"Wherefore the great Emperor Charles V. appointed as his lieutenant and ambassador Don Francisco Pizarro, who is here present, that these the kingdoms of your highness may receive the like benefits; as also to form a perpetual confederation, alliance, and friendship, between his majesty and your highness, in such manner, that your highness and your kingdoms may become tributary to him, that is, by paying tribute ye may become his subjects; also that you may surrender to him every part of your territory, and renounce the administration and government of it, in the same manner as other kings and lords have done. This is the first condition: the second is, that peace and friendship being established, and you subjected either by will or by force, shall truly obey the Pope, and receive and believe the faith of our God, Jesus Christ, and despise and totally abjure the abominable superstition of your idols; you will then soon observe how holy our religion is, and how false your own, which was invented by the devil. All this, oh King! if you believe, you must freely surrender yourself, because, to you and yours, it is of great importance; and if you object to it, know that you will be persecuted with a war of destruction: all your idols shall be thrown down upon the ground, and we will force you with the sword to abandon your false religion, whether ye will or not; and you shall receive our Catholic faith, and you shall pay tribute to our king. Should you obstinately resist this, believe me, that God will permit, as he formerly did when Pharaoh and his host perished in the Red Sea, that you and all your indians perish by the edge of our swords."
Felipe, the interpreter of this discourse, was a native of the Puná, where the Quichua language generally spoken in Peru was not understood; and what little he knew of it he had learnt of some Peruvians, who at different times had visited his native island. The Spanish that he spoke he had acquired during the time he had lived among the soldiers whom he served; thus it cannot be expected that he gave to Atahualpa a faithful translation of this absurd harangue, equally filled with incomprehensible matter, furious bombast, and unjust threats; indeed many mistakes are recorded, such as one God, trinity in unity, which he translated one God, and three, four Gods; that God made dust of man on the earth, which they could not possibly understand; and many other like passages were rendered equally ridiculous. The impossibility of translating the words trinity, unity, Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary, Roman Pontiff, Emperor of the Romans, &c. is quite obvious, for they could bear no translation at all, and a description of their meaning was as much above the powers of Felipe, and perhaps of Valverde himself to explain, as the comprehension of Atahualpa to understand, who now for the first time heard that such things did exist.
When Atahualpa had heard the conclusion of this rodomontade fulminated by Father Valverde, he sighed, and said, "ah! atay"—ah! how hard; and after a short pause, he addressed himself thus to Valverde: "I should feel happy, although every other request were denied me, if one were but granted: procure a better interpreter, that I may be enabled to understand what you have said; and that you may be better informed of what I wish to say. I make this request, because I am certain that this meeting ought to produce other things than what this fellow has repeated to me. From what I have heard, it appears that you have come to destroy the race of the Incas, and put to the sword all the indians who do not understand you. If you are the ministers of vengeance of Pachacamac, and come to destroy me and mine, fulfil his orders—none of us fear death, and the vaticination of my father brings us to meet you unarmed.
"Your interpreter has informed me of five great men, whom I wish to know, God, trinity in unity, four gods; Adam, on whom all men threw their sins; Jesus Christ, the only man that did not assist in loading Adam; Pope, Roman Pontiff; and Carlos Quinto, King of all the world; but he tells me, that I am to give my country and my people, and pay tribute to Carlos, and not to any of the other four. I am also told, that I must abjure my religion, and believe in Jesus Christ, who died. If this be true, I cannot forget the great Pachacamac, who made our God, the sun, immortal, unless I learn who has told you what I have heard from your interpreter."
This answer was translated by Felipe in short sentences, as Atahualpa spoke them; who perceiving the ignorance of Felipe, endeavoured by this method to prevent a misconstruction of his words. On hearing the last question, Valverde gave his breviary to Atahualpa, and told him through Felipe, that that book informed him of all that he wanted to know respecting the true God. The Inca folded over the leaves, examined the book, placed it against his ear and listened, then said, "it is false, it cannot and does not speak," when he let it fall. At this, Valverde cried out, "to arms, Christians! these infidel dogs have insulted the minister of your Redeemer, the word of God is thrown under foot—revenge! revenge!"
