the treatment of the vanquifhed cruel. By this fingle fuccefs the reputation of Pizarro was reestablished, and being now deemed invincible in the field, his army increased daily in number. k)

Gafca lands at Peru.

But events happened in other parts of Peru which more than counterbalanced the fplendid victory at Huarina. Pizarro had fcarcely left Lima, when the citizens, weary of his oppr ffive dominion, erected the royal standard, and Aldana, with a detachment of foldiers from the fleet, took poffeffion of the town. About the fame time, 1) the prefident landed at Tumbez with five hundred men. Encouraged by his prefence, every fettlement in the low country declared for the king. The fituation of the two parties was now perfectly reversed; Cuzco and the adjacent provinces were poffeffed by Pizarro; all the reft of the empire, from Quito fouthward, acknowledged the jurifdiction of Gafca. As his numbers augmented faft, Gafca advanced into the interior part of the country. His behaviour ftill continued to be gentle and unaffuming; he expreffed, on every occafion, his ardent wifh of terminating the

k) Zarate, lib. vii. C. 2, 3. Gomara, c. 181. Vega, p. 11. lib. v. c. 18, &c. Fernandez, lib. ii. c. 79. Herrera,

dec, 8. lib. iv. c. I, 2. 1) Zarate, lib. vl. c. 17.

:

conteft without bloodshed. More folicitous to reclaim than to punifh, he upbraided no man for paft offences, but received them as a father receives penitent children returning to a sense of their duty. Though defirous of peace, he did not flacken his preparations for war. He appointed the general rendezvous of his troops in the fertile valley of Xauxa, on the road to Cuzco. m)

Advances towards Cuzco.

There he remained for fome months, not: only that he might have time to make another attempt towards an accommodation with Pizarro, but that he might train his new foldiers to the ufe of arms, and accuftom them to the difcipline of a camp, before he led them against a body of victorious veterans. Pizarro, intoxicated with the fuccefs which had hitherto accompanied his arms, and elated with having. again near a thousand men under his command, refused to listen to any terms, although Cepeda, together with feveral of his officers, and even Carvajal himfelf, n) gave it as their advice to clofe with the prefident's offer of a general indemnity, and the revocation of the obnoxious laws. o) Gafca having tried in vain every expedient to avoid imbruing his hands in

m) Zarate, lib. vii. c. 9. Fernandez, lib. ii. c. 77. 82.

n) See NOTE XVIII.

o) Zarate, lib. vii. c. 6, Vega, p. II. lib. v. c. 27.

the blood of his countrymen, began (Dec. 29. 1547.) to move towards Cuzco, at the head of fixteen hundred men.

Both parties prepare for battle.

Pizarro, confident of victory, suffered the royalifts to pass all the rivers which lie between Guamanga and Cuzco without oppofition, and to advance within four leagues of that capital, flattering himself that a defeat in fuch a fituation as rendered a retreat impracticable would at once terminate the war. He then marched out to meet the enemy, and Carvajal chofe his ground, and made the difpofition of the troops with the difcerning eye, and profound knowledge in the art of war, confpicuous in all his operations. As the two armies moved forward flowly (April 9. 1548.) to the charge, the appearance of each was fingular. In that of Pizarro, compofed of men enriched with the fpoils of the most opulent country in America, every officer, and almoft all the private men were clothed in ftuffs of filk, or brocade, embroidered with gold and filver; and their horfes, their arms, their ftandards, were adorned with all the pride of military pomp. p) That of Gasca, though not fo fplendid, exhibited what was no lefs ftriking. He himself, accompanied by the archbishop of Lima, the bifhops of Quito and Cuzco, and a great number

p) Zarate, lib. vi, c. II.

of ecclefiafticks, marching along the lines, bleffing the men, and encouraging them to a refolute difcharge of their duty.

Pizarro deferted by his troops,

When both were juft ready to engage, Cepeda fet fpurs to his horfe, galloped off, and furrendered himself to the prefident. Garcilaffo de la Vega, and other officers of note, followed his example. The revolt of perfons in fuch high rank ftruck all with amazement. The mutual confidence on which the union and ftrength of armies depend, ceafed at once. Diftruft and confternation spread from rank to rank. Some filently flipped away, others threw down their arms, the greatest number went over to the royalifts. Pizarro, Carvajal, and fome leaders, employed authority, threats, and entreaties, to ftop them, but in vain. In lefs than half an hour, a body of men which might have decided the fate of the Peruvian empire, was totally difperfed. Pizarro, feeing all irretrievably loft, cried out in amazement to a few officers who ftill faithfully adhered to him: What remains for us to do?" Let us rufh, replied one of them, upon the enemy's firmeft battalion, and die like Romans. " Dejected with fuch a reverse of fortune, he had not spirit to follow this foldierly counfel, and with a tamenefs difgraceful to his former fame, he furrendered to one of Gafca's officers.

Carvajal, endeavouring to escape, was over. taken and feized.

taken, and put to death.

Gafca, happy in this bloodless victory, did not ftain it with cruelty. Pizarro, Pizarro, Carvajal, and a small number of the most distinguifhed or notorious offenders, were punished capitally. Pizarro was beheaded on the day after he furrendered. He fubmitted to his fate with a compofed dignity, and feemed defirous to atone by repentance for the crimes which he had committed. The end of Carvajal was fuitable to his life. On his trial he offered no defence. When the fentence adjudging him to be hanged was pronounced, he carelessly replied: One can die but once." During the interval between the fentence and execution, he discovered no fign either of remorse for the paft, or of folicitude about the future; fcoffing at all who vifited him, in his ufual farcaftick vein of mirth, with the fame quickness of repartee and grofs pleafantry as at any other period of his life. Cepeda, more criminal than either, ought to have fhared the fame fate; but the merit of having deferted his affociates at fuch a critical moment, and with fuch decifive effect, faved him fro. immediate punishment. He was fent, however, as a prifoner to Spain, and died in confinement. q)

q) Zarate, lib. vii. c. 6, 7, 8. Vega, p. II. lib. v. c. 30, &c. 86, &c. Herrera, dec. 8. lib. iv.

Gomara, c. 185, 186. Fernandez. lib. ii. c. c. 14, &c.