]
As a military man, Carbajal takes a high rank among the soldiers
of the New World. He was strict, even severe, in enforcing
discipline, so that he was little loved by his followers.
Whether he had the genius for military combinations requisite for
conducting war on an extended scale may be doubted; but in the
shifts and turns of guerilla warfare he was unrivalled. Prompt,
active, and persevering, he was insensible to danger or fatigue,
and, after days spent in the saddle, seemed to attach little
value to the luxury of a bed. *10
[Footnote 10: "Fue maior sufridor de trabajos, que requeria su
edad, porque a maravilla se quitaba las Armas de Dia, ni de
Noche, i quando era necesario, tampoco se acostaba, ni dormia mas
de quanto recostado en vna Silla, se le cansaba la mano en que
arrimaba la Cabeca." Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 5, cap. 14.]
He knew familiarly every mountain pass, and, such were the
sagacity and the resources displayed in his roving expeditions,
that he was vulgarly believed to be attended by a familiar. *11
With a character so extraordinary, with powers prolonged so far
beyond the usual term of humanity, and passions so fierce in one
tottering on the verge of the grave, it was not surprising that
many fabulous stories should be eagerly circulated respecting
him, and that Carbajal should be clothed with mysterious terrors
as a sort of supernatural being, - the demon of the Andes!
[Footnote 11: Pedro Pizarro, who seems to have entertained
feelings not unfriendly to Carbajal, thus sums up his character
in a few words.
Pages:
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051