the deputies they gave such a description of the wealth which they had seen, as determined Pizarro to seize upon the Peruvian monarch, in order that he might more easily come at the riches of his kingdom. The next day the inca approached Caxamalca without suspicion of Pizarro's treachery. First of all appeared 400 men in uniform dress, as harbingers to clear the way before him. He himself, sitting on a throne adorned with plumes of various colours, and almost entirely covered with plates of gold and silver enriched with precious stones, was carried on the shoulders of his principal attendants. Behind him came some chief officers of his court, carried in the same manner. Several bands of singers and dancers accompanied in this cavalcade, and the whole plain was covered with troops, amounting to more than thirty thousand men.

As the inca drew near the Spanish quarters, father Vincent Valverde, chaplain to the expedition, advanced with a crucifix in one hand, and a breviary in the other, and in a long discourse attempted to convert him to the catholic faith. This the monarch declined, avowing his resolution to adhere to the worship of the Sun; at the same time he wished to know where the priest had learned the extraordinary things which he had related. "In this book," answered Valverde, reaching out to him his breviary. The inca opened it eagerly, and turning over the leaves raised it to his ear; "This," says he, "is silent, it tells me nothing," and threw it with disdain to the ground. The enraged monk, running towards his countrymen, cried out, "To arms, Christians, to arms! The word of God is insulted; avenge the profanation on these impious dogs."

Pizarro, who during this long conference had

with difficulty restrained his soldiers, eager to seize the rich spoils of which they had now so near a view, immediately gave the signal of assault, which terminated in the destruction of 4000 Peruvians, without the loss of a single Spaniard. The plunder of the field was rich beyond any idea which even the conquerors had yet formed concerning the wealth of Peru.

The inca, who was taken prisoner, quickly discovered that the ruling passion of the Spaniards was avarice; he offered, therefore, to recover his liberty by a splendid ransom. The apartment in which he was confined was 22 feet long by 16 in breadth; this he undertook to fill with vessels of gold as high as he could reach. Pizarro closed with the proposal, and a line was drawn upon the walls of the chamber to mark the stipulated height to which the treasure was to rise.

Atahualpa performed his part of the contract, and the gold which his subjects brought in was worth between three and four hundred thousand pounds sterling. When they assembled to divide the spoils of this innocent people, procured by deceit, extortion, and cruelty, the transaction began with a solemn invocation to heaven, as if they expected the guidance of God in distributing those wages of iniquity. In this division, above eight thousand pesos, at that time not inferior in effective value to 10,000l. sterling in the present day, fell to the share of each horse soldier. Pizarro and his officers received dividends in proportion to the dignity of their rank.

A. D. 1533.

The Spaniards having divided among them the treasure, the inca insisted that they should fulfil their promise of setting him at liberty. But nothing was further from Pizarro's

thoughts; he was even at that very moment planning schemes to take away his life: an action the most criminal and atrocious that stains the Spanish name, amidst all the deeds of violence committed in carrying on the conquest of the New World. In order to give some colour of justice to this outrage, and that he might not stand singly responsible for the commission of it, Pizarro resolved to try the inca with all the formalities observed in the criminal courts of Spain. The charges exhibited against him were, the deposition and death of his brother; the permission of offering up human sacrifices; the keeping of a great number of concubines; and the exciting his subjects to take arms against the Spaniards. On these he was found guilty, as his infamous judges had predetermined, and condemned to be burnt alive. Friar Valverde prostituted the authority of his sacred function to confirm the wicked sentence, and by his signature warranted it to be just. Pizarro ordered him to be led to execution, and the cruel priest offered to console, and attempted to convert him. The dread of a cruel death extorted from the trembling victima desire of being baptized. The ceremony was performed; and Atahualpa, instead of being burnt, was strangled at the stake.

The death of the inca was no sooner known, than the principal nobility at Cuzco proclaimed the brother of Huascar as his successor: but Pizarro set up a son of Atahualpa; and two generals of the Peruvians claimed the sovereign power for themselves. Thus was this wretched country torn to pieces at once by foreigners, and by a domestic war among themselves. Notwithstanding, the Peruvians gained some considerable advantages over the Spaniards, even in this distracted condition, VOL. XXIV. P

which made Pizarro listen to terms of peace, which he knew how to violate when his affairs required it. He made use of the interval to settle the Spaniards in the country, and shortly after renewed the war, making himself master of Cuzco, then the capital of the empire. New grants and supplies had lately arrived from Spain. Pizarro obtained 200 leagues along the sea-coast, to the southward of his former government. Almagro had a grant also of two hundred more to the southward of Pizarro's. It seems to have been a doubtful point in whose territory the city of Cuzco lay. Both contended for it; but it was at length awarded to Pizarro, and a reconciliation was again effected. Almagro, with an addition of Pizarro's troops to his own, penetrated with difficulty and danger into Chili, losing many of his men, whilst he passed over mountains of immense height, and always covered with snow. He succeeded, however, in reducing a valuable and considerable part of that country. No sooner did the inca perceive this division of the Spanish troops, than he desired leave from Pizarro's brother, who managed his affairs for him at Cuzco, to assist at a solemn festival of his nation, which was to be held at some distance. This feast was in reality a sort of an assembly of the states of the kingdom. The inca having his request granted, he made the best use of his time in exciting his countrymen to avenge themselves of the Spanish wrongs and cruelty. They laid siege to Cuzco with a large army; but the garrison under Ferdinand Pizarro, though it consisted of only seventy men, was, with their artillery, successful.

News was brought to Almagro of the danger to which Cuzco was exposed, and the general insurrection of the Peruvians. Relinquishing his new

Conquests, he hastened back to preserve his old, with great expedition. At his approach the Indians raised the siege, to the joy of the garrison, who were almost exhausted by the length of the defence. Almagro resolved to renew his claims to Cuzco; he had now a sort of right to it by having raised the siege, and he had strength sufficient to support that right. Ferdinand and Gonzalo, the two brothers of Pizarro, making some opposition, were thrown into prison, and their little army either joined the conqueror, or shared the same fate.

Pizarro, unacquainted with the arrival of Almagro, had got together an army for the relief of Cuzco, who were near the town before they found that they had any other enemy than the Indians to contend with. Almagro, after having in vain tried to seduce their fidelity, engaged and routed them. His friends represented to him that now was the hour of his fortune, and that he was bound to employ it, by establishing himself beyond all possibility of being removed. That he ought to put the Pizarros, his prisoners, to death, and march directly to Lima, and seize his rival. Almagro rejected this advice; and while he was deliberating what course he should pursue, Gonzalo Pizarro made his escape, with a hundred of those who were affected to his cause. Shortly after, by the solicitations and art of Pizarro, he released his brother Ferdinand. The treaty which they entered into with Almagro was now forgotten they attacked him, gained a complete victory, and took him prisoner. In spite of Almagro's age, which ought to have excited pity; in spite of their common warfare, their dangers and triumphs; in spite of every sentiment of gratitude,