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III
Peru and the Pizarros
A Study in Retribution
"They that take the sword shall perish by the sword."
I. The Chief Scion of a Famous Family
The reader will look in vain on the map of modern Spain for the ancientprovince of Estremadura, yet it is a spot which, in that it was thebirthplace of the conquerors of Peru and Mexico--to say nothing of thediscoverer of the Mississippi--contributed more to the glory of Spainthan any other province in the Iberian peninsula. In 1883, the ancientterritory was divided into the two present existing states of Badajozand Caceres. In the latter of these lies the important mountain townof Trujillo.
Living there in the last half of the fifteenth century was an obscurepersonage named Gonzalo Pizarro. He was a gentleman whose lineage wasancient, whose circumstances were narrow and whose morals were loose.By profession he was a soldier who had gained some experience in thewars under the "Great Captain," Gonsalvo de Cordova. History wouldtake no note of this vagrom and obscure cavalier had it not been forhis children. Four sons there were whose qualities and opportunitieswere such as to have enabled them to play a somewhat large part in theworld's affairs {54} in their day. How many unconsidered otherprogeny, male or female, there may have been, God aloneknows--possibly, nay probably, a goodly number.
The eldest son was named Francisco. His mother, who was not married tohis father--indeed not married to anybody at any time so far as I canfind out--was a peasant woman named Francisca Gonzales. Francisco wasborn about the year 1471. His advent was not of sufficient importanceto have been recorded, apparently, and the exact date of histerrestrial appearance is a matter of conjecture, with the guessesranging between 1470 and 1478. A few years after the arrival ofFrancisco, there was born to Gonzales, and this time by his lawfulwife, name unknown, a second son, Hernando. By the woman Gonzales, ascore of years later, this promiscuous father had two more illegitimatesons, one of whom he named Gonzalo after himself, and the third hecalled Juan. Francisca Gonzales also bore a fourth son, of whomGonzalo Pizarro was not the father, who was known as Martin deAlcantara. Thus Hernando, the second, was legitimate; Gonzalo and Juanwere his illegitimate half-brethren, having the same father but adifferent mother; while Alcantara was a uterine brother to the threeillegitimate Pizarros, having the same mother but a different father.There must have been marvelous qualities in the original Pizarro, forsuch a family is rarely to be met with in history.
Such a mixed state of affairs was not so shocking in those days as itwould be at present. I do not find that anybody cast any stones at thePizarros on account of these irregularities in their birth. In fact,they had plenty of companions in their anomalous social relations, andit is a speaking commentary on the {55} times that nobody seemed toconsider it as especially disgraceful or even very remarkable.
Hernando, the second son, received a good education for the day. Theothers were thrown mainly on their own resources. Legend says thatFrancisco was suckled by a sow. The statement may be dismissed as afable, but it is more than probable that the assertion that he was aswineherd is correct. It is certain that to the day of his death hecould neither read nor write. He never even learned to sign his ownname, yet he was a man of qualities who made a great figure in historyin spite of these disabilities, leaving behind him an immortal ifunenviable name. His career was humble and obscure to the vanishingpoint for forty years, of which practically nothing is known. It isalleged that he made a campaign in Italy with his father, but this isdoubtful. A father who left him to tend the swine, who did nothing forhis education, would not have bothered to take him a-soldiering.
We leave the field of conjecture, however, and meet him in far-offAmerica in 1510 as an officer under Alonzo de Ojeda--that Don Quixoteamong discoverers. His qualities had obtained for him some preferment,for when Ojeda left the miserable remnants of his colony at SanSebastian on the Gulf of Darien, and returned to Cuba for help, Pizarrowas put in charge, with instructions to wait a certain time, and ifsuccour did not reach him to leave. He waited the required time,indeed waited longer, until enough people died to enable the brigantinethat had been left with them to carry the survivors, and then sailedaway. He was a member of Encisco's expedition to Darien, in which hefell in with the youthful and {56} romantic Vasco Nunez de Balboa.With Balboa he marched across the Isthmus, and was the second white manto look upon the Great South Sea in 1513. Subsequently, he was anofficer under that American Nero, Pedro Arias de Avila, commonly calledPedrarias, the founder and Governor of Panama, the conqueror ofNicaragua and parts adjacent. Oviedo says that between his seventiethyear, which was his age when he came to America, and his eighty-sixthyear, when he died, the infamous Pedrarias caused more than two millionIndians to be put to death, besides a numerous lot of his owncountrymen. If we lop off two ciphers, the record is still bad enough.
In 1515, Pizarro and Morales, by direction of Pedrarias, made anexpedition to the south of the Gulf of San Miguel, into the territoryof a chieftain named Biru, from whom they early got into the habit ofcalling the vague land believed to exist in the South Sea, the "Land ofBiru," or Peru. It was on this expedition that the Spaniards, hotlypursued by the natives, stabbed their captives one by one and left themdying at intervals in the pathway to check pursuit. The practice waseffective enough and the action throws an interesting light on theSpanish conquistador in general and Pizarro in particular.
It fell to the lot of Pizarro also to arrest his old captain, Balboa,just as the latter was about to sail on a voyage of discovery to thefabulous gold country of Peru in 1517.[1] When Balboa and Pizarro hadcrossed the Isthmus six years before, the son of the Cacique Comagre,observing their avidity for gold, told them {57} that it abounded in amysterious land far toward the south, and the young Indian made alittle clay image of a llama further to describe the country.
To conquer that El Dorado had been Balboa's cherished dream. Wellwould it have been for the country had not the jealousy of Pedrariascut short Balboa's career by taking off his head, thus forcing theenterprise to be undertaken by men of coarser mould and meaner clay.It does not appear that Pizarro had any hand in the judicial murder ofBalboa, and no reflection can be made on his conduct for the arrest,which was simply a matter of military duty, probably as distasteful toPizarro as it was surprising to Balboa.
II. The Terrible Persistence of Pizarro
In 1519, Pizarro was living in Panama in rather straightenedcircumstances. His life had been a failure. A soldier of fortune, hepossessed little but his sword. He was discontented, and although nownearly fifty years of age, he still had ambition. With remembrance ofwhat he had heard the young Indian chief tell Balboa, constantlyinciting him to a further grapple with hitherto coy and elusivefortune, he formed a partnership with another poverty-stricken butenterprising veteran named Diego de Almagro, whose parentage was asobscure as Pizarro's--indeed more so, for he is reputed to have been afoundling, although Oviedo describes him as the son of a Spanishlaboring man. The two men supplemented each other. Pizarro, althoughastute and circumspect, was taciturn and chary of speech, though fluentenough on occasion; he was slow in making up his mind, too, but when it{58} was made up, resolute and tenacious of his purpose. Almagro wasquick, impulsive, generous, frank in manner, "wonderfully skilled ingaining the hearts of men," but sadly deficient in other qualities ofleadership. Both were experienced soldiers, as brave as lions andnearly as cruel as Pedrarias himself--being indeed worthy disciples ofhis school.
The two penniless, middle-aged soldiers of fortune determined toundertake the conquest of that distant empire--a stupendous resolution.Being almost without means, they were forced to enlarge the company bytaking on a third partner, a priest named Luque, who had, or couldcommand, the necessary funds. With the sanction of Pedrarias, whodemanded and received a share, largely gratuitous, in the expedition,they bought two of the four vessels which Balboa had caused to be takento pieces, transported them across the I
sthmus, then set them up again,and relaunched in the Pacific. Enlisting one hundred men under hisbanner, Pizarro set sail with the first vessel on the 14th of November,1524. Almagro was to follow after with reenforcements and supplies inthe second ship. One Andagoya had made a short excursion southwardsome time before, but they soon passed his latitude and were the firstwhite men to cleave those southern seas.
With only their hopes to guide them, without pilot, chart orexperience, being, I suspect, indifferent sailors and wretchednavigators, they crept along the forbidding shore in a crazy littleship, landing from time to time, seeing no evidence of the empire,being indeed unable to penetrate the jungles far enough to find outmuch of anything about the countries they passed. Finally, at oneplace, that they afterwards called "Starvation {59} Harbor," the menrebelled and demanded to be led back. They had seen and heard littleof importance. There seemed to be nothing before them but death bystarvation.
Pizarro, however, who has been aptly described as "terriblypersistent," refused to return. He sent the ship back to the Isles ofPearls for provisions, and grimly clung to the camp on the desolateshore. When twenty of his men were dead of starvation, the ship cameback with supplies. In one of their excursions, during this wait atStarvation Harbor, they had stumbled upon and surprised an Indianvillage in which they found some clumsy gold ornaments, with furthertales of the El Dorado to the southward. Instead of yielding to therequest of his men that they immediately return in the ship, therefore,the indomitable Spaniard made sail southward. He landed at variousplaces, getting everywhere little food and less gold, but everywheregaining more and more confirmation that the foundation of his dreamswas not "the baseless fabric of a vision."
In one place they had a fierce battle with the Indians in which two ofthe Spaniards were killed and a large number wounded. Pizarro nowdetermined to return to Panama with the little gold he had picked upand the large stories he had heard, there to recruit his band and tostart out again. Almagro meanwhile had set forth with his ship withsixty or seventy additional adventurers. He easily followed the tracesof Pizarro on the shore but the ships did not meet. Almagro wentfarther south than Pizarro. At one landing-place he had a furiousbattle with the natives in which he lost an eye. He turned back afterreaching the mouth of the river San Juan in about the fourth {60}parallel of north latitude. He, too, had picked up some littletreasure and a vast quantity of rumor to compensate for his lost opticand bitter experience. But the partners had little to show for theirsufferings and expenditures but rumors and hopes.
Pedrarias in disgust withdrew from the expedition for a price, which,with the money necessary to send out a second expedition, was furnishedthrough Luque by the Licentiate Espinosa. About September, 1526, withtwo ships, the two captains set forth once more. This time they hadwith them a capable pilot named Ruiz. They avoided the coast andsteered direct for the mouth of the San Juan River. Pizarro surpriseda village here, carried off some of the natives, and a considerableamount of gold. This Almagro, as the best "persuader," took back toPanama in the hope that by exhibiting it he could gain much neededreenforcements for their expedition.
