A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume V Part 9

Notwithstanding this unforseen misfortune, Giron continued his march to the valley of Pachacamac, only four leagues from Lima, where it was resolved in a council of war to endeavour to surprise the camp of the royalists near the capital. Intelligence of this was conveyed to the judges, who put themselves in a posture of defence. Their army at this time consisted of 300 cavalry, 600 musqueteers, and about 450 men armed with pikes, or 1350 in all. It may be proper to remark in this place, that, to secure the loyalty of the soldiers and inhabitants, the judges had proclaimed a suspension of the obnoxious edicts by which the Indians were exempted from personal services, and the Spaniards were forbidden to make use of them to carry their baggage on journeys; and had agreed to send two procurators or deputies to implore redress from his majesty from these burdensome regulations.

Two days after the arrival of Giron in the valley of Pachacamac, a party of his army went out to skirmish with the enemy, on which occasion Diego de Selva and four others of considerable reputation deserted to the judges. For several days afterwards his men continued to abandon him at every opportunity, twenty or thirty of them going over at a time to the royal army. Afraid that the greater part of his army might follow this example, Hernandez Giron found it necessary to retreat from the low country and to return to Cuzco, which he did in such haste that his soldiers left all their heavy baggage that they might not be enc.u.mbered in their march. On this alteration of affairs, the judges gave orders to Paulo de Meneses to pursue the rebels with six hundred select men; but the generals of the royal army would not allow of more than a hundred being detached on this service. During his retreat, Giron, finding himself not pursued by the royalists with any energy, marched with deliberation, but so many of his men left him that by the time he reached the valley of Chincha his force was reduced to about 500 men.

Paulo de Meneses, having been reinforced, proposed to follow and hara.s.s the retreating rebels; but not having accurate intelligence, nor keeping sufficient guard, was surprised and defeated by Giron with some considerable loss, and obliged to retreat in great disorder. Yet Giron was under the necessity to discontinue the pursuit, as many of his men deserted to the royalists.

Sensible of the detriment suffered by the royal interests in consequence of the disagreement between the present generals, Judge Santillan and Archbishop Loyasa, to which the defeat of Meneses was obviously owing, these very unfit persons for military command were displaced, and Paulo de Meneses was invested in the office of commander-in-chief, with Pedro de Puertocarrero as his lieutenant-general. This new appointment occasioned great discontent in the army, that a person who had lost a battle, and rather merited ignominy and punishment for his misconduct, should be raised to the chief command. The appointment was however persisted in, and it was resolved to pursue the enemy with 800 men without baggage.

Hernandez Giron, who retreated by way of the plain towards Arequipa, had reached the valley of Nasca, about sixty leagues to the southwards of Lima, before the confusion and disputes in the royal camp admitted of proper measures being taken for pursuit. At this time, the judges gave permission to a sergeant in the royal army, who had formerly been in the conspiracy of Diego de Royas, to go into the enemys camp disguised as an Indian, under pretence of bringing them exact information of the state of affairs. But this man went immediately to Hernandez, whom he informed of the quarrels among the officers and the discontents in the royal army. He likewise informed him that the city of San Miguel de Piura had rebelled, and that one Pedro de Orosna was coming from the new kingdom of Grenada with a strong party to join the rebels in Peru. But to qualify this favourable news for the rebels, Giron received notice at the same time that the marshal Alvarado was coming against him from Las Charcas with a force of twelve hundred men. About this time, on purpose to reinforce his army, Giron raised a company of an hundred and fifty negroes, which he afterwards augmented to 450, regularly divided into companies, to which he appointed captains, and allowed them to elect their own ensigns, sergeants, and corporals, and to make their own colours.

