and followed it up by advancing over the Azuay into Canar, where he was again overwhelmingly victorious over a second army which Huascar had sent against him. The whole of southern Ecuador fell into his hands and he took a fearful vengeance on the Canaris. Atahuallpa himself remained in Ecuador while Quizquiz went on into Peru to achieve that crushing series of victories which resulted in the taking of Cuzco and the capture of Huascar himself. By the year 1532 the whole empire as far south as Cuzco lay prostrate, and it seemed certain that the Cuzco dynasty would be displaced by the illegitimate Quito branch. CHAPTER II THE SPANISH CONQUEST The fratricidal war lasting seven bloody years exhausted the resources of the northern and central provinces of the Inca empire, and raised the spirit of faction to a bitter pitch. Hardly had the last battle been fought when Pizarro landed on the northern Peruvian coast. The moment could not have been more favourable. The story of Atahuallpa's capture, of Pizarro's intrigues with the different Inca factions, and of his triumphal march to Cuzco through a country distracted by civil feud, belongs rather to the history of Peru than of Ecuador. With Atahuallpa's death and the defeat of Quizquiz near Cuzco, Quito was left without a master. The country had been drained of able-bodied men by Atahuallpa's levies, and bands of troops who found their way back from Peru fought among themselves. The indefatigable Canaris rose again against the Quito authorities, and following the fatal example set by the Huascar party in Peru, applied to the Spaniards. From San Miguel, the colony which Pizarro had established at Piura, in the valley where the road from the Ecuador table-land debouches into the coast plain, Sebastian de Benalcazar led a force of two hundred Spaniards to their assistance. Ascending the Cordillera he was joined by great numbers of Indians in Loja, Cuenca, and Canar, and crossed the Azuay before he encountered the meagre forces of the Quito generals. Horses and firearms gave the Spaniards an easy victory, and their enemies retreated to the defences of Tiocajas. This locality was once more fated to be the scene of a battle decisive of Ecuadorean history. Benalcazar and his allies were victorious, but at such a cost that he thought seriously of giving up the enterprise. Tradition recites that the giant volcano Cotopaxi burst forth into a terrific eruption after the battle, and that the midnight explosions were heard scores of miles along the plateau. To the Indians this was an infallible signal of the displeasure of the sun god. Trembling with superstitious fear they retreated in disorder; Benalcazar crossed Tiocajas without resistance, and overran the country as far north as Quito, taking possession of the city in December, 1533. Meanwhile Almagro had been hurrying up from Peru with reinforcements and on his way along the plateau fell in with a third expedition under Alvarado, governor of Guatemala.