had a great interest with their People and well beloved by the Commonalty and were Men zealous of the publick good for this matter of publick good was the great concernment to which the Inca the Curacas and all the Ministers of War and Peace bended their chief aim and studies To other Curacas the Incas who carried the Cups drank in their own and not in the name of the Inca with which the Curacas were abundantly satisfied acknowledging it an Honour sufficient for them to drink with one who was of the Family and allied to the Sun as well as the King himself The first Ceremony of Drinking being finished then immediately the Captains and Curacas of the several Nations made their Invitations in the same manner and order as they had been themselves invited some making their immediate Address to the King and others to the Incas in return to their late Complement When they approached the Inca it was with deep silence and humble prostration and the Inca received them with great Courtesie and gratious Countenance and in regard he was to pledge them all he took the Cup from every Man's hand touching it with his Lips though he drank more plentifully out of the Bowl of those to whose Dignity and Quality he bore some particular respect what remained at the bottom of the Cup the Inca commanded his Servants who were also Incas by privilege to drink of the remainder which being done the Cups were again returned to the Owners These Cups having touched the Hands and Lips of the Capa Inca were ever afterwards conserved as sacred Reliques and held in great Veneration never afterwards being applied to common uses but separated as were their Idols for Worship and Adoration for in reality such was the interiour Devotion which they conceived towards their Kings that we cannot express the Love and Veneration which these poor Indians entertained of every thing which had relation to them In this manner the Healths being gone about and every one pledged they all returned orderly to their places and then the Dances and Songs began all Nations presenting themselves respectively in their Masquerades and Colours and antick Postures according to the fashion of their Countrey during all which the drinking still went on the Incas inviting each other as also the Captains and Curacas entertaining their Friends and Acquaintance and such as were Neighbours and Relations in their several Countries Thus were nine days spent in the solemn celebration of this Feast of Raymi where was plenty of Meat and Drink as we have said accompanied with all kinds of Mirth and Jollity though the first day onely was appointed for Sacrifices and for inspection into the Entrails of Beasts from whence they made their Divinations of future Events After the nine days were over the Curacas taking their leave of the King returned to their respective Countries having received entire satisfaction in the solemn performance of the principal Feast which they dedicated to their God the Sun. When the King was employed in the War or was far remote in visitations of foreign Countries he always observed the solemn Celebration of this Festival in that place where his occasions had drawn him though not with the pomp and magnificence as it was performed at Cozco where in the absence of the King the Governour and High-Priest who were always Incas of the Bloud took care to celebrate the Festival at which the Curacas or their Deputies did appear for them with a great concourse of people from the adjacent Provinces CHAP. XXIV In what manner the Incas took their Degrees of Chivalry and what Examination they passed THis word Huaracu is of the true Peruvian Language and signifies as much as to arm a Cavalier meaning no other thing than those Badges of Honour and Banners which they gave to the young Men of the Royal Bloud whereby they received their first admission into the War and were capacitated to take their Degrees and places of Dignity without these attestations given to these young Men they could pretend to no Place or Degree in Civil or Martial Affairs and farther to capacitate them thereunto they were to be Batchelours or single Men according to the Books and Rules of Chivalry Now to qualifie them farther to receive these Honours they were as we shall more amply discourse hereafter to pass a most severe and rigorous Novitiate which was an examination of all the Toils Labours and Hardships incident to War and which became a Souldier to undergo in prosperous or adverse Fortune For the better understanding of which it will be necessary to recite all the particulars performed at this Festival which considering the barbarity of this People is extraordinary and admirable and which might be owned by such as are expert and far advanced in the Art of Military Discipline At this Festival the Common People demonstrated great Joy and the Incas both old and young received the Honours due to their Merit and Condition the old Men were pleased to have their valiant and noble acts recited and young Men to be thought worthy of being admitted and enrolled in the Lists of Chivalry and because the Honour or Dishonour of this Test which the Novices underwent in their Examination was derived to all their Parentage and Kindred the clear and handsome approbation which every one received became the concernment of the whole Family of the Incas though they were more particularly interested in the Reputation of such who were of the limpid and lawfull Bloud Every Year or two more or less according as it was judged convenient the young Incas of sixteen Years and upwards were admitted to this military probation and no others though Sons of the greatest Lords and Curacas Their Custome was to educate them in a certain House properly constituted for these military Exercises built within the precincts of Collcampata which I remember once to have seen when they celebrated some part of these Ceremonies in it but fell so short of the greatness of the ancient Exercises that they may be rather called shadows or representations than real performances of them The Masters or Instructers of the Novices in this House were ancient Incas who were well experienced in the Arts of War and Peace and these were those who made trial of them in these following particulars and in others which I have now forgotten One of the trials they made of them was how they were able to endure a fast of six days onely with some few handfulls of unbaked Cara which is a sort of their Wheat and with no other Drink than a small Jarr of Water and without any thing else either Salt or Vchu which is the red Spanish Pepper yielding such a pleasing sort of taste to them that it made every thing to relish and for that reason it was forbidden to the Novices in their fastings This severe Fast was never enjoined to any above three days but onely to the Novitiates who were to be
redemption and represented by the Indians with gracefull and proper action nor were they altogether strangers to this divertisement because in the times of the Incas they usually represented their own Stories in Dialogues and therefore more easily improved in that Art to which they were formerly inclined by a natural aptitude It is observable how well they Acted a Comedy made by a Jesuit in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary which he wrote in the Tongue Aymara which is different from the Language of Peru the Argument was on those words in the 3 d Chapter of Genesis where it is said I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and that she shall break thy Head c. This was Acted by Children and Young men in the Countrey called Sulli And at Potow they rehearsed a Dialogue which contained all the Particulars of our Faith at which about 12000 Indians were present At Cozco another Dialogue was recited of the Child Jesus at which were all the Nobles and People of the City assembled Another was recited in the City which is called the City of the Kings where the Lord Chancellour and all the Nobility were present together with an innumerable company of Indians the Argument of which was the Most Holy Sacrament composed in Spanish and the General Tongue of Peru which was repeated by the Indian Youth in Dialogues and pronounced with such grace and emphatical expression with such air and handsome gestures intermixed with Songs set to pleasant Tunes that the Spaniards were much contented and pleased to behold them and some shed tears for joy to see the ingenuity and good inclination of those poor Indians that ever after they conceived a better opinion of them considering them not to be blockish rude and filthy but docible gentle and capable of improvement When these Indian Youths desire to commit any thing to memory which is given them in writing they go to those Spaniards who are acquainted with letters desiring them to reade the first lines to them four or five times over untill they have learned them by heart and to fix them better in their memories they repeat every word often to themselves and mark it with Pebbles or little Granes of divers colours of about the bigness of Pease called by them Chuy which serve for helps to their Memories and such industry and care they use till at length they have perfectly overcome the difficulty and learned their part or lesson Those Spaniards to whom the Young Indians have recourse for their Learning how great soever they are do not yet disdain to teach and inform them giving them all the encouragement they are able So that these Indians though naturally dull of invention have yet an aptitude to imitate any thing which is proposed before them John Cuellas a Scholar who was a Native of Medina and Canon of the Cathedral of Cozco who taught the Grammar to the Children which were of Spanish and Indian Parents and to others of best quality in that City can give us the most clear testimony thereof For he was moved to perform this charitable Office at the intreaty and instance of the Scholars whose Masters and Tutours in exchange for better preferments had forsaken their Charge for though every Scholar gave ten pieces of Eight a Month for his Learning yet it was but little in respect of their small number which perhaps were not above 17 or 18 in the whole Town I knew one amongst them who was an Inca called Philip and was Pupil to a rich and honourable Priest named Father Peter Saâ—chez who observing the ingenuity of this Youth took pains to instruct him in his Studies in which he profited so well that he became as good a Grammarian as any that was of the Spanish and Indian Bloud The change of many Masters was a great obstruction to their Learning for every one of them having a different way of Teaching they began not from the rules and principles formerly taught them but made them to begin from their own methods and forget what they had before learned which was a great prejudice to their proceedings untill this good Canon undertook to instruct them in the Latin Grammar which he continued for the space of two years amidst the Tumults and Wars raised between D. Sebastian de Castilla and Francisco Hernandes Giron which were the cause of much bloud fire and destruction and were of that continuance that scarce was one fire extinguished before another flame broke forth At this time this Canon Cuellas observing the great docility of his Scholars and their inclinations to be improved in all Sciences and the want of able and industrious Masters to cultivate the minds of this people would cry out and say Oh Children what pity it is that I do not see a dozen of you Students in the University of Salamanca And indeed this good Canon had reason so to say because his attendance at the Choire took him off from the employment of Teaching his Scholars with such sedulity as to make them perfect in the Latin Tongue Howsoever the little improvements they made were good evidences of their natural wit and understanding which now in these days praised be God is much advanced by that abundance of Learning and light of Sciences which the Jesuits have introduced amongst them And so much shall suffice to have discoursed on this subject it being now time to return to the History of the Succession of the Incas and of their Conquests and great Actions Royal Commentaries BOOK III. CHAP. I. Mayta Capac the fourth Inca gains Tiahuanacu and what sort of Buildings were found there THE Inca Mayta Capac having performed the Ceremonies due to the Obsequies of his dead Father resolved to visit the remote parts of his Dominions and though he had already in the time of his Father travelled those Countries yet being then in his Minority and under the Tuition of his Parents and Counsellours he had not the opportunity to demonstrate the Excellency of his Vertues nor yet to be observed by his people as he was now being an absolute Prince Wherefore after the example of his Ancestours he honoured and satisfied the several Provinces of his Kingdom with the lustre of his Presence giving such testimonies of liberality courage and generous disposition to his Curacas and all other his Subjects that they remained with great admiration of his Royal Vertues and Abilities of mind Having accomplished this Visitation he re-assumed the design of enlarging his Dominions after the example of his Ancestours covering his ambition and covetousness under the specious pretence of reclaiming the Nations from their barbarity and vain superstitions to a more civilized life and to the true and religious worship and adoration of the Sun Accordingly he raised an Army and in the Spring following he began his march with twelve thousand Men under the Command of four Generals and their Inferiour Officers taking his way as far as that place where the Lake
wonderfull and worthy of admiration the which word also was used by them when any thing was abominable or detestable in its kind The Master of this piece of Ore determined to carry it with him into Spain and present it to King Philip the Second as a curiosity greatly to be esteemed But I was informed by those who were in the same Fleet with him that the Ship in which that person embarked was cast away and that he was drowned and all his treasure with much more perished with him The Silver is digged with much more labour than Gold and refined with much more charge and difficulty There are many Mines in divers parts of Peru but none like those of Potosi the which were discovered in the year 1545 being about fourteen years after the Spaniards first possessed that Countrey as appears by the Record The Mountain in which these Mines arise is called Potosi but why it is so named I cannot tell unless it hath some signification in the proper Language of that Countrey for in the general Speech of Peru it hath none It is situated in the midst of a Plain in form of a Sugar-loaf is about the compass of a League at the bottom and a quarter of a League towards the top it is round and very pleasant to behold standing alone and single in a Plain which Nature hath adorned and beautified having added comeliness to that fame which its Riches hath made renowned and esteemed in the World. Some Mornings it appears with a cap of Snow the Climate thereabouts being something cold That Mountain in the division which was first made fell to the share of Gançalo Piçarro and afterwards to Pedro Hinojosa as we shall hereafter declare in case we may be so free as to bring to light some hidden and secret practices contrived in the times of War which Historians do often omit fearing to disparage the Actions of great Men and thereby create enmity and displeasure to themselves Acosta in his fourth Book writes at large of Gold and Silver and Quick-silver of which every day there are Mines discovered in that Empire so that I shall not need to write of them onely I shall mention some few remarkable things concerning those Metals and how the Indians melted and founded them before the Spaniards found out the use of Quick-silver and refer the Reader to satisfie his curiosity to that History of Acosta in which he writes of all these Metals and particularly of the Nature of Quick-silver at large 'T is observable that the Mines of the Mountain Potosi were first discovered by certain Indians who were Servants to Spaniards called in their Language Yanacuna who under the seal of friendship and promise of secrecy kept it concealed for some time enjoying to themselves the benefit of the first discovery but finding the Riches immense and difficult to be hidden they could not or would not conceal the intimation thereof from their Masters who opening the first vein of Ore found passage to a greater Treasure Amongst those Spaniards to whom this booty and fortunate lot happened there was one called Gonçalo Bernal who was afterwards Steward to Pedro de Hinojosa this Man discoursing some short time after the discovery of this Mine with Diego Centeno a Gentleman of Quality and other Noble persons concerning the rich and spreading veins of this Mountain declared it to be his opinion that in case this Mine were digged and the Silver melted which it would produce that Silver would become more common and less valuable than Iron The which assertion I have seen made good in the years 1554 and 55 when in the War of Francisco Hernandez Giron an Iron Horse-shoe was worth five Pieces of Eight or six Ducats and a Shoe for a Mule rated at four Pieces of Eight and two Nails for shoing valued at a Tomin or fifty five Maravedis I have seen a pair of Buskins or Spatterlashes sold at thirty six Ducats a Quire of Paper for four Ducats an Ell of Valentia Cloth dyed in grane at sixty Ducats and according to this rate all the fine Cloths made of Sigovia Wool their Silks Linen and other Merchandises of Spain were estimated but the War was the cause of this dearness because in the space of two years that it continued there arrived no Ships in Peru with the Commodities of Spain Moreover the great abundance of Silver which those Mines yielded caused it to be cheap and of no esteem that a Basket of Cuca came to be worth thirty six Ducats and a Bushel of Wheat valued at twenty four or twenty five Ducats at like rates they sold their Mayz and all their commodities for Shoes and Cloathing and their Wine also was sold at excessive prizes untill such time as it came to be imported in greater quantities And though this Countrey be rich and abounding with Gold Silver and pretious Stones yet the Natives are the most poor and miserable people in all the World. CHAP. XXV Of Quick-silver and how they melted their Ore before they discovered that Mineral WE have in the foregoing part of this History signified that the Incan Kings had a knowledge of Quick-silver but were unacquainted with the Nature or Use of it and onely admired the lively and quick motions of it howsoever having observed some certain noxious qualities and effects it produced such as stupefactions palsies and tremblings of the Nerves the Kings whose chief care was the safety of their people for which reason one of their Titles was Lovers of the Poor did absolutely forbid their Subjects to use or meddle with it and they being possessed with an apprehension of its noxious qualities abhorred it to that degree as not to think it worthy of their thought or word so that they had no name for Quick-silver unless they have coined one for it since the Spaniards in the year 1567 made a discovery of it and if they had any before they had certainly forgot it as Men are liable to doe who have no knowledge or practice of letters That which the Incas used and permitted to their Subjects was a sort of Earth of a pure Vermilion-colour beyond expression found in dust within the Mines of Quick-silver the Indians call it Ychma that which Acosta calls Llimpi is of a Purple-colour and extracted from other Mines for in those Countries they have Earth of all colours which serve us for Painting But as to this curious Crimson with which the Indians are so much affected it is also forbidden to be extracted without licence lest the people venturing themselves far into the Caverns of the Earth in the search of it should prejudice their healths and endanger their lives and therefore the use of it is forbidden to the common people and onely permitted to Ladies of the Royal Bloud Men never use it nor Women in years but such onely as are young and handsome who do not lay it upon their Cheeks as our Women do in Spain but onely draw it
Countrey he should not have remained one moment without the Ensign of his Royal Dignity upon his Head and that as to the Division of the Kingdom they would treat more fully hereafter when matters were a little better settled in quietness for that at present the Indians had made Insurrections in divers places which were not yet appeased but as to the Services which the Indians were to perform towards the Spaniards and the modification of the Peace which was to be maintained he remitted all to the Disposition of the Inca to order and design that which should be most agreeable to his own Good-will and Pleasure which the Spaniards would embrace with a chearfull readiness but as to the Preachers which were intended to instruct his People in the Divine Law they had so few Priests amongst them that as yet they could not spare any but that when a new supply came which they did shortly expect they should be immediately dispeeded upon this Errant for that the chief Design of the Christians was to retract the Indians from the Errours of their ways and to shew unto them the folly of their Superstition and Idolatry With these Assurances the Indians were greatly satisfied and the Inca delayed not immediately to bind his Head with the coloured Wreath which Ceremony was attended with great Joy and Triumph though for want of those of the Bloud Royal and of many Curacas or Barons who were cut off by the Cruelty of Atahualpa the solemnity was nothing so splendid and magnificent as in the times of the ancient Incas when the great numbers of Nobility added Glory to the Court yet the young Gallants rejoiced to see that Festival how mean soever at which the old Men grieved who remembred the times of the Great Huayna Capac and had seen the splendour of his Court. CHAP. XIII How the two Governours marched in pursuit of Major General Quizquiz IN our former Discourse we left Don Pedro de Alvarado and Don Diego de Almagro with their brisk Souldiery on their march towards Cozco where the Governour Don Francisco de Piçarro kept his Court and as they were on their way News was brought them that the Major General Quizquiz had gathered great Forces and was encamped in the Province of Cannaris having with him much Gold and Silver and other pretious Commodities with great Flocks and Herds of Cattel The Fame hereof increased in the telling as is usual wherefore the Governours resolved to march that way to defeat that Army and destroy the Tyrant having understood from the Indians that there was no other Army besides that in all the Empire Though Quizquiz was strong in his numbers yet he was not willing or very ready to engage with the Spaniards for in regard that both he and the Inca Titu Atauchi had sent the Articles and Capitulations to the Governour which they had concluded and agreed with Francisco de Chaves and his Companions as we have before mentioned they remained in expectation to hear of a general Peace between the Indians and the Spaniards and little dreamed of any Forces which were marching to destroy them This security and confidence was much increased by the persuasion of the Inca Titu Atauchi on whose Words uttered at the hour of his Death they much relied for we must know that this poor Inca died a few days after he had dismissed Chaves and his Companions his end being hastned by the melancholy he conceived for the sad fate of his Brother Atahualpa and by the news of the bloudy Tragedy acted by that Traytor Rumminavi in Quitu on his Kindred Brothers Captains and on the innocent select Virgins All which Massacres and Villanies committed by a Vassal on the Bloud Royal and on the Life of his own Inca he esteemed to be forerunners of the entire subversion of the Empire and of the Majesty of his Family and being overwhelmed with the sense thereof he called for Quizquiz and his other Captains and told them plainly that they should endeavour to make a Peace with the Viracochas and should serve and adore them according as the Inca Huayna Capac had by his last Will and Testament ordered and commanded them who being the Oracle of that time his Ordinances and Rules were esteemed indispensible therefore they should endeavour to please the Viracochas who were the Off-spring descended from their Father the Sun and of the same Lineage with the Incas all which he farther enforced and confirmed by virtue of the Command and Charge committed unto him by his Father Huayna Capac With such Arguments as these and in hopes and expectations that the Capitulations would be maintained Quizquiz remained very secure in the matters of War and though he received intelligence that the Governours were marching towards him yet he apprehended no hurt nor received an Allarm onely he detached about an hundred Souldiers under a Centurion or Captain which is the smallest number that the Indians have in a Company this Centurion the Historians Gomara and Carate call Sctaurco which signifies six Mountains for C Octa signifies six and Orco a Mountain for he was born in a Valley between six lofty Mountains such as are common in that Countrey and they say that his Father and Mother were in his company which must be upon some extraordinary occasion for Women never go to the War with their Husbands perhaps it might be to keep up the story of his Birth and of his Life for the Indians by such like Names and by such Sayings or by Cyphers or Hieroglyphicks and by their Verses and Poetry have conserved the Traditions of their History and have therein comprehended the success of all their Matters in a compendious manner as for example the Embassies sent to their Incas and their Answer thereunto the Speeches made in Peace and War what such a King or Governour commanded with the punishments inflicted and in short whatsoever was transacted in the publick Affairs All which the Historians or Notaries taught unto their Children by Tradition instructing them in Cyphers and short Versicles and in such short Words as the Name of this Captain and in such other Brief Sayings as we have already declared by help of which and of their Knots an Indian would read or recount the passages of his Time as well or faster than a Spaniard could reade Books writ with Letters as Acosta testifies in the 8th Chapter of his 6th Book not that these Knots furnished him with Words but onely called things to his Memory which having studied day and night he became versed in every particular so as to be able to render an account of his Office. All which though we have formerly declared at large yet having so pertinent an Instance as this Name of Captain C Octaorco we have thought it not impertinent to repeat the same that we may verifie what we have formerly reported and to help the Memory of the Reader This Captain as we have said was sent by Quizquiz for a scout
better Scholars in reading and Writing and be more expert in all sorts of musical Instruments than the Spaniards had they onely the advantage of being taught nor would they prove ill Scholars in the Latin Tongue And moreover they are not more ignorant in our Books than we are in the knowledge of theirs for though we have now lived amongst them and have had Conversation with them for seventy Years yet have not attained to the knowledge of their Knots nor the nature of their Accounts when they in a short time have attained to the knowledge of our Letters and Ciphers which are evidences of their Ingenuity and good capacity And as to their Memory they generally exceed the Spaniards having by their Knots and Joints of their Fingers figured several Common places out of which they do extract particulars in their due Order for the help and benefit of the Memory And what is more strange the same Knots serve for divers Passages and Arguments of History and giving them onely the Subject they will run on with a History as currently as a Reader can his Book which is an Art unto which no Spaniard as yet hath been able to attain nor know in what manner it is performed and are all good Arguments of the acute Judgment and great Memory of the Indians As to their Art in Military Affairs take all things in their due Circumstances the People of Peru are more expert than those of Europe for shew me the most brave and famous Captains of Spain or France on Foot without Horses without Armour without Lance Sword Pistol or other Fire-arms let them appear in their Shirts without Cloths with a Sling instead of a Girdle and their Heads covered with a Cap of Feathers or Garland of Flowers instead of a Head-piece or Steel Bergandine let them march with their bare Feet over Briers or Thorns let their Diet be Herbs and Roots of the Field carrying a piece of a Mat in their Left hands instead of a Buckler and in this manner let them enter the Field to blunt the Edges of Swords and Halbards and Pikes with three Forks and let them stand the Stone-slings the poisoned Arrows and the skilfull Archer which will hit the Eye or the Heart or anything if in this naked and simple condition they become Conquerours I will then say that they deserve the Fame and Reputation of valiant Captains above the Indians but in regard it is impossible to put the Europeans in this state and condition or to persuade them to the use of such Arms Customs or Habit so humanely speaking they will never make trial or essay to gain Victories with such tools or instruments And on the contrary were the Indians armed as are the Europeans trained up with the same Military Discipline and instructed in the Art of War both by Sea and Land they would be more invincible than the Turks Of the Truth hereof Experience is the best proof for whensoever the Spaniards and Indians were equal in their Arms the Spaniards were slain in great numbers as for Example in Puno of Mexico and long before that in other places for the truth is when the Spaniards have been laden and encumbred with their Arms and the Indians free and light the Spaniards have been often defeated in open Battel as in Quitu in Chachapuaya in Chaquisaca in Tucma in Cunti in Sausa in Parcus in Chili and other parts Wherefore in comparing the Valour and Prowess of the Spaniards with that of the Indians both of Mexico and Peru there can be no measure or trial made by the Success or Conquests by reason of the great inequality in their Arms and above all the Invention of Fire-arms was more terrible to them than all the rest and seems something more than what is humane or natural and in reality the Victories which have been obtained in most parts of the new World and especially in Peru were wonderfull Effects of Divine Providence and rather to be attributed to the Power of God in favour of the Gospel than to the Valour of the Spaniards But though we may compare the Europeans and the Asitiaticks together in the point of Arms yet we cannot admit of any Comparison between the Spaniards and the Indians as to the Art of War in which no doubt but the Spaniards have much the advantage But to let pass this point and compare Indians with Indians there is no doubt but the Incas and the People of Peru were much the better Souldiers of which they have given us sufficient Testimonies by the many Conquests they made over the many Countries they reduced to their Obedience and enjoyed nor were they signalized for their Valour of late Years onely as some People vainly imagine but for above five or six hundred Years past amongst which many Kings of them have been very powerfull namely Manco Capac Inca Roca Viracocha Inca Pachacutec and those descended from that Line to the great Huayna Capac who was Emperour besides many other Captains of the same Bloud of whom we have treated at large in other places Thus far are the Words of Blas Valera after which short digression let us return again to our Spaniards CHAP. XXXI Of the differences which arose between the Almagro's and the Piçarro's and of the Imprisonment of Hernando Piçarro SO soon as Almagro and Piçarro saw that the Inca had disbanded his Army and was fled and had left unto them free possession of the Empire they began then openly to discover their Passions and turn their Arms each against the other one affected to rule and govern absolutely alone and the other prepared to prevent and disappoint him of the Possession of that supreme Power which neither admits a Superiour nor a Rival Thus Almagro required Hernando Piçarro to surrender the City to him and leave him in free possession thereof pretending that it was the Part and Division which belonged to him and not to his Brother as not being comprehended within the two hundred Leagues of Land belonging to the Marquis which were to be measured and set out from the Equinoctial Southward along the Sea-coast according to the Capes and Points and Bays running by the Sea-shore but certainly Land was never measured in that manner or by other Lines than by the High-ways Howsoever the party of Almagro insisted on this point and would understand no other Measures than by the Sea-coast which if Piçarro had granted and condescended unto though His Majesty should have enlarged his Jurisdiction an hundred Leagues farther yet his Dominion would not have reached so far as los Reyes much less could it have extended unto Cozco Howsoever these groundless Reasons and Fancies had so far possessed the Mind of Almagro and his Party that they would suffer no Contradiction or hearken to any Arguments to the contrary but violently resolved to abandon the Kingdom of Chili and return to Peru and Cozco from whence afterwards so many Ruines and Mischiefs did ensue To
and Bravery which of late years they have used in defence of that Countrey I refer my self to the Relation of the Bucaniers And so proceed on with this History TO JAMES II. By the Grace of God KING of ENGLAND SCOTLAND FRANCE and IRELAND c. Defender of the Faith. May it please your Most Excellent Majesty THIS Translation out of Spanish having the Name of Royal Commentaries seems justly to claim a Title to Your MAJESTY'S gratious Favour and Protection And likewise Your MAJESTY'S Dominions being adjacent and almost contiguous to the Countries which are the subject of this History make Your MAJESTY a Party concerned in the Affairs of the New World and so supreme an Arbitrator in the Government thereof that to suppress the Robberies and Insolence of certain Pirates who infest those Coasts Your MAJESTY'S Royal Arms are called for as the most proper Means and Power to reduce them Great also is Your MAJESTY'S Fame in the East as well as in the West-Indies And may all the World court Your Friendship and Alliance and doe honour to Your Royal Standard May Your MAJESTY be still happy with Increase of Glory and Honour both at home and abroad untill such time as that you exchange this mortal Crown for one everlasting in the World to come Which is the fervent Prayer of Dread Sovereign Your MAJESTY'S most obedient most dutifull and most loyal Subject and Servant Paul Rycaut An INDEX of the most material Passages in this HISTORY A. ARbitration of the Inca between two Curaca's p. 73. Ambassador vid. Embassador The Apparition of Viracocha and the Consultations thereupon 126. Accounts how kept amongst them 153 197 198. The Araucans rebell 292. Atahualpa made King of Quitu by his Father Huayna Capac 367. Atahualpa required by his Brother Huascar to doe him Homage 398. The Subleties used by him 399. Atahualpa gains a Victory over his Brother 401. He exercises great Cruelties 403. and why His Cruelties towards the Women and Children of the bloud Royal 405. Some escape 407 411. Cruelties to the Servants of the Court 409. Atahualpa's Answer to a Frier's Speech 454. He is taken by the Spaniards 459. And promises a great Ransome for his Liberty 460. The Fears he had before his Death 471. He is arraigned and put to Death 474 477. The Treasure collected for his Ransome 479. His Body carried to Quitu to be interred 494. Almagro returns twice to Panama 426. Pedro de Alvarado goes to the Conquest of Peru 489. The Difficulties he undergoes 492. He marches to the succour of Cozco 569. He is imprisoned 573. Almagro joins his Forces with Alvarado 505. Their Agreement 507. They march to Cozco 509. They march against Quizquiz Alvarado's Death 519. Almagro makes himself Governour the Agreement between him and Piçarro 526. Almagro enters into Chili where he is well received 529. He returns to Peru 532. and to Cozco 527. Differences between Almagro and Piçarro 563. they are determined 577. Don Diego de Almagro his Death 589. Don Diego de Almagro his Son is set up and administers an Oath of Allegiance to all Officers p. 620. Garcia de Alvarado is killed by Almagro Junior 628. The Death of D. Diego de Almagro Junior 642. The Inhabitants of Arequepa revolt with two Ships to the Vice-king 680. Acosta is sent against Lorenço de Aldana 774. His ill Conduct in defending a Bridge over the River Apurimac 823. Aguire seeks revenge on a Judge he is sought for in Cozco and how he made his Escape 884. Alonso de Alvarado the Marshal is appointed to sit Judge on Trial of the Rebels 906. He executes severe Justice on the Rebels 908. makes choice of Officers and comes to Cozco 938. He receives intelligence of the Enemy with whom he skirmishes his Officers are generally of opinion to decline Fighting 941. He resolves notwithstanding to engage 944. He is defeated by Hernandez and the Indians kill many of his Souldiers in their Flight 947 948. Great Trouble caused hereupon in the King's Camp 950. Means taken to repair it 951. Capt. Almendras his unfortunate Death 939. An Accident very strange at Cozco 980. B. BRidges of Osiers how made p. 64. Bridges of Straw Rushes and Flags 78. A Bridge laid over a River by Lope Martin 821. Beggars not allowed 144. Burials of their Kings and how interred 193. Battels three between the Indians and Spaniards 515. Battel of Amancay 572. The Bloudy Battel of Salinas 583. Battels between the Indians and Spaniards 597. The Battel between the Governour Vaca de Castro and Don Diego de Almagro Junior 637. A Relation of the Battel of Chupas 640. Blasco Nunnez Vela the Vice-king lands in Peru with what befell him at his landing p. 657. He imprisons Vaca de Castro and others 678. The Resolutions he took upon the News that Gonçalo Piçarro was marching against him 690. He is imprisoned 692. The Misfortunes which befell him 695. He is set at liberty 697. He retires to Peru 709 714. He recruits in Popayan and goes in quest of Pedro Puelles 732. He is defeated at the Battel of Quitu and slain 734. His Funeral 736. The Battel of Huarina how armed and how drawn out 794 795 796 797 798. The numbers killed 801. The Battel of Sacsahuana 829. Bachicao his death 812. Bustinia his imprisonment and death 814. C. COzco first founded 13. and described 261 268. Ceremonies when they weaned shaved and gave Names to their Children 110. A Cross conserved 30. The Chanca's rebell 127. The Fortress of Cozco described 294 296 297. Cloaths Arms and Shoes given to the Souldiery 139. Cloathing how supplied to the People 144. Cannari conquered its Riches 309. Cuntur great Birds of which Inca Viracocha made a Picture 171. The Court of the Inca's Servants and those who carried their Chair 189. And of the great Halls and Rooms of State 191. Cassamarca how subdued 208. Chinca stands out and subdued 214. Their vain Rodomontado's 216. Chimu the King conquered 239. Collection for Charitable Uses 270. Chirihuana a Nation in Peru their Customes and Manners 278. Chili possessed by the Inca's 281. Chili first discovered by the Spaniards 283. Chili rebells against Pedro Valdivia 284. Conquests made by the Inca's 305 306 309 311 313. Cuca a pretious Leaf 325. Cattle that are tame and the great Droves of them which serve to carry their Burthens p. 328. Cattle which are wild A Chain of Gold as big as a Cable 349. Of Cowes and Oxen 378. Of Camels Asses and Goats and Hogs p. 380 381. Of Conies and Dogs of the Game 383. Crosses found in the Temples and Palaces in Cozco 467. Conversion of an Indian 503. Civil Discords produced ill Effects to the Incan Kings 485. Cuellar put to death by the Indians 499. Chili difficult to be conquered 532. Cozco besieged and several Exploits done there 550. The Number of Indians killed there 553. The Charcas conquered 597. Great troubles in the Charcas 888. The Citizens of Cozco desert Gonçalo Piçarro 680.