The ships were very much undermanned. The experience of the firstexpedition, as related by the survivors, had been so horrible that itwas with difficulty that they could get anybody to go with them on thesecond. Pizarro agreed to remain at the mouth of the river and examinethe vicinity, while Ruiz with the second ship sailed southward to seewhat he could discover. Pizarro's men found no gold, although theyexplored the country with prodigious labor. Indians fell upon them, atone time killing fourteen who had stranded in a canoe on the bank of ariver. Many other Spaniards perished, and all except Pizarro and a fewof the stoutest hearts begged to return to Panama.
Ruiz came back just as they had begun to despair. He had crossed theEquator, the first European to {61} cross it from the north, and hadsailed half a degree south from the line.[2]
He brought back some Indians, further specimens of gold and silverornaments, exquisitely woven woollen garments, _et cetera_, which hehad taken from a craft cruising near the shore, which were proofspositive of the existence of the long-desired country.
Almagro now made his appearance with reenforcements and the keels weresoon turned to the south. Coasting along the shore, they sawincreasing evidence of cultivation in the valleys and uplands, backedby the huge snow-crowned range of the Andes. Large villages appearedhere and there. Finally, they anchored opposite a considerable townlaid out in well-defined streets, containing about two thousand houses,many of them built of stone. From their position close to the shorethey thought that they could make out that the inhabitants woreornaments of gold. Several canoes approached the ship, one of themcrowded with warriors carrying a species of gold mask as an ensign.
There appeared to be at least ten thousand warriors assembled on theshore but Pizarro landed with the few horses which he had brought alongin the ship. A sharp engagement ensued, and the result might have beendisastrous to the Spaniards had not one of them fallen from his horseduring the fray. This diversion of what they considered a singleanimal into two, both living, alarmed the Indians so much, that theydesisted from the attack and withdrew, the Spaniards taking advantageof the chance to return to the ships.
What to do next was the problem. They had not {62} sufficient force orsupplies with them to encounter the natives, or conquer or even explorethe country. The expedition was about as meagrely equipped as it wellcould be and be an expedition at all. There were long discussions onthe ships and a fierce quarrel between the two partners. Finally, itwas composed outwardly, and it was decided that Pizarro should remainat the coast at some convenient point while Almagro, the traverser,went back for reenforcements. Pizarro elected to pitch his camp on thelittle Island of Gallo which they had discovered. Those who wereappointed to remain with him rebelled at the decision which left themmarooned on a desolate island with no adequate provisions for theirneeds. Pizarro, however, insisted and Almagro sailed with the othership. Shortly afterward, Pizarro sent the remaining ship with the mostobstinate of the mutineers to Panama. A letter revealing their sadplight, which was concealed in a ball of cotton sent as a present tothe wife of the governor by one of the men on the island of Gallo, wassmuggled ashore at Panama when Almagro's ship reached that point,despite his vigilant efforts to allow no such communications to pass.
There was a new governor in Panama, Pedro de los Rios. Incensed by theloss of life and the hardships of the two expeditions, with the lack ofdefinite and tangible results, and disregarding the remonstrances ofAlmagro, he dispatched two ships under one Pedro Tafur to bring themback. Life on the island of Gallo had been a hideous experience.Famine, disease and inclement weather had taken off many and had brokenthe spirit of the most of the rest of the band. Nothing could breakthat of Pizarro. When Tafur appeared, he refused to return. Drawing{63} an east-and-west line upon the sand with his sword, he made abrief soldierly address to his men.
"Friends and comrades," he said, facing the south, "on that side of theline are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, destruction anddeath. On this side," turning to the north, "are ease and pleasure.There lies Peru with its riches. Here, Panama with its poverty.Choose each man as best becomes a cavalier of Castile. For my part, Igo to the south."
Such was the effect of his electrifying words, that, as he stepped overthe line, a number of his comrades, led by Ruiz, the pilot, and Pedrode Candia, a Greek gunner, followed him. The number varies fromthirteen to sixteen according to different authorities. The weight ofevidence inclines me to the smaller number.[3]
Tafur raged and threatened, but Pizarro and his men persisted. Theygot themselves transferred to the Island of Gorgona where there werewater and game and no inhabitants, and there they stayed while Tafurreturned.
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Less than a score of men marooned on a desert island in an unknown sea,opposite a desolate and forbidding coast, without a ship or any meansof leavin
g the island, not knowing whether Almagro and Luque would beable to succor them; their position was indeed a desperate one. Itshows, as nothing else could, the iron determination of the indomitableSpaniard. At that moment when Pizarro drew the line and stepped acrossit after that fiery address, he touched at the same time the nadir ofhis fortunes and the zenith of his fame. Surely it stands as one ofthe great dramatic incidents of history. The conquest of Peru turnedupon that very instant, upon the determination of that moment; and uponthe conquest of Peru depended more things in the future history of theearth than were dreamed of in the narrow philosophy of any Spaniardthere present, or of any other man in existence in that long-past day.
Peru has played a tremendously important part in the affairs of men.It was the treasure of Peru that armed the soldiers of Alva and laidthe keels of the Armada. It was the treasure of Peru that relieved theSpanish people of the necessity of wresting a national revenue out of asoil by agriculture; which abrogated the auxiliary of agriculture,manufactures; which precluded the possibility of the corollary of theother two, commerce. It was the treasure of Peru that permitted theSpanish people to indulge that passion for religious bigotry which wasstifling to liberty and throttling to development, and which put themhopelessly out of touch with the onward and progressive movement ofhumanity in one of the most vital periods and movements in history. Itwas the treasure of Peru that kindled the fires of the Inquisition,{65} in which the best blood of the nation lighted it to its downfall,and blazed the way for Manila and Santiago. Philip II, and hisdecadent and infamous successors depended upon the mines of Potosi andthe mines of Potosi hung upon Pizarro and his line in the sand. Thebase-born, ignorant, cruel soldier wrecked in one moment a nation, madeand unmade empires, and changed the whole course of the world.
It was largely the Spanish zeal and intolerance that developed and madeperfect the Reformation, for no great cause has ever won successwithout opposition, nay, persecution. "The blood of the martyr," saysSt. Augustine, "is the seed of the church."
To return to the situation. Tafur presently reached Panama andreported. The governor and the people of that city looked upon Pizarroas a madman. Luque and Almagro were unwearying in their efforts andimportunities, however, and finally they wrung a reluctant permissionfrom De los Rios for Ruiz and one small ship and a few men to go to therescue, with the proviso that a return must be made within six months.One can imagine the joy with which the desperate adventurers on theisland saw the sails of that ship whitening the horizon. Once morethey set sail to the south, arriving finally before a large andpopulous town called Tumbez. Here they saw undoubted signs of theexistence of a great empire in a high state of civilization. Thelittle party had some pleasant intercourse with the natives of Tumbez.
They gathered a considerable amount of gold and silver, some of itexquisitely wrought by cunning artificers into the forms of beautifuland unknown plants and animals. There was no possible doubt as to {66}the truth of their golden dreams. The empire of Peru in all itsmagnificence lay before them.
Too meagre a force to embrace the opportunity, there was nothing to dobut to return to Panama. There it was agreed that Pizarro, with DeCandia, should go over to Spain, taking with him Peruvians andtreasures, tell what he had seen, and secure the royal countenance andsupport for their future undertaking, while Almagro and Luque remainedat Panama preparing for the final expedition. Pizarro had no soonerset foot in Spain than he was arrested for debt on some ancient chargeby Encisco, but he was too big a man, now, for such petty persecutionand he was at once released and ordered to present himself at court.The rough, blunt soldier, with his terrible yet romantic tale with itsinfinite possibilities, was received with astonishing cordiality. Hegained a royal commission to discover and conquer the empire of Perufor Spain for the distance of two hundred leagues south of the SantiagoRiver, and received the title of Governor and Captain-General withlarge powers and revenue appertaining, which it was easy for the crownto bestow since Pizarro had to get them himself.
Almagro, who justly felt himself slighted and his services inadequatelyvalued, was made Governor of Tumbez; Luque was appointed Bishop for thesame place and Protector of the Peruvians; Ruiz was named Grand Pilotof the Southern Ocean; De Candia, a General of Artillery; and every oneof the thirteen who had crossed the line at Gallo was ennobled and madean Hidalgo of Spain.
Then Pizarro went back to Trujillo. Certainly it must have been ahappy moment for the neglected {67} bastard who had been a swineherd toreturn to his native village under such enviable conditions. He setsail for America early in 1530, with three ships. His four brotherscame with him, the able Hernando being made second in command. Almagroand Luque were very much chagrined at the meagre reward that had fallento them, and Almagro looked with deep antagonism upon the advent of thePizarros, who, he realized instinctively, would undermine his influencewith his partner. This hatred the new Pizarros repaid in kind. Somesort of peace, however, was patched up between them, and in January,1531, with three small ships and one hundred and eighty-three men,including thirty-seven horses, Francisco set forth on his final voyageof conquest.
Nearly seven years had elapsed since the first attempt was made. Asyet they had little but empty titles, large powers, purely potential,however, and drained purses to show for their heroic endeavor, but thepersistence of Pizarro was about to triumph at last. After a voyage ofthirteen days, the squadron arrived at San Mateo, where the horses andsoldiers were landed and ordered to march along the shore southward,while the ships were sent back for reenforcements which Almagro wasgathering as usual. They returned with thirty more men and thirty-sixadditional horses. Arriving at the Gulf of Guayaquil, Pizarroestablished himself on the island of Puna, opposite Tumbez, which hecleared of its inhabitants by a series of desperate battles. There hewas reenforced by a detachment of one hundred men with an additionalnumber of horses under the command of young Hernando de Soto, anothergallant Estremaduran, and quite the most attractive among this band ofdesperadoes, whose {68} design was to loot an empire and proclaim theHoly Gospel of Christ as the Spanish people had received the same. Ihave no doubt at all that the desire to propagate their religion wasquite as real and as vividly present to them at all times as was theirgreed for gold. They had a zeal for God, but not according toknowledge; like the men of the Middle Ages who bore the cross on theirhauberks, every Spaniard was a crusader. Aside from De Soto, there isno single character of all those, either Indian or Spaniard, who forfifteen years made Peru a bloody battle-ground, except the unfortunateyoung Inca Manco Capac, who is entitled to the least admiration oraffection.
