Hernando de Soto, a man who, with the faults of his age and nation, was vastly superior to the merciless villains with whom he was associated, was absent at the time of this transaction, and on his return condemned the proceeding in strong terms. A small proportion of the company thought the same with De Soto, concerning the murder, but by far the greater number were but too glad to be rid of a troublesome captive, to trouble themselves about the means of accomplishing their purpose. Those chiefly concerned, felt sufficiently the disgrace attendant upon their acts, to endeavor to shift the responsibility upon each other.

In "Purchas, his Pilgrimage," is the following summary of the end of the principal agents in the murder of Atahuallpa: "Howbeit they killed him notwithstanding, and in a night strangled him. But God, the righteous Judge, seeing this villanous act, suffered none of those Spaniards to die by the course of nature, but brought them to cruel and shameful ends. ** Almagro was executed by Pizarro, and he slain by young Almagro; and him Vacca de Castra did likewise put to death. John Pizarro was slain by the Indians. Martin, another of the brethren, was slain with Francis. Ferdinandus was imprisoned in Spain, and his end unknown; Gonzales was done to death by Gasca. Soto died of thought in Florida; and civil wars ate up the rest in Peru."

A condition of anarchy and intestine disturbance succceded the death of the Inca, and 'the rude shock given by the Spanish invasion to the old system of arbitrary, but fixed and unchangeable laws. Seeing the value attached to the precious metals, the natives in many instances followed the example of the conquerors in plundering and destroying the public edifices of their own country. The quantity of gold and silver conveyed away and concealed for ever from the covetous eyes of the Europeans was said to have infinitely surpassed that which they had secured.

CHAPTER V.

MARCH TOWARDS CUZCO.- OPPOSITION OF THE NATIVES. DEATH OF TOPARCA, AND MURDER OF CHALLCUCHIMA.-MANCO CAPAC.ENTRY INTO THE CAPITAL. BOOTY OBTAINED.- ESCAPE OF MANCO, AND GENERAL INSURRECTION.-SIEGE OF CUZCO.- REVERSES OF THE SPANIARDS. CIVIL WARS. FURTHER HOSTILITIES OF MANCO CAPAC.- CRUEL TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES. - DEATH OF MANCO CAPAC.- REFORMS UNDER PEDRO DE LA GASCA.-TUPAC AMARU.-INSURRECTION OF 1781.- PRESENT CONDITION OF THE

PERUVIAN INDIANS.

PIZARRO now declared the sovereignty of Peru to be vested in a brother of Atahuallpa named Toparco, and the ceremony of coronation was duly performed. Further stay at Caxamalca was deemed unadvisable, and, with the new Inca in company, the Spanish army pushed on towards the ancient capital of Peru, over the magnificent road of the Incas. The ascent of the mountain ridges was, indeed, arduous and perilous, as the road was intended only for foot passengers and the agile Peruvian sheep or "camel," as the animal was designated by early writers. As in former progresses, the granaries and halting-places prepared for the royal armies supplied abundant food and shelter.

The first attempt upon the part of the natives to arrest the progress of the cavalcade, was at Xauxa, where they collected to oppose the passage of a considerable stream Resistance proved unavailing: the cavalry dashed through the river, and dispersed the crowd. Pizarro encamped at Xauxa, and commissioned De Soto, with sixty mounted men, to go forward, and see that all was safe for a further advance. As that cavalier approached Cuzco, after crossing the Apurimac, a tributary of the Amazon, his command was beset by a hostile force of Indians among the

dangerous passes of the mountain which he must cross to reach the capital. By superhuman efforts, the little party managed to force a way against the enemy until an elevated plateau was gained, where there was room for the movements of the horses. The natives, becoming more familiar with the arms and mode of fighting adopted by the Spaniards, fought with their natural courage and resolution, but could accomplish little after the cavalry had attained an advantageous position.

