Huascar was made prisoner, and the victorious chiefs
marched at once on his capital, which they occupied in the name
of their sovereign. *11
[Footnote 11: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 77. - Oviedo, Hist. de
las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 9. - Xerez, Conq. del
Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 202. - Zarate. Conq. del Peru,
lib. 1, cap. 12. - Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 70. - Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
These events occurred in the spring of 1532, a few months before
the landing of the Spaniards. The tidings of the success of his
arms and the capture of his unfortunate brother reached
Atahuallpa at Caxamalca. He instantly gave orders that Huascar
should be treated with the respect due to his rank, but that he
should be removed to the strong fortress of Xauxa, and held there
in strict confinement. His orders did not stop here, - if we are
to receive the accounts of Garcilasso de la Vega, himself of the
Inca race, and by his mother's side nephew of the great Huayna
Capac.
According to this authority, Atahuallpa invited the Inca nobles
throughout the country to assemble at Cuzco, in order to
deliberate on the best means of partitioning the empire between
him and his brother. When they had met in the capital, they were
surrounded by the soldiery of Quito, and butchered without mercy.
The motive for this perfidious act was to exterminate the whole
of the royal family, who might each one of them show a better
title to the crown than the illegitimate Atahuallpa.
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