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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter III}
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$Author{Prescott, William H.}
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$Date{1864}
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Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Book:        Book IV: Civil Wars Of The Conquerors
Author:      Prescott, William H.
Date:        1864

Chapter III

Pizarro Revisits Cuzco. - Hernando Returns To Castile. - His long
Imprisonment. - Commissioner Sent To Peru. - Hostilities With The Inca.
-Pizarro's Active Administration. - Gonzalo Pizarro.

     1539-1540.

     On the departure of his brother in pursuit of Almagro, the Marquess
Francisco Pizarro, as we have seen, returned to Lima.  There he anxiously
awaited the result of the campaign; and on receiving the welcome tidings of
the victory of Las Salinas, he instantly made preparations for his march to
Cuzco.  At Xauxa, however, he was long detained by the distracted state of the
country, and still longer, as it would seem, by a reluctance to enter the
Peruvian capital while the trial of Almagro was pending.

     He was met at Xauxa by the marshal's son Diego, who had been sent to the
coast by Hernando Pizarro.  The young man was filled with the most gloomy
apprehensions respecting his father's fate, and he besought the governor not
to allow his brother to do him any violence.  Pizarro, who received Diego with
much apparent kindness, bade him take heart, as no harm should come to his
father; ^1 adding, that he trusted their ancient friendship would soon be
renewed.  The youth, comforted by these assurances, took his way to Lima,
where, by Pizarro's orders, he was received into his house, and treated as a
son.

[Footnote 1: "I dixo, que no tuviese ninguna pena, porque no consentiria, que
su Padre fuese muerto." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 3.]

     The same assurances respecting the marshal's safety were given by the
governor to Bishop Valverde, and some of the principal cavaliers who
interested themselves in behalf of the prisoner. ^2 Still Pizarro delayed his
march to the capital; and when he resumed it, he had advanced no farther than
the Rio de Abancay when he received tidings of the death of his rival.  He
appeared greatly shocked by the intelligence, his whole frame was agitated,
and he remained for some time with his eyes bent on the ground, showing signs
of strong emotion. ^3

[Footnote 2: "Que lo haria asi como lo decia, i que su de seo no era otro,
sino ver el Reino en paz; i que en lo que tocaba al Adelantado, perdiese
cuidado, que bolveria a tener el antigua amistad con el." Ibid., dec. 6, lib.
4, cap. 9.]

[Footnote 3: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

     He even shed many tears, derramo muchas lagrimas, according to Herrera,
who evidently gives him small credit for them.  Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 7.
- Conf. lib 5 cap. 1.]

     Such is the account given by his friends.  A more probable version of the
matter represents him to have been perfectly aware of the state of things at
Cuzco.  When the trial was concluded, it is said he received a message from
Hernando, inquiring what was to be done with the prisoner. He answered in a
few words: - "Deal with him so that he shall give us no more trouble." ^4 It
is also stated that Hernando, afterwards, when laboring under the obloquy
caused by Almagro's death, shielded himself under instructions affirmed to
have been received from the governor. ^5 It is quite certain, that, during his
long residence at Xauxa, the latter was in constant communication with Cuzco;
and that had he, as Valverde repeatedly urged him, ^6 quickened his march to
that capital, he might easily have prevented the consummation of the tragedy.
As commander-in-chief, Almagro's fate was in his hands; and, whatever his own
partisans may affirm of his innocence, the impartial judgment of history must
hold him equally accountable with Hernando for the death of his associate.

[Footnote 4: "Respondio, que hiciese de manera, que el Adelantado no los
pusiese en mas alborotos." (Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 7.) "De todo esto,"
says Espinall, "fue sabidor el dicho Governador Pizarro a lo que mi juicio i
el de otros que en ello quisieron mirar alcanzo." Carta de Espinall, Ms.]

[Footnote 5: Ibid., dec. 6, lib. 5, cap. 1.

     Herrera's testimony is little short of that of a contemporary, since it
was derived, he tells us, from the correspondence of the Conquerors, and the
accounts given him by their own sons.  Lib. 6, cap. 7.]

[Footnote 6: Carta de Valverde al Emperador, Ms.]

