7, lib. 7, cap. 22.]
Soon after quitting Cuzco, Pizarro learned the death of the Inca
Manco. He was massacred by a party of Spaniards, of the faction
of Almagro, who, on the defeat of their young leader, had taken
refuge in the Indian camp. They, in turn, were all slain by the
Peruvians. It is impossible to determine on whom the blame of
the quarrel should rest, since no one present at the time has
recorded it. *7
[Footnote 7: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Garcilasso Com
Real., Parte 2, lib. 4, cap. 7]
The death of Manco Inca, as he was commonly called, is an event
not to be silently passed over in Peruvian history; for he was
the last of his race that may be said to have been animated by
the heroic spirit of the ancient Incas. Though placed on the
throne by Pizarro, far from remaining a mere puppet in his hands,
Manco soon showed that his lot was not to be cast with that of
his conquerors. With the ancient institutions of his country
lying a wreck around him, he yet struggled bravely, like
Guatemozin, the last of the Aztecs, to uphold her tottering
fortunes, or to bury his oppressors under her ruins. By the
assault on his own capital of Cuzco, in which so large a portion
of it was demolished, he gave a check to the arms of Pizarro,
and, for a season, the fate of the Conquerors trembled in the
balance. Though foiled, in the end, by the superior science of
his adversary, the young barbarian still showed the same
unconquerable spirit as before.
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