is at any rate one of the clues to this extraordinary chapter of
history, so full of suffering and bloodshed, and at the same time of
unsurpassed courage and heroism on every side.

* * * * *




History of the Conquest of Peru


The "History of the Conquest of Peru," which appeared in 1847,
followed Prescott's "History of the Conquest of Mexico." It is
a vivid and picturesque narrative of one of the most romantic,
if also in some ways one of the darkest, episodes in history.
It is impossible in a small compass to convey a tithe of the
astonishing series of hairbreadth escapes, of conquest over
tremendous odds, and of rapid eventualities which make up this
kaleidoscopic story.


_I.--The Realm of the Incas_


Among the rumours which circulated among the ambitious adventurers of
the New World, one of the most dazzling was that of a rich empire far to
the south, a very El Dorado, where gold was as abundant as were the
common metals in the Old World, and where precious stones were to be
had, almost for the picking up. These rumours fired the hopes of three