The whole coast of Chili is well peopled, as far as to the latitude of 40° south and still farther; which is known by one of the ships belonging to the fleet sent out by Don Gabriel de Carvajal bishop of Placentia, which passed through the straits of Magellan, and sailed along the whole western coast of South America from south to north, and at length reached the port belonging to Lima. This ship brought over the first rats ever seen in Peru, which have so multiplied since that there are plenty in every town of the whole country.

These animals are named ococha by the Peruvians, which word signifies having come from the sea.

Soon after the departure of Almagro from Cuzco on his expedition to Chili, Ferdinand Pizarro returned from Spain, where his majesty made him a knight of the order of St Jago, with other advantages184. He had likewise obtained an enlargement of the government of his brother to a certain extent, and brought out with him a commission for Almagro to a new government.

At this time Manco Capac, whom Pizarro had permitted to assume the nominal title of Inca of Peru, was detained a prisoner in the citadel of Cuzco, in consequence of the discovery of a conspiracy he had entered into with his brothers Paul and Villaoma to exterminate the Spaniards. Manco Capac wrote to Juan Pizarro, intreating to be set at liberty before the arrival of Ferdinand Pizarro at Cuzco; and Juan, who was then in the Collao endeavouring to reduce certain Indians who had retired into a strong place among rocks, sent orders to liberate the Inca. On the arrival of Ferdinand Pizarro at Cuzco, he treated Manco Capac with much respect, yet kept a constant guard over him, and it is believed that Ferdinand shewed great friendship for the Inca, in the hope of procuring gold from him, to send to the king of Spain or for his own use. Two months after the return of Ferdinand to Cuzco, Manco Capac solicited permission from Ferdinand to go into the district of Jucaya185 on purpose to celebrate a solemn festival, promising on his return to present him with a statue of the late Huana Capac of solid gold as large as life. Ferdinand allowed him to attend this festival, which turned out merely the unravelment of the plot which had been formed at the time when Almagro began his march for Chili. Manco Capac gave immediate orders to put to death some Spaniards who superintended the working of the mines, and others who were travelling through the country on various affairs. He sent likewise one of his captains with a considerable body of troops against Cuzco, who by a sudden and unexpected attack got possession of the castle of that city. The Spaniards indeed retook it after six or seven days, yet not without hard fighting, in which they lost Juan Pizarro; who was killed by a stone which struck him on the head, at a time when he was unable to wear his helmet in consequence of a former wound. His death was much regretted by the Spaniards, being a brave man and much experienced in the manner of carrying on war with the Indians, and besides because his manners had made him beloved by every one.

Notwithstanding the recapture of the castle of Cuzco by the Spaniards, the Inca brought a large army against the city, which he besieged for more than eight months, making frequent assaults on various parts of the works, chiefly during moon-light nights when the moon was full. Ferdinand Pizarro and his brothers, assisted by Gabriel de Roias, Hernand Ponce de Leon, Don Alfonso Enriquez, the treasurer Requelme, and other brave officers, made a resolute defence, and were almost perpetually under arms day and night, as the number of the garrison was exceedingly inadequate to the extent of the place and the multitude of assailants. As the Spaniards in Cuzco were aware that the insurrection was general over all Peru, they hardly doubted but the governor and all their other countrymen were cut off, so that they defended themselves as men who had no earthly hope of succour, depending only on the mercy of God and their own courage. Their small number was daily diminished, as hardly a day passed in which the Indians did not kill or wound some of their people. One time during the siege, Gonzalo Pizarro made a sally with twenty horsemen, and proceeded to the lake or marsh of Chinchero which is five leagues from Cuzco, where he was surrounded by so vast a force of Indians that he must inevitably have been made prisoner, had not Ferdinand Pizarro and Alfonso de Toro come up to his rescue with a body of horse. Gonzalo was much blamed on this occasion for having advanced so far among the enemy with so few men.

