The night after the battle was extremely frosty, and as the baggage was considerably in the rear, only two of the wounded officers had their wounds dressed, so that a good many of the wounded died of cold during the night. Next morning, the governor caused every attention to be given to the wounded, who exceeded four hundred in number232, and had the dead buried, ordering the bodies of Holguin and Tordoya to be carried to the city of Guamanga, where they were magnificently interred. On the day succeeding the battle, the governor ordered the heads of several prisoners to be cut off, who had been concerned in the murder of the marquis. Next day he went to Guamanga, where Captain Diego de Royas had already beheaded Juan Tello and some other captains of the rebels. The governor now gave orders to the licentiate de la Gama to try the rest of the prisoners, and to punish them according to their deserts. De la Gama accordingly hanged several and beheaded others, to the number of forty of the most culpable, insomuch that in all about sixty were executed. Some others were banished, and the rest were pardoned, such of them as had settlements being allowed to return to their houses.
The governor went afterwards to Cuzco, where he brought Don Diego to trial, and ordered him to be beheaded. Diego de Mendez, Gomez Perez, and another, made their escape from prison into the mountains of the Andes, where they were kindly received by Manco Capac the fugitive Inca, who had taken refuge in an inaccessible country. The Inca was much grieved on learning the death of Don Diego, whom he was greatly attached to, and to whom he had sent several coats of mail, corselets, cuirasses, and other arms, which he had taken from the Spaniards whom he defeated and slew, at the time when he went by order of the marquis to relieve Gonzalo and Juan Pizarro, then besieged in Cuzco.
After the death of Don Diego and the entire dispersion of his adherents, by which peace was restored through the whole country, the governor did not consider it proper to disband his army, as he had not sufficient funds to reward them according to their services; for which reason he resolved to send them in different detachments to make discoveries and conquests. Captain Vergara and his troops were accordingly sent back to complete the conquest of the Bracamoras. The Captains Diego de Royas and Philip Gutierez were sent with above three hundred men to the eastwards, where they afterwards made some establishments on the Rio de la Plata. Captain Monroy was sent to Chili with reinforcements to Pedro de Valdivia, who was engaged in reducing that country. Captain Juan Perez de Guevara was sent to reduce the country of Mullobamba which he had discovered. This is an exceedingly mountainous country, in which the two great rivers Marannon and La Plata have their sources, both of which run into the Atlantic. Its inhabitants are Caribs, or canibals, and their country so hot that they go entirely naked, or at least have only a few rags round their loins. While in this country, Juan Perez got notice of an extensive province beyond the mountains towards the north, in which there are rich gold mines, and which has camels and fowls like those of New Spain, and a species of sheep considerably smaller than those of Peru. In that country it is necessary to water all kinds of seeds regularly, as it seldom rains. In it there is a lake, the environs of which are exceedingly populous. In all its rivers there are certain fishes as large as dogs, which they likewise very much resemble, which kill and eat the Indians when they go into the water or even pass near it, as they often come out of the water and walk on the dry land233. This great country is bounded on the north by the Marannon, on the east by Brasil, and on the south by the Rio de la Plata; and it is said that the Amazons dwell in this country, of whom Orellana received intelligence while descending the Marannon.
Vaca de Castro remained above eighteen months in Cuzco after the departure of these various expeditions, employing himself in making a distribution of the unoccupied lands and Indians, and settling the whole country in good order, issuing likewise many useful regulations for the protection and preservation of the Indians. In that period the richest gold mine ever heard of in our days was discovered near Cuzco in a river named Carabaya, where a single Indian is able to gather to the extent of a mark in one day234. The whole country being now perfectly tranquil, and the Indians protected from those excessive toils to which they had been subjected during the civil war, Gonzalo Pizarro was permitted to come to Cuzco, and after a few days went thence to Las Charcas, where he employed himself in taking care of the extensive estate which he possessed in that country. He there remained in quiet, till the arrival of the viceroy, Blasco Nunnez Vela in Peru, as shall be related in the sequel.
At this period, some of the clergy who had been in the New World, represented to the Emperor Don Carlos and the lords of his council, that the Spaniards treated the natives in the conquered provinces of America with extreme cruelty, depriving them of all their property by excessive exactions, forcing them to labour in the mines and to dive for pearls beyond their strength, obliging them to carry heavy burdens in long journeys, and frequently subjecting them to arbitrary punishments, and even wantonly putting them to death; insomuch that their numbers were fast diminishing, and that in a short time they would be entirely extirpated from Mexico and Peru and the other continental dominions of Spain in America, as was already the case in the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico, Jamaica, and others, where hardly any trace remained of the original inhabitants. To confirm these representations, they particularly recited many instances of cruelty exercised by the Spaniards upon the Indians, among which were numerous circumstances that were by no means well authenticated. They alleged as one of the greatest of these evils, and a principal cause of the destruction of the Indians, that they were forced to carry heavy burdens on long journeys, far beyond their strength, without any consideration of justice or humanity. They added that these tyrannical practices had been carried to the greatest excess by the governors, lieutenants, and other officers of the crown, and by the bishops, monks, and other favoured and privileged persons, trusting to their authority and immunities to be exempted from punishment for their improper conduct, by which they were encouraged to the commission of every excess. He who insisted in these remonstrances with the greatest zeal and perseverance was Fra Bartholomew de las Casas, a Dominican monk, whom his majesty had raised to the bishopric of Chiapa.
232
This appears to countenance the account of Garcilasso in a former note, who probably quoted from Zarate; but the latter does not limit this number to the royal troops. –E.
233
Obviously a misunderstood description of alligators. Indeed the whole account of this country, now called Colona, seems to have been derived from the reports of Indians, and is in many circumstances entirely fabulous, as is well known from the more recent accounts of the Jesuit missions. –E.
234
Carabaya is an elevated valley of considerable extent, to the south east of Cuzco. A mark of gold or eight ounces is worth about L.32; hence we may readily believe so rich a days work was seldom made. –E.