In the mean time, the marshal Alonzo de Alvarado, employed himself diligently in Las Charcas to raise men for the royal service, and to provide arms, ammunition, provisions, horses, and mules, and every thing necessary for taking the field. He appointed Don Martin de Almendras, who had married his sister, lieutenant-general, Diego de Porras standard-bearer, and Diego de Villavicennio major-general. Pera Hernandez Paniagua, Juan Ortiz de Zarate, and Don Gabriel de Guzman, were captains of horse. The licentiate Polo, Diego de Almendras, Martin de Alarzon, Hernando Alvarez de Toledo, Juan Ramon, and Juan de Arreynaga, were captains of foot; Gomez Hernandez the lawyer, military alguazil or judge-advocate, and Juan Riba Martin commissary-general. His force amounted to 750 excellent soldiers, all well armed and richly clothed, with numerous attendants, such as had never been seen before in Peru. I saw them myself a few days after their arrival in Cuzco, when they made a most gallant appearance. While on his march to Cuzco from La Plata, Alvarado was joined by several parties of ten and twenty together, who came to join him in the service of his majesty. On his way to Arequipa he was joined by about forty more; and after pa.s.sing that place, Sancho Duarte and Martin d'Olmos joined him from La Paz with more than two hundred good soldiers. Besides these, while in the province of Cuzco, he was joined by Juan de Saavedra with a squadron of eighty five men of the princ.i.p.al interest and fortune in the country. On entering Cuzco, Alvarado was above 1200 strong; having 300 horse, 350 musqueteers, and about 530 armed with pikes and halberts. Not knowing what was become of Giron, Alvarado issued orders to repair the bridges over the Apurimac and Abancay, intending to pa.s.s that way in quest of the rebels. But receiving intelligence from the judges, of the defeat of Meneses, and that the rebels were encamped in the valley of Nasca, he ordered the bridges to be destroyed, and marched by the nearest way for Nasca, by way of Parinacocha, in which route he had to cross a rocky desert of sixty leagues.

In this march four of the soldiers deserted and went over to Hernandez Giron at Nasca, to whom they gave an account of the great force with which Alvarado was marching against him, but reported in public that the royalists were inconsiderable in number. Giron, however, chose to let his soldiers know the truth, and addressed his army as follows.

"Gentlemen, do not flatter or deceive yourselves: There are a thousand men coming against you from Lima, and twelve hundred from the mountains.

But, with the help of G.o.d, if you stand firm, I have no doubt of defeating them all." Leaving Nasca, Giron marched by way of Lucanas, by the mountain road, intending to take post on the lake of Parinacocha before Alvarado might be able to reach that place. He accordingly left Nasca on the 8th of May[47] for this purpose.

[Footnote 47: Although Garcila.s.so omits the date of the year, it probably was in 1554, as the rebellion of Giron commenced in the November immediately preceding.--E.]

In the mean time pursuing his march, Alvarado and his army entered upon the desert of _Parihuanacocha_, where above sixty of his best horses died, in consequence of the bad and craggy roads, the unhealthiness of the climate, and continued tempestuous weather, though led by hand and well covered with clothes. When the two armies approached each other, Alvarado sent a detachment of an hundred and fifty select musqueteers to attack the camp of Giron, and marched forwards with the main body of his army to support that detachment. An engagement accordingly took place in rough and strong ground, enc.u.mbered with trees brushwood and rocks, in which the royalists could make no impression on the rebels, and were obliged to retire with the loss of forty of their best men killed or wounded. In the following night, Juan de Piedrahita endeavoured ineffectually to retaliate, by a.s.sailing the camp of Alvarado, and was obliged to retreat at daybreak. Receiving notice from a deserter that the rebel army consisted only of about four hundred men, in want of provisions, and most of them inclined to revolt from Giron and return to their duty, Alvarado determined upon giving battle, contrary to the opinion and earnest advice of all his princ.i.p.al officers and followers. But so strong was the position of the enemy, and the approaches so extremely difficult, that the royal army fell into confusion in the attack, and were easily defeated with considerable loss, and fled in all directions, many of them being slain by the Indians during their dispersed flight.

On receiving the afflicting news of this defeat, the judges ordered the army which they had drawn together at Lima to march by way of Guamanga against the rebels. In the mean time Giron remained for forty days in his camp at Chuquinca, where the battle was fought, taking care of his wounded men and of the wounded royalists, many of whom now joined his party. He sent off however his lieutenant-general towards Cuzco in pursuit of the royalists who had fled in that direction, and ordered his sergeant-major to go to La Plaz, Chucuito, Potosi, and La Plata, to collect men arms and horses for the farther prosecution of the war. At length Giron marched into the province of Andahuaylas, which he laid waste without mercy, whence he went towards Cuzco on receiving intelligence that the army of the judges had pa.s.sed the rivers Abancay and Apurimac on their way to attack him. He immediately marched by the valley of Yucay to within a league of Cuzco, not being sufficiently strong to resist the royalists; but turned off from that city at the persuasion of certain astrologers and prognosticators, who declared that his entrance there would prove his ruin, as had already happened to many other captains, both Spaniards and Indians.