     Neither did his subsequent conduct show any remorse for these
proceedings.  He entered Cuzco, says one who was present there to witness
it, amidst the flourish of clarions and trumpets, at the head of his
martial cavalcade, and dressed in the rich suit presented him by Cortes,
with the proud bearing and joyous mien of a conqueror. ^7 When Diego de
Alvarado applied to him for the government of the southern provinces, in
the name of the young Almagro, whom his father, as we have seen, had
consigned to his protection, Pizarro answered, that "the marshal, by his
rebellion, had forfeited all claims to the government." And, when he was
still further urged by the cavalier, he bluntly broke off the conversation
by declaring that "his own territory covered all on this side of
Flanders"! ^8 - intimating, no doubt, by this magnificent vaunt, that he
would endure no rival on this side of the water.

[Footnote 7: "En este medio tiempo vino a la dicha cibdad del Cuzco el
Gobernador D. Franco Pizarro, el qual entro con tronpetas i chirimias
vestido con ropa de martas que fue e luto con que entro." Carta de
Espinall, Ms.]

[Footnote 8: Carta de Espinall, Ms.

     "Mui asperamente le respondio el Governador, diciendo, que su
Governacion no tenia Termino, i que llegaba hasta Flandes." Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 7.]

     In the same spirit, he had recently sent to supersede Benalcazar, the
conqueror of Quito, who, he was informed, aspired to an independent
government.  Pizarro's emissary had orders to send the offending captain to
Lima; but Benalcazar, after pushing his victorious career far into the north,
had returned to Castile to solicit his guerdon from the emperor.

     To the complaints of the injured natives, who invoked his protection, he
showed himself strangely insensible, while the followers of Almagro he treated
with undisguised contempt.  The estates of the leaders were confiscated, and
transferred without ceremony to his own partisans. Hernando had made attempts
to conciliate some of the opposite faction by acts of liberality, but they had
refused to accept any thing from the man whose hands were stained with the
blood of their commander. ^9 The governor held to them no such encouragement;
and many were reduced to such abject poverty, that, too proud to expose their
wretchedness to the eyes of their conquerors, they withdrew from the city, and
sought a retreat among the neighbouring mountains. ^10

[Footnote 9: "Avia querido hazer amigos de los principales de Chile, y
ofrecidoles daria rrepartimientos y no lo avian aceptado ni querido." Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 10: "Viendolas oy en dia, muertos de ambre, fechos pedazos e
adeudados, andando por los montes desesperados por no parecer ante gentes,
porque no tienen otra cosa que se vestir sino ropa de los Indios, ni
dineros con que lo comprar" Carta de Espinall, Ms.]

     For his own brothers he provided by such ample repartimientos, as
excited the murmurs of his adherents.  He appointed Gonzalo to the command
of a strong force destined to act against the natives of Charcas, a hardy
people occupying the territory assigned by the Crown to Almagro. Gonzalo
met with a sturdy resistance, but, after some severe fighting, succeeded
in reducing the province to obedience.  He was recompensed, together with
Hernando, who aided him in the conquest, by a large grant in the
neighbourhood of Porco, the productive mines of which had been partially
wrought under the Incas.  The territory, thus situated, embraced part of
those silver hills of Potosi which have since supplied Europe with such
stores of the precious metals.  Hernando comprehended the capabilities of
the ground, and he began working the mines on a more extensive scale than
that hitherto adopted, though it does not appear that any attempt was then
made to penetrate the rich crust of Potosi. ^11 A few years more were to
elapse before the Spaniards were to bring to light the silver quarries
that lay hidden in the bosom of its mountains. ^12

[Footnote 11: "Con la quietud," writes Hernando Pizarro to the emperor,
"questa tierra agora tiene han descubierto i descubren cada dia los
vecinos muchas minas ricas de oro i plata, de que los quintos i rentas
reales de V. M. cada dia se le ofrecen i hacer casa a todo el Mundo."
Carta al Emperador, Ms., de Puerto Viejo, 6 de Julii, 1539.]

[Footnote 12: Carta de Carbajal al Emperador, Ms., del Cuzco, 3 de Nov.
1539. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms.,
ano 1539.

     The story is well known of the manner in which the mines of Potosi were
discovered by an Indian, who pulled a bush out of the ground to the fibres of
which a quantity of silver globules was attached.  The mine was not registered
till 1545.  The account is given by Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 6.]

