Though the room was not quite filled with gold to the stipulated height, Pizarro thought it prudent to satisfy the clamours of his men by an immediate division of the spoil. A fifth part was set aside for the Spanish sovereign, and with it were selected some splendid specimens of Peruvian art-among them beautiful imitations of the Indian corn, the ear being composed of yellow gold, and the husk, partly open, with the beard or tassel, of silver. With these, Hernando was to proceed to Spain, and fortify the interests of his family at court. The remainder of the treasure was mostly melted into bars, and its value, on estimation, proved equal to that of fifteen millions of dollars at the present day-being the greatest amount of plunder, in proportion to the number of marauders, ever acquired by military violence. The share of Pizarro, including the throne of the inca, formed of solid gold, amounted to nearly a million. The cavalry received an hundred thousand each, and the infantry half that amount. Despite of ancient agreement and present remon strance, Almagro and his people were not permitted to receive more than a nominal share of the spoil.

Meanwhile, the inca was still detained in captivity, and was even secured with a chain; while Pizarro darkly revolved the means of ridding himself of one who could yield him no further service, and whose very existence, considering the devoted loyalty of his people, was a source of constant uneasiness to his gaolers. Atahualpa, the treasure distributed, had earnestly demanded his liberation, and the Spanish general, with a vile affectation of good faith, which makes his treachery and cruelty more hideous still, caused his notary to execute a full receipt for the stipulated ransom. But a pretext for the destruction of the unfortunate sovereign was already prepared; and Pizarro, to secure himself from interference, dispatched De Soto, a cavalier of high qualities, and a friend of the intended victim, on a distant expedition. He then taxed his captive with a pretended plot for insurrection, and the latter, secretly alarmed, but with an air of gayety, replied, "You are always jesting with me. What am

I or my people, that we should take arms against you? Do not utter such jests." "I was amazed," says Pizarro, in his account, "to see such cunning in an Indian."

Nevertheless, a villanous indictment, charging the prisoner with idolatry, usurpation, adultery, and intended insurrection, was presently hatched up-"a badly-contrived and worse-written document," says a Spanish contemporary, "devised by a factious and unprinci.

pled priest, a clumsy notary without conscience, and others of the like stamp, who were all concerned in this villany." On the strength of this shameful instrument, Pizarro and Almagro, sitting as judges, with the assistance of the murderous Friar Valverde, went through the mockery of a trial. The testimony of Indian witnesses, (falsified by the interpretation of Felipillo, a creature of Pizarro's, and a personal enemy of the inca,) was taken, and judgment was given that the victim should be burned alive the same night in the square of Caxamalca. The honourable remonstrances of several Spanish officers, who handed in a written protest against this atrocity, were of no avail. The unhappy prisoner, on hearing the cruel sentence, exclaimed, with tears, "What have I done, or my children, that I should meet such a fate? and from your hands, too," he said, turning to Pizarro; "you, who have met with friendship and kindness from my people, with whom I have shared my treasures, who have received nothing but benefits at my hands!"

Then, with affecting eagerness, he offered fresh treasures; but Pizarro, turning aside in refusal, (with tears, it is said, but with his cruel purpose unchanged,) the victim resumed the stoicism which, but for a moment, had forsaken him, and thenceforward displayed only calmness and fortitude.

In the evening (August 29th) he was conducted, in presence of the whole army, by torch-light, to the stake. Valverde, with eager importunity, continued to urge that he should embrace the Christian faith, promising that, if he would comply, the milder death of the garrote* should be substituted for the agonies of cremation. Pizarro confirmed the offer, and the inca, from a singular but affecting superstition, complied. He believed, we are told by one who was present, that if his body was not destroyed by fire, "the Sun, his father, would the next morning restore him to life." Accordingly he received the travesty of baptism, with the name of Juan, (“ir honour of St. John the Baptist!") and turning to Pizarro, besought him to protect his orphan children. He then, with calmness, submitted to his fate, while the Spaniards, muttering prayers for his salvation, beheld the last of the incas perish by the death of the vilest of malefactors. The body was laid out in state in the church, and the obsequies of the royal convert were celebrated with much solemnity. De Soto, on his return, horrified by the tidings, rushed

* An instrument contrived to effect strangulation and rupture of the vertebræ of the neck-still used in the Spanish provinces.

into the presence of Pizarro, whom he found, says a writer of the day, "exhibiting much sentiment, with a great felt hat clapped on his head, and well pulled over his eyes." To the indignant complaints of that officer, the agents in this devilish act replied by mutual accusations, and attempts to throw the entire blame on the shoulders of each other.

"Thus ends one of the very darkest pages of Spanish and American history. No reader of feeling or reflection will require comment on a deed bearing in its face the brand of such odious perfidy, ingratitude and cruelty. In return for his own good faith, for the submission of his empire, for the surrender of unhoped treasure, the unhappy victim met with imprisonment, chains, and the sentence to a cruel and revolting death. Despite his pompous affectation of regret, (remorse he may well have felt,) the burden of this damning infamy rests almost entirely on the head of Pizarro. Whatever instruments he employed, the deed was his own-a deed which could never have been committed by any but such as himself—men naturally fierce, rapacious and cruel, uneducated, save in the superstitions of a wretched dogmatism, and trained from childhood to scenes of blood, oppression, and violence. Doubtless a dark and cruel policy was his main and prompting motive; but it is said that the incentive of personal pique was not wanting. The imprisoned inca, delighting in the mysterious art of writing, (which he regarded as a new sense,) had caused the name of God to be inscribed on his nail, and had presented it to each of the soldiers, charmed with their ready and concurrent response. Pizarro, who had never learned to read, was unable to answer him; and the ill-concealed contempt of the inca, it is said, awakened a hatred in the heart of his conqueror, that ere long found its bloody gratification.

