colonies, and to almost as great an extent as regards the Portuguese,
apply to the general run of the population. The majority of the leaders,
both social and political, in all the South American colonies have been
in the first instance, and have continued, men of good blood, and
generally of ancient lineage, who have floated along with the rest,
until they met with the inevitable current which bore them to the
topmost of the new social layers. And once there, having been found the
most fitting, they have remained.




CHAPTER V

THE CONQUEST OF PERU


The story of Pizarro and the Incas has been told many hundreds of times,
yet owing to the sheer audacity of which its elements are composed it
would seem to retain its interest almost unimpaired. That a mere handful
of men should have banded themselves together to conquer a nation which
counted its subjects by the hundred thousand, and which could claim a
civilization that included great armies, remains almost beyond belief.
The Incas themselves, moreover, were a conquering race, and their troops
had marched to the north and to the south in their thousands, conquering
nations less important than their own, and thus adding to the extent of
the one formidable Empire of the Southern Continent.

Yet the downfall of these armies in this victorious State was achieved
by less than two hundred European soldiers, led by the two fearless