A Tour Through South America

by A. S. Forrest

On a higher plane than this, they had evolved a religion full of sound rules for individual and social conduct and performed with a wealth of ritual. Its central feature was Sun-worship, which relates it somewhat to the Zoroastrianism of the Persians, but it is clear that, in addition, the Incas and their subjects had an exalted conception of a Supreme Being—the fount and origin of the Universe. His greatest temple, which filled one side of the square at Cuzco, was richly ornamented and decorated, its walls and shrines being overlaid with pure gold, in the working of which metal the ancient Peruvians were highly proficient.

Truly, here was a people widely differentiated from the ruck of South American natives—those squalid Indians with whom the Spanish adventurers came into contact. Possessed of sufficient enterprise to establish an empire which, from north to south, extended from Quito in Ecuador to the River Maule in Chili, they were a noble and withal peaceful race; and the inexplicable manner in which this fabric of civilisation arose can only be compared in sheer wonder with the sudden manner of its fall. Although nothing definite seems to have been known in Europe of the empire of the Incas, such an Eldorado had been adumbrated by dreamers and sung of by poets, and the outpourings of these men of fancy fired the hearts of adventurers in quest of a land rich in treasure beyond the dreams of avarice.

The splendid dominion of the Incas fell a prey to the greatest of all the Spanish adventurers—Francisco Pizarro, who outshone his fellows in ability, daring, resourcefulness, and, alas! treachery. The illegitimate offspring of a gentleman and a woman of the people, Pizarro, although lacking in education, proved himself more than a match for the proudest sons of Spain who had received careful training in the schools of arms and diplomacy.

In 1524, we find him settled in Panama with two companions, Almagro and Luque, the trio eager to discover that rich country which everyone was persuaded had other than imaginary existence. Having obtained permission from Pedrarias, the Governor of Panama, Pizarro set sail in a small vessel with 112 men, but after many privations was compelled to retire. Urged on, however, by the persistence of his comrades Almagro and Luque, and undeterred by the defections of his men, spent and weary after a sojourn on an inhospitable island in sight of a swampy shore, Pizarro at length landed at Tumbez on the Peruvian coast, where his eyes feasted for the first time upon the opulence of the Incas. Eldorado was discovered at last!

Pizarro came and saw, but did not conquer, at any rate, not then, and that for the very good reason that he had with him a mere handful of followers. But he lost no time in collecting what he could of the spoil, and taking it as a sample to Spain, where he succeeded in inducing the court to aid and abet his surprising adventure.

He returned to Peru and arrived on the scene at the psychological moment. The last Inca monarch, Huayna Capac, had divided his kingdom between his two sons—Huascar, the rightful heir, and Atahualpa, the old king’s son by an Ecuadorian mother. These two sons began to squabble over territorial questions, and at length Atahualpa endeavoured to appropriate the whole country to himself. This was Pizarro’s opportunity and he was quick to take advantage of it.

The meeting between the Spanish conquistadors and the last of the great Incas was surely one of the most remarkable in history, resembling somewhat the splendours of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. On the surface at least, amity prevailed on both sides, Pizarro being lavish in his professions of good intentions, and Atahualpa child-like in his belief of them.

A LLAMA IN GOLD, MADE BY THE INCAS.

The Inca king was carried to the meeting-place on a throne or couch adorned with plumes of various colours, and almost covered with plates of gold and silver embellished with precious stones. Following him were the chief officers of his court carried in a similar manner, singers and dancers accompanying the procession, whilst the plain was covered with countless troops.