their milk they learned to pronounce the Name of God on no other occasion than of Prayers and Praises to him But whilst Gonçalo Piçarro was solemnizing the Festival appointed in honour to his new Title of Governour he did not forget his dependence on Spain and therefore proposed first to his Captains and Friends in private and afterwards publickly to the Citizens of Los Reyes that it was necessary to send Messengers to his Majesty to render an account of all that happened unto that time beseeching his Majesty in behalf of that whole Empire to confer the Government thereof upon Gonçalo Piçarro representing it as a matter much conducing to the service of his Majesty and to the common peace and tranquillity both of Indians and Spaniards And moreover that Piçarro should dispatch a private Agent as from himself who should lay before his Majesty the many services and labours which he had sustained for the enlargement of the dominions of Spain in those parts this Proposal was approved by the common consent of all and generally the World was of opinion that a Proposition of this nature tending so much to the welfare of the people to the increase of his Majesty's revenue and enrichment of his Subjects would not be refused onely Francisco de Carvajal as Diego Fernandez Palentino relates in the twenty eighth Chapter of his Book was of another opinion and declared that the best Agents to persuade in Affairs of this kind were a good body of Musquetiers Horse and Arms And though it was true that Subjects ought never to take up Arms against their King yet when they had once drawn the Sword they ought never to put it up again and that for the present if they would send Messengers they should be the Judges themselves who having been the persons that had imprisoned the Vice-king they were the most able to render an account to his Majesty of the reasons and causes which moved them thereunto This opinion was seconded by Hernando Bachicao but the votes of two men could not over-rule the sense of the whole Court who decreed to send Doctour Texada and Francisco Maldonado Usher of the Hall to Gonçalo Piçarro into Spain with instructions to represent unto his Majesty the present state and condition of their Affairs It was also ordered that these persons should embark on a Ship then in Port besides which there was no other at that time and whereon Licenciado Vaca de Castro was a prisoner and stood committed by order from the Vice-king and now remained in expectation how the present Governours would dispose of him not judging it fit to fail for Spain without the Orders of some over-ruling power 'T was farther agreed that Hernando Bachicao should have the Charge to provide the Ship with Men and Guns and thereon to transport their Agents to Panama of which Vaca de Castro being informed by a Friend and Kinsman of his called Garcia de Mont-alvo he presently apprehended that in case they brought him ashoar from the Ship some mischief might ensue to him or at least some treatment not beseeming his quality and condition he resolved with the assistence of his Kinsman Mont-alvo and of the Servants then with him to weigh Anchor and set sail for Panama The matter succeeded as was expected and desired for there was not one person of Piçarro's faction then aboard and the Mariners were all for Vaca de Castro who was very well beloved and esteemed by the people of the Countrey Piçarro was greatly troubled at this disappointment for the sending of his Agents into Spain he esteemed to be the onely means to set matters right and well understood at that Court. CHAP. XXII How much Gonçalo Piçarro was troubled for the Escape of Vaca de Castro and what disturbance it caused Hernando Bachicao goes to Panama The Vice-king sends abroad his Warrants to raise Men. HEreupon as all the three Writers agree it was conceived that this Escape of Vaca de Castro could not be contrived without a Conspiracy of several persons concerned therein so that immediately an Allarum was given over all the Town the Souldiers were put in Arms and all those Gentlemen whom they suspected as well such as were Natives or Citizens of Los Reyes as those who had fled from Cozco and those who were of the Vice-king's party were all seized and committed to the publick prison and amongst them Licenciado Carvajal was one to whom Major General Carvajal sent order that he should at that instant confess and make his last Will and Testament for that it was decreed he should presently be put to death Carvajal with all readiness submitted to the sentence and began to prepare himself for the same the Executioner stood by him with his Halter and Gibbet and urged him to finish his Affairs howsoever he continued something long in his confession no question but he expected to dye without any reprieve howsoever such as considered the quality of his person and condition were of opinion that he ought not to have been brought under those circumstances but since it had so fallen out it would be dangerous to suffer him to live but then it was considered that in case Carvajal were put to death many of those who were now in custody would follow the same fate which would be a great loss to the Kingdom to be deprived of the most principal persons thereof who had always been faithfull to the Interest of his Majesty Whilst Licenciado Carvajal remained under these sad apprehensions certain sober persons went to Gonçalo Piçarro and told him that it were well to consider in this case how great an Interest the Licenciado Carvajal had in his Coutrey and that the Agent Carvajal who was his brother was put to death by the vice-Vice-king for no other cause or reason than because his man followed the party and side of Piçarro and therefore for the very merit of his brother and for the services of this person he should spare his life who was and might be of great use and benefit to him for the future And as to the escape of Vaca de Castro all the World was well satisfied That neither Licenciado Carvajal nor the others who were imprisoned upon suspicion were concerned therein and that all this jealousie did arise from the vain censures of some people for which there was no just cause or ground To all which Declaration Gonçalo Piçarro answered little but seemed angry and disturbed commanding that none should move him farther in that matter Hereupon Carvajal and his Friends resolved to proceed another way which was by means of the Major General to whom they secretly presented a Wedge of gold to the value of two thousand pieces of Eight and promised him much more the which having accepted he began to be a little backward and cold in the execution of the sentence and went and came so often untill at length both Carvajal and all the others who were imprisoned were set at liberty So this
