History of the Conquest of Peru Part 33

His first act was to bring Challcuchima to trial; if trial that could be called, where sentence may be said to have gone hand in hand with accusation. We are not informed of the nature of the evidence. It was sufficient to satisfy the Spanish captains of the chieftain's guilt. Nor is it at all incredible that Challcuchima should have secretly encouraged a movement among the people, designed to secure his country's freedom and his own. He was condemned to be burnt alive on the spot. "Some thought it a hard measure," says Herrera; "but those who are governed by reasons of state policy are apt to shut their eyes against every thing else." *22 Why this cruel mode of execution was so often adopted by the Spanish Conquerors is not obvious; unless it was that the Indian was an infidel, and fire, from ancient date, seems to have been considered the fitting doom of the infidel, as the type of that inextinguishable flame which awaited him in the regions of the d.a.m.ned.

[Footnote 22: Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 6 cap. 3.]

Father Valverde accompanied the Peruvian chieftain to the stake.

He seems always to have been present at this dreary moment, anxious to profit by it, if possible, to work the conversion of the victim. He painted in gloomy colors the dreadful doom of the unbeliever, to whom the waters of baptism could alone secure the ineffable glories of paradise. *23 It does not appear that he promised any commutation of punishment in this world. But his arguments fell on a stony heart, and the chief coldly replied, he "did not understand the religion of the white men." *24 He might be pardoned for not comprehending the beauty of a faith which, as it would seem, had borne so bitter fruits to him. In the midst of his tortures, he showed the characteristic courage of the American Indian, whose power of endurance triumphs over the power of persecution in his enemies, and he died with his last breath invoking the name of Pachacamac. His own followers brought the f.a.gots to feed the flames that consumed him. *25

[Footnote 23: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol.

406.]

[Footnote 24: Ibid., loc. cit.]

[Footnote 25: Ibid. loc. cit. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

The Ms. of the old Conqueror is so much damaged in this part of it that much of his account is entirely effaced.]

Soon after this tragic event, Pizarro was surprised by a visit from a Peruvian n.o.ble, who came in great state, attended by a numerous and showy retinue. It was the young prince Manco, brother of the unfortunate Huascar, and the rightful successor to the crown. Being brought before the Spanish commander, he announced his pretensions to the throne, and claimed the protection of the strangers. It is said he had meditated resisting them by arms, and had encouraged the a.s.saults made on them on their march; but, finding resistance ineffectual, he had taken this politic course, greatly to the displeasure of his more resolute n.o.bles. However this may be, Pizarro listened to his application with singular contentment, for he saw in this new scion of the true royal stock, a more effectual instrument for his purposes than he could have found in the family of Quito, with whom the Peruvians had but little sympathy. He received the young man, therefore, with great cordiality, and did not hesitate to a.s.sure him that he had been sent into the country by his master, the Castilian sovereign, in order to vindicate the claims of Huascar to the crown, and to punish the usurpation of his rival. *26

[Footnote 26: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 406.

- Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

Taking with him the Indian prince, Pizarro now resumed his march.

It was interrupted for a few hours by a party of the natives, who lay in wait for him in the neighbouring sierra. A sharp skirmish ensued, in which the Indians behaved with great spirit, and inflicted some little injury on the Spaniards; but the latter, at length, shaking them off, made good their pa.s.sage through the defile, and the enemy did not care to follow them into the open country.

It was late in the afternoon when the Conquerors came in sight of Cuzco. *27 The descending sun was streaming his broad rays full on the imperial city, where many an altar was dedicated to his worship. The low ranges of buildings, showing in his beams like so many lines of silvery light, filled up the bosom of the valley and the lower slopes of the mountains, whose shadowy forms hung darkly over the fair city, as if to shield it from the menaced profanation. It was so late, that Pizarro resolved to defer his entrance till the following morning.

[Footnote 27: "Y dos horas antes que el Sol se pusiese, llegaron a vista de la ciudad del Cuzco. "Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms]

That night vigilant guard was kept in the camp, and the soldiers slept on their arms. But it pa.s.sed away without annoyance from the enemy, and early on the following day, November 15, 1533, Pizarro prepared for his entrance into the Peruvian capital. *28

[Footnote 28: The chronicles differ as to the precise date.

There can be no better authorities than Pedro Sancho's narrative and the Letter of the Magistrates of Xauxa, which have followed in the text]

The little army was formed into three divisions, of which the centre, or "battle," as it was called, was led by the general.

The suburbs were thronged with a countless mult.i.tude of the natives, who had flocked from the city and the surrounding country to witness the showy, and, to them, startling pageant.

