ATAHUALPA, the favorite son of Huayna Capac, Inca of Peru, who died in 1525, about seven years before Pizarro's arrival in Peru. The mother of A. not being of the pure Inca blood, her son was formally excluded from inheriting the throne; but his handsome figure, bold spirit, and quick intelligence so won upon the affections of his father, that, on his death-bed he declared it to be his will that A. should receive as his portion the ancient kingdom of Quito (recently conquered), while Huascar, his eldest son, should possess Peru. For five years the brothers lived on terms of real or apparent friendship; but at length the restless ambition of A., who was constantly aspiring to new conquests, excited the uneasiness of Iluascar, who, in an evil hour, was induced to send an envoy to his brother, with instructions to require him to render homage for his kingdom of quit°. A. fired at the proposal, and war was instantly declared. Placing himself at the head of the array of veterans which his father had left him, he invaded Peru, and in the spring of 1532 completely defeated Iluascar on the plains of Quipaypan, in the neighborhood of Cuzco, the native Peruvian metropolis, only a few months before the arrival of the Spaniards. Huascar was taken prisoner, and confined in the strong fortress of Xatixa. Then followed, according to Garcilasso de la Vega, a series of atro cious massacres of all in whose veins ran the blood of the Incas; but his.statements are so monstrous, and possess so little congruity, that they are rejected by Prescott as intrinsically incredible. In the mean time, the Spaniards had disembarked at Tumbez ; and after a long, brave. and perilous march through the unknown country, Pizarro, at the head of his 200 cavaliers, approached the victorious camp of A., where he found some 50,000 men assembled. By a daring but diabolical statagem, Pizarro obtained possession of the person of the king, who had come to visit him in a friendly spirit. While a priest was explaining the Christian religion, and the power of the Dope over all the kingdoms of the earth, and how the pope had presented Peru to the Spanish monarch, in whose name they had come, A., indignantly interrupting him, told hini that the pope
(whoever he was) must be a crazy fool to talk of giving away countries which were not his own. When he inquired on what authority such claims were made, the priest pointed to the Bible, on which A. dashed the book on the ground, and the fields began to fill with Indians. The moment was critical. The crime which Pizarro had resolved upon the night before must be executed then or never. He waved a white scarf, which was the signal agreed upon. The mysterious artillery poured sudden death into the ter rified masses of Peruvians, while the Spanish cavalry rode them down with merciless fury. Confusion seized the natives; they submitted—being unarmed—to this horrible butchery, only anxious to save their sacred Inca; but all their efforts to accomplish this proved unavailing, and after exhausting hours in the miserable work of murder, the inhuman Spaniards succeeded in capturing him. A. was treated with a great show of kindness at first, and more especially when he offered, as a ransom, "not merely to cover the floor, but to fill the room in which he stood with gold as high as he could reach." When A.'s brother, Iluascar, who was still a prisoner, heard of this, he offered still more advantageous terms for himself. To prevent this, A. had him secretly assas sinated. The golden, treasure which was to constitute this ransom of A. now began to pour in, and at length A. demanded his freedom. This Pizarro refused to grant, and accused A. of plotting against him. The result, after much base treachery on the part of the Spaniard, was a mock-trial, in which A. was condemned to be burned. On the 20th of Aug., 1533, he was led to the stake, but on agreeing to be "baptized," his sen tence was commuted to death by strangulation.