Fifteen hundred ducats were at length raised; and
Pizarro, in the spring of 1528, bade adieu to Panama, accompanied
by Pedro de Candia. *29 He took with him, also, some of the
natives, as well as two or three llamas, various nice fabrics of
cloth, with many ornaments and vases of gold and silver, as
specimens of the civilization of the country, and vouchers for
his wonderful story.
[Footnote 29: "Juntaronle mil y quinientos pesos de oro, que dio
de buena voluntad Dn Fernando de Luque." Montesinos, Annales,
Ms., ano 1528."]
Of all the writers on ancient Peruvian history, no one has
acquired so wide celebrity, or been so largely referred to by
later compilers, as the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega. He was born
at Cuzco, in 1540; and was a mestizo, that is, of mixed descent,
his father being European, and his mother Indian. His father,
Garcilasso de la Vega, was one of that illustrious family whose
achievements, both in arms and letters, shed such lustre over the
proudest period of the Castilian annals. He came to Peru, in the
suite of Pedro de Alvarado, soon after the country had been
gained by Pizarro. Garcilasso attached himself to the fortunes of
this chief, and, after his death, to those of his brother
Gonzalo, - remaining constant to the latter, through his
rebellion, up to the hour of his rout at Xaquixaguana, when
Garcilasso took the same course with most of his faction, and
passed over to the enemy. But this demonstration of loyalty,
though it saved his life, was too late to redeem his credit with
the victorious party; and the obloquy which he incurred by his
share in the rebellion threw a cloud over his subsequent
fortunes, and even over those of his son, as it appears, in after
years.
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