Since it is a country of very high mountains, it is very cold on the
heights; and since it is in a climate so hot by Nature, in the valleys it is
fire. LA GASCA

ON receiving news of the victory at Las Salinas,
Pizarro set out from Lima for Cuzco; but halted
over two months at Jauja, delayed by the disturbed
state of the country but probably also by the wish to
avoid direct concern in the fate of Almagro. He was
visited at Jauja by Almagro's young half-caste son
Diego, who was travelling under escort to Lima, a youth
of about eighteen years, described by one who knew
him as tall and good-looking, an accomplished horse-
man and well educated, resembling his father rather
than his Indian mother, but dark in complexion and
almost beardless. Pizarro greeted the young Almagro
warmly, assured him that his father should suffer nothing
and promised to receive the youth as a son in his own
house at Lima. Continuing at last his journey to Cuzco
in July 1538, Pizarro was met by the news that Al-
magro was dead. He showed decent emotion; but in a
country where Indian runners carried news with as-
tonishing speed and where Indian rumour flew like
magic (sometimes attributed by the Spaniards to
satanic oracles), his previous ignorance must have been
calculated, and Hernando's omission to consult his

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