Chap. III. 0 / PERU CHILI. t0 
him. In this, hov/cver, lie Failed^ though by an iinfore- 
feen Accident for the Marquis, not hearing from J/mfo 
Jherado^ began to apprehend that the Indians had 
blocked him up in the Mountains, and therefore, colleft- 
jng his whole Force, which did not much exceed four 
hundred Men, he marched with them towards Cuzco 5 
but on the Road he received full Intelligence of all that 
had happened, and that Almagro was in the Field, carry- 
ing with him his Brother Ferdinand Pizarro as his Prifoner, 
' but that his other Brother, Gonzalo^ was left Aherado 
Prifoner at Cuzco. 
This gave the Marquis great Uneafmefs, becaufe of the 
fmall Force he had with him ; fo that he plainly faw him- 
felf at the Mercy of his Enemy, -^ho, by advancing to 
Lima^ might have carried all before him : However, he 
behaved himfelf with great Prudence and Dexterity in this 
time of Diflrefs ^ for marching direftly back to Lima, he 
began there to recruit his Forces, and in the mean time 
lent Commiflloners to amufe Almagro with a Treaty, 
offering to compromife Matters with him, upon fuch 
Terms as he fhould think reafonable ; tho’ this was done 
only to prevent his attacking him before he was prepared. 
In the mean time, Gonzalo Pizarro and Aherado made 
their Efcape from Cuzco, with about one hundred Spani- 
ards of their Party, and not long after a new Treaty was fet 
on foot, in Appearance, for fettling the Differences between 
thefe two great Generals ; but in reality, with a View to 
engage Almagro to fet Ferdinand Pizarro at liberty, which 
was become the more neceffary, becaufe Almagrd^s chief 
Officers preffed him daily to put that Man to death. The 
Method taken by the Marquis to procure his Liberty was 
as fingular as it was fuccefsful. 
He fent to Almagro, to let him know that if he per- 
fifled in carrying Arms in that Country, which plainly 
belonged to him by the Emperor’s Grant, he would find 
the other Spanijh Settlements would confider him as a 
Rebel ; but that, if he meant no more than to obtain 
Juflice to himfelf, and pay due Obedience to the Laws, 
he was content that Things ffiould remain as they were, 
till fuch time as the Emperor ffiould decide them, and 
would likewife provide Almagro with a Ship, to carry his 
Agents wherever he thought fit, provided his Brother 
Don Ferdinand was immediately fet at liberty. Almagro 
readily accepted this Propofal, and, to his own great Pre- 
judice, veIto\:td.PvQ&dom.to Ferdinand Pizarro-, after which 
the Marquis did not ffiew himfelf very ready to comply 
with this Treaty ; but, on the contrary, put his Brother 
at the Head of all his own Forces, joined to a great Suc- 
cour he had a little before received from Panama, and the 
other Spanijh Settlements. 
21. Almagro faw too late the Error that he had com- 
mitted, and how difficult a thing it would be to repair it : 
He gave Orders, however, for fortifying Cuzco, and taking 
all poffible Precautions to cover himfelf from the ambi- 
tious Defigns of the Marquis. In this he fucceeded in 
fome meafure ; for he got back to Cuzco before Ferdinand 
and Gonzalo, the Marquis’s Brothers, could reach that 
City, with the Forces the Marquis intended ffiould be- 
fiege it. But here again, the Cautions of Almagro proved 
fatal to him ; for tho’ he had it in his Power to have ftarved 
and deftroyed his Enemies in the Mountains, yet he 
negledled it, either from an Unwillingnefs to hurt his 
Countrymen, or from a Confidence in his own Force ; nei- 
ther was he lefs to blame, when thofe Commanders, at 
the Head of feven hundred Horfe and Foot, invefted the 
City of Cuzco for as the Place was ftrong, and the 
Garrifon very numerous, he muft have deftroyed the 
Enemy if he had contented himfelf with acting upon the 
detenfive ^ but this he fcorned to do, as looking upon it 
beneath his former Adfions, and therefore he marched out 
with all his Troops to the Salinas, or fait Mines, with a 
full Refolution to give the Enemy battle, fuppofing that 
their Army had been new railed Men, and confequently 
much interioi" to his own in Point both of Courage and 
Difcipline^ but here once more he was miftaken, the Enemy 
proving iuperior to his Troops in all refpedts ; for, firft, 
they had the Advantage in Numbers j in the next place, 
they were better armed, being for the moft part Muffie- 
teers •, whereas Almagro'^?, Men had only Crofs-bows and 
Vol. il Numb* LXXX. 