The army of the judges marched on from Guamanga to Cuzco unopposed by the rebels, their chief difficulty being in the pa.s.sages of the great rivers, and the transport of eleven pieces of artillery, which were carried on the shoulders of Indians, of whom ten thousand were required for that service only. Each piece of ordinance was fastened on a beam of wood forty feet long, under which twenty cross bars were fixed, each about three feet long, and to every bar were two Indians, one on each side, who carried this load on their shoulders, on pads or cus.h.i.+ons, and were relieved by a fresh set every two hundred paces. After halting five days in the neighbourhood of Cuzco, to refresh the army from the fatigues of the march, and to procure provisions and other necessaries, the royal army set out in pursuit of the rebels to Pucara[48], where the rebels had intrenched themselves in a very strong situation, environed on every side with such steep and rugged mountains as could not be pa.s.sed without extreme difficulty, more like a wall than natural rocks.

The only entrance was exceedingly narrow and intricate, so that it could easily be defended by a handful of men against an army; but the interior of this post was wide and convenient, and sufficient for accommodating the rebel army with all the cattle provisions and attendants with the utmost ease. The rebels had abundance of provisions and ammunition, having the whole country at their command since the victory of Chuquinca; besides which their negro soldiers brought in provisions daily from the surrounding country. The royal army encamped at no great distance in an open plain, fortifying the camp with an intrenchment breast-high all round, which was soon executed by means of the great numbers of Indians who attended to carry the baggage and artillery.

Giron established a battery of cannon on the top of a rising ground so near the royal camp that the b.a.l.l.s were able to reach considerably beyond the intrenchment: "Yet by the mysterious direction of Providence, the rebel cannon, having been cast from the consecrated metal of bells dedicated to the service of G.o.d, did no harm to man or beast."

[Footnote 48: Pucara is in the province of Lampa, near the north-western extremity of the great lake t.i.ticaca.--E.]

After a considerable delay, during which daily skirmishes pa.s.sed between the adverse parties, Giron resolved to make a night attack upon the camp of the royalists, confiding in the prediction of some wise old woman, that he was to gain the victory at that place. For this purpose he marched out from his natural fortress at the head of eight hundred foot, six hundred of whom were musqueteers, and the rest pikemen, with only about thirty horse. His negro soldiers, who were about two hundred and fifty in number, joined with about seventy Spaniards, were ordered to a.s.sail the front of the royal camp, while Giron with the main body was to attack the rear. Fortunately the judges had got notice of this intended a.s.sault from two rebel deserters, so that the whole royal army was drawn out in order of battle on the plain before the rebels got up to the attack. The negro detachment arrived at the royal camp sometime before Giron, and, finding no resistance, they broke in and killed a great number of the Indian followers, and many horses and mules, together with five or six Spanish soldiers who had deserted the ranks and hidden themselves in the camp. On arriving at the camp, Giron fired a whole volley into the fortifications without receiving any return; but was astonished when the royal army began to play upon the flank of his army from an unexpected quarter, with all their musquets and artillery.

Giron, being thus disappointed in his expectations of taking the enemy by surprise, and finding their whole army drawn up to receive him, lost heart and retreated back to his strong camp in the best order he could.

But on this occasion, two hundred of his men, who had formerly served under Alvarado, and had been constrained to enter into his service after the battle of Chuquinca, threw down their arms and revolted to the royalists.

Giron made good his retreat, as the general of the royalists would not permit any pursuit during the darkness of the night. In this affair, five or six were killed on the side of the judges, and about thirty wounded; while the rebels, besides the two hundred who revolted, had ten men killed and about the same number wounded. On the third day after the battle, Giron sent several detachments to skirmish with the enemy, in hopes of provoking them to a.s.sail his strong camp; but the only consequence of this was giving an opportunity to Thomas Vasquez and ten or twelve more to go over to the royalists. Heart-broken and confounded by these untoward events, and even dreading that his own officers had conspired against his life, Giron fled away alone from the camp on horseback during the night after the desertion of Vasquez. On the appearance of day he found himself still near his own camp, whence he desperately adventured to make his escape over a mountain covered with snow, where he was nearly swallowed up, but at last got through by the goodness of his horse. Next morning, the lieutenant-general of the rebels, with about an hundred of the most guilty, went off in search of their late general; but several others of the leading rebels went over to the judges and claimed their pardons, which were granted under the great seal.

