Then, kneeling down before a crucifix placed on a table, Pizarro
remained for some minutes absorbed in prayer; after which,
addressing the soldier who was to act as the minister of justice,
he calmly bade him "do his duty with a steady hand." He refused
to have his eyes bandaged, and, bending forward his neck,
submitted it to the sword of the executioner, who struck off the
head with a single blow, so true that the body remained for some
moments in the same erect posture as in life. *13 The head was
taken to Lima, where it was set in a cage or frame, and then
fixed on a gibbet by the side of Carbajal's. On it was placed a
label, bearing, - "This is the head of the traitor Gonzalo
Pizarro, who rebelled in Peru against his sovereign, and battled
in the cause of tyranny and treason against the royal standard in
the valley of Xaquixaguana." *14 His large estates, including the
rich mines in Potosi, were confiscated; his mansion in Lima was
razed to the ground, the place strewed with salt, and a store
pillar set up, with an inscription interdicting any one from
building on a spot which had been profaned by the residence of a
traitor.
[Footnote 13: "The executioner," says Garcilasso, with a simile
more expressive than elegant, "did his work as cleanly as if he
had been slicing off a head of lettuce!" "De vn reues le corto la
cabeca con tanta facilidad, como si fuera vna hoja de lechuga, y
se quedo con ella en la mano, y tardo el cuerpo algun espacio en
caer en el suelo.
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