     It was now the great business of Hernando to collect a sufficient
quantity of treasure to take with him to Castile.  Nearly a year had elapsed
since Almagro's death; and it was full time that he should return and present
himself at court, where Diego de Alvarado and other friends of the marshal,
who had long since left Peru, were industriously maintaining the claims of the
younger Almagro, as well as demanding redress for the wrongs done to his
father.  But Hernando looked confidently to his gold to dispel the accusations
against him.

     Before his departure, he counselled his brother to beware of the "men
of Chili," as Almagro's followers were called; desperate men, who would
stick at nothing, he said, for revenge.  He besought the governor not to
allow them to consort together in any number within fifty miles of his
person; if he did, it would be fatal to him.  And he concluded by
recommending a strong body-guard; "for I," he added, "shall not be here to
watch over you." But the governor laughed at the idle fears, as he termed
them, of his brother, bidding the latter take no thought of him, "as every
hair in the heads of Almagro's followers was a guaranty for his
safety." ^13 He did not know the character of his enemies so well as
Hernando.

[Footnote 13: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 10. - Zarate,
Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 12. - Gomara, Hist de las Ind., cap. 142.

     "No consienta vuestra senoria que se junten diez juntos en cinquenta
leguas alrrededor de adonde vuestra senoria estuviere, porque si los dexa
juntar le an de matar.  Si a Vuestra Senoria matan, yo negociare mal y de
vuestra senoria no quedara memoria.  Estas palabras dixo Hernando Picarro
altas que todos le oymos.  Y abracando al marquez se partio y se fue."
Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

     The latter soon after embarked at Lima in the summer of 1539.  He did
not take the route of Panama, for he had heard that it was the intention
of the authorities there to detain him.  He made a circuitous passage,
therefore, by way of Mexico, landed in the Bay of Tecoantepec, and was
making his way across the narrow strip that divides the great oceans, when
he was arrested and taken to the capital.  But the Viceroy Mendoza did not
consider that he had a right to detain him, and he was suffered to embark
at Vera Cruz, and to proceed on his voyage.  Still he did not deem it safe
to trust himself in Spain without further advices.  He accordingly put in
at one of the Azores, where he remained until he could communicate with
home.  He had some powerful friends at court, and by them he was
encouraged to present himself before the emperor.  He took their advice,
and, shortly after, reached the Spanish coast in safety. ^14

[Footnote 14: Carta de Hernando Pizarro al Emperador, Ms. - Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 6, lib. 6, cap. 10. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1539.]

     The Court was at Valladolid; but Hernando, who made his entrance into
that city, with great pomp and a display of his Indian riches, met with a
reception colder than he had anticipated. ^15 For this he was mainly
indebted to Diego de Alvarado, who was then residing there, and who, as a
cavalier of honorable standing, and of high connections, had considerable
influence.  He had formerly, as we have seen, by his timely interposition,
more than once saved the life of Hernando; and he had consented to receive
a pecuniary obligation from him to a large amount.  But all were now
forgotten in the recollection of the wrong done to his commander; and,
true to the trust reposed in him by that chief in his dying hour, he had
come to Spain to vindicate the claims of the young Almagro.

[Footnote 15: Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 143.]

     But although coldly received at first, Hernando's presence, and his
own version of the dispute with Almagro, aided by the golden arguments
which he dealt with no stinted hand, checked the current of indignation,
and the opinion of his judges seemed for a time suspended.  Alvarado, a
cavalier more accustomed to the prompt and decisive action of a camp than
to the tortuous intrigues of a court, chafed at the delay, and challenged
Hernando to settle their quarrel by single combat.  But his prudent
adversary had no desire to leave the issue to such an ordeal; and the
affair was speedily terminated by the death of Alvarado himself, which
happened five days after the challenge.  An event so opportune naturally
suggested the suspicion of poison. ^16

[Footnote 16: "Pero todo lo atajo la repentina muerte de Diego de
Alvarado, que sucedio luego en cinco dias, no sin sospecha de veneno."
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 8, cap. 9.]