All looked with eager curiosity on the strangers, the fame of whose terrible exploits had spread to the remotest parts of the empire. They gazed with astonishment on their dazzling arms and fair complexions, which seemed to proclaim them the true Children of the Sun; and they listened with feelings of mysterious dread, as the trumpet sent forth its prolonged notes through the streets of the capital, and the solid ground shook under the heavy tramp of the cavalry.

The Spanish commander rode directly up the great square. It was surrounded by low piles of buildings, among which were several palaces of the Incas. One of these, erected by Huayna Capac, was surmounted by a tower, while the ground-floor was occupied by one or more immense halls, like those described in Caxamalca, where the Peruvian n.o.bles held their fetes in stormy weather. These buildings afforded convenient barracks for the troops, though, during the first few weeks, they remained under their tents in the open plaza, with their horses picketed by their side, ready to repulse any insurrection of the inhabitants. *29

[Footnote 29: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 407.

- Garcila.s.so, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap. 10. - Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

The capital of the Incas, though falling short of the El Dorado which had engaged their credulous fancies, astonished the Spaniards by the beauty of its edifices, the length and regularity of its streets, and the good order and appearance of comfort, even luxury, visible in its numerous population. It far surpa.s.sed all they had yet seen in the New World. The population of the city is computed by one of the Conquerors at two hundred thousand inhabitants, and that of the suburbs at as many more.

*30 This account is not confirmed, as far as I have seen, by any other writer. But however it may be exaggerated, it is certain that Cuzco was the metropolis of a great empire, the residence of the Court and the chief n.o.bility; frequented by the most skilful mechanics and artisans of every description, who found a demand for their ingenuity in the royal precincts; while the place was garrisoned by a numerous soldiery, and was the resort, finally, of emigrants from the most distant provinces. The quarters whence this motley population came were indicated by their peculiar dress, and especially their head-gear, so rarely found at all on the American Indian, which, with its variegated colors, gave a picturesque effect to the groups and ma.s.ses in the streets. The habitual order and decorum maintained in this multifarious a.s.sembly showed the excellent police of the capital, where the only sounds that disturbed the repose of the Spaniards were the noises of feasting and dancing, which the natives, with happy insensibility, constantly prolonged to a late hour of the night. *31

[Footnote 30: "Esta ciudad era muy grande i mui populosa de grandes edificios i comarcas, quando los Eespanoles entraron la primera vex en ella havia gran cantidad de gente, seria pueblo de mas de 40 mill. vecinos solamente lo que tomaba la ciudad, que arravalles i comarca en deredor del Cuzco a 10 o 12 leguas creo yo que havia docientos mill. Indios porque esto era lo mas poblado de todos estos reinos." (Conq. i Pob. del Peru, Ms.) The vecino or "householder" is computed, usually, as representing five individuals. - Yet Father Valverde, in a letter written a few years after tis, speaks of the city as having only three or four thousand houses at the time of its occupation, and the suburbs as having nineteen or twenty thousand. (Cart al Emperador, Ms., 20 de Marzo, 1539.) It is possible that he took into the account only the better kind of houses, not considering the mud huts, or rather hovels, which made so large a part of a Peruvian town, as deserving notice.]

[Footnote 31: "Heran tantos los atambores que de noche se oian por todas cartes bailando y cantando y belendo que toda la mayor parte de la noche se les pasava en esto cotidianamente." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

The edifices of the better sort - and they were very numerous - were of stone, or faced with stone. *32 Among the princ.i.p.al were the royal residences; as each sovereign built a new palace for himself, covering, though low, a large extent of ground. The walls were sometimes stained of painted with gaudy tints, and the gates, we are a.s.sured, were sometimes of colored marble. *33 In the delicacy of the stone-work," says another of the Conquerors, "the natives far excelled the Spaniards, though the roofs of their dwellings, instead of tiles, were only of thatch, but put together with the nicest art." *34 The sunny climate of Cuzco did not require a very substantial material for defence against the weather.

[Footnote 32: "La maggior parte di queste case sono di pietra, et l'altre hano la meta della facciata di pietra." Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 413.]

[Footnote 33: The buildings were usually of freestone. There may have been porphyry from the neighbouring mountains mixed with this, which the Spaniards mistook for marble.]

