*17 The young Inca, in
particular, accoutred in the European fashion, rode a war-horse
which he managed with considerable address, and, with a long
lance in his hand, led on his followers to the attack. - This
readiness to adopt the superior arms and tactics of the
Conquerors intimates a higher civilization than that which
belonged to the Aztec, who, in his long collision with the
Spaniards, was never so far divested of his terrors for the horse
as to venture to mount him.
[Footnote 17: Herrera assures us, that the Peruvians even turned
the fire-arms of their Conquerors against them, compelling their
prisoners to put the muskets in order, and manufacture powder for
them. Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 8, cap. 5, 6]
But a few days or weeks of training were not enough to give
familiarity with weapons, still less with tactics, so unlike
those to which the Peruvians had been hitherto accustomed. The
fight, on the present occasion, though hotly contested, was not
of long duration. After a gallant struggle, in which the natives
threw themselves fearlessly on the horsemen, endeavouring to tear
them from their saddles, they were obliged to give way before the
repeated shock of their charges. Many were trampled under foot,
others cut down by the Spanish broadswords, while the
arquebusiers, supporting the cavalry, kept up a running fire that
did terrible execution on the flanks and rear of the fugitives.
At length, sated with slaughter, and trusting that the
chastisement he had inflicted on the enemy would secure him from
further annoyance for the present, the Castilian general drew
back his forces to their quarters in the capital.
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