     But his accusations had not wholly fallen to the ground; and Hernando
Pizarro had carried measures with too high a hand, and too grossly
outraged public sentiment, to be permitted to escape.  He received no
formal sentence, but he was imprisoned in the strong fortress of Medina
del Campo, where he was allowed to remain for twenty years, when in 1560,
after a generation had nearly passed away, and time had, in some measure,
thrown its softening veil over the past, he was suffered to regain his
liberty. ^17 But he came forth an aged man, bent down with infirmities and
broken in spirit, - an object of pity, rather than indignation.  Rarely
has retributive justice been meted out in fuller measure to offenders so
high in authority, - most rarely in Castile. ^18

[Footnote 17: This date is established by Quintana, from a legal process
instituted by Hernando's grandson, in vindication of the title of
Marquess, in the year 1625.]

[Footnote 18: Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Pizarro y Orellana, Varones
Ilustres p 341. - Montesinos, Annales, M., ano 1539. - Gomara, Hist. de
las Ind., cap. 142.]

     Yet Hernando bore this long imprisonment with an equanimity which,
had it been founded on principle, might command our respect.  He saw
brothers and kindred, all on whom he leaned for support cut off one after
another; his fortune, in part, confiscated, while he was involved in
expensive litigation for the remainder; ^19 his fame blighted, his career
closed in an untimely hour, himself an exile in the heart of his own
country; - yet he bore it all with the constancy of a courageous spirit.
Though very old when released, he still survived several years, and
continued to the extraordinary age of a hundred. ^20 He lived long enough
to see friends, rivals, and foes all called away to their account before
him.

[Footnote 19: Caro de Torres gives a royal cedula in reference to the
working of the silver mines of Porco, still owned by Hernando Pizarro, in
1555; and another document of nearly the same date, noticing his receipt
of ten thousand ducats by the fleet from Peru.  (Historia de las Ordenes
Militares Madrid, 1629, p. 144.) Hernando's grandson was created by Philip
IV. Marquess of the Conquest, Marques de la Conquista, with a liberal
pension from government.  Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilustres, p. 342,
and Discurso, p. 72.]

[Footnote 20: "Multos da, Jupiter, annos", the greatest boon, in Pizarro y
Orellana's opinion, that Heaven can confer!  "Diole Dios, por todo, el
premio mayor desta vida, pues fue tan larga, que excedio de cien anos."
(Varones Ilustres, p. 342) According to the same somewhat partial
authority, Hernando died, as he had lived, in the odor of sanctity!
"Viviendo aprender a morir, y saber morir, quando llego la muerte.]

     Hernando Pizarro was in many respects a remarkable character.  He was
the eldest of the brothers, to whom he was related only by the father's
side, for he was born in wedlock, of honorable parentage on both sides of
his house.  In his early years, he received a good education, - good for
the time.  He was taken by his father while quite young, to Italy, and
there learned the art of war under the Great Captain.  Little is known of
his history after his return to Spain; but, when his brother had struck
out for himself his brilliant career of discovery in Peru, Hernando
consented to take part in his adventures.

     He was much deferred to by Francisco, not only as his elder brother,
but from his superior education and his knowledge of affairs.  He was
ready in his perceptions, fruitful in resources, and possessed of great
vigor in action.  Though courageous, he was cautious; and his counsels,
when not warped by passion, were wise and wary.  But he had other
qualities, which more than counterbalanced the good resulting from
excellent parts and attainments.  His ambition and avarice were
insatiable.  He was supercilious even to his equals; and he had a
vindictive temper, which nothing could appease.  Thus, instead of aiding
his brother in the Conquest, he was the evil genius that blighted his
path.  He conceived from the first an unwarrantable contempt for Almagro,
whom he regarded as his brother's rival, instead of what he then was, the
faithful partner of his fortunes.  He treated him with personal indignity,
and, by his intrigues at court, had the means of doing him sensible
injury.  He fell into Almagro's hands, and had nearly paid for these
wrongs with his life.  This was not to be forgiven by Hernando, and he
coolly waited for the hour of revenge.  Yet the execution of Almagro was a
most impolitic act; for an evil passion can rarely be gratified with
impunity.  Hernando thought to buy off justice with the gold of Peru.  He
had studied human nature on its weak and wicked side, and he expected to
profit by it.  Fortunately, he was deceived.  He had, indeed, his revenge;
but the hour of his revenge was that of his ruin.

