hich they were probably in
no need of whatever, and did not desire.

An intelligent Indian, Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, determined on a
desperate effort to alleviate the condition of his people. Condorcanqui
had received a far more generous education than the majority of his
fellows, and had studied at the College of San Bernardo, in Cuzco. He
spoke the Castilian tongue perfectly, and was thus enabled to hold a
minor official post in the Spanish service. Claiming descent from the
Royal Incas, he subsequently added the name of Tupac-Amaru to his own.

[Illustration: DUTCH AND SPANISH VESSELS ENGAGED OFF CALLAO, THE PORT OF
LIMA.

_From a seventeenth-century engraving._]

It was on November 4, 1780, that Tupac-Amaru, by which name he was now
universally known, made his first move. Gathering some trusty men about
him, he captured a Spanish _corregidor_, Arriaga, and, charging that
official with offences against the Indians, caused him to be executed.
On this the Indians flocked to their new defender's standard, and he was
soon at the head of 6,000 men. Tupac-Amaru now determined on an
extensive campaign. After an attack on Cuzco, he marched with 60,000
Indians to besiege La Paz itself, while the isolated Spanish forces were
overwhelmed in all directions.

La Paz succeeded in resisting the desperate onslaught of the Indian
army, and the tide of fortune now turned against the Inca leader. After
a battle waged in the open, he was captured and put to a horrible death.
His tongue was torn out by the executioner; each of his limbs was
attached to a horse, then, the four horses being furiously driven in
different directions, his body was torn into four portions. It was in
this way that the unfortunate Tupac-Amaru died, the last of the Inca
race who attempted to assert the rights of his people.

With the exception of rare revolts such as these, and of the periodical
onslaughts which the buccaneers of all nations made upon the Pacific
ports, it is a little remarkable to consider how few dramatic episodes
took place during the colonial era in Peru. It is true that one or two
events occurred deserving of note. Thus, in 1551, the University of San
Marcos was established at Lima, and was the first institution of the
kind to be founded in the New World. In 1573 occurred the first
_auto-da-fe_, followed by numerous other such grim ceremonies, for Lima
was naturally the head-quarters of the Inquisition. In 1746 the capital
suffered