and when Ferdinand came to take leave, he said to him, “I am sore afflicted at your departure, for I am much afraid the big-belly and the blinkard will put me to death in your absence.”  By the former he meant Requelme the treasurer, who was very fat, and by the latter Almagro, who had lost an eye, whom he had observed frequently to mutter against him, for certain reasons, which will appear in the sequel.

As Atahualpa suspected, Ferdinand Pizarro had not been long gone, when the death of the unfortunate prince began to be talked of among the Spaniards.  This was brought about by the suggestions of an Indian named Philippillo, who had accompanied the general into Spain, and now served him as an interpreter with the Peruvians.  He pretended that Atahualpa had secretly laid a plan for destroying all the Spaniards; for which purpose he had a great number of armed men concealed in various places, meaning to employ them when a favourable opportunity occurred.  The proofs and examination of facts and circumstances respecting this alleged plot, had all to come through Philippillo, as the only one who knew both languages; and he gave such a turn to every thing as best suited his own views and purposes.  Accordingly the Spaniards were never able perfectly to discover the truth, or to penetrate entirely into his motives for this procedure.  It has been alleged by some persons, that Philippillo had become amorous of one of the wives of Atahualpa, with whom he even had a criminal intercourse, and expected to secure the quiet possession of his mistress by the death of that unfortunate prince.  It was even reported that Atahualpa had come to the knowledge of that amour, and had complained to Pizarro of the criminal and even treasonable conduct of the paramours; which, by the laws of Peru, could only be expiated by burning the guilty persons, putting to death all their near relations, destroying all their cattle and substance, laying waste the place of their birth, and sowing salt on the place, so as to render the memory of the crime infamous for ever.

It has been alleged by others that the death of Atahualpa was occasioned by the solicitations and intrigues of those newly arrived Spaniards who accompanied Almagro, who considered his continuing to live as prejudicial to their interests.  The soldiers of Pizarro who were with him when Atahualpa was taken prisoner, insisted that those who came with Almagro had no right to participate in any part of the treasure given or to be given on account of his ransom, and could not justly pretend to any share of what might be collected until all that Atahualpa had promised was entirely paid up.  The soldiers of Almagro, on the other hand, believed it to be for their interest that Atahualpa should be removed out of the way; since as long as he might live, the soldiers of Pizarro would always pretend that all the treasure which might be procured formed part of his ransom, so that they would never come in for any share.  However this might be, the