In April, 1532, Pizarro embarked his men on the ships and landed, notwithout some fierce fighting, at Tumbez, on the coast of Peru. At lastthe expedition was on solid ground and nothing prevented its furtheradvance. On the 18th of May, therefore, they took up the march for theinterior, little dreaming of the ultimate fate that awaited them all.
III. "A Communistic Despotism."
The empire of Peru well deserved the title of Magnificent. The highestcivilization attained on the Western Hemisphere had been reached onthis South American coast. A form of government unique in history hadbeen developed and put in operation by a capable and enlightenedpeople. It was a "communistic despotism," a community with a despotand a ruling class superimposed upon its socialism. The sway of thesedespots was exceedingly mild and gentle, even if absolute. Withwonderful ingenuity and a rare capacity for organization, upon the {69}ruins of an older civilization, they built the Inca Empire.
The Incas were the ruling tribe, the Emperor being the Inca parexcellence. Their empire was as thoroughly organized as it is possiblefor a community to be. Indeed, it was organized to death; the Inca wasthe empire, and one source of the empire's speedy downfall was due tothe fact that the national spirit of the Peruvians had been so crushedby the theocratic despotism of their rulers that they viewed the changeof masters with more or less indifference. When the Incas conquered acountry an
d people they so arranged affairs as to incorporate thepeople as part of the empire. They called their domainsgrandiloquently "the four quarters of the earth." They did not governthis great territory by brute force as did the Aztecs--although theyknew how to use the sword if necessary--but by methods dictated byprudent and profound policy, productive of peaceful success. The mildgovernment of the Incas was at once patriarchal, theocratic anddespotic. Whatever it was, from the Incas' point of view it wasabsolute and satisfactory.
Prescott's account of the Inca civilization reads like a romance, yetit is practically borne out by all chroniclers who have discussed thesubject, some of whom appear to desire to find the great Americanhistorian at fault. Large and populous cities existed, communicationbetween which was had by great national roads traversing every part ofthe land. Vast herds of llamas were domesticated, from the hair ofwhich the exquisitely woven cloth was made. Agriculture flourished.The country, upraised from the sea by the great range of mountains,afforded every variety of {70} climate from temperate to tropic, andthe diversified products of the soil corresponded with theopportunities presented. And every foot of space was utilized for apopulation of millions of industrious workers, with an economy andresourcefulness only emulated by the Chinese in the working of theircountry. Even the mountain-sides were terraced by tiny farms.
The Peruvians had made some progress in the arts, less in science.They lacked the art of writing, although they possessed a highlydeveloped system of mnemonic aids in the form of curiously knotted andparticolored strings called quipus. Their literature, if thecontradiction be permitted, was handed down like their history, by oraltradition.
Great as had been their achievements, however, they were in a curiousstate of arrested development. With the Peruvians, says Helps,"everything stopped short." They had not arrived at a finalityanywhere, save perhaps in their mode of government. They could erectenormous time-defying buildings, but they knew of no way to roof themexcept by thatching them. Their roads were marvels of engineeringconstruction, but they could not build bridges except frail ones madeout of osier cables. No wheels ran along the smooth, well-paved,magnificent highways. They could refine gold and silver and makeweapons of tempered copper, but they were entirely ignorant of the useof iron. The greatest human development has depended upon that lastmetal. The great nations are those which have had the steel-temperedsword blades in their hands. They could administer a colony in a wayto excite the admiration of the world, and yet not write a line. Thereis little probability that they would have progressed much beyond thestate at which {71} they had arrived, _for there was no individualliberty in the land_. That was the fatal defect in their system. Itwas the lack which put that touch of finality to their otherwisemarvelously developed condition and which limited inexorably theircivilization. The unchangeable conditions were stifling to ambitionand paralyzing to achievement. The two things the country lacked werethe two vital things to human progress and human success--letters andliberty.
The religious development of the Peruvians was very high. Theyworshipped an unknown Supreme Being and they worshipped him, it isconclusively demonstrated, without human sacrifice. Objectively theypaid their chief adoration to the sun, moon and stars, and to the Incaas the child or earthly representative of the sun. Sun-worship is thenoblest and highest of all the purely natural religions. When to thiswas superadded an instinctive feeling for a great First Cause, of whichthe solar magnificence was but a manifestation, the religion of thePeruvians is entitled to great respect.
Their history ran back into the mists of the past. At the time of thearrival of Pizarro, a curious condition, anomalous in their records,had arisen. Huayna Capac, one of the greatest monarchs of the Incaline, had extended his dominion by force of arms over the rich provinceof Quito, far to the north. He had taken as one of his concubines thedaughter of the conquered monarch of Quito and by her had a son namedAtahualpa.[4]
The son of the monarch by his sister, his only legal {72} wife, orCoya--the irrevocable Peruvian method of providing for the Incasuccession--was named Huascar. Huayna on his deathbed, after aglorious reign of forty years, made the fatal mistake of dividing hisdominion between Huascar, to whom was given ancient Peru, andAtahualpa, who took Quito to the north. World-history, of which Huaynacould have known nothing, has shown conclusively enough that such apolicy has always brought about civil war, and this startling reversalof Peruvian custom by a doting monarch on his deathbed produced theusual results.
The armies of Atahualpa, led by two famous soldiers called Quiz-Quizand Chalcuchima, had met and defeated the troops of Huascar in a seriesof bloody battles. They had taken that unhappy monarch prisoner and,by a series of terrible massacres instigated by Atahualpa, had strivenwith large success to cut off the family of the unfortunate Inca rootand branches. The land had been devastated by the fierceness of theinternecine conflict, towns had been carried by storm, the inhabitantsput to the sword; the ordinary course of events had been interruptedand agriculture had languished; the empire lay gasping under the paw ofthe Peruvian usurper when Pizarro landed upon the shore. The strifethat was to ensue was between two base-born, cruel-hearted soldiers offortune, one at the head of a little body of white men, but with allthe prestige of their color and development in warfare, and weapons,the other, the now undisputed monarch of a vast if prostrate andexhausted empire, at the head of great armies flushed with victory andeager for new conquests.
What would the result of the struggle be?
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IV. The Treacherous and Bloody Massacre of Caxamarca.
Having marched some thirty miles south of Tumbezin the pleasant springweather, Pizarro, finding what he conceived to be a favorable locationfor a permanent colony, encamped his army, laid out and began to builda city, which he called San Miguel. The Spaniards were great buildersand the city was planned and fortified on an extensive scale and themore important buildings erected, so that it was not until Septemberthat Pizarro considered his base of supplies had been made secure.
Meanwhile he had been assiduously seeking information on every handconcerning the internal dissensions in the Peruvian empire, so that hecould undertake his conquest intelligently. On the 24th of September,1532, the valiant little army was mustered and, after deducting a smallgarrison for San Miguel, those appointed for the expedition were foundto include sixty-seven horsemen, three arquebusiers, twenty crossbowmenand eighty-seven footmen, in all one hundred and seventy-seven.[5]
They were accompanied by two pieces of small artillery calledfalconets, each having a bore of two inches and carrying a shotweighing about a pound and a half, being, with the three arquebusiers,General De Candia's command. With this insignificant force, augmented,I suppose, by some Indian captives acting as pack-mules, Pizarrostarted out to conquer an empire conservatively estimated to containfrom ten to twelve millions of people, supporting an army ofdisciplined {74} soldiers whose numbers ran into the hundreds ofthousands.
The Spanish forces were well equipped and in good condition, but asthey left the sea-shore and advanced, without molestation, to be sure,through the populous country, some idea of the magnitude of theirself-appointed task permeated the minds of the common soldiery, andevidences of hesitation, reluctance and dissension speedily appeared.The unwillingness of the men grew until Pizarro was forced to takenotice of it. Halting on the fifth day in a pleasant valley, he metthe emergency in his usual characteristic fashion. Parading the men,he addressed to them another of those fiery speeches for which he wasfamous, and the quality of which, from so illiterate a man, isamazingly high.
He painted anew the dangers before them, and then adroitly lightenedthe shadows of his picture by pointing to the rewards. He appealed toall that was best in humanity by saying that he wanted none but thebravest to go forward.[6]
He closed his address by offering to allow all who wished to do so toreturn to San Miguel, whose feeble garrison, he said, he should be gladto have reenforced. And, with a subtle
r stroke of policy, he promisedthat those who went back should share in the rewards gained by theirmore constant brethren. But four infantrymen and five horsemenshamefacedly availed themselves of this permission. The restenthusiastically clamored to be led forward. Both mutiny and timiditywere silenced forever in that band.
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On a similar occasion, Cortes had burnt his ships. It is hard todecide which was the better expedient. Certainly Cortes wasincomparably a much abler man than Pizarro, but somehow Pizarro managedto rise to the successive emergencies which confronted him, just thesame.
Greatly refreshed in spirits, the army, purged of the malcontents,proceeded cautiously on its way south. They were much elated from timeto time at receiving envoys from Atahualpa, who coupled a superstitiousreverence for the invaders as Children of the Sun with demands as totheir purposes, and a request that they halt and wait the pleasure ofthe Inca. Pizarro dissembled his intentions and received them withfair words, but refusing to halt, kept steadily on, announcing hisintention of visiting Atahualpa wherever he might be found.
Pursuing their journey, the Spaniards came early in November to thefoot of the mountains. To the right of them, that is toward the south,extended a great well-paved road which led to the imperial capital ofCuzco. In front of them, a narrow path rose over the mountains. Onewas easy, the other hard. In spite of suggestions from his soldiery,Pizarro chose the hard way. He had announced his intention of visitingthe Inca, and visit him he would although the way to the city of Cuzcowas open and the place might easily be taken possession of. The seatof danger and the source of power were alike with the Inca, and not inCuzco.
With sixty foot and forty horse, this old man, now past sixty years,led the way over the mountains, while his brother brought up the rearwith the remainder. The passage was a terrible one, but theindomitable {76} band, catching some of the spirit of their leader,surmounted all the obstacles, and a few days after from the summits ofa mighty range, surveyed the fertile, beautiful plains spread outbefore them on the farther side of the mountain. Close at hand was thewhite-walled city, Caxamarca or Cajamarca, embowered in verdure in afruitful valley. The place was an important position, well fortifiedand containing, under ordinary circumstances, a population of tenthousand. The reader should remember the name, for it was the scene ofone of the most remarkable and determinative events in history. Theconquest, in fact, was settled there.
