History of the Conquest of PeruPrescott, William Hickling
History
History of the Conquest of Peru
Prescott, William Hickling
Incas; Peru -- History -- Conquest, 1522-1548
Pizarro found that preparations had been made for his reception in a style
of simple hospitality that evinced some degree of taste. Arbours were
formed of luxuriant and wide-spreading branches, interwoven with
fragrant flowers and shrubs that diffused a delicious perfume through the
air. A banquet was provided, teeming with viands prepared in the style
of the Peruvian cookery, and with fruits and vegetables of tempting hue
and luscious to the taste, though their names and nature were unknown to
the Spaniards. After the collation was ended, the guests were entertained
with music and dancing by a troop of young men and maidens simply
attired, who exhibited in their favorite national amusement all the agility
and grace which the supple limbs of the Peruvian Indians so well
qualified them to display. Before his departure, Pizarro stated to his
kind host the motives of his visit to the country, in the same manner as he
had done on other occasions, and he concluded by unfurling the royal
banner of Castile, which he had brought on shore, requesting her and her
attendants to raise it in token of their allegiance to his sovereign. This
they did with great good-humor, laughing all the while, says the
chronicler, and making it clear that they had a very imperfect conception
of the serious nature of the ceremony. Pizarro was contented with this
outward display of loyalty, and returned to his vessel well satisfied with
the entertainment he had received, and meditating, it may be, on the best
mode of repaying it, hereafter, by the subjugation and conversion of the
country.
The Spanish commander did not omit to touch also at Tumbez, on his
homeward voyage. Here some of his followers, won by the comfortable
aspect of the place and the manners of the people, intimated a wish to
remain, conceiving, no doubt, that it would be better to live where they
would be persons of consequence than to return to an obscure condition
in the community of Panama. One of these men was Alonso de Molina,
the same who had first gone on shore at this place, and been captivated
by the charms of the Indian beauties. Pizarro complied with their
wishes, thinking it would not be amiss to find, on his return, some of his
own followers who would be instructed in the language and usages of the
natives. He was also allowed to carry back in his vessel two or three
Peruvians, for the similar purpose of instructing them in the Castilian.
One of them, a youth named by the Spaniards Felipillo, plays a part of
some importance in the history of subsequent events.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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