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unhealthy climate. Pizarro drew a line with his sword in the sand, and ordered those who were willing to depart and to relinquish the hopes of splendid conquests to cross it. All accepted the offer but twelve men. With these resolute adherents he remained upon the island, where he endured for some months all the miseries of want and exposure to the weather. At length a vessel arrived from Panama with succours; and Pizarro, whose courage was rather provoked than subdued by the hardships he had undergone, immediately determined to direct his course again to Peru. A voyage of only twenty days brought him within sight of that long-sought country. touched at several places on the coast; and the Spaniards were no less astonished than gratified by the proofs they saw of industry and opulence among the people. But they had not force sufficient to make a settlement; and having satisfied themselves as to the wealth of the Peruvian empire, they returned in 1527 to Panama. Three years had nearly elapsed since the first expedition was fitted out for the conquest of Peru, and the funds of the associates were now quite exhausted by the expenses of their fruitless efforts. Yet they were far from abandoning an enterprise which they wanted means to prosecute. Their prospects were now brightened by a promising though tardy gleam of success; and hope took the office of calculation.

Pizarro proceeded to Spain, to solicit from the crown of Castile permission to conquer the empire of Peru; and all his demands were acceded to. He was appointed governor and captain-general of all the country which he should conquer, for an extent of two hundred leagues to the south of the river St. Iago. Before he left Spain, he received a supply of money from Cortez, who, having already amassed great wealth by his achievements in the New World, was willing to assist an old comrade who was about to commence a similar career. *His maternal uncle Francisco de Alcantara, and his three brothers,

Perhaps there existed some family connection between Cortez and Pizarro. The mother of the former was named Catalina Pizarro.

Ferdinand, Juan, and Gonzalez, of whom the first alone was legitimate and a gentleman of education, attached themselves to his fortune and followed him.

When Pizarro arrived at Panama, he found Almagro highly incensed at the treacherous way in which his interests had been dealt with in the late negotiation: for while Luque had obtained the dignity of bishop, as originally agreed on between the associates, the command of a fortress was all that was allowed to him, and the rank of lieutenant-governor, for which he had stipulated, was withheld by his jealous colleague. Pizarro, however, had art enough to appease the natural irritation of a rough soldier, the levity of whose temper was as transiently affected by the sentiments of self-interest as by those of justice. The confederation was renewed, and preparations were made for the enterprise, the issue of which was no longer looked upon as doubtful.

But although the invasion of Peru had now received the sanction of royal authority, and was no longer the furtive project of a few obscure individuals, it was found difficult to collect persons willing to engage in what appeared an extremely hazardous undertaking. The armament fitted out for the conquest of a populous empire consisted of three small vessels, with one hundred and eighty soldiers, of whom thirty-six were horsemen. With this force Pizarro set sail in February, 1531, leaving Almagro behind to collect reinforcements. After a prosperous voyage of thirteen days he landed in the bay of St. Matthew, and immediately commenced his march southwards. On reaching the province of Coaque, the Spaniards surprised a Peruvian town, in which they found such a quantity of gold and silver as effectually removed all doubts, and seemed to justify the most sanguine expectations. Pizarro saw the advantages to be derived from this auspicious commencement. He immediately sent large remittances to Panama and to Nicaragua, in order to entice new followers by the display of his rapid success; and soon after was joined by detachments from the latter place, under the command of Sebastian Benal

cazar and Hernando de Soto, both officers of great reputation.

As he imitated the policy of Cortez in the conquest of Mexico, he advanced directly towards the heart of the Peruvian empire; at the same time amusing the inca, or sovereign of the country, with the pretence that he came as the ambassador of a powerful monarch, and not with any hostile intentions. Atahualpa, the reigning inca, lulled into security by these professions, sent presents to Pizarro as evidences of his friendship, and allowed him to pursue his march unmolested to Caxamalca, where the court at that time resided. On his arrival at this place, Pizarro posted his troops in a court, in which some public buildings and ramparts of earth secured him from any sudden attack; and here he awaited the coming of Atahualpa, who had announced his intention of visiting the Spaniards the next day.

