ell upon Challcuchima, who was accused
by Pizarro of conspiring with Quizquiz, the other great general, against
the young Inca, and was told that if he did not at once compel the
Peruvians to lay down their arms he should be burnt alive. Challcuchima
denied the charge, and declared that, captive as he was, he had no power
to bring his countrymen to submission. Nevertheless, he was put in irons
and strongly guarded. Unfortunately for him, the young Toparca died just
at this time, and suspicion at once fell on the hapless general, who,
after the mockery of a trial, was burnt to death as soon as Pizarro
reached Almagro's camp--his own followers piling up the faggots. Soon
after this Pizarro was surprised by a friendly visit from the young
brother of Huascar, Manco Capac, and seeing that this prince was likely
to be a useful instrument in his hands, Pizarro acknowledged his claim
to be the Inca, and, keeping him with him, resumed the march to Cuzco,
which they entered on November 15, 1533. The suburbs were thronged with
people, who came from far and near to gaze upon the white faces and the
shining armour of the 'Children of the Sun.' The Spaniards rode directly
to the great square, and took up their quarters in the palaces of the
Incas. They were greatly struck by the beauty and order of the city, and
though Pizarro on entering it had issued an order that the dwellings of
the inhabitants were not to be plundered or injured, the soldiers soon
stripped the palaces and temples of the valuables they contained, even
taking the golden ornaments of the royal mummies and rifling the
Peruvian graves, which often contained precious treasures. Believing
that the natives had buried their wealth, they put some of them to the
torture, to induce them to disclose their hiding-places, and by seeking
everywhere they occasionally stumbled upon mines of wealth. In one cave
near the city the soldiers found a number of vases of pure gold,
embossed with figures of animals, serpents, and locusts. Also there were
four life-sized figures of llamas, and ten or twelve statues of women,
some of gold and some of silver. The magazines were stored with robes of
cotton and featherwork, gold sandals and slippers, and dresses composed
entirely of beads of gold. The stores of grain and other food the
conquerors utterly despised, though the time was to come when they would
have been of far greater value to them than all the treasure. On the
whole, the riches of