During the night, De Soto and his men were gladdened by the arrival of Almagro upon the field, with most of the cavalry left at Xauxa. Pizarro had received advices of the danger to which his advance was exposed, and promptly forwarded assistance. The whole Spanish force finally assembled at Xaquixaguana, but a few miles from Cuzco. In this delightful valley, a favorite resort of the Inca nobility, whose country-seats were every where scattered over its surface, the army encamped for rest and refreshment. At this place various charges were brought up against the noble old warrior, Challcuchima. The new Inca, Toparca, had died during the halt at Xauxa, and it was thought convenient to attribute his death, as well as the recent hostile movements, to the machinations of this dangerous prisoner. He was tried, condemned, and burned alive-the usual method of execution adopted by the Spaniards in the case of an Indian victim. It is to be trusted that another generation will look upon the barbarities still persisted in among the most enlightened nations of the present age, with the same sensations that are now aroused by the remembrance of the cruelties so universal in former times.

A new claimant to the throne of the Incas had now arisen in the person of Manco Capac, a brother of the illfated Huascar. The young prince, splendidly attended, came boldly to the Spanish camp, explained the grounds

of his claim, and requested the aid of Pizarro in establishing his rights. The general received him kindly, and seemed to accede to the proposal. In company with this new ally, after one more unimportant skirmish, the Spaniards entered Cuzco, on or about the 15th of November, 1533. They were delighted with the extent and magnificence of the city, and the liveliness and gayety of its inhabitants.

Temples, public edifices, royal palaces, and places of sepulture, were every where ransacked in search of gold, but orders had been given by Pizarro that private property should be respected. The rapacious plunderers were dissatisfied with the amount of treasure discovered, although no conquest in the history of the world was ever rewarded by such acquisitions of the precious metals, and proceeded to subject some of the natives to the torture, to compel a disclosure of their secret places of deposit.

"In a cavern near the city," says Prescott, "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 naïveté, was truly a great satisfaction."" Upon the march, no small amount of booty had been secured: "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."

Manco Capac was solemnly crowned at Cuzco, by Pizarro, who, with his own hand, presented the imperial badge, the "borla" or red scarf for the forehead. The conqueror arranged a system of government for the city, giving his brothers Gonzalo and Juan the principal authority. The natives seemed to acquiesce readily in the new regulations, and joined hilariously in the festivities of the time.

Pizarro now bethought himself of establishing a capital for the new country in a more convenient location than either Cuzco or Quito, and in January, 1535, the foundations of the city of Lima were laid. Hernando Pizarro had been previously sent to Spain, with substantial specimens of the newly-acquired treasures. His appearance at court, and his details of strange adventure, excited an unprecedented enthusiasm and astonishment. Large additional emoluments and authorities were conferred upon the principal actors in the conquest; and Hernando returned to America, accompanied by numerous adventurers eager for fame and fortune in the new world. Almagro received, by royal grant, authority to conquer and possess an immense district, southward of Peru; and thither he took up his march, after a long series of bickerings and quarrels with Juan and Gonzalo, respecting conflicting claims at Cuzco.

The conquerors of the empire of the Incas became careless and secure they little dreamed that there yet existed a warlike and determined spirit among the down-trodden natives, fated soon to raise a storm on every side, which not even Spanish valor and dogged determination could readily allay.

The young Inca, Manco Capac, indignant at the conduct of the rulers at Cuzco, and disgusted with the shadow of authority which he was himself allowed to exercise, made his escape from the surveillance of the Pizarros, and, rousing the whole country to arms, intrenched himself beyond the Yucay. Juan Pizarro in vain undertook his recapture. With a small body of cavalry, he did, indeed, gain a temporary advantage, but the effect of superstitious fears no longer operated to dismay the Indian warriors, and it was only by virtue of hard knocks, and by actual superiority in skill, weapons, and endurance, that they could be conquered. The numbers of the enemy were so great, and so fast increasing, that Juan was obliged, in a few days, to