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CHAPTER IV.

PIZARRO MARCHES FROM SAN MIGUEL TO CASSAMARCA.PROJECTED INTERVIEW BETWEEN PIZARRO AND ATAHUALLPA.-ROUT OF THE PERUVIANS AND CAPTURE OF THE

INCA.

PIZAR

IZARRO left San Miguel on the 24th of September, 1532, and commenced his march on Cassamarca, conquering or pacifying the tribes that came in his way, and obtaining what information he could (sometimes by means of torture) of the movements and designs of Atahuallpa. When the Spaniards had proceeded about half way between San Miguel and Cassamarca, messengers from Atahuallpa presented themselves before Pizarro. Their message was friendly. They brought a present for the Spanish commander, and some provisions for his men. The principal part of the present was a singular drinking vessel, fashioned of some precious stone, in the form of a double castle.* The messengers said that their master was awaiting Pizarro at Cassamarca; and they mentioned that Atahuallpa's generals had been victorious. Pizarro replied with courtesy, and even made an offer of his services to subdue Atahuallpa's enemies. Journeying on for two days, and resting each night in buildings that were fortified and surrounded with walls of dried mud, Pizarro arrived at a river, which he

* "Este mensagero dixo al governador que su Señor Atabalipa le embia desde Caxamalca para le traer aquel presente que eran dos fortalezas á manera de fuente figuradas en piedra con que beva.”—F. DE XEREZ. BARCIA, Historiadores, tom. iii., p. 189.

472 Pizarro marches toward Cassamarca. forded. It was here that the Spaniards first learned the way in which the Peruvians were numbered by tens and multiples of ten ;* and that five tens of thousands was the number of which Atahuallpa's army consisted. Proceeding onward, Pizarro then came to the territory of a curaca named Cinto. Thence he dispatched the Curaca of San Miguel as his envoy, to ascertain what were Atahuallpa's intentions, and whether any troops occupied the mountains between this point and Cassamarca. Pizarro was now upon one of the great roads between Cusco and Quito, and therefore each night he was enabled to rest in some one of the fortified places at which the Incas themselves had been accustomed to stop. But in the course of the next three days Pizarro diverged from the main road, leaving it to the right, and prepared to ascend the mountain road which led direct to Cassamarca. Atahuallpa seems to have been no great general, or to have had the fullest confidence in his own superiority of numbers and the pacific intentions of the Spanish commander, for he left unguarded this mountain pass which a few men might have maintained against an army, the only road being so precipitous, that, as Pizarro's secretary mentions, it was like the steps of a staircase. Arrived at the top of this mountain, Pizarro again encountered messengers from Atahuallpa. Previously, however, to seeing them, the Spanish commander had received information from his own envoy that the ways were clear. This news was confirmed by the message from Atahuallpa, which was merely a request to know

*"Informóse de su manera de contar, i supo que cuentan de uno, hasta diez, i de diez hasta ciento, i de diez cientos hacen mil, i cinco dieces de millares era la Gente que Atabaliba tenia."-F. DE XErez. BARCIA, Historiadores, tom. iii., p. 190.

Story of Atahuallpa's Messengers.

473

on what day Pizarro would arrive, in order that the Inca might make arrangements for supplying the Spaniards, in the course of their march, with food at the stations where they were to halt.

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The new envoys from Atahuallpa recounted the story of the war between the brothers. They said that Huayna Capac had left the principality of Quito to their master; that Guascar Inca had been the first to make war upon his brother; and they confirmed the important news of Guascar's capture. Pizarro expressed his satisfaction at Atahuallpa's success; and, in a commonplace way, moralized upon the fate of ambitious men. "It happens to them,” he said, "as it has happened to Cusco (he meant Guascar Inca); not only do they not attain what they wickedly aim at, but they also lose their own goods and their own persons." The Spanish commander added this formidable intimation from himself. He knew, he said, that Atahuallpa was a puissant monarch and a great warrior; but his own master, the King of Spain, was sovereign of the entire world, and had a number of servants who were greater princes than Atahuallpa. His king's generals, indeed, had conquered kings more powerful than either Atahuallpa or Cusco, or their former sovereign and father. Pizarro then proceeded to account for his own presence there, saying that the Emperor had sent him into that country to bring its inhabitants to the knowledge of God; and that, with the few Christians who accompanied him, he had already vanquished greater kings than Atahuallpa. The

* "'A los subervios les acaesce como al Cusco, que no solamente no alcançan lo que malamente desean, pero aun ellos quedan perdidos en bienes, í Personas."-F. DE XEREZ. BARCIA, Historiadores, tom. iii., P. 193.

474 Pizarro's Speech to the Messengers.

Spanish commander concluded by putting before the messengers an alternative. "If," he said, "Atahuallpa wishes to be my friend, and to receive me as such, in the way that other princes have done, I will be his friend. I will aid him in his conquest, and he shall remain on his throne (í se quedará en su Estado), for I am going to traverse this country until I reach the other sea. If, on the other hand, he wishes for war, I will wage it against him, as I have against the Curaca of Santiago (this was the name the Spaniards gave to the island of Puña), the Curaca of Tumbez, and all those who have chosen to make war upon me; but I shall not make war with any one or do harm to any one who does not bring it upon himself." This speech, which perhaps may have been a little dressed up for the eyes of Charles the Fifth and his court, was still, I dare say, substantially what Pizarro uttered, as his policy certainly was to create terror. The Indian messengers listened in silence; afterward they desired to report these things to their master; and Pizarro gave them leave to depart.

The next day Pizarro resumed his march, and in the evening the envoy whom Atahuallpa had first sent-a man of importance, the same who had brought the present of the castellated vase-presented himself in the Spanish camp. He, too, brought flattering assurances from Atahuallpa, declaring that that prince would treat Pizarro as a friend and brother. This Peruvian chief said that he would accompany Pizarro to Cassa

marca.

Pizarro resumed his march, and the day after, Pizarro's own Indian messenger, the Curaca of the province of San Miguel, returned to the camp. No sooner

Quarrel between the Envoys.

475

did this Indian set eyes upon Atahuallpa's envoy than he fell furiously upon him, and, if they had not been separated, would have done him serious injury. Being asked the cause of his rage, he said that this envoy was a great rascal, a spy of Atahuallpa's, who came there to tell lies and to pass himself off for a chief; that Atahuallpa had a numerous army with him, well armed and well provisioned; that he was preparing for war in the plain of Cassamarca, and that the town of Cassamarca was abandoned. The San Miguelite Indian's dignity had been deeply injured. They would not, he said, allow him to see Atahuallpa; they would not furnish him provisions unless he gave something for them in exchange; indeed, he declared they would have killed him if he had not threatened that Pizarro would do the like with Atahuallpa's messengers. One, however, of Atahuallpa's uncles he had seen, and to him he had given an account of the bravery of the Spaniards, of their armor, their horses, their swords, their guns, and their cannon. To these furious words Atahuallpa's envoy replied that, if the town of Cassamarca was deserted, it was in order that the houses might be left vacant as quarters for the Spaniards; and that Atahuallpa was in the field, because such had been his custom since the commencement of the war. "If," he said, "they prevented you from speaking to Atahuallpa, it is because he is keeping a fast,* and while he fasts he lives in retreat. His people dare not then speak to

It is a curious fact that several of the Princes of Cassamarca, whom the Incas dispossessed, are said to have fasted to such a degree, upon first coming to the throne, as to have seriously injured their health. The shortness of their reigns is thus accounted for.-See BALBOA, p. 95. TERNAUX-COMPANS, vol. iv.

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