take an omen of good or bad and know whether the Sacrifice had been acceptable to the Idol then they burnt the Entrails and ate the Flesh themselves with great joy and festivity though it were of their own Child or other Relation of the same bloud Blas Valera a certain Authour who in loose Papers wrote of the Indies describes those Nations by distinguishing the former from the latter ages and saith That those who live in Antis eat Mens Flesh and are more brutish than the Beasts themselves for they know neither God nor Law nor Vertue nor have they Idols or any Worship unless sometimes when the Devil presents himself to them in the form of a Serpent or other Animal they then adore and worship him When they take any in the War if he be an ordinary Fellow they quarter him and divide him to be eaten by their Wives Children and Servants or perhaps sell him to the Shambles but if he be of Quality or Noble they call their Wives and Children together and like Officers of the Devil they strip him of his garments and tye him to a stake and then alive as he is they cut him with Knives and sharp Stones paring off slices from the more fleshy parts as from the Buttocks Calves of the Legs and the brawny places of the Arme then with the Bloud they sprinkle the principal Men and Women and the remainder they drink and eat the Flesh as fast as they can before it is half broiled lest the miserable Wretch should dye before he hath seen his flesh devoured and intombed in their bowels The Women more cruel and inhumane than the Men wet the nipples of their Breasts with the bloud that so the Infants which suck them may take a share of the Sacrifice All this is performed by way of a religious Offering with mirth and triumph till the Man expires and then they complete the Feast in devouring all the remainder of his Flesh and Bowels eating it with silence and reverence as sacred and partaking of a Deity If in execution of all this torment the Patient was observed to sigh and groan or make any distorted faces then they broak his Bones and with contempt threw them into the fields and waters but if he appeared stout and enduring the anguish and pains without shrinking at them then his Bones and Sinews were dryed in the Sun and lodged on the tops of the highest Hills where they were deified and Sacrifices offered to them Such are the Idols and manner of living of these Brutes because the Government of the Incas was never received into their Countrey nor hath it any Power there at this day This Generation of Men came out from the parts about Mexico and spread themselves from Panama and Darien over all those great mountains which run as far as the new Kingdom of Granada and on the other side as far as the Cape of St. Martha All which particulars we have received from Father Blas Valera who in the Narrative he gives of their Lives and Manners much more aggravates their diabolical Practices than by any thing we have here related But other Indians less cruel and of a more mild Nature though they mingled humane Bloud with their Sacrifices yet they did it not with the death of any but drew it from Veins of the Arme or Leg or from the Nostrils in case of pains in the Head and from other parts as the nature or solemnity of the Sacrifice required Others offered Sheep and Lambs Conies Partridges and all sorts of Fowl Herbs and the Cocar-Nut so much in esteem amongst them with their Mayz which is a sort of Wheat as also Pulse Annise and Cummin and sweet Woods which rendred a perfume the which were severally sacrificed according to the nature of the Deity they adored And thus much shall be sufficient to have been delivered concerning their Sacrifices and Gods of the Ancient Gentilism CHAP. V. Of the Government Diet and Cloathing of the Ancient Indians THese People were as barbarous in their manner of living in their Houses and Habitations as they were in the Worship of their Gods and Sacrifices such of them as observed any thing of a Political Government lived in a kind of Society having houses near together placed without order of Streets or Passages appearing rather like Pens or Sheepfolds than humane Habitations Others by reason of the Wars and Variances amongst themselves lived on Rocks and Mountains and places inaccessible for their Enemies others dwelt in little Cottages scattered over the fields and vallies and every one feared himself as well as he thought convenient for commodiousness of Victuals and Water whether it were in Caves under ground or in the hollow of Trees the necessities rather than the conveniences of living being provided for and of this sort of People there are some yet remaining about the Cape of Passau as the Chirihuanas and other Nations whom the Incas have conquered and who still continue their ancient barbarity and savage manners and these are the most difficult of any to be reduced to the subjection of the Spaniards or the Christian Religion for having never had Learning or scarce Language sufficient to understand each other they live like Beasts without Communication Friendship or Commerce Those amongst them who had most of Understanding or of a Spirit most daring took the privilege to Rule and govern the others whom he treated as his Slaves with such Tyranny and Cruelty that he made use of their Wives and Daughters at his pleasure all things being confounded with War and Ruine In some Provinces they flead the Captives taken in War and with their Skins covered their Drums thinking with the sound of them to affright their Enemies for their opinion was that when their Kindred heard the rumbling noise of those Drums they would be immediately seized with fear and put to flight For the most part they lived by Robberies and the Spoils each of other the stronger preying upon the weaker was the cause of several petty Kings some of which perhaps being of a more gentle nature than others and who treated their Subjects with less rigour and cruelty were for that reason adored by them for Gods framing to themselves some representation of Divinity in the good actions of such men who had some allays in their cruel and tyrannical Government In other parts they lived without Lords or order of a Common-wealth but like so many Sheep passed together in all simplicity not that Vertue moderated their malice but their stupidity and ignorance made them senseless and uncapable of good or evil Their manner of Cloathing or covering their Bodies were in some Countries as immodest as they were ridiculous their Diet also was so foul and barbarous that we who know better may wonder at the beastiality In the hot Countries which were most fruitfull they sowed little or nothing but contented themselves with Herbs and Roots and wild Fruits and with that which the Earth
produced of it self for they requiring no more than natural sustenance lived with little and created no accidental necessities for support of Life In some Countries they were such great lovers of Man's Flesh that when they were killing an Indian they would suck his bloud at the Wound they had given him and when they quartered his body they would lick their fingers that not one drop of bloud should be wasted in their Shambles they commonly sold Mens Bodies making Sausages of their Guts stuffing them with flesh that nothing might be lost Peter of Cieca in the 26th Chapter of his Book declares so much and affirms that he saw it with his own Eyes and that so far their gluttony provoked them in this kind that they did not spare those very Children which they begot upon those Women whom they had taken Captives in the War but breeding them with such care and diet as might make them fat so soon as they came to be twelve years of age and that they were plump and tender they dressed them for their Table and devoured them with their Mothers unless they were with Child for then they reserved them till they were delivered and had nursed up their brood Moreover to those Men whom they took in the War they gave Women and their breed they nourished and fatned with intent to eat them as we do Lambs and Calves and the young ones of our heards and flocks without regard to Bloud or Parentage which even in brute beasts hath some effect of love and tenderness But what was most abominable above all was a custome amongst some Indians to eat the Flesh of their Parents so soon as they were dead accounting it a part of their respect and duty to bury and intomb them within their own Entrails which they boiled or roasted according to the quantity if the body was lean and extenuated they boiled the flesh to make it the more tender and if it were gross and fleshy then it was roasted and for the bones they buried them with some Ceremony either in the holes of Rocks or the hollow Trees but this sort of People know no Gods nor adore any thing and inhabit for the most part in the hotter and not in colder Regions of this Continent In the more cold and barren Countries where the earth is not so fruitfull necessity compells them to sow Mayz which is their Indian Wheat and other sorts of pulse or grain but they distinguish neither times nor seasons for it and in their fishing and fowling and in all other things the like barbarity of manners predominates As to their manner of Cloathing the modesty of an Historian obligeth me rather to pass it by than to describe it lest I should seem offensive to chast and modest Ears but to express it with as much decency as I am able we are to know that the Indians in the first ages wore no other covering than the Skins which Nature gave them Some perhaps of them for curiosity or affectation girt themselves about the Waste with a clout of course thread which they esteemed a Cloathing sufficient for them I remember that in the Year 1570. when I came into New Spain that I met in the streets of Cartagena with five Indians all naked walking one after the other like so many Cranes so little had the conversation and society of the Spaniards in so long a time prevailed to the alteration of their Humours Manners or Barbarity The Women wear no other garments than the Men onely the married Wives girt a string about them to which they fasten a clout of Cotton a yard square like an Apron and where they cannot or will not learn to weave they cover their nakedness with the rine or broad leaves of trees The Maidens also wear something girt about them to which they add some other mark as a sign of their Virginity Modesty forbids us to enlarge farther on this Subject it being sufficient what we have declared that in hot Countries they went naked without other covering or ornament than that which Nature furnishes to brute Beasts whence we may imagine how barbarous those Indians were before the times in which the Incas gained a Sovereignty over them In colder Countries they used Garments not for modesty or decency but for necessity to defend them from the cold their cloathing was commonly with the Skins of beasts and with a sort of Matt which they wove with straw or rushes Other Nations of them who had more ingenuity wore a sort of Mantles ill made and spun with a course thread and worse woven with wool or wild hemp which they call Chahuar and some ornament about their necks and a covering about their wastes was all the cloathing which their customs and manners required and in this habit the Spaniards found those Indians over whom the Incas had not extended their Dominion and which even to this day continues amongst them for they have such an aversion to garments that even those who live familiarly with the Spaniards and are their domestick Servants are rather forced by importunity to use them than that they chuse them out of inclination or any consideration of decency or modesty the like humour is also common to the Women so that the Spaniards use in jest to tell them that they were bad Spinsters and to ask them whether they would not cloath themselves because they would not spin or would not spin because they would not be cloathed CHAP. VI. Of the different ways of Marriages and diversity of Languages amongst them And of the Poisons and Witchcrafts that they used SUch as these Indians were in their eating and cloathing such were they in their Marriages in which they were as bestial as in their other manners exercising coition in the same way as Beasts for having not Wives in property they used their Women as Nature incited or as accidentally they occurred without regard to Mothers Daughters or Sisters or the nearest proximity of bloud In some Countries where a certain sort of Marriage was usual those Women that were free of their Bodies were most esteemed and obtained the best Husbands because they were accounted active and busie in their calling when others of a more chast and cold Nature were rejected as drones dull and unfit for love In other Countries they observed a different custome for the Mothers preserved their Daughters with great respect and care till the time of their Marriage when bringing them into publick they shewed the Tokens of their Virginity In other parts the Father or near of kindred claimed a title to the Maidenhead of the Bride by conditions of the Marriage before she was given to the Husband Peter de Cieca in the 24th Chapter of his Book affirms the same and that Sodomy was used amongst them but yet in secret and as a crime though the Devil persuaded them to it in their Temples as a pleasure which their Gods delighted in that so under the guise of
the which was common to none but the Inca and the Prince his Heir who wore it narrower than his Father and of a sallow colour What Ceremonies were used at the Instalment of the Prince and when he was sworn we shall declare in its due place when we come to speak of the Horsemen which the Incas armed out against their Enemies These Privileges and Favours proceeding immediately from the gratiousness of their Prince the Indians received with great Thankfulness and Applause because the Inca made them to believe that it was by the appointment and order of the Sun who observing their Compliance docility and other merits had conferred these marks of his good acceptance on them And when they farther considered the greatness of his last Favour which was the Title of Inca and which was not onely allotted to themselves but was to descend also to their Posterity they were wholly ravished with the Bounty and Liberality of his Royal Mind not knowing how to receive it with other sense than Transport of Admiration so that it became the common subject of their Discourse how that their Inca had not onely transformed them from Beasts into Men and instructed them in all things necessary to humane Life and taught them those natural Laws which conduce to Morality and the knowledge of their God the Sun which was sufficient for ever to have obliged them to remain his Vassals and Slaves and might justly have imposed on them Taxes and Tributes but that instead thereof he had conferred on them the Majesty of his own Name which being so Sacred and Divine that none durst take it formerly in his mouth without great Veneration was now made so common that every one might pronounce it with an audible voice by which privilege being become his adopted Sons they did for ever after dedicate themselves for Slaves and Vassals to him who was the undoubted Progeny and Child of the Sun. The Indians being astonished with the consideration of these great favours and affection their Inca had bestowed upon them they returned him all the blessings and praises imaginable studying what Names and Titles they might confer on him agreeable to the greatness of his Mind and his Heroick Vertues and on this consideration they invented these two Names one of which was Capac which signifies rich not that they meant him to be rich in Goods or Wealth of Fortune but of Mind such as Gentleness Piety Clemency Liberality Justice and Magnanimity with a desire and Inclination to communicate his Benefits to all his Subjects and for that Reason they deservedly gave him the Title of Capac which signifies rich and powerfull in Arms The other Name they gave him was Huac chacuyac which is as much as to say a great Friend and Benefactour to the poor for as the first denomination intimated the greatness of his Mind so the other spoke the benefits which he had conferred so that for ever after he was called the Prince Manco Capac having been named no otherwise before than Manco the Inca for Manco is but the proper Name of a Person and in the common Language of Peru hath no signification though in a particular Dialect which some of them have which as some write me from Peru is entirely lost it signifies something as all the other Names and Titles did which they gave to their Kings as we shall in the sequel of this Story have an occasion to interpret The word Inca signifies as much as Lord or King or Emperour though in its strict sense it is one of the Royal bloud and therefore the Curacas though they were great Lords yet they were not called Incas Palla signifies a Lady of the Royal Bloud and so for distinction of the King from other Incas he was called Capa Inca which is as much as rich sole and supreme Lord. Hereafter for the sake of the curious we shall declare and interpret all the Royal Names of the Men and Women Moreover the Indians gave to this first King and his Posterity the Name of Yntip Churin which is as much as Child of the Sun but this we may esteem rather a denomination proceeding from their false belief than a true and proper addition to his Titles CHAP. XIV Of the last Will and Testament and Death of the first Inca Manco Capac MAnco Capac reigned many Years but how many it is not certain some say thirty others forty employing his whole time in the business and actions which we have before mentioned and now finding the time of his death nearly approaching he called his Sons together as well those which he had by his Queen Mama Oello Huaco as those which he had by his Concubines which made up a great number for as he told them it was fit that the Children or Offspring of the Sun should be many He also assembled the Chief of his Subjects and in manner of a Testament he made this long Discourse to them He recommended to the Prince his Heir a true Love and Affection towards his Subjects and to the Subjects Loyalty and Service to their King and Obedience to the Laws avouching again that this was one of those Ordinances which the Sun his Father had in a most particular manner enjoined unto him With this Lesson he dismissed his Subjects afterwards in private Discourse which he made to his Children he encharged them that they should ever remember that they descended from the Sun and that therefore they ought for ever to adore him for their God and Father and that according to his example they should observe his Laws and precepts that so their Subjects in imitation of them might the more easily be induced to awe and reverence this Deity that they being gentle and pious might allure the Indians by Love and by the force of Benefits for that those can never be good Subjects who obey onely out of fear in short he told them that they should manifest themselves by their Vertues to be Children of the Sun approving their words by their actions for those shall never be believed who say one thing and perform another In fine he said that being called by the Sun he was now going to rest with him that they should live in Peace and Unity together and that he beholding their actions from Heaven would take care to favour and succour them in their extremities and distress Having uttered these and other sayings of like nature Manco Capac dyed leaving the Prince Sinchi Roca his eldest Son which he had by Coya Mama Oello Huaco his Wife and Sister to be his Heir and Successour Those Sons and Daughters which remained besides the Prince married one with the other for they took great care to preserve that bloud which they fabulously believed to proceed from the Sun clear and unmixed because they esteemed it Divine and was not to be defiled with any other humane mixture though it were with those chief and principal Lords whom they termed Curacas The Inca Sinchi Roca
supreme Council by way of Knots of divers colours tied in a silken twist the colours being as so many cyphers denoting the crimes they had punished and the bigness of them and manner of making them up signified that Law which was executed as we shall hereafter more particularly declare and in this manner by way of Knots they kept all their accounts so exactly and summed them up with such readiness that to the great admiration of the Spaniards their best Arithmeticians could not exceed them It is an opinion and held for a certain truth amongst them that there never was Inca of the Royal Bloud that was punished or that any of them did ever commit a crime which incurred the penalty of the Law For that the principles they received from their Parents the example of their Ancestours and the common belief of the World that they were the Progeny of the Sun born to instruct others to doe good and to refrain the people from Vice were considerations that made such impressions in them that they were rather the ornament than the scandal of Government disdaining to stoop to such base and mean actions as were transgressions of their Law The truth is they wanted the temptations which others had to offend for neither the desire of women or richness or revenge could be motives to them For in case any one of them entertained a passion for the Beauty of a Woman it was but to send for her and she could not be denied nay rather her Parents would receive the proposal with humble acknowledgments that the Inca would vouchsafe to cast his eye on his handmaid that was his Slave The like may be said as to the desire of Wealth they had no necessities but what were readily satisfied for being Children of the Sun all the Wealth and Riches of their Countrey was esteemed their inheritance and their occasions were satisfied by the Mandates sent to the Justices and the Governours of Provinces for a supply Nor were they liable to the unworthy passion of Revenge for none could provoke them to anger by injuries who sought all ways and means to please and oblige them for being adored as Gods it was esteemed blasphemy and sacrilege to disgrace them by Words or injure them in their Estates and therefore it may be said that never was Indian punished for disrespect or a malitious action against the Person of an Inca. Hence it is that the Spanish Historians have reported that an Inca was not capable of being punished for any Offence whatever which is a mistake and is as much as to say that the Incas were Libertines that they might be arbitrary and by Law act against it or that there were one Law for them and another for their People whenas an Inca was rather exposed to the greater severities than any other for he forfeited his Privileges was degraded of the Honours due to the Royal Bloud and esteemed for Aüca which is as much as a Traytor and a Tyrant Thus when the Spaniards commended and applauded the just and generous actions of the Incas the Indians would make answer that it was not strange in regard they were Incas and if they disapproved at any time their proceedings as in the case of Atahualpa who by Treason and Rebellion dispossessed Huascar his elder Brother and true Heir to the Monarchy as we shall relate in its due place their Reply was that no Inca could be guilty of such Enormities and if he were he was no true born Inca but some Bastard or Impostour of that Family In every Province according to the four Divisions the Inca constituted his different Councils of War of Justice and of his Treasury every one of which maintained their subordinate Officers one under the other even to the Decurions of Ten all which in their respective places rendred an account to their immediate Officers till the Report came to the supreme Council The chief Governour of every Division had the Title of a Vice-King and were always Incas of the true Bloud and Men approved for Prudence and good Conduct both in the time of War and Peace And so much shall suffice to have spoken concerning their Laws and Customs We shall now proceed to the History of their Lives and Actions relating those matters which are most famous and observable CHAP. VII Of the Life and Reign of Sinchi Roca second King of the Incas SInchi Roca succeeded his Father Manco Capac this name Roca is pronounced with some aspiration at the top of the Mouth and as Blas Valera says signifies a prudent and experienced Prince Sinchi signifies valiant for though he had no Wars with any yet because he was active in wrestling running vaulting throwing the stone and lance and excelled all others of that age in those Exercises he was surnamed the Valiant and Magnanimous This Prince having performed those Obsequies which were due to the solemnity of his Father's Interment took upon himself the Crown of his Kingdom which was no other than the coloured Wreath bound about his Temples determining in the first place to inlarge the Borders of his Dominions he assembled the principal Curacas and Counsellours which his Father had assigned him and in a grave and serious Oration amongst other things he told them that in performance of the Will of his Father which he declared to him at the time he was about to return to Heaven he resolved to go in Person and summon the neighbouring Nations to come in and be converted to the knowledge and adoration of the Sun and in regard they had the same Title of Incas as well as their King he conceived that the same Obligation lay upon them to serve the Sun who was the common Parent of them all and therefore required them to join with him in the same work and design that so they might reduce those People from their brutish and bestial course of living to a Life more regular and rational for that they seeing the improvements which the instructions of his Father the Inca had made in his own Subjects might be more easily allured to forsake their old barbarous Customs and embrace those which are more beneficial and refined Hereunto the Curacas gave this ready and chearfull Answer that they were not onely willing to obey his Commands in this particular but even to enter into the fire for his sake and so ending their Discourse they prefixed a day to begin their Journey and accordingly the Inca departed with a great Retinue of his Subjects taking his Journey by the way of Collasuyu which lies to the Southward from the City Cozco and as they travelled they persuaded the Indians with fair words to follow their Example and to become Subjects to the Inca and Devotaries to the Sun uniting with them in Religion towards their God and Allegiance to their Prince Those Indians which are of the Nations called Puchina and Canchi and are the next borderers being a People very simple and credulous as
than that which is due for the offence of Sacrilege In this manner the Inca giving testimony of his gratious and gentle mind cleared the Curacas from all suspicions of fear who humbling themselves to the Earth before him promised to be his faithfull Vassals for that having demonstrated such an unexemplary act of Mercy towards those that had deserved death he did thereby give undeniable proofs of his descent from the Sun. And now to explain the Fable in the preceding Chapter it is said that the Captains of the Inca observing the boldness which the Collaons every day used by their obstinate resistence gave orders to their Souldiers to treat them with all rigour and subdue them with Fire and Sword for that their bold attempts against the Inca were no longer tolerable The Collaons making their usual Sallies in a fierce and enraged manner cast themselves without defence or order on the Weapons of their Enemies who receiving their attempt with more Martial discipline killed the greatest part of them and in regard the Souldiers of the Inca had untill now rather dallied than fought in earnest with them being desirous to save their Lives and reduce them without bloud did at length use their best endeavours to subdue them by violence which took such effect upon them and with such ruine and slaughter that the Collaons believed the Report which the Incas made of this battel That their destruction was not performed by their Arms but by the power of the Sun who in punishment for their obstinacy and rebellion caused their own Weapons to be turned upon themselves to the belief of which the credulous and simple Indians being easily persuaded were farther thereby admonished by the Incas and the Amautas their Philosophers how dangerous it was to fight against the Sun who was their God and disobey the Incas who were his Children CHAP. IV. How three Provinces were reduced and others conquered what Colonies were planted and the punishment of those who used Poison THis Fable with the great fame and applause which the Piety and Clemency of the King had gained was divulged through all the neighbouring Countries of Hatunpacassa where these things were acted and caused so much love and admiration amongst those People that they voluntarily submitted to the Inca Mayta Capac whom they acknowledged to be a true Child of the Sun and therefore came to adore and serve him amongst which three Provinces especially were worthy of note namely Cauquicura Mallama and Huarina where afterwards that Battel was fought between Gonçalo Piçarro and Diego Centeno being all of them Countries large in extent rich in Cattle and powerfull with the numbers of warlike People These being received into grace and favour the Inca repassed the River towards Cozco and from Hatun Colla sent an Army under Command of his four Generals towards the Western parts ordering them that having passed the desolate Countrey of Hatunpuna the borders of which Lloque Yupanqui had once stocked with Cattle they should proceed towards the People on the other side who inhabit the Coast of the Sea of Zur and should try all fair means to reduce them and though they should find some so obstinate and pertinacious as not to be prevailed with by any terms of friendly accommodation yet notwithstanding that they should not presently break into open Hostility with them being assured that what opposition soever the barbarous people made it would be more disadvantageous and of loss to themselves than their voluntary submission could prove of benefit to the Inca. With these Instructions and great supplies of Provisions which they daily gathered in their march they passed the snowy Mountain with the more difficulty because they found no path to guide them travelling for the space of at least thirty Leagues through an unpeopled and a most desolate Countrey at length they came to the Province Cuchuna which was well inhabited though they lived not in Towns or Villages but scattered over the Countrey where every one was most pleased to raise his Cottage The Natives being allarmed with the approach of this Army built a Fortress and retired into it with their Wives and Children the place was so weak that it might easily have been forced but the Incas in obedience to their King encompassed it with their Army and offered them conditions of Peace and Friendship all which they refused and for the space of above fifty days persisted in their obstinate Resolution during which time the Incas had frequent opportunities to have destroyed them but the orders of their King and their former Customs and Principles of Mercy and Gentleness forbad them to make use of the advantages which offered Howsoever at length Famine the usual destroyer of the besieged began to rage amongst them having not had time to make their provisions for a Siege which they could not imagine would have endured so long but being much distressed by Hunger which the Men and Women more easily suffered than their Children were forced at length to permit the younger sort to adventure abroad and gather the herbs of the field for their sustenance many of them fled to the Enemy which the Parents more willingly suffered than to see them die with hunger before their faces The Incas seizing those that were sent abroad gave them to eat with some Provisions to carry with them to their Parents and with the same occasion offered the usual and accustomary terms of Peace and Friendship The Indians observing this kind treatment and being without all expectation of Succour resolved to commit themselves to the Mercy of their Enemies concluding that if they were so pitifull to them at a time when they stood out in opposition to them how much more compassionate would they be after their submission and resignation to their Will and Pleasure With these hopes they left their Fortress and surrendred all to the Command of the Incas nor were they deceived in their expectations for all kind and friendly reception was given them meat being set before them to satisfie their hunger and then they farther informed them that the Inca whose Father was the Sun had no other design than of doing good to the Inhabitants of the Earth and that they might be better assured hereof by their own experience Garments and other Presents were given to the most principal Commanders of them in the name of the Inca and the common sort being feasted at least their present hunger satisfied they were all dismissed and sent to their own homes with entire contentment and assured security The Generals after this dispeeded Intelligence to the Inca of all that had passed desiring that People might be sent them for planting two Colonies in that Countrey for in regard the soil was rich and fruitfull it was capable to maintain a considerable number of People and that it would be requisite also to establish a Garison in those parts both for security of the late Conquests as also for prevention of such mischiefs
