So far from that, however, she made them do as she liked, and when some of the caciques raised a rebellion she took the field in person, beat them in a pitched battle, and put all the leaders and many of their followers to death.

Since that time there had been no serious attempt to dispute her authority, which, so far as I could gather, she used, on the whole, to good purpose.

Though cruel and vindictive, she was also shrewd and resolute, and semi-civilized races are not ruled with rose-water.

She could only maintain order by making herself feared, and even civilized governments often act on the principle that the end justifies the means.
Mamcuna had never married because, as she said, there was no man in the country fit to mate with a daughter of the Incas; but as Gondocori and some others thought, the man did not exist with whom she would consent to share her power.
The Pachatupec braves were fine horsemen and expert with the lasso and the spear and very fine archers.

They were bold mountaineers, too, and occasionally made long forays as far as the pampas, where, I presume, they had brought the progenitors of the _nandus_, of which there were a considerable number in the country, both wild and tame.