or more Spanish soldiers were marching outside of Caxamalca, having been to the city of San Miguel in order to place the gold for H. M. on board ship, and [the Inca] believed that as they were so few he would be able easily to kill them before they could join forces with those in Caxamalca[7] ... of which there was much information from many caciques and from their chiefs themselves, that all, without fear of torments or menaces, voluntarily confessed this plot: [telling] how fifty thousand men of Quito and many Caribes[8] came to the land, and that all the confines contained armed men in great numbers; that, not finding supplies for them all thus united, he had divided them into three or four divisions, and that, though scattered in this fashion, there were still so many that not finding enough to sustain themselves, they had cut down the still green maize and dried it so that they might not lack for food. All this having been learned, and being now a public matter to all, and as it was clear that they were saying in his [the Inca's] army that they were coming to kill all the Christians, and the governor seeing in how much peril the government and all the Spaniards were, in order to furnish a remedy, although it grieved him much, nevertheless, after seeing the information and process drawn up, assembled the officials of H. M. and the captains of his company and a Doctor who was then in this army, and the padre Fray Vicente de Valverde, a religious of the order of Santo Domingo sent by the Emperor our Lord for the conversion and instruction of the people of these realms; after there had been much debate and discussion over the harm and the profit that might follow upon the continued life or the death of Atabalipa, it was resolved that justice should be done upon him. And because the officials of H. M. asked for it and the doctor regarded the information as sufficient, he was finally taken from the prison in which he was, and, to the sound of a trumpet, his treason and perfidy were published, and he was borne to the middle of the plaza of the city and tied to a stake, while the religious was consoling him and teaching him, by means of an interpreter, the things of our christian faith, telling him that God wished him to die for the sins which he had committed in the world, and that he must repent of them, and that God would pardon him if he did so and was baptised at once. He, [the Inca] moved by this discourse, asked for baptism. It was at once given to him by that reverend padre who aided him so much with his exhortation that although he was sentenced to be burned alive, he was given a twist of rope around his neck, by means of which he was throttled instead[9] but when he saw that they were preparing for his death, he said that he recommended to the governor his little sons, so that he might take them with him, and with these last words, and while the Spaniards who stood around him said the creed for his soul, he was quickly throttled. May God take him to his holy glory, for he died repentant of his sins with the true faith of a Christian. After he was thus hung, in fulfilment of the sentence, fire was cast upon him so that a part of his clothes and flesh was burnt. That night [because he had died in the late afternoon] his body remained in the plaza in order that all might learn of his death, and on the next day the Governor ordered that all the Spaniards should be present at his interment, and, with the cross and other religious paraphernalia, he was borne to the church and buried with as much solemnity as if he had been the chief Spaniard of our camp. Because of this all the principal lords and caciques who served him received great pleasure, considering as great the honour which was done them, and knowing that, because he was a christian, he was not burned alive, and he was interred in church as if he were a Spaniard.

CHAPTER II

This done, the governor commanded the immediate assembling in the chief plaza of that city of all the caciques and principal lords who were then living there in company with the dead lord; they were many, and from distant lands, and his intention was to give them another lord who should govern them in the name of H. M., for, as they were accustomed to give always their obedience and tribute to a sole lord, great confusion would result if it were not thus, for each of them would rise up with his own lordship, and it would cost much toil to bring them into friendship with the Spaniards and into the service of H. M. For this and many other reasons the Governor made them assemble, and finding among them a son of Gucunacaba[11] called Atabalipa, a brother of Atabalipa to whom by law the realm belonged, he said to all that now that they saw how Atabalipa was dead because of the treason he had plotted against him [the Governor], and because they were all left without a lord who should govern them and whom they should obey, he wished to give them a lord who would please them all, and that he [the lord] was Atabalipa who was there present, to whom that kingdom legitimately belonged as he was the son of that Gucunacaba whom they had loved so much. He [Atabalipa] was a young man who would treat them with much love and who had enough prudence to govern that land. He [the Governor] urged them, nevertheless, to look well to it that they wished him for a lord, for if not, they were to name another, and if he were capable, the governor would give him to them as lord. They replied that since Atabalipa was dead, they would obey Atabalipa or whomever else he should give them, and so it was arranged that they should yield obedience another day according to the accustomed manner. When the next day had come, once more they all assembled before the door of the governor where was placed the cacique in his chair and near him all the other lords and chiefs, each in his proper position. And due ceremonies having been held, each one came to offer him a white plume as a sign of vassalage and tribute, which is an ancient custom dating from the time that this land was conquered by these Cuzcos.[12] This done, they sang and danced, making a great festivity, in which the new king neither arrayed himself in clothes of price nor placed the fringe