Beyond the city, on the slopes of the hills, and divided from it by ariver, over which a causeway led, stood the white tents of the fiftythousand soldiers of Atahualpa's army. The number of them filled theSpaniards with amazement, and in some cases with apprehension. Therewas no going back then, however; there was nothing to do but advance.At the hour when the bells of Holy Church in their home land wereringing vespers, in a cold driving rain mingled with sleet, the littlecortege entered the city, which they found as the French found Moscow,deserted of its inhabitants. With the ready instinct of a soldier,Pizarro led his force to the public square, or Plaza, which was in theshape of a rude triangle surrounded on two sides by well-built,two-story houses of stone. On the other side, or base, rose a hugefortress with a tower overlooking the city on one hand and the Inca'scamp on the other.
Without hesitation, the weary Spaniards made themselves at home in thevacant buildings around the square; guards were posted in order thatthe strictest {77} watch might be kept, and other preparations made fordefence. Here they prepared for the repose of the night. MeanwhileHernando de Soto with twenty horse was sent as an ambassador toAtahualpa's camp. He had been gone but a short time when Pizarro, atthe suggestion of his brother Hernando, who made the point that twentyhorsemen were not sufficient for defense and too many to lose,despatched the latter with twenty more cavalrymen to reenforce thefirst party.
The two cavaliers and their escort found the Inca in the midst of hiscamp. The monarch was seated and surrounded by a brilliant assemblageof nobles in magnificent vestments. He was guarded by a great army ofsoldiers armed with war-clubs, swords and spears of tempered copper,and bows and slings. He received the deputation with the impassivityof a stone image, vouchsafing no answer to their respectful addressuntil it had been several times repeated. At last he declared he wouldvisit the strangers on the morrow, and directed them to occupy thebuildings in the public square, and none other until he came to makearrangements. His demeanor was cold and forbidding to the last degree.The results of the embassy were highly unsatisfactory. One incidentconnected with the interview is worthy of mention.
De Soto, who was a most accomplished cavalier, a perfect centaur infact, noticing the amazed and somewhat alarmed glances of the Inca'smen at the movements of his restless horse, suddenly determined toexhibit his skill at the manege. Striking spurs to his charger, hecaused him to curvet and prance in the open before the Inca, showing atthe same time {78} his own horsemanship and the fiery impetuosity ofthe high-spirited animal. He concluded this performance--shall I saycircus?--by dashing at full speed toward the Inca, reining in his steedwith the utmost dexterity a few feet from the royal person. What theInca thought of this has not been recorded. I imagine he must havebeen terribly affronted. Some of his nobles and soldiers, less able topreserve their iron composure than their master, shrank back from theonrushing avalanche of steed and steel presented by De Soto and hishorse. The Spaniards found their dead bodies the next day. It did notdo to show cowardice in the presence of the Inca! They had beensummarily executed by Atahualpa's order. Yet, I cannot think the Incaa man of surpassing bravery after all. Certainly he was not a man ofsufficient ability worthily to hold the scepter of so great an empire.He made a frightful mistake in not stopping the invaders where it wouldhave been easy for him to do so, in the narrow defiles of themountains, and he did not even yet seem to have decided in his own mindhow he should treat them. To be sure, according to some accounts, helooked upon them as belonging to the immortal gods, but there have beenmen brave enough in the defence of land and liberty to defy even theimmortal gods! A vast deal of sympathy, indeed, has been wasted uponAtahualpa. Without doubt the Spaniards treated him abominably, and forthat treatment the wretched monarch has claims to our consideration,but for his personal qualities or his past record, none. Helpsexplains his name as derived from two words meaning, "sweet valor!"Markham affirms that the words mean "A chance, or lucky, game-cock!"Neither appellation, in view of {79} Atahualpa's history can beconsidered as especially apt or happy.
Much dissatisfied and thoroughly perturbed, De Soto and HernandoPizarro returned to the city. Long and serious were the deliberationsof the leaders that night. At length they arrived at a momentousdecision, one for which they have been severely and justly censured,but which under the circumstances was the only possible decision whichinsured their safety. They had no business in that country. They hadcome there with the deliberate intention of looting it without regardto the rights of the inhabitants, and in that purpose lay the seeds ofall their subsequent crimes, treachery, murder, outrage and all otherabominations whatsoever. No surprise need be felt therefore, that theydetermined upon the seizure of the person of the Inca. The example ofCortes with Montezuma was before them. I have no doubt that hisamazing exploits in Mexico had been talked over frequently by everycamp-fire in the New and the Old World, and many bold spirits hadlonged for an opportunity to emulate his doings. The Spaniards in Peruhad already learned enough of the local conditions to realize that withthe person of the Inca they could control the government. To seize himwas black treachery, of course; but being there, it was the only thingto do, from their point of view. The night was an anxious one and themorning found them engaged in preparations. De Candia was posted withtwo small falconets and three arquebusiers on the roof of the fortress.His guns pointed toward the Inca's camp, though he had instructions toturn them on the square as soon as the Peruvians arrived. De Soto andHernando Pizarro divided the horse {80} between them and occupied thehouses on the other side of the square with the
m. The infantry weredistributed at various points of vantage. Pizarro reserved twenty ofthe trustiest blades for his own escort. The arms of the men werecarefully looked to, and nothing that the skill or experience of thecaptains could suggest was left undone to promote the success of theirhazardous and bold undertaking.
Mass was said with great solemnity by the priest of the expedition, FraVincente de Valverde, an iron-souled, fierce-hearted Dominican, meetecclesiastic for such a band. Refreshments were then providedliberally for the soldiers--it is not so stated, but it may be presumedthat some of them were in liquid shape--and then the whole partysettled down to await developments. Nothing seemed to be going on inthe Peruvian camp during the morning. The Inca moved toward the cityin the afternoon, but stopped just outside the walls, to the greatannoyance of the Spaniards, who had found the long wait a tryingexperience indeed. Late in the afternoon, Pizarro received a messagethat Atahualpa had changed his mind and would not visit him until thefollowing day. This did not suit his plans at all. He instantlyreturned an answer to the Inca, begging him not to defer his visit,saying that he had provided everything for his entertainment--which wasquite true although in a very different sense from that conveyed by thewords of his messenger--and requesting Atahualpa to arrange to sup withhim without fail that night. Pizarro had previously assured the Incathat he would receive him as a "friend and brother"! What reasonsactuated the Inca we have no means of ascertaining. Suffice it to saythat he changed his mind and came.
{81}
A short time after sunset, therefore, the Inca, attended by a numerousretinue, entered the square. Atahualpa was borne aloft on a thronemade of massive gold, supported on the shoulders of his attendants. Hewas dressed with barbaric magnificence in robes of exquisite texture,heavily embroidered and ornamented with gold and silver. Around hisneck blazed a necklace of emeralds of wonderful size and greatbrilliancy. His forehead was hidden by a thick vivid scarlet fringedepending from a diadem almost to the eyebrows. This tassel (or_borla_, as the Spaniards called it; _llauta_, according to thePeruvians) was the supreme mark of the imperial dignity in that no onebut the Inca could wear it. The Inca was surrounded by a gorgeouslyattired body of retainers who were preceded by hundreds of menials whocleared the streets of every obstacle which might impede the progressof their master, the Son of the Sun. The processions divided at thesquare, and the monarch was carried forward in the open. Not aSpaniard save the watchful sentries pacing the fort above, was to beseen.
"Where," asked Atahualpa, looking about in surprise, "are thestrangers?"
At this moment, at the request of Pizarro, Father Valverde came forwardin his canonicals, crucifix in one hand, breviary or Bible in theother.[7] He was attended by one of the Peruvians whom Pizarro hadtaken back to Spain, who was to act as interpreter. This precociouslittle rascal, named Felippo, was the best interpreter that could befound, which is saying little, for his Spanish was bad and mainlypicked up in the camps from the rude soldiery, and his Peruvian {82}was only an uncouth dialect of the highly inflected and most flexibleand expressive Quichua, the language of the educated, indeed of themost of the people. Approaching the litter of the Inca, Valverdedelivered an extraordinary address. He briefly explained the doctrinesof the Christian religion to the astonished Peruvian, requiring him toconform to this religion and acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of thePope, and at the same time to submit to the sway of his ImperialMajesty Charles V. It was a pretty heavy demand to spring upon a greatmonarch in the midst of his people, and it was not to be wondered atthat Atahualpa rejected these requests with contempt.
The Inca answered the friar not without shrewdness. He had gatheredthe idea from Felippo's vile mistranslation that the Christiansworshipped four Gods, i. e. the Trinity and the Pope. He declared thathe himself worshipped one, and there was its sign and symbol--pointingto the declining sun; that he believed one God was better than four.He rejected indignantly the idea that he, "The Lord of the FourQuarters of the Earth," owed allegiance to any Charles V. or any otherearthly monarch, of whom he had never heard and who had assuredly neverheard of him either.
Valverde had referred to the book in his hand as he had spoken andAtahualpa now asked to see it. The volume was a clasped one and hefound it difficult to open. Valverde, probably thinking he could showhim to unclasp the volume, stepped nearer to him. The Inca repulsedhim with disdain. Wrenching open the covers he glanced rapidly at thebook, and perhaps suddenly realizing the full sense of the insult whichhad been offered to him in the demands {83} of the dogmatic anddomineering Dominican, he threw the sacred volume to the ground in aviolent rage.
"Tell your companions," he said, "that they shall give me an account oftheir doings in my land. I will not go hence until they have made mefull satisfaction for all the wrongs they have committed!"
Then he turned and spoke to his people--the last word he was ever toaddress them as a free monarch from his throne. There was a loudmurmur from the crowd.
Thereupon, according to some accounts, Valverde picked up the bookthrough which Atahualpa had offered such a deadly insult to hisreligion and rushed back to Pizarro, exclaiming, "Do you not see thatwhile we stand here wasting our breath in talking with this dog, fullof pride as he is, the fields are filling with Indians? Set on atonce! I absolve you for whatever you do!" I would fain do no man aninjustice. Therefore, I also set down what other authorities say,namely, that Valverde simply told Pizarro what had occurred.
