vied one with another in sacrificing their own lives, that they might cover the sacred person of their sovereign, the Spaniards soon penetrated to the royal seat; and Pizarro seizing the Inca by the arm, dragged him to the ground, and carried him as a prisoner to his quarters. The fate of the monarch increased the precipitate flight of his followers. The Spaniards pursued them towards every quarter, and with deliberate and unrelenting barbarity continued to slaughter wretched fugitives, who never once offered to resist. The carnage did not cease until the close of day. Above 4,000 Peruvians were killed. Not a single Spaniard fell, nor was one wounded but Pizarro himself, whose hand was slightly hurt by one of his own soldiers, while struggling eagerly to lay hold on the Inca.

The plunder of the field was rich beyond any idea which the Spaniards had yet formed concerning the wealth of Peru, and they were so transported with the value of the acquisition, as well as the greatness of their success, that they passed the night in the extravagant exultation natural to indigent adventurers on such an extraordinary change of fortune.

At first the captive monarch could hardly believe a calamity which he so little expected to be real. But he soon felt all the misery of his fate, and the dejection into which he sunk was in proportion to the height of grandeur from which he had fallen. Pizarro, afraid of losing all the advantages which he hoped to derive from the possession of such a prisoner, laboured to console him with professions of kindness and respect, that corresponded ill with his actions. By residing among the Spaniards, the Inca discovered their ruling passion, which, indeed, they were nowise solicitous to conceal, and by applying to that, made an attempt to recover his liberty. He offered as a ransom what astonished the Spaniards, even after all they now knew concerning the opulence of his kingdom. The apartment in which he was confined was 22 feet in length, and 16 in breadth; he undertook to fill it with vessels of gold as high as he could reach. Pizarro closed eagerly with this tempting proposal, and a line was drawn upon the walls of the chamber, to mark the stipulated height to which the treasure was to rise,

Atabalipa, transported with having obtained some prospect of liberty, took measures instantly for fulfilling his part of the agreement, by sending messengers to Cuzco, Quito, and other places, where gold had been amassed in largest quantities, either for adorning the temples of the gods, or the houses of the Inca, to bring what was necessary for completing his ransom directly to Caxamalca. Though Atabalipa was now in the custody of his enemies, yet so much were the Peruvians accustomed to respect every mandate issued by their sovereign, that his orders were executed with the greatest alacrity. The Spaniards remained in Caxamalca tranquil and unmolested. Small detachments of their number marched into remote provinces of the empire, and, instead of meeting with any opposition, were every where received with marks of the most submissive respect.

Inconsiderable as those parties were, and desirous as Pizarro might be to obtain some knowledge of the interior state of the country, he could not have ventured upon any diminution of his main body, if he had not about this time received an account of Almagro's having landed at St. Michael with such a reinforcement as would almost double the number of his followers. The arrival of this long-expected succour was not more agreeable to the Spaniards, than alarming to the Inca. He saw the power of his enemies increase; and as he knew neither the source whence they derived their supplies, nor the means by which they were conveyed to Peru, he could not foresee to what a height the inundation that poured in upon his dominions might rise. [1533] While disquieted with such apprehensions, he learned that some Spaniards, in their way to Cuzco, had visited his brother Huascar in the place where he kept him confined, and that the captive prince had represented to them the justice of his own cause, and as an inducement to espouse it, had promised them a quantity of treasure greatly beyond that which Atabalipa had engaged to pay for his ransom. If the Spaniards should listen to this proposal, Atabalipa had perceived his own destruction to be inevitable; and suspecting that their insatiable thirst for gold would tempt them to lend a favourable ear to it, he determined

to sacrifice his brother's life, that he might save his own; and his orders for this purpose were executed, like all his other commands, with scrupulous punctuality.

A great

Meanwhile Indians daily arrived at Caxamalca from different parts of the kingdom, loaded with treasure. part of the stipulated quantity was now amassed, and Atabalipa assured the Spaniards, that the only thing which prevented the whole from being brought in, was the remoteness of the provinces where it was deposited. But such vast piles of gold presented continually to the view of needy soldiers, had so inflamed their avarice, that it was impossible any longer to restrain their impatience to obtain possession of this rich booty. Orders were given for melting down the whole, except some pieces of curious fabric, reserved as a present for the emperor. After setting apart the fifth due to the crown, and 100,000 pesos as a donative to the soldiers which arrived with Almagro, there remained 1,528,500 pesos to Pizarro and his followers.*

