544 / 1060
/
R~yal
Commentaries.
BooK
JI.
'' fourteen
p ..1ni,ird1 ,
whom
they
had encounrred at a difrance from
the Main Bo–
" dy, Jnd
fi
marchin° forw ard they overcook the Rere-guard of
f}
gi-UJ.ui~.
then
:: tJ:e
Indians
fortified themfelves at the
Pafs
of a River, where they faced
tl~e
Spa-
niards
for a
"~· hole
day, and fuffered none
of
them
to pafs,
whilfl:
others of
'' them pafTud over above; then the
Spdniard1
intended to make an
Attecnpt
u _
" on
the
Indians,
who
had
taken the fide of
a
very high mountain ; bu
it
had like
" to have proved fatal
to
them, by reafon that the
Spaniards
in that a-aggy and
" rugged ground; could not make a Retreat when they pleafed; fo th:it many of
'' them
~ere
wounded,
as
namely, Captain
Alonfo de Alvarado,
"ho was
run
" through
the thigh,
as " as
likewife
a
Lieutenant, and
all
that night the
Indians
'' kept firiet Watch. But
fo
foon as it was day, they quitted the pafs on the
'' River, and fortified themfelves in the Mountains, "here the
Spaniards
left them
" in quiet, becaufe
A!magro
did not judge it convenient to continue
his
Qg_aners
in
'' that place. Thus far are the Words of
Garate,
with whom
Gomaraagrees and
~p
the
~30th
Chapter of his Book hath thefe Words:
"
~
iVJ.ui~flying: and
running away, had not gone inany Leagues before the
Spaniard.r
fell upon his
" rere; which when the
Indians
perceived, they defended the Banks of a River co'
" keep the
Spaniard.r
from paffing. Their numbers were
fo
great, that whilll fome
" maintained the paffige of the River, others above got over, and put rhemfelves
" into a poCT:ure of fight, intending to encompafs the
~aniards
on all fides, and
to
" kill and rake them
as
they pleaf
~d
; then they pofie!fed themfelves
of
a little
" Hill, which was very rocky, to fecure themfelves from the
Spttnifh
Horfe, frorn
'' which with fome advantage and
fre!h
courage they renewed the
Fight,
and
ki~
cc
led fome of the Horft, which could not eafily rum or move
in
thar rugged
" place,. and wounded fevei-al
Spaniards,
of which
Alonfo de Alvarado
de Burga
was
'' ru_n
through the thigh, and
Drm- Diego de
Almagro
himfelfnarrowly efcaped. Thus
far are the Words of
Gomara.
The
Spaniard.r
which were killed in this Fighr, and
died afterwards of their wounds, received
in
the three
late
Skirmilhes,
·~
ere
fifty
three in all, reckoning the fourteen which
Carate
mentions, and eighteen
~ere
cu–
red of their wounds : The Horfes killed were
thirty
four, one of \\
hich
v.
as that
of
.(1.lmagro,
which was overthrown by the rowling down of a Galga or Rock,
which firuck him a-thwart
his
hinder leg, and broke
it,
with which Man
~
- Horfe came to the ground., and had the fione taken them
fa]},
both of them had
been beaten to pieces. Of the
India-111
not above
fixry
were killed, for the Rocks
were their
protection,
on which the
Spdniard.r
and their
Horfe
fought with greac
difadvanrnge; for which reafon
A!magro
withdrew his Forces, and would not
far~
ther engage
in
thofe places, being troubled at the lofs he had received in chofe two
days Engagements; which
Gomara
in the
1
30th
Chapter of his Book mentions in
iliort, and de[cribes the unhappy Encounter which our Men had
with
the Rere–
guard
of
fl.!:!.kqui~,
&c.
BIM
Yalera
reckoning up the rnoft Memorable
Batcels,
and which had been the moO: fatal to the
Spani~rd.r
of
any
in
Peru,
he mentions
eight befides feveral other Skirmifhes of lefier moment ; and numbers this in the
firfl:
place~
calling
it
the Battel of
~tu,
becaufe
it
was fought on the frontiers of
th1t
Countrey; and
fays,
that the
paniard.r
had then been
molt
certainly defea–
ted and deCT:royed, had not the Divine Providence, which defigned
by
their means
to propagate the
Gof
pei
in
thofe parts, appeared for them: And
alfo
the
Spaniards,
who were then prefent in thofe Engagements confirm the fame ; and
I
have heard
many
of
them declare, that they often gave themfelves over for loft in their Fights
with the
I11ditf1u;
a11d
that when things feemed to
be
defperate, and according
ta
humane reafon, without all hopes and poffibility of efcape, then prefemly, and on
a fudden, their fortune would tum, and by fome unexpected accident from Hea–
v~n
they became vietorious. And difconrfing on thefe matrers, and of the great
dangers and hazards they had fuftained, they would often fay, that if the
Indians,
who came with no intention
to
fight, and without any order being divided into
four Squadrons, were able
to
doe them fo much hurt, and put them into
fo
much
diforder; what would they have done, had they been aware, and had come with
deGgn
to
engage under the
.-ommand and Difcipline of their Commander
~fr.,
qui~,
\:
ho was accounted a famou, and a renowned Captain, as
GomarA-
reports,
when he relates the
Story
of him , and of the manner whereby he was put to
Death by his
own
Souldiers.
.
.
.
After all which
Don
Diego
de A lmagro
fent
to
gather the
fpo1ls,
which the
H1-
fl:orians mention to have &een a thoufand head of Cartel, and about a thoufand
Jndum