CHAPTER VIII.

DISORDERS IN PERU.-MARCH TO CUZCO.-ENCOUNTER WITH THE NATIVES.-CHALLCUCHIMA BURNT.-ARRIVAL IN CUZCO.-DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY.-TREASURE FOUND THERE.

sense.

1533-1534.

THE Inca of Peru was its sovereign in a peculiar He received an obedience from his vassals more implicit than that of any despot; for his authority reached to the most secret conduct,-to the thoughts of the individual. He was reverenced as more than human.' He was not merely the head of the state, but the point to which all its institutions converged, as to a common centre,—the keystone of the political fabric, which must fall to pieces by its own weight when that was withdrawn. of Atahuallpa. His death

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So it fared on the death not only left the throne

"Such was the awe in which the Inca was held," says Pedro Pizarro, "that it was only necessary for him to intimate his commands to that effect, and a Peruvian would at once jump down a precipice, hang himself, or put an end to his life in any way that was prescribed." Descub. y Conq., MS.

? Oviedo tells us that the Inca's right name was Atabaliva, and that the Spaniards usually misspelt it, because they thought much more of getting treasure for themselves than they did of the name of the person who owned it. (Hist. de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16.) Nevertheless, I have preferred the authority of Garcilasso, who, a Peruvian himself, and a near kinsman of the Inca, must be supposed to

vacant, without any certain successor, but the manner of it announced to the Peruvian people that a hand stronger than that of their Incas had now seized the sceptre, and that the dynasty of the Children of the Sun had passed away forever.

The natural consequences of such a conviction followed. The beautiful order of the ancient institutions was broken up, as the authority which controlled it was withdrawn. The Indians broke out into greater excesses from the uncommon restraint to which they had been before subjected. Villages were burnt, temples and palaces were plundered, and the gold they contained was scattered or secreted. Gold and silver acquired an importance in the eyes of the Peruvian, when he saw the importance attached to them by his conquerors. The precious metals, which before served only for purposes of state or religious decoration, were now hoarded up and buried in caves and forests. The gold and silver concealed by the natives were affirmed greatly to exceed in quantity that which fell into the hands of the Spaniards. The remote provinces now shook off their allegiance to the Incas. Their great captains, at the head of distant armies, set up for

ave been well informed. His countrymen, he says, pretended that he cocks imported into Peru by the Spaniards, when they crowed, uttered the name of Atahuallpa; "and I and the other Indian boys," adds the historian, "when we were at school, used to mimic them Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 23.

3 ་་ That which the Inca gave the Spaniards, said some of the Indian robles to Benalcazar, the conqueror of Quito, was but as a kernel of corn, compared with the heap before him." (Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 22.) See also Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS.-Relacion del primer Descub., MS.

themselves. Ruminavi, a commander on the borders of Quito, sought to detach that kingdom from the Peruvian empire and to reassert its ancient independence. The country, in short, was in that state in which old things are passing away and the new order of things has not yet been established. It was in a state of revolution.

The authors of the revolution, Pizarro and his followers, remained meanwhile at Caxamalca. But the first step of the Spanish commander was to name a successor to Atahuallpa. It would be easy to govern under the venerated authority to which the homage of the Indians had been so long paid; and it was not difficult to find a successor. The true heir to the crown was a second son of Huayna Capac, named Manco, a legitimate brother of the unfortunate Huascar. But Pizarro had too little knowledge of the dispositions of this prince; and he made no scruple to prefer a brother of Atahuallpa and to present him to the Indian nobles as their future Inca. We know nothing of the character of the young Toparca, who probably resigned himself without reluctance to a destiny which, however humiliating in some points of view, was more exalted than he could have hoped to obtain in the regular course of events. The ceremonies attending a Peruvian coronation were observed, as well as time would allow; the brows of the young Inca were encircled with the imperial borla by the hands of his conqueror, and he received the homage of his Indian vassals. They were the less reluctant to pay it, as most of those in the camp belonged to the faction of Quito.

All thoughts were now eagerly turned towards Cuzco, of which the most glowing accounts were circulated among the soldiers, and whose temples and royal palaces were represented as blazing with gold and silver. With imaginations thus excited, Pizarro and his entire company, amounting to almost five hundred men, of whom nearly a third, probably, were cavalry, took their departure early in September from Caxa. malca,-a place ever memorable as the theatre of some of the most strange and sanguinary scenes recorded in nistory. All set forward in high spirits,—the soldiers of Pizarro from the expectation of doubling their present riches, and Almagro's followers from the prospect of sharing equally in the spoil with "the first conquerors." The young Inca and the old chief Challcuchima accompanied the march in their litters, attended by a numerous retinue of vassals, and moving in as much state and ceremony as if in the possession of real power.s

Their course lay along the great road of the Incas, which stretched across the elevated regions of the Cordilleras, all the way to Cuzco. It was of nearly a uniform breadth, though constructed with different degrees of care, according to the ground. Sometimes it crossed smooth and level valleys, which offered of

4 The "first conquerors," according to Garcilasso, were held in especial honor by those who came after them, though they were, on the whole, men of less consideration and fortune than the later adven. turers. Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap. 9.

5 Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., MS.-Naharro, Relacion sumaria, MS.-Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 400.

6 "Va todo el camino de una traza y anchura hecho á mano." Relacion del primer Descub., MS.

themselves little impediment to the traveller; at other times it followed the course of a mountain-stream that flowed round the base of some beetling cliff, leaving small space for the foothold; at others, again, where the sierra was so precipitous that it seemed to preclude all farther progress, the road, accommodated to the natural sinuosities of the ground, wound round the heights which it would have been impossible to scale directly.'

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But, although managed with great address, it was a formidable passage for the cavalry. The mountain was hewn into steps, but the rocky ledges cut up the hoofs of the horses; and, though the troopers dismounted and led them by the bridle, they suffered severely in their efforts to keep their footing. The road was constructed for man and the light-footed llama; and the only heavy beast of burden at all suited to it was the sagacious and sure-footed mule, with which the Spanish adventurers were not then provided. It was a singular chance that Spain was the land of the mule; and thus the country was speedily supplied with the very animal which seems to have been created for the difficult passes of the Cordilleras.

Another obstacle, often occurring, was the deep torrents that rushed down in fury from the Andes. They were traversed by the hanging bridges of osier, whose frail materials were after a time broken up by the heavy tread of the cavalry, and the holes made in them added materially to the dangers of the passage.

7 "En muchas partes viendo lo que está adelante, parece cosa impossible poderlo pasar." Relacion del primer Descub., MS. 8 Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 404.