The walls were covered with a shining plaster, both white and
colored, and in the area before the edifice was seen a spacious tank or
reservoir of stone, fed by aqueducts that supplied it with both warm and
cold water.16 A basin of hewn stone--it may be of a more recent
construction--still bears, on the spot, the name of the "Inca's bath." 17
The court was filled with Indian nobles, dressed in gayly ornamented
attire, in attendance on the monarch, and with women of the royal
household. Amidst this assembly it was not difficult to distinguish the
person of Atahuallpa, though his dress was simpler than that of his
attendants. But he wore on his head the crimson borla or fringe, which,
surrounding the forehead, hung down as low as the eyebrow. This was
the well-known badge of Peruvian sovereignty, and had been assumed by
the monarch only since the defeat of his brother Huascar. He was seated
on a low stool or cushion, somewhat after the Morisco or Turkish
fashion, and his nobles and principal officers stood around him, with
great ceremony, holding the stations suited to their rank.18
The Spaniards gazed with much interest on the prince, of whose cruelty
and cunning they had heard so much, and whose valor had secured to
him the possession of the empire. But his countenance exhibited
neither the fierce passions nor the sagacity which had been ascribed to
him; and, though in his bearing he showed a gravity and a calm
consciousness of authority well becoming a king, he seemed to discharge
all expression from his features, and to discover only the apathy so
characteristic of the American races.
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