Lineage and Nation and excepting onely Sisters they joined promiscuously together like Sheep of the same flock so that the People of a Province were not allied onely by Nation but by Kindred and Bloud By which it appears that it was not lawfull for any to change his Countrey or Habitation or pass the limits of his Division or Decurion but to keep himself close to his People and Families for in regard the Assemblies within the Community were obliged to build the Houses of the new married it was their own duty to conserve them in Repair and not to wander without the Barrier and Confines of their Parentage CHAP. IX That the Prince who was Heir apparent was to marry his own Sister and the reasons which they gave for it HAving now declared the manner in general and the way how the common Indians married we shall in the next place proceed to treat of the Marriage of the Prince who was Heir apparent In explanation of which it is to be noted that it was the most ancient Custome and fundamental Law of those Kings that the Prince who was Heir should marry with her that was his own Sister by Father and Mother and she onely was capable of being his Legitimate Wife whom they called Coya which is as much as Queen or Empress and the Eldest Son of these two was allowed for the true and lawfull Heir of the Kingdom The Original of this Law and Custome was derived from the first Inca Manco Capac and his Wife Mama Occlo Huaco who feigning themselves to be the Children and descended from the Sun and to be Brother and Sister it was therefore concluded by all the Indians who perfectly believed this Story that by the example of these two the same Rule was to be observed in the succession of all future Ages and this they confirmed by another Example of the Sun and Moon themselves who being Brother and Sister were joined in Marriage and therefore this served for an undeniable Authority and Argument to prove the Legality of such a Marriage by an instance so convincing as that of these Deities Yet for want of such Issue female the Prince might then marry with the nearest of Kindred such as his Cousin-German or Aunt who for want of Heirs male were capable of inheriting the Crown according to the Custome in Spain For want of Heirs male by the first Sister the Prince might marry with the second or third and so on untill he met with one that produced such issue and this Rite was punctually observed and maintained to be legal from the example of the Sun and Moon and of the first Inca and his Sister and from that Rule which enjoined them to keep the Streams of Royal Bloud pure and unmixed left they should incur the impiety of mixing Divine Bloud with Humane Race And because the right of this Inheritance came as well by the Mother as the Father the same could not be conserved unless they both concurred to make an Heir with an undoubted Title Hereunto they added farther that the Majesty of the Queen could not be communicated to any other unto whom it did not appertain by Nature for that her Conjunction and Union with the King could not render her capable of such a Character which was to be worshipped and adored in the place of a Deity for that were to commit Idolatry by giving Divine Worship to a Humane Creature Besides the lawfull Queen those Kings might have many Concubines both of their own Kindred to the fourth Degree and also of Strangers but the Children by them were observed with different degrees of respect the Sons by the Kinswomen were esteemed legitimate having no mixture of common Bloud which quality was ever esteemed with high Veneration when those by Strangers were accounted Bastards and though they had some respect shewn them above that of common degree yet it was not with such exteriour and interiour Devotion as to those of purer Bloud who were accounted Gods when these were onely honoured as Men. So that the King had three sorts of Children one by his Sister and Wife who were legitimate and capable of the Succession another sort was by his Kinswomen of the same Bloud and a third by Strangers who were reputed Natural and Bastard-Sons CHAP. X. Of the different manners of inheriting Estates FOR want of Issue male by the legitimate Wife the Law then was that the Eldest of the true bloud should succeed as it happened in the case of Manco Inca a Huascar as we shall hereafter make appear in its due place for in no wife it would be permitted that a Bastard should inherit and for want of lawfull Sons of the bloud the Inheritance fell to the next of Kindred provided he were truly descended by Father and Mother By reason of this Law Atahualpa destroyed the whole Race of the true and Royal Bloud both Men and Women as we shall relate in its due place for he being a Bastard and therefore uncapable to inherit made way to his usurped Kingdom by the death of the lawfull Heirs lest one of them remaining alive should recover it again from his Power All those of the Bloud married together to the fourth Degree that so the Generation of them might multiply to great numbers onely the eldest Sister was reserved for the King it not being lawfull for any to take her besides himself The eldest Son always inherited the Kingdom for a series of twelve Kings who succeeded without interruption untill the Spaniards invaded them Howsoever amongst the Curacas or Lords over Vassals a different Rule and Custome was observed for in some Provinces the Eldest Son succeeded in others the most beloved and esteemed for his Vertue and Affability was the qualification required of which the People being Judges the Government seemed rather Elective than Hereditary This Law was a curb to the Sons of the Curacas restraining them from Tyranny and an obligation to be vertuous for in regard the Disposal of the Inheritance depended on the pleasure of the People the Sons contended in kindness towards their Subjects and every one laboured to render himself by his Valour and Gentleness the most beloved and acceptable to the People In some Provinces the Sons inherited according to their Birth as when the Father dyed the Eldest Son succeeded then the second then the third and so forward and when all the Brothers were extinct the Inheritance fell to the Eldest Son of the Eldest Brother and so successively so that hence appears the mistake of a certain Spanish Historian who says that it was the common Custome of all Peru that the Brothers of the King should gradually succeed one after the other and that all of them being dead then the Kingdom ascended again to the Eldest Son of the eldest Brother which Errour proceeded from a misunderstanding of the true difference between the manner of inheriting by Incas and Curacas For though the Incas did reduce and subdue many Provinces
Wisedom to answer all their Enquiries From which time it became a Custome to consult all matters of State with the Oracle Pachacamac and to make common and vulgar Enquiries at Rimac which because they were many and that this Oracle was ever solicited with a multitude of Demands he was called the prating Oracle for being obliged to answer all it was necessary for him to talk much the which passage Blas Valera touches briefly in his History And now at length the Inca Pachacutec thought it convenient to desist for some years from farther progress in his Conquests over the new Provinces by which time of Peace his Armies would be able to recover and refresh themselves and he having leisure thereby to attend his Civil Government might also have means to enoble his Kingdoms with magnificent Edifices Laws and Rites and Ceremonies agreeable to the new Reformation he was making in Religion that so his Actions might correspond with the signification of his Name and his Fame eternized for a great and wife King in Government for a sanctified High-Priest in Religion and for a great Captain in War and indeed the truth is he gained more Provinces than any of his Fore-fathers and enriched the Temple more than any particular Inca before him for he plated all the Walls with Leaves of Gold both of the Temple and Chambers and Cloisters about it In that place where formerly was the Image of the Sun is now the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament and those Cloisters serve now for Processions at the times of Festivals that Fabrick being now the Convent of St. Dominick For which happy Alteration may the blessed Name of the Eternal Majesty be for ever praised and exalted CHAP. XXXII Of the Conquest over the King Chimu and the cruel War against him AT the end of six years the Inca Pachacutec finding his Kingdoms rich and happy by the advantages of so long a Peace commanded an Army of thirty thousand Men to be raised to subdue those Vallies which lie along the Coast of Cassamarca and which were the confines of his Empire on the side or at the foot of the high Mountain The Anny being raised was commanded by four Major Generals under his Son the Prince Yupanqui for he having been exercised for some years under the Instructions and Example of that famous Commander his Uncle was now become so good a Proficient