     The disorderly state of Peru was such as to demand the immediate
interposition of government.  In the general license that prevailed there,
the rights of the Indian and of the Spaniard were equally trampled under
foot.  Yet the subject was one of great difficulty; for Pizarro's
authority was now firmly established over the country, which itself was
too remote from Castile to be readily controlled at home.  Pizarro,
moreover, was a man not easy to be approached, confident in his own
strength, jealous of interference, and possessed of a fiery temper, which
would kindle into a flame at the least distrust of the government.  It
would not answer to send out a commission to suspend him from the exercise
of his authority until his conduct could be investigated, as was done with
Cortes, and other great colonial officers, on whose rooted loyalty the
Crown could confidently rely.  Pizarro's loyalty sat, it was feared, too
lightly on him to be a powerful restraint on his movements; and there were
not wanting those among his reckless followers, who, in case of extremity,
would be prompt to urge him to throw off his allegiance altogether, and
set up an independent government for himself.

     Some one was to be sent out, therefore, who should possess, in some
sort, a controlling, or, at least, concurrent power with the dangerous
chief, while ostensibly he should act only in subordination to him.  The
person selected for this delicate mission, was the Licentiate Vaca de
Castro, a member of the Royal Audience of Valladolid.  He was a learned
judge, a man of integrity and wisdom, and, though not bred to arms, had so
much address, and such knowledge of character, as would enable him readily
to turn the resources of others to his own account.

     His commission was guarded in a way which showed the embarrassment of
the government.  He was to appear before Pizarro in the capacity of a
royal judge; to consult with him on the redress of grievances, especially
with reference to the unfortunate natives; to concert measures for the
prevention of future evils; and above all, to possess himself faithfully
of the condition of the country in all its details, and to transmit
intelligence of it to the Court of Castile.  But, in case of Pizarro's
death, he was to produce his warrant as royal governor, and as such to
claim the obedience of the authorities throughout the land. - Events
showed the wisdom of providing for this latter contingency. ^21

[Footnote 21: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de las
Ind., cap. 146. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 8, cap 9. -
Montesinos, Annales, Ms. ano 1540.

     This latter writer sees nothing short of a "divine mystery" in this
forecast of government, so singularly sustained by events.  "Prevencion
del gran espiritu del Rey, no sin misterio." Ubi supra.]

     The licentiate, thus commissioned, quitted his quiet residence at
Valladolid, embarked at Seville, in the autumn of 1540, and, after a
tedious voyage across the Atlantic, he traversed the Isthmus, and,
encountering a succession of tempests on the Pacific, that had nearly sent
his frail bark to the bottom, put in with her, a mere wreck, at the
northerly port of Buenaventura. ^22 The affairs of the country were in a
state to require his presence.

[Footnote 22: Or, as the port should rather be called, Mala Ventura, as
Pedro Pizarro punningly remarks.  "Tuvo tan mal viaje en la mar que vbo de
desembarcar en la Buena Ventura, aunque yo la llamo Mala.  Descub. y
Conq., Ms.]

     The civil war which had lately distracted the land had left it in so
unsettled a state, that the agitation continued long after the immediate
cause had ceased.  This was especially the case among the natives.  In the
violent transfer of repartimientos, the poor Indian hardly knew to whom he
was to look as his master.  The fierce struggles between the rival
chieftains left him equally in doubt whom he was to regard as the rulers
of the land.  As to the authority of a common sovereign, across the
waters, paramount over all, he held that in still greater distrust; for
what was the authority which could not command the obedience even of its
own vassals? ^23 The Inca Manco was not slow in taking advantage of this
state of feeling.  He left his obscure fastnesses in the depths of the
Andes, and established himself with a strong body of followers in the
mountain country lying between Cuzco and the coast.  From this retreat, he
made descents on the neighbouring plantations, destroying the houses,
sweeping off the cattle, and massacring the people.  He fell on
travellers, as they were journeying singly or in caravans from the coast,
and put them to death - it is told by his enemies - with cruel tortures.
Single detachments were sent against him, from time to time, but without
effect.  Some he eluded, others he defeated; and, on one occasion, cut off
a party of thirty troopers, to a man. ^24

[Footnote 23: "Piensan que les mienten los que aca les dizen que ai un
gran Senor en Castilla, viendo que aca pelean unos capitanes contra otros;
y piensan que no ai otro Rei sino aquel que venze al otro, porque aca
entrellos no se acostumbra que un capitan pelee contra otro, estando
entrambos debaxo de un Senor" Carta de Valverde al Emperador, Ms.]