There is no dispute, however, as to what happened immediately. Pizarrostepped out from the doorway, and drawing a white scarf from hisshoulders, threw it into the air. Instantly a shot roared from thefort above his head. The famous war-cry of the Spaniards, "St. Jago,and at them!" rang over every quarter of the square into which, withbared swords, couched lances and drawn bows, poured the mail-cladsoldiery horse and foot.
They burst upon the astonished ranks of the unarmed Indians with thesuddenness and swiftness of a tornado. From the roof above, thegunners discharged their bullets into the swaying, seething mass. With{84} their wands of office, with their naked hands, with whatever theycould seize, the Peruvians defended themselves. They rallied aroundthe person of the Inca, freely offering their breasts to the Spanishblades with the vain attempt to protect their monarch.
Atahualpa sat upon his reeling throne gazing upon the bloody scene in adaze of surprise. Pizarro and the twenty chosen cut their way to thelitter and, striking down the helpless bearers thereof, precipitatedthe Inca to the ground. The Spaniards were mad with carnage now, andwere striking indiscriminately at any Indian. Then could be heardPizarro's stern voice ringing above the melee, "Let no man who valueshis life strike at the Inca!" Such was the fierceness of his soldiery,however, that in his frenzied attempt to protect the monarch, Pizarrowas wounded in one of his hands by his own men. As the Inca fell, hehad been caught by Pizarro and supported, although a soldier namedEstete snatched the imperial _llauta_ from his head as he fell.
With the capture of the Inca, what little futile resistance the unarmedhost had been able to make ceased. The Indians, relentlessly pursuedby their bloody conquerors, fled in every direction, and, to anticipateevents, the army deprived of its monarch and its generals, dispersedthe next day without striking a blow. Indeed the army was helpless foroffence while the Spaniards held the Inca as a hostage.
The estimates of the numbers slain in one half-hour's fighting in thesquare of Caxamarca vary from two to ten thousand. Whatever thenumber, it was great and horrible enough. An unparalleled act oftreachery had been consummated, and Peru, in the space of thirtyminutes had been conquered and Pizarro held {85} it in the hollow ofhis hand. Not a Spaniard had been wounded except Pizarro himself, andhis wound had been received from his own men while he tried to protectAtahualpa from the Spaniards' fury.
V. The Ransom and Murder of the Inca
Pizarro treated the Inca well enough, although he held him in rigorouscaptivity. Nobody else in Peru seemed to know what
to do under thecircumstances, and the Spaniards soon lost all apprehension ofresistance. Quiz-Quiz and Chalcuchima still held Huascar a captive atXuaca, a fortress between Caxamarca and Cuzco. Atahualpa, realizinghow important such a man would be to the Spaniards, sent orders that hebe put to death and the unfortunate deposed Inca was therefore executedby the two generals. Although he was captive, Atahualpa's orders wereas implicitly obeyed as if he had been free. He was still the Inca, ifonly by the right of sword, and the forces of his generals weresufficiently great to render it impossible for the son of Huascar,named Manco Capac, who had escaped the massacre of his kinfolk and whowas the legitimate heir to the throne, to claim the crown.
Pizarro, with a fine show of rectitude, affected to be horrified bythis evidence of brutal cruelty, and although Atahualpa claimed noconnection with the assassination of Huascar, it was impossible toacquit him of it. Greatly desiring his freedom, Atahualpa, who hadobserved the Spanish greed for gold, made an extraordinary propositionto Pizarro. They were together in a room twenty-two feet long byseventeen feet broad. Standing on his tiptoes and reaching as high ashe could, probably about eight feet, for he was a tall man, {86}Atahualpa offered to fill the room with gold to the height he hadtouched, if, when he had completed his undertaking, Pizarro wouldrelease him.
Pizarro jumped at the offer, and well he might for no such propositionhad ever before been offered in the history of the world. The cubiccontents enclosed by the figures mentioned are three thousand threehundred and sixty-six feet, or in round numbers, one hundred andtwenty-five cubic yards. Such a treasure was even beyond the mostdelirious dreams of the conquerors.[8]
As soon as these astonishing terms had been formally accepted inwriting by Pizarro, the Inca sent orders to all parts of his dominionfor the people to bring in their treasures. He also directed the royalpalaces and temples to be stripped, and his orders were obeyed. He hadstipulated that he be allowed two months in which to raise the ransomand day after day a stream of Indians poured into the city loaded withtreasure which dazzled the eyes of the astonished and delightedconquerors. Atahualpa had stipulated also that the gold was not to besmelted--that is, he would not be required to fill the spaces solidlywith ingots, but that it should be put into the room just as it wasbrought in and allowed to take up as much space as was required, eventhough it might be in the shape of a manufactured article.
"They Burst Upon the Ranks of the Unarmed Indians."]
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Some of the gold was in the shape of ingenious plants and animals, oneespecially beautiful object being the corn plant with blades of goldand tassels of silver. Pizarro, to his credit, ordered that some ofthese specimens of exquisite workmanship should be preserved intact.Much of the treasure was in the shape of plates or tiles, from theinterior of the temples or palaces which did not take up much space.The great temple of the Sun at Cuzco had a heavy outside cornice, ormoulding, of pure gold. It was stripped of this dazzling ornament tosatisfy the rapacity of the conquerors. There was also a vast quantityof silver which was stored in other chambers. Silver hardly counted inview of the deluge of the more precious metal.
"The Three Pizarros . . . Sallied Out to Meet Them"]
Atahualpa did not quite succeed in filling the space, but he came sonear it that Pizarro, in a formal agreement executed before a notary,declared that the Inca had paid his ransom and that he was releasedfrom any further obligation concerning it. That is the only release,however, which the unfortunate Inca ever got. Obviously, it wasdangerous to turn loose such a man. Therefore, in spite of his legalquittance, he still was held in captivity. The Spaniards concludedfinally that the only safe course was to get rid of him.
The ransom amounted in our money to over seventeen million dollars,according to Prescott; to nearly eighteen million dollars, according toMarkham. Pizarro's personal share was seven hundred thousand dollars;Hernando received three hundred and fifty thousand dollars; De Soto twohundred and fifty thousand dollars. Each horse soldier received nearlyone hundred thousand; the principal foot soldiers, fifty thousand, andthe others smaller sums in accordance {88} with their rank and service.The precious metals were so plentiful that for the time being they losttheir value, for men cheerfully paid thousands of dollars for a horse.Indeed so bulky and unwieldly was the treasure with which the soldierswere loaded, that it is solemnly averred that creditors avoided theirdebtors fearing lest the latter should pay them what they owed infurther heaps of the bulky treasure; and it is certainly a fact thateven the animals shared in the opulence of the conquest, for the horseswere shod with silver. Silver was cheaper and easier to get than iron.
While they were revelling in the treasure, dividing the spoils anddeliberating what was to be done with Atahualpa, Almagro arrived withhis reenforcements. Naturally he and his men demanded a share of thebooty. Great was their disgust and furious their anger when Pizarroand the other conquerors refused to give it up. Finally, the quarrelsthat ensued were composed by presenting Almagro and his followerscertain sums, large in themselves though trifling in comparison withwhat Pizarro's men had received. Almagro's men were also given tounderstand that they could move on to the southwest at some convenientseason and conquer another empire and take all they could forthemselves. Unfortunately for them, there were no more empires likePeru on this or any other side of the world left them to conquer.
Hernando Pizarro was then dispatched to Spain to deliver the royalfifth to Charles, to give an account of the fortunes of the conquerorsand to secure what further rewards and privileges he could for them.Atahualpa saw him leave with the greatest regret. He was a man offierce, stern, implacable disposition, {89} not a lovely character,according to any of the chroniclers, but he seems to have been fairer,and in his own way he had treated the unfortunate monarch better, thanany of the others, unless it was De Soto. Possibly Hernando might haverestrained his brother from the last infamy he was about to perpetrateif he had been there. Certainly De Soto would have sought to dissuadehim. Pizarro realized this and got rid of De Soto by sending him awayto investigate as to the truth of rumors that Atahualpa was conspiringto obtain his freedom. I have no doubt that he was so conspiring. Ihope so, for if he was, it was about the only manly thing that he did.While De Soto was away, at the instigation of the soldiers, Pizarrowith seeming reluctance, allowed Atahualpa to be brought to trial. Ihave no doubt that Pizarro instigated the soldiers himself. He wasadroit enough to do it, and he would have no scruples whatever to deterhim.
The Inca was tried on twelve charges, among which were includedaccusations that he had usurped the crown, and given its prerogativesto his friends (instead of to the Spaniards!). He was charged withbeing an idolator, an adulterer and a polygamist, and finally it wasurged that he had endeavored to incite an insurrection against theSpaniards. Such accusations came with a peculiarly bad grace from theconquerors. The whole thing, charges and all, would have been a farcehad it not been for the certain grim and terrible outcome.
Felippo, the Infamous, was the only interpreter. He had made love toone of the Inca's wives, whom the Spaniards had allowed to share hiscaptivity. Atahualpa, furiously affronted, desired to have him {90}put to death, but Felippo was too important to the Spaniards, and hewas spared. How Atahualpa's defense suffered from Felippo'sinterpretations under such circumstances may easily be imagined. Inspite of the courageous opposition of a few of the self-appointedjudges, the Inca was convicted and sentenced to death, Father Valverdeconcurring, in writing, with the sentence.
When the verdict of the court was communicated to Atahualpa, he did notreceive it with any remarkable degree of fortitude. He is a pitifulrather than a heroic figure.
"What have I done," he cried, weeping, "what have my children done,that I should meet with such a fate?" Turning to Pizarro, he added,"And from your hands, too, who have met with friendship and kindnessfrom my people, to whom I have given my treasure, who have receivednothing but benefit from my hands!"
He besought the
conqueror to spare his life, promising anything, evento double the enormous ransom he had already paid, and offering toguarantee in any appointed way the safety of every Spaniard in thearmy. Pedro Pizarro, a cousin of the conqueror, who has left anaccount of the interview, says that Pizarro was greatly affected by thetouching appeal of the unfortunate monarch, and that he wept in turnalso. However that may be, he refused to interfere. A man may weepand weep, to paraphrase Shakespeare, "and be a villain!" There was nohelp for it; Atahualpa had to die.