in War that he was capable to conduct and lead an Army on the most difficult and hazardous Design And for Yupanqui Brother to the Inca and whom he justly called his Right-hand he desired to stay and keep company with him that so he might rest and take repose after his many and great labours in reward of which and for his Royal Vertues he bestowed upon him the Name and Title of his Lieutenant General and second Person in all matters and causes relating to War and Peace with absolute Power and Command in all parts of his Empire The Army being in a readiness the Prince marched with a Detachment of about ten thousand Men by way of the Mountain untill he came to the Province of Yauyu which lies overagainst the City of the Kings or Kings-town where he made some stay untill the rest of his Army was come up to him with which being joined he marched to Rimac where the prating Oracle had its Temple To this Prince Yupanqui the Indians attribute the honour of being the first who made Discovery of the South-Sea and subdued many Provinces in those parts as will appear more at large in the History of his Life The Prince being in those parts was met by the Curaca of Pachacamac called Cuysmancu and of Runahuanac named Chuquimancu who with their Souldiers received him with much Honour and with intention to serve him in the War and the Prince on the other side gratified them with demonstrations of his usual Favours and Bounty From the Valley of Rimac they went to visit the Temple of Pachacamac where they entred with a profound silence without vecal Prayer or Sacrifice onely with signs of mental Devotion as we have before expressed Thence he made his Visit to the Temple of the Sun where he offered many Sacrifices and other gifts both of Gold and Silver And to please the Yuncas he visited the Idol Rimac and in compliance with the late Capitulations between the Inca and them he commanded many Sacrifices to be offered and enquiry to be made of that Oracle concerning the success of that expedition to which having received answer that the design should be prosperous he marched forward to that Valley which the Indians called Huaman and named now by the Spaniards the Barranca from whence he sent his usual Summons to a certain Lord called Chimu who commanded all the Vallies reaching from the Barranca to the City Truxillo and are many in number but the chief and most principal of them are five namely Parmunca Huallmi Santa Huanapu and Chimu which is the Countrey in which Truxillo is situated and are all five most pleasant and fruitfull Vallies and well peopled the Prince giving himself the Title of the powerfull Chimu from the name of that Province where he kept his Court. He also took on himself the Title of King being feared and honoured by all his Neighbours who bordered on his Countrey that is to the East North and South for to the West he was confined by the Sea. This great and powerfull Chimu having received these Summons gave a quick Answer That he was ready with his Weapons in his Hands to desend his Countrey Laws and Liberties that he would not know nor receive new Gods and that the Inca should take this for a positive Answer without seeking farther Resolution or Query in the case Upon this Answer the Prince Yupanqui marched as far as the Valley Parmunca where he expected to meet and engage with his Enemy and had not long attended before they appeared with a strong band of Souldiers who readily made trial of the Force and Valour of the Incas the Fight was sharp and long in defence of a Pass which notwithstanding the resistence made by them the Incas possessed and lodged themselves in it many being slain and wounded on both sides At length the Prince observing the resolution with which these Yuncas defended themselves and that this confidence proceeded from a contempt of his small numbers sent unto his Father an account of all his proceedings desiring him to supply him with a recruit of twenty thousand Men not that he would relieve his Army as he had formerly done and thereby give time and breath to the Enemy but that he might be enabled to fall upon them with a double force These Advices being dispatched to the Inca the Prince closely attended to all the advantages of War in which he sound himself much assisted by the two Curacas of Pachacamac and Runahuanac who having formerly been mortal Enemies to Chimu on the old Quarrels about their Confines and Pasturage making
thus employed in reducing and instructing the Provinces before mentioned other Nations which are seated to the Westward of these bordering on the Confines of that Province which the Spaniards call Puerto Viejo or the Old Port sent their Ambassadours to the Inca with Presents beseeching him to receive them for his Subjects and Vassals and that he would be pleased to send them Captains and Teachers who might instruct them in the way of living in Societies and how to manure their Lands that they might live like Men and not like Beasts promising for themselves all loyalty and faithfulness Those that made the first motion to send this Embassy were of the Nation of Huancavillca The Inca gratiously received their Address commanding that satisfaction should be given them in all their desires and so Teachers were sent to instruct them in Religion and in the Laws and good Customs of the Inca Enginiers were also sent them to make Aqueducts and manure their Fields and reduce them into Societies But afterwards the ingratitude of this people was such that contemning the favours and promises which the Inca had made them they arose up against his people and barbarously murthered them all As Pedro de Cieça in his Observations reports which because it serves to confirm the particulars we have often repeated in this History touching the gentleness and good-nature of the Incas who were always ready to teach and instruct the Indians who submitted to their Dominion we have here inserted the Words of de Cieça that so what we have said concerning the Incas may also be confirmed by the authority of the Spanish Writers His Words are these which follow To return then to our purpose I say that I have heard from Old Indians who were Chiefs in the time of the Great Topa Inga Yupanque that some of his Captains with certain Troops which they had drawn out from those Garrisons which he maintained in divers Provinces of his Kingdom had by divers ways of management reduced much people to the friendship and service of the Inca the principal sort of which went with their Presents to the Province of Paltas to pay their respects of reverence and duty to the Inca who courteously received them with all affection bestowing on several of them rich pieces of Woollen made at Cozco And whereas the occasions of the Inca required his return to his principal Provinces where he was so much esteemed that they styled him Father and honoured him with Titles of Supreme Eminence And such was his affable disposition towards all that his Fame was great and his Memory perpetual But in regard the occasions of his Kingdom were so pressing that he could not stay and in Person visit those Indians he committed the care of that Government to certain Officers who were Natives of Cozco and whose charge it was to instruct them in the manner of living that they might become rational Creatures and live with some form and rule But these did not onely shut their Ears to necessary instructions and disdain the Orders which the Officers of Topa Inga prescribed for their living under Laws in good society and using laudable customs and ways to live such as Manuring their Lands and other matters which contribute to the happiness of of life But in return for such benefits which they ill understood they killed their Instructors not suffering one of them to live and escape and this villany they acted without any provocation or any oppression whereby they might deserve ill from them It is said that when the Inga Topa