Document 2
Capture of an Inca King: Francisco Pizarro
. . Atahualpa [the Inca King] feared that the Spaniards would
kill him, so he told the Governor [Pizarro] that he would give
his captors a great quantity of gold and silver. The Governor
asked him: "How much can you give, and in what time?"
Atahualpa said: "I will give gold enough to fill a room twentytwo feet long and seventeen wide, up to a white line which is
halfway up the wall." … The Governor told him to send off
messengers with this object, and that, when it was
accomplished, he need have no fear....
After some days some of the people of Atahualpa arrived.
The brother [of Atahualpa] brought many vases, jars, and
pots of gold, and much silver, and he said that more was on
the road; but that, as the journey is so long, the Indians who
bring the treasure become tired, and cannot all come so
quickly, so that every day more gold and silver will arrive of
that which now remains behind. Thus on some days twenty
thousand, on others thirty thousand, on others fifty thousand
or sixty thousand pesos of gold arrived, in vases, great pots
weighing two or three arrobas, and other vessels. The
Governor ordered it all to be put in the house where
Atahualpa had his guards, until he had accomplished what he
had promised.
From Narrative of the Conquest of Peru, by his secretary,
Francisco de Xeres, 1530-34
[Pizarro sends for Atahualpa.]
Document 1
An Account by Captain John Smith
As for corn provision and contribution from the Salvages, we had
nothing but mortal wounds, with clubs and arrows; as for our Hogs,
Hens, Goats I Sheep, Horse, or what lived, our commanders,
officers and Salvages daily consumed them, some small
proportions sometimes we tasted, till all was devoured; … there
remained not past sixty men, women and children, most miserable
and poor creatures; and those were preserved for the most part,
by roots, herbs, acorns, walnuts, berries, now and then a little fish:
they that had starch in these extremities, made no small use of it;
yea even the very skins of our horses.
Nay, so great was our famine, that a Salvage we slew and
buried, the poorer sort took him up again and eat him; and so did
divers one another boiled and stewed with roots and herbs: And
one amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered [i.e., salted] her,
and had eaten part of her before it was known; for which he was
executed, as he well deserved: now whether she was better
roasted, boiled or carbonadoed [i.e., grilled], I know not; but of
such a dish as powdered wife I never heard of.
This was that time, which still to this day [1624] we called
the starving time; it were too vile to say, and scarce to be believed,
what we endured: …for till then in three years, for the numbers
were landed us, we had never from England provision sufficient for
six months….This in ten days more, would have supplanted us all
with death. But God that would not this Country should be
unplanted, sent Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Sommers with
one hundred and fifty people most happily preserved by the
Bermudas to preserve us. . . .
~John Smith’s Account of the Starving Time, 1609-1610
Document 2
Capture of an Inca King: Francisco Pizarro
. . Atahualpa [the Inca King] feared that the Spaniards would
kill him, so he told the Governor [Pizarro] that he would give
his captors a great quantity of gold and silver. The Governor
asked him: "How much can you give, and in what time?"
Atahualpa said: "I will give gold enough to fill a room twentytwo feet long and seventeen wide, up to a white line which is
halfway up the wall." … The Governor told him to send off
messengers with this object, and that, when it was
accomplished, he need have no fear....
After some days some of the people of Atahualpa arrived.
The brother [of Atahualpa] brought many vases, jars, and
pots of gold, and much silver, and he said that more was on
the road; but that, as the journey is so long, the Indians who
bring the treasure become tired, and cannot all come so
quickly, so that every day more gold and silver will arrive of
that which now remains behind. Thus on some days twenty
thousand, on others thirty thousand, on others fifty thousand
or sixty thousand pesos of gold arrived, in vases, great pots
weighing two or three arrobas, and other vessels. The
Governor ordered it all to be put in the house where
Atahualpa had his guards, until he had accomplished what he
had promised.
From Narrative of the Conquest of Peru, by his secretary,
Francisco de Xeres, 1530-34
[Pizarro sends for Atahualpa.]
Document 1
An Account by Captain John Smith
As for corn provision and contribution from the Salvages, we had
nothing but mortal wounds, with clubs and arrows; as for our Hogs,
Hens, Goats I Sheep, Horse, or what lived, our commanders,
officers and Salvages daily consumed them, some small
proportions sometimes we tasted, till all was devoured; … there
remained not past sixty men, women and children, most miserable
and poor creatures; and those were preserved for the most part,
by roots, herbs, acorns, walnuts, berries, now and then a little fish:
they that had starch in these extremities, made no small use of it;
yea even the very skins of our horses.
Nay, so great was our famine, that a Salvage we slew and
buried, the poorer sort took him up again and eat him; and so did
divers one another boiled and stewed with roots and herbs: And
one amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered [i.e., salted] her,
and had eaten part of her before it was known; for which he was
executed, as he well deserved: now whether she was better
roasted, boiled or carbonadoed [i.e., grilled], I know not; but of
such a dish as powdered wife I never heard of.
This was that time, which still to this day [1624] we called
the starving time; it were too vile to say, and scarce to be believed,
what we endured: …for till then in three years, for the numbers
were landed us, we had never from England provision sufficient for
six months….This in ten days more, would have supplanted us all
with death. But God that would not this Country should be
unplanted, sent Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Sommers with
one hundred and fifty people most happily preserved by the
Bermudas to preserve us. . . .
~John Smith’s Account of the Starving Time, 1609-1610