Descub., Ms.
See Appendix, No. 10, where I have cited in the original several
of the contemporary notices of Atahuallpa's execution, which
being in manuscript are not very accessible, even to Spaniards.]
Atahuallpa's remains, notwithstanding his request, were laid in
the cemetery of San Francisco. *37 But from thence, as is
reported, after the Spaniards left Caxamalca, they were secretly
removed, and carried, as he had desired, to Quito. The colonists
of a later time supposed that some treasures might have been
buried with the body. But, on excavating the ground, neither
treasure nor remains were to be discovered. *38
[Footnote 37: "Oi dicen los indios que esta su sepulcro junto a
una Cruz de Piedra Blanca que esta en el Cementerio del Convento
de Sn Francisco." Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1533.]
[Footnote 38: Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8,
cap. 22.
According to Stevenson, "In the chapel belonging to the common
gaol, which was formerly part of the palace, the altar stands on
the stone on which Atahuallpa was placed by the Spaniards and
strangled, and under which he was buried." (Residence in South
America, vol. II. p. 163.) Montesinos, who wrote more than a
century after the Conquest, tells us that "spots of blood were
still visible on a broad flagstone, in the prison of Caxamalca,
on which Atahuallpa was beheaded." (Annales, Ms., ano 1533.) -
Ignorance and credulity could scarcely go farther.]
A day or two after these tragic events, Hernando de Soto returned
from his excursion.
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