Next day, Paulo de Meneses, with a select detachment, went in pursuit of Diego de Alvarado, the rebel lieutenant-general, who was accompanied by about an hundred Spaniards and twenty negroes; and came up with them in eight or nine days, when they all surrendered without resistance. The general immediately ordered Juan Henriquez de Orellana, one of the prisoners, who had been executioner in the service of the rebels, to hang and behead Diego de Alvarado and ten or twelve of the princ.i.p.al chiefs, after which he ordered Orellana to be strangled by two negroes.

"I cannot omit one story to shew the impudence of the rebel soldiers, which occurred at this time. The very next day after the flight of Francisco Hernandez Giron, as my father Garcila.s.so de la Vega was at dinner with eighteen or twenty soldiers, it being the custom in time of war for all men of estates to be hospitable in this manner according to their abilities; he observed among his guests a soldier who had been with Giron from the beginning of this rebellion. This man was by trade a blacksmith, yet crowded to the table with as much freedom and boldness as if he had been a loyal gentleman, and was as richly clothed as the most gallant soldier of either army. Seeing him sit down with much confidence, my father told him to eat his dinner and welcome, but to come no more to his table; as a person who would have cut off his head yesterday for a reward from the general of the rebels, was not fit company for himself or those gentlemen, his friends and wellwishers, and loyal subjects of his majesty. Abashed by this address, the poor blacksmith rose and departed without his dinner, leaving subject of discourse to the guests, who admired at his impudence."

After his flight, Hernandez Giron was rejoined by a considerable number of his dispersed soldiers, and took the road towards Lima, in hopes of gaining possession of that place in the absence of the judges. He was pursued by various detachments, one of which came up with him in a strong position on a mountain; where all his followers, though more numerous than their pursuers, surrendered at discretion, and the arch rebel was made prisoner and carried to Lima, where he was capitally punished, and his head affixed to the gallows beside those of Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco de Carvajal. This rebellion subsisted from the 13th of November 1553, reckoning the day on which Giron was executed, thirteen months and some days; so that he received his well-merited punishment towards the end of December 1554.

SECTION V.

_History of Peru during the Viceroyalty of the Marquis del Cannete._

Immediately after learning the death of Don Antonio de Mendoza, his imperial majesty, who was then in Germany, nominated the Conde de Palma to succeed to the viceroyalty of Peru: But both he and the Conde de Olivares declined to accept. At length Don Andres Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Cannete, was appointed to the office. Having received his instructions, he departed for Peru and arrived at Nombre de Dios, where he resided for some time for the purpose of suppressing a band of fugitive negroes, called _Cimarrones_ who lived in the mountains, and robbed and pillaged the merchants and others on the road between Nombre de Dios and Panama. Finding themselves hard pressed by a military force sent against them under the command of Pedro de Orsua, the negroes at length submitted to articles of accommodation, retaining their freedom, and engaging to catch and deliver up all negroes that should in future desert from their masters. They likewise agreed to live peaceably and quietly within a certain district, and were allowed to have free trade with the Spanish towns.

Having settled all things properly in the Tierra Firma, the viceroy set sail from Panama and landed at Payta on the northern confines of Peru, whence he went by land to Lima, where he was received in great pomp in the month of July 1557. Soon after the instalment of the new viceroy, he appointed officers and governors to the several cities and jurisdictions of the kingdom; among whom Baptisto Munnoz a lawyer from Spain was sent to supersede my father Garcila.s.so de la Vega in the government of Cuzco. In a short time after taking possession of his office, Munnoz apprehended Thomas Vasquez, Juan de Piedrahita and Alonzo Diaz, who had been ringleaders in the late rebellion, and who were privately strangled in prison, notwithstanding the pardons they had received in due form from the royal chancery. Their plantations and lords.h.i.+ps over Indians were confiscated and bestowed on other persons.

No other processes were issued against any of the other persons who had been engaged in the late rebellion. But Munnoz inst.i.tuted a prosecution against his predecessor in office, my father, on the four following charges. 1st, For sporting after the Spanish manner with darts on horseback, as unbecoming the gravity of his office. 2d, For going on visits without the rod of justice in his hand, by which he gave occasion to many to despise and contemn the character with which he was invested.

3d, For allowing cards and dice in his house during the Christmas holidays, and even playing himself, contrary to the dignity becoming the governor. 4th, For employing as his clerk one who was not a freeman of the city, nor qualified according to the forms of law. Some charges equally frivolous were made against Monjaraz, the deputy-governor, not worth mentioning; but these processes were not insisted in, and no fines or other punishment were inflicted.

