The videttes of the two camps came in
sight of each other that evening, and the rival forces, lying on
their arms, prepared for action on the following morning.
It was the twenty-sixth of October, 1547, when the two
commanders, having formed their troops in order of battle,
advanced to the encounter on the plains of Huarina. The ground,
defended on one side by a bold spur of the Andes, and not far
removed on the other from the waters of Titicaca, was an open and
level plain, well suited to military manoeuvres. It seemed as if
prepared by Nature as the lists for an encounter.
Centeno's army amounted to about a thousand men. His cavalry
consisted of near two hundred and fifty, well equipped and
mounted. Among them were several gentlemen of family, some of
whom had once followed the banners of Pizarro, the whole forming
an efficient corps, in which rode some of the best lances of
Peru. His arquebusiers were less numerous, not exceeding a
hundred and fifty, indifferently provided with ammunition. The
remainder, and much the larger part of Centeno's army, consisted
of spearmen, irregular levies hastily drawn together, and
possessed of little discipline. *29
[Footnote 29: In the estimate of Centeno's forces, - which
ranges, in the different accounts, from seven hundred to twelve
hundred, - I have taken the intermediate number of a thousand
adopted by Zarate, as, on the whole, more probable than either
extreme.]
This corps of infantry formed the centre of his line, flanked by
the arquebusiers in two nearly equal divisions, while his cavalry
were also disposed in two bodies on the right and left wings.
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