[Footnote 34: "Todo labrado de piedra muy prima, que cierto toda la canteria desta cibdad hace gran ventaja a la de Espana, aunque carecen de teja que todas las casas sino es la fortaleza, que era hecha de azoteas son cubiertas de paja, aunque tan primamente puesta, que parece bien." Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

The most important building was the fortress, planted on a solid rock, that rose boldly above the city. It was built of hewn stone, so finely wrought that it was impossible to detect the line of junction between the blocks; and the approaches to it were defended by three semicircular parapets, composed of such heavy ma.s.ses of rock, that it bore resemblance to the kind of work known to architects as the Cyclopean. The fortress was raised to a height rare in Peruvian architecture; and from the summit of the tower the eye of the spectator ranged over a magnificent prospect, in which the wild features of the mountain scenery, rocks, woods, and waterfalls, were mingled with the rich verdure of the valley, and the shining city filling up the foreground, - all blended in sweet harmony under the deep azure of a tropical sky.

The streets were long and narrow. They were arranged with perfect regularity, crossing one another at right angles; and from the great square diverged four princ.i.p.al streets connecting with the high roads of the empire. The square itself, and many parts of the city, were paved with a fine pebble. *35 Through the heart of the capital ran a river of pure water, if it might not be rather termed a ca.n.a.l, the banks or sides of which, for the distance of twenty leagues, were faced with stone *36 Across this stream, bridges, constructed of similar broad flags, were thrown, at intervals, so as to afford an easy communication between the different quarters of the capital. *37 [Footnote 35: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III., ubi supra.

A pa.s.sage in the Letter of the Munic.i.p.ality of Xauxa is worth quoting, as confirming on the best authority some of the interesting particulars mentioned in the text. 'Esta cibdad es la mejor e maior que en la tierra se ha visto, i aun en Yndias; e decimos a V. M. ques tan hermosa i de tan buenos edeficios que en Espana seria muy de ver; tiene las calles por mucho concierto en pedradas i por medio dellas un cano enlosado. la plaza es hecha en cuadra i empedrada de quijas pequenas todas, todas las mas de las casas son de Senores Princ.i.p.ales hechas de canteria. esta en una ladera de un zerro en el cual sobre el pueblo esta una fortaleza mui bien obrada de canteria, tan de ver que por Espanoles que han andado Reinos estranos, dicen no haver visto otro edeficio igual al della." Carta de la Just. y Reg. de Xauja, Ms.]

[Footnote 36: "Un rio, el cual baja por medio de la cibdad y desde que nace, mas de veinte leguas por aquel valle abajo donde hay muchas poblaciones, va enlosado todo por el suelo, y las varrancas de una parte y de otra hechas de canteria labrada, cosa nunca vista, ni oida." Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

[Footnote 37: The reader will find a few repet.i.tions in this chapter of what I have already said, in the Introduction, of Cuzco under the Incas. But the facts here stated are for the most part drawn from other sources, and some repet.i.tion was unavoidable in order to give a distinct image of the capital.]

The most sumptuous edifice in Cuzco, in the times of the Incas, was undoubtedly the great temple dedicated to the Sun, which, studded with gold plates, as already noticed, was surrounded by convents and dormitories for the priests, with their gardens and broad parterres sparkling with gold. The exterior ornaments had been already removed by the Conquerors, - all but the frieze of gold, which, imbedded in the stones, still encircled the princ.i.p.al building. It is probable that the tales of wealth, so greedily circulated among the Spaniards, greatly exceeded the truth. If they did not, the natives must have been very successful in concealing their treasures from the invaders. Yet much still remained, not only in the great House of the Sun, but in the inferior temples which swarmed in the capital.

Pizarro, on entering Cuzco, had issued an order forbidding any soldier to offer violence to the dwellings of the inhabitants.

*38 But the palaces were numerous, and the troops lost no time in plundering them of their contents, as well as in despoiling the religious edifices. The interior decorations supplied them with considerable booty. They stripped off the jewels and rich ornaments that garnished the royal mummies in the temple of Coricancha. Indignant at the concealment of their treasures, they put the inhabitants, in some instances, to the torture, and endeavoured to extort from them a confession of their hiding-places. *39 They invaded the repose of the sepulchres, in which the Peruvians often deposited their valuable effects, and compelled the grave to give up its dead. No place was left unexplored by the rapacious Conquerors, and they occasionally stumbled on a mine of wealth that rewarded their labors.

[Footnote 38: "Pues mando el marquez dar vn pregon que ningun espanol fuese a entrar en las casas de los naturales o tomalles nada." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 39: Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap 123.]