It was on the 29th of August, 1533. The trial and deliberations hadoccupied the whole day. It was two hours after sunset before they wereready to execute him in the great square of Caxamarca. {91} TheSpanish soldiers, fully armed, arranged themselves about a huge stakewhich had been planted in the square. Back of them were groups ofterrified, awe-struck Peruvians, helplessly weeping and lamenting thefate of their monarch which they were powerless to prevent. Flickeringtorches held by the troops cast an uncertain light over the tragicscene. Atahualpa was led forth in fetters and chained to the stake.He showed little of the firmness and fortitude of a proud monarch or abrave man. How feebly he appears when contrasted with the great AztecGuatemotzin, calmly enduring the tortures of the red-hot gridiron andresolutely refusing to gratify either his captors' lust for treasure ordesire for revenge by vouchsafing them a single fact or a single moan.
By Inca's side was Valverde, who had been assiduous in his endeavors tomake him a Christian. The friar was ready to offer such grimconsolation as he could to the wretched Peruvian in whose deathsentence he had concurred. Atahualpa had hitherto turned a deaf ear toall his importunities, but at the last moment Valverde told him that ifhe would consent to receive baptism, he should be strangled instead ofburnt to death. Atahualpa asked Pizarro if this was true, and beingassured that it was, he abjured his religion to avoid the agonies offire, and was thereupon baptised under the name of Juan de Atahualpa.The name John was given to him because this baptism _in extremis_ tookplace on St. John the Baptist's day. Rarely, if ever, has there been amore ghastly profanation of the Holy Sacrament of Regeneration!
Before he was garroted, Atahualpa begged that his remains might bepreserved at Quito with those of his mother's people. Then he turnedto Pizarro and {92} made a final request of that iron-hearted man, thathe would look after and care for the Inca's little children. While hewas strangled and his body was being burnt, the terrible soldiery couldbe heard muttering the magnificent words of the Apostolic Creed for theredemption of the soul of the monarch. Incidentally it may be notedthat a little later the Spaniards burnt old Chalcuchima, of whom theyhad got possession by treacherous promises, at the stake. He did notembrace Christianity at the last moment, but died as he had lived, asoldier and a Peruvian.
The character of Atahualpa may be learned from his career. He was acruel, ruthless usurper, neither magnanimous in victory nor resolute indefeat. As I have said, it is impossible to admire him, but no one canthink of his fate and the treacheries of which he was a victim withoutbeing touched by his miseries. If he sowed the wind he reaped thewhirlwind, and bad as he was, his conquerors were worse.
Pizarro placed the diadem on Toparca, a youthful brother of the lateInca. When he was alone with his attendants, the boy tore the _llauta_from his forehead, and trampled it under his foot, as no longer thebadge of anything but infamy and shame, and in two short months hepined and died from the consciousness of his disgrace. Whereuponanother Peruvian, Manco Capac, the legitimate heir of Huascar, appearedbefore Pizarro, made good his claim, and on the entry of the conquerorsinto Cuzco, was crowned Inca with all the ancient ceremonies. He soonrealized that he was but a puppet in Pizarro's hands, however, and byand by he, too, made a bold stroke for freedom.
The conquest of Peru was complete. Charles V., dazzled by the reportof Hernando Pizarro, and the {93} substantial treasures placed beforehim, created Pizarro a Marquis of the country, confirmed him in thegovernment of the country for two hundred and seventy leagues south ofthe Santiago River and gave Almagro authority to conquer everythingbeyond that limit. Almagro was very much dissatisfied with his share,but concluded, before he made any violent objections, to go to thesouth and find an El Dorado for himself.
Meanwhile Pizarro, who was almost as much of a builder as Rameses theGreat, laid out the city of Lima and the Spaniards flocked into Perufrom Spain in thousands. The natives were enslaved and the countrydivided into great estates, and Almagro and his discontented startedfor Chili. Hernando Pizarro, who was appointed governor of Cuzco, heldyoung Manco in close confinement, and everything outwardly was as fineand lovely as a summer day. There was growing, however, a tremendousuprising in which hitherto somnolent Fate was about to lay her belatedhands upon nearly all the actors of the great drama which hadheretofore been so successfully played.
VI. The Inca and the Peruvians Strike Vainly for Freedom
The city of Cuzco was, without doubt, the most superb capital on theAmerican continent. Indeed, in many respects, it would have comparedfavorably with, let us say, Paris in the sixteenth century, with itsnarrow, crooked, unpaved filthy streets, its indifferent protections,and its utterly inadequate water and sewer system. The streets, whichwere broad and level, crossed each other at regular intervals at rightangles. They were smoothly paved with large, carefully joined {94}flagstones. The houses in the city were mainly built of stone. Thepalace of the Inca, which stood alone in the great square, was ofmarble. The temples and buildings for public assemblages, armories,granaries, storehouses, _et cetera_, were of great size. The stonesused in their erection were of such dimensions that the Spanishmarvelled at the engineering genius which could have quarried them andput them in place, just as the people of to-day are amazed at Baalbecand the pyramids. Stone conduits ran down each street, bringingdelicious water to each doorway, and the city was traversed by twomountain streams crossed by bridges cut by watergates. That the cold,clear water might be kept pure and sweet, the beds of the rivers likethose of the Euphrates at Babylon, had been paved.
The city was surrounded by walls and dominated by a great fortresscalled Sacsahuaman, which stood upon a steep and rocky hill overlookingthe capital. On the side toward the city the fortress was practicallyimpregnable on account of the precipitous slopes of the cliffs. Theother side was defended by three stone walls laid out in zigzag shape,with salient and reentrant angles (demi-lunes), like an old-fashionedrail fence, with many doors, each closed by stone portcullis, in eachwall. Within the walls was a citadel of three tall towers. The wholeconstituted a most formidable position.
While Francisco Pizarro was founding and laying out on a magnificentscale and with lavish generosity the city of Lima, near the seaboard,Hernando was made governor of Cuzco. Hernando was, without doubt, themost able and most admirable of the Pizarros, although his fame hasbeen obscured by that of his {95} elder brother. He had been directedby Charles V to treat the Inca and the people with kindness, and,perhaps on that account, he had not exercised so rigorous asurveillance over the movements of young Manco as his ordinary prudencewould have dictated. At any rate, the bold and youthful emperor foundno difficulty in leaving his ancient capital. He repaired immediatelyto the Valley of Yucay, in the high mountains of the northeastward ofCuzco. There had been brewing a vast conspiracy against the Spaniardsfor some time, and at the summons of the Inca, thither resorted thegreat chiefs of the Peruvians with their retainers and dependents,including their women and children.
The partisans of the two Inca half-brothers, who had not been slain,made common cause with each other. All internal differences wereforgotten in the presence of the common enemy. They had much torevenge. Their treasures had been taken, their temples polluted, theirreligion profaned, their monarchs slain, their women outraged and thepeople forced into a degrading, exhausting slavery. Strange is it torecognize that human slavery was introduced into Peru by the Christians!
It is good to think that the manhood of the Peruvians was awakened
atlast. Manco, burning with fiery patriotic zeal, summoned his greatvassals and subjects to his standard. "Death to the Spaniards!" werethe watchwords that resounded with fierce war-cries among the mountainsand hills. With ancient ceremonies, drinking from a common cup, theypledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to theirhereditary chief in defense of their altars and their fires, theirnative land.
{96}
Early in 1536 a vast army swept down through the mountain passes andmade toward the ancient capital. The three Pizarros, Hernando, Juanand Gonzalo, put themselves at the head of their horsemen and salliedout to meet them. They killed numbers of Peruvians, but all theirvalor could not check the resistless force of the patriotic army. TheSpaniards were swept back into the city, glad to escape with theirlives before such overwhelming numbers; indeed, only a timely attack bya detachment in the rear of the Peruvians saved them from destructionthen and there. Cuzco was at once invested. The Indians, with aheroism which cannot be too greatly commended, endeavored to carry theplace by assault.[9]
They set fire to the thatched roofs of their own houses, devoting theircity to flames, like the Russians at Moscow, to compass theannihilation of the detested invaders. The wind favored them, and abesom of flame swept over the devoted town until over one-half of itwas laid in ruins. There were ninety Spanish horse in the city,probably as many foot, and a thousand Indian auxiliaries, but they weresoldiers of the highest quality and led by three captains whose likefor daring and skill are not often seen.
No one ever questioned the courage or the military ability of thePizarros and certainly they exhibited both qualities in full measureduring the siege. Of all the brothers, it is probable that Hernandowas the most daring cavalier as well as the most capable captain,although in personal prowess his younger brothers were not a whitbehind him. Indeed, Gonzalo was {97} reckoned as the best lance in theNew World. Stifled by the smoke, scorched by the flames, parched withheat, choked with thirst, exhausted with hunger, crazed from loss ofsleep, yet battling with the energy of despair against overwhelmingnumbers of Indians, who, with a reckless disregard for life, hurledthemselves upon the sword-points, the Spaniards after several days ofthe most terrific fighting, were forced into the square, which theyheld against their enemy by dint of the most heroic and continuousendeavors.
The Peruvians barricaded the streets with the debris of their ruinedhouses and sharpened stakes, and prepared to press home for a finalattack. Although the slaughter among the Indians had been fearful, theodds against the Spaniards did not appear diminished, for it waslearned afterward that there were more than one hundred thousandwarriors engaged, and, with a host of followers and servants, the totalaggregated at least eighty thousand more. And, indeed, the Spaniardsmourned the death of many a brave cavalier and stout man-at-arms. Inall the fighting the young Inca, in full war-gear of gold and silver,mounted on a captured horse, with a Spanish lance in his hand, hadplayed a hero's dauntless part.
At the commencement of the siege there had been a discussion as towhether they should occupy the great fortress of Sacsahuaman, or not.Juan Pizarro had dissuaded the Spanish from the attempt, for, he said:"Our forces are too weak to hold both places. The city is the mostimportant, and should it happen that we need the fortress we can takeit any time." Without opposition the Indian High Priest had occupiedit with a large body of men.
It was evident, at last, that the Spaniards would {98} either have toretreat from their town or seize the fortress, which, now that they hadbeen driven from the walls, commanded their position in the square.Most of the cavaliers were for retreat. There is no doubt that thehorse could certainly have cut their way through the ranks of thebesiegers, and have escaped, together with most of the foot as well.
