Atahualpa being thus made prisoner, and his whole army having taken to flight, the Spaniards went next morning to pillage his camp, where they found a prodigious quantity of gold and silver vessels, excessively rich tents, stuffs, vestments, and many other articles of immense value. The gold plate alone which was carried along with the army for the use of Atahualpa exceeded the value of 60,000 pistoles[15]. Above 5000 women who were found in the camp of the enemy voluntarily surrendered themselves to the Spaniards.
[15] Considerable even as this sum appears, it seems too small for the sovereign of so vast an empire which abounded so much in gold; yet we have no means of correcting the amount. Garcilasso however mentions one piece of goid plate found in the baths of Atahualpa after the battle worth 100,000 ducats; but his work is so strange a farrago of confusion and absurdity as to bear very little authority.--E.
The captive Atahualpa now made submissive application to Pizarro, earnestly intreating to be well used, and made offer for his ransom to deliver a quantity of gold that should fill a large chamber, besides so large a mass of silver that the Spaniards would be unable to carry the whole away. Pizarro was astonished at this magnificent offer, which he could hardly credit, yet promised the fallen monarch that he should be well used, and even engaged to restore his freedom if he made good his offer. Atahualpa was so much pleased with this promise, that he immediately sent numerous messengers through the whole empire, particularly to Cuzco, ordering all the gold and silver that could be procured to be brought to Caxamarca to pay his ransom. He had promised an immense quantity, as he had engaged to fill a long hall in the tambos or palace of Cazamarca as high as he could reach with his hand[16], for which purpose the height was marked by a coloured line drawn round the whole room. Although large quantities of gold and silver arrived every day after this agreement, the Spaniards could not be satisfied that the promise of Atahualpa would ever be fulfilled. They began even to murmur at the delay, alleging that the time which had been fixed by Atahualpa for the accomplishment of his promise was already past; and they alleged that he had fallen upon this scheme on purpose to gain time for the assemblage of a new army, with which to attack them at unawares. As Atahualpa had considerable sagacity, he soon noticed the discontent of the Spaniards, and asked Pizarro the reason. On being informed, he made answer that they were in the wrong to complain of the delay, which was not such as to give any reasonable cause for suspicion. They ought to consider that Cuzco, from whence the far greater part of the gold had to be brought, was above 200 large leagues distant from Caxamarca by an extremely difficult road, by which all the gold had to be carried on the shoulders of the Peruvians, and that very little time had elapsed for the accomplishment of so laborious a work. Having thus endeavoured to explain the cause of delay in payment of the ransom, he requested that they would satisfy themselves on the subject by inspection that he was actually able to perform his engagement; after which they would not think much of its being delayed a month more or less. For this purpose, he proposed that he should depute two or three of the Spaniards, who might go to Cuzco, having orders from him to be shewn the royal treasures in that city, of which they would then be able to bring back certain information to satisfy the rest.
[16] The omission of the length and breadth of this room by Zarate, is supplied by Robertson, ii. 503, from the other original Spanish authors, who say the room was 22 feet long by 16 feet broad. The reach of Atahualpa could not be less than. 7-1/2 feet, 2640 cubic feet of gold, even heaped up of hollow vessels, must have produced a most astonishing value of that precious metal; but there are no data on which to calculate the numerical value of this imperial ransom, which the Spaniards certainly meant to accept, but would never have fulfilled the alternative.--E.
Opinions were much divided among the Spaniards, as to the adoption or rejection of this proposal. Several considered it is a most dangerous measure for any person to trust himself in the hand of the Peruvians, especially to so great a distance. Atahualpa considered this doubt of safety as very strange, especially as they had him in their hands as an hostage, together with his wives, children, and brothers. On this, Hernando de Soto and Pedro de Barco resolved to undertake the journey; and accordingly by the directions of Atahualpa, they set out in litters, each of which was carried on the shoulders of two men, with a number of other Peruvians accompanying them, to serve as reliefs when the others were tired. They were carried in this manner almost as fast as if they had rode post; as the litter carriers went along with great swiftness, frequently relieved by the others, of whom there were fifty or sixty in all.
Several days journey from Caxamarca, Soto and Barco met a party of the troops of Atahualpa, who were escorting the Inca Huascar as a prisoner. This unfortunate prince, on learning who they were, requested to have a conference with them, to which they consented, and in which he was distinctly informed of all the recent events. On being informed of the intentions of his imperial majesty Don Carlos, and of Pizarro, who commanded the Spaniards in his name, to cause impartial justice to be executed both to the Peruvians and Spaniards, he laid before them a distinct account of the injustice which he had suffered from his brother Atahualpa, who not only wished to deprive him of the kingdom, which belonged to him of right, as the eldest son of the late monarch Huana Capac, but now kept him a prisoner, with the design of putting him to death. He urged them to return to their general, and to lay his complaints before him, requesting that he, who now had both competitors in his power, and was consequently entire master of the country, would judge between them, and decree the possession of the empire to him who held the lawful right of succession. He farther promised, if Pizarro would do this, that he would not only fulfil all that Atahualpa had promised, which was to fill the apartment at Caxamarca to a certain height, but he would fill it with gold to the roof, which would be three times more than Atahualpa had promised. He assured them that he was better able to do all this, than was Atahualpa to perform what he had promised; because Atahualpa, to implement his engagement, would be under the necessity of stripping the temple of the Sun at Cuzco of all the plates of gold and silver with which it was lined; whereas he, Huascar, was in possession of all the treasures which belonged to his father Huana Capac, and the former Incas, by which he was able to perform what he had now offered, and a great deal more.
