At length they reached the crest of the Cordillera, where it spreads out
into a bold and bleak expanse, with scarce the vestige of vegetation,
except what is afforded by the pajonal, a dried yellow grass, which, as it
is seen from below, encircling the base of the snow-covered peaks,
looks, with its brilliant straw-color lighted up in the rays of an ardent
sun, like a setting of gold round pinnacles of burnished silver. The land
was sterile, as usual in mining districts, and they were drawing near the
once famous gold quarries on the way to Caxamalca;
"Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines,
That on the high equator ridgy rise."
Here Pizarro halted for the coming up of the rear. The air was sharp and
frosty; and the soldiers, spreading their tents, lighted fires, and, huddling
round them, endeavored to find some repose after their laborious
march.3
They had not been long in these quarters, when a messenger arrived, one
of those who had accompanied the Indian envoy sent by Pizarro to
Atahuallpa. He informed the general that the road was free from
enemies, and that an embassy from the Inca was on its way to the
Castilian camp. Pizarro now sent back to quicken the march of the rear,
as he was unwilling that the Peruvian envoy should find him with his
present diminished numbers.
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