6a HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BOOK
VI.
JS3S-
through a country which fcemed to be tamely fub-miffive to their dominion, were cut'off to a man.An army amounting •( if we may believe the Spa-mfli writers) to two hundred thoufand men , at-tacked Cuzco , which the three brothers endea-voured to defend with only one hundred andfevcnty Spaniards. Another formidable body in-verted Lima , and kept the governor clofely Ihutup. I here was no longer any communication be-tween the two cities ; the numerous forces of thePeruvians fpreading over the country, interceptedevery meflenger ; and as the parties in Cuzco andLima were equally unacquainted with the fate oftheir countrymen, each boded the worft concerningthe other, and imagined that they themfelves werethe only perfons who bad furvived the generalextindfion of the Spanifh name in Peru
It was at Cuzco , where the Inca commandedin perfon , that the Peruvians made their chiefeffort. During nine months they carried on thefiege with inceffant ardor , and in various forms;and though they difplayed not the fame undauntedferocity as the Mexican warriors, they condu&cdfome of their operations in a manner which difco-vered greater fagacity, and a genius more fufcep-tible of improvement in the military art. Theynot only obferved the advantages which the Spa-niards derived from their difcipline and their
Vega, p. n. lib. ii. c. 2g. Zarate, lib. iii. c. 3. Ciecade Leon, c. 82. Honiara , Ilift. c. 135. Herrera, dec. 5.lib. viii. c. 3.