There was no
iron at hand, nothing but gold and silver. In the present
emergency they turned even these to account; and Pizarro caused
the horses of the whole troop to be shod with silver. The work
was done by the Indian smiths, and it answered so well, that in
this precious material they found a substitute for iron during
the remainder of the march. *13
[Footnote 13: "Hicieron hacer herrage de herraduras e clavos para
sus Caballos de Plata, los cuales hicieron los cien Indios
fundidores muy buenos e cuantos quisieron de ellos, con el cual
herrage andubieron dos meses." (Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms.,
Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16.) The author of the Relacion del Primero
Descubrimento, Ms., says they shod the horses with silver and
copper. And another of the Peruvian Conquerors assures us they
used gold and silver. (Relatione d'un Capitano Spagnuolo, ap
Ramusio, Navigationi et Viaggi, Venetia, 1565, tom. III. fol.
376.) All agree in the silver.]
Xauxa was a large and populous place; though we shall hardly
credit the assertion of the Conquerors, that a hundred thousand
persons assembled habitually in the great square of the city. *14
The Peruvian commander was encamped, it was said, with an army of
five-and-thirty thousand men at only a few miles' distance from
the town With some difficulty he was persuaded to an interview
with Pizarro. The latter addressed him courteously, and urged
his return with him to the Castilian quarters in Caxamalca,
representing it as the command of the Inca.
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