3g 



with the usurper of CopiapO;, he delivered to 

 the flames, without, according to Herrera, pre- 

 tending to assign any reason for his conduct. 

 This act of cruelty appeared to every one very 

 extraordinary and unjust, since among those 

 adventurers there were not wanting men of sen- 

 sibility, and advocates for the rights of humanity. 

 The greater part of the army openly disapproved 

 of the severity of their general, the aspect of 

 whose affairs from this time forward became 

 gradually worse and worse. 



About this period, 1537, Almagro received a 

 considerable reinforcement of recruits under 

 Juan de Rada, accompanied with royal letters 

 patent, appointing him governor of two hundred 

 leagues of territory, situated to the southward 

 of the government granted to Francis Pizarro. 

 The friends whom he had left in Peru, taking 

 advantage of this opportunity, urged him by 

 private letters to return, in order to take pos- 

 session of Cuzco, which they assured him was 

 within the limits of his jurisdiction. Notwith- 

 standing this, inflated with his new conquest, 

 he pursued his march, passed the fatal Cacha- 

 poal, and, regardless of the remonstrances of the 

 Peruvians, advanced into the country of the 

 Promaucians. 



At the first sight of the Spaniards, their horses, 

 and the thundering arms of Europe, these valiant 

 people were almost jpetrified with astonishment. 



