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

firmation of the acts and authority of his brother; and with a numerous and well-appointed force of adventurers, attracted by the brilliant tidings of plunder and conquest, again set sail for the isthmus. A royal grant was likewise made to Almagro, empowering him to conquer and rule a principality of his own, extending two hundred leagues south of that of Pizarro. That ambitious and illused commander, on receiving the news, insisted that Cuzco, where he was quartered, lay within the limits of his jurisdiction; and a civil war between the two factions was only prevented by the address of Pizarro, who hastened to the scene, and once more patched up a hollow treaty with his rival. It was especially provided that neither should malign or disparage the other in their dispatches to the court, and both parties once more invoked the curses of Heaven on their heads, if they should violate the agreement. Their jealous enmity thus, for the moment, appeased, Almagro set forth on his expedition for the conquest of the realms of the South. (See History of Chili.) The young inca, Manco Capac, though he had readily accepted, and even solicited elevation to power at the hands of the Conqueror, was not blind to the degradation of his name or the enslavement of his country. Plotting the extermination of the invaders, he had entrusted to his brother and the High-priest of the Sun, who accompanied Almagro, a secret errand of insurrection to the distant caciques. Suspicion being excited, he was arrested, and placed in close confinement; but, by an ingenious stratagem, effected his escape. Having won the confidence of Hernando Pizarro, his guardian, by successive disclosures of concealed treasure, he was suffered to depart, with a small escort, to bring to Cuzco a statue of his father, the Inca Huayna Capac, of pure gold, which he said had been deposited in a cave of the Andes. Hernando, soon finding himself duped, dispatched his brother Juan, with sixty horse, in pursuit of the fugitive; but that officer was presently met by an army of several thousand Indians, under command of Manco himself, and was compelled to retreat, hotly pursued, to the native capital.

He found that city surrounded by an immense force of Peruvians -it is said, two hundred thousand strong-which, armed with copper-headed spears and axes, presented a brilliant and terrible appearance. Singular to state, this overwhelming array opened its ranks, and allowed the little body of Spanish cavaliers to pass unmolested into the town-their object, most likely, being to secure the destruction of as many of the invaders as possible. (February, 1536.)

On the following morning they assaulted the city with innumerable missiles, and by burning arrows fired the roofs, which, being mostly composed of thatch, were peculiarly liable to conflagration. For several days the fire raged destructively, and consumed more than half the city. The Spaniards, only two hundred in number, with a thousand Indian allies, strongly posted, held out bravely; and being well supplied with cavalry, made several sallies, with much effect, upon the thick masses of their besiegers. Their distress was great, on perceiving, from the heads which the enemy threw among them, that a general slaughter of their countrymen in the adjoining regions had occurred. Several of the Indians had European armour and horses, and the young inca, splendidly mounted, and wielding a long lance, appeared in the front of the conflict. From a great citadel, commanding the Spanish quarters, the besieged were annoyed by showers of missiles; but Hernando, by a surprise in the night, after desperate fighting, took it by storm. In this assault perished Juan Pizarro, whose memory is burdened with less odium than that of his kindred; and the commander of the fort, an inca noble of gigantic stature and desperate courage, after slaying with his huge mace a number of assailants, seeing all was in vain, flung himself headlong from the summit.

The insurrection, managed with extraordinary secrecy and suddenness, had been so far successful that several hundreds of the Spaniards, in different places, had been slain, and Lima itself, at one time, had been in a state of siege. The governor, after defeating the enemy around him, dispatched to the assistance of his brothers in Cuzco several detachments of Spaniards, amounting, in all, to four hundred, none of whom, however, succeeded in reaching it, being attacked and mostly cut off, in the Cordilleras, by the overwhelming forces of the Peruvians. Pizarro, as a last resort, sent letters, entreating assistance from Alvarado, the conqueror of Guatemala, and from other provincial governors, even offering to share with them the future conquests which might be made in South America. Meanwhile, the little garrison of Cuzco, wonderful to state, still managed, by the strength of their position, the superiority of their arms, and some fortunate supplies, to hold out against the numerous host by which they were surrounded; and the Indian army, gradually lessening, and at length suffering from want of provisions, after a siege of five months, mostly dispersed, and betook itself to the planting of the annual crops.