In a cavern near the city they found a number of vases of pure gold, richly embossed with the figures of serpents, locusts, and other animals. Among the spoil were four golden llamas and ten or twelve statues of women, some of gold, others of silver, "which merely to see," says one of the Conquerors, with some naivete, "was truly a great satisfaction." The gold was probably thin, for the figures were all as large as life; and several of them, being reserved for the royal fifth, were not recast, but sent in their original form to Spain. *40 The magazines were stored with curious commodities; richly tinted robes of cotton and feather-work, gold sandals, and slippers of the same material, for the women, and dresses composed entirely of beads of gold.

*41 The grain and other articles of food, with which the magazines were filled, were held in contempt by the Conquerors, intent only on gratifying their l.u.s.t for gold. *42 The time came when the grain would have been of far more value.

[Footnote 40: "Et fra l'altre cose singolari, era veder quattro castrati di fin oro molto grandi, et 10 o 12 statue di done, della grandezza delle done di quel paese tutte d'oro fino, cosi belle et ben fatte come se fossero viue. . . . . . Queste furono date nel quinto che toccaua a S. M." (Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap.

Ramusio, tom. III fol.409.) "Muchas estatuas y figuras de oro y plata enteras, hecha la forma toda de una muger, y del tamano della, muy bien labradas." Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

[Footnote 41: "Avia ansi mismo miscmo otras muchas plumas de diferentes colores para este efecto de hacer rropas que vestian los senores y senoras y no otto otro en los tiempos de sus fiestas; avia tambien mantas hechas de chaquira, de oro, y de plata, que heran vnas quentecitas muy delicadas, que parecia cosa de espanto ver su hechura." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 42: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]

Yet the amount of treasure in the capital did not equal the sanguine expectations that had been formed by the Spaniards. But the deficiency was supplied by the plunder which they had collected at various places on their march. In one place, for example, they met with ten planks or bars of solid silver, each piece being twenty feet in length, one foot in breadth, and two or three inches thick. They were intended to decorate the dwelling of an Inca n.o.ble. *43

[Footnote 43: "Pues andando yo buscando mahiz o otras cosas para comer, acaso entre en vn buhio donde halle estos tablones de plata que tengo dicho que heran hasta diez y de largo tenian veinte pies y de anchor de vno y de gordor de tres dedos, di noticia dello al marquez y el y todos los demas que con e.

estavan entraron a vello." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

The whole ma.s.s of treasure was brought into a common heap, as in Caxamalca; and after some of the finer specimens had been deducted for the Crown, the remainder was delivered to the Indian goldsmiths to be melted down into ingots of a uniform standard.

The division of the spoil was made on the same principle as before. There were four hundred and eighty soldiers, including the garrison of Xauxa, who were each to receive a share, that of the cavalry being double that of the infantry. The amount of booty is stated variously by those present at the division of it.

According to some, it considerably exceeded the ransom of Atahuallpa. Others state it as less. Pedro Pizarro says that each horseman got six thousand pesos de oro, and each one of the infantry half that sum; *44 though the same discrimination was made by Pizarro as before, in respect to the rank of the parties, and their relative services. But Sancho, the royal notary, and secretary of the commander, estimates the whole amount as far less, - not exceeding five hundred and eighty thousand and two hundred pesos de oro, and two hundred and fifteen thousand marks of silver. *45 In the absence of the official returns, it is impossible to determine which is correct. But Sancho's narrative is countersigned, it may be remembered, by Pizarro and the royal treasurer Riquelme, and doubtless, therefore, shows the actual amount for which the Conquerors accounted to the Crown.

[Footnote 44: Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 45: Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol.

409.]

Whichever statement we receive, the sum, combined with that obtained at Caxamalca, might well have satisfied the cravings of the most avaricious. The sudden influx of so much wealth, and that, too, in so transferable a form, among a party of reckless adventures little accustomed to the possession of money, had its natural effect. It supplied them with the means of gaming, so strong and common a pa.s.sion with the Spaniards, that it may be considered a national vice. Fortunes were lost and won in a single day, sufficient to render the proprietors independent for life; and many a desperate gamester, by an unlucky throw of the dice or turn of the cards, saw himself stripped in a few hours of the fruits of years of toil, and obliged to begin over again the business of rapine. Among these, one in the cavalry service is mentioned, named Leguizano, who had received as his share of the booty the image of the Sun, which, raised on a plate of burnished gold, spread over the walls in a recess of the great temple, and which, for some reason or other, - perhaps because of its superior fineness, - was not recast like the other ornaments.

This rich prize the spendthrift lost in a single night; whence it came to be a proverb in Spain, Juega el Sol antes que amanezca, "Play away the Sun before sunrise." *46