As soon as the sun rose, the Peruvian camp was all in motion. Atahualpa wished to dazzle the strangers by an imposing display of pomp and magnificence. Pizarro, on the other hand, keeping in his eye the success of Cortez and the fate of Montezuma, resolved to decide at once the destiny of Peru, by seizing the person of its monarch. A great part of the day was consumed by Atahualpa in preparations to heighten the splendour of his appearance. At length the procession was seen approaching by the Spaniards, when their patience was nearly exhausted by delay. Four harbingers, clothed in uniform, marched in front, to clear the way before the inca. Next came the prince himself, borne on a throne, and covered with plumes of feathers and ornaments of gold and silver. Some of his chief courtiers followed in similar state. Bands of singers and dancers hovered round the royal train; while troops, amounting, it is said, to thirty thousand men, accompanied the pageant.

The Spaniards, drawn up in order of battle, awaited in silence the approach of the Peruvian procession. When the inca was near enough to be addressed, father Valverde, the chaplain to the expedition, stepped for

ward and delivered a speech, in which the most mysterious doctrines of religion were mixed with the most unwarrantable assumptions of political powers, and in which he exhorted the Peruvian monarch to embrace the Christian faith, and to acknowledge himself the vassal of the king of Spain. This harangue, of which all that was not unintelligible was highly offensive, drew from the inca, who appears not to have apprehended any danger from the handful of Spaniards whom he saw before him, a firm and contemptuous reply. The signal of attack was immediately given. Pizarro, with a chosen band, rushed forward to seize the inca; and, notwithstanding the zeal with which the Peruvians sought to defend the person of their monarch, the unfortunate Atahualpa was carried off a prisoner. An immense booty was found on the field; and this single stroke of fortune seemed at once to justify the hopes of the most ardent imaginations.

Some historians, in order to explain the facility with which the Spaniards made the conquest of Peru, are careful to explain the dissensions which at that time existed in the royal family, and which unquestionably distracted the force of the empire. But so great was the superiority in the field of the Spaniards above the simple natives of America, and so little did they scruple to employ the vilest arts of treachery and deceit, that the Peruvian empire, while it tempted them by its wealth, could hardly, under the most fortunate circumstances, have offered them any effectual resistance. How needless, and even impertinent, are explanations founded on the disordered state of Peru at the time of its invasion, will be evident to those who reflect that the Spaniards, though not above one hundred and sixty in number, and with only three musquets, marched direct into the heart of the empire; seized the inca by a mixture of violence and fraud; routed an army of thirty thousand Peruvians, and slew four thousand of them, without the loss of a single man on their own side. Proceedings of this nature do not belong to ordinary revolutions, and cannot be associated with subtle calculations.

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The captive inca endeavoured to regain his liberty, by addressing his arguments to the predominant passion of the Spaniards the love of gold. The apartment in which he was confined was twenty-two feet long and sixteen wide: this he engaged to fill with gold as high as he could reach with his hand, and Pizarro joyfully accepted the offer; though nothing was farther from his mind than to perform his part of the agreement, and, having received the ransom, to release his prisoner. The Spaniards watched impatiently the accumulation of the stipulated treasure; and at length, unable to contain themselves in the sight of so much wealth, they resolved to divide it before the whole quantity agreed on was collected. It was found to amount to a sum, which, taking into consideration the change in the value of the precious metals, would exceed three millions sterling. The share of each horseman was equivalent to about eight thousand pounds of our present money; that of the foot soldier was one fifth less. Many of Pizarro's followers, finding themselves now suddenly enriched beyond their most sanguine expectations, resolved to risk themselves no longer in the lottery of adventure, and solicited their dismissal. He readily allowed them to depart; convinced, that when they published their good fortune, crowds would throng to join his standard.

When Atahualpa had exhausted his resources, and proved no longer a convenient instrument to collect the treasures of his kingdom, the Spaniards began to talk of taking away his life. The conquerors of Mexico and Peru were, in views and sentiments, not superior to banditti, and knew no principle but that of acquiring the greatest possible booty. Their general rudeness and ignorance are evinced in the farcical display which they sometimes made of the forms of justice. Atahualpa was

solemnly tried on a series of ridiculous charges; and, being found guilty, was condemned to be burned alive; but his sentence was mitigated on his allowing himself to be baptized, and he was strangled at the stake. Pizarro found little difficulty in suppressing the rebellions

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