Part 31 (1/2)
The doom of the Inca was proclaimed by sound of trumqet in the great square of Caxamalca; and, two hours after sunset, the Spanish soldiery a.s.sembled by torch-light in the plaza to witness the execution of the sentence. It was on the twenty-ninth of August, 1533. Atahuallpa was led out chained hand and foot, - for he had been kept in irons ever since the great excitement had prevailed in the army respecting an a.s.sault. Father Vicente de Valverde was at his side, striving to administer consolation, and, if possible, to persuade him at this last hour to abjure his superst.i.tion and embrace the religion of his Conquerors. He was willing to save the soul of his victim from the terrible expiation in the next world, to which he had so cheerfully consigned his mortal part in this.
During Atahuallpa's confinement, the friar had repeatedly expounded to him the Christian doctrines, and the Indian monarch discovered much acuteness in apprehending the discourse of his teacher. But it had not carried conviction to his mind, and though he listened with patience, he had shown no disposition to renounce the faith of his fathers. The Dominican made a last appeal to him in this solemn hour; and, when Atahuallpa was bound to the stake, with the f.a.gots that were to kindle his funeral pile lying around him, Valverde, holding up the cross, besought him to embrace it and be baptized, promising that, by so doing, the painful death to which he had been sentenced should be commuted for the milder form of the garrote, - a mode of punishment by strangulation, used for criminals in Spain. *30
[Footnote 30: Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p.
234. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms. - Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 400.
The garrote is a mode of execution by means of a noose drawn round the criminal's neck, to the back part of which a stick is attached. By twisting this stick, the noose is tightened and suffocation is produced. This was the mode, probably, of Atahuallpa execution. In Spain, instead of the cord, an iron collar is subst.i.tuted, which, by means of a screw is compressed round the throat of the sufferer.]
The unhappy monarch asked if this were really so, and, on its being confirmed by Pizarro, he consented to abjure his own religion, and receive baptism. The ceremony was performed by Father Valverde, and the new convert received the name of Juan de Atahuallpa, - the name of Juan being conferred in honor of John the Baptist, on whose day the event took place. *31
[Footnote 31: Velasco, Hist. de Quito, tom. I. p. 372.]
Atahuallpa expressed a desire that his remains might be transported to Quito, the place of his birth, to be preserved with those of his maternal ancestors. Then turning to Pizarro, as a last request, he implored him to take compa.s.sion on his young children, and receive them under his protection. Was there no other one in that dark company who stood grimly around him, to whom he could look for the protection of his offspring? Perhaps he thought there was no other so competent to afford it, and that the wishes so solemnly expressed in that hour might meet with respect even from his Conqueror. Then, recovering his stoical bearing, which for a moment had been shaken, he submitted himself calmly to his fate, - while the Spaniards, gathering around, muttered their credos for the salvation of his soul! *32 Thus by the death of a vile malefactor perished the last of the Incas!
[Footnote 32: ”Ma quando se lo vidde appressare per douer esser morto, disse che raccomandaua al Gouernatore i suoi piccioli figliuoli che volesse tenersegli appresso, & con queste valme parole, & dicendo per l'anima sua li Soagnuoli che erano all intorno il Credo, fu subito affogato.” Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap.
Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 399. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 234. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms. - Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib.
2, cap. 7.]
The death of Atahuallpa has many points of resemblance with that of Caupolican, the great Araucanian chief, as described in the historical epic of Ercilla. Both embraced the religion of their conquerors at the stake, though Caupolican was so far less fortunate than the Peruvian monarch, that his conversion did not save him from the tortures of a most agonizing death. He was impaled and shot with arrows. The spirited verses reflect so faithfully the character of these early adventurers, in which the fanaticism of the Crusader was mingled with the cruelty of the conqueror, and they are so germane to the present subject, that I would willingly quote the pa.s.sage were it not too long. See La Araucana, Parte 2, canto 24.]
I have already spoken of the person and the qualities of Atahuallpa. He had a handsome countenance, though with an expression somewhat too fierce to be pleasing. His frame was muscular and well-proportioned; his air commanding; and his deportment in the Spanish quarters had a degree of refinement, the more interesting that it was touched with melancholy. He is accused of having been cruel in his wars, and b.l.o.o.d.y in his revenge. *33 It may be true, but the pencil of an enemy would be likely to overcharge the shadows of the portrait. He is allowed to have been bold, high-minded, and liberal. *34 All agree that he showed singular penetration and quickness of perception. His exploits as a warrior had placed his valor beyond dispute. The best homage to it is the reluctance shown by the Spaniards to restore him to freedom. They dreaded him as an enemy, and they had done him too many wrongs to think that he could be their friend. Yet his conduct towards them from the first had been most friendly; and they repaid it with imprisonment, robbery, and death.
[Footnote 33: ”Thus he paid the penalty of his errors and cruelties,” says Xerez, ”for he was the greatest butcher, as all agree, that the world ever saw; making nothing of razing a whole town to the ground for the most trifling offence, and ma.s.sacring a thousand persons for the fault of one!” (Conq. del Peru, ap.
