His mounted troops were inferior to those of Almagro; but
this was more than compensated by the strength of his infantry,
comprehending a well-trained corps of arquebusiers, sent from St.
Domingo, whose weapons were of the improved construction recently
introduced from Flanders. They were of a large calibre, and
threw double-headed shot, consisting of bullets linked together
by an iron chain. It was doubtless a clumsy weapon compared with
modern fire-arms, but, in hands accustomed to wield it, proved a
destructive instrument. *8
[Footnote 7: A church dedicated to Saint Lazarus was afterwards
erected on the battle-ground, and the bodies of those slain in
the action were interred within its walls. This circumstance
leads Garcilasso to suppose that the battle took place on
Saturday, the sixth, - the day after the Feast of Saint Lazarus,
- and not on the twenty-sixth of April, as commonly reported.
Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap 38. See also Montesinos,
(Annales, Ms., ano 1538,) - an indifferent authority for any
thing]
[Footnote 8: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 3, cap. 8. -
Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 2, cap. 36.]
Hernando Pizarro drew up his men in the same order of battle as
that presented by the enemy, - throwing his infantry into the
centre, and disposing his horse on the flanks; one corps of which
he placed under command of Alonso de Alvarado, and took charge of
the other himself. The infantry was headed by his brother
Gonzalo, supported by Pedro de Valdivia, the future hero of
Arauco, whose disastrous story forms the burden of romance as
well as of chronicle.
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