" Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap.
Barcia, tom. III. p. 197. - Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms.,
Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 7. - Carta de Hern. Pizarro, Ms.]
It was noon before the Indian procession was on its march, when
it was seen occupying the great causeway for a long extent. In
front came a large body of attendants, whose office seemed to be
to sweep away every particle of rubbish from the road. High
above the crowd appeared the Inca, borne on the shoulders of his
principal nobles, while others of the same rank marched by the
sides of his litter, displaying such a dazzling show of ornaments
on their persons, that, in the language of one of the Conquerors,
"they blazed like the sun." *4 But the greater part of the Inca's
forces mustered along the fields that lined the road, and were
spread over the broad meadows as far as the eye could reach. *5
[Footnote 4: "Hera tanta la pateneria que traian d'oro y plata
que hera cossa estrana lo que Reluzia con el Sol.' Pedro Pizarro,
Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
[Footnote 5: To the eye of the old Conqueror so often quoted, the
number of Peruvian warriors appeared not less than 50,000; "mas
de cin cuenta mil que tenia de guerra' (Relacion del Primer.
Descub., Ms.) To Pizarro's secretary, as they lay encamped along
the hills, they seemed about 30,000. (Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap.
Barcia, tom. III. p. 196.) However gratifying to the imagination
to repose on some precise number, it is very rare that one can do
so with safety, in estimating the irregular and tumultuous levies
of a barbarian host.
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