Abstract
On 5 January 1533, Hernando Pizarro set out from the city of Cajamarca on the first European encounter with Incan civilization in Central Peru. The Spaniards had just captured the Inca emperor, Atahualpa, who promised, in a story widely known to history, to pay them a fabulous ransom of gold and silver for his release (Markham 1872). Two months later, the ransom had not yet arrived and rumors were circulating that an Incan army was converging on Cajamarca. Fearing treachery, Francisco Pizarro ordered his brother to march 30 miles south to the city of Huamachuco to hasten the arrival of