented serious impediments to the movements of horse;
and, when these were partially cleared away by the efforts of the infantry and
the Indian allies, the Peruvians planted stakes and threw barricades across
the path, which proved equally embarrassing. ^13 To remove them was a work of
time and no little danger, as the pioneers were exposed to the whole brunt of
the enemy's archery, and the aim of the Peruvian was sure.  When at length the
obstacles were cleared away, and a free course was opened to the cavalry, they
rushed with irresistible impetuosity on their foes, who, falling back in
confusion, were cut to pieces by the riders, or pierced through with their
lances.  The slaughter on these occasions was great, but the Indians, nothing
disheartened, usually returned with renewed courage to the attack and, while
fresh reinforcements met the Spaniards in front, others, lying in ambush among
the ruins, threw the troops into disorder by assailing them on the flanks.
The Peruvians were expert both with bow and sling; and these encounters,
notwithstanding the superiority of their arms, cost the Spaniards more lives
than in their crippled condition they could afford to spare, - a loss poorly
compensated by that of tenfold the number of the enemy.  One weapon, peculiar
to South American warfare, was used with some effect by the Peruvians.  This
was the lasso, - a long rope with a noose at the end, which they adroitly
threw over the rider, or entangled with it the legs of his horse, so as to
bring them both to the ground. More than one Spaniard fell into the hands of
the enemy by this expedient. ^14

[Footnote 13: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

     "Los Indios ganaron el Cuzco casi todo desta manera que enganando la
calle hivan haciendo una pared para que los cavallos ni los Espanoles no los
pudiesen rom per." Conq. i. Pob. del Piru, Ms]

[Footnote 14: Ibid., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 4.]

     Thus harassed, sleeping on their arms, with their horses picketed by
their side, ready for action at any and every hour, the Spaniards had no rest
by night or by day.  To add to their troubles, the fortress which overlooked
the city, and completely commanded the great square in which they were
quartered, had been so feebly garrisoned in their false sense of security,
that, on the approach of the Peruvians, it had been abandoned without a blow
in its defence.  It was now occupied by a strong body of the enemy, who, from
his elevated position, sent down showers of missiles, from time to time which
added greatly to the annoyance of the besieged. Bitterly did their captain now
repent the improvident security which had led him to neglect a post so
important.

     Their distresses were still further aggravated by the rumors, which
continually reached their ears, of the state of the country.  The rising, it
was said, was general throughout the land; the Spaniards living on their
insulated plantations had all been massacred; Lima and Truxillo and the
principal cities were besieged, and must soon fall into the enemy's hands; the
Peruvians were in possession of the passes, and all communications were cut
off, so that no relief was to be expected from their countrymen on the coast.
Such were the dismal stories, (which, however exaggerated, had too much
foundation in fact,) that now found their way into the city from the camp of
the besiegers.  And to give greater credit to the rumors, eight or ten human
heads were rolled into the plaza, in whose blood-stained visages the Spaniards
recognized with horror the lineaments of their companions, who they knew had
been dwelling in solitude on their estates! ^15

[Footnote 15: Ibid., ubi supra. - Conq i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

     Overcome by these horrors, many were for abandoning the place at
once, as no longer tenable, and for opening a passage for themselves to
the coast with their own good swords.  There was a daring in the
enterprise which had a charm for the adventurous spirit of the Castilian.
Better, they said, to perish in a manly struggle for life, than to die
thus ignominiously, pent up like foxes in their holes, to be suffocated by
the hunter!

     But the Pizarros, De Rojas, and some other of the principal
cavaliers, refused to acquiesce in a measure which, they said, must cover
them with dishonor. ^16 Cuzco had been the great prize for which they had
contended; it was the ancient seat of empire, and, though now in ashes,
would again rise from its ruins as glorious as before.  All eyes would be
turned on them, as its defenders, and their failure, by giving confidence
to the enemy, might decide the fate of their countrymen throughout the
land.  They were placed in that post as the post of honor, and better
would it be to die there than to desert it.

