Chap. III. c/PERU 
to render Homage to him in his Name, andtodefire 
from him the Confirmation of the Kingdom of ^ito, 
which he was willing to hold from the Incas. liuefcar 
was by no means pleafed with this Embaffy, and therefore 
fent his Brother Word that he fhould fuffer the Troops to 
return to their Duty •, that he fhould quit the Sovereignty 
of which being a frontier Province of Ins, Empire, 
he Sold by no means leave in his Hands ^ and, that after 
doing this, if he repaired to CjWzco^ he would give him 
a Share in his Father’s Treafures, and affign him Lands 
for his Subfiftance. He added, that in cafe he did not 
accept thefe Propofals, he would certainly make War 
upon him, and recover the Poffeffion of ^dto by the 
fone Method his Father acquired his firft right to it. 
Upon receiving fo unkind a MefTage from his elder 
Brother, Atahuallpa called the principal Perfons his Fa- 
ther had intrufted with his Education, to Council ; who 
advifed him, fince Peace could no longer he preferved, 
to take the Field firft j fmce that was a Meafure by which 
he might gain much, and could lofe nothing at all. 
lo. Atahuallpa, oxAtabaliha, embraced this Propofal, as 
indeed it was the wifeft that could be offered, and the moft 
fuitable to hisCircuniftances j and with the Army his Father 
had ieft, immediately entered the Dominions of his Brother. 
Huefcar, on his Part, brought a more numerous Army 
into the Field, and it was not long before a general En- 
gagement enfued, which lafted for three Days, and was 
as bloody as it was obftinate. It ended however in 
the Defeat, and which was ftill worfe, in the Imprifon- 
ment of Atahuallpa, who was taken upon the Bridge of 
the Pviver ‘Tumibamba, and fhut up in a Palace which bore 
the fame Name. But obferving that the Soldiers, elevated 
with their late Viftory, were entirely given to Feafts and 
Spofts, he took his Opportunity ; and, having provided 
himfelf with the neceffary Inftruments, pierced a Hole 
through one of his Apartments, and thereby made his 
Efcape. He returned to his own Subjeds, whom he 
found broken and difpirited by their laft Defeat *, but he 
revived their Courage in an Inftant, by affuring them, 
that his Father had appeared to him in his Prifon, 
changed him into a Serpent, and thereby gave him an 
Opportunity of Aiding through the Wall. What to a 
fenfible People would be ridiculous, is to a fuperftitious 
and credulous Multitude, a Miracle. The News was fpread 
throughout the whole Principality ; the People in general 
quitted their Flabitations to take up Arms in his Service, 
and he had, in a very fhort Space of Time, a much 
greater Body of Troops than before. He defeated with 
thefe, two or three Armies that oppofed him ; took, and 
levelled with the Ground, the Place where he had been 
imprifoned ; and having by his Victory vaftly aug- 
mented his Conquefts, he drew from the Provinces he 
fubdued prodigious Numbers of Troops. When he ar- 
rived at Humbez, he purpofed to have made himfelf 
Mafter of the lAand of Puna, in which however he failed. 
This did not at all difcourage him *, but leaving that War 
to be renewed at fome happier Junfture, he marched 
with all his Forces to give Huefcar battle, who, he was 
informed, was coming againft him with a prodigious 
Army. 
When Atahuallpa was come to Caxamalca, he fent two 
of his beft Officers with three or four thoufand light-armed 
Troops, to reconnoitre his Brother’s Army ; -thefe draw- 
ing very near to the Camp of Huefcar, found it neceffary 
to quit the high Road, to prevent being difcovered. It 
happened very unluckily for Huefcar, that, to march more 
at his leifure, and without being difturbed by the Noife of 
the Army, he had taken the fame Bye-road with about 
feven hundred of his principal Officers, and who formed 
at once his Court and his Guard. The Officers of Ata- 
huallpa knew the Imperial Standard, and foon faw how 
Matters ftood : They laid hold therefore of this Oppor- 
tunity of making a Aiort End of the War, and attacked 
Huefcar and thofe about him with fo much Fury, that 
after a Abort Difpute the Inca was made Prifoner. The 
Vidtors were foon in as much Danger as the VanquiAied, 
for the Army of Huefcar being informed of v/hat had 
happened, furroimded this Handful of Men, and threaten- 
ed to cut t|i€m to Pieces immediately. In this Diftrefs 
and CHILI. 147 
they were obliged to have Recourfe to a very natural Ex- 
pedient ; they told Huefcar, that if he did not order his 
Troops to retire, they muft be obliged to fecure them« 
felves from Shame at leaft, if not from Death, by cut- 
ting off his Head, and then fighting it out to the laft 
Man. The Officer who delivered this Meffage, obferving 
that it had a great Effed on the Mind of Huefcar, added . 