perceive the mistake of those Writers who report that those Virgins had their Lodgings within the Temple of the Sun and that they were Priestesses and Assistants to the Priests in their Offertories and Sacrifices For in regard it was the design and intention of the Incas to separate these Virgins from the conversation and society of Men and that as Women were not permitted to enter within the Temple of the Sun so neither were men allowed admission into the retirements of these Virgins it cannot be rationally believed that these Virgins could have any other than a distinct House distant and disjoined from any other and for this reason they called them the select because they were selected apart and chosen with respect to their lineage and beauty and that for assurance that they were Virgins at the time of such admission into the Monastery they were received into that Order at eight years of age or under And because these Virgins who belonged to the Monastery at Cozco were dedicated and as it were espoused to the Sun it was esteemed necessary that they should be of his Lineage and Bloud that is Daughters of the Incas or of his Uncles and such who were descended by Father and Mother of the same Lineage and not Bastardized by mixture of humane bloud with divine race but pure and unspotted for since their opinion was that they were espoused unto the Sun and that he was to have Children by them 't was reason that they should be without spot or blemish and their bloud pure and undefiled These Monks or Nuns were commonly about 1500 in Number governed by grave Matrons admitted to the same profession who had lived and grown old under the same rules and observance of their Vow To these were properly committed the care and government of the younger sort and from this Office they took the Name of Mamacuna or Mother of the Maids the word Mama signifying a Mother and Cuna in composition care or watchfulness With this Title their Offices were very agreeable for some were Abbesses others Mistresses to instruct the Novitiates not onely in their Religious Worships but likewise in Spinning Weaving Sowing and the like employments some also were Porters belonging to the Gates others took care of the Huswifery and Management of the domestick affairs and to make a provision of Necessaries with which they were sufficiently supplied out of the Estate of the Sun for they being his Wives could not be denied a maintenance out of his Revenue CHAP. II. Of the Rules and Statutes and Employment of these Select Virgins THey were Recluses and for ever shut up during the whole term of their lives and obliged to perpetual Virginity they had no Locutory or place allowed them at which they might see or converse with Man or Woman nor had they other society than one with another for they held that the Wives of the Sun were to have no communication with other than with himself and this their Seclusion was so strict and rigorous that though the Inca might personally have claimed this privilege yet because no other should dare or adventure on this attempt by his example he also denied himself this liberty onely the Coya or Queen with her Daughters had the freedom to enter in and visit this Monastery and by them the Inca presented his Salutes demanding of their health and what their occasions and necessities required I once saw this House standing alone without any other Building before it for onely that and the Temple of the Sun which made up two Streets and four other great Courts which had been the Palaces of their Kings remained entire having been spared by the Indians out of respect to their God the Sun and the Incas their Kings when in a general Insurrection against the Spaniards they set fire and consumed all the rest of the City Amongst other rarities of this Building there was a narrow Gallery in which two onely could go a-breast that ran through the whole House and this was the passage to several Chambers and Apartments on each hand where the Offices of the House were kept and where the Women worked At every one of these Doors was a Portress and in the farthest Chamber at the end of the Gallery was the Apartment for the Wives of the Sun where none entred besides themselves This House had its common Gate which we call the Great Gate at which none entred besides the Queen and such as intended to profess the Order At the entrance of this Gallery there was a Gate for the common use and service of the House at which there were twenty Porters always attending to bring in or carry away whatsoever was needfull but none of them could pass farther than the second Gate upon pain of Death though they received Commands from within so to doe nor could any that was within give such Command or Licence but on the same penalty There were 500 Maidens appointed to attend the Service of these Virgins who were Daughters of those who had the privilege to be called Incas not such as were descended from the true Line and pure Bloud of the Royal Incas for those were esteemed and separated as Wives or Spouses of the Sun but such as the First Inca had made Incas by title and privilege as before related to which strangers or those who were afterwards reduced could not attain These Maidens had also their Mamacunas or Matrons of the same Lineage appointed to them being such as having passed their years and grown old in that House had part of the care and management thereof committed to them When the Spaniards had overcome this City of Cozco and that they divided the publick Buildings amongst themselves for places to dwell and inhabit one half of this Convent which belonged to the Offices fell to the lot of Pedro del Barco whom in the sequel of this History we shall have occasion to mention and the other half was the share of the Licenciado de la Gama who resided there when I was very young and afterwards it belonged to Diego Ortiz de Guzman a Gentleman born at Sevil whom I knew and left at Cozco when I departed thence for Spain The principal employment of these Wives of the Sun was to Spin and Weave all the garments which the Inca and the Coya his lawfull Wife wore on their own Persons they made also all the fine Linen which was offered to the Sun in Sacrifice and what the Inca wore about his head which was called Llautu which was about the breadth of the middle finger but very thick and so long as to take four or five turns about the head with a coloured List reaching from one temple to the other Their Cloathing was a shirt which reached to their knees called Uncu the Spaniards called it Cusma which was not the common name of it but onely that which a particular Province gave to it They wore also a square Mantle of about two Foot
to have been and where his Employment was to feed the Cattle of the Sun in company with those Shepherds who were designed for that Service The Prince not being able to resist the Pleasure of his Father submitted to the Banishment and the Disfavour of the Inca which laid as a punishment on him for the Bravery and Gallantry of his Martial Spirit In short he submitted and really applied himself with the other Shepherds to keep and feed the Cattel of the Sun for the space of three years and more where we will leave him untill the time comes which shall bring him on the Stage and to speak well of him if that which we are to mention of him may be called good CHAP. XXI Of the Intelligence which an Apparition gave to the Prince enjoining him to communicate it to his Father THE Inca Yahuar-huacac having in this manner Banished his Eldest Son whose Name we cannot assign because the obscurity of his condition was such as made no impression in the minds of Men so as without the help of Letters to conserve it in remembrance He seemed now to lay aside all the thoughts of War and Conquests of new Provinces and to make the Government of his Dominions and the Conservation of the common peace and quietness to be his onely employment As to his Son he thought it not convenient nor secure to remove him far from his sight that so he might more easily apply those remedies to reclaim him as best suited with his condition nor did he judge it fit to imprison and disinherit and chuse some other in his place for that seemed an expedient too violent and without Example and was a new and unpractised case to depose the true Heir and degrade the Divinity of the Incas of its Right and Honour besides it appeared doubtfull how far the people would assent to this impiety and how ill they would take this harsh usage of the Prince and Heir to the Empire In this wavering and unquiet condition which deprived the Inca of all contentment and repose he passed three years without any observable occurrence during which time he twice Commissionated four of his Kinsmen to visit his Dominions giving to every one their respective charges and dispatches into distinct parts of his Dominions in order to perform such publick Works as might conduce to the honour of the Inca and the common benefit of his Subjects such as the making of Aqueducts raising Magazines for laying up Provisions Royal Houses Fountains and Bridges Causeys and such other Works of publick use But for his own part he never had the courage to depart from his Court but onely there to attend and celebrate the Festivals of the Sun and such like and administer Justice to his Subjects At the end of this long time one day about Noon the Prince entred into the Palace of his Father without any Companion or Attendance like a Person forlorn and in disfavour of his Inca and sent him word that he was there to speak with him having a Message of high importance to deliver The Inca made a quick Answer in his sudden passion that he should without Demur or Reply retire again to the place of his Confinement on penalty of being proceeded against according to that severe punishment which the Law inflicts on those who break the Royal Command The Prince made answer that he was not come thither in contempt of his Commands but in obedience to the Message and Injunction of another Inca as great as himself who sent him to impart unto him matters of high and considerable importance which if he were pleased to hear he desired to be admitted and to have Audience if not he had complied with the Commands of him that sent him and should return again to render an account of his success The Inca hearing him mention another as Great a Lord as himself ordered him to be admitted for he wondered at the impertinence of the Message and the boldness of any who should dare to employ his banished and disgraced Son with Advices of any nature whatsoever The Prince being introduced and standing before his Father said in this manner I am come Sir to make known unto you that sitting this day about Noon under one of those great Rocks which are in the Fields of Chita where by your Order I was employed to feed the Flocks of our Father the Sun I know not whether I was asleep or well awake there appeared before me a Man in a strange Habit and of a Figure different from us His Beard was above a span in length his Garments long and loose reaching down to his Feet and about his Neck he carried a sort of living creature which I know not what to call it because I never saw the like before He called to me and said Cousin I am a Child of the Sun and Brother to the Inca Manco Capac and to Coya Mama Occlo Huaco his Wife and Sister who were the first of your Family and by them I am Allied in Bloud to your Father and all of you being called Inca Viracocha and am sent by our Father the Sun to order you that you immediately carry this Advice to my Brother the Inca acquainting him that the greatest part of the Provinces of Chinchasuyu as well those who are under his Dominion as those which are not are in rebellion and are united in confederacy to assault him and with a strong and numerous Army to cast him from his Throne and destroy the Imperial City of Cozco wherefore I order you immediately to give this intelligence to my Brother the Inca advising him from me that he provide against this emergency and take such vigorous resolutions to prevent it as the importance of this matter doth require And as to thine own particular let me tell thee that in what misfortune soever thou art thou loss not thy courage or spirit for I shall ever be at hand and ready to succour thee as my own flesh and bloud and therefore I strictly admonish thee not to attempt any thing how great soever it be unworthy thy Family and ancient Bloud and the Greatness of thy Empire for I will ever be assistant and near to succour thee in thy greatest and ultimate exigencies Having said these words the Inca Viracocha vanished and I saw him no more and then returning to my self I delayed no time to come and appear before your Majesty to communicate unto you the particulars of these Matters CHAP. XXII Of the Consultation which the Incas held upon the Advice which the Apparition gave THE Inca Yahuar-huacac out of the great displeasure and prejudice which he had taken to his Son would not give any belief or credence to his Relation but rather termed him a Fool and impertinent and that swelled with the vanity of Revelations from his Father the Sun he was come to impose his Enthusiasms for divine Truths and therefore ordered him immediately to return to Chita and to
ploughing and sowing the Grounds dedicated to the Sun the which I saw and observed for two or three following years when I was a Child and by them we may guess at the form and manner of the Festivals solemnized in other parts of Peru on the same occasion though those Feasts which I saw as the Indians assured me were but faint representations of those in ancient times and were not to be esteemed comparable to them CHAP. III. Of the Proportion of Land which was allotted to every Indian and with what sort of Dung they improved it TO every Indian was given a Tupu of Land which was as much as he might sow with a Hanega which is as much as a Bushel and a half of Mayz or Indian Wheat though the Hanega of Peru is a Hanega and a half of Spain This word Tupu signifies also a League in travelling likewise all sorts of measures of Water or Wine or any other Liquour as also the great Pins with which Women tuck up their dressings The Measure of Seed-corn hath also another name which is Poccha One Tupu of Land was esteemed sufficient to maintain an ordinary Countrey-Fellow and his Wife provided he had not Children for then so soon as he had a Son they added another Tupu of Land to his Estate and if a Daughter half an one When the Son married so that he left his Father's House then he resigned over to the Son his Tupu of Land in which he had an Original Right and Propriety But this was differently observed as to Daughters for they were not to take their Lands with them in marriage it having been given them for their subsistence during their Minority onely but not to accrue to them by way of Portion for every Husband claiming his share of Land in his own Right was obliged to support his Wife the Law taking no farther cognizance of Women after their Marriage the Land remaining with the Father in case he had need of it and if not then it returned again to the Community for it was not lawfull either to sell or alienate it Proportionably to those Lands which they gave for bearing Mayz they also adjoined others which were dry Lands and did not require Water and yet produced Pulse and other seeds To Noble and great Families such as were those of the Curacas or Lords who had Subjects under them they allotted so much Land as was sufficient to maintain their Wives and Children Concubines and Servants To the Incas of the Bloud Royal the same advantage and benefit was allowed in any part wheresoever they were pleased to fix their aboad and their Lands were to be the best and richest of any And this they were to enjoy over and above the common share and right which they claimed in the Estates of the King and the Sun as Children of the one and Brothers of the other They used to dung their Lands that they might make them fruitfull and it is observable that in all the Valley about Cozco and in the hilly Countries where they sowed Mayz they esteemed the best manure to be Man's Dung and to that end they saved and gathered it with great care and drying it they cast it upon their Land before they sowed their Mayz But in the Countrey of Collao which is above an hundred and fifty Leagues long which by reason of the coldness of the Climate doth not produce Mayz though it bear other sort of Grane there they esteem the Dung of Cattle to be the best manure and improvement By the Sea-coast from below Arequepa as far as Tarapaca which is above two hundred Leagues they use no other Dung but such as comes from the Sea-birds of which there are great numbers and incredible flocks on the Coast of Peru they breed in little Islands which lie in the Sea and are unpeopled where they lay such heaps of Dung that at a distance they seem to be Hills of Snow In the times of the Incas who were Kings great care was taken of these Birds in the season of their Breeding for then on pain of Death no Man was to enter on those Islands left they should disturb the Birds or spoil their Nests nor was it lawfull to take or kill them at any time either off or upon the Island Every Island was by order of the Inca assigned to such and such Provinces and if the Island were very large then two or three of them divided the soilage the which they laid up in separate heaps that so one Province might not encroach on the proportion allotted to the other and when they came to make their Division to particular Persons and Neighbours they then weighed and shared out to every Man the quantity he was to receive and it was felony for any man to take more than what belonged to him or to rob or steal it from the ground of his Neighbour for in regard that every man had as much as was necessary for his own Lands the taking a greater quantity than what belonged to him was judged a Crime and a high offence for that this sort of Birds dung was esteemed pretious being the best improvement and manure for Land in the World. Howsoever in other parts of that Coast and in the Low Countries of Atica Atiquipa Villacori Malla and Chillca and other Vallies they dung their grounds with the Heads of a small fish like our Pilchards and with no other soilage The Natives of these Countries which we have named and others under the same Climate live with great labour and toil where they can neither water their Grounds with streams from the Springs or Fountains nor yet with the Rain or Dews from Heaven For it is a certain truth that for the space of seven hundred Leagues along that Coast it did never rain nor are there in all that tract of Land streams or places for water the whole Countrey being exceedingly hot dry and nothing almost but sand for which reason the Natives endeavouring to moisten their grounds so as to make them capable to yield Mayz they approach as near to the Sea as they are able where they turn aside and cast away the Sand which lies upon the surface and dig down as deep as a Man's Body is in length and sometimes twice as deep untill having passed the Sand they come to such a sort of Earth as is able to bear the weight of Water which places the Spaniards call Hoyas or Vaults and being of different proportions some greater and some lesser some are not capacious enough to receive above half a measure of Seed-corn others again are so large as to receive three or four measures of Seed In these places they neither plow nor reap because they rather set than sow planting their grane of Mayz at an equal distance one from the other and in the holes or furrows which they make they cast three or four grains of Mayz with a sew Pilchards Heads which being all the dung they use
History of his Wars and Bravery We left him towards the end of his Father's Reign at Muyna from whence as we said he returned to Cozco rallying and gathering in his way the People into a body who were wandring and dispersed through the Fields and Countrey and that when he departed from the City he intended to march towards the Enemy with resolution to dye with Honour rather than live with Infamy and basely to behold his City made captive by the violence of Rebels and the Temple of the Sun and the Convent of the pure Virgins and all that was esteemed sacred by them prophaned and unhallowed by the insolence of polluted Hands Now we must know that about half a League Northward from the City there is a certain plain where the Prince Viracocha appointed his general rendezvous that the People both from Cozco and other parts might there meet and join in a Body which being in a short time assembled formed an Army of about eight thousand Men who were all Incas and resolved to dye before the face of their Prince and in defence of their Countrey During this stay news came to the Camp that the Enemy was within nine or ten Leagues of the City having already passed the great River of Apurimac but this ill news was the next day followed by a more comfortable Message which was that from the parts of Contisuyu an Army of twenty thousand Men were marching for relief of the Prince being composed of the Nations of Quechna Cotapampa Cotanera Ymara and other parts bordering on the revolted Provinces and that they were come near and not many Leagues distant The Quechnas who were the nearest Neighbours to the Chancas were the first that discovered the Conspiracy and in regard the urgency of the Affair admitted of no delay nor time to advise the Inca and receive his orders they immediately complied with the present necessity and putting all their People into arms they marched directly towards the City resolving to evidence their Loyalty towards their King with the last drop of their Bloud These People were of those who in the time of the Inca Capac Yupanqui as we have already declared voluntarily submitted themselves to the Obedience of the Inca and therefore being moved by a Principle of Love and Affection towards his Government did readily give a testimony thereof by the seasonable Succours they brought to his service and also the ancient hatred they bore towards the Chancas was a farther incentive hereunto for being jealous and fearfull that in case the Chancas should prevail they were in danger of falling again under their Tyranny and the Yoke of that Servitude from whence they had been lately rescued by the power of the Incas they took a resolution to march with all expedition imaginable that so they might arrive at the City before the Enemy could attempt it and crossing the nearest way towards the Northward the Enemy was not sooner come than they appeared also to bid them defiance The Prince Viracocha and his People were much surprised with the news of this unexpected Succour admiring from whence it should come untill at length recollecting themselves they called to mind the Apparition of his Uncle Viracocha who in a Dream promised his favour and assistence at times of his greatest Extremity and that he being of his Bloud and Flesh would in all occasions of necessity perform the Office of a faithfull Kinsman from the remembrance hereof they certainly concluded that these Forces and Recruits were effects and accomplishments of this Promise and were sent in an extraordinary manner as it were from Heaven the which being often mentioned by the Prince and inculcated into his People it took such deep impression in their minds that being encouraged thereby they resolved with full assurance of Victory to meet the Enemy and attack them within the Hills and disadvantageous Passes which are between the River Apurimac and the Mountains of Villa-cunca which being high and rugged are not to be attempted without hazard and difficulty Howsoever it was resolved first to attend the arrival and conjunction of the Recruits with them and that then afterwards they should allow some day of repose and refreshment to the Forces wearied with their long march and should likewise give time to the Enemy to dislodge themselves out of their advantageous posts and shew themselves in a more equal field It was likewise agreed by the Prince and his Council that considering the increase of their Army their best and wisest course was to continue their Camp in their present station where they were not onely enabled to relieve the City but also more easily supplied with Provisions and Ammunition for their numerous Army with this resolution the Prince remained quietly expecting his additional succours which shortly after arrived to the number of twelve thousand Souldiers The Prince received them with all the gratious Expressions of Thanks and Acknowledgments for their Loyalty towards the Inca and rewarding the Captains and Curacas of each Nation together with the Souldiery with such Gifts and Presents as then offered he highly applauded their Loyalty promising for the future some more signal rewards for such eminent and seasonable services The Curacas having performed their Complements and Respects towards the Inca Viracocha acquainted him that about two days march off were other five thousand Men coming which for haste and expedition sake they thought not fit to expect but leave them to follow with what convenient speed they were able The Prince having returned them thanks for the assistence of both Armies and consulting with his Kindred in the case gave orders to the Curacas immediately to dispatch an Express to those who were coming advising them that the Prince was encamped with his Army in the plains and that they should march towards certain hollows and close places in a mountain not far distant from thence where they should lie in ambush expecting the Enemy where in case the Enemy should offer Battel he with his Forces would be ready to enter into the heat of the fight and they might them sally forth and attacking one wing of them might make the victory easie and secure and in case they declined the engagement they had still performed the Office of good Souldiers according to the Rule of Martial Discipline Two days after these Recruits came the Van-guard of the Enemy appeared on the top of the Mountain called Rimac-tampu where having notice that the Inca lay encamped about five Leagues off they made a halt and passed the Word to the Rere that both the Main Body and Rere-guard should hasten to come up and joyn with the Van of the Army In this manner and order having marched the whole day they came at length and joined at Sacsahuana a place distant about three Leagues and a half from the Quarters of the Prince Viracocha where afterwards that famous Battel was given between Gonçalo Piçarro and de la Gasca CHAP. XVIII Of the Bloudy
