On His Arrival There, The Greater Part Of The Ransom Of
Atahualpa Was Already Brought, And Almagro And His Followers
Were filled
with astonishment and admiration at the sight of the prodigious masses of
gold and silver which were there
Collected, more than they thought could
have been in any part of the world.
When all this gold and silver was melted down, weighed and essayed, it was
found to amount to the amazing sum of six hundred millions of _maravedies_,
or more than 4,500,000 livres. It is true that the proof or essay of this
gold was made hurriedly, and only by means of the touchstone, as they had
no _aqua fortis_ to conduct the process in a more exact manner. It
afterwards appeared that this gold had been estimated two or three
_carats_ below its real value; so that the whole amount ought to have been
reckoned at _seven_ millions of maravedies, or 5,250,000 livres. The
quantity of silver was so large, that the royal fifth amounted to 30,000
marks of fine silver, most of which was afterwards found to contain two or
three carats of gold. The royal fifth of the gold amounted to 120 millions
of maravedies, or 900,000 livres. Each horseman received for his share in
gold, without counting the silver 240 marks or 12,000 pesos, equal to
80,000 francs. The shares of the horsemen were a quarter part larger than
those of the foot soldiers. Yet all these sums did not amount to a fifth
part of what Atahualpa had engaged to pay for his ransom.
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