heard of this Massacre temporizing with the present state of his affairs he dissembled the matter not having opportunity at that time to revenge the Death of those Captains and Subjects Thus far are the Words of Pedro de Cieça with which he concludes his Chapter To which we add that the Inca having finished the Conquest of those Provinces returned again to Cozco to take some repose and divertisement after his great labours and cares in War. CHAP. VII The Inca conquers Quitu and sends to his Son the Prince Huayna Capac to come to him THE Inca Tupac after some few years of ease and peace re-assumed again the thoughts of War resolving to turn his Arms against the Kingdom of Quitu being a Countrey great and famous of 70 Leagues in length and 30 in breadth the Soil fruitfull and capable by good Husbandry of great improvement and benefit to the Inhabitants Wherefore providing an Army of forty thousand strong he marched to Tumipampa which borders on the Confines of that Kingdom sending thence the usual Summons to the King of Quitu who styled himself after the Name of his Countrey This Prince was of a barbarous and rude nature and consequently fierce and cholerick feared by his Neighbours for the great Power and Dominion he had over them Wherefore relying on his own force he confidently answered that he was Lord and Sovereign himself and would acknowledge no other nor receive Foreign Laws but gave such as he thought fit to his own Vassals nor would he forsake the Gods of his Ancestors which were wild beasts and great trees such as afforded them flesh and wood and other benefits necessary for the support of life The Inca having received this answer would not immediately break into Acts of Hostility endeavouring for awhile to try the effects of gentle allurements and moderate terms according to the rule and maxime of his Ancestors But this kind usage operated little on the affections of the people of Quitu who grew more proud and insolent by the condescentions of the Inca which was the cause that when the War broke out it continued many months and years during which time many Skirmishes and Battels happened with great slaughter and damage on both sides Tupac Inca Yupanqui perceiving that this War was likely to continue long sent for his Eldest Son and Heir the Prince Huayna Capac that so he might exercise and practise him in the War commanding him to bring a recruit of twelve thousand Men with him his Mother was called Mama Occlo Sister of his Father according to the custome of those Kings who always took the Eldest Sisters for their Wives The Spanish Historians say that Huayna Capac in the vulgar Language of that Family signifies a Rich Youth But it is certain that those Indians in giving their Names and Sirnames to their Kings observed as we have said other Elegancies and Phrases in Speech different from the common Language having ever some respect to those symptoms and appearances of Vertue which they observed eminent and hopefull in their Princes adding other August Titles agreeable to the Prowess and Illustrious Actions performed in their Manhood And so because this Prince demonstrated in his Youth clear evidences of a Royal and Magnanimous Soul they gave him the Name of Huayna Capac which signifies as much as a Youthfull Spirit invigorated with inclination to heroick and illustrious Atchievements For when they gave
hundred thousand Franks and yet in the Year 1574. when Charles the 9th dyed the same Revenue was improved to fourteen Millions and the like proportion of increase was advanced in all other Kingdoms and Governments which Examples serve sufficiently to demonstrate in what manner all the World hath been enriched by the Treasures of Peru. And in regard that Our Spain hath been especially obliged to that Countrey by the vast effluxes of its Wealth from thence vve need not seek or borrovv proofs hereof from other Countries but onely consider our ovvn nor need vve to look many Ages back but onely from the time of King Ferdinand surnamed the Saint vvho regained Cordova and Seville of vvhom the General History of Spain written by Don Alonso the wise makes mention and tells us that Don Alonso the 9th King of Leon who was Father of King Fernand the Saint made War upon him and that his Son wrote him word that as an obedient Child he was resolved never to resist him and that he would gladly appease his Anger with any satisfaction that he should require of him to which Don Alonso replied That he required of him the payment of ten thousand Maravedis which he owed him which when he had performed he would then cease his Wars and enter into Amity with him The whole Copy of the Letter written at large we have omitted to recite for brevity sake onely we have thought fit to repeat the Answer which was wrote in this manner That the cause of his War was for the recovery of ten thousand Maravedis which the King Don Enriquez owed for the high way which he had made to Santivannez de la Mota and that paying this Money the Quarrel should end whereupon the King Fernando not being willing to wage War with his Father for ten thousand Maravedis presently made him satisfaction the which is related in the general Chronicle of Spain and in the particular Life of King Fernando About the same time a certain Knight who wore the red Cross as a badge of his Pilgrimage unto the Holy Land named Ruy Dias began to commit many insolences before his departure for which Offences divers complaints coming against him he was cited to appear before the Courts of Justice to make answer to those Accusations which were laid against him upon which summons Dias making his appearance at Villadolid where the Court then resided but being informed of the many complaints which were there formed against him he in a rage and fury departed thence without giving any Answer thereunto At which the King Fernando being highly displeased immediately by process of Law banished him the Countrey howsoever Dias maintained himself within his Castles and Fortresses untill such time that by Agreement with the King to pay him fourteen thousand Maravedis all matters were compounded and the Fortresses were consigned into the hands of the noble King Don Fernando The same History also makes mention of this following passage namely That when King Fernando had possession of one part onely and not of the entire Kingdom of Leon he left Mansilla and went to Leon which was the principal City of that Countrey where he was received with great joy and magnificent entertainment and there crowned King of Leon by the Bishop of that City and being in the presence of all the Nobles and Citizens seated in the Regal Throne Te Deum was solemnly sung with the common satisfaction and rejoycing of the people and from that time he had the Title of King of Castile and Leon both which Kingdoms were his lawfull Inheritance descended to him from Father and Mother for these two Kingdoms had formerly been divided and bestowed by the Emperour to his two Sons that is Castile to D. Sancho and Leon to Fernando and afterwards came to be again united together in the Noble Person of Don Fernando the third After this the Queen Teresa the Mother of Tancha and Dulce the Sisters of D. Fernando seeing that her Son was become Master of the whole Kingdom and that she was not able to make farther resistence against him she dispatched an Ambassadour to D. Fernando demanding some share and convenient subsistence which being granted was much displeasing to some degenerate Spirits who were in hopes of making a benefit to themselves by the Wars between Castile and Leon of which Embassy the Noble Lady Berengaria Mother of Fernando being informed she laboured much to bring matters to an accommodation being very apprehensive of the many Troubles and infinite Ruines which are caused by a Civil and intestine War and for that reason labouring on both sides she at length produced a Peace between her Son