much joyed and pleased he was with the new Adoration and Worship which the Indians gave him so that he did not think fit to terminate the Magnificence of his Royal Mind with the stately Structure of this Temple onely but to extend his Acts and Monuments with greater glory to posterity and to this purpose he caused an Emblem to be drawn representing the low and mean spirit of his Father and the generosity of his own mind ordering it to be painted on one of those many Rocks amongst which his Father absconded himself when for fear of the Chancas he abandoned and forsook his City The Emblem was of two Birds which the Indians call Cuntur which are Fowl of such large spreading Wings that they measure five Yards from the end of one Pinion to the tip of the other they are Birds of prey and so very fierce that Nature denied them Talons to their feet giving them onely Claws like those of a Hen but their Beak is so strong and sharp that with one nip they are able to tear out the Skin of a Bullock and two of them are sufficient to kill an Ox as if they were Wolves They are of a brownish colour with white Spots like Pyes Two Birds of this sort he ordered to be painted one of them with his Wings close clapped together his Head shrung in and drooping like an affrighted Hen which hides it self with its Beak turned towards Collasuyu and its Tail towards Cozco the other Bird was on the contrary painted in a Rampant manner with its Wings extended hovering on the Wing and ready to stoop at its Prey The Indians say that the first of these represented the Father in his timorous and dejected condition and the other was the Emblem of Viracocha under the coveâ—â—â—ng of whose Wings the City and Empire was secured and defended This Picture in the Year 1580 was in being and very perfect and in the Year 1595 I asked a certain Priest which was born there and who came from Peru into Spain if he had seen it and in what condition it was and he told me that it was so defaced by Rain and the weather none taking care to preserve it that it was scarce discernible what it was the which was the fate and misfortune also of divers other Antiquities in that Countrey The Inca Viracocha having in this manner obtained a supreme and absolute Dominion over all his Subjects being infinitely beloved and reverenced and adored by them as a God his great Work at the beginning of his Reign was to Establish his Dominions in perfect peace and tranquillity for the good and benefit of all his Subjects In order unto which the first thing he did was to gratifie and reward all such with Favours and Honours who had served him in the late War and taken Arms in his assistence against his Rebellious Subjects and herein a more particular notice was taken of the Quechuas who belonged to the Countries of Cotapampa and Cotanera for in regard that they had been very active in promoting the interest of the Inca and unanimously arose in Arms for his Aid and Defence he bestowed on them the privilege of wearing their Hair shorn and their Heads bound with the Wreath and of having their Ears boared after the manner of the Incas though the holes of the Ears were not to be so wide as theirs but proportioned to such a size as the first Inca Manco Capac had ordained To other Nations he bestowed Privileges of different Natures as were most agreeable to their Countrey and Conditions and in fine every one remaining entirely satisfied and contented he visited his several Kingdoms affording to his people the satisfaction of beholding his Person which their Eyes so much longed to see and of whom so many Wonders and Miracles were recounted that nothing could come more desirable and nothing more welcome than his Presence Having in this manner spent some Years he returned to Cozco where by advice of his Council he resolved to conquer those great Povinces which are called Caranca Ullaca Llipi and Chicha the Subjection of which was omitted by his Father who was diverted from that design by the jealousie and fear he conceived of this his Son as we have already mentioned but now in order to this Expedition the Inca Viracocha commanded that thirty thousand Souldiers should be raised in Collasuyu and Cuntisuyu and put in a readiness against the next Spring one of his Brothers called Pahuac Mayta Inca he made his General or Commander in Chief the Sirname of Pahuac which signifies flying was given him for his admirable swiftness being nimble and active beyond any Man in his time For the affistence of his Brother he ordained four Incas to be Counsellours and Major-Generals who departing from Cozco collected their numbers and increased their Army in the way as they marched At length they arrived at the aforesaid Provinces two of which called Chica and Ampara adored the lofty top of a snowy Mountain for their God for they admiring the Beauty and Height thereof from whence those Streams proceeded which refreshed their Lands and made their grounds fruitfull they were easily persuaded in natural gratitude to own that for their Deity from whence they received such benefit and blessing In these proceedings they encountred some light Skirmishes with the Enemy who rather designed to give a proof of their warlike Disposition than fight in hopes of prevailing against the Incas whose Reputation was exalted so high by the Valour and Atchievements of Viracocha that their power seemed invincible and not to be subdued by humane force For this reason these great Provinces submitted to the Dominion of the Incas yielding with more readiness and with less danger and loss of bloud than was expected from a people esteemed numerous and of a warlike Temper Howsoever three years past in this expedition before the Conquest was completed and the Nations reduced to an absolute and entire submission CHAP. XXIV Of the New Provinces subdued by the Inca and of the Chanels they made to water their Pastures THE Inca Pahuac Mayta and his Uncle having concluded this War and placed Governours and Officers to rule and instruct their new Subjects they returned to Cozco where they received from the Inca a hearty wellcome being rewarded by him with such Honours and Favours as their Services and Labours had deserved And now it seemed as if the Inca Viracocha had extended his Territories to the utmost limits of the Universe for to the Eastward they reached as far as the soot of the snowy Mountain to the Westward they were bounded by the Sea to the Southward they extended to the utmost parts of the Province of the Charcas which are above two hundred Leagues distant from the City so that on all these three Quarters there remained no farther Land to conquer for on one side the Sea bounded their proceedings and the Snows and inaccessible places of the Mountains of Antis on the
made their Divinations being offered great droves of Lambs and Sheep were brought afterwards for the common Sacrifice but then they did not open their sides being alive as they did the first but after the usual manner they fairly cut their Throats and flead them the Bloud they saved and with it offered the Heart unto the Sun burning the Body altogether untill the whole Lamb was consumed and converted into Ashes The Fire for that Sacrifice was to be new and then kindled as they called it from the hand of the Sun to allight this Fire they made use of a great Bracelet worn by the High Priest which they called Chipana being after the fashion of those which the Incas commonly put on the Wrist of their Left-hand this being greater than ordinary was held over a Cylinder of the bigness of a half Orange bright and well polished which uniting the Rays of the Sun in one point cast such a reflexion into the Cylinder as easily set fire to the Cotton which being finely combined was put into it and readily received the flame With this fire alighted from the Sun they burnt their Sacrifices and dressed all their Meat for that days provision of this fire they carried some into the Temple of the Sun and some to the Convent of the Select Virgins to be there conserved for the space of the following Year being esteemed a most unhappy Omen in case it should by any accident have been extinguished If on the Vigil or Day before the Festival which is the time when they prepared all things in a readiness for the Sacrifice the weather should have proved cloudy so that the Sun did not appear then for kindling this Fire they made use of two round pieces of a hard sort of Wood being about the bigness of the middle finger and about half a yard long called Vâ—yaca which being rubbed hard together produced a Flame and with these the Indians struck fire as we do with a Steel and Flint when they travelled and passed through desart and unpeopled Countries and I have frequently seen the Shepherds make use of the same Howsoever it was accounted a bad Omen to be enforced on that day to have recourse unto that instrument for in regard the Sun did then hide his face from them it argued his displeasure and anger for some offence committed All the flesh which was prepared for that Sacrifice was dressed in the publick Market-place and there divided amongst the Guests which came to the Feast and distributed first to the Incas then to the Curacas and afterwards to the Commonalty according to the several Orders and Degrees The first Dish or Course served in at this solemn Banquet was that sort of Bread which they called Cancu then they brought in several varieties of Meats without Drink it being the custome over all Peru not to drink at the time of their Meals From what we have said concerning the Indians sipping from the Bowl or Cup offered them by the hand of the Priest the Spaniards raised a report that the Indians communicated in the same manner as do the Christians but having plainly delivered the matter of Fact we shall leave the similitude or comparison to every Man's fancy The Dinner or Banquet of Meats being over great quantities of Drink were brought in in which the Indians were notoriously addicted to exceed though by the Mercies of God they are so well reformed from that Vice by example of that Temperance and Sobriety which they observed in the Spaniards that it is now a strange thing to see an Indian drunk the Vice being generally become detestable and esteemed infamous so that had the like good example been shewn in other things to this People as hath been in this it might have produced the same good effect and signalized the Spaniards for true Apostolical Preachers of the Gospel CHAP. XXIII Of the Order in which they drank one to the other THE Inca being seated on his Chair of Massie Gold raised on a Pedestal of the same metal he sent a Message to his Kindred called Hanan Cozco and Hurin Cozco that they should in his name drink a Health to those Indians who were the most famous and renowned in their respective Nations First they nominated the Captains who had signalized their valour in the War being for their Martial Exploits preferred before the Curacas and in case a Curaca who was a Lord over some Vassals had merited also the honour of a Captain they called and mentioned him with both Titles In the next place the Inca sent to invite unto drinking the Curacus who lived in the parts adjacent near to Cozco being such as had been reduced by the first Inca Manco Capac and for that reason having the privilege of being called Incas they were preferred in the next place to the Incas of the Royal Bloud and before all other Nations for it was a Maxime amongst those Kings never to alter or diminish those Titles of Honour or Privileges which their Ancestours had bestowed as favours on their Subjects but were rather willing to confirm and enlarge them Now their form and manner of Drinking one to another was this all the Indians generally according to thâ—â—ondition and quality had and do still keep a couple of Cups to drink in equaâ—y matched being of the same size and shape and of the same Metal either of Gold Silver or Wood that so every Man might drink alike and have his equal proportion one with the other He that invited to the Drink held up his two Cups in each hand and then gave to him whom he invited the Cup which was in his Right-hand in case he were of greater Quality and if he were of inferiour Degree then that in his Left and then both drank at the same time and afterwards receiving his Cup again he returned to his place though commonly as these Feasts the Person inviting was greater than the Person invited so that the Invitation was an evidence of grace and favour of the Superiour to his Inferiour though from this Custome afterwards it came that when the Inferiour invited the Superiour it was by way of acknowledgment of his Service and Vassalage In observance of this common Custome of Invitation the Incas who carried the Drink from the King said to the Person invited The Capa Inca hath sent me to invite you to drinking and I am come to drink with you in his name Whereupon the Captain or Curaca took the Cup into his Hands and lifting up his Eyes unto the Sun as if he would return him thanks for the great Favour he received from his Off-spring and then having taken the Draught with silence returned back the Cup making signs of profound Reverence and Adoration with his Hands and kissing the Air with his Lips. But it is to be noted that the Inca did never send Invitations of drinking to all the Curacas in general but to some particular persons of them who were famous and
where it was erected which in those days was of the greatest Fame and Renown of any in that Coast. In this Temple the Yuncus placed their Idols which were the Figures of divers sorts of Fish and amongst them they had also introduced the Image of a Shee-fox This Temple of Pachacamac which was the onely place so dedicated in all Peru was very magnificent both for the structure and for the services performed there for the Yuncas offered many Sacrifices of Beasts and other things not exempting the Bloud of Men Women and Children which they killed at their principal Festivals being practised also in many other Provinces untill reformed by the Government of the Incas and this shall serve at present to have spoken of Pachacamac intending to touch farther thereupon as we shall have occasion in the occurrences of this History The Valley of Rimac lies four Leagues to the Northward from Pachacamac Rimac signifies something which speaks having its name from a certain Idol of the Figure of a Man which spake and answered questions like the Oracle of Apollo at Delphos and several others in the World by which the Devil deluded the people in times of the ancient Gentilism This Idol was seated in a most sumptuous Temple though not so magnificent as that of Pachacamac to which the Great Lords of Peru either went in Person or enquired by their Ambassadours of all important Affairs relating to their Provinces The Yuncas held this Idol in great Veneration as likewise did the Incas after they had subdued that pleasant Valley where the Spaniards founded that City which they call the King's City or King's-Town having had its first Foundation begun on that day which we celebrate in remembrance of our Saviour's first manifesting himself to the Gentiles so that Rimac and Lima or the King's-Town is all one bearing Three Crowns with a Star for its Arms. The Spanish Historians confound the Temple of Rimac with Pachacamac saying that the Idol of Pachacamac was the speaking Oracle but this is but one of those many mistakes of which for want of knowledge in the propriety of that Tongue they have been guilty and indeed the neighboured of those Vallies and vicinity of one of them to the other being not above four Leagues distant may make their Errour the more tolerable And thus much shall serve to shew that the speaking Idol was Rimac and not Pachacamac with which let us return to our former purpose Before the General Capac Yupanqui arrived with his Army at the Valley of Pachacamac he dispatched after his usual Custome his Summons to the King Cuysmancu requiring him to yield Obedience to the Inca Pachacutec and that he should prepare to acknowledge and receive him for his supreme Lord and Sovereign and to observe his Laws and Customs and that renouncing all other Gods and Idols they should adore the Sun for the chief and principal God These were the conditions which he offered to him which if he refused to accept he was resolved to make War upon him and constrain him thereunto either by fair means or foul by gentle persuasions or ruder arguments of the Sword. CHAP. XXXI Of the Answer demanded of Cuysmancu to these Summons and of what Capitulations were made with him THE late successes of the Inca in the neighbouring Countries had sufficiently allarmed this great Prince Cuysmancu and warned him to provide for a War and for his own defence wherefore having gathered his Army in presence of the Captains and Souldiers he received the Summons of the Inca for answer whereunto he replied That neither he nor his people stood in need of other Prince or Ruler besides himself that the Laws and Customs which they observed were descended and derived to them from their Fore-fathers which they found so good and laudable that they could not resolve to forsake them to embrace Manners and a Religion wholly strange and foreign to them that amongst other Gods they adored the Pachacamac who was the Maker and Sustainer of the Universe and for that reason must be greater than the Sun that they had built a Temple wherein they sacrificed unto him of the best of their Substance and offered the Bloud of their Men Women and Children to him esteeming nothing too dear whereby they might testifie the great Reverence and Veneration they had for him which was so profound and dreadfull that they durst not behold his Image in the Face but approached to him at his hinder parts as also did the Priests who durst not so much as lift up their Eyes to behold him that they had another God called Rimac whom also they adored who was more familiar with them and discoursed and talked with them and gave them Counsel in their most difficult Affairs that they worshipped also a Fox for his Craft and Subtilty and the Mamacocha or Mother-Sea because it provided them with Fish for their nourishment all which were a sufficient number of Gods for their protection and use but as to the Sun they never had heard any great report of him for a God or that any had heard him speak like Rimac nor had they need of much more heat than what was natural to the Climate of their Countrey and therefore they desired the Inca to grant them Liberty of Conscience and Freedom in their way of Worship for that they did not find any great need they had either of the Inca's Government or his Religion The Incas were so well satisfied to understand that the Yuncas conceived much Devotion for the Pachacamac whom they inwardly and mentally adored in their Hearts that they proposed to reduce them without War and overcome them with persuasions reasonings and gentle promises and allurements reserving the force of Arms and compulsion for the last and ultimate Remedy With this Intention the Incas proceeded into the Valley of Pachacamac where they were encountred by the King Cuysmancu with a strong Band of Men resolved to desend their Countrey Whereupon the General Yupanqui dispatched a Messenger to them advising them not to engage in Battel untill such time as they had passed a Conference together touching the Honour and Worship of their Gods For that besides the Sun whom they adored they thought fit to acquaint them that they conceived a great Devotion for the Pachacamac to whom though they had erected no Temples nor offered Sacrifices because he was invisible and incomprehensible and above their Conceptions yet they inwardly worshipped him in their Hearts and conceived so great an Awe and Reverence for him that they durst not take his Name in â—vain or pronounce it with their Mouths without profound and humble Adoration wherefore since they worshipped the same God and were of the same Religion there was no ground or foundation of Quarrel but Reason rather persuaded that they should live in Friendship and Amity together Moreover the Incas besides this Devotion which they paid to Pachacamac whom they held to be the Maker and Sustainer of the
first assembled together according to their respective Lineages at a certain place from whence they went to the House of the Elder Brother there to perform this ceremony and in case they had no Brother then it was done at the House of the nearest relation who was Head of the family In the night when this Bread was made some hours before day all those who had thus prepared themselves by fasting arose from their beds and washed their bodies and then taking a lump of this ill-baked Bread mixed with bloud they applied it to their head mouth breast shoulders armes and legs as if they had purified themselves with it and cleansed their bodies of all infirmities This being done the Master of the family who was chief of the Lineage affixed some of this paste on the lintels of the door next the street in token that those of that House had performed the ceremony of Purification The like ceremony the High Priest solemnized in the House and Temple of the Sun enjoyning the other Priests to perform the like in the House of the Wives dedicated to the Sun and in Huanacauri which was a Temple about a League distant from the City being a place highly esteemed and held in great devotion by them because that Manco Capac made a short abode there when he first came to the City of Cozco as we have formerly related On the like errant they sent other Priests to all places which were accounted hallowed and sacred such as those where the Devil spoke to them and made himself to be adored as God. In the King's Court the ceremony was performed by the Eldest Uncle of the King who was to be an Inca of legitimate descent So soon as the Sun arose having performed their Acts of Adoration towards him they prayed unto him that he would vouchsafe to deliver their City from outward calamities and inward diseases and then they broke their fast by eating of that Bread which was made without bloud Having thus eaten their Bread and adored the Sun which was performed at a certain hour that so the Adoration might be general at the same instant of time a certain Inca of the Bloud-Royal sallied out of the Fortress richly attired like a Messenger of the Sun having his Garments girt about his waste bearing a Lance in his hand garnished with a plume of Feathers of divers colours which hanged dangling down from the point to the end of the Staff the length of which was of about three quarters of a Yard studded with golden Nails and which in War served for an Ensign With this Lance he issued from the Fort rather than from the Temple being esteemed a Messenger of War and not of Peace for the Fort as well as the Temple was Dedicated to the Sun being the place where matters of War were treated as the other was where peace and friendship were entertained This Officer came running in this manner downwards from the Hill called Sacsahuamam flourishing his Lance untill he came to the Market-place of the City where four other Incas of the Bloud each carrying a Dart in his hand met him having likewise their Garments close girt after the manner of the Indians when they put themselves in a posture of exercise or labour This Messenger meeting the four Incas touched the head of their Lances with his and then told them that the Sun commanded them as his Officers that they should purifie and cleanse the City of all infirmities and diseases and that he gave them full power to perform it With this commission the four Incas departed running through the four great Streets of the City which led towards the four quarters of the World called by them Taventinsuyu in their way as they ran Men and Women young and old all came to the Doors of their Houses with great cries and acclamations shaking their cloths and the garments on their bodies as if they would beat out the Dust from them and then stroking their hands over their heads and mouths armes and legs and other parts of their bodies in manner as if they were washing of them and as if they would throw out all the sickness and illness of their Houses to be expelled the City by the power and virtue of those Messengers of the Sun. Nor was this onely done in the Streets through which these four Messengers passed but likewise in all the other Streets these four Incas having run about a quarter of a League without the City were met by four other Incas of the privilege who taking their Lances ran with them a quarter of a League farther and at the like distance were met by others untill they came five or six Leagues remote from the City where having fixed their Lances and driven them into the Earth they made that the place of banishment to all their Evils that so being bounded by those Confines they should not be able to approach nearer to the City CHAP. VII Of their Nocturnal Feast celebrated at Night for purifying their City from sicknesses and other calamities THE Night following they lighted great Torches of Straw so close and hard twisted together that they were long in burning and were not unlike our Wisps of oiled Straw onely they were made round and about the bigness of a Foot-ball called by them Pancuncu to each end of these they tied a cord of about a Yard in length with which they ran through the Streets casting them round untill they came without the City supposing that by help of these fires they expelled the nocturnal evils from their City For as the evils of the day were droven out by the Lances so the evils of the night were carried out by the Torches which being quenched without the City in a brook or current of water into which they were thrown were believed to carry with them down their streams all the sicknesses and evils of their City so that if at any time an Indian of what Age soever should happen to see one of these wisps of Straw lodged by any accident or stoppage on the banks of the River he presently fled from it fearing to be seized by some of those evils which were newly expelled and banished the City The Wars being ended and the City cleansed and purified of all its evils and diseases great joy and mirth was heard in all their dwellings not onely in publick but in every private family which continued for the first quarter of the Moon during which time they returned thanks to the Sun for cleansing and freeing them from all their evils and in demonstration of such thankfulness they sacrificed Lambs and Sheep to him the bloud and entrails of which they burnt in the fire but the flesh they roasted in the common Marker-place and shared it amongst those who were present at the Festival I remember when I was young that I saw some part of these ceremonies performed and that a certain Inca sallied out with his Lance not from the
assaulted the sixth Squadron which came in relief of the fifth which they overthrew as also the seventh eighth ninth and tenth Division But now having fought seven long hours without intermission both the Men and Horses began to fail not being able to charge with that mettle and vigour as they did in the beginning which the Indians observing would not permit them one moment of repose but still plied them with new and fresh Squadrons and after all the Spaniards saw notwithstanding ten Divisions still to be fought with and though the natural force both of Man and Horse began now to grow tired and faint yet they still roused their invincible spirits not to shew or evidence any symptoms or appearances of failure to the Indians Howsoever the Indians beginning sensibly to find the decay of the Spanish vigour and mettle and that their force was not so impetuous and irresistible as it was at first still continued to bring up their Squadrons untill two a clock in the afternoon which the Governour Pedro de Valdivia observing and that there were eight or nine Squadrons still to be overcome and that when those vvere routed they vvere alvvays rallied and made up vvhich nevv vvay and method of Fighting having vvell considered and that it being novv late tovvards the Evening it vvas probable the Enemy would afford them as little repose in the Night as they had given them respite in the Day he resolved to retreat before their Horses were wholly spent and disabled of farther service According to his Command his Souldiers retreated towards a narrow pass which if they could reach being about a League and a half from the place where the Fight was they imagined themselves secure from any attack of the Enemy for that two Spaniards on foot were able to defend it from all the Army of the Indians Having taken this resolution though late he gave Command to his Souldiers to retreat passing the word still as they retired that they should make for that narrow pass still turning upon the Enemy and making head against them changing the state of their case from an offensive to a defensive Fight CHAP. XXIII The Indians overcome the Spaniards by the Treachery of an Indian A Certain Indian who from a Boy had been bred up in the Family of the Governour Valdivia whose Christian Name was Philip but by the Indians called Lautaru being the Son of a Cacique This Fellow being more biassed by the natural affection which he bore to his Countrey than by his love to God or fidelity to his Master so soon as he heard the word given to the Spaniards to retreat he instantly reported it to the Indians having the knowledge of both Languages and called out to them not to content themselves with this flight and advantage in letting them go free but to run and possess the narrow passage and prevent their entrance into it in the which they did now place all the hopes of their security and protection wherefore cried he still out Make use of this advantage which is now given you for the liberty of your Countrey and rescue it from destruction by the bloud of these Thieves and Traytors And having said these words that he might encourage them by his Example he took up a Lance from the ground and placed himself in the front of them to fight against the Spaniards The Old Captain who was the first Projector of this way of Fighting observing the way which the Spaniards took soon apprehended their design by the hint which Lautaru had given them to circumvent which he dispeeded away two fresh Squadrons of those which had not as yet fought to hasten with the best order they were able to the narrow pass and there at the entrance of it to keep their station firm untill the rest came up which having done he pursued the Spaniards with the other Squadrons still plying them with fresh bodies of Souldiers so that they did not permit them one moment of respite always killing and pursuing them untill they came to the very mouth and entrance of the narrow pass where when they came and that the Spaniards found it already possessed by the Enemy they began to despair of all hopes to escape Death which to avoid no means appearing they called on the Name of Christ and the Blessed Virgin and of such Saints for which they had the greatest devotion The Indians perceiving that both the Men and Horses were wholly spent and tired came in upon them in an entire body and 15 or 20 of them together fell on one poor Horse some catching him by the legs some by the tail others by the mane whilst others with their great clubs knocked both Man and Horse down killing them with the greatest cruelty and rage imaginable The Governour Pedro de Valdivia and a Priest that was with him they took alive and tied them to trees untill they had dispatched all the rest that they might in cool bloud consider with what Death they might punish them These particulars came by the second Advice from Chili to Peru being sent by some Indian friends who were present in the Battel three of which made their escape having by the darkness of the Night hid themselves in the Thickets of a Wood untill such time as the Indians retiring from that place to celebrate their Victory with joy and triumph gave them opportunity to escape who being Men well acquainted with the ways and more faithfull to their Masters than Lautaru returned again to the Spaniards bringing the fatal news of the loss of Pedro de Valdivia and all his companions CHAP. XXIV How they killed Valdivia and maintained a War Fifty Years afterwards THE manner how they killed Valdivia was after the coming of this second Advice related in different ways by these three Indians because that none of them were present at his Death One said that Lautaru finding his Master tied to a Tree reviling and reproaching him first said Why is this Traytor suffered to live and with that killed him with his own hand Another said That Valdivia before he died desired first to speak with his Servant Lautaru hoping by his means and intercession to save his life But the most certain intelligence we have is this That an Old Captain beat his brains out with a club perhaps it might be that Old Captain who managed all this affair for it is said that he killed him without any parly lest his people treating with him and believing all the promises and vows which this unfortunate Governour might make whilst he was tied to a Tree and in apprehensions of Death when he might easily Article on the conditions of life to leave their Countrey and depart thence with all his People and Souldiers and never to return again not trusting as I say to the credulous humour of his people whom he perceived hearkening to the promises and vows of Valdivia he resolutely passed through the midst of them and with a club dashed
