Page:A history of Chile.djvu/33

 A HISTORY OF CHILE

PART I.— THE COLONIAL PERIOD

CHAPTER I

ALMAGRO'S EXPEDITION EARLY HISTORY AND INHABITANTS

When Francisco Pizarro achieved the conquest of the ancient empire of Manco his sway was disputed by rivals. Chief among them were Almagro and Alvarado. Alvarado, Cortez' dashing captain, he who was called by the Mexicans Tonatiuh, set out from Guatemala with an expedition to seize upon Atahualpa's northern kingdom of Quito in defiance of Pizarro's rights, but found himself so stubbornly opposed by Benalcazar, an old rebel chief of the north, that he was glad to welcome Almagro, who had been sent against him by Pizarro, and to sell out to him his fleet, army and pretensions. Then after witnessing and participating in a friendly tournament arranged in his honor by Pizarro and his officers at Pachacamac, Tonatiuh departed for his own country, taking leave of his successful rival with many expressions of friendship.

With his other formidable rival, however, Pizarro 21