tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">[1] and of the capture of the Cacique Atabalipa.[2]

CHAPTER I

The Captain Hernando Pizarro had departed with the hundred thousand pesos of gold and the five thousand marks of silver which were sent to His Majesty as his royal fifth; after that event, some ten or twelve days, the two Spaniards who were bringing gold from Cuzco arrived, and part of the gold was melted at once because it was in very small pieces; it equalled the sum of[3] ... five hundred-odd plates of gold torn from some house-walls in Cuzco; and even the smallest plates weighed four or five pounds apiece; other, larger ones, weighed ten or twelve pounds, and with plates of this sort all the walls of that temple were covered. They brought also a seat of very fine gold, worked into the form of a foot-stool, which weighed eighteen thousand pesos.[4] Likewise, they brought a fountain all of gold and very subtilely worked which was very fair to see as much for the skill of the work as for the shape which it had been given; and there were many other pieces such as vases, jars, and plates which they also brought. All this gold gave a quantity which came to two millions and a half [pesos], which, on being refined to pure gold, came to one million, three hundred and twenty-odd thousand pesos, from which was subtracted the fifth of His Majesty, or, two hundred and seventy-odd thousand pesos. Fifty thousand marks of silver were found, of which ten thousand were set aside for H. M. One hundred and seventy thousand pesos and five thousand marks were handed over to the treasurer of H. M. The remaining hundred thousand pesos and five marks were taken, as has been said, by Hernando Pizarro to help meet the expenses which His Caesarian Majesty was encountering in the war against the Turks, enemies of our Holy Faith, as they say. All that remained, beyond the royal fifth, was divided among the soldiers and companions of the Governor. He gave to each one what he conscientiously thought he justly merited, taking into consideration the trials each man had passed through and the quality of his person, all of which he did with the greatest diligence and speed possible in order that they might set out from that place and go to the city of Xauxa.[5]

And because there were among those soldiers some who were old and more fit for rest than for fatigues, and who in that war had fought and served much, he gave them leave to return to Spain. He procured their good will so that, on returning, these men would give fairer accounts of the greatness and wealth of that land so that a sufficient number of people would come thither to populate and advance it. For, in truth, the land being very large and very full of natives, the Spaniards who were in it then were all too few for conquering it, holding it and settling it, and, although they had already done great things in conquering it, it was owing more to the aid of God who, in every place and occasion, gave them the victory, than to any strength and means which they had for succeeding, with that further aid they were confident He would sustain them in the future.

That melting of the metals completed, the Governor commanded the notary to draw up a document in which it said that the cacique Atabalipa was free and absolved from the promise and word which he had given to the Spaniards, who were to take the house full of gold in ransom for himself. This document the Governor caused to be proclaimed publicly and to the sound of trumpets in the plaza of that city of Caxamalca, making it known, at the same time, to the said Atabalipa by means of an interpreter, and also he [the Governor] declared in the same proclamation, that, because it suited the service of H. M. and the security of the land, he wished to maintain the cacique as a prisoner with good guard, until more Spaniards should arrive who should give added security; for, the cacique being free, he being so great a lord and having so many soldiers who feared and obeyed him, prisoner though he was, and three hundred leagues [from his capital], he could not well do less in order to free himself from all suspicion; all the more so because many times it had been thought almost certain that he had given orders for warriors to assemble to attack the Spaniards. This, as a matter of fact, had been ordered by him, and the men were all in readiness with their captains, and the cacique only delayed the attack because of the lack of freedom in his own person and in that of his general Chilichuchima,[6] who was also a prisoner. After some days had passed, and when the Spaniards were on the point of embarking in order to return to Spain, and the Governor was making the rest ready for setting out for Xauxa, God Our Lord, who with his infinite goodness was guiding affairs toward all that was best for his service, as will be [seen], having already in this land Spaniards who were to inhabit it and bring to the knowledge of the true God the natives of the said land so that Our Lord might always be praised and known by these barbarians and so that his Holy Faith might be extolled, permitted the discovery and chastisement of the evil plans which this proud tyrant had in mind as a return for the many good works and kind treatment which he had always received from the governor and from each one of the Spaniards of his company; which recompense, according to his intention, was to have been of the sort he was wont to give to the caciques and lords of the land, ordering [his men] to kill without let or cause whatever. For it chanced that our discharged soldiers [were] returning to Spain, he, seeing that they were taking with them the gold that had been got from his land, and mindful of the fact that but a short while ago he had been so great a lord that he held all those provinces with their riches without dispute or question, and without considering the just causes for which they had despoiled him of them, had given orders that certain troops who, by his command, had been assembled in the land of Quito, should come, on a certain night at an hour agreed upon, to attack the Spaniards who were at Caxamalca, assaulting them from five directions as they were in their quarters, and setting fire wherever possible. Thirty