so straitened them that they could receive no sustenance unless it were some small quantities of the Seeds of Herbs and Leaves of Turnips which some few were fain to fight for and gain with the point of the Launce In one of these Sieges of this City they broke the Images of Christ and our Lady and other Saints to the great dishonour of God which none but his infinite Mercy and Patience could have suffered In the last Siege which the Indians laid to this place they surprised the Spaniards and killed the Centinels and without any opposition entred and possessed themselves of the Town exercising such cruelty as was agreeable to the barbarity of their Natures for they butchered the Children and chained the Women and Nuns intending to carry them away into Slavery but whilst they were thus busily employed in packing up and disposing their Booty and plundering every where without order the Spaniards took courage and with that opportunity fell upon them and God assisting their endeavours they rescued their Wives and Nuns from their violent hands and with the loss of some few forced them to fly and quit both their Prey and their City The last Victory which the Indians obtained was when they took Villarrica with great effusion of Spanish bloud they set fire to the four Quarters of the Town and killed all the Friars of St. Dominick St. Francis and the Merceds with all the Clergy that were there carrying all the Women away Captives many of which were Ladies of Quality and Condition And this was the Fate of that City which was once of Fame and great Renown and illustrious amongst the neighbouring Cities of that new World. Thus far proceeds the Relation of Chili in the Year 1604. To all which nothing can be farther said than that these were Judgments of God which his secret Providence permits for the chastisement of Mankind And herewith let us return to the good Inca Yupanqui to conclude the remaining Actions of his Reign CHAP. XXVI Of the quiet Life of the Inca Yupanqui and of the Actions wherein he employed himself untill the time of his Death THE King Yupanqui having established and confirmed the Conquests which his Captains had made under the security of good Laws and settled Religion in all parts having also made provision for his own Royal Revenue and separated a maintainance for the Priesthood of the Sun he determined to put an end to his farther Conquests which are now far extended reaching no less than a thousand Leagues in length so that he resolved to spend the remainder of his Days in erecting Monuments and Trophies of his greatness which might ever conserve his Memory in great Renown To which end he built new Fortresses and many Temples dedicated to the Sun with Houses for the Select Virgins Royal Palaces and made many Aqueducts Walks and Gardens He also endowed the Temple of the Sun in Cozco with greater Riches of which though it stood in no need yet he thought it a duty to contribute some thing towards the glory of him whom he honoured and esteemed for his Father and more especially he busied himself in building and completing the Fortress at Cozco for which his Father had made provision of all materials and gathered great quantities of Stones and Rocks of which we shall hereafter have occasion to discourse more at large He also personally visited all the parts of his Empire that so he might with his own Eyes see the State of things hear the Complaints and Aggrievances of his people and provide a Remedy and Relief for his Subjects to all which he attended with so much care and compassion that he worthily deserved to be surnamed The Pious In these Employments this Prince with great Peace and Tranquillity spent his time for several Years being greatly beloved and obeyed by his Subjects at the end of which falling sick and finding within himself his end to be near he called the Prince who was his Heir and his other Sons together recommending to them by way of Testament the strict observance of their Laws and religious Rites of their Idolatrous Worship and above all encharged them to perform and administer Justice to their Subjects in the most equal balance and therewith he gave them his Blessing of Peace for that now his time was come to depart this Life and rest with his Father the Sun who called and summoned him to his Mansions of Felicity Thus dyed Yupanqui full of Glory and Triumph having enlarged his Empire above five hundred Leagues in length to the Southward being as far as from Atacama to the River Maulli and to the Northward one hundred and forty Leagues along the Coast from Chincha to Chimu He was lamented with great grief and having ranked him in the tenth Order of their Gods who were Children of the Sun because he was the tenth King they celebrated his Obsequies with great solemnity which according to their Custome continued for the space of a whole Year offering unto him many Sacrifices He left Tupac Inca Yupanqui his Heir and eldest Son which he begot of his Wife and Sister called Coya Chimpu Occlo to succeed him in all his Dominions The proper Name of this Queen was Chimpu but the word Occlo was a sacred Title amongst them he left many legitimate Sons and Daughters of the true Bloud besides many other natural Children to the number of about two hundred and fifty which was no great matter amongst them considering the many Women which those Kings maintained in every Province of their Dominions And because this Inca laid the Foundation of this great Work it is requisite that we should treat of it immediately after the Life of its first Founder because it is the most excellent Trophy of the Incan Magnificence and that which may serve for a matter of Ostentation and Glory not onely to the Authour himself and the preceding Kings but sufficient to derive Honour to all their Posterity in future Ages CHAP. XXVII Of the Fortress of Cozco and the greatness of the Stones with which it was built THE Incas who were Kings of Peru erected many wonderfull and stately Edifices their Castles Temples and Royal Palaces their Gardens Store-houses and other Fabricks were Buildings of great Magnificence as is apparent by the ruines of them though very obscure conjectures are to be gathered from such remains The work of greatest ostentation and which evidences most the Power and Majesty of the Incas was the Fortress of Cozco whose greatness is incredible to any who hath not seen it and such as have viewed it with great attention cannot but admire it and believe that such a work was erected by Enchantment or the help of Spirits being that which surpasses the Art and power of Man. For the Stones are so many and so great which were laid in the three first rounds being rather Rocks than Stones as passes all understanding how and in what manner they were hewen from the Quarry or
the Garison Under these Towers was as much room as above and between them were Galleries of Communication The Quarters under ground were formed with great Art having Lanes and Passages with such windings and turnings all of the same size and fashion that they seemed a labyrinth and so difficult to find out that none durst enter in without a Guide or direction of a twine of Thread which being fastened at the entrance directed their return through all the Turnings and Meanders of it When I was a Boy I often went up to the Castle with others of the same age with me and then the upper Rooms were all ruined and some of those which were under into which we durst not adventure farther than we could see the light which shined in them for the Indians told us that if we adventured farther we should lose our selves and never find our way out again In making their Vaults they were ignorant of the way of arching but instead thereof they laid Braggets or Corbels of Stone which served in the place of Beams for support of the whole frame of Building which being equally cut and shaped at all ends reached from one Wall to the other All the great Fabrick of this Fortress was made in part of polished and part of rough Stone richly embellished according to the best of their Art whereby the Incas made ostentation both of their Skill and Grandeur being desirous to advance the Excellency and Magnificence of this Work above any other that so it might remain for a consummation of all their Trophies and indeed so it proved for the Spaniards a few years after this was completed invaded their Empire and put a stop to the proceedings of several other great Works which they designed to have finished There were four chief Undertakers in the Building of this Fortress the principal Person who drew the Draught and designed the whole Plot was Huallpa Rimachi he was an Inca and stiled Apu which signifies Chief the second to him was Inca Maricanchi and the third Acahuana Inca to whom they ascribe the chief contrivance of the Buildings at Tiahuanacu which we have formerly mentioned The fourth and last was Calla Cunchuy in whose time the great Stone which rested in the way was brought thither and his Name engraved on it as a monument to conserve his memory the which Stone or Rock rather was of that vast proportion and so exceeding all the others that I would gladly insert here the true measure of its height and thickness but in regard I have not procured an exact and certain account of it I shall refer my self to the relation of those who have seen it It remains in the Plain before the Fortress to which as the Indians say it could never arrive in regard it tired by the way and wept bloud proceeding from the toil and fatigue it had endured in its motion The stone is rough and unpolished in the same manner as it was hewn from its Quarry a great part of it is buried under ground and they say it is now sunk lower than when I saw it for they fansied that there was great treasure hid under it and for that reason they digged about it as deep as they were able that so they might arrive at this imaginary Riches but in regard that as they digged the Stone sunk lower therefore the greatest part of it is now hidden under the Earth According to my best remembrance it hath a hole or two upon the upper part of it or such as passes from one side to the other the Indians call these holes the Eyes of the Stone out of which it wept bloud from the Dust which is lodged in those Holes and the continual droppings of water upon them it hath died the Stone in those parts with a reddish colour because the foil thereabouts is of the same colour and which the Indians say proceeded from the bloud which issued with the tears of that Stone This Fable is commonly reported amongst the Indians and I have heard it often from them But the true Moral of this Fable recounted by the Inca's Amautas who were their Philosophers and people of learning was this That this Stone or Rock was moved and drawn by twenty thousand Indians who dragged and drew it with great Cables the undertaking was great for it was to pass through cragged and uneven ways and over Ascents and Descents one half of the people drew before the other half were on each side to poise the weight and keep the Stone direct lest it should fall into any precipice or gravel it self in any place from whence it could never be recovered It is said that for want of due care in those who had the poising of this weight it happened to lean too much towards the descent of a hill and being over-born by its great burthen it tumbled down a bank and killed three or four thousand of those Indians who were the guides to direct and support it notwithstanding which misfortune they again took courage and raised the Stone carrying it to the Plain where it now rests The Bloud which it shed and squeezed from the Veins of those poor Wretches were the true tears which issued from the hollow orbs of its Eyes and because the weight was too vast to be carried up to the place unto which it was designed they said that it tired and fainted in its Journey attributing all the feelings and passions of the Men to the inanimate and senseless Stone This and many such Fables the Indians conserve amongst them believing that such passages as these are best recommended to Posterity and conserved under such wonderfull and improbable fictions The Spaniards who in reason ought to maintain and at their own cost to have kept this Fortress in repair for the greater advancement of their own honour that so they might give occasion to the World to admire their Atchievements and great Prowess in being able to subdue a people so potent and which were able to erect such wonderfull and prodigious Fabricks but on the contrary as if they had been envious of the great Acts of those they had subdued they have laid their own hands to the pulling down of this prodigious piece of Art and Industry and with the Materials thereof have built the private Houses of some particular persons in Cozco for to avoid the cost and time and labour of the Indians in bringing Stones and Materials from distant parts they have brought from the Walls of the Rampire all the polished and wrought Stones that there is scarce a House in all the Town at least such as belongs to the Spaniards but what is built out of the ruines of that Fortress The great Stones which were the supporters of the lower Buildings were digged up and brought away for Thresholds and Jambs of their Doors the lesser Stones served for the Walls and for Steps to their Stairs they chose stones of such size as was convenient which when
other great Provinces containing many other Nations under their power but how long this succeeded after the Conquest of Huancapampa is not certain But these people were of a different quality to those before mentioned for they lived in a political manner had their Towns and Fortifications and some manner of Government amongst them they often assembled and held Counsels to consider of the publick good and welfare No person pretended to a Right of Dominion over them but by common consent they elected their Chief Governour in the time of Peace and Captain in case of War serving them with entire obedience during the time of their Magistracy These three Provinces were called Cassa Ayahuaca and Callua The Inca so soon as he approached the Confines of these Countries sent his Summons to the Inhabitants requiring them to receive him for their Lord and Sovereign or otherwise provide to defend themselves by force of Arms for answer whereunto they returned a short reply That they were ready to dye in defence of their Liberties for as they never had received any Lord that was imposed on them so now they could not incline their minds to any servile subjection Herewith a cruel War began for all the fair offers and pretences of the Inca could avail nothing for their ancient liberty and freedom still presenting it self before them stopped their Ears to all the gentle words of favour the Inca expressed saying That the greatest favour and grace he could doe them was to leave them to their own liberty All these three Provinces being associated together unanimously contributed to the assistence of each other and made stout opposition having killed about 8000 Incas with which slaughter the Incas being enraged persecuted the Enemy with fire and sword and all the miseries of War which they supported with great patience and equality of mind in contemplation of their liberty which they disputed and defended with great resolution for no sooner were they forced from one strong Hold but they posted to another and thence to another abandoning their Countrey and Houses without care of their Wives and Children resolving to dye with Arms in their hands rather than become the Slaves and Vassals of another The Incas still proceeded in the Conquest of this Countrey untill they had forced them into a corner of it where having fortified themselves they endured all extremities and though reduced to the ultimate point of perishing by famine yet still continued constant and resolved not to be subject to the Inca the which some of their more sober and intelligent Captains considering and finding that upon these principles all of them must necessarily dye and perish without knowing any cause or reason for it And seeing that other Natiâ—â—â— as free as they had submitted to the Dominion of the Inca under whom thâ—â—â— peace and plenty was augmented rather than in the least abated or infringed The Captains and Chiefs having this communication together agreed to yield themselves and people to the Inca the which was performed though not without some mutiny and sedition amongst the Souldiery howsoever the generality being led by the example and dictates of their Commanders did all at last submit and yield unto due obedience The Inca Tupac received them with all expressions of grace and favour telling them how much he pitied their folly which had so unnecessarily betrayed them to the last extremities of want and famine but now to relieve them in this condition he ordered that they should be entertained and treated like his own Children And that whereas many of them perished in the late War so that their Lands and Dwellings were void and depopulated he ordered that they should be again stocked and supplied by people transplanted from other Provinces And thus the Inca having provided matters for due administration of that Government and settled and established their Doctrine and Religion he returned again to Cozco being more troubled and uneasie for the loss and destruction of those poor Indians than tired or wearied with the fatigues and incommodiousness of the War of which he was so sensible that he would often say that if he were assured that the other Nations more remote had taken example by the obstinacy of these that he would defer the Conquest of them for the present and untill such a conjuncture of time as might render them more pliable and better disposed to receive the Government of the Incas Wherefore the Great Tupac refraining from War spent several years in visiting his Kingdoms adorning them with stately Edifices in every Province and inhabited Countrey such as Royal Palaces Fortresses and Houses for publick Stores Aqueducts and Temples dedicated to the Sun with Convents for the Select Virgins besides many other publick Works such as making High-ways and open Roads of which we shall treat more at large in the Second Part but more especially his care was to finish the Fortress of Cozco the Foundation of which was laid and begun by his Father the Inca Yupanqui Having thus spent some years in the exercises and employments of Peace the Inca re-assumed his thoughts of conquering the Provinces which lye Northward called Chinchasuyu The first Quarter he came to was Huanucu which contains many Nations but all independent each of other living scattered up and down the Fields without government or communication but in perpetual War and Fightings they had some Fortresses and strong Holds on the tops of Mountains to which at any time when they were worsted they fled for refuge all which people by fair terms according to the accustomary clemency of the Incas were with much facility reduced to their command though at first the Natives of Huanucu shewed themselves surly obstinate and rude with which the Officers of the Incas being highly provoked put many of them to the Sword with great severity and cruelty but the Inca to appease and moderate their fury put them in mind of the Original Law of the first Inca Manco Capac who commanded them to reduce the Indians to his subjection by gentle and fair terms rather than by Arms or effusion of Bloud The Indians being on one side terrified with the fear of punishment and allured on the other by the promises and kind offers of the Inca were reduced without much labour so that they were persuaded to live in Societies and receive the Idolatry and Government of the Incas who in a short time so improved this pleasant Province of Huanucu that by the fruitfulness of the Soil and good temperature of the Climate it became the Head and Chief of all the Neighbouring Countries And here as a principal mark of favour they erected a Temple dedicated to the Sun with a House for the Select Virgins In the building of which twenty thousand Indians were continually employed and as some will have it thirty thousand all which took their turns in the labour which shews the great numbers of those Inhabitants Pedro de Cieça in his 80th Chapter
the Title of Capac which is Rich to Manco their first Inca they did not mean the Riches of Fortune but the Excellencies and Greatness of Mind they ever after appropriated this Title to the Capac Ayllu which is to the Royal Family and Princes of the Bloud so they attributed the Title of Capac to the Feast of Raymi which is the principal Festival of the Sun so also they called a Subject Capac Runa which is Subject and Vassal of the Rich meaning the Inca being never given to any other Lord though he were never so Rich or powerfull And so also this word Capac was given to any other thing which they would dignifie with relation to Royalty Amongst the many other Illustrious Qualities with which this Prince was endowed he had one by which he most particularly obliged his Subjects giving early Indications of his Vertue which merited the Name of Capac during the time he was Prince and which afterwards he conserved when he came to be sole Monarch The which particular quality was this That he never denied any Woman the grant of her Petition of whatsoever age quality or condition she were answering her according to her years for if she were elder than he he would say Mother what you desire shall be done If she were of equal years with him he would use the compellation of Sister if younger he would call her Daughter and say What thou askest shall be performed and to all Women generally he would lay his hand on their left shoulder in token of his favour and respect to them And this Magnanimity of mind he carried so even and constant that in matters of great importance he would condescend to the diminution of his own Right and Prerogative of his Majesty As we shall hereafter more at large discourse This Prince being now about twenty years of Age pursued his Wars gaining on the Kingdom by little and little ever treating with them and offering terms of Peace and Friendship But this barbarous Nation which went almost naked and was ignorant of Political Government would never give ear to proposals of Accommodation Tupac the Father observing the good Conduct of his Son committed the absolute Government of this War to his management and so returned to Cozco the important affairs of his Empire requiring his presence there The Prince in the mean time with the assistence of his Captains so well managed the War that in the space of three years he became absolute Master of the Kingdom of Quitu though some Indians of that Countrey say that he was five years but then they count the two years in which his Father was there in person attributing the Conquest of that Countrey to them both The gentleness and good-nature of the Father and Son was the cause of this long continuance of the War for had they vigorously proceeded with fire and sword they might soon have completed their Conquest but they willing to save the Bloud of the Natives pressed upon them as they retired and so won the Countrey by little and little though the Indians say that the War had continued longer had not the King of Quitu died at that time they say also that his Death was occasioned by grief for seeing himself in an unhappy condition devested of the greatest part of his Dominion and unable to defend the remainder and not daring to trust or confide in the Clemency of the Inca whom he believed he had provoked to that degree as never to obtain his pardon he died with the pressure of his great troubles and afflictions he being dead his Captains presently yielded themselves to the mercy of Huayna Capac who received them with obliging terms commanding them to be vested with Garments of the finest sort and presented them with other gifts which were most in esteem amongst the Indians treating also the more common sort of people with great kindness and friendship In short he performed all the generous Actions he was able to them to render his Clemency the more apparent and perspicuous to that stupid Nation And to oblige all that whole Countrey in general so soon as the War was ended he not onely made them Aqueducts to refresh and make fruitfull their Soil but also built a Temple there for the Sun and a House for the Select Virgins adorned with Riches and other Embellishments agreeable to the quality of those Edifices In performance of which those Indians had great advantage for their Countrey yielded much Gold which they had digged for the service of their own King and much more afterwards for the use of the Prince Huayna Capac because they found that they very much gratified his humour by Presents of that Metal his affection and covetousness of which transported him to such extremities of Oppression as were never before practised by Incan Kings which was the cause of the ruine of their Empire and occasion of all that misery which afterwards extinguished this Royal Family Huayna Capac leaving Quitu proceeded to another Province called Quillacenca which signifies a Nose of Iron because they boared the Bridge which passes between the Nostrils to hang a Jewel or a piece of Gold or Silver which reached to their Lips the Inca found these to be a sordid vile people almost all naked and full of Lice they had no Religion amongst them for they worshipped nothing unless it were the Flesh of some Animal of which they were so ravenous that wheresoever they found any carrion flesh of Horse or Mare or any thing else corrupted and stinking they would eat and devour it with the greatest pleasure and appetite in the World So that it is very probable that such a sort of Beasts as these were easily subdued and reduced to obedience From hence the Inca marched to another Nation called Pastu as vile and sordid as the former differing onely from them in this that they would by no means be persuaded to eat Flesh saying That they were not Dogs These being easily reduced to the obedience of the Inca Instructors were appointed for them to teach them the manner of living after the rational manner imposing on them the Tribute of Lice that so they might keep themselves clean and in health From Pastu they proceeded to another Province called Otavallu the Inhabitants whereof were much more Political and Warlike than the others These having made some little resistence against the Inca did soon yield finding that they were not able to defend themselves against that Potent Prince And having here made due provision to secure the Countrey the Inca proceeded to another Province called Caranque the people of which were most barbarous in their life and manners they adored Tygers and Lions and great Serpents offering the hearts and bloud of Men in their Sacrifices Making War upon their Neighbours onely for the sake of War and Enemies that they might have such as they might kill and eat At first they made great opposition against the Inca but being repulsed
of Tupac Inca Yupanqui THE Inca being entred into Tumpiz raised a strong Fortress and put a considerable Garrison into it he built also a Temple for the Sun to which he adjoined a House for the Select Virgins the which Work being finished he passed forward into the Countrey of those who had slain the Captains Instructors and Doctors of Religion which his Father Tupac Yupanqui had formerly seated in that Countrey for the better Government and Erudition of that people as we have formerly mentioned In memory of which treacherous Villany Huayna Capac sent his Messengers to them commanding them immediately to repair to his Court to render an Account of the wickedness they had perpetrated and though they were conscious of the Fact and trembled with the thoughts of the punishment they had deserved yet they durst not refuse or neglect the Summons and therefore in due sense of their demerit they humbly approached the Inca casting themselves with all submission at his Feet The Inca hereupon assembled all the Curacas Ambassadours Counsellours and Nobles who were present at that Meeting when his Father at their request sent his Officers and Instructors amongst them the which they had treacherously murthered and all of them appearing before him a certain Colonel of the Army stood up and made a Speech to them in behalf of the Inca and in the first place upbraiding them with treachery breach of their Faith and cruelty he accused them of Ingratitude and want of Understanding for that whereas they ought to have adored the Inca and his Officers for withdrawing them from their brutish and bestial Life to live like Men with all the Comforts and Enjoyments of a rational Being they on the contrary had barbarously and cruelly murthered the Authours and Instruments of their Felicity to the great dishonour of the Sun his Father for which offence they had deserved so severe a punishment that if their whole Nation of both Sexes and all ages were extirpated and their Race extinguished they were not able with the effusion of all their Bloud to make expiation for this heinous crime But in regard that Huayna Capac was an Inca to whose Nature Mercy and Clemency were most agreeable and whose Title it was to be a Lover of the Poor he did freely forgive all the common people and as to those Authours and Contrivers of this Murther though they had all deserved Death yet he was contented to decimate them and every tenth Man to die as his Lot should fall upon him that so it might be evident that the Inca had no Spleen or Hatred to any in particular but onely to punish Offenders as Truth and Justice required And farther that a Mark and Testimony of this Treachery might remain in the Memory of future Ages the Inca commanded that the Curacas and principal Personages of the Nation Huancavillca should have two of their Teeth drawn from above and two from beneath and for ever to be so continued to them and their Posterity and to remain as a Mark whereby to reproach the falsity of the Words pronounced with their Mouths and the breach of the Promise of Fidelity and Vassalage made to his Father Tupac Yupanqui These Nations received the Sentence and Execution of Justice with great Humility and Resignation esteeming themselves very happy that the Infliction of their punishment was no greater fearing that it might have extended to a general Massacre of them all who were concerned in this Treachery for since the time that the Empire of the Incas began to be dilated nothing was punished with so much severity as Rebellion which Crime being complicated with the vile sin of Ingratitude made the punishment inflicted seem easie and not bear an equality with what the offence deserved so that when the whole Nation of Huanca-villca was punished for all the rest they supported the Sentence with Patience and Moderation and their Curacas and Captains willingly consented to have their Teeth drawn and to shew their readiness herein they made it the Badge and Distinction of their Nation drawing out the upper and nether Teeth of their Children so soon as having shed them they were grown again whereby it is observable that rude and barbarous People are as well pleased with Moderation in the Execution of Punishment as others are in the Excesses of Benefits I was once acquainted with an Indian Woman of Huancavillca in Cozco who recounted unto me at large all this Story the Men and Women as she said of that Countrey did usually boar their Nostrils for carrying Jewels of Gold and Silver in them and I remember when I was a Child that a Neighbour of ours called Coca had a Horse of a Chesnut colour which being broken-winded for his more easie breathing they slit his Nostrils with which Novelty the Indians being much pleased they called the Horse Huancavillca in similitude of one of that Nation CHAP. IV. The Inca visits his Empire consults the Oracles and gains the Island of Puna THE Inca Huayna Capac having reduced those Provinces punished the Offenders and placed sufficient Guards and Garrisons for subjecting the people and keeping them in obedience he returned to the Kingdom of Quitu and thence taking a compass to the Southward he proceeded to the Charcas by way of Cozco being a Journey of above seven hundred Leagues in length He also sent visitors to the Kingdom of Chili from whence they brought much Gold to himself as they had done to his Father in which Travels he spent four Years and then resided two Years in Cozco After which he raised fifty thousand Souldiers out of the Division of Chinchasuyu which is to the North of Cozco commanding them to make their Rendezvous on the Frontiers of Tumpiz whilst he in Person descended into the Plains to visit the Temples of the Sun of which there were many of great Devotion in those parts In the first place he went to the rich Temple of Pachacamac whom they adored for the unknown God and there commanding the Priests to consult the Oracle who was the Devil concerning the happiness of his Successes answer was made that he should proceed in his Enterprises for he should be prosperous in them and in all others that he should undertake for that he was chosen for supreme Lord of all the four Quarters of the World. Hence he passed to the Valley of Rimac where that famous prating Idol was seated the which he consulted in compliance with the Capitulations which his Great-grandfather had made with the Yuncas of which one was that that Idol should be always conserved by him in great veneration and having received his Answer which was full of Ambiguities and Flatteries he proceeded forward to the Vallies which border upon Tumpiz where being arrived he dispatched his accustomary Summons of Peace and War to the Inhabitants of the Island of Puna not far distant from the Main Land is a fruitfull soil abounding with all things necessary for humane Life This Isle
