At this time likewise, the viceroy gave a commission to Pedro de Orsua, to make a conquest of the country of the Amazons on the river Marannon, being the same country in which Orellana deserted Gonzalo Pizarro, as formerly related. Orsua went to Quito to raise soldiers, and to provide arms and provisions, in which he was greatly assisted by contributions from the citizens of Cuzco, Quito and other cities of Peru. Orsua set out accordingly on his expedition, with a well appointed force of five hundred men, a considerable proportion of which was cavalry. But he was slain by his own men, at the instigation of Don Fernando de Guzman and some others, who set up Don Fernando as their king, yet put him to death shortly afterwards. Lope de Aguira then assumed the command, but the whole plan of conquest fell to the ground, and Aguira and far the greater part of the men engaged in this expedition were slain.

On the death of Don Diego de Azevedo, Don Diego de Zuniga by Velasco, Conde de Nieva, was appointed to supersede the Marquis of Cannete as viceroy of Peru, and departing from Spain to assume his new office in January 1560, he arrived at Payta in Peru in the month of April following. He immediately dispatched a letter to the marquis informing him of his arrival in the kingdom as viceroy, and requiring the marquis to desist from any farther exercise of authority. On the arrival of the messenger at Lima, the marquis ordered him to be honourably entertained, and to receive a handsome gratification, to the value of 7000 dollars; but he forfeited all these advantages, by refusing to address the ex-viceroy by the title of excellency. This slight, which had been directed by the new viceroy, so pressed on the spirits of the marquis, already much reduced by the infirmities of age and the ravages of a mortal distemper, that he fell into a deep melancholy, and ended his days before the arrival of his successor at Lima.

The Conde de Nieva did not long enjoy the happiness he expected in his government, and he came by his death not many months afterwards by means of a strange accident, of which he was himself the cause; but as it was of a scandalous nature I do not chuse to relate the particulars. On receiving notice of his death, King Philip II. was pleased to appoint the lawyer Lope Garcia de Castro, who was then president of the royal council of the Indies, to succeed to the government of Peru, with the title only of president of the court of royal audience and governor-general of the kingdom. He governed the kingdom with much wisdom and moderation, and lived to return into Spain, where he was replaced in his former situation of president of the council of the Indies.

Don Francisco de Toledo, second son of the Conde de Oropeta, succeeded Lope Garcia de Castro in the government of Peru, with the tide of viceroy. He had scarcely been two years established in the government, when he resolved to entice from the mountains of Villcapampa49 where he resided, the Inca Tupac Amaru, the legitimate heir of the Peruvian empire, being the son of Manco Inca, and next brother to the late Don Diego Sayri Tupac, who left no son. The viceroy was induced to attempt this measure, on purpose to put a stop to the frequent robberies which were committed by the Indians dependent on the Inca, in the roads between Cuzco and Guamanga, and in hope of procuring information respecting the treasures which had belonged to former Incas and the great chain of gold belonging to Huayna Capac, formerly mentioned, all of which it was alleged was concealed by the Indians. Being unable to prevail upon the Inca to put himself in the power of the Spaniards, a force of two hundred and fifty men was detached into the Villcapampa, under the command of Martin Garcia Loyola, to whom the Inca surrendered himself, with his wife, two sons, and a daughter, who were all carried prisoners to Cuzco.

The unfortunate Inca was arraigned by the attorney-general, of having encouraged his servants and vassals to infest the roads and to rob the Spanish merchants, of having declared enmity against all who lived or inhabited among the Spaniards, and of having entered into a plot with the Caracas or Caciques, who were lords of districts and Indians by ancient grants of the former Incas, to rise in arms on a certain day and to kill all the Spaniards they could find. At the same time a general accusation was made against all the males of mixed race, born of Indian mothers to the Spanish conquerors, who were alleged to have secretly agreed with Tupac Amaru and other Incas to make an insurrection for extirpating the Spaniards and restoring the native, Inca to the throne of Peru. In consequence of this accusation, all the sons of Spaniards by Indian women who were of age sufficient to carry arms were committed to prison, and many of them were put to the torture to extort confession of these alleged crimes, for which they had no proof or evidence whatsoever. Many of them were accordingly banished to various remote parts of the New World, as to Chili, the new kingdom of Granada, the West India islands, Panama, and Nicaragua, and others were sent into Spain.

All the males of the royal line of the Incas, who were in the capacity of being able to succeed to the throne, to the number of thirty-six persons, together with the two sons and the daughter of the Inca Tupac Amaru, were commanded to reside for the future in Lima, where in little more than two years they all died except three, who were permitted to return to their own houses for purer air: But even these three were beyond recovery, and died soon afterwards. One of these, Don Carlos Paula, left a son who died in Spain in 1610, leaving one son a few months old who died next year; and in him ended the entire male line of the Incas of Peru.

Tupac Amaru was brought to trial, under pretence that he intended to rebel, and had engaged in a conspiracy with several Indians, and with the sons of Spaniards born of Indian mothers, intending to have dispossessed his majesty Philip II of the kingdom of Peru. On this unfounded accusation, and on the most inconclusive evidence, he was condemned to lose his head. Upon notice of this sentence, the friars of Cuzco flocked to prison, and persuaded the unfortunate prince to receive baptism, on which he assumed the name of Don Philip. Though the Inca earnestly entreated to be sent to Spain, and urged the absurdity and impossibility that he could ever intend to rebel against the numerous Spanish colonists who now occupied the whole country of Peru, seeing that his father with 200,000 men was utterly unable to overcome only 200 Spaniards whom he besieged in the city of Cuzco; yet the viceroy thought fit to order the sentence to be carried into execution. The Inca was accordingly brought out of prison, mounted on a mule, having his bands tied and a halter about his neck, and being conducted to the ordinary place of execution in the city of Cuzco, his head was cut off by the public executioner.

After continuing sixteen years in the viceroyalty of Peru, Don Francisco de Toledo returned into Spain, with a fortune of above half a million of pesos. Falling under the displeasure of the king, he was ordered to confine himself to his own house, and all his fortune was laid under sequestration, which so affected his mind that he soon died of a broken heart. Martin Garcia Loyola, who made the Inca prisoner, was married to a coya, the daughter of the former Inca Sayri Tupac, by whom he acquired a considerable estate; and being afterwards made governor of Chili, was slain in that country by the natives.

END OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF PERU.