Soon after the viceroy was settled in his government, he sent Altamirano, judge in the court of chancery at Lima, to supersede Martin de Robles in the government of the city of La Plata. De Robles was then so old and bowed down with infirmities, that he was unable to have his sword girt to his side, and had it carried after him by an Indian page; yet Altamirano, almost immediately after taking possession of his government, hanged Martin de Robles in the market-place, on some pretended charge of having used certain words respecting the viceroy that had a rebellious tendency. About the same time the viceroy apprehended and deported to Spain about thirty-seven of those who had most eminently distinguished their loyalty in suppressing the late rebellion, chiefly because they solicited rewards for their services and remuneration for the great expences they had been at during the war, and refused to marry certain women who had been brought from Spain by the viceroy as wives to the colonists, many of whom were known to be common strumpets.

The next object which occupied the attention of the viceroy was to endeavour to prevail upon Sayri Tupac, the nominal Inca or king of the Peruvians, to quit the mountains in which he had taken refuge, and to live among the Spaniards, under promise of a sufficient allowance to maintain his family and equipage. Sayri Tupac was the son and heir of Manco Capac, otherwise called Menco Saca, who had been killed by the Spaniards after delivering them out of the hands of their enemies. After a long negociation, the Inca Sayri Tupac came to Lima where he was honourably received and entertained by the viceroy, who settled an insignificant pension upon him according to promise. After remaining a short time in Lima, the Inca was permitted by the viceroy to return to Cuzco, where he took up his residence in the house of his aunt Donna Beatrix Coya, which was directly behind my fathers dwelling, and where he was visited by all the men and women of the royal blood of the Incas who resided in Cuzco. The Inca was soon afterwards baptized along with his wife, Cusi Huarcay, the niece of the former Inca Huascar. This took place in the year 1558; and about three years afterwards he died, leaving a daughter who was afterwards married to a Spaniard named Martin Garcia de Loyola.

Having settled all things in the kingdom to his satisfaction, by the punishment of those who had been concerned in the rebellion under Giron, and the settlement of the Inca under the protection and superintendence of the Spanish government; the viceroy raised a permanent force of seventy lancers or cavalry, and two hundred musqueteers, to secure the peace of the kingdom, and to guard his own person and the courts of justice. The hors.e.m.e.n of this guard were allowed each a thousand, and the foot soldiers five hundred, dollars yearly. Much about the same time, Alonzo de Alvarado, Juan Julio de Hojeda, my lord and father Garcila.s.so de la Vega, and Lorenzo de Aldana died. These four gentlemen were all of the ancient conquerors of Peru who died by natural deaths, and were all greatly lamented by the people for their virtuous honourable and good characters. All the other conquerors either died in battle, or were cut off by other violent deaths, in the various civil wars and rebellions by which the kingdom was so long distracted.

On the arrival of those persons in Spain who had been sent out of Peru by the viceroy for demanding rewards for their services, they pet.i.tioned the king, Don Philip II, for redress; who was graciously pleased to give pensions to as many of them as chose to return to Peru, to be paid from the royal exchequer in that kingdom, that they might not need to address themselves to the viceroy. Such as chose to remain in Spain, he gratified with pensions upon the custom-house in Seville; the smallest being 80 ducats yearly, to some 600, to some 800, 1000, and 1200 ducats, according to their merits and services. About the same time likewise, his majesty was pleased to nominate Don Diego de Azevedo as viceroy of Peru, to supersede the Marquis of Cannete; but, while preparing for his voyage, he died, to the great grief of all the colonists of the kingdom.

The Marquis of Cannete was much astonished when those men whom he had banished from Peru for demanding rewards for their past services, came back with royal warrants for pensions on the exchequer of that kingdom, and still more so when he learnt that another person was appointed to succeed him in the office of viceroy. On this occasion he laid aside his former haughtiness and severity, and became gentle and lenient in his disposition and conduct for the rest of his days; so that, if he had begun as he ended his administration, he would have proved the best governor that ever commanded in the New World. On seeing this change of conduct, the heirs of those citizens who had been executed for having engaged in the rebellion of Giron, laid the pardons obtained by their fathers before the judges of the royal audience, and made reclamation of the estates which had been confiscated, and even succeeded in having their lands and Indians restored, together with all other confiscations which had been ordered at the first coming over of the viceroy.