"To one who, like the ancient Greek, believes in an avenging Nemesis, there is something very comfortable in recalling the violent deaths which befell nearly all the actors in this doleful tragedy— though little reflection is needed to show that the evil wishes and undisciplined passions which prompted the crime, only worked out their legitimate end in involving its authors in fresh and fatal adventures. Old Purchas (abating one or two mistakes in fact, such as the complicity of Soto,) gives, in a few words, a more terse aud edifying version of their end than any writer on the subject. 'But God the righteous Iudge, seeing this villanous act, suffered none of those Spaniards to die by the course of nature, but brought them to

euill and shamefull ends.

*

His' (Atahuallpa's) • Murtherers dyed, it is said, the like bloudy ends; Almagro was executed by Piçarro, and hee slaine by yong Almagro; and him Vacca de Castro did likewise put to death. Iohn Piçarro was slaine of the Indians. Martin an other of the brethren was slaine with Francis. Ferdinandus was imprisoned in Spaine and his end vnknowne; Gonzales was done to death by Gasca. Soto dyed of thought in Florida; and ciuill warres eate vp the reste in Peru.'* "+

CHAPTER VII.

EXECUTION OF CHALLCUCHIMA.

-INDIAN HOSTILITIES.

ENTRANCE OF THE SPANIARDS INTO CUZCO.-MORE TREASURE. INAUGURATION OF THE INCA MANCO CAPAC. LIMA FOUNDED.-DISPUTES BETWEEN ALMAGRO AND THE PIZARROS.-RISING OF THE INDIANS.-SIEGE

OF

CUZCO.-MASSACRE OF THE SPANIARDS.
CIVIL WAR BETWEEN THE SPANISH GENERALS.
DEFEAT AND EXECUTION OF ALMAGRO.

HIS crime accomplished,

"The most arch deed of piteous massacre

That ever yet this land was guilty of,"

Pizarro, with five hundred Spaniards and many Indians, set out for Cuzco, defeating on the way, at Xauxa, a large hostile native force, but sustaining some loss in an unlucky expedition, headed by De Soto. A fresh instance of cruelty disgraced his march in the murder of Challcuchima, to whose encouragement he attributed these hostilities, and whom, with habitual cruelty, he ordered to be burned alive. The old chief, despite the exhortations of Valverde, at the stake, declined conversion, saying only, "I do not understand the religion of the white men," and undergoing his cruel fate with true Indian fortitude, the name of "Pachacamac," the last word upon his lips.

* Discoverers, &c., of America.

Valverde, perhaps as culpable as any, gained the bishopric of Cuzco, the grand object of his ambition; but a few years afterwards perished, with others, in a mas Bacre by the Indians.

To countervail the anarchy which had already begun to prevail among the numerous tribes of Peru, the Spanish commander, with all practicable ceremony, had invested Toparca, a brother of his chief victim, with the imperial dignity. But this youth died on the march, and soon afterwards, a young Peruvian noble, numerously attended, presented himself in the Spanish camp. This was Manco Capac, a brother of Huascar, who now claimed the throne, and to whom the general, hoping to find him a pliable tool, returned encouraging replies. On the 15th of November, 1533, the Spanish and Indian army entered Cuzco, amid the eager gaze of a vast multitude of natives, who had thronged to behold the terrible strangers. The population of the city alone, it is said, was some hundreds of thousands, and the Spaniards were surprised at the evidences of art and refinement the forts and houses of stone, admirably wrought, the pavement of the same material, and the aqueduct supplying the city with water.

Fresh plunder, much of it obtained by torture, repaid the cruelty of the invaders, though the amount was less than had already been gained as the ransom of the unfortunate inca. Vast hoards of treasure, it is said, were buried in various parts of the country by the Peruvians, who thus defrauded the rapacity of their conquerors. Enough, however, was obtained to enhance the value of European articles to almost fabulous prices, and to gratify the national passion for gaming to its wildest and most ruinous extent.

Pizarro, supposing his obedience reliable, now invested the young Inca Manco with the imperial title, the national ceremonies being solemnly performed; and then immediately proceeded with his pians for the subjection and settlement of the country. The people, apparently satisfied with the nominal coronation of a native sovereign, opposed little and ineffectual resistance to the supremacy of the invaders. Near Pachacamac, in the beautiful valley of Rimac, the victor, in January, 1535, commenced the foundation of a stately capital, which he called "Ciudad de los Reyes" (City of the Kings), but which, under the name of Lima, still retains nearly its original appellation. Under the toiling hands of a vast multitude of Indian labourers, a massive city, with palaces, churches, and public buildings, rapidly arose, and to this day it remains one of the fairest and most populous capitals of the New World.

Hernando, in January, 1532, with an immense treasure, arrived in Spain, where he readily procured from the emperor a full con.