But the
massacre did not end here. The illegitimate offspring, like
himself, half-brothers of the monster, ali, in short, who had any
of the Inca blood in their veins, were involved in it; and with
an appetite for carnage unparalleled in the annals of the Roman
Empire or of the French Republic, Atahuallpa ordered all the
females of the blood royal, his aunts, nieces, and cousins, to be
put to death, and that, too, with the most refined and lingering
tortures. To give greater zest to his revenge, many of the
executions took place in the presence of Huascar himself, who was
thus compelled to witness the butchery of his own wives and
sisters, while, in the extremity of anguish, they in vain called
on him to protect them! *12
[Footnote 12: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 35 -
39.
"A las Mugeres, Hermanas, Tias, Sobrinas, Primas Hermanas, y
Madrastras de Atahuallpa, colgavan de los Arboles, y de muchas
Horcas mui altas que hicieron: a unas colgaron de los cabellos, a
otras por debajo de los bracos, y a otras de otras maneras feas,
que por la honestidad se callan: davanles sus hijuelos, que los
tuviesen en bracos, tenianlos hasta que se les caian, y se
aporreavan" (Ibid., cap. 37.) The variety of torture shows some
invention in the writer, or, more probably, in the writer's
uncle, the ancient Inca, the raconteur of these Blue beard
butcheries.]
Such is the tale told by the historian of the Incas, and received
by him, as he assures us, from his mother and uncle, who, being
children at the time, were so fortunate as to be among the few
that escaped the massacre of their house.
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