At this time likewise, the viceroy gave a commission to Pedro de Orsua, to make a conquest of the country of the Amazons on the river Marannon, being the same country in which Orellana deserted Gonzalo Pizarro, as formerly related. Orsua went to Quito to raise soldiers, and to provide arms and provisions, in which he was greatly a.s.sisted by contributions from the citizens of Cuzco, Quito and other cities of Peru. Orsua set out accordingly on his expedition, with a well appointed force of five hundred men, a considerable proportion of which was cavalry. But he was slain by his own men, at the instigation of Don Fernando de Guzman and some others, who set up Don Fernando as their king, yet put him to death shortly afterwards. Lope de Aguira then a.s.sumed the command, but the whole plan of conquest fell to the ground, and Aguira and far the greater part of the men engaged in this expedition were slain.

SECTION VI.

_Incidents in the History of Peru, during the successive Governments of the Conde de Nieva, Lope Garcia de Castro, and Don Francisco de Toledo._

On the death of Don Diego de Azevedo, Don Diego de Zuniga by Velasco, Conde de Nieva, was appointed to supersede the Marquis of Cannete as viceroy of Peru, and departing from Spain to a.s.sume his new office in January 1560, he arrived at Payta in Peru in the month of April following. He immediately dispatched a letter to the marquis informing him of his arrival in the kingdom as viceroy, and requiring the marquis to desist from any farther exercise of authority. On the arrival of the messenger at Lima, the marquis ordered him to be honourably entertained, and to receive a handsome gratification, to the value of 7000 dollars; but he forfeited all these advantages, by refusing to address the ex-viceroy by the t.i.tle of excellency. This slight, which had been directed by the new viceroy, so pressed on the spirits of the marquis, already much reduced by the infirmities of age and the ravages of a mortal distemper, that he fell into a deep melancholy, and ended his days before the arrival of his successor at Lima.

The Conde de Nieva did not long enjoy the happiness he expected in his government, and he came by his death not many months afterwards by means of a strange accident, of which he was himself the cause; but as it was of a scandalous nature I do not chuse to relate the particulars. On receiving notice of his death, King Philip II. was pleased to appoint the lawyer Lope Garcia de Castro, who was then president of the royal council of the Indies, to succeed to the government of Peru, with the t.i.tle only of president of the court of royal audience and governor-general of the kingdom. He governed the kingdom with much wisdom and moderation, and lived to return into Spain, where he was replaced in his former situation of president of the council of the Indies.

Don Francisco de Toledo, second son of the Conde de Oropeta, succeeded Lope Garcia de Castro in the government of Peru, with the tide of viceroy. He had scarcely been two years established in the government, when he resolved to entice from the mountains of Villcapampa[49] where he resided, the Inca Tupac Amaru, the legitimate heir of the Peruvian empire, being the son of Manco Inca, and next brother to the late Don Diego Sayri Tupac, who left no son. The viceroy was induced to attempt this measure, on purpose to put a stop to the frequent robberies which were committed by the Indians dependent on the Inca, in the roads between Cuzco and Guamanga, and in hope of procuring information respecting the treasures which had belonged to former Incas and the great chain of gold belonging to Huayna Capac, formerly mentioned, all of which it was alleged was concealed by the Indians. Being unable to prevail upon the Inca to put himself in the power of the Spaniards, a force of two hundred and fifty men was detached into the Villcapampa, under the command of Martin Garcia Loyola, to whom the Inca surrendered himself, with his wife, two sons, and a daughter, who were all carried prisoners to Cuzco.

[Footnote 49: The river Quiliabamba, otherwise called Urabamba and Vilcamayo is to the north of Cuzco, and to the north of that river one of the chains of the Andes is named the chain of Cuzco or of the rebel Indians. This is probably the mountainous region mentioned in the text.--E.]

The unfortunate Inca was arraigned by the attorney-general, of having encouraged his servants and va.s.sals to infest the roads and to rob the Spanish merchants, of having declared enmity against all who lived or inhabited among the Spaniards, and of having entered into a plot with the Caracas or Caciques, who were lords of districts and Indians by ancient grants of the former Incas, to rise in arms on a certain day and to kill all the Spaniards they could find. At the same time a general accusation was made against all the males of mixed race, born of Indian mothers to the Spanish conquerors, who were alleged to have secretly agreed with Tupac Amaru and other Incas to make an insurrection for extirpating the Spaniards and restoring the native, Inca to the throne of Peru. In consequence of this accusation, all the sons of Spaniards by Indian women who were of age sufficient to carry arms were committed to prison, and many of them were put to the torture to extort confession of these alleged crimes, for which they had no proof or evidence whatsoever. Many of them were accordingly banished to various remote parts of the New World, as to Chili, the new kingdom of Granada, the West India islands, Panama, and Nicaragua, and others were sent into Spain.

