'El saco que vuo
fue grande: que se dixo ser de mas de vn millon y quatrocietos
mil pesos." (Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 79.) The
amount is, doubtless, grossly exaggerated. But we get to be so
familiar with the golden wonders of Peru, that, like the reader
of the "Arabian Nights," we become of too easy faith to resort to
the vulgar standard of probability]
No less than three hundred and fifty of Centeno's followers were
killed, and the number of wounded was even greater. More than a
hundred of these are computed to have perished from exposure
during the following night; for, although the climate in this
elevated region is temperate, yet the night winds blowing over
the mountains are sharp and piercing, and many a wounded wretch,
who might have been restored by careful treatment, was chilled by
the damps, and found a stiffened corpse at sunrise. The victory
was not purchased without a heavy loss on the part of the
conquerors, a hundred or more of whom were left on the field.
Their bodies lay thick on that part of the ground occupied by
Pizarro's cavalry, where the fight raged hottest. In this narrow
space were found, also, the bodies of more than a hundred horses,
the greater part of which, as well as those of their riders,
usually slain with them, belonged to the victorious army. It was
the most fatal battle that had yet been fought on the
blood-stained soil of Peru. *38
[Footnote 38: "La mas sangrienta batalla que vuo en el Peru.
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