the King Fernando and his Sisters the Ladies Sancha and Dulce and prevailed with the King to stay at Leon whilst she made a visit to the Queen Teresa and her Daughters then residing at Valentia And then it was that Berengaria prevailed with Teresa and her Daughters to quit all their Title and Interest to the Kingdom of Leon in consideration of which King Fernando did oblige himself to give a yearly Annuity to each of these Sisters of thirty thousand Maravedis of Gold. To confirm this Agreement the King came to Benevente where he met his Sisters and there signed and sealed a Writing to them to pay them the thirty thousand Maravedis of Annuity making them Assignment on the places where to receive their Money which was afterwards the Foundation of a happy Peace After this King Fernando being married to Queen Joan he went in Progress to visit several parts of his Kingdom and being at Toledo he understood that Cordova and other remote Cities of his Kingdom were in great penury and distress for want of Provisions for supply of which he sent them twenty five thousand Maravedis to Cordova and the like sum to other Garrisons All which small sums are particularly recorded in the Chronicles which write of the Life of Don Fernando the Saint CHAP. IV. The Authour proceeds in his Discourse concerning the small quantity of Money which was in ancient days and how much there is now in these THE which Treatise being of the same nature with the preceding Chapter to avoid tediousness to the Reader we have thought fit to omit And so proceed unto the next Chapter CHAP. V. Shewing how little the Conquest of the new World cost unto the Kings of Castile BEing come now to our ultimate Argument to prove the small quantity of Money which was then in Spain before the time that the Conquest of my Countrey was effected we cannot give a more pregnant instance than by demonstrating how little the most rich Empire of Peru and all the new World not before known cost the Kings of Castile Francis Lopez in his General History of the Indies having recounted many remarkable passages we shall faithfully recite such of them as are most pertinent to our purpose as namely That Christopher Columbus treated with Henry the 7th King of England about
the Discovery of the Indies as also with Alfonso the 5th King of Portugal with the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi who not receiving with good approbation the Proposals made them Friar John Perez and Friar Francis de la Rabida which last was the King's Cosmographer encouraged him to make his Applications to the Court of Spain where they believed his Propositions might find a gratious reception By these means Columbus was introduced into the Court of Castile in the Year 1486. where he delivered his Proposals and Petition to Fernando and Isabella King and Queen of Spain but they being embroiled at that time in their Wars against the Moors in the Countrey of Granada had little leisure to convert their thoughts to Projects of this nature And Columbus being but a stranger and poor in habit and without other Credit or Interest than that of a poor Friar whom they would neither vouchsafe to lend an Ear unto much less to believe was the cause of great Discouragement and Affliction to Columbus Onely Alonso de Quintanilla who was Auditor General gave him his Diet at his Caterer's House taking great pleasure to hear him discourse and promise high Matters and Riches which were to be fetched from unknown Countries and therefore to keep up his Spirits he gave him hopes one day to prevail with his Catholick Majesty in his behalf the which he accordingly effected for him by introducing him first to the knowledge of Cardinal de Mendoça Archbishop of Toledo who had a great power and authority both with the King and Queen of Spain This Noble Person having maturely examined and considered of the Proposals which Columbus made procured him an Audience with the King to whom at first his Propositions seemed vain Projects and without foundation howsoever he received good Words and hopes of a favourable dispatch so soon as the War with Granada should be concluded With this Answer Columbus conceived some satisfaction and began to be esteemed in the Court for untill that time the Courtiers turned all his Project into ridicule and derided it as a Dream or a melancholy fancy Granada being at length taken Columbus renewed his Negotiation with such success that he obtained his Demand and a Commission to go into the new World for Gold Silver Pretious Stones and other rich and valuable Commodities and to receive and take unto himself the twelfth part of all such Riches Royalties and Rents which he should discover and acquire in those unknown Countries without Damage or Prejudice howsoever to the Right which the King of Portugal pretends to those parts All which Articles of Agreement were made granted and concluded at Granada on the 30th of April in the year when that City was taken and subdued and confirmed in virtue of the holy Faith and with all the Privileges and Graces of the Royal Favour but in regard the King had no Money wherewith to furnish Columbus on this expedition Lewis de St. Angel Clerk of the Exchequer lent six Millions of Maravedis to him which make the sum of sixteen thousand Ducats And now here are two things particularly observable one of which is that with so small a sum as this all the Riches of the Indies accrued to the Royal Crown of Castile That so soon as the Conquest over the Moors was perfected the Wars with whom had continued for the space of eight hundred years the Conquest over the Indians was begun that so it may appear how zealous the Spaniards have ever been to exercise and employ their Arms against the Enemies of the Faith of Christ. By which it appears that by the continued and constant solicitations which Columbus used at the Court for the space of seven or eight years before he could procure his dispatch together with the help of sixteen thousand Ducats all Spain and the whole World hath been enriched And having now treated of the Royal Assent we shall descend to more common and particular matters to evidence the truth of this whole History CHAP. VI. The Value of common things before the Conquest of Peru. WHerein the Authour enlarging himself by particular instances at how cheap a rate all things were valued in Spain in the same manner as in the 2d 3d and 4th Chapters we have for brevity sake thought fit to omit and for better divertisement to the Reader we proceed to CHAP. VII Wherein two Opinions are declared concerning the Riches of Peru and the beginning of that Conquest HAving already described to what sum the Revenue of Spain did amount in former times it would now be very satisfactory if we could give an account to what a value it is amounted and improved in these days but I must confess that that would prove too difficult a work for me who have no interest or communication with the Officers of the Royal Exchequer nor such intimacy with them as to obtain so great a favour from any of them and indeed I am persuaded that if I had yet the vast quantities of Riches which pass through their Hands are almost incomprehensible and such as they cannot number how much less am I insufficient for this matter who have no skill or knowledge of that Wealth or as I may use our own Saying who know not what colour Flower or Meal bears Onely this we may aver as a matter clear and manifest that all the charge and expence for equipping out the Fleet against England in the Year 1588. was all charged on the Wealth of Peru besides which Philip the 2d King of Castile received eight Millions of Ducats from thence in the space of six years besides all other branches of his Royal Revenue the which sum was commanded afterwards to be paid in the term of every three years It is farther manifest and apparent that soon after Philip the third came to the Crown that the Kingdom offered another increase of his Revenue to eighteen Millions payable in the space of six years the which continues to these times besides all other Rents and Duties paid to the Crown By these and other particular instances before mentioned we may collect and imagine the great improvement hath been in the King's Revenue the several branches of which being much more various than those of private Estates and there having in every one of those branches been a considerable advance and improvement the sum thereof is become so prodigious and vast as can scarce be valued by the Skill of our Arithmetick By which we may conclude that if that Man is to be esteemed poor who can value his Riches Pauperis est numerare pecus how much must we be plunged in our account when we come to reckon and sum up the Revenue of that Monarch in the circumference of whose Territories as Cosmographers describe the Sun never sets All which Riches and Grandeur are to be attributed to the success and labours of this our Triumvirate And though it be true what we have said before that we had little