[Footnote 24: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib 6, cap. 7. - Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de Espinall, Ms. - Carta de Valverde
al Emperador, Ms.]

     At length, Pizarro found it necessary to send a considerable force
under his brother Gonzalo against the Inca.  The hardy Indian encountered
his enemy several times in the rough passes of the Cordilleras.  He was
usually beaten, and sometimes with heavy loss, which he repaired with
astonishing facility; for he always contrived to make his escape, and so
true were his followers, that, in defiance of pursuit and ambuscade, he
found a safe shelter in the secret haunts of the sierra.

     Thus baffled, Pizarro determined to try the effect of pacific
overtures.  He sent to the Inca, both in his own name, and in that of the
Bishop of Cuzco, whom the Peruvian prince held in reverence, to invite him
to enter into negotiation. ^25 Manco acquiesced, and indicated, as he had
formerly done with Almagro, the valley of Yucay, as the scene of it.  The
governor repaired thither, at the appointed time, well guarded, and, to
propitiate the barbarian monarch, sent him a rich present by the hands of
an African slave.  The slave was met on the route by a party of the Inca's
men, who, whether with or without their master's orders, cruelly murdered
him, and bore off the spoil to their quarters.  Pizarro resented this
outrage by another yet more atrocious.

[Footnote 25: The Inca declined the interview with the bishop, on the
ground that he had seen him pay obeisance by taking off his cap to
Pizarro.  It proved his inferiority to the latter, he said, and that he
could never protect him against the governor.  The passage in which it is
related is curious.  "Preguntando a indios del inca que anda alzado que si
sabe el inca que yo soi venido a la tierra en nombre de S. M. para
defendellos, dixo que mui bien lo sabia; y preguntado que porque no se
benia a mi de paz, dixo el indio que dezia el inca que porque yo quando
vine hize la mocha al gobernador, que quiere dezir que le quite el Bonete;
que no queria venir a mi de paz, que el que no havia de venir de paz sino
a uno que viniese de castilla que no hiziese la mocha al gobernador,
porque le paresze a el que este lo podra defender por lo que ha hecho y no
otro." Carta de Valverde al Emperador, Ms]

     Among the Indian prisoners was one of the Inca's wives, a young and
beautiful woman, to whom he was said to be fondly attached.  The governor
ordered her to be stripped naked, bound to a tree, and, in presence of the
camp, to be scourged with rods, and then shot to death with arrows.  The
wretched victim bore the execution of the sentence with surprising
fortitude.  She did not beg for mercy, where none was to be found.  Not a
complaint, scarcely a groan, escaped her under the infliction of these
terrible torments.  The iron Conquerors were amazed at this power of
endurance in a delicate woman, and they expressed their admiration, while
they condemned the cruelty of their commander, - in their hearts. ^26 Yet
constancy under the most excruciating tortures that human cruelty can
inflict is almost the universal characteristic of the American Indian.

[Footnote 26: At least, we may presume they did so, since they openly
condemn him in their accounts of the transaction.  I quote Pedro Pizarro,
not disposed to criticise the conduct of his general too severely.  "Se
tomo una muger de mango ynga que le queria mucho y se guardo, creyendo que
por ella saldria de paz.  Esta muger mando matar al marquez despues en
Yncay, haziendola varear con varas y flechar con flechas por una burla que
mango ynga le hizo que aqui contare, y entiendo yo que por esta crueldad y
otra hermana del ynga que mando matar en Lima quando los yndios pusieron
cerco sobrella que se llamava Acarpay.  me paresce a mi que nuestro senor
le castigo en el fin que tuvo." Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

     Pizarro now prepared, as the most effectual means of checking these
disorders among the natives, to establish settlements in the heart of the
disaffected country.  These settlements, which received the dignified name
of cities, might be regarded in the light of military colonies.  The
houses were usually built of stone, to which were added the various public
offices, and sometimes a fortress.  A municipal corporation was organized.
Settlers were invited by the distribution of large tracts of land in the
neighbourhood, with a stipulated number of Indian vassals to each.  The
soldiers then gathered there, sometimes accompanied by their wives and
families; for the women of Castile seem to have disdained the impediments
of sex, in the ardor of conjugal attachment, or, it may be, of romantic
adventure.  A populous settlement rapidly grew up in the wilderness,
affording protection to the surrounding territory, and furnishing a
commercial depot for the country, and an armed force ready at all times to
maintain public order.

