Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/292

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254
MANCO INCA SUCCEEDS

Unfortunately the enlightened prince Titu Atauchi died shortly afterwards.

The Incas and Orejones of Cuzco assembled after the departure of their conquerors, the savage generals of Atahualpa. They were in considerable numbers, for we know from Sarmiento that there were numerous representatives of all the principal ayllus at and round Cuzco forty years afterwards. The rightful heir, Prince Manco, was a young lad. His councillors came to the conclusion that the power of the Spaniards was irresistible, but that fair treatment might be secured by submission. Manco, therefore, was taken out in the royal litter, with a large attendance, to meet Pizarro at the bridge of the Apurimac.

The Inca was received very cordially by the Spanish leaders. They escorted him to Cuzco, and the ceremonies of his accession were allowed to be performed with all the usual splendour. Pizarro may have been influenced by Francisco de Chaves and others of that stamp in this wise acceptance of the Inca's rightful position, but it led to no useful result. Pizarro was a man of great natural ability, and very far from having been the worst among the conquerors, only seeking for the gratification of his avarice. He was a statesman of enlarged views, but limited by his ignorance and want of education. He did not in the least realise the value and adaptability of the intricate administrative mechanism he

    the assassins of Pizarro. Zarate says that when he died he was the most important personage in Peru next to Pizarro.