baptized he was bound to a Post and there strangled His Burial was celebrated according to the Manner and Rites of Christians Piçarro also put himself into mourning and performed his Funerals with Pomp and Solemnity As to those who were the causes of his Death Divine Vengeance overtook them for this sin so that in a short time afterwards they came all to unhappy ends as will appear in the sequel of this History Thus Atabaliba dyed by a violent Death before which he ordered his Body to be carried to Quitu and there buried amongst the Kings his Ancestours by the Mother's side If the Baptism he desired was from his heart most happy he but if not the Murthers and Bloud he was guilty of will be set to his Account in the World to come He was naturally of a good Disposition wise courageous frank and open hearted He had many Wives and left some Children Though he usurped the Dominions of his Brother Huascar yet he would never assume the purple Wreath or Diadem untill he was imprisoned nor would he ever spit upon the Ground but for Majesty and State when he had occasion he would spit in the Hand of a principal Lady whom he loved The Indians were in great admiration when they heard of his untimely Death which they esteemed for an accomplishment of the Prophecy of Huascar who being of the true and legitimate Off-spring of the Sun was divinely inspired to foretell the coming of his speedy Fate Thus far are the Words of Lopez de Gomara But to return now to the Remarks which this Authour makes on the ill Interpretation of this Philipillio and how he suborned the Indian Witnesses to testifie whatsoever he desired he concludes that the fault was chiefly his in regard that the Spaniards wanting Language could neither examine the matter nor dive into the Truth of it And hence we may collect what false and imperfect Notions he must have rendred to the Indians of the Catholick Faith So that as for want of a true understanding of the Indian Language Hernando de Soto and Pedro del Barco abandoned Huascar and exposed his Life to the subtilty of his Brother so also Atabaliba dyed and both these powerfull Kings incurred the same fate for want of true understanding and faithfull Interpretation of all matters Atahualpa ordered his Body to be enterred in Quitu amongst the Relations of his Mother rather than in Cozco with the Ancestours of his Father for though the Funerals of Kings were much more pompous and stately in Cozco than the Solemnities used by the Caciques in Quitu yet considering how detestable his Memory would be to the People of Cozco for the Cruelties and Murthers he had committed on their natural Kings he believed that his Body would be abused and his Ashes never suffered quietly to repose in the Sepulchre of his Ancestours and for that reason he chose rather to be buried amongst his own People with obscurity than with greater Ornament and State by the angry and incensed Citizens of Cozco It is most certain that Atahualpa did not bind his Head with the coloured Wreath untill he had taken his Brother Huascar Prisoner for before that time that Ensign of Regality belonged to his Elder Brother who was his Sovereign Lord but after he was taken and imprisoned by him he then proclaimed himself for the universal Lord and with his Dominions he usurped all the Marks of Power which belonged to them as we have before related But now to consider that an Indian who was an Idolater and who had been guilty of such horrible Cruelties as Atahualpa had been should receive the Sacrament of Baptism at the hour of his Death can be esteemed no otherwise than as an Effect of the infinite Mercy of God towards so great Sinners as he was and I am At his Baptism Atahualpa was named Don John. Blas Valera says That Friar Vincent de Valverde laboured many days before his death to teach and instruct him in the Articles of the Catholick Faith during which time the Inca finding himself in Prison and Chains and without other Society or Attendance of Indians excepting a Youth who was his Kinsman and permitted to serve him he was struck with such a dump of Melancholy on his Spirits that he remained almost insensible Upon which the Spaniards brought him out of the Prison and called the principal Indians to his Assistance who seeing their Lord in that condition immediately sent for their Chief Herbalists to ease and cure him So soon as those Physicians came they felt his Pulse to discover the nature and force of his Fever but not as our Doctours who try the Pulse at the Wrist but laid their Fingers on the top of the Nostrils and under the Eye-lids after which they gave him a Drink made of the juice of certain Herbs of great Virtue what they were is not known unless that onely which is called Payco Moreover he saith that this Drink put him into a violent sweat and caused a long and sound sleep after which his Fever left him and being returned again to his Senses he was carried back to Prison When warning was given him of his Death he was commanded to receive Baptism for without it they threatned to burn him alive as they had done Huahutimoc at Mexico who was King of that Empire and to affright him into Baptism the Pile of Wood was kindled when they notified this Sentence to him At length he said that he was contented to be baptized after which Proclamation being made of the Crimes for which he died he was tied to a Post and strangled In all which particulars the Spanish Historians agree and also that he remained three months in Prison CHAP. XXXVII Of the Information and Process which was given in and made against Atahualpa THE Trial of Atahualpa was long and solemn though Gomara touches upon it in short But the manner was this The Governour himself was Lord Chief Justice of the Bench and with him presided Don Diego de Almagro his Companion the Clerk of the Court was Sancho de Cuellar there was also an Attorney General appointed in behalf of the King and Council allowed for Atahualpa and others were assigned to bring in the Witnesses and take their Testimonies upon twelve several Interrogatories there were also two other Judges named to be Assistants and give their opinions in the Case whom for respect I think not fit to nominate though they were sufficiently known to me The first Interrogatory was this Did you know Huayna Capac and his Wives and how many had he The 2d Was Huascar Inca his lawfully begotten Sun and Heir of this Kingdom and was Atahualpa illegitimate and a Bastard and not Son of the King but of some Indian of Quitu The 3d. Had the Inca other Sons besides those before mentioned The 4th Did Atahualpa inherit this Empire by virtue of his Father's Testament or did he usurp it by Tyranny The 5th Was Huascar disinherited of
