d
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