That as it was a neceffary, fo he would find it both a juft 
and profitable, Meafure •, for that as his Brother pretencied 
to nothing more than his own little Sovereignty of ^ito^ 
fo if he could refolve to gratify him in that Particular, 
there was no doubt of his reftoring him to Liberty, and 
even acknowledging him as his Sovereign •, but that he 
muft refolve fpeedily, fince there was not a Moment’s 
Time to be Ipared. Huefcar, finding himfelf in this Diftrels, 
and feeing no other way to efcape, fubmitted to the 
Terms prefcribed, and, making a Signal to his Forces 
to forbear charging, diredted the principal Officers 
to come to him, and ordered them to march with tne 
Army back to Cuzco. They implicitly obeyed the 
Commands of their Sovereign. And this was the Situation 
things were in, v/hen both the Brotneis had recourle to 
Francis Pizarro, and claimed his Afliftancci , 
It is evident enough from what has been aheady iaid^ 
that fcarce any People could be more fuperftitious than the 
Inhabitants of Peru, and certain it is, that the Fables upon 
which their Religion was founded, proved of greater 
Confequence than any other thing to Pizarro and his 
Affociates, who otherwife would never have reduced them. 
One Inftance of this Aiall fuffice, and indeed that is fo 
extraordinary that there is no need of adaing another ; 
They were thoroughly periuaded that their Incas de- 
fcended from the Sun, and they very foon came to believe 
that the Spaniards were the Children of the Sun likewife, 
in which the Story I am going to tell fully confirmed 
them. The eldeft Son of the Inca Tahuarhuacac be- 
held in antient Times, as their Tradition taught them, a 
very ftrange Phantom, different in Afpect and Drefs in 
the higheft Degree from the Peruvians •, for vffiereas they 
have no Beard, and the Cloaths they wear come no lower 
than their Knees, this Spirit, who called himfelf Vira- 
choc a, had a long Beard, and his Robe reached 
down to his Feet ; and he likewife led in his Hand an 
Animal abfolutely unknown to the young Prince. This 
Fable, univerfally fpread, and generally received, ope- 
rated fo ftrongly upon the Minds ot the People, that 
they no fooner faw a Spaniard with a long Beard, his 
Legs covered, and his Florfe in his Hand, than they cried 
out ; Look, look, there is the Inca Virachoca, the Son of 
the Sun. 
II. It was immediately after the fettling of the new 
Colony by the Spaniards, that the Embaffadors from 
Atahuallpa arrived, and fignified to Francis Pizarro, the 
great Defire their Mafter had to cultivate a good Corre- 
fpondence v/ith him upon which he immediately took a 
Refolution to advance towards Caxamalca, where he un- 
derftood the Inca was, in order to vifit him. It fo fell 
out, that the Rout between thefe two Places lay through 
a burning Defart of about twenty Leagues over ; in paf- 
fing through which the SpaMiJh Soldiers fuffered excef- 
fively j but however, when they came to Motapa they 
met with rich Vallies, and a plentiful Country*, wherein 
they refrefbed themfelves, and then continued their Jour- 
ney. They met foon after with certain Embaffadois, that 
had been difpatched hj Atahuallpa to compliment P/2:<3:rr^, 
who prefented him, on the Part of the Inca, with a Pair 
of Gold BuAdns very finely wrought, and Bracelets of 
the fame Metal fet with Emeralds ; which they defired 
him to put on when he had Audience of the Emperor,, 
that by the Sight of his own Prefents he might know 
him. The Chief of this Embaffy was himfelf of the 
Race of the Incas, and ftiewed much Ceremony and 
Politenefs in his Behaviour. He brought, befides thefe' 
Prefents for the General, Provifions and Gifts for the 
Army, the former in great plenty, and very acceptable %. 
the latter rich, and therefore no lefs fatisfadlory j which 
raifed the Minds of the Spaniards prodigiouAy, inafmucb ' 
as they attributed it wholly to the Fear of that Monarch 
and his Subjefts,. in which without doubt they were right. 