them into those parts to which they were designed which being performed the Inca also returned to Tumpiz on other important occasions for whereas these Princes employed their whole time to business for the better government of their People they omitted nothing which might tend to their good and to the happiness of their living and therefore might most justly be stiled Lovers of the Poor and Guardians of their People So soon as the Inca was departed his Captains and Officers prepared also for their passage ordering Boats and Ferries for their transportations the which were provided by the Natives in so small a number as were not sufficient to carry above half the People at a time the which they purposely contrived that so being on the Water they might be able to master that Party and execute their Design which was to kill them all Wherefore one half being embarked together with their Luggage or Baggage which was great for it appertained for the most part to Incas of the Bloud who were near the Person of the King and therefore carried many changes of Apparel with them which were very fine These Traitors which conducted the Boats being come to such a place of the Sea where they had designed to execute their Treachery cut the Cords and Ropes which bound the Timbers and Planks of the Boats together which carried the Incas with which all the Captains and Souldiers being plunged in the Sea the Assassinates took up the Oars and the Arms belonging to them and therewith knocked them on the Head not suffering one of them to escape with his Life And though some of them endeavoured to save themselves by swimming for most of the Indians are very expert in that Art yet it availed them little for they were not suffered to come ashore by the People of the Coast who preyed upon them in such manner as the Maritime Creatures do upon those of the Land. In this manner these Islanders having gained their Victory and made themselves Masters of the Spoils which were very great they with much Joy and Triumph saluted one the other from Boat to Boat applauding the contrivance and success of their Design with which they were so elevated being an ignorant and sottish People that they believed they had now not onely secured their Liberty but were able also to make themselves Masters of the Empire With this vain opinion they returned to the Island and with like Dissimulation and Wickedness of Intention took aboard the residue of the Captains and Souldiers which remained for the second adventure whom having brought to the same place where the former Villany was perpetrated they acted the like on them and then returning home they completed their Villany by putting all the Governours and Ministers to death whom the Inca had left to doe Justice and to oversee the Revenue belonging to the Sun and to the Inca the which they acted with incomparable Cruelty and Disdain of the Royal Person of the Inca placing the Heads of the murthered at the Gates of their Temples and sacrificing their Hearts and Bloud to their Idols complying hereby with the Vows they had made to their Spirits and Devils in case they would favour and prosper their Attempt CHAP. VI. Of the Punishment which was inflicted upon these faithless Rebels THE sad news of this unhappy success being made known to Huayna Capac he received it with as deep a sense of trouble as the loss of so many Incas of the Bloud Royal and of Men experienced in War and Peace did require condoling much that their Bodies should be cast into the Sea to be the Food and Prey of Fish for which being full of sorrow he put himself into mourning Weeds which amongst them is a Clothing of a greyish colour called Vellori But the Anger and Indignation of the Inca soon overcame his sorrow for having assembled his People together and provided all things necessary he with the greatest Expedition imaginable passed into the rebellious Provinces upon the Main-land and with great facility subjected the Inhabitants who were a silly people without Counsel Policy or Military Art whereby to defend themselves From the Subjection of these people on the Main the Inca passed into the Island in his way whereunto he encountred a slight resistence on the Sea but so inconsiderable and weak that the Enemy was immediately overcome and yielded to Mercy Whereupon the Inca commanded all the principal Authours and Counsellours of this Design together with the Captains and Souldiers of chiefest note who were in any wise concerned in this Treason to be seized and brought before his Tribunal of Justice to whom one of the Generals made a grave Speech representing to them the deformity of their Wickedness aggravated with all the black circumstances that were possible for that whilst the Inca was studying their good and endeavouring to reclaim them from their bestial and brutish Life that they might enjoy a condition more agreeable to a rational Being that then they were contriving to disappoint his good Intentions by the worst and soulest Cruelties Wherefore since Justice was to be performed and that the Inca could not exercise that Clemency and Compassion which was natural to his Temper they were to prepare themselves to receive a punishment agreeable to their demerit upon which Sentence being passed it was executed with divers sorts of Death according as the Inca directed that it might have some conformity to that kind of Cruelty which they acted on the people of the Inca they threw some into the Sea with great weights to sink them to the bottom others they ran through the Body with their Lances and pitched them on Spears before the Gates of their Temples others were quartered after their Throats were cut others they killed with their own Weapons and others were hanged Pedro de Cieça having at large described the particulars of this Rebellion and the Revenge of it writes afterwards these Words In this manner many thousands of Indians were killed and destroyed with different sorts of death the principal Leaders of which Councils were either drowned or empaled And after Huayna Capac had done Justice upon these Offenders he commanded that this dismal story should be made the Subject of those Songs which were to be recited on their days and times of Calamity which they in dolefull Ditties composed in their Language and Proprieties of their Countrey After which the Inca attempted to make a Causey over the River Guayaquile which certainly was a great and magnificent work according to those remains which to this day appear of it but it was never finished according to the manner that he designed being called to this day the Pass of Guayna Capa all which being performed commands were given to obey the Governour who resided in the Fortress of Tumbez with other matters relating to Government and so the Inca departed from those Quarters Thus far are the Words of Pedro de Cieça CHAP. VII Of the Mutiny which
This was the sum of the most material passages of this War between the two Brothers who were the last Kings of Peru as to other Battels which the Spanish Historians relate they were but Skirmishes which passed on the Confines of one Kingdom and the other on occasion of Incursions which the Captains and Governours of Garrisons made And as to the Imprisonment of Atahualpa it was a sham or a false report which he himself had given out to amuse his Brother Huascar and his Subjects as was also that which he had divulged in saying that when he was in Prison his Father the Sun had turned him into a Serpent that so he might escape by creeping through a hole which was in the Chamber which was onely the Story of a Miracle broached and framed to introduce his Father the Sun for an Authour and Favourer of his Tyrannies the which report easily gained belief in the simple minds of that people who were credulous of any thing which was mentioned in favour of that concernment which the Sun had towards his own Off-spring The use which Atahualpa made of this victory was with all the cruelty and treachery imaginable for publishing in all places that his intentions were to restore Huascar again to the Government of his Empire but yet under certain cautions and restrictions which were to be agreed and capitulated between them he summoned all the Incas of the whole Empire together with the Governours Major-Generals Captains and Souldiers to appear at Cozco at such a certain time that so they might be Witnesses to those Articles which should be conserted between these two Kings for the mutual peace and quiet of each others Subjects With these fair pretences and allurements all the Incas of the Bloud-Royal being deceived failed not to make their appearance which they performed with that readiness of mind that neither sickness nor old age nor far distance did debar or hinder their coming nay even those who might have excused themselves by reason of the remoteness of their Countrey and which might have retarded their Journey by slow and dilatory Travels and which were suspicious and jealous of what afterwards succeeded yet even these against their own fears and inclinations suffered themselves to be taken in the open and appearing snare For so soon as Atahualpa had gotten them into his power he commanded that they should all be put to death which Sentence was executed by various sorts of cruelty which served to secure his Empire from all Insurrections or Plots against him CHAP. XXXVI The Causes which moved Atahualpa to exercise all his Cruelties and the fatal effects of them BUT before we proceed farther we are first to enquire into the Reason which moved Atahualpa to commit all those cruelties which he acted on those of his own Bloud and Family To understand which we must know that according to the ancient Laws and Statutes of that Kingdom observed from the time of the First Inca Manco Capac untill the end of the Reign of Huayna Capac the Great Atahualpa his Son was as uncapable of inheriting the Kingdom of Quitu which like all the other Conquests appertained to the Imperial Crown as he was of the Kingdom of Cozco for that the Inheritance of both indispensably appertained to such an Heir as was descended from a lawfull Wife who was to be Sister to the King for that the Title to that Kingdom came as well by the Woman as the Man's side And if in case this strictness were not observed yet to gain him some tolerable pretension he ought at least to have been the Son of a Palla that was descended of Royal Bloud for such were esteemed capable of the Succession but those who had any mixtures of Foreign Bloud could never without prophanation of all their holy Sanctions be entitled to any share or part of the Empire Now Atahualpa being conscious to himself that he wanted all the qualifications which might render him truly and legitimately an Inca for he was neither the Son of a Coya which signifies a Queen nor yet of a Palla which is a Lady of the Royal Bloud but the Son onely of a Whore that was a Native of Quitu the which Kingdom neither could not of right be dismembred from other parts of the Empire Wherefore considering all these difficulties and that though at present he were victorious yet when with time that things were quieted and appeased matters would return again to their ancient course and the people set up one of the legitimate Line and Race in despight of him or his posterity For the opinion of legal Succession being fixed in the minds of the Indians by their ancient Idolatry and vain Religion and taught and preached to them by that Doctrine which the Inca Manco Capac first instituted and had ever since to all Ages been maintained he concluded impossible to be unriveted from them but by an utter extirpation of that whole Race which therefore he resolved upon and not onely to destroy and extinguish the true and legitimate Issue but even those of Bastard Families lest they standing in the same capacity of Inheritance with him should be induced by his example to become Rivals with him for the Empire To prevent which no other remedy appeared than that onely which Tyrants and Usurpers have commonly used which is to cut off all such who can have a Title or lawfull Pretension to the Crown so that neither the People can cast their eyes upon any other Prince nor yet the Usurper himself have obligations in conscience or justice to make restitutions With many examples and testimonies of which in the like nature both ancient and modern Histories furnish us which to avoid tediousness we omit it being sufficient to use that single instance of the Ottoman Family whose common custome it is to secure the Empire to themselves and their posterity by the Death of their Brothers and their other near Relations But greater and more thirsty of the Bloud of his own Family than any exercised by the Ottoman Kings was the cruelty of Atahualpa who not being sufficiently satiated with the Bloud of two hundred of his Brethren who were the Sons of the Great Huayna Capac he proceeded to wade through deeper streams of all the Bloud shed from the Veins of his Uncles Cousins Parents and Relations who were descended by the direct or indirect Lines even to the fourth degree so that not one whether Legitimate or Bastard escaped the cruelty of his Executioners for he killed and destroyed them by various kinds of Deaths of some he cut the Throats others he Hanged others he threw into Rivers and Lakes with weights about their Necks that they might not save themselves by swimming others were thrown down Rocks and Precipices all which was acted with the greatest dispatch and diligence imaginable by the Executioners for this Tyrant could never think himself secure untill he had seen them all destroyed or heard that they were dead for
this Story he recounts the cruel treatment and hard usage of poor Huascar during the time of his imprisonment together with the dolefull complaints he uttered which we shall rehearse in their due place This Coya Cuxi Varcay which he says was the Wife of Xayre Topa was called Cuss Huarque of whom we shall discourse hereafter The Field where this Battel was fought was called Quipaypan by corruption though properly it had the Name of Quepaypa which signifies a Trumpet as if from thence the Triumph of Atahualpa was trumpeted and sent its sound into all parts of the Empire I remember that when I was a Boy I went three or four times into those Fields with other Boys who were my School-fellows where we enjoyed the recreation of Hawking with some Hawks which the Indian Faulconers managed for us In this manner as we have related was all the Bloud-Royal and Family of the Incas extinguished and extirpated in the space of two years and a half and though they might in a much shorter time have exhausted the veins of Royal Bloud yet to prolong their pleasure in Cruelty they reserved some on which their appetites might feed and still be delighted in new exercises of torment The Indians say that the Field where the great effusion of this Bloud was made was called Yahuarpampa or the Field of Bloud and that it rather took its denomination from the Bloud of the Incas than from that of the Chancas for though the quantity of the Bloud of the Chancas was greater yet the quality of the Incas made theirs much more estimable and the death of Women and Children being of tender sex and age rendered the many Murthers more tragical and execrable CHAP. XXXVIII How some of the Bloud-Royal escaped the Cruelty of Atahualpa SOme notwithstanding all this escaped out of the City some came not within their power and others by the connivance of the people of Atahualpa who being satiated with this slaughter and touched with some remorse to see that bloud so plentifully shed which they once adored for Divine connived at the escape which some of them made out of the circle in which they were encompassed and not onely so but some gave them opportunity to change their Apparel which was the badge and distinction of an Inca for disguises after the Habit of common Indians For as we have said before the Incas were distinguished by their Garments but those whom they permitted to make an escape were Infants and Children under the Age of ten or eleven years amongst which my Mother was one together with her Brother Don Francisco Hualipa Tupac Inca Yupanqui with whom I was acquainted and who since my abode in Spain hath wrote me several Letters besides which I knew very few who escaped from this miserable Outrage from whom I received the Relation of all that I report concerning this execrable slaughter I knew also two Auquis who were Princes being Sons of Huayna Capac the one called Paullu who was one of those who escaped as we have mentioned the other was called Titu and being a Child then was afterwards baptized whose Christian Name we have formerly signified Paullu left a Son which descended from Spanish Bloud whose Name was Don Carlos Inca he was my School-fellow and afterwards Married with a Noble Lady born in that Countrey and from Spanish Parents by whom he had Don Melchior Carlos Inca who in the last year which was 1602 came into Spain to see that Court but chiefly by the advice of some friends who persuaded him that he should receive great rewards for the Services which his Grandfather had performed towards the Conquest and Settlement of Peru and afterwards for the resistence he made against those Usurpers and Tyrants of whom we shall speak in our History of the Empire but a more especial respect was due to him for being the Great Nephew of Huayna Capac and descended by the Male line so that he is the Head and chief Family of those few which remain of the Bloud-Royal He now at present resides at Valladolid in expectation of rewards which though they may be great and considerable yet can scarce be such as may equal his merit I know not whether Titu had any Issue but I remember two Nustas or Princesses which were the lawfull Daughters of Huayna Capac one of which was called Beatriz Coya and was afterwards Married to Martin de Mustincia a Noble Person who was Accountant of the Revenue of the Emperour Charles the Fifth in Peru they had three Sons which were called the Bustincias and another called John Sierra de Leguizano who was a fellow Student with me at School the other Nusta was called Donna Leonor Coya the first time she Married was with a Spaniard called John Balsa with whom I was not acquainted being then young they had a Son of the same Name who went also to School with me But her second Marriage was with Francis de Villacastin who was one of the first Conquerours of Peru as also of Panama and other Countries There is a Story which goes of him worthy to be noted which I found in the History of Francis Lopez de Gomara which is That this Villacastin was the first that planted Colonies in Pedrarias Nombre de Dios and Panama that he opened a passage and made a Road from one Town to another with great pains and charge through Rocks and Mountains in which were infinite numbers of Lions and Tygers and Bears and such multitudes of Monkies of all sorts and sizes that being disturbed they would make such a hideous noise as was sufficient to make Travellers deaf and would climb up Trees with great Stones to let them fall on the heads of such as came within their reach Thus far are the Words of Gomara But I have seen some Marginal Notes in a Book wrote by one of the Conquerours of Peru in which is this passage That a Monky threw a stone at a person armed with a Cross-bow named Villacastin and beat out two of his Teeth he was afterwards one of the Conquerours of Peru and Lord of a great Countrey called Ayaviri but being taken Prisoner he dyed in Cozco he was one who took part with Piçarro in Xaquixaguana where one that owed him a displeasure gave him a cut over the face after he yielded to quarter He was an honest Man and did good to all though he dyed poor after he was despoiled of his Indians and of his Estate This Villacastin killed the Monky with his Cross-bow he chancing to shoot at the same time that the Monky threvv his stone Thus far are the Remarks of the Conquerour the vvhich I can in part confirm because I knevv the person and savv that he vvanted tvvo Teeth in the upper rovv of his Mouth and it vvas the common report in Peru that they vvere beaten out by a Monky I have thought fit to insert this Story as I do others of like nature for the truth of
vvhich I refer my self to divers Witnesses Other Incas and Pallas I knevv to the number of tvvo hundred vvhich vvere all of the Royal Bloud but of less note than those vvhich I formerly mentioned vvho vvere the immediate Sons of Huayna Capac My Mother vvas his Brothers Daughter vvhose Name vvas Huallpa Tupac Inca Yupanqui I vvas acquainted vvith one Son and tvvo Daughters of King Atahualpa one of them vvas called Angelina of vvhom the Marquis Don Francisco Piçarro begat a Son called Francisco vvho vvhen vve vvere of the Age of eight or nine years vvas a great Antagonist and Competitor vvith me for running and leaping his Uncle vvas Gonçalo Piçarro This Marquis had also a Daughter called Francisca vvhich vvas very beautifull and Married aftervvards to his Uncle Hernando Piçarro her Father begat her upon a Daughter of Huayna Capac called Ynes Huallas Nusta vvho vvas aftervvards Married to Martin de Ampuero an Inhabitant of the City of los Reyes The Son of the Marquis and another of Gonçalo Piçarro coming into Spain dyed young to the great grief of those vvho knevv them being the hopefull Off-spring of such renovvned Fathers But as to the other Daughter of Atahualpa I may mistake her Name vvhich vvas either Beatriz or Isabel she Married vvith a Spaniard called Blas Gomera and Wedded a second time vvith a Gentleman who was of Spanish and Indian Bloud called Sanco de Rojas but his Son was called Francisco Atahualpa he was a very handsome Youth well shaped and of a lovely countenance as were all the other Incas and Pallas but he dyed young We shall shortly mention him on occasion of a Story which my old Uncle the Brother of my Mother told me when he related the Cruelties of Atahualpa There was another Son of Huayna Capac remaining with whom I was not acquainted he was called Manco Inca and was the lawfull Heir to the Empire for Huascar dyed without Issue Male of whom we shall make mention hereafter CHAP. XXXIX Of what farther Cruelty was used towards the Servants of the Court. BUT to return to the Cruelties of Atahualpa who not content with the death and slaughter of all the Royal Family together with the Lords Captains and Nobility proceeded to Massacre all the Servants of the Court who were Domesticks within the House of whose Function and several Ministeries we have given a particular in its place for these were not particular persons but whole Villages to whose care it belonged to provide Servants for the Court and to change and alter them according to their times of waiting with these also Atahualpa had a quarrel for the Relation they had to the Court as also because they bore the Name of Inca which was conferred on them by that privilege and favour which the first Inca Manco Capac conferred on them Upon these Atahualpa vented his Cruelties but with more exquisite torment on such who were more near Attendants on the Person of the King such as Porters Keepers of the Wardrobe and Jewels Butlers Cooks and the like with whose lives not contenting himself together with the bloud of their Wives and Children he proceeded to burn and destroy their Houses and Villages which they inhabited but such as were Servants at a farther distance such as Cleavers of Wood and Drawers of Water were more gently treated for some of those they decimated killing every tenth or fifth Man in some places every third Man so that all the Villages within six or seven Leagues of Cozco suffered a particular and extraordinary Persecution besides the general calamity in which the whole Empire was involved being filled in all places with Slaughter Fire Robberies Rapes and Violences with what other miseries and devastation the licence of an unbridled Souldiery can exercise upon a Nation Nor were the Cities and Towns which were remote from Cozco exempt from the like calamities for so soon as Atahualpa heard of the Imprisonment of Huascar he entred all the Countries which were bordering on his Frontiers with Fire and Sword and particularly that which is called Cannaris because at the beginning they refused to yield him Obedience In revenge for which so soon as he gained power he treated them with all the severity imaginable which Augustin Carate in the 15th Chapter of his Book expresses in these Words Coming into the Province of Cannaris he assassinated sixty thousand Men being they had made opposition against him and putting all to Fire and Sword he laid wholly waste the Plantation of Tumibamba which is situate in a Plain and watered with three streams and thence proceeding in his Conquests left not one Man alive of all those who defended themselves c. the like Francisco Lopez reports almost in the same Words But Peter de Cieça is more large in his Relation saying that the want of Men and the abundance of Women in his time belonging to the Province of Cannaris was the cause that in the Wars of the Spaniards the Writers thereof mentioned Indian Men for Indian Women for to them they gave Commands in the Army And in giving the reason for it he useth these Words in the 44th Chapter of his Book Some Indians tell us saith he that by reason of the great numbers of Women which remained after that Atabalipa had destroyed all the Men of this Province whom he unhumanely butchered and after he had routed and destroyed in the Countrey of Ambaro the Brother of Guascar called Antoco who was the Captain-General of that people and had put to death all the Men and Children of that Province coming with green Boughs and Palms in their hands to implore his Mercy yet not being moved with such a spectacle of compassion he with a cruel and severe countenance commanded his Captains and Souldiers to fall upon them and slay them all by which a miserable slaughter was made of multitudes of Males as we have related in the third Part of this History so those who are now living say that there are fifteen Women in that Countrey to one Man. Thus far are the Words of Peter de Cieça with which we shall end this unpleasing Story of the Cruelties of Atahualpa for the present and reassume the particulars again in their proper places And now occasionally upon these Cruelties I was put in mind of a Story of Don Francisco the Son of Atahualpa who dyed some Months before I went for Spain which is this The day after his Death very early in the Morning before his Burial those few Incas who were remaining made a visit to my Mother and amongst the rest came the Old Inca whom I have formerly mentioned who instead of condoling and saying I am sorry for your loss because the party deceased was my Mothers Brothers Son he said to my Mother I am glad that the Great Pachacamac or Maker of the Universe hath conserved you unto this day in which you have seen the end and destruction of all your Enemies adding many other expressions full of
acquainted at Cozco and who had there a Division of Lands planted with Indians Also Don Francis Piçarro did promise to renounce his Title of Lord Lieutenant to Don Diego and to beseech His Majesty that he vvould be pleased to confer that Honour upon him With vvhich Don Diego being appeased he gave almost a thousand Ducats in Gold to his Companion vvith all the Victuals Arms and Horses vvhich he had provided together vvith tvvo Ships to transport them CHAP. XV. Of the great Hardships the Spaniards endured in their Voyage from Panama to Tumpiz DOn Francisco Piçarro with his four Brothers together with his Men and Horse which were as many as his Ships could contain set Sail from Panama with intention not to touch any where untill they came to the Countrey of Tumpiz but the Southerly Winds always blowing in that Sea which were contrary to the course they steered they were forced to land a hundred Leagues short of Tumpiz so that sending their Ships back again to Panama they resolved to march all the way by Land esteeming it much easier than to turn to Windward for so many Leagues But in their Journey by Land they suffered much more than they would have done by the contrary Winds by Sea for entring into a barren Countrey void of all Victuals and Provisions they endured hunger and want of all things and the way being long and tedious over Mountains and Rocks and their passage stopped by wide Rivers they contrived to pass them with Floats which they made of Timber and Canes and Rushes which they fastned together and with large Goards which they bound one to the other The chief Guide and Pilot over these Ferries was Don Francisco himself who was well acquainted and experienced in matters of this nature the which he sustained with so much courage and patience that for better example to his Companions he would carry the sick and tired persons on his own shoulders over Brooks and Fords which might be waded over After all these difficulties they came at length to that Province which they call Coaqui where they found plenty of Provisions and many Emeralds of the finest sort of which they broke many for being not skilfull Jewellers they had an opinion that the true Emeralds would not break and therefore for a trial they proved them with Hammers upon the Anvil The like they afterwards did in Tumpiz where they broke many Emeralds of three or four thousand Ducats price But not onely these Spaniards fell into this errour but likewise others who afterwards came to this Countrey under the Command of the Lord Lieutenant Don Pedro de Alvarado who destroyed many Emeralds and Turquoises of an inestimable value But besides these disastures the people of Piçarro were afflicted with a loathsome disease which at first appeared with a swelling on their Heads and Faces like Warts and on several parts of their Body but afterwards when they came to a maturity they were of the colour of ripe Figs and about the bigness of them hanging down as it were by a string from whence great quantities of bloud issued the which were not onely loathsome but very sore and it was very ugly to behold such filthy Warts or Wens appearing on their Foreheads Eye-brows Noses and Ears for which they knew no remedy or cure But this disease was not so mortal but that many of them who were seized with this distemper recovered though several dyed and though the disease was Epidemical to the Natives of Peru yet it was not so to the Spaniards many of which escaped the Evil. Many years after that time I saw three or four Spaniards at Cozco who lay ill of that distemper but they recovered and it may be attributed to some bad influence which was transient for since that time that sickness hath not been known With all these Labours Diseases and Death of his Companions Don Francisco was not dismayed always shewing himself as forward to adventure himself first in dangers as he was carefull in the cure of his Friends and Souldiers To Panama he sent twenty four or twenty five thousand Ducats of Gold to supply Don Diego de Almagro with Money that so he might be enabled to furnish those necessary succours of which they had occasion part of which Gold he gained by War and part by the ransome of such whom he had taken Captives Thus proceeding forwards to Tumpiz he overtook another party of Spaniards who being moved with the report and fame of the mighty Riches of Peru came from Nicaragua to that Countrey their Captains or Leaders were Sebastian de Belalcacar and John Fernandez with which happy rencounter Piçarro was highly pleased by reason that his own numbers were esteemed insufficient for that Conquest Sebastian de Belalcaçar was by the Name of his Family properly called Moyano but he rather chose to take his Appellation from his Countrey he was a Twin of three that is two Sons and one Daughter born at the same Birth His Brother was called Favian Garcia Moyano and his Sister Anastasia they were both valiant and courageous as was their elder Brother and especially the Sister This Relation I received from a Friar of the Order of St. Francis who himself was a Native of Belalcaçar and was well acquainted with the whole Family of Sebastian de Belalcaçar The which Relation this Friar the more willingly gave me because he knew that I was Writing this History wherein I was glad to relate the extraordinary Birth of this famous Souldier CHAP. XVI The Spaniards make themselves Masters of Tumpiz and the Island of Puna DOn Francisco Piçarro being well recruited with Spanish Souldiers adventured on the Conquest of Puna where Fame would have it that there was much Gold and Silver and great Riches to this Island which was twelve Leagues within the Sea they passed over on Floats with great hazard and being arrived on the Land they had many Battels with the Natives who killed four Spaniards and wounded divers others amongst which was Hernando Piçarro who received a hurt on his Knee but the Spaniards prevailed with great slaughter on the Indians and with that Victory gained great spoils of Gold Silver and Cloths which they immediately divided amongst themselves before the people which Hernando de Soto brought from Nicaragua could come up to them for he had been dispatched from that place by Almagro to carry Succours of Men and Horse to Piçarro Of which booty Soto having received advice he made such haste that he arrived with them at the time when they were removing their Camp thence Piçarro being re-inforced with these supplies thought himself strong enough to adventure on Tumpiz and first to ingratiate himself with the Inhabitants he sent them by the hands of three Spaniards in quality of Ambassadours a Present of six hundred of their own Countreymen whom he had taken Captives in the Island of Puna in expectation by such an atonement and piece of generosity to gain peace and