The soldiers immediately rushed on their unsuspecting victims; Pizarro flew to Atahualpa, well aware that the preservation of his life was of the utmost importance; but upwards of twenty thousand indians fell, before the fury of the Spanish soldiery could be restrained, or their more than barbarous thirst for blood was glutted. During this scene of horror, the afflicted Atahualpa exhorted his people to resign themselves to the will of Pachacamac, which he himself was willing to do, and not to lift up their hands against the Viracochas; thus, he exclaimed, will the vaticination of my forefathers be fulfilled.
What a contrast! a minister of the meek, the blessed Jesus, the Saviour of the Gentiles, calling on an unfeeling soldiery to satiate their blood-thirsty cruelty in murdering those very people whom his divine master said that he came to redeem! while a king and a father beholds the carnage of his people, and his children, and bows his head to the believed decree of his God, and the prophecy of his forefathers! Here the Christian calls aloud, "crucify him! crucify him!" while the pious Gentile seems to say, "forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."
Pizarro and a soldier, called Miguel Astete, arrived at the same moment close to the throne of Atahualpa, when Pizarro caught hold of the robes of the Inca, and dragged him to the ground; Astete plucked the red tassel from his forehead, and kept it till the year 1557, when he delivered it to the Inca Sayritupac. After the slaughter, the Spanish soldiers proceeded to plunder, and while Pizarro was attentive to secure the Inca, part of his troops proceeded to the baths, where Atahualpa resided, and possessed themselves of all the gold and silver which they could find: the weight of gold taken at the baths, and accounted for, amounted to fifteen thousand ounces.
Atahualpa was directly removed to a room in his own palace at Caxamarca, and loaded with irons. Pizarro immediately sent his brother Hernando to visit Huascar in his prison, and to endeavour to secure the treasure that he might be possessed of; but whether the indians belonging to Atahualpa, who had heard of the situation of their Inca, suspected that Pizarro intended to put Atahualpa to death, and place Huascar on the throne; or whether Hernando Pizarro endeavoured to deprive the guard of their prisoner, is uncertain; but some misunderstanding having taken place, an indian struck Huascar with his axe, of which wound he immediately died.
Atahualpa having observed that the Spaniards were more covetous of gold than of any thing which his kingdom produced, proposed to Pizarro a ransom for himself; standing on his feet, he raised his hand, and placing it on the wall, he said, "to this mark will I fill this room with vessels of gold, if you will free me from these chains and from this prison." To this Pizarro agreed, and messengers were sent to Quito, Cusco, and different parts of the country, for the purpose of collecting the gold and sending it to Caxamarca. Some of the Spanish officers went with the messengers of Atahualpa, and when they returned they described the number of indians which the country contained, and the universal obedience to the Inca in such terms, that they fancied a general rising would take place, and instead of gold, they would bring their arms and put all the Spaniards to death; that Atahualpa had deceived them, and was a traitor, and as such ought to be punished. Pizarro opposed this for some time, till an accident occurred which touched his pride, and made Atahualpa personally odious to him. Some of the Spanish officers had written the word God on the hand of the Inca, and when he shewed it to any one, the person would point upwards; at length he shewed it to Pizarro, who could neither read nor write, and was therefore unable to make any sign of the meaning of the word. Atahualpa was surprised, and Pizarro was abashed; his feelings were wounded, and he began to hate the man who had discovered him to be more ignorant than his inferiors. Atahualpa began to forebode his doom, and became dejected; his own servants were not permitted to wait on him; their places were supplied with indians who had attached themselves to the Spanish camp; some of whom were unacquainted with the Quichua language, had never been the vassals of Atahualpa, and all of them were inclined to insult him.