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.

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    and two hundred jpesos de oro, and two hundred and fifteen thousand marks of silver.'*^ In the absence of the official returns, it is impossible to determine which is correct. But Sancho's narrative is countersigned, it may be remembered, by Pizarro and the royal treasurer Eiquelme, and doubtless, therefore, shows the actual amount for which the Conquerors accounted to the crown. Whichever statement we receive, the sum, combined with that obtained at Caxamalca, might well have satisfied the cravings of the most avaricious. The sudden influx of so much wealth, and that, too, in so transferable a form, among a party of reckless adven- turers little accustomed to the possession of money had its natural effect. It supplied them with the means of gaming, so strong and common a passion with the Spaniards that it may be considered a national vice. Fortunes were lost and won in a single day, sufficient to render the proprietors independent for life; and many a desperate gamester, by an unlucky throw of the dice or turn of the cards, saw himself stripped in a few hours of the fruits of years of toil, and obliged to begin over again the business of rapine. Among these, one in the cavalry service is mentioned, named Leguizano,* who had received as his share of the booty the image of the Sun, which, raised on a plate of Ped. Sanclio, ReL, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 409. • [Or Lejesema,—the same person whose wiU is referred to in Book I. chap. 5, note 37, and printed in Appendix No. 4. According to Gar- cilasso, he had been a “ great gambler,” but his loss on the present occasion proved his salvation, as he “ hated play ever afterwards,” and devoted himself with zeal and diligence to the public service. He held several offices, married an Inca princess, took part in the civil wars,—generally on the winning side,—and survived all his old com- panions in arms,—Ed.]
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