e in the city of Santo Domingo._

MAGNIFICENT LORDS: I arrived in this port of Yaguana on my way to Spain,
by order of the governor Francisco Pizarro, to inform his majesty of
what has happened in that government of Peru, to give an account of the
country and of its present condition; and, as I believe that those who
come to this city give your worships inconsistent accounts, it has
seemed well to me to write a summary of what has taken place, that you
may be informed of the truth.

The Governor, in the name of his majesty, founded a town near the
sea-coast, which was called San Miguel. It is twenty-five leagues from
that point of Tumbez. Having left citizens there, and assigned the
Indians in the district to them, he set out, with sixty horse and ninety
foot, in search of the town of Cajamarca, at which place he was informed
that Atahualpa then was brother of him who is now lord of that land.
Between the two brothers there had been a very fierce war, and this
Atahualpa had conquered the land as far as he then was, which, from the
point whence he started, was a hundred fifty leagues. After seven or
eight marches, a captain of Atahualpa came to the Governor and said that
his lord had heard of his arrival and rejoiced greatly at it, having a
strong desire to see the Christians; and when he had been two days with
the Governor he said that he wished to go forward and tell the news to
his lord, and that another would soon be on the road with a present as a
token of peace.

The Governor continued his march until he came to a town called La
Ramada. Up to that point all the land was flat, while all beyond was
very rugged and obstructed by very difficult passes. When he saw that
the messenger from Atahualpa did not return, he wished to obtain
intelligence from some Indians who had come from Cajamarca; so they were
tortured, and they then said that they had heard that Atahualpa was
waiting for the Governor in the mountains to give him battle. The
Governor then ordered the troops to advance, leaving the rear-guard in
the plain. The rest ascended, and the road was so bad that, in truth, if
they had been waiting for us, either in this pass or in another that we
came to on the road to Cajamarca, they could very easily have stopped
us; for, even by exerting all our skill, we could not have taken our
horses by the roads; and neither horse nor foot can cross those
mountains except by the roads. The distance across them to Cajamarca is