Barcia, tom. III. p. 234.) Xerez was the private secretary of Pizarro. Sancho, who, on the departure of Xerez for Spain, succeeded him in the same office, pays a more decent tribute to the memory of the Inca, who, he trusts, ”is received into glory, since he died penitent for his sins, and in the true faith of a Christian.” Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio, tom. III. fol. 399.]
[Footnote 34: ”El hera muy regalado, y muy Senor,” says Pedro Pizarro. (Descub. y Conq., Ms.) ”Mui dispuesto, sabio, animoso, franco,” says Gomara. (Hist. de las Ind., cap. 118.)]
The body of the Inca remained on the place of execution through the night. The following morning it was removed to the church of San Francisco, where his funeral obsequies were performed with great solemnity. Pizarro and the princ.i.p.al cavaliers went into mourning, and the troops listened with devout attention to the service of the dead from the lips of Father Valverde. *35 The ceremony was interrupted by the sound of loud cries and wailing, as of many voices at the doors of the church. These were suddenly thrown open, and a number of Indian women, the wives and sisters of the deceased, rus.h.i.+ng up the great aisle, surrounded the corpse. This was not the way, they cried, to celebrate the funeral rites of an Inca; and they declared their intention to sacrifice themselves on his tomb, and bear him company to the land of spirits. The audience, outraged by this frantic behaviour, told the intruders that Atahuallpa had died in the faith of a Christian, and that the G.o.d of the Christians abhorred such sacrifices. They then caused the women to be excluded from the church, and several, retiring to their own quarters, laid violent hands on themselves, in the vain hope of accompanying their beloved lord to the bright mansions of the Sun. *36
[Footnote 35: The secretary Sancho seems to think that the Peruvians must have regarded these funeral honors as an ample compensation to Atahuallpa for any wrongs he may have sustained, since they at once raised him to a level with the Spaniards!
Ibid., loc. cit.]
[Footnote 36: Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms.
See Appendix, No. 10, where I have cited in the original several of the contemporary notices of Atahuallpa's execution, which being in ma.n.u.script are not very accessible, even to Spaniards.]
Atahuallpa's remains, notwithstanding his request, were laid in the cemetery of San Francisco. *37 But from thence, as is reported, after the Spaniards left Caxamalca, they were secretly removed, and carried, as he had desired, to Quito. The colonists of a later time supposed that some treasures might have been buried with the body. But, on excavating the ground, neither treasure nor remains were to be discovered. *38
[Footnote 37: ”Oi dicen los indios que esta su sepulcro junto a una Cruz de Piedra Blanca que esta en el Cementerio del Convento de Sn Francisco.” Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1533.]
[Footnote 38: Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 22.
According to Stevenson, ”In the chapel belonging to the common gaol, which was formerly part of the palace, the altar stands on the stone on which Atahuallpa was placed by the Spaniards and strangled, and under which he was buried.” (Residence in South America, vol. II. p. 163.) Montesinos, who wrote more than a century after the Conquest, tells us that ”spots of blood were still visible on a broad flagstone, in the prison of Caxamalca, on which Atahuallpa was beheaded.” (Annales, Ms., ano 1533.) - Ignorance and credulity could scarcely go farther.]
A day or two after these tragic events, Hernando de Soto returned from his excursion. Great was his astonishment and indignation at learning what had been done in his absence. He sought out Pizarro at once, and found him, says the chronicler, ”with a great felt hat, by way of mourning, slouched over his eyes,” and in his dress and demeanour exhibiting all the show of sorrow. *39 ”You have acted rashly,” said De Soto to him bluntly; ”Atahuallpa has been basely slandered. There was no enemy as Guamachucho; no rising among the natives. I have met with nothing on the road but demonstrations of good-will, and all is quiet. If it was necessary to bring the Inca to trial, he should have been taken to Castile and judged by the Emperor. I would have pledged myself to see him safe on board the vessel.” *40 Pizarro confessed that he had been precipitate, and said that he had been deceived by Riquelme, Valverde, and the others. These charges soon reached the ears of the treasurer and the Dominican, who, in their turn, exculpated themselves, and upbraided Pizarro to his face, as the only one responsible for the deed. The dispute ran high; and the parties were heard by the by-standers to give one another the lie! *41 This vulgar squabble among the leaders, so soon after the event, is the best commentary on the iniquity of their own proceedings and the innocence of the Inca.
[Footnote 39: ”Hallaronle monstrando mucho centimiento con un gran sombrero de fieltro puesto en la cabeza por luto e muy calado sobre los ojos.” Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 22.]
[Footnote 40: Ibid., Ms., ubi supra. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - See Appendix, no. 10.]
[Footnote 41: This remarkable account is given by Oviedo, not in the body of his narrative, but in one of those supplementary chapters, which he makes the vehicle of the most miscellaneous, yet oftentimes important gossip, respecting the great transactions of his history. As he knew familiarly the leaders in these transactions, the testimony which he collected, somewhat at random, is of high authority. The reader will find Oviedo's account of the Inca's death extracted, in the original, among the other notices of this catastrophe in Appendix, No. 10]