Thirdly The Example which the King had given in being baptized would easily have begotten a conformity in his People And Fourthly That which would have appeared most spetious and obligatory and which comprehends the force of all together would have been the Precept of Atahualpa declaring That in pursuance of the Prophecy of his Father Huayna Capac delivered in his last Will and Testament signifying the Obedience they were to yield to those new Guests who were to enter into their Countrey whose Law and Religion was much better and more excellent than theirs Had I say the Preachers taken advantage of this convincing Method of Arguments certainly the Gospel would have entred and spread without opposition but God in his secret Judgment would not admit of these Methods that so those matters might come to pass which afterwards succeeded CHAP. XL. The Effects which the Civil Discords between the two Incan Kings who were Brothers did produce THE War which was raised between the two Kings Huascar and Atahualpa who were Brothers vvas the cause of the total subversion of that Empire and facilitated the Entrance and the Conquest vvhich the Spaniards made of that Countrey vvhich being for the most part craggy and mountainous and full of difficult Passages might othervvise have been easily defended But God vvho in his Mercy designed the propagation of the Gospel in those Countries vvas pleased for the more easie introduction thereof to permit those feuds betvveen those tvvo Brothers Acosta speaking summarily of this Point in the 22d Chapter of his 6th Book hath these Words Huayna Capac vvas succeeded in Cozco by one of his Sons called Tito Cusi Gualpa he means Inti Cusi Gualpa aftervvards he vvas called Guascar Ynga and his Body burned by the Captains of Atahualpa vvho also vvas the Son of Guayna Capac and raised Arms against his Brother in Quitu and came against him vvith a povverfull Army At that time the Captains of Atahualpa namely Quizquiz and Chilicuchima seized upon Guascar Inca in the City of Cozco after he vvas declared Sovereign Lord and King and indeed he vvas the lawfull Heir and Successour Great was the Confusion and Noise which this Action made through all parts both of the Kingdom and of the Court. And whereas it was their Custome upon all great Emergencies of Affairs to have recourse unto Sacrifices the People finding themselves in no capacity to relieve their King who was in the Hands of the Captains of Atahualpa and guarded by a powerfull Army they therefore agreed and as they say by order of their Captive King to offer a solemn Sacrifice to the Viracocha Pachyachachic he should have said Pachacamac who is the Creatour of the Universe praying that since they were not able of themselves to deliver their King out of Prison that he would be pleased to send some People from Heaven who might procure his Freedom Whilst they were intent to the solemn performance of this Sacrifice News was brought that a certain People was come by Sea and having landed had seized Atahualpa and kept him Prisoner And in regard that this Affair happened just in that conjuncture of time when this Sacrifice was offering and that the People were very few in number who had seized on Atahualpa in Caxamalca they gave the name of Viracochas to the Spaniards which name continues to them unto this day upon a belief that they were sent from God for rescue of their King and indeed the People would have been confirmed in this opinion had the Spaniards followed those Methods which were pursuant thereunto And on this occasion we ought seriously to contemplate the Wisedom of the Divine Providence which conducted the Spaniards into those Countries in that seasonable conjuncture of Affairs when the Divisions between the two Brothers were grown up to a Civil and an Intestine War without which advantage which begat in the Indians a belief that the Spaniards were a People dropped from Heaven it had been impossible for such a handfull of Men to have become Conquerours of that numerous People the loss of whose Countrey was recompenced to them by the gain which Heaven was to their Souls Thus far are the Words of Acosta with which he concludes that Chapter wherein with much brevity he sums up the War between the two Brothers the Tyranny of the one and the Right of Succession which appertained to the other the Imprisonment of them both and the small number of Men which took Atahualpa Prisoner and how gratious the Divine Providence was to those poor Gentiles in their Conversion what Name they gave to the Christians and the Esteem which they had of them upon an opinion that they were come from Heaven All which particulars we have already declared and set forth at large We are now to tell you the reason of that name of Viracocha given by them to the Spaniards which was this So soon as they saw the Spaniards in their Countrey with that Beard and Habit in which the Phantasme appeared to their Inca Viracocha the which Apparition the Indians ever afterwards adored for a God as he declared himself to be And that when some time after they saw that the Spaniards had at their first entrance taken Atahualpa Prisoner and in a few days afterwards had put him to death by form of Law and in such manner as is due to Murtherers and Malefactours and had at his Execution by the Voice of a Crier published the Tyrannies Cruelties and Treason against Huascar for which he suffered they were then really convinced that the Spaniards were Sons of the God Viracocha and were descended from their Father the Sun to punish Atahualpa for his Crimes and to revenge upon him the Bloud of his Brother and of all that Family And what did moreover confirm this Belief were the Cannon and Musquets which the Spaniards used and which the Indians took for proper Arms and Ammunition of the Sun giving them the name of Yllapa which signifies Thunder and Lightning and Thunderbolts And to the Name of Viracocha they added the Title of Inca as properly belonging to them on score of the Relation they had to the Sun their Father from whom they descended the which Title they gave to all the Conquerours of Peru from the first who entred with Francisco Piçarro to those who came in with Almagro and afterwards with Don Pedro de Alvarado all whom they adored for Gods the which Esteem and Veneration for them continued untill the Covetousness Luxury Cruelty and Severity with which in a barbarous manner many of them treated the poor Indians discovered the falsity of this vain Opinion and opened their Eyes giving them to understand that such as were so different in their Morals and in all their Actions to their ancient Incas could not be descended from the Sun and consequently could not merit the Title of Inca howsoever they continued the Name of Viracocha for the similitude they had in their Habit and Beard to the Phantasme or
he was not one third so high and without any proportion to his other parts when he was on Horse-back he seemed much less than he was for he was all Thighs and Leggs and his Countenance was very ill-favoured and unpleasant but what nature had denied to him in his Body was largely recompensed to him in the endowments of his Mind for he had not onely all those which this Authour declares of him but many more considering that he regained his Empire again to his Majesty which was almost totally ruined and revolted from its allegiance I my self knew him and particularly one evening I was with him when he stood in the Court-yard of my Father's house leading to the open place from whence he saw the Feasts of Bulls and Sports on Horse-back with their Darts but he lodged then in the houses of Thomas Vasquez now in the possession of his Son Pedro Vasquez where also Gonçalo Piçarro lodged when he was in that Town and situate on the outside of the Street which is in the middle between our house and the Convent of our Lady of the Mercedes and though those Houses have at one corner Windows which look out into the Market-place from whence Licenciado Gasca might have seen all those Sports howsoever he chose rather to see them from