All that he alleged was certainly true, as Huascar was in possession of immense treasures, which he had hidden under ground in some secret place, unknown to all the world. On this occasion, he had employed many Indians to transport his wealth into the place of concealment, after which he had ordered them all to be put to death, that they might not inform any one of the place. After the Spaniards were entire masters of the country, they made every possible search after these treasures, and even continue their search to the present day, digging in every place where they suspect they may be concealed, but hitherto without being able to find them.
Soto and Barco told Huascar, that it was out of their power to turn back, being under the necessity of continuing the journey on which they had been sent by order of their general; but that on their return they would make a faithful report of all he had said. They accordingly went on their way towards Cuzco. But this meeting and conference occasioned the death of Huascar, and the loss to the Spaniards of the vast treasure he had promised for his liberty and restoration. The captains who had the custody of Huascar made a report to Atahualpa of all that had passed in the interview between their prisoner and the Spanish messengers; and Atahualpa had sufficient sagacity to see, if these matters came to the knowledge of Pizarro, that he would feel inclined to take part with Huascar, especially in consideration of the prodigious quantity of gold which had been offered for his interference. He had remarked the extreme eagerness of the Spaniards for the possession of gold, and feared that they would deprive him of the kingdom, and give it his brother, and might put himself to death, as an unjust usurper of the clear rights of another. Being disposed, from these motives, to order his brother Huascar to be put to death, he was only restrained from doing this immediately by one circumstance. He had frequently heard from the Christians, that one of their principal laws, which was most religiously observed, was, that all who were guilty of murder were punished with death, whether the murder were committed by themselves personally, or by others at their instigation. He resolved, therefore, to sound Pizarro, and to discover his sentiments on this subject, which he did with wonderful artifice and dissimulation. One day he pretended to be overcome with extreme grief, weeping and sobbing, and refusing to eat or drink, or to speak with any one. When Pizarro inquired the cause of this distress, he allowed himself to be long intreated before he would give any reason of his sorrow. At length, as if overcome by solicitation, he said, "That he had just received intelligence that one of his officers had put his brother Huascar to death, by which news he was entirely overcome with grief, as he had always entertained the warmest and most respectful affection for him, not only as his eldest brother, but in a great measure as his father and sovereign. That although he had taken Huascar prisoner, he not only had no intention of using him ill in his person, but did not even mean to deprive him of the kingdom: his sole object being to oblige him to give up the possession of the kingdom of Quito, according to the last will of their father, Huana Capac; who had made a conquest of that country, which was beyond the boundary of the hereditary empire of the incas, and which consequently their father had an undoubted right to dispose of in his favour." Pizarro endeavoured to console the pretended affliction of Atahualpa, by assuring him, when peace and good order re-established in the empire, that he would make a strict inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Huascar, and would severely punish all who had participated in the crime.
When Atahualpa found that Pizarro took up this affair with so much coolness and moderation, he resolved to execute his design, and sent immediate orders to his officers who had the custody of Huascar to put him to death. So promptly were these orders obeyed, that it was difficult to ascertain in the sequel whether the excessive grief of Atahualpa was feigned, and whether it preceded or followed the death of his brother Huascar. Most of the soldiers blamed Soto and Barco for this unhappy event: not considering the necessity of every one to obey the orders of their superiors with exactness, according to their instructions, especially in time of war, without assuming the liberty of making any alteration or modification according to circumstances in their own opinion, unless they have express and formal discretionary power.
It was currently reported among the Peruvians, that when Huascar learnt he was to be put to death by order of his brother, he made the following observation: "I have been only a short while sovereign of this country, but my faithless brother, by whose orders I am to die, will not be longer a king than I have been." When the Peruvians soon afterwards saw Atahualpa put to death, conformable to this prediction, they believed Huascar to have been a true son of the sun. It is reported also, that Huascar should have said, when his father Huana Capac took his last leave of him, he foretold "That white men with long beards would soon come into Peru, and advised him to treat them as friends, as they would become masters of the kingdom." Huana Capac may have received some intimation of this future circumstance from the demons; and that the more readily, that Pizarro had been on the coast of Peru before his death, and had even begun to make some conquests.