All the males of the royal line of the Incas, who were in the capacity of being able to succeed to the throne, to the number of thirty-six persons, together with the two sons and the daughter of the Inca Tupac Amaru, were commanded to reside for the future in Lima, where in little more than two years they all died except three, who were permitted to return to their own houses for purer air: But even these three were beyond recovery, and died soon afterwards. One of these, Don Carlos Paula, left a son who died in Spain in 1610, leaving one son a few months old who died next year; and in him ended the entire male line of the Incas of Peru.

Tupac Amaru was brought to trial, under pretence that he intended to rebel, and had engaged in a conspiracy with several Indians, and with the sons of Spaniards born of Indian mothers, intending to have dispossessed his majesty Philip II of the kingdom of Peru. On this unfounded accusation, and on the most inconclusive evidence, he was condemned to lose his head. Upon notice of this sentence, the friars of Cuzco flocked to prison, and persuaded the unfortunate prince to receive baptism, on which he a.s.sumed the name of Don Philip. Though the Inca earnestly entreated to be sent to Spain, and urged the absurdity and impossibility that he could ever intend to rebel against the numerous Spanish colonists who now occupied the whole country of Peru, seeing that his father with 200,000 men was utterly unable to overcome only 200 Spaniards whom he besieged in the city of Cuzco; yet the viceroy thought fit to order the sentence to be carried into execution. The Inca was accordingly brought out of prison, mounted on a mule, having his bands tied and a halter about his neck, and being conducted to the ordinary place of execution in the city of Cuzco, his head was cut off by the public executioner.

After continuing sixteen years in the viceroyalty of Peru, Don Francisco de Toledo returned into Spain, with a fortune of above half a million of pesos. Falling under the displeasure of the king, he was ordered to confine himself to his own house, and all his fortune was laid under sequestration, which so affected his mind that he soon died of a broken heart. Martin Garcia Loyola, who made the Inca prisoner, was married to a coya, the daughter of the former Inca Sayri Tupac, by whom he acquired a considerable estate; and being afterwards made governor of Chili, was slain in that country by the natives.

END OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF PERU.

CHAPTER IX.

HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF CHILI

INTRODUCTION.

Not having the advantage of any original and contemporary author to lay before our readers on this occasion, it was at first our intention to have omitted any notice of Chili in the present division of this work: But under the existing and important circ.u.mstances of the Spanish American colonies, to which some allusion has been already made in the introduction to the preceding chapter, it has been deemed proper to deviate on this occasion from our general principle, and to endeavour to draw up a short satisfactory account of the Discovery and Conquest of Chili, and of the early History of that interesting region, the most distant of all the early European colonies in the New World, and which presents the singular and solitary phenomenon, of a native nation inhabiting a fertile and champaign country, successfully resisting the arts, discipline, and arms of Europeans, and remaining unconquered and independent to the present day, after the almost perpetual efforts of the Spaniards during a period of 277 years.

In the composition of this chapter, we have been chiefly guided by the geographical natural and civil history of Chili, by the Abbe Don Juan Ignatio Molina, a native of the country, and a member of the late celebrated order of the Jesuits. On the dissolution of that order, being expelled along with all his brethren from the Spanish dominions, he went to reside at Bologna in Italy, where in 1787 he published the first part of his work, containing the natural history of Chili, and the second part, or civil history, some years afterwards. This work was translated and published some years ago in the United States of North America; and was republished in London in the year 1809, with the addition of several notes and appendixes from various sources by the English editor. In the present abridged version of the second part of that work, or civil history of Chili, we have collated the whole with An Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Chili, by Alonzo de Ovalle, or Ovaglia, likewise a native and a Jesuit, printed at Rome in 1649, of which an English translation is inserted in Churchill's collection of voyages and travels, Vol. III. p. 1-146. In other divisions of this work, more minute accounts will be furnished, respecting the country of Chili and its inhabitants and productions, by means of several voyages to that distant and interesting country.