VOL. III.-16

The Inca Manco, with a portion of his force, withdrew to Tambo, a stronghold not far from the city, and hostilities were still briskly carried on. Hernando, who attempted to storm this place in a night attack, was repulsed, after three desperate assaults, by the inca, and was compelled, with the enemy hanging closely on his rear, to rēgain, by a forced march, his quarters at Cuzco. The triumphant Peruvians, however, falling upon Almagro, on his return from the disastrous expedition to Chili, in the valley of Yucay, met with a signal defeat.

That active and ambitious commander, the old grudge against his false associate still rankling in his mind, now determined on reasserting by force his claim to the Peruvian capital. Accordingly, on a dark and stormy night, he succeeded in taking the garrison by surprise, and made prisoners of Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro. Immediately after this signal success, he marched against one Alvarado, a general of Pizarro's, defeated him, and brought him, with nearly all his force of five hundred men, prisoners to Cuzco. The governor, enraged and alarmed at these misfortunes, was unable, for the time, to avenge them. He dispatched Espinosa, one of the chief patrons of his original enterprise, to Cuzco, to attempt negotiations, awaiting, meanwhile, the strengthening of his forces. Gonzalo and Alvarado contrived to effect their escape, and Almagro finally consented to refer the matters in dispute to a friar, named Bobadilla. This umpire, the creature of Pizarro, decided every point in favour of the latter, who, however, was enabled to obtain the release of Hernando only by assenting to more liberal conditions.

This object once attained, without the slightest regard to stipulations, he at once recommenced hostilities, and dispatched Hernando, with an army of seven hundred men, against his detested rival. Almagro, with a somewhat smaller force, encountered him not far from the city; but being disabled, by old age and infirmities, from leading his troops, was compelled to survey the scene of conflict from a litter. His lieutenant, Orgoñez, a cavalier of great ferocity and bravery, took the command, and contested the battle, which was desperate in the extreme. Two hundred were killed on the field, but the partisans of Pizarro finally triumphed. Almagro was made prisoner, and Orgoñez, with others, was ferociously murdered after surrender-a circumstance demonstrating the extreme hatred and rancour which prevailed between the two factions. (April, 1538.) The defeated general, after the mockery of a protracted trial, con

ducted by Hernando, was sentenced to execution. He had always been noted for his extreme daring, and had probably seen more hard fighting than any other man in Peru. Yet, strange to record, he begged piteously for his life-a degradation which availed him nothing, for he was privately dealt with in his dungeon, by the infamous garrote.

CHAPTER VIII.

MISSION OF HERNANDO. HIS FATE.-EXPEDITION OF GON. ZALO PIZARRO.-DISCOVERY OF AND VOYAGE DOWN THE AMAZON. TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS. -CONSPIRACY AGAINST PIZARRO BY THE PARTISANS OF ALMAGRO. HIS ASSASSINATION. HIS CHARACTER, ETC.

DREADING lest they should be called to account for this high handed dealing with an officer of the crown, the Pizarros resolved to dispatch Hernando, with a great treasure, to fortify their interests at court. Accordingly, two years after the death of Almagro, he reached Spain, but met with a cold reception from the emperor. Singularly enough, the influence of a devoted adherent of the Almagran faction was found sufficient to outweigh his own, though backed by all the wealth of Peru. He was arrested, and for twenty years was kept in close imprisonment, not being able to obtain his release until 1560. At that time all his brothers were dead, and Peru had passed under the rule of others.

Meanwhile, the Peruvians, defeated and discouraged, had, in great measure, desisted from hostilities; and the Inca Manco, on one occasion, was so hard pressed as to be compelled to take refuge, with only a single female companion, out of his numerous harem, in the savage recesses of the Andes. Gathering a force, however, and sallying at intervals from his stronghold in the mountains, he inflicted much damage on the Spaniards; and Pizarro, with a vile revenge, tortured to death one of the wives of the revolted prince, a young and beautiful woman, whom chance had thrown into his hands. "It seems to me," writes one of the conquerors, "that our Lord punished him for this, in the end he met." But, for the most part, the natives