*1
[Footnote 1: Relatione de Pedro Sancho, ap. Ramusio, Viaggi, tom.
III. fol. 399. - Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p.
233. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 2, cap. 7.
Oviedo saw at St. Domingo the articles which Ferdinand Pizarro
was bearing to Castile; and he expatiates on several beautifully
wrought vases, richly chased, of very fine gold, and measuring
twelve inches in height and thirty round. Hist. de las Indias,
Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16.]
Before breaking up these specimens of Indian art, it was
determined to send a quantity, which should be deducted from the
royal fifth, to the Emperor. It would serve as a sample of the
ingenuity of the natives, and would show him the value of his
conquests. A number of the most beautiful articles was selected,
to the amount of a hundred thousand ducats, and Hernando Pizarro
was appointed to be the bearer of them to Spain. He was to
obtain an audience of Charles, and, at the same time that he laid
the treasures before him, he was to give an account of the
proceedings of the Conquerors, and to seek a further augmentation
of their powers and dignities.
No man in the army was better qualified for this mission, by his
address and knowledge of affairs, than Hernando Pizarro; no one
would be so likely to urge his suit with effect at the haughty
Castilian court. But other reasons influenced the selection of
him at the present juncture.
His former jealousy of Almagro still rankled in his bosom, and he
had beheld that chief's arrival at the camp with feelings of
disgust, which he did not care to conceal.
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