Almagro Was Not
Disposed To Put Too Much Confidence In This Proposal, And Continued His
Journey.
On arriving in the province of _Chaparra_[32], they unexpectedly
fell in with above two thousand Peruvian warriors commanded by a curaca
named Sotaurco.
This was the advanced guard of Quizquiz, whose main body
was two or three days march in the rear. Quizquiz had a similar detachment
at a considerable distance on his left flank, on purpose to raise
contributions of provisions from the inhabitants of the country for the
subsistence of his army; and had besides a rear guard of three or four
thousand warriors, two days march behind. The main body under his own
immediate command escorted all the cattle which had been collected on the
march, and great numbers of prisoners, so that his whole army occupied a
space of above sixty miles of country.
Sotaurco, the commander of the Peruvian vanguard, endeavoured to gain
possession of a defile or pass in the mountains, by which he supposed the
Spaniards intended to march; but Almagro not only prevented the execution
of that project by seizing the pass, but even made Sotaurco prisoner. From
him Almagro was informed of the order of march observed by Quizquiz, and
determined to make a forced march with all his cavalry to attack him. In
this march, at a steep stoney pass near a river which it was necessary to
pass, most of the horses lost their shoes; and as it was in the night, the
Spaniards had to replace them as well as they could by the light of fires
and candles. Being afraid lest Quizquiz might be informed of their
approach by some of the natives of the country, Almagro continued his
march with all possible expedition, and towards the evening of the second
day of his march he came in sight of the Peruvian camp.
Immediately on seeing the Spaniards, Quizquiz withdrew to some distance
with all the women and people who were unfit for battle, and placed his
troops in a post of very difficult access under the command of _Huaypalca_,
a brother of the late inca Atahualpa. Almagro advanced without hesitation
to attack them, although the horses were so weary that they were hardly
able to move though led mostly by the soldiers; besides which the
Peruvians rolled down upon them from the mountain great quantities of
large stones and fragments of rock. In spite of every obstacle, the
Spaniards made their way to the post occupied by Huaypalca, which they
attacked both in front and flank, and forced him to retire among the steep
rocks, where he defended himself till night, and then drew off under cover
of the darkness to rejoin Quizquiz. Sometime afterwards, it was learnt
that the detached party of Peruvians which marched on the left of Quizquiz,
had made prisoners of fourteen Spaniards, all of whom they put to death.
Almagro, in continuing his march, was opposed by the Peruvian rear-guard
at the passage of a river, so that he was unable to get over for a whole
day. Besides occupying the opposite bank of the river, the Peruvians had
taken possession of a very high mountain immediately above the place
occupied by the Spaniards, so that they were unable to attack the enemy
without exposing themselves to great danger; and indeed a good many of the
Spaniards were wounded, among whom Alfonso de Alvarado was pierced quite
through the thigh by a javelin, and another officer of rank was severely
wounded. The Peruvians kept firm all night, but in the morning they
abandoned their post on the banks of the river, leaving the passage free
for the Spaniards. The Indians had burnt all the baggage which they could
not carry off, but above 15,000 Peruvian sheep were found in their camp,
and more than four thousand Indian men and women, of those whom Quizquiz
had made prisoners, who now voluntarily surrendered themselves to the
Spaniards. The Peruvian warriors had retired to a strong post on the top
of a mountain, where Almagro did not think fit to attack them, as he was
desirous to continue his march to the south.
On their arrival at San Miguel, Almagro sent the Captain Diego de Mora to
Puerto Viejo, to take the charge of the vessels belonging to Alvarado, who
likewise sent Garcias de Holguin on his part, that this measure might be
executed amicably according to agreement. After giving all the necessary
orders at San Miguel, and having provided his own men and those of
Alvarado with arms, money, and clothes, he and Alvarado continued their
journey towards Pachacamac. In the course of this march, he left Captain
Martin Astete to build and settle a town now called Truxillo, in a
convenient situation on the coast, in pursuance of orders to that effect
from the governor Don Francisco Pizarro.
About this time Quizquiz, having continued his march towards Quito, had
his advanced guard attacked and defeated by one of the officers belonging
to Benalcazar. Quizquiz was much afflicted by this loss, and knew not well
what to do or how to conduct himself. The curacas or native chiefs in his
army advised him to make his peace with Benalcazar; but he would not
listen to this proposal, even threatening to put them to death if they
ever mentioned such a thing again, and ordered them to prepare for
returning into Peru. But, as they were in want of provisions, and had no
hopes of procuring any in the retreat which Quizquiz meditated, several of
the _curacas_, at the head of whom was Huaypalca, remonstrated with him
that it was better to die like brave men in battle against the Spaniards,
than to retreat as he desired and to die of famine in a desert country. As
Quizquiz gave a very unsatisfactory answer to this remonstrance, Huaypalca
gave him a thrust in the breast with his lance, and all the other curacas
fell upon him with their clubs and axes, cutting him to pieces.
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