Volume 1

History of the conquest of Peru : with a preliminary view of the civilization of the Incas / William H. Prescott.

  • William Hickling Prescott
Date:
[1905?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: History of the conquest of Peru : with a preliminary view of the civilization of the Incas / William H. Prescott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    489/516 page 449
    sight of the rich valley of Xauxa. The march, though tedious, had been attended with little suffering, except in crossing the bristling crests of the Cordilleras, which occasionally obstructed their path,—a rough setting to the beautiful valleys that lay scattered like gems along this elevated region. In the mountain- passes they found some inconvenience from the cold; since, to move more quickly, they had disencumbered themselves of all superfluous baggage, and were even unprovided with tents.The bleak winds of the mountains penetrated the thick harness of the soldiers ; but the poor Indians, more scantily clothed, and accus- tomed to a tropical climate, suffered most severely. The Spaniard seemed to have a hardihood of body, as of soul, that rendered him almost indifferent to climate. On the march they had not been molested by enemies. But more than once they had seen vestiges of them in smoking hamlets and ruined bridges. Keports, from time to time, had reached Pizarro of warriors on his track; and small bodies of Indians were occasionally seen like dusky clouds on the verge of the horizon, which vanished as the Spaniards ap- proached. On reaching Xauxa, however, these clouds gathered into one dark mass of warriors, which formed on the opposite bank of the river that flowed through the valley. The Spaniards advanced to the stream, which, swollen by the melting of the snows, was now of considerable width, though not deep. The bridge had been de- stroyed ; but the Conquerors, without hesitation, dashing La notte dormirono tutti in souuenimento di legne ne da man- /][uella campagna senza coperto giare.” Fed. Sancho, ReL, ap. tlcuno, sopra la neue, ne pur hebber Eamusio, tom. iii. fol. 401. VOL. I. (i G
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3