     Such a settlement was that now made at Guamanga, midway between Cuzco and
Lima, which effectually answered its purpose by guarding the communications
with the coast. ^27 Another town was founded in the mining district of
Charcas, under the appropriate name of the Villa de la Plata, the "City of
Silver." And Pizarro, who journeyed by a circuitous route along the shores of
the southern sea towards Lima, established the city of Arequipa, since arisen
to such commercial celebrity.

[Footnote 27: Cieza de Leon notices the uncommon beauty and solidity of the
buildings at Guamanga.  "La qual han edificado las mayores y mejores casas que
ay en todo el Peru, todas de piedra, ladrillo, y teja, con grandes torres: de
manera que no falta aposentos.  La placa esta llana y bien grande' Cronica,
cap. 87.]

     Once more in his favorite capital of Lima, the governor found abundant
occupation in attending to its municipal concerns, and in providing for the
expansive growth of its population.  Nor was he unmindful of the other rising
settlements on the Pacific.  He encouraged commerce with the remoter colonies
north of Peru, and took measures for facilitating internal intercourse.  He
stimulated industry in all its branches, paying great attention to husbandry,
and importing seeds of the different European grains, which he had the
satisfaction, in a short time, to see thriving luxuriantly in a country where
the variety of soil and climate afforded a home for almost every product. ^28
Above all, he promoted the working of the mines, which already began to make
such returns, that the most common articles of life rose to exorbitant prices,
while the precious metals themselves seemed the only things of little value.
But they soon changed hands, and found their way to the mother-country, where
they rose to their true level as they mingled with the general currency of
Europe.  The Spaniards found that they had at length reached the land of which
they had been so long in search, - the land of gold and silver.  Emigrants
came in greater numbers to the country, and, spreading over its surface,
formed in the increasing population the most effectual barrier against the
rightful owners of the soil. ^29

[Footnote 28: "I con que ia comencaba a haver en aquellas Tierras cosecha de
Trigo, Cevada, i otras muchas cosas de Castilla." Herrera, Hist. General, dec.
6, lib. 10, cap. 2.]

[Footnote 29: Carta de Carvajal al Emperador, Ms. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms.,
anos 1539 et 1541. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 6 lib. 7, cap. 1. - Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 76 et alibi.]

     Pizarro, strengthened by the arrival of fresh adventurers, now turned
his attention to the remoter quarters of the country.  Pedro de Valdivia
was sent on his memorable expedition to Chili; and to his own brother
Gonzalo the governor assigned the territory of Quito, with instructions to
explore the unknown country towards the east, where, as report said, grew
the cinnamon.  As this chief, who had hitherto acted but a subordinate
part in the Conquest, is henceforth to take the most conspicuous, it may
be well to give some account of him.

     Little is known of his early life, for he sprang from the same
obscure origin with Francisco, and seems to have been as little indebted
as his elder brother to the fostering care of his parents.  He entered
early on the career of a soldier; a career to which every man in that iron
age, whether cavalier or vagabond, seems, if left to himself, to have most
readily inclined.  Here he soon distinguished himself by his skill in
martial exercises, was an excellent horseman, and, when he came to the New
World, was esteemed the best lance in Peru. ^30

[Footnote 30: The cavalier Pizarro y Orellana has given biographical
notices of each of the brothers.  It requires no witchcraft to detect that
the blood of the Pizarros flowed in the veins of the writer to his
fingers' ends.  Yet his facts are less suspicious than his inferences.]

     In talent and in expansion of views, he was inferior to his brothers.
Neither did he discover the same cool and crafty policy; but he was
equally courageous, and in the execution of his measures quite as
unscrupulous.  He had a handsome person, with open, engaging features, a
free, soldier-like address, and a confiding temper, which endeared him to
his followers.  His spirit was high and adventurous, and, what was equally
important, he could inspire others with the same spirit, and thus do much
to insure the success of his enterprises.  He was an excellent captain in
guerilla warfare, an admirable leader in doubtful and difficult
expeditions; but he had not the enlarged capacity for a great military
chief, still less for a civil ruler.  It was his misfortune to be called
to fill both situations.