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Royal Gommentaries.
CH A- P.
XXXVIL
)
Of the bloud¡ Battel of
·1he
Salinas.
R
odrigo Orgonnos,
to perform the part
Óf
a good Souldier, put h~ Forces the
next Morning, very early, into order of Battel, his Infantry he reduced
to
one BattaLion, fupporced o¡;¡ each Wing by his Harquebufters, which were .few in
number, and much lefs than thofe on the contrary ftde, which was the cau[e chac
he !oíl: che day. The Captains of che-Foot were
Chriftopher de_Sotelo, Fiernando de
A/varado, rohn de Mofcofo,
and
Diego
de
Sa!inM,
The Hor[~ were divided inco two
Squadrons, the ene Commanded by
rohn Te/lo,
and
r'afco de Guevara,
and the o-
, cher by
1
Franci.s- de Chavu,
and
RuJ Diat, Orgonnos_being
Comt'nander inChieÍ; did
noc oblige himfelf
to
any panicular rarik, being to be preíenc, a~d affifüng at
every aétion of the Field, and defigned with his companion
Pedro de Lerma
to feek
for
Hernando de Pifarro,
and fight with him. His Artiliery he planted on one ftdé,
of che Squadroris, where it might moíl: annoy che Enemy : befare them was a
fiream of Water, which ran chrough all thofe Plains, a(ld aMoorifh fort ofplafhy
ground, which made che Accefs of che Enemy
to
them
to
be fomeching difliculc.
On d1e ochet fide
Pedro de Viildivia,
who was Majar-General, and
Antonio deC,im–
po
Sergeant-M¡jor, di[pofed cheh Forces
in
the fame order, as mighc aníwer that
of
Rodrigo Orgú'11nos.
Their Battalion óf Foot was flanked on each Wing with
good numbers of Harquebufters, who were chofe that did the work, and gained
the Vjél:ory of chat day: Their Horfe were drawn up into cwo Squadrons, 0f a
hundred in each, againíl: chofe of
nrgonnos. Hernando Pi~arro,
with his Compa–
nion
Francifco de Barahona,
were in die Front of one 0f the Squadrons of
rfor[e,
and
Alon(o de A/varado
at che Head of che other ; and
Gon:ta!o Pifarro
as General
of che Infantry refolved co fight on Foot.
In
which order-marching againíl: che
Almagrittns,
.chey refolucely paífed' both the íl:ream of Wacer.and che Moor, wich–
ouc any oppofüion of che Enemy; for chey had given chem hríl: -füch aVolly of
fmall íhot, as ha·d very much difordered therti, and put them into tharconfufion,
' thac chey might eafily be rouced ; for both Horíe and foot retreacecl from their
ground co avoid che fhot of che Harquebufie1:s; which when
Orgonnos
obíerved,
he doubted much of the Viél:ory, and gave order for the Artillery to play u¡)On
them ; which 'fucceeded fo well, chat one fhot carried off a whole rank of five
Meo ac once; whicl1
fo
difi11ayed che Enemy, chat had four or five in che like
manner followed, chey might have defeare,f that whole Squadron. · Bue
Gon:ta!o
Piyam,
and bis Major-General
Valdivia
appearing in the Frnn_t, fotced che Souldi–
ers forwards, and commanded them
to
charge che Enemy's Pikes wich cheir Cop–
per íhot ; for as the Souldiers of
Almagr~
W€T€
more numeróus in their Pikes,
fo
thofe of
Pif_arro
availed themíelves fooíl: of thtrir Harquequfiers, and aimed much
to defeat their Pikes, that their Horfe mighc. afcerwards charge them with leís
danger. . And fo accordingly it focceeded, for as
Carate
and
Gomara
relate, ·fifty
of cheir Pikes were broken with cwo Vollies of íhoc.
The Copper Bullecs ( for informacion of thofe vyho have,neverJeén the~) are
_caíl: in a common Mould like ochers : They take a chird or a fourth pare of lron–
wire, and ac each end of chís Wire chey make'- a little hook for a link, and puc
the end of·the two Hooks into ·che middle of che Mould: Then to divide the '.,
Mould into cwo pares, they·[eparare it wich leaf of-Copper or Iron as chinas Pa–
per; rhen chey pour in che melted Lead, which incorporates it íelf wich che links
of Iron, and divides che Bullet in_cwo parts, faíl:ned wirh the Iron lin~s. Then ..
"vhen they ram chem into che Gun, they joyn che¡n like one Bullet ;, and when
chey are (hoc ouc, they [pread chemfelves to che lengch of rhe Chain, and cut all
before chem. By che[e means, ·as the Hiíl:9rians fay, they did great execucion
upon che Pikes.,
1
for wichout chis invention chey could never have. done half chis
mifchief. Howfoever; chey did noc aim at the Pikemen themfelves, bue at their
Pikes, thac rhey might fhew what th~y were able to do, and whát advantage they
.had over them in cheir Arms.
This