that brought it and detained them Prisoners saying That to the Marquis and not to him they ought to notifie their instructions not being authorized or empowred to act any thing without his Orders And though Garçilasso de la Vega Peralvarez Holguin Gomez de Tordoya and other principal Officers were of opinion that they ought to be set free and liberty given them to intimate their Message to the Marquis himself for that in all parts of the World even amongst the most barbarous Nations the Persons of Ambassadours were always privileged and freed from Molestations and Arrests whatsoever That this course would serve to augment and enflame the heats of passion which were kindled between the Governours rather than to allay and appease them That it was a hard case that those who had gained that Empire and were in hopes to enjoy the fruits of their labours in peace and quietness should now quarrel and kill each other when they came to share and divide the prey That he should consider with what infamy the relation of this Story would be received in the World when it should come to be known that on the force of particular interests a civil and intestine War was begun amongst them But Alonso de Alvarado being far from being moved by these reasons adhered to his own opinion incited by a natural obstinacy to the great discontentment of his people who were desirous to enjoy the Riches of Peru in peace and in an amicable correspondence which they had acquired at the cost and expence of much bloud and of incessant labours and turmoils full of danger CHAP. XXXIV The Battel of the River Amancay and the Imprisonment of Alonso de Alvarado and his Souldiers NOT long after the Ambassadours were departed from Cozco Almagro followed them out of the City and finding that they did not return in their due time he retired again to the City where he remained with some trouble and anxiety of mind suspecting the evil which had befallen them for he was very sensible both that Alonso de Alvarado had much a better Army than his and that he was not well assured of the fidelity of the people with him of which many had belonged to Hernando Piçarro and might probably change the side and colours at the appearance of the Enemy for which reason it was not judged convenient to carry them into the Field with them And moreover he believed that there could be no good designs towards him in regard that a detention or seizure had been made of his Messengers Whilst Almagro was thus divided in his thoughts and fears he received a Letter from Captain Pedro de Lerma who as we have said before being much disgusted with the Marquis and judging this to be a convenient opportunity to revenge himself gave intimation to Almagro of his own just resentments on score of the unhandsome usage he had received from Piçarro and hereunto adding the perfidious treatment exercised towards his Ambassadours which was a barbarous Act and disowned by the greatest part of his people he invited him to advance against the Forces under the Command of Alvarado assuring him that upon his appearance above a hundred of his friends would join with him and secure him of happy success with much facility and honour and that he doubted not but to bring over the whole party to his side and interest being entirely dissatisfied with the proceedings of Alvarado their Captain Upon these Advices Diego de Almagro in the space of fifteen Days fitted and provided himself with all matters necessary for this Enterprise and departed from Cozco in search of Alonso de Alvarado and in his way he took Alvarez Holguin who was sent out upon a party to make discovery and learn something of the proceedings of Almagro but was betrayed by his own Men who had been suborned and instructed by Pedro de Lerma as also the greatest number of those who remained were engaged in the Conspiracy So soon as Alonso de Alvarado was informed that Alvarez Holguin was taken he suspected Pedro de Lerma and would have seized him for as Gomara saith he had uttered some suspicious words as that he was of Burgos and was well acquainted with the humour of Alvarado but Pedro de Lerma being advised of the secret intentions of Alvarado towards him escaped away with several friends in a kind of open manner for such was the affection and interest he had with the Souldiery that had he had onely four Days time to have worked his designs he had carried the whole Army with him And now to accomplish his Plot he counselled Almagro to make all speed and haste possible for that his Victory consisted in expedition of which he might be well assured for that he had already secured the Affections of the people towards him And as to the Rules which were to be observed in the management of this affair he directed him the manner how the time when and the place where he was to assault him the time was to be at Night when Darkness covers the guilt of Traytours and he in Person was their guide to the Bridge where many of the Conspiratours were attending in expectation of them and the Horse were ordered to pass the River which was not so deep but that they might foard or wade it over without danger Having these Hopes and Expectations of Victory they marched forward on the other side the Captains and Officers of Alvarado issued out Orders for the Fight and for Defence but were not obeyed for it was night and most of them engaged in the Conspiracy the Horsemen pretended that their Lances were stoln from them and cast into the River the Infantry complained that their Muskets Cross-bows and Pikes were hidden and laid aside so that none obeyed the Command of their Captains but every one was in confusion and followed his own Fancy Those that were appointed to defend the River and secure the Bridge instead of repulsing the Enemy directed them where they might pass with most ease and security and in regard it was night so that the Almagrians could not discover the fordable places the Party on the other side directed and guided them over and those at the Bridge invited and assured them that they might pass without fear By these means Don Diego de Almagro obtained a Victory and took Alonso de Alvarado Garcilasso de la Vega Gomez de Tordoya and Captain Villalva Prisoners with other Captains and Officers of the Army with about an hundred common Souldiers who refused to enter into the Conspiracy all which was performed without the loss of one Man either killed or wounded on either side onely Rodrigo de Orgonnos paid for all having his Teeth beaten out by an unlucky Stone thrown at randome from a sling no Man knows how nor from whence it came Thus Almagro and his Souldiers returned victorious and triumphant unto Cozco giving out Words of Scorn and Contempt against the Piçarros as that they
inconveniencies of the Mountains that they were in no condition to make resistence Wherefore the Marquis hastned into the Plains and Almagro unto Cozco c Thus far Carate Almagro in the instructions given to his General ordered him not to fight but upon constraint for these two Governours had always inclinations to agree and not drive matters to the extremity of a breach as may be observed ever since their meeting at Cozco before Almagro departed for Chili when between themselves all the flames of difference were extinguished the like passed at Malla where as both the Historians agree they chearfully embraced each other with all the kindness and affection imaginable and discoursed of indifferent matters with pleasure and delight And this good correspondence continued untill wicked Incendiaries interposed who representing every action with an evil face incited and precipitated them to such destructive resolutions as were afterwards fatal and ruinous to them both Nor did these pernicious Counsellours reap any benefit thereby unto themselves but being involved in the same calamities were ensnared as is usual in their own devices But to proceed Carate in the 11th Chapter of his third Book hath these Words The Marquis remaining with his whole Army in the Plains just upon the turn of the Mountain he found that there was a great diversity of opinions amongst his Officers concerning the manner and way that they were to proceed at length it was resolved That Hernando Piçarro in quality of Lieutenant-General should march with the Army unto Cozco and that his Brother Gonçalo should be Commander in Chief and that being arrived there he should declare that his intention and design of that Expedition was in compliance with Justice to restore those Citizens to their Estates and Commands over the Indians who had been deprived and banished from thence by the force and usurpation of Almagro In this manner the Army proceeding on their march towards Cozco and the Marquis returning to the City of los Reyes Hernando Piçarro came at length near to Cozco where the Officers advised as most convenient to pitch their Camp in the Plains for that Night but Hernando was of a contrary opinion and would Quarter within the Mountain So soon as it was Day Orgonnos appeared in the Field with the Forces of Almagro drawn up in Battalia His Captains of Horse were Francis de Chaves John Tello Vincent de Guevara or rather Vasco de Guevara and Francis de Chaves was elder Brother to another of the same name who was an intimate and familiar friend to the Marquis On the side of the Mountain some Spaniards were drawn up with a great number of Indians who at that time served for Auxiliaries All the Friends and Servants of the Marquis who were Prisoners at Cozco were crouded into two Angles of the Fortress which being a Prison so strait as could not contain the number of the people some of them were pressed and crouded to death in the place The next Day in the Morning after Mass Gonçalo Piçarro with his Army descended into the Plain where they disposed their Troops into several Battalions and in that order marched towards the City intending to draw up his Men upon a Hill which over-topped the Castle upon supposition that Almagro discovering his force would scarce adventure to give him Battel which he desired to avoid knowing how much depended on the success thereof but Rodrigo Orgonnos having no such thoughts attended his coming in the open way with his Army and Artillery c. Thus far are the Words of Carate which are confirmed by Lopez de Gomara To which we shall add some things which these Authours have omitted and are worthy to be remembred and may serve for the more clear understanding of this History And as to the first which was the place where the Battel was fought we say it was an errour of those who relate it to have been on the Hill which over-looks the Fortress For certainly the Engagement was in that Plain which the Indians call Cachipampa which signifies the Field of Salt and is situate about a League distant to the Southward from the Fortress near to a pleasant Fountain of saltish Water of which the Inhabitants of the City and parts adjacent bringing the streams into several Salt-pans make great abundance of Salt And these Works of Salt lying between the City and the place-where the Fight was they called it the Battel of the Salinas Orgonnos drew up his Men into Battalia with intention to dye with his Sword in his hand And though the Enemy was much more strong than his Army both in Men and Arms yet having been a Souldier in Italy where he had seen much service and had vanquished in a single Combat a Cavalier who was a famous Commander he did not in the least droop in his courage or shew any inconstancy or fear of mind And being a stout Souldier he something resented and was heartily piqued at a Message which Hernando Piçarro had sent him two Days before because it appeared something like a challenge being to give him notice that he and a certain Companion would enter the Battel on Horse-back armed with Coats of Male over which they would wear a slashed Coat of Orange-coloured Velvet of which he thought fit to give him notice that in case he or any other had an intention to engage with him he might distinguish him by those Signals This Message Hernando was induced to send on the score of some Indignities which he remembred and resented ever since the time of his Imprisonment Orgonnos taking this for a challenge called Captain Pedro de Lerma to him whom he knew to be an Enemy to the Piçarros and one who ever since the business at Amancay had excluded himself from all possibility of reconciliation with them and told him saying Our Enemy is so confident of his Force that he already triumphs for his Victory giving us the signs by which we may know his Person Now in regard our Army is inferiour to his in Number though superiour in Courage and Bravery so that we have little hopes to subdue him howsoever let us at least ravish the enjoyment of Victory out of his hands nor suffer him whatsoever comes of it to see that joyfull day They are as they say two Companions so and so habited Let you and I Encounter them with such resolution as that they may be slain by our hands so shall we wipe off this affront and not dye unrevenged With this resolution they prepared themselves for the Battel which shortly ensued with great effusion of bloud and cruelty as will appear in the Chapters following CHAP. XXXVII Of the bloudy Battel of the Salinas ROdrigo Orgonnos to perform the part of a good Souldier put his Forces the next Morning very early into order of Battel his Infantry he reduced to one Battalion supported on each Wing by his Harquebusiers which were few in number and much less than those on
Quitu writes to the Governour offering his Person and his People to serve him The Governour 's Answer thereunto and what Conditions the Governour offered to Don Diego de Almagro GOnzalo Piçarro and his Captains and Souldiers received the relief which was brought them with gratefull acknowledgment But whereas they perceived that the Garments which were provided were onely sufficient to cloath the Chief Commanders they refused to accept them or as Carate saith in the 5th Chapter of the fourth Book to change their Habits or mount on Horse-back enduring and suffering equally with their common Souldiers and so in this manner which we have mentioned they entred one morning into the City of Quitu and went directly to the Church to hear Mass and to return thanks to Almighty God who had delivered them out of so many and so great miseries Thus far is the Relation given by Carate to which may be added what I have understood from the testimony of those who were Eye-witnesses of what farther passed in this matter which was this The twelve persons which brought the Presents to Gonzalo Piçarro perceiving that neither he nor his Captains would accept of the Cloths which were brought them nor yet make use of their Horses but chose to enter the City bare-footed and naked they agreed all to put themselves in the same guise and fashion to participate of the Honour Fame and Glory which these persons had acquired by their patience and sufferings by which they had overcome so many and such immense labours the City applauded their Ambassadours for their conformity thereunto in which manner after the Entry was made and Mass was said the people congratulated the Arrival of Piçarro with all the joy they were able to express but yet attempered with some grief and pity to see them in that lamentable condition This Entry was made about the beginning of June in the year 1542 having spent in this Enterprize two years and a halfs time though a certain Authour by mistake says that they were not more than a year and half both in their going out and in their return home During the time that they remained in the City every one provided for himself the best he was able And Gonzalo Piçarro receiving informations of what had passed since his departure was given to understand what Revolutions had lately happened namely the Death of his Brother the Marquis the Insurrection of Don Diego de Almagro his disobedience and rebellion against his Majesty the Arrival of Doctor Vaca de Castro for Governour of that Empire and that he was then on his march against Almagro with an Army in which all the friends and party of his Brother the Marquis wer joyned All which being considered by Gonzalo Piçarro he thought it not fit for him to be backward in that Service to his Majesty in which all those Gentlemen who had been his Comrades and Companions had been engaged Wherefore he wrote to the Governour giving him a relation of the Hardships he had sustained and suffered in his Journey and lastly made tender of his Person and People to serve him in quality of Souldiers under his Command In answer whereunto the Governour assured him of his kind acceptance of the good will and affection which he demonstrated to his Majesty's Service and returned him thanks for the assistence he had offered both by his own Person and with those Forces which had so long been trained up in Military Discipline and inured to the Sufferings and Hardships of War. Howsoever he intreated him as from himself and required him in his Majesty's Name to continue still in Quitu and there to refresh himself after the miseries he had sustained untill such time as he should by Orders from him be employed on those affairs which may best conduce to his Majesty's Service It was not for want of good assurance which the Governour conceived of the Loyalty of Gonzalo Piçarro that he enjoyned him to remain in the parts where he was untill farther Orders but because he hoped not to need his assistence in regard his design was to bring matters between him and Almagro to some conditions of Accommodation which he believed to be the much more prudent course for considering that the Animosities were very high and inveterate between the two parties it would necessarily follow that the Battel would be fought with much obstinacy and end with great effusion of bloud and therefore to avoid such mortality and destruction he endeavoured to make a right and good understanding between himself and Almagro The Governour also farther conceived that in case Gonzalo Piçarro were actually present in the Army that the peace with Almagro would be effected with much more difficulty and give Almagro occasion of jealousie and distrust and fear to put himself into the hands of the Governour lest Piçarro should machinate or plot any secret revenge against him of which he was the more apprehensive when he considered the great interest which Piçarro had made in the Army This certainly was the true intention and meaning of the Governour but other ill-natured and malitious Men put him farther in the head that the presence of Piçarro in the Army was not to be admitted on other scores lest the Souldiery which had conceived a great affection to him for his Prowess and Valour and experience in Military affairs should by common consent make choice of him for their General In obedience to the Governour 's Command Gonzalo Piçarro remained in Quitu untill the end of the War. Moreover the Governour gave order to those who had the care and tuition of the Sons of the Marquis and of Gonzalo Piçarro that they should still continue their residence in the Cities of St. Michael and Truxillo and not to remove them to los Reyes untill they should receive other instructions declaring that they were much more secure at that distance than nearer hand though some discontented Men interpreted this Order to be a design he had to estrange himself from them and to proceed from a principle of jealousie he conceived of them though as yet they were but Children Matters being thus disposed as we have said the Governour marched towards Huamanca upon a report that Almagro was come near to that City and that his design was to possess and fortifie it because it was esteemed a place naturally strong being environed on all sides with broken cliffs and inaccessible ways Wherefore he dispeeded Captain Castro before with his Company of Harquebusiers to take possession of a craggy Hill which lyes in the way which the Indians call Farcu and the Spaniards Parcos But whilst he was in his march thither he received intelligence that Almagro had already entred and taken possession of the City which troubled the Governour very much considering the disadvantage he received thereby and that a great part of his own Forces were not as yet come up but marched slowly and in several parties Hereupon he dispatched Alonso de
matter being over they began to contrive the manner how Hernando Bachicao might be dispatched away as was agreed for which there now happened an opportunity by the arrival of a Bregantine from Arequepa which being freighted for this purpose and armed with some of the Cannon which Gonçalo Piçarro brought from Cozco Bachicao embarked thereupon and with him Doctour Texada and Francisco Maldonado with about sixty Musquetiers who offered themselves voluntarily on that voiage And thus coasting along the shoar upon information that the Vice-king was at Tumbez he arrived early one morning in that Port where being espyed by some people belonging to the Vice-king an Allarum was presently given that Gonçalo Piçarro with a strong force was coming by Sea which put them all into that affrightment and consternation that the Vice-king with all his force consisting of about a hundred and fifty men fled away to Quitu but some of them remained behind to receive Bachicao who took two Ships which he sound in the Port and with them sailed to Puerto Viejo where and in other parts he raised about a hundred and fifty men whom he embarked aboard his Ships but the Vice-king without other stop or stay hastened to Quitu Thus far Augustine Carate who hath made clear several Passages which were confused and obscure in other Writers But now to return to the Ingot of Gold which Francisco Carvajal received It is certain that he made a Trade of such Bribes as these where the Accusation was false and then he would suspend the Execution of the Sentence untill means were made with Gonçalo Piçarro for a Pardon and in this manner he got great sums of money but in case the crime objected were true than nothing could prevail with him neither Presents nor Intreaties to delay the speedy execution of Justice for he was zealous and faithfull to his Party both in punishment of Enemies and in the good treatment and reward of Friends and Abettours of his Cause but Historians give him the Character of a most covetous and cruel person 't is true he had both one and the other in his nature but not in so high degree as is reported for though he was guilty of great effusions of bloud yet it was for the advancement and security of his own party which he acted in pursuance of his Office being a Captain and a chief field Officer of which hereafter in prosecution of this History we shall give some instances of my own knowledge and shall make some remarks upon the behaviour of several Captains of Piçarro's party which I received from the report of those who were familiarly acquainted with their actions and persons We have mentioned before how Licenciado Alvarez procured the Liberty of the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela and how another Ship joined with them whereon his brother Vela Nunnez was embarked and that they sailed together to the Port of Tumpiz where they landed and erected a Court of Justice for that as the Historians say he had a clause in his Commission that he might hold a Court with assistance of one Judge or Co-assessour with him by virtue whereof they dispatched several Warrants Orders and Manifests into divers parts setting forth in the Preamble thereunto a relation of his imprisonment and of his escape as likewise of the coming of Gançalo Piçarro to Los Reyes with all other particulars which had happened untill that time and in fine concluded that all his Majesty's loving and loyal Subjects should come in and partake in this cause In pursuance hereof he sent divers Captains to Puerto Viejo to raise men as also to Saint Michael and Truxillo and upon the same errand Captain Jeronimo de Prereyra was sent as far as Pacamuru which the Spaniards call Bracamoros And moreover he directed his Warrants over all the Countrey to bring in Provisions and all the Gold and Silver which was found in the Exchequer for that his Majesty's service required to have it employed against so many Enemies who were in rebellion against him but in regard that in all the Cities and places to which those Commands were sent there were different parties and men stood variously affected some whereof went to Piçarro others to fly from him and not to join with his faction betook themselves to the mountains and by secret and by-ways came at-length to the Vice-king equipped with Arms Horses and Provisions according to every man's ability which much rejoiced and comforted the Vice-king to see the affection of the people to him in the time of his distress but this satisfaction continued not long for as ill fortune would have it he was forced by Hernando Bachicao to retire into the In-land parts of the Countrey by which means his Friends left him and he himself sustained great inconveniences and hardships untill the time of his death as we shall see in its due place Gonçalo Piçarro having intelligence that the Vice-king was in Tumpiz he thought it not convenient or safe to suffer him to rest there and therefore sent some Captains with their forces to disturb him and cause him to remove his quarters from thence The Orders and Warrants which the Vice-king issued forth were for the most part betrayed into the hands of Piçarro being brought to him by those with whom they were intrusted by means of which Piçarro received intelligence of all the designs of the Vice-king which to prevent he dispatched his Captains Jeronimo de Villegas Gonçalo Diaz and Hernando de Alvarado to scoure all the Coast along to the Northward and intercept the people who were going to join themselves with the Vice-king and thereby he suppressed the forces of the Vice-king before they could get head and overcame them without a Battel CHAP. XXIII Of the Actions performed by Bachicao in Panama Licenciado Vaca de Castro comes to Spain where an end is put to all his negotiations The Vice-king retires to Quitu HErnando Bachicao as we have said having surprized two Ships belonging to the Vice-king and forced him to retire into the In-land parts of the Countrey he pursued his Voiage to the Port of Panama and in his way he met with two or three other Ships but whose they were and with what they were laden for brevity sake we shall omit to mention and because Fernandez Palentino in the twenty ninth Chapter of his Book makes a long Discourse thereupon we shall refer our selves to him and onely say that he took those Ships with him and sailed from Port to Port of which there are many in those Seas taking refreshments at his pleasure without fear or apprehension of any Enemies when he arrived at the Islands of Pearles which are about twenty Leagues distant from Panama whereof so soon as the Inhabitants had notice as Augustine Carate saith in the sixteenth Chapter of his Book they sent two of their Citizens to know of him with what intension and design he came thither requiring him not to enter with his Souldiers within the