We have already mentioned that Almagro had resolved to return into Peru and to make himself master of Cuzco, from the time that Juan de Herrada had brought him the commission by which he was appointed to a government beyond that assigned to Don Francisco Pizarro. The principal officers who were along with him, strongly urged him to this measure, particularly Gomez Alvarado and Diego Alvarado, brother and uncle of Don Pedro Alvarado the governor of Guatimala, and Rodrigo Orgognez; some of whom were eager to procure settlements in Peru, and others were desirous of gaining establishments in Chili. To succeed in their design, as reports of the insurrection in Peru had reached Chili, they instructed some Indian interpreters to inform Almagro that the governor Francisco Pizarro and most of the Spaniards in Peru had been slain by the Peruvians. Urged by all these considerations, Almagro marched back into Peru, and even arrived within six leagues of Cuzco without giving notice to Ferdinand Pizarro of his motions or intentions186. Almagro made overtures to the Inca Manco Capac for an accommodation, offering to forgive him all the injury he had already done to the Spaniards, in consideration of joining his party and assisting him to become master of Cuzco, of which he pretended that he had been appointed governor by the king of Spain. The Inca proposed an interview between them under pretence of settling the terms of an agreement, to which Almagro consented without suspecting any treachery, and went accordingly with a part only of his troops to the place appointed for the conference, leaving the rest of his force under the command of Juan de Saavedra. Taking advantage of this confidence, the Inca attacked Almagro by surprize with extreme fury, and even killed and wounded several of his men.

In the mean time, Ferdinand Pizarro received notice of the arrival of Almagro, and that Juan de Saavedra was left at the village of Hurcos in command of the troops in the absence of Almagro. He went therefore from Cuzco at the head of an hundred and seventy of his best troops, in hope of being able to prevail on Saavedra and the rest to abandon the party of Almagro, or to fall upon them by surprize and make them prisoners. But Saavedra got timely notice of his approach, and drew up his forces, amounting to three hundred Spaniards, in an advantageous situation for his reception. When the two parties were just about to engage, Ferdinand Pizarro sent a message to Saavedra proposing a private interview, that they might endeavour to agree upon an accommodation, to which the other consented. As this conference was entirely between themselves, it is difficult to know with any certainty what passed; but it was reported that Ferdinand endeavoured to persuade Saavedra to join him with the troops under his command, for which he offered a large recompense in gold; but that Saavedra, like a man of honour, peremptorily refused to betray his general.

On the return of Almagro from his affair with the Inca, he rejoined the troops under Saavedra, and marched for Cuzco with his whole force. While on the march, he made prisoners of four horsemen who had been sent out by Ferdinand Pizarro to reconnoitre, from whom he learnt all the particulars of the insurrection of the Peruvians, who had killed more than six hundred Spaniards, and had burnt down a great part of the city of Cuzco, on which news Almagro was very sensibly afflicted. He sent however, his patents as governor to the senators of the royal council or Cabildo of Cuzco, whom he urged to receive him as their governor; since, as he insisted, the bounds of the government assigned to Francisco Pizarro certainly did not include their city, and even fell considerably short of it to the north. In answer to this demand, the council made answer, that whenever the extent of the government belonging to Pizarro was accurately measured and determined, they would be ready to accede to his desires, provided their city was found to be beyond his limits. This subject was endeavoured to be settled at that time, and has been since tried to be ascertained by several experienced persons; but the manner in which this affair ought to be regulated has never been agreed upon between the two interested parties. The adherents of Almagro have always insisted, that the extent assigned by his majesty as the government of Pizarro, ought to be measured either along the sea coast or by the grand road of the Incas, taking into the account all the turnings and windings in either of these routes; by which means, in either of these ways not only the city of Cuzco, but even Lima according to the opinions of several persons, would be left out of the province of Pizarro. He on the other hand, insisted that the extent of country granted to him, ought to be measured in a straight line directly from north to south, without any angles or turnings, or by means of settling the degrees of latitude at the two extremities, allowing so many leagues to each degree.