Hernando was quite as persistent as his indomitable brother Francisco,however, and he talked equally as well to the soldiers. He made them astirring address which he closed by declaring that he had been sentthere to hold the town, and hold it he would if he had to hold italone; that he would rather die there in the square with theconsciousness that he had kept his trust than abandon the place. Juanand Gonzalo seconded his stirring appeal. It was resolved that thefortress should be taken. Hernando proposed to lead the assault inperson, but Juan interposed with the remark that he had objected to itsseizure in the first instance, and to him rightfully belonged theleadership of the forlorn hope to repair the error. Hernando consented.
Juan and Gonzalo, with their commands and fifty of their best horse,were detailed for the purpose. By Hernando's instructions they cutthrough the Indians and galloped headlong down the road in thedirection of Lima. The Indians were deceived by the seeming dash ofthe horsemen through the lines and, supposing them to be in retreat,turned their attention to the Spaniards left in the square. Theconflict which had been intermitted for a space began again with theutmost fury.
In the midst of it, Juan Pizarro, who had galloped about a league fromthe town and then made a long {99} detour, suddenly appeared atSacsahuaman. The Spaniards immediately rushed to the assault. Thisdiversion caused the Indians, who had been literally forcing theSpaniards in the town up against the wall, and in the last ditch, as itwere, to give ground. Thereupon the dauntless Hernando charged uponthem, drove them out of the square, and succeeded in establishingcommunications with Juan and Gonzalo on the hill. He directed Juan tohold his position and make no attack, but Juan thought he saw anopportunity to gain the fortress, and at vespers the Spaniards rushedat the walls.
There were Indians not only within but without the walls, and thefighting was soon of the most sanguinary description. Juan Pizarro hadbeen wounded previously in a skirmish and on account of this wound wasunable to wear his morion. Hernando had especially cautioned him to becareful on this account; but the impetuous valor of the Pizarros wasnot to be restrained by considerations of any personal safety, and Juanwas in the front rank of the storming party. They had cut their waythrough to the fort and were battling for entrance when a stone hurledfrom the tower struck Juan in the head, knocking him senseless. Thewound was of such a character that two weeks afterward he died of it ingreat agony. He was the first to pay the penalty. History haspreserved little concerning him, but some chroniclers have found himthe highest-minded of the brothers--possibly because less is knownabout him! At any rate, he was a valiant soldier.
Gonzalo succeeded to the leadership, and although he and his men foughtheroically, they were at last forced back from the fortress in spite ofthe fact that {100} they had gained the outer walls. The fighting hadtransferred itself from the city to the hills, which was a sad tacticalerror on the part of the Peruvians, for they had force enough tooverwhelm Hernando and his men in the city, while they held Juan andGonzalo in play at Sacsahuaman, in which case all the Spaniards wouldeventually have fallen into their hands.
As night fell Hernando left the city and came up to the hill. TheSpaniards busied themselves in making scaling-ladders, and in themorning, with the aid of the ladders, the assault was resumed withdesperate fury. Wall after wall was carried, and finally the fightingranged around the citadel. The Inca had sent five thousand of his bestmen to reenforce the defenders, but the Spaniards succeeded inpreventing their entrance to the fort which was now in a sorry plight.The ammunition--arrows, spears, stone, _et cetera_--of the garrison wasalmost spent. The Spanish attack was pressed as rigorously as at thebeginning. The High Priest--priests have ever been among the first toincite people to war, and among the first to abandon the field ofbattle--fled with a great majority of his followers, and escaped bysubterranean passages from the citadel, leaving but a few defenders todo or die.
First among them was a chief, whose name, unfortunately, has not beenpreserved. He was one of those, however, who had drunk of the cup andpledged himself in the mountains of Yucay. Driven from wall to walland from tower to tower, he and his followers made a heroic defense.The Spanish chroniclers say that when this hero, whose exploits recallthe half-mythical legends of the
early Roman Republic, when men were asdemi-gods, saw one of his men falter, he {101} stabbed him and threwhis body upon the Spaniards. At last he stood alone upon the lasttower. The assailants offered him quarter, which he disdained.Shouting his war-cry of defiance, he dashed his sole remaining weaponin the faces of the escaladers and then hurled himself bodily upon themto die on their sword-points. Let him be remembered as a soldier, apatriot, and a gentleman.
The fortress was gained! Dismayed by the fearful loss that they hadsustained, the Peruvians, who had fought so valiantly, if sounsuccessfully, withdrew temporarily. Hernando Pizarro was master ofthe situation. He employed the few days of respite given him ingathering supplies and strengthening his position. It was well that hedid so, for in a short time the Peruvians once more appeared around thecity, to which they laid a regular siege.
There was more sharp fighting, but nothing like the Homeric combats ofthe first investment. The Peruvians had risen all over the land.Detached parties of Spaniards had been cut off without mercy.Francisco Pizarro was besieged in Lima. Messengers and ships weredespatched in every direction, craving assistance. Francisco did notknow what had happened in Cuzco, and the brothers in that city began todespair of their being extricated from their terrible predicament.Help came to them from an unexpected source.
We left Almagro marching toward Chili. His was no lovely promenadethrough a pleasant, smiling, fertile, wealthy land. He traversed vastdeserts under burning skies. He climbed lofty mountains in freezingcold and found nothing. In despair, he turned back to Peru. Thelimits assigned to Pizarro were {102} not clear. Almagro claimed thatthe city of Cuzco was within his province, and determined to return andtake it. On the way his little army, under the command of a very ablesoldier named Orgonez, met and defeated a large army of Peruvians.This, taken with the arrival of the harvest time, which must ofnecessity be gathered if the people were not to starve, caused thesubsequent dissipation of the Peruvian army. The Inca maintained afugitive court in the impregnable and secret fastnesses of themountains, but the Peruvians never gave any more trouble to theSpaniards. They had spent themselves in this one fierce but futileblow. I am glad for the sake of their manhood that at least they hadfought one great battle for their lands and liberties.
"He Threw His Sole Remaining Weapon in the Faces of theEscaladers"]
VII. "The Men of Chili" and the Civil Wars
Almagro, assisted by treachery on the part of some of the Spaniards whohated the Pizarros, made himself master of the city, and, breaking hisplighted word, seized Hernando and Gonzalo.
Meanwhile Francisco, the Marquis, had despatched a certain captainnamed Alvarado with a force to relieve Cuzco. Almagro marched out withhis army and defeated the superior force of Alvarado in the battle ofAbancay, in July, 1537, in which, through the generalship of Orgonez,Alvarado's troops were captured with little or no loss in Almagro'sarmy. Almagro had left Gonzalo Pizarro behind in Cuzco, but had takenHernando, heavily guarded, with him. Orgonez had urged Almagro to putboth of them to death. "Dead men," he pithily remarked, "need noguards." On the principle of "In for a penny, in for a pound," {103}Almagro was already deep enough in the bad graces of Francisco Pizarro,and he might as well be in deeper than he was, especially as theexecution of Hernando would remove his worst enemy. But Almagro doesnot appear to have been an especially cruel man. He was an easy-going,careless, jovial, pleasure-loving soldier, and he spared the lives ofthe two brothers. Gonzalo escaped, and assembling a force, immediatelytook the field.
Fernando Cortes. From a Picture in the Florence Gallery]
There had been a meeting between Francisco and Almagro. The latter gotan inkling that there was treachery intended, and though the meetinghad begun with embraces and tears, it was broken off abruptly and boththe ancient partners prepared for an appeal to arms. Almagro hadreleased Hernando on his promise to return immediately to Spain. Thispromise Hernando broke. Francisco made his brother commander of thearmy, and the forces of the two commanders met on the plains of Salinason the 6th of April, 1538.
There were about seven hundred on one side, Pizarro's, and five hundredon the other, equally divided between horse and foot, with a few piecesof artillery in both armies. The men of Chili, as Almagro's forceswere called, hated their former comrades, and Pizarro's men returnedthis feeling with such animosities as are engendered nowhere save incivil war. Victory finally attended Hernando Pizarro. He had foughtin the ranks like a common soldier, save that he had been at greatpains so to distinguish himself by his apparel that every one couldknow him, so that all who sought him could find him. Orgonez was slainas he lay on the ground, wounded. Such was the close, fierce fightingthat the killed alone numbered nearly {104} two hundred, besides aproportionately greater number wounded.
Almagro had watched the battle from an adjacent hill. He was old andill, broken down from excesses and dissipations. Unable to sit ahorse, he had been carried thither on a litter. The sight of hisrouted army admonished him to try to escape. With great pain anddifficulty he got upon a horse, but being pursued, the animal stumbledand Almagro fell to the ground. Some of Pizarro's men were about todispatch him when Hernando interfered. He was taken prisoner to Cuzcoand held in captivity for a while. Hernando had announced hisintention of sending him to Spain for trial, but a conspiracy to effecthis release, in which was our old friend De Candia, caused a change inhis purposes. Almagro was tried on charges which were easily trumpedup, was found guilty, of course, and in spite of his protestations andpiteous appeals for life, he was strangled to death at night in hisprison on the 8th of July, 1538, in the sixty-fifth year of his life.His head was then struck from his shoulders and both were exhibited inthe great square at Cuzco. Vainglorious, ignorant, incompetent, yetcheerful, generous, frank, kindly and open-hearted, and badly treatedby Pizarro and his brothers, he possibly deserved a better fate.
The Pizarro brothers affected to be overcome by the stern necessitywhich compelled poor Almagro's execution. As Francisco had done whenhe had killed Atahualpa, these two put on mourning and insisted uponbeing pall-bearers, and exhibited every outward manifestation of deepand abiding grief.
Almagro left a son, Diego, by an Indian woman, to whom he had not beenmarried. This young man {105} was under the guardianship of Pizarro atLima. The sword of Damocles hung over his head for a while, but he wasspared eventually and, the rebellion of Almagro having been cut down,the revolt of the Inca crushed, peace appeared once more to dwell inthe land.
VIII. The Mean End of the Great Conquistador
But fate had not finished with the Pizarros as yet. Hernando was sentback to Spain to explain the situation, and Gonzalo despatched toQuito, of which province he was made governor. He had instructions toexplore the country eastward to see if he could find another Peru. Hemade a marvelous march to the head-waters of the Amazon River, where hewas deserted by one of his commanders, Orellana, who built abrigantine, sailed down the whole length of the Amazon, finallyreaching Europe, while Gonzalo and those few of his wretched followerswho survived the terrible hardships of that march, struggled back toQuito.