The Spaniards, having divided among them the treasure amassed for the Inca's ransom, he insisted with them to fulfil their promise of setting him at liberty. But nothing was farther from Pizarro's thoughts; for at the very time when the credulous prince hoped to be replaced on his throne, he had secretly resolved to bereave him of life. This determination was accelerated by the following curious circumstance: among all the European arts that Atabalipa most admired was that of reading and writing; and he long deliberated with himself, whether he should regard it as a natural or acquired talent. In order to determine this, he desired one of the soldiers, who guarded him, to write the name of God on the nail of his thumb. This he shewed successively to several Spaniards, asking its meaning; and to his amazement, they all, without hesitation, returned the same answer. At length Pizarro entered; and on presenting it to him, he blushed, and with some confusion was obliged to acknowledge his ignorance. From that moment, he considered him as a mean person, less

* A peso at that time was of the value of one pound sterling.

instructed than his own soldiers; and he had not address enough to conceal the sentiments with which this discovery inspired him. To be the object of a barbarian's scorn, not only mortified the pride of Pizarro, but excited such resentment in his breast, as added force to all the other considerations which prompted him to put the Inca to death.

But in order to give some colour of justice to this violent action, and that he himself might be exempted from standing singly responsible for the commission of it, Pizarro resolved to try the Inca with all the formalities observed in the criminal courts of Spain. Pizarro himself, and Almagro, with two assistants, were appointed judges, with full power to acquit or to condemn; an attorney-general was named to carry on the prosecution in the king's name; counsellors were chosen to assist the prisoner in his defence; and clerks were ordained to record the proceedings of the court. Before this strange tribunal, a charge was exhibited still more amazing. It consisted of various articles; that Atabalipa, though a bastard, had dispossessed the rightful owner of the throne, and usurped the regal power; that he had put his brother and lawful sovereign to death; that he was an idolator, and had not only permitted, but commanded the offering of human sacrifices; that he had a great number of concubines; that since his imprisonment he had wasted and embezzled the royal treasures which now belonged of right to the conquerors; that he had incited his subjects to take arms against the Spaniards. On these heads of accusation, some of which are so ludicrous, others so absurd, that the effrontery of Pizarro, in making them the foundation of a serious procedure, is not less surprising than his injustice, did this strange court go on to try the sovereign of a great empire, over whom it had no jurisdiction. With respect to each of the articles, witnesses were examined; but as they delivered their evidence in their native tongue, Philippillo, one of the Indians whom Pizarro carried off from Tumbez, had it in his power to give their words whatever turn best suited his malevolent intentions. To judges predetermined in their opinion, this evidence appeared sufficient. They pronounced Atabalipa guilty, and condemned VOL. I.

R

him to be burnt alive. Friar Valverde prostituted the authority of his sacred function to confirm this sentence, and by his signature warranted it to be just. Astonished at his fate, Atabalipa endeavoured to avert it by tears, by promises, and by entreaties, that he might be sent to Spain, where a monarch would be the arbiter of his lot. But pity never touched the unfeeling heart of Pizarro. He ordered him to be led instantly to execution; and, what added to the bitter, ness of his last moments, the same monk who had just ratified his doom, offered to console, and attempted to convert him, The most powerful argument Valverde employed to prevail with him to embrace the Christian faith, was a promise of mitigation in his punishment. The dread of a cruel death extorted from the trembling victim a desire of receiving baptism. The ceremony was performed; and Atabalipa, instead of being burnt, was strangled at the stake.

Upon the death of the Inca, a number of candidates started to fill the vacant throne. The principal nobility sanctioned the pretensions of the full brother of Huascar. Pizarro set up a son of Atabalipa; and two of the Peruvian generals endeavoured to establish themselves by the assistance of the army. These distractions, as might have been supposed, would have facilitated the conquests of Spain, and have been fatal to the interests of Peru. At the present period, however, they had not the effect that might have been expected. The candidates fought against each other with animosity, and inured their partizans to arms. A quiet inoffensive people is unaccustomed to blood; yet such is the preference of national spirit, from whatever cause excited, to a total lethargy, that in the course of these intestine commotions, the inhabitants of Peru assumed some courage against the Spaniards; whom they justly considered as the primary cause of all their calamities.

The losses which the Europeans experienced in these contests were less important in themselves than in their ultimate consequences. They lessened that opinion of invincibility which had been attached to their arms; and which they had been so anxious to keep up and disseminate among the inhabitants of the New World. This consideration induced Pizarro