Swords arid laftly, inftead of being taw, new raifed 
Soldiers, they Were regular Troops that had ferved in 
Flanders. 
The Battle however was extremely bloody and ob- 
ftinate, but in the End Almagro was totally defeated^ 
moft of his Captains killedj and himfelf^ who was fo 
weak that he was carried into the Field in a Litters 
obliged to take Shelter with a Handful of Men he had 
left in the Caftle of Cuzco which he could not keep 
long, but was obliged to furrender at Difcretionj which 
he did the rather, becaufe he hoped that Ferdinand 
Pizarro would return the Kindiiefs he had fliev/ed him 
when fo long a Prifoner in his Hands. In this too he was 
greatly miftaken ; for tho’ he was upwards of feventy Years 
of age, and withal very infirm ; yet Ferdinand Pizarro j, 
knowing his great Courage, and the many Friends he had 
in the Army, was exceffively afraid of him, and therefore 
confined him clofely, and fuffered none of the Officers to 
Vifit him. 
He likewife took care to fend away moft of the other 
Prifoners to Lima, and difpatched on different Expe- 
ditions fuch of his own Officers as expreffed any kind of 
Tendernefs or Concern for Almagro. After he had re-^ 
mained Prifoner fome Months in Cuzco, the Lawyers 
were employed to draw up Articles againft ;he old Ge- 
neral i the principal whereof were. That he had feized 
on Cuzco by force ; that he had entered into a fecret 
Treaty with the Inca ; that he had encroached on the 
Government granted to the Marquis, and fought two 
Battles with the Emperor’s Forces under the Command of 
the Marquis, the one at the Bridge of Ahoncay, and the 
other at the Salinas : And, his Enemies fitting in Judg- 
ment on him, he was capitally convidled and condemned 
to die, though he appealed to the Emperor, and applied 
in very moving Terms to Ferdinand Pizarro to fave his 
Life : He bid him remember that he had fpared his Life, 
and even refufed to put to death any of his Relations^ on 
Account of the Friendffiip he bore him and the Marquis ; 
that he would do well alfo to remember how inftrumental 
he had been in enabling his Brother to make thofe Con- 
quefts, and raifing him to the Honours he poffeffed •, de- 
fired the Pizarros would confider he was an old gouty 
Man, who could not live many Years, and fuffer him 
therefore, after the innumerable Hardffiips he had fuftain- 
ed, to die a natural Death. But they, looking upon their 
old Companion andFellow-Soldief as the only Obfta ; 
their Glory and Ambition, and believing by his Death 
they ffiould obtain the foie Dominion of Peru without ^ 
Rival, were deaf to his Intreaties ^ and having order- 
ed him to be ftrangled privately in Prifon, they after- 
wards ordered his Head to be cut off on a Scaffold in the 
great Square of Cuzco. 
His Body lay all Day expofed almoft naked On the 
Scaffold, his Friends not daring to bury him, left they 
ffiould incur the Difpleafure of the mercilefs Ferdinand 
Pizarro, and, his Enemies not thinking it worth while to 
give themfelves any trouble about his Funeral : But to- 
wards the Evening a poor Negro, who had been a Slave 
to the Deceafed, brought a courfe Sheetj and with the 
Help he had of fome Indians, who had been Servants 
likewife to that General, wrapped up the Corpfe and car- 
ried it to a Church, where the Friars buried it under 
the high Altar. 
As the Defign of this Work is to give the Fnglijh 
Reader a full and fair View of the Tranfadlions of thele 
Conquerors in America, together with juft CharadlerS of 
thofe Heroes v/ho were at the Head of their Armies, it is 
requifite to fubjoin to this Account a true Pifture of this 
unfortunate Commander : James Almagro was of loW 
Stature, but well fet and ftrong *, his Enemies faid he was 
of mean Parentage, which might be Matter of Faft, and 
yet it was more than they knew or could know, fince he 
was found in the Streets, and, being never owned by any 
Body, went by the Name of the Town in which he was 
found. His Education was of a piece with his Birth ; 
that is to fay, we find it very uncertain what it was, or 
where he received it : He became a Soldier almoft as foon 
as he became a Man, and his Behaviour was fuch that he 
forced a Paffage even to fuperior Commands : He was 
S f ■ truly 
