But one fourth of
his gallant army had been left to feed the condor in the
wilderness, besides the greater part, at least two thousand, of
his Indian auxiliaries. A great number of his horses, too, had
perished; and the men and horses that escaped were all of them
more or less injured by the cold and the extremity of suffering.
- Such was the terrible passage of the Puertos Nevados, which I
have only briefly noticed as an episode to the Peruvian conquest,
but the account of which, in all its details, though it occupied
but a few weeks in duration, would give one a better idea of the
difficulties encountered by the Spanish cavaliers, than volumes
of ordinary narrative. *15
[Footnote 15: By far the most spirited and thorough record of
Alvarado's march is given by Herrera, who has borrowed the pen of
Livy describing the Alpine march of Hannibal. (Hist. General,
dec. 5, lib. 6, cap. 1, 2, 7, 8, 9.) See also Pedro Pizarro,
Descub. y Conq., Ms., - Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte
3, lib. 8, cap. 20, - and Carta de Pedro de Alvarado al
Emperador, San Miguel, 15 de Enero, 1535, Ms.
Alvarado, in the letter above cited, which is preserved in the
Munoz collection, explains to the Emperor the grounds of his
expedition, with no little effrontery. In this document he
touches very briefly on the march, being chiefly occupied by the
negotiations with Almagro, and accompanying his remarks with many
dark suggestions as to the policy pursued by the Conquerors]
As Alvarado, after halting some time to restore his exhausted
troops, began his march across the broad plateau, he was
astonished by seeing the prints of horses' hoofs on the soil.
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