A Curious Account of Spanish Conquest
Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 3:19 am
Richard Snowden wrote:While his mind was agitated by these reflections, he learned that some of the Spaniards, in their way to Cuzco, had visited his brother Huascar, in the place where he kept him confined, and that the captive prince had represented to them that if they would espouse it, he had promised them a quantity of treasure, vastly exceeding what he was to give for his ransom. He clearly perceived his own destruction to be inevitable . . . .
The Indians, meanwhile, daily arrived from different parts of the kingdom, loaded with treasure. A great part was now amassed of what had been agreed upon, and Atahualpa assured the Spaniards that the only reason why the whole was not brought in, was the remoteness of the provinces where it was deposited.
But such vast piles of bold, presented continually to the view of the needy soldiers, had so inflamed their avarice, that it was impossible any longer to restrain their impatience to obtain possession of this rich booty. The whole, except some vessels of curious workmanship, reserved as a present for the emperor, was melted down . . . .
From Richard Snowden, The History of North and South America: From Its Discovery to the Death of General Washington, volumes 1 & 2, (Benjamin Warner, 1819) pp. 139-40