short time on earth, he ascended into Heaven, leaving St Peter his vicar on earth, and after him his successors who dwell in Rome, and are named popes by the Christians.  These holy successors of St Peter have divided all the countries of the world among the Christian kings and princes, giving in charge to each to subdue that portion which has been alotted to him.  This country of Peru having fallen to the share of his imperial and royal majesty, the emperor Don Carlos king of Spain, that great monarch hath sent in his place the governor Don Francisco Pizarro, now present, to make known to you on the part of God and the king of Spain, all that I have now said.  If you are disposed to believe all this, to receive baptism, and to obey the emperor, as is done by the greatest portion of the Christian world, that great prince will protect and defend you and your country in peace, causing justice to be administered to all.  He will likewise confirm all your rights and liberties, as he is accustomed to do to all the kings and princes who have voluntarily submitted to his authority.  But if you refuse this and choose to run the hazard of war, the governor will attack you with fire and sword, and is ready at this moment to do so with arms in his hand[13].”

When Atahualpa had listened to this discourse, very imperfectly rendered by an ignorant interpreter, he answered, “That the whole of this country had been conquered by his father and his ancestors, who had left it in rightful succession to his elder brother the inca Huascar.  That he having been conquered and taken prisoner, Atahualpa held himself as legitimate sovereign, and could not conceive how St Peter could pretend to give it away to any one, without the knowledge and consent of him to whom it belonged.  As for Jesus Christ, who he said had created heaven and earth and man and all other things, he knew nothing of all this, believing that the sun his father was the creator of all, whom he and his nation venerated as a god, worshipping likewise the earth as the mother of all things, and the guacas as subordinate divinities, and that Pachacama was the supreme ruler and creator of all things.  As for what he had said of the king of Spain, he knew nothing at all about the matter, never having seen him.”  At the last, he asked the bishop where he had learnt all those things which he had been telling him.  Valverde answered him that all these things were contained in the book which he held in his hand, which was the word of God.  Atahualpa asked it from him, opened the book turning over its leaves, saying that it said nothing to him, and threw it on the ground.  The bishop then turning to the Spaniards, called out, “To arms! to arms!  Christians:  The word of God is insulted.”