Francisco, the Marquis, was thus left alone in Peru. The position ofthe men of Chili was precarious. Although outwardly things werepeaceful, yet they felt that at any time Pizarro might institute waragainst them. They got the young Almagro away from him, and a score ofmen under Juan de Rada, a stout-hearted veteran, mercenary soldier,determined to put the Marquis to death and proclaim the young Almagroas Lord and Dictator of Peru.
On Sunday afternoon, the 26th of June, 1541, De Rada and nineteendesperate men of Chili, met at De Rada's house in Lima. Pizarro hadreceived a number of warnings which he had neglected, confident {106}in the security of his position, but the existence of the conspiracyhad been brought home to him with peculiar force that Sunday, and hehad remained in his palace at Lima surrounded by a number of gentlemendevoted to his cause. At vespers--which seems to have been a favoritehour for nefarious deeds among the
Spaniards--the assassins salliedforth from the home of De Rada and started for the palace.
Such was the indifference in which the people held the squabblesbetween the Pizarrists and the Almagrists, that it was casuallyremarked by many of them, as the assassins proceeded through thestreets, that they were probably on their way to kill the governor.The governor was at supper on the second floor of his palace. Therewas a sudden tumult in the square below. The door was forced open andthe Almagrists, shouting "Death to Pizarro!" rushed for the stairs.Most of the noble company with the old Marquis fled. The greatconquistador at least had no thought of flight. There remained withhim, however, two pages, his brother Martin de Alcantara, Francisco deChaves, one of the immortal thirteen of Gallo, and another cavalier,named De Luna.
As they heard the clash of arms on the stairs and the shouting of theassailants, the Marquis ordered De Chaves to close the door; then hesprang to the wall, tore from it his corselet and endeavored to buckleit on his person. De Chaves unwisely attempted to parley, instead ofclosing the door and barring it. The assailants forced the entrance,cut down De Chaves, and burst into the room. Pizarro gave over theattempt to fasten his breastplate, and seizing a sword and spear,defended himself stoutly while pealing his war-cry: "Santiago!" throughthe palace. The two pages, {107} fighting valiantly, were soon cutdown. De Alcantara and De Luna were also killed, and finally, Pizarro,an old man over seventy years of age, stood alone before the murderers.
Such was the wonderful address of the sword play with which he defendedhimself that the conspirators were at a loss how to take him, until DeRada, ruthlessly seizing one of his comrades, pitilessly thrust himupon Pizarro's sword-point, and, before the old man could withdraw theweapon, cut him in the throat with his sword. Instantly Pizarro wasstruck by a dozen blades. He fell back upon the floor, but he was notyet dead, and with his own blood he marked a cross on the stones. Itis alleged by some that he asked for a confessor, but that is hardlylikely, for as he bent his head to press his lips upon the cross, oneof the murderers, seizing a huge stone bowl, or earthen vessel, threwit upon his head and killed him. _Sic transit Pizarro_!
If he has been the subject of much severe censure, he has not lacked,especially of late, zealous defenders. I have endeavored to treat himfairly in these sketches. Considering him in comparison with hiscontemporaries, Cortes surpassed him in ability, Hernando in executivecapacity, Almagro in generosity, Balboa in gallantry, and De Soto incourtesy. On the other hand, he was inferior to none of them inbravery and resolution, and he made up for his lack of other qualitiesby a terrible and unexampled persistency. Nothing could swerve himfrom his determination. He had a faculty of rising to each successivecrisis which confronted him, wresting victory from the most adversecircumstances in a way worthy of the highest admiration. He was not socruel as Pedrarias, but he was {108} ruthless enough and his fame isforever stained by atrocities and treacheries from which no personal orpublic success can redeem it. In passing judgment upon him, accountmust be taken of the humble circumstances of his early life, his lackof decent, healthy environment, his neglected youth, his totalignorance of polite learning. Take him all in all, in some things hewas better and in other things no worse than his day and generation.
IX. The Last of the Brethren
Hernando Pizarro was delayed on his voyage to Spain and some ofAlmagro's partisans got the ear of the King before he arrived. He wascharged with having permitted by his carelessness the Peruvian uprisingand having unlawfully taken the life of Almagro. The story of hisdesperate defense of Cusco was unavailing to mitigate the anger of theKing at the anarchy and confusion--and incidentally the diminution ofthe royal revenue--which prevailed in Peru. Hernando was thrown intoprison at Medina, and kept there for twenty-three long and weary years.
He had married his own niece, Francisca Pizarro, illegitimate daughterof the Marquis Francisco, by a daughter of the great Inca, HuaynaCapac. The woman was a half-sister of Atahualpa and Huascar. By thisquestionable means, the family of the Pizarros, with certain dignities,restored for their Peruvian service, was perpetuated in Spain.Hernando died at the age of one hundred and four.
De Rada, after the assassination of Francisco, assembled the ancientpartisans of Almagro. They swore fealty to the young Almagro, andimmediately {109} took the field against a new governor sent out byCharles V. to take charge of affairs in Peru. This Vaca de Castro,through his able lieutenants, Alvarado and Carvajal, defeated theforces of Almagro on the bloody and desperately fought field of Chapus,took the young man prisoner to Cuzco, and beheaded him forthwith. Hemet his death bravely, without beseeching or repining. Before the fateof the battle was decided, Almagro, suspecting that the gunner, DeCandia, another of the thirteen who had adhered to his cause, was notserving his artillery with so good effect as he might, ran him throughthe body.
There remains but one of the brothers who gave Peru to Spain, themagnificent cavalier, Gonzalo. His fate may be briefly summarized.Another Viceroy, named Blasco Nunez Vela, succeeded De Castro. He hadorders to release the Peruvians from servitude, which meant that theconquerors and the thousands who had come after, would have beencompelled to work. Led by Gonzalo, who had been rewarded for hisservices in the rebellion against Almagro by a domain in Peru whichincluded the newly discovered mines of Potosi, which provided him withthe sinews of war, the people rebelled against the Viceroy. Pizarroand his lieutenant, Carvajal, deposed and defeated the Viceroy in abattle near Quito on the 18th of January, 1546, the latter losing hislife.
Gonzalo Pizarro was now the supreme lord of Peru, which includedpractically the whole of the South American coast from the Isthmus ofDarien to the Straits of Magellan, for Valdivia, one of FranciscoPizarro's lieutenants, had partially conquered Chili at last.
The Spanish monarch, three thousand miles away, {110} could do nothingby force. He sent an able and devoted ecclesiastic, Gasca by name,clothing him with dictatorial powers, to see what he could do. Gascaarrived at Panama, cunningly and tactfully won the captains ofGonzalo's navy to his side, went to Peru, assembled a force, andalthough Centeno, one of his lieutenants, was badly defeated by Gonzaloand Carvajal on the 26th of October, 1547, at Huarina, the bloodiestbattle ever fought in Peru, finally gained strength enough to march toCuzco, where Gonzalo had command of a large and splendidly equippedarmy. Gasca, by promising that the obnoxious laws concerning theIndians should be repealed, and adroitly pointing out that those whoadhered to Gonzalo were, in effect, in rebellion against theirsovereign, had so undermined the allegiance of his men that Gonzalo,who had marched to the Valley of Xaquixaguana, found himself desertedon the eve of the battle by all but a handful of faithful retainers.
"What shall we do?" asked one of the devoted followers.
"Fall on them and die like Romans."
"I believe I should prefer to die like a Christian," said Gonzalocalmly.
Recognizing that it was all up with him, riding forward with Carvajaland the rest, he coolly surrendered himself to Gasca.
Carvajal was hung, drawn and quartered.
Gonzalo, the last of the brothers, was beheaded in the great square atCuzco. He was magnificently arrayed as he rode to his death. His vastestates, including the mines of Potosi, had been confiscated and allhis possessions were on his back. He met his fate with the courage ofthe family. Before he {111} died he made a little address from thescaffold. Contrasting his present poverty with his former state, heasked those who had been his friends and who owed him anything, andalso those who had been his enemies, to lay out some of the treasurethey had gained through his family and himself in masses for the reposeof his soul. Then he knelt down before a table bearing a crucifix, andprayed silently. At last he turned to the executioner and said:
"Do your duty with a steady hand!"
So he made a rather dramatic and picturesque exit there in the squareat Cuzco, on that sunny morning in April, 1548. His head was exhibitedat Lima with that of Carvajal. To it was attached this inscription:
"This is the head of the traitor, Gonzalo Pizarro, who rebelled in Peruagainst his sovereign and battled against the royal standard at theValley of Xaquixaguana."
There remains but one other person whose fate excites a passinginterest, unless it be Bishop Valverde, who was killed, while on ajourney, by the Peruvians, some years before; this is the last Inca,Manco Capac. When De Rada and his band started out to assassinatePizarro, one of the soldiers, named Gomez Perez, made a detour as theycrossed the square, to keep from getting his feet wet in a puddle ofmuddy water which had overflowed from one of the conduits.
"You shrink," cried De Rada, in contempt, "from wetting your feet, whoare about to wade in the blood of the governor! Go back, we will havenone of you."
He had not permitted Perez to take part in the assassination. ThisPerez, after the final defeat of the Almagrists, fled to the mountainswhere Manco still exercised a fugitive sway over such of his people{112} as could escape the Spaniards. He was afterward pardoned andused as a medium of communication between Gasca and the Inca. Thepriest viceroy was anxious to be at peace with the Inca, but Mancorefused to trust himself to the Spaniards.
Perez and he were playing bowls one day in the mountains. Perez eithercheated, or in some way incensed the unfortunate Inca, who peremptorilyreproved him, whereupon the Spaniard, in a fit of passion, hurled hisheavy stone bowl at the last of the Incas, and killed him. That wasthe end of Perez, also, for the attendants of the young Inca stabbedhim to death.
Thus all those who had borne a prominent part in the great adventureshad gone to receive such certain reward as they merited; which rewardwas not counted out to them in the form of gold and silver, or stonesof price. The sway in the new land of the king over the sea wasabsolute at last, and there was peace, such as it was, in Peru.
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