Serna and Gaspar Gil who were two Captains of his kept a private correspondence with Piçarro he caused them to be run through with a Lance though it is said for certain that they were not guilty at least Piçarro never received Letters from them and about the same time also and upon the like suspicion he caused Rodrigo de Ocampo to be stabbed with a Dagger though he was innocent of that Treason of which he was suspected and in reality deserved highly from him having adhered faithfully to him in all his Troubles And being come to Quitu he gave Orders to Licenciado Alvarez to hang up Gomez Estacio and Alvaro de Carvajal who were Citizens of Guayaquil pretending that they had a Conspiracy to take away his life c. Thus far Gomara This great effusion of Bloud and Slaughter gave much cause of offence to the people of Peru who every where spoke against the Vice-king and his Cause saying that he was not a man to be dealt with who thus upon every light occasion or the least suspicion could put men to death and therefore many fell off from his party and denyed him the assistence they otherwise designed him for fear of incurring the like fate with others But now leaving the Vice-king in Quitu and Gonçalo Piçarro in pursuit of him we shall relate the successes of those Affairs which passed in the Kingdom of Quitu with what happened in the Province of the Charcas which are Countreys above seven hundred Leagues distant each from the other and are the utmost confines of Peru which is wonderfull to consider that these quarrels should extend so far as to influence Affairs at so far a distance CHAP. XXVII The death of Francisco de Almendras The Insurrection of Diego Centeno The Opposition which Alonso de Toro made against it and the defeat he gave him WE have already mentioned how that many of the Inhabitants of the City of Plate whom the Vice-king had summoned to come in to his assistence were actually on their way to him but hearing of his Imprisonment they returned to their own homes We have also said That Gonçalo Piçarro had sent Francisco de Almendras with Commission to be his Deputy knowing him to be a person truely zealous and affectionate to his Cause and indeed he shewed himself really so to be for having information that a principal Gentleman of that place called Don Gomez de Luna should say in his house that it was impossible but that one day the Emperour would reign in Peru he presently took him and clapt him up in the common prison with a strong Guard upon him but the Corporation of the City made several Addresses in his behalf which were rejected by Francisco de Almendras with some kind of ill language which a certain person taking notice of boldly replyed that if he would not release him they would at which Almendras though highly offended concealed his displeasure for a while and at midnight went in person to the prison and there strangled Don Gomez and drawing his body to the Market-place cut off his Head and there left the Corpse The Inhabitants were so greatly offended hereat as Carate in the 5th Chap. of his 20th Book relates that the sense thereof was general and esteemed to be a common concernment and particularly one called Diego Centeno who was a Native of the City Rodrigo took it much to heart having had a particular friendship for Gomez And though this Centeno followed the party of Piçarro when he made his first Insurrection and followed him from Cozco to Los Reyes having great interest in the Army and a Plenipotentiary for the Province of the Charcas yet afterwards discovering the evil designs and intentions of Piçarro he obtained leave from him to return to his own estate and his Command over Indians where he quietly resided untill such time as this unhappy death of Gomez fell out which first moved him to use the best means he was able to free the Lives and Estates of that people from the oppression and tyranny of Francisco de Almendras in order whereunto he communicated his design to the principal Inhabitants of that Countrey namely Lope de Mendoça Alonso Perez de Esquivel Alonso de Camargo Hernan Nunnez de Sagura Lope de Mendiera John Ortiz de Carate his Brother with other persons in whom he reposed a confidence who being assembled together they agreed that the onely way was to kill Francisco de Almendras which accordingly they put in execution one Sunday morning at his own house stabbing him in divers places just as he was going forth to hear Mass and being not quite dead they drew him out into the Market-place and there cut off his Head. Not was there much fear that any great tumult would follow hereupon amongst the people because Almendras was generally hated and ill spoken of in all parts In his place Diego Centeno was named Captain General who also gave Commissions to several other Captains both of Horse and Foot and with great diligence raised Men and provided Arms and other things necessary for War and to hinder all intelligence from coming to the Enemy he set Watches and Guards upon the ways And moreover he sent Lope de Mendoça to Arequepa to seize if possible upon Pedro de Fuentes who remained there with Character of Lieutenant Governour to Gonçalo Piçarro but this matter was not carried so covertly but de Fuentes received timely Advices thereof by means of the Indians who were in the Charcas upon which he abandoned the City and Lope de Mendoça entred therein and possessed himself of the People Arms Horses with what Money he could find and so he returned to joyn with Diego Centeno who was then at the Villa de Plata and there they made up a Body of two hundred and fifty Men well armed and appointed in all respects And being now assembled together Diego Centeno made them a long Discourse of all matters which had passed from the beginning of the Troubles untill that time he condemned the proceedings of Gonçalo Piçarro putting them in mind of the many Slaughters he was guilty and of the Bloud he spilt of those who pretended to doe service to the King and now by menaces and force of Arms he had caused himself to be styled Governour of that Empire and that he had possessed himself not onely of his Majesty's revenue but of the Estates of particular Men from whom he had taken away their Indian plantations and appropriated them to himself and that he had encouraged men to speak things in derogation of his Majesty's Authority to which he added many other things which he objected against Piçarro and in the conclusion he put them in mind of the duty which good Subjects ought to bear towards their Prince and the danger of denying their allegiance the which reasons Diego Centeno urged so home that the people unanimously agreed thereunto and frankly offered to follow his Commands in what enterprize
Men all old and veterane Souldiers well appointed and armed and fifty were left aboard for defence of their Ships And so he marched along the Coast being flanked with his Cannon carrying aboard the Boats belonging to the Ships much to the annoyance of the Enemy in case they should make an assault upon them He gave farther order aboard Ship that so soon as they should come to an Engagement that they should presently hang up Vela Nunnez and the other Prisoners which they had taken Pedro de Casaos seeing the resolution of Pedro de Hinojosa came out to meet him with intention either to overcome or dye and both Parties being come within Musquet shot each of other all the Clergy-men and Friars came out of the City carrying a Wood of Crosses before them which served for Banners and Colours and being all clad in mourning with sadness in their countenances cryed out with loud voices to Heaven and to the People for Peace and Concord amongst them saying Is it not a great shame and pity that you who are Christians and are come to preach the Gospel to Infidels should imbrue your hands in the bloud of each other to the common ruine and calamity of all These words being uttered with great out-cries and exclamations put both sides to a stand and to look each on the other untill the religious Troops interposed between both Parties and began to treat of a Truce and to create a right understanding Accordingly Hinojosa sent in his behalf Don Balthasar de Castilia Son of Count de Gomera and the People of Panama employed Don Pedro de Cabrera for their Agent both Natives of Seville It was pleaded in behalf of Hinojosa that no reason could be given why they should oppose his landing or free admittance into the City for that his message and business thither was to give satisfaction to the Inhabitants for the Tyrannies and Outrages which Bachicao had committed on them and to buy Cloths and Provisions of them for their Money and supply themselves with other necessaries for their Voyage That they had received strict Commands and Orders from Gonçalo Piçarro not to give them the least cause of offence nor to fight unless they were compelled thereunto And that so soon as they had made their provisions and re-fitted their Ships they would speedily depart in quest of the Vice-king and cause him to embark for Spain according to the Sentence which the Judges had given concerning him and thereby free the Countries from those fears and molestations which he had caused by rowling up and down in all quarters And in regard he was not in Panama they had no business which could detein them long there and therefore they entreated them not to force them to an engagement with them which according to the Command of Piçarro they would avoid by all means possible but in case they were forced to fight they would then doe their best not to be overcome On the other side it was alledged in behalf of the Governour Pedro de Casaos that his entry into their Countrey in that hostile manner could not be justified though it were given for granted that Gonçalo Piçarro had a right to the Government That Bachicao had given the same promises and made as fair pretences as he did and yet so soon as he had gotten possession he then committed all those spoils and murthers for which they pretend not to give satisfaction The Commissioners on both sides hearing these Allegations and being desirous to make an accommodation did agree that Hinojosa should be received ashoar and have free admittance and entertainment in the City for the space of thirty days with a guard of fifty Men for security of his person that his Fleet with the rest of his Souldiers should in the mean time sail to the Isles of Pearls and take with them Ship-carpenters and cut such Timber as should be usefull for repair of their Vessels and that at the end of thirty days they should return to Peru. These Articles being agreed unto by both Parties they were confirmed by Oath and Hostages given Pedro de Hinojosa accordingly came to the City with his fifty Men where he took a house and gave publick entertainment to all comers and goers and his People sported and treated friendly and familiarly with all the Inhabitants Augustine de Carate in the thirty second Chapter of his fifth Book saith for what we have farther to add in this matter is upon his Authority That three days had scarce passed before all those Souldiers who had been raised by the Captains John Guzman and John de Yllanez revolted for the most part to Hinojosa according to whose example the idle and vagrant persons of the City who were not Merchants and such as had no employment listed themselves Souldiers with Hinojosa intending for Peru so that the Captains of the Vice-king finding themselves forsaken by their men privately embarked with fourteen or fifteen men and sailed away In the mean time Hinojosa passed very peaceably without intermedling in the Government or matters of Justice or suffering his People to commit the least offence or give occasion of complaint to the People with these men he sent Don Pedro de Cabrera and Hernando Mexia de Guzman his Son-in-law to Nombre de Dios with Orders to keep that Port and intercept all Advices which should come as well from Spain as from other parts CHAP. XXXII Of the Actions of Melchior Verdugo in Truxillo Nicaragua and in Nombre de Dios and how he was forced to leave that City ABout the same time there happened an odd Accident in the City of Truxillo which gave great offence and raised the enmity and hatred of the People against the person who occasioned the same whose name was Melchior Verdugo to whom the Province of Cassamarca was appointed by lot a place famous for the imprisonment of the King Atahualpa and other remarkable Successes which have been mentioned before This person having been born in the City of Avila and Countrey-man to the Vice-king was desirous to signalize himself in doing something remarkable for his service the Vice-king before his imprisonment knowing of his Intensions gave him a large Commission to doe many things of high importance and particularly to destroy or dispeople the City of Los Reyes for which reason Melchior Verdugo and his adherents fell under the hatred and displeasure of Gonçalo Piçarro and of such as were of his Party Verdugo being informed hereof resolved to escape out of the Kingdom fearing to fall into the hands of Piçarro Howsoever being desirous to perform some Act extraordinary he engaged some Souldiers to him bought Arms secretly and made Musquet-shot Mannacles and Chains in his own house and so bold he was in his matters that his Neighbours and Companions were greatly offended thereat but fortune favoured his design for at that time a Ship arriving in the Port of Truxillo from Los Reyes he sent for the Master and
Cozco where he was gallant in his Habit and dressed up in Feathers as gay as a Peacock because every one respected him for his courage and bravery And here I must beg the Reader 's pardon for having descended thus far to trivial particulars having onely an intention hereby to confirm the truth of my Narrative by the Testimony of having been an Eye-witness to the foregoing Transactions CHAP. XXI The number of those who were killed and wounded on both sides with other particular Successes as also what was acted by Carvajal after the Battel THE escape of Guadramiros was after the Battel ended and after the Victory plainly appeared for Gonçalo Piçarro for on his side were slain about a hundred men of which seventy odd were Horsemen and about fifteen Foot besides those which were wounded amongst which were Captain Cepeda John de Acosta and Captain Diego Guillen On Centeno's side above three hundred and fifty were killed and amongst them their Major General and all the Captains of Foot with their Ensigns being the Flower of their Army and the choicest Men amongst them besides which Pedro de Los Rios Captain of Horse and Diego Alvarez who carried the Standard dyed on the place There were besides those that were slain three hundred and fifty wounded of which above an hundred and fifty dyed for want of able and experienced Chirurgeons and of Balsams Plasters and other Medicaments and the extreme colds of the Countrey contributed much thereunto for though that Countrey is within the Tropicks yet the Colds are often very intense by reason of the high Winds and lofty Mountains Gonçalo Piçarro followed the pursuit with seven or eight lamed Horses with which they entred the Tents of Centeno rather to own and publish the Victory than to offend the Enemy for as Gomara saith in Chapter 182. the Conquerours themselves were so ill treated that they were not able to pursue or offend the Enemy On one side where this Battel was fought in that great Plain was a long Bog or Marsh and about thirty or fourty paces broad but so shallow as would scarce serve to cover the Fetlocks of a Horse Before they came to this Bog one of Piçarro's Souldiers called to one of Centeno's whom he saw covered with bloud both he and his Horse Do you hear Sir said he Your Horse will fall presently at which saying Centeno's Souldier was much troubled because he trusted to make his escape by the goodness and strength of his Horse This person was Gonçalo Silvestre of whom we have formerly made mention and it was he from whom I received the Information of many of these Passages and he told me moreover that turning his face to the left-hand he saw Gonçalo Piçarro himself with some few of his men marching softly to Centeno's Tents crossing himself as he went and crying with a loud voice Jesus What a Victory is this Jesus What a Victory is this which he repeated many and many times A little before they came to the Bog a certain Souldier of Piçarro's side called Gonçalo de los Nidos overtook Gonçalo Silvestre whom Silvestre had a little before taken Prisoner and upon his asking Quarter and his Life he gave him his liberty without the least hurt done to him When Nidos knew that Silvestre was his Enemy he cryed out Kill that Traytor Kill that Traytor upon which Silvestre turned to him and calmly said Sir I beseech you let me alone to dye in peace for in the condition that I and my Horse are we cannot live many minutes without giving you the trouble to kill us No said he No Damne me Thou shalt dye by my hand Silvestre looking well upon him and finding him to be the man to whom he had newly given Quarter Good Sir said he be patient and use me with the like mercy that I shewed to you But Nidos roared out then louder and cryed Thou art the Rogue Damne me I am resolved for that very reason to kill thee and tear out thy Heart and throw it to the Dogs Silvestre told me that if this fellow had answered him in more moderate and civil terms he should certainly have yielded to be his Prisoner but finding him so ungratefull rude and barbarous he resolved to fight with him if his Horse were able to stand against him this discourse passed between them as they were wading over the Bog or Marsh which was no place for a Combat but so soon as they were over Silvestre spurred up his Horse to try his strength and mettle and finding him therewith to spring forward and answer the Spur as if he had received no hurt and throwing up his Head snorted out some of the bloud which issued from the wounds on his Nostrils on his Master's Clothes which when Silvestre perceived he rode away a gallop seeming to fly that he might draw the fellow farther from his Party accordingly Nidos pursued him crying out aloud The Traytor runs and The Coward runs but so soon as Silvestre had drawn him at a convenient distance from his Companions he returned upon him and gave him a stroke about the middle with a rusty Rapier which he had taken from a Neger in the Battel for he had broken the two Swords which he had brought with him that day into the Field for as the manner was for good Souldiers he came doubly armed that is with one Sword in the Scabbard by the side and another fastened to the Pommel of the Saddle Nidos was not wounded with the blow but onely being well affrighted ran away to his Party crying out They kill me They kill me for Cowards are always more valiant with their Tongues than with their hands Gonçalo Piçarro being an Eye-witness himself of whâ—â— had passed and of the Bravery of Silvestre sent Alonso de Herrera after him to persuade him with good words and fair terms to come in and yield that he might doe him honour and reward him for his Gallantry and Valour Alonso de Herrera hastened what he could after him but his Horse was so wounded that he could not put him out of his Trot and soon afterwards he dyed of his Wounds howsoever Herrera called after him to return swearing that if he would come back his Master the Governour would doe him more honour in one day than he should receive from the King in all the days of his life but Gonçalo Silvestre returned him no answer but spurred up his Horse and went away This Story I have heard from those of Piçarro's Party and likewise from Silvestre himself and on the report of both sides I relate it here Gonçalo Piçarro in pursuance of his Victory thought not fit to enter Centeno's Camp having understood that his Souldiers were in it already and were plundering the Tents in great heat and sury wherefore returning to his own Camp he found it had also been pillaged by Centeno's Souldiers at the time when they thought the Victory was theirs and that they had taken
had not served Ramon the same Trick that Ramon had plaid upon him offered to join with him and declare for his Majesty but his proposal was rejected because Ramon was resolved to appropriate all the merit to himself Don Garcia and his Comrades finding themselves in this destitute and forlorn condition resolved to return to Don Sebastian de Castilla and on the road they dispatched away a Souldier called Rodrigo de Arevalo with the News who made such expedition as Palentino saith that he arrived in the City that night about nine a clock being the eleventh of March which being the hour when the Souldiers were drawn up in the Market-place and discoursed and conversed together they saw Arevalo coming a-foot with a melancholy and dejected countenance at which sight they all flocked about him to hear the News as did also Don Sebastian who was not the least concerned therein Don Sebastian having understood the News called a Council of those whom he esteemed his most assured and intimate Friends namely Vasco Godinez Baltasar Velazquez and Tello de Vega and demanded their advice and sense upon the present Emergency but they being all divided in their opinions Vasco Godinez who had been the most active Man in this Rebellion as he himself had confessed took Don Sebastian aside and apart from the rest and told him plainly that if he would secure his Party and make good his Cause he must immediately kill eighteen or twenty Men who were then actually in the Market-place being notoriously known to be affected to the King's party who being taken off there would be none remaining besides Friends and such as he might confide and trust himself with and that nothing then could stand in his way to oppose the attainment of his ultimate desires Don Sebastian of whom we have formerly given the character of a Noble and generous nature answered him what have these Gentlemen done to me that I should kill them and commit an outrage so bloudy and unparalleled as this If it be necessary for the success of my designs to kill these men I would rather be unfortunate and suffer them to kill me than draw such guilt upon my self No sooner had Godinez heard this saying and understood the sense of Don Sebastian than he resolved at the same moment to kill him since he would not assent to the death of those whom he proscribed for enemies and then he said to him Sir Pray expect me awhile here and I will return to you again presently having said this he went into the Market-place where the Souldiers were still remaining and seeking amongst the croud for those whom he had named and proscribed to be killed he found them divided in several parties and because he could not speak privately to them by reason of the company then present he took them one by one singly by the hand and squeezed them hard three or four times which was the token given them to prepare and assist him in the Treason which he was going to act Having done this he returned to the house and in his way thither he met with Gomez Hernandez to whom in a few words he communicated his Design which he said tended to the publick good and which would undoubtedly be well accepted by his Majesty as a piece of great and glorious service and that therefore he should call such to his assistence as he knew would favour this enterprise Gomez Hernandez went accordingly into the Market-place and called some of them by their names but men were timorous and fearfull to engage in the Design Whereupon Gomez Hernandez returned alone and entered with Basco Godinez into the room where Don Sebastian remained and both immediately closed in with him and gave him many Stabbs with their Daggers and though he wore a Coat of Mail yet they made a shift to wound him through it Baltasar Velazquez who was present at the beginning of the Scuffle gave a Screek and retired back upon the sudden surprize but perceiving that their intent was to kill him he came also to their assistence and gave him several Stabbs that he might gain a share with them in the merit of that action another also stroke him with a Halbert which he wielded about without respect to any by which some of his Friends standing by were wounded as Palentino affirms Chap. 16. but notwithstanding all this Don Sebastian got from amongst them with many Wounds and crept into a dark room and endeavoured to escape out at the back door into the Market-place which if he had done it had caused great slaughter and effusion of bloud Baltasar Velazquez and four or five others followed him into the dark room but durst not search after him with their Weapons for fear of wounding one another and in the mean time Velazquez advised them to carry the News into the Market-place and to declare his Death that so his Friends might not attempt to succour him and told them that he would stay behind to dispatch and make a final end of him thus whilst every one did his part Velazquez had found Don Sebastian and gave him many more Wounds both in his Head and Neck and then the poor Gentleman cried out for a Confessour untill his voice failed him then Velazquez left him and went to seek for help to drag him out to the Souldiers and to that purpose he called Diego de Analos and Gomez Hernandez but when they came to the place where he was they found he had crept to the door of his Chamber where he lay extended and panting and then they redoubled their stroaks untill he expired his last breath which was about ten a Clock at night in this bustle Vasco Godinez received a slight wound in his right hand Then they drew out the dead Body of Don Sebastian amongst the Souldiers crying out before it God save the King the Tyrant is dead Vasco Godinez was the most forward of any to proclaim this action God save the King said he the Tyrant is dead and I killed him though it is most certain that there was not one of these Assassinates who was not a greater Rebel Tyrant and Traitour than this Gentleman which they shewed and evidenced to the world when they became Ministers of Justice and under that name perpetrated the most bloudy and horrid Villanies in the world Thus far Diego Hernandez in the Chapter aforesaid CHAP. XXVI The choice of Officers both civil and military Vasco Godinez is declared General The death of Don Garcia and others without admitting them time to confess THUS this poor Gentleman Don Sebastian de Castilla being assassinated by those who had persuaded him and as it were forced him to kill the General Pedro de Hinojosa then Governour these good and godly men now made themselves Judges and erected a Court of Justice to try those who had been the Murtherers of the Governour supposing thereby to gain favour and credit and render themselves faithfull and loyal Subjects to his
as well Spaniards as Indians who were inwardly affected with such passionate expressions Upon Notice of this Sentence the Friers of the City of Cozco flocked to the Prison to instruct the Prince in the Christian Doctrine and to perswade him to be Baptized after the example of his Brother Don Diego Sayri Tupac and his Uncle Atahualpa The Prince readily accepted of the offer to be Baptized and told them that he was glad to obtain the benefit of the Christian Ordinances upon the Testimony and Authority of his Grand-father Huayna Capac who declared That the Law which the Christians taught them was better than their own and being by Baptisme received into the Church of Christ he would be called Philip after the name as he said of his Inca and King Don Philip of Spain But this Function was performed with as much Sadness and Sorrow as that of his Brother 's was celebrated with Joy and Triumph as before declared Though this Sentence against the Prince was published every where and that all we have said and much more appeared which we for brevity sake omit which might perswade the World that the same would be executed yet the Spaniards of the City as well Seculars as Religious were of Opinion that the Vice-King would not proceed to an Act so unhumane and barbarous as to kill a poor Prince deposed and dis-inherited of his Empire which could never be pleasing and acceptable to King Philip whose Clemency would rather have ordered his Transportation into Spain than passed this Condemnation of him to death which he had never deserved But the Vice-King it seems was of another Opinion as we shall see presently in the following Chapter CHAP. XIX The Sentence is executed upon the Prince The endeavours used to prevent it The Vice-King refuses to hearken thereunto With what Courage the Inca received the stroak of Death THE Vice-King resolving to execute his Sentence which he believed to be for the Safety and Security of the Empire caused a Scaffold to be raised in the chief place of the City This was so new and strange a resolution to all People that the Gentlemen Friers and other grave Persons were so concerned for it that they met together and drew up a Petition to the Vice-King representing to him the Barbarity of the Fact which would be scandalous to the World and disapproved by his Majesty That it would be much better to send him into Spain for tho' Banishment be a lingering Torment yet it is a token of Clemency much rather than the Sentence of a speedy Death a Petition being drawn up to this effect with design to be delivered with all the supplication and intercession in behalf of the Prince the Vice-King who had his spyes abroad and by them was informed of the Petition which was preparing with the Subscription of many hands thereunto resolving not to be troubled with such Importunities gave Order to have the Gates of the Court shut and no Man suffered to come to him upon pain of Death And then immediately he issued out a Warrant to have the Inca brought forth and his Head cut off without farther delay that so the disturbance of the Town might be appeased by a speedy execution whereas by giving time a Combustion might be raised and the Prince rescued out of his hands Accordingly the poor Prince was brought out of the Prison and mounted on a Mule with his hands tyed and a Halter about his Neck with a Cryer before him publishing and declaring that he was a Rebel and a Traytor against the Crown of his Catholick Majesty The Prince not understanding the Spanish Language asked of one of the Friers who went with him what it was that the Cryer said And when it was told him that he proclaimed him an Auca which was a Traytor against the King his Lord which when he heard he caused the Cryer to be called to him and desired him to forbear to publish such horrible Lyes which he knew to be so for that he never committed any act of Treason nor ever had it in his Imaginations as the World very well knew But says he tell them that they kill me without other cause than only that the Vice-King will have it so and I call God the Pachacamac of all to witness that what I say is nothing but the Truth After which the Officers of Justice proceeded forward to the place of Execution As they were entering into the Chief Place they were met by great numbers of women of all Ages amongst which were several of the Blood Royal with the wives and daughters of the Caciques who lived in places adjacent to the City all which cryed out with loud Exclamations and cryes accompanied with a flood of Tears saying Wherefore Inca do they carry thee to have thy Head cut off What Crimes what Treasons hast thou committed to deserve this usage Desire the Executioner to put us to Death together with thee who are thine by Blood and Nature and should be much more contented and happy to accompany thee into the other World than to live here Slaves and Servants to the Will and Lust of thy Murderers The noise and outcry was so great that it was feared lest some insurrection and out-rage should ensue amongst such a Multitude of People then gathered together which was so great that with those who filled the two Places and the Streets leading thereunto and who were in Balconies and looking out at Windows they could not be counted for less than 300 thousand Souls This combustion caused the Officers to hasten their way unto the Scaffold where being come the Prince walked up the Stairs with the Friers who assisted at his Death and followed by the Executioner with his Faulchion or broad Sword drawn in his hand And now the Indians seeing their Prince just upon the brink of Death lamented with such groans and out-cries as rent the Air and filled the place with such noise that nothing else could be heard Wherefore the Priests who were discoursing with the Prince desired him that he would command the People to be silent whereupon the Inca lifting up his right Arm with the Palm of his hand open pointed it towards the place from whence the noise came and then loured it by little and little until he came to rest it on his right thigh Which when the Indians observed their Murmur calmed and so great a silence ensued as if there had not been one Soul alive within the whole City The Spaniards and the Vice-King who was then at a Window observing these several passages wondred much to see the obedience which the Indians in all their passion shewed to their dying Inca who received the stroke of death with that undaunted Courage as the Incas and Indian Nobles did usually shew when they fell into the hands of their Enemies and were unhumanely butchered and cruelly treated by them as may appear in our History of Florida and other Wars which were carried on