[Footnote 16: "Pues Hernando Picarro nunca estuvo en ello y les respondia que
todos aviamos de morir y no desamparar el cuzco.  Juntavanse a estas consultas
Hernando Picarro y sus hermanos, Graviel de Rojas, Hernan Ponce de Leon, el
Thesorero Riquelme." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq, Ms.]

     There seemed, indeed, no alternative; for every avenue to escape was cut
off by an enemy who had perfect knowledge of the country, and possession of
all its passes.  But this state of things could not last long.  The Indian
could not, in the long run, contend with the white man. The spirit of
insurrection would die out of itself.  Their great army would melt away,
unaccustomed as the natives were to the privations incident to a protracted
campaign.  Reinforcements would be daily coming in from the colonies; and, if
the Castilians would be but true to themselves for a season, they would be
relieved by their own countrymen, who would never suffer them to die like
outcasts among the mountains.

     The cheering words and courageous bearing of the cavaliers went to the
hearts of their followers for the soul of the Spaniard readily responded to
the call of honor, if not of humanity.  All now agreed to stand by their
leader to the last.  But, if they would remain longer in their present
position, it was absolutely necessary to dislodge the enemy from the fortress;
and, before venturing on this dangerous service, Hernando Pizarro resolved to
strike such a blow as should intimidate the besiegers from further attempt to
molest his present quarters.

     He communicated his plan of attack to his officers; and, forming his
little troop into three divisions, he placed them under command of his
brother Gonzalo, of Gabriel de Rojas, an officer in whom he reposed great
confidence, and Hernan Ponce de Leon.  The Indian pioneers were sent
forward to clear away the rubbish, and the several divisions moved
simultaneously up the principal avenues towards the camp of the besiegers.
Such stragglers as they met in their way were easily cut to pieces, and
the three bodies, bursting impetuously on the disordered lines of the
Peruvians, took them completely by surprise.  For some moments there was
little resistance, and the slaughter was terrible.  But the Indians
gradually rallied, and, coming into something like order, returned to the
fight with the courage of men who had long been familiar with danger.
They fought hand to hand with their copper-headed war-clubs and pole-axes,
while a storm of darts, stones, and arrows rained on the well-defended
bodies of the Christians.

     The barbarians showed more discipline than was to have been expected;
for which, it is said, they were indebted to some Spanish prisoners, from
several of whom, the Inca, having generously spared their lives, took
occasional lessons in the art of war.  The Peruvians had, also, learned to
manage with some degree of skill the weapons of their conquerors; and they
were seen armed with bucklers, helmets, and swords of European
workmanship, and even, in a few instances, mounted on the horses which
they had taken from the white men. ^17 The young Inca, in particular,
accoutred in the European fashion, rode a war-horse which he managed with
considerable address, and, with a long lance in his hand, led on his
followers to the attack. - This readiness to adopt the superior arms and
tactics of the Conquerors intimates a higher civilization than that which
belonged to the Aztec, who, in his long collision with the Spaniards, was
never so far divested of his terrors for the horse as to venture to mount
him.

[Footnote 17: Herrera assures us, that the Peruvians even turned the fire-arms
of their Conquerors against them, compelling their prisoners to put the
muskets in order, and manufacture powder for them.  Hist. General, dec. 5,
lib. 8, cap. 5, 6]

     But a few days or weeks of training were not enough to give familiarity
with weapons, still less with tactics, so unlike those to which the Peruvians
had been hitherto accustomed.  The fight, on the present occasion, though
hotly contested, was not of long duration.  After a gallant struggle, in which
the natives threw themselves fearlessly on the horsemen, endeavouring to tear
them from their saddles, they were obliged to give way before the repeated
shock of their charges.  Many were trampled under foot, others cut down by the
Spanish broadswords, while the arquebusiers, supporting the cavalry, kept up a
running fire that did terrible execution on the flanks and rear of the
fugitives.  At length, sated with slaughter, and trusting that the
chastisement he had inflicted on the enemy would secure him from further
annoyance for the present, the Castilian general drew back his forces to their
quarters in the capital. ^18

[Footnote 18: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.
- Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 8 cap. 4, 5.]