Reports on the Discovery of Peru (Volume 4)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1872 Excerpt: ...The arms they found, with which they made war, and their manner of fighting were as follows. In the van of their armies came the sling-men, who hurled pebbles from slings. These sling-men carry shields, which they make from narrow boards very small. They also wear jackets of quilted cotton. Next came men armed with sticks having large knobs at one end, and axes. The sticks are a bra$a and a half in length, and the thickness of a lance. The knob at the end is of metal, with five or six sharp points, each point being as thick as a man's thumb. They use them with both hands. The axes were the same size or larger. The metal blade was a palmo in width, like a halberd. Some of the axes and clubs, used by the chiefs, were of gold and silver. Behind these came men armed with hurling lances, like darts. In the rear were pikemen with lances thirty palmos in length. These men had sleeves with many folds of cotton, over which they worked the lances. They are all divided into squadrons, with their banners and captains who command them, with as much order as Turks. Some of them wear great head pieces of wood, with manyfolds of cotton, reaching to the eyes, which could not be stronger if they were of iron. The men who composed the army of Atabaliba were all very dexterous and experienced soldiers, who had served in it from boys. They were young and stout, and only a thousand of them sufficed to assault a town of that land, though it were garrisoned with twenty thousand men. The lodging of Atabaliba, which he had in the centre of his camp, was the best that had been seen in the Indies, though it was small. It consisted of four rooms, with a court in the centre, having a pond supplied with water by a tube, and this water was so warm that one could not bear to put a hand int...