my Father's Court-yard which more immediately fronts with the Market-place And now we shall proceed to declare his Actions which were not performed by the Sword or Lance but by the force of his reason and council which carried him on with such success as obtained all the points he desired both in Peace and War and at length conducted him out of the Countrey without any Complaints or Accusations against him of violence or oppression His weapons were Patience to bear and undergo all the labours and difficulties which presented and mildly to suffer the insolences and affronts of the Souldiery he also had a great stock of subtlety and craft and good management to penetrate into the Plots and Designs of his Enemies and to circumvent and disappoint them from all which we have arguments sufficient to prove the difficulty of his undertaking especially if we consider the condition of this Empire when this worthy person undertook to settle and reduce it to obedience And here we shall omit to give an account of the particulars of the Voyage which the President made to Nombre de Dios to whom hereafter we shall give that Title referring the Reader to Diego Fernandez for that relation and so shall proceed to what succeeded after his arrival there The President received the first News of the death of the Vice-king in Santa Marta from Licenciado Almandarez who was then Governour of that Province and of that new Kingdom from whence both Gasca and those with him apprehended great difficulties in their design judging it almost impossible to reduce a People without Arms who had proceeded so far in their Rebellion as to kill the vice-Vice-king in a pitched Battel But the President not to discourage his People concealed the opinion and apprehension he conceived thereof and to prevent farther disturbances which might arise he publickly declared that he had sufficient power and authority to pardon all the Crimes of what nature soever which were already committed so that no man ought to doubt of pardon or of a general Act of Oblivion Moreover he considered that by the death of the Vice-king that general hatred was removed from the People which they conceived against his perverse and untractable humour and that thereby they might more easily be reduced to the service of his Majesty Besides which another difficulty was obviated in case it should be thought necessary for quieting the People to send the Vice-king out of that Countrey who might object the injustice of such proceedings against a person who for no other reason than the Service of his Majesty against Rebels and Tyrants was banished the Countrey and deprived of his Authority The President Gasca comforting himself with such Considerations as these sailed to Nombre de Dios where he was received by the Souldiers of Hernan Mexia and by the Inhabitants all well armed but they shewed him very little respect and less affection speaking contemptibly of his person with affronting words of all which as Diego Fernandez saith he took no notice but spake kindly and chearfully to all sorts of People But the Clergy of the City like true Servants of God went in procession with the Cross to meet and receive the President whom they conducted to the Church to sing the Te Deum Laudamus with which kindness the President was much pleased and thanked God that some People were remaining who were acquainted with their duty and good manners and in some kind made amends for the disrespects of others but that which added most to his satisfaction was that the night following Hernan Mexia who was one of the Captains of Gonçalo Piçarro and much obliged to him for several favours came privately to speak with him offering himself to the service of his Majesty and to use his utmost endeavours to engage other Captains and Souldiers to return unto their Loyalty and duty towards their Prince Moreover he gave him a large Narrative of the State of the Countrey and of the Fleet which was at Panama and of the Condition of the Captains and Souldiers which were embarked thereupon and how that Pedro de Hinojosa was Admiral thereof for all which Advices and Promises the President returned him thanks and promised him in the name of his Majesty a suitable reward desiring his secrecy in the whole matter And thus Peace and Friendship being agreed between them they privately discoursed every night together and Hernan Mexia gave him an account of all matters which they wrote to him from Panama Thus did the President gain every day upon the good wills and affections of the People and Souldiery so that many of them went to dine and converse with him and in all his discourses he told them plainly that he came thither to no other end and intention than onely to reduce them to their obedience and loyalty due to his Majesty by terms of peace and friendship and with promises of reward That the King had given him full power and authority to promise them a general Pardon for all crimes and faults which were already past and that if People would not be contented herewith on fair terms he for his part was ready without farther force to return speedily into Spain This was his common discourse and declaration at all times when he was in publick with intention that the report hereof might be spread in all parts of the Empire some few days after the arrival of the President at Nombre de Dios Melchior de Verdugo of whom we have formerly made mention appeared before the City of Panama with intention to enter with his two Ships into the Port But the Citizens were in great combustion hereupon by reason that
in his Rebellions are restored to their Estates and Plantations Pedro de Orsua attempts the Conquest of the Amazons His End and Death with many others with him THE vice-Vice-King Don Andres de Hortado seeing those men whom he had banished from Peru for demanding a Reward of their past Services now again returned with Pensions assigned on the Treasure of his Majesty and on the Chest of the three Keys he wondered much at the success not imagining by what interest it could have been procured for them but more strange it seemed to him to hear of the coming of a new Vice-King to succeed him in that Office. This change of Fortune caused him to change his Humour and convert much of that haughty and severe Spirit which was natural to him into a Gentleness and Lenity more becoming the Office of a great Minister and in this good temper he continued to the end of his life which was so extraordinary that those who observed it would say That if he had begun as he ended he would have proved the most admirable Governour that ever had been in the World. Thus when the Kingdom observed this great change in the vice-Vice-King the Country in peace and quietness and the rigour of the Justices converted into an affable and complying Humour those who had been lately oppressed by the heavy Hand of Justice assumed the courage to demand satisfaction for the evils and damages they had sustained Accordingly the Sons and Heirs of those Citizens who had been executed for being engaged in the Rebellion of Hernandez made claims of their Estates laying before the Justices the Instruments of Pardon which had been given to their Fathers and so followed the suit that after several hearings and reviews of their Cause they obtained Sentence to have their Lands and Commands over Indians restored to them together with all other Consiscations of their Estates and thus did they obtain a restitution of their Indians which the Vice-King had divided and conferred on other Spaniards to increase and better their Estates At all which the Vice-King was in great trouble and perplexity For not only did he suffer the affront to have his own Orders repealed but also lay under an obligation of making satisfaction to those who were dispossessed by some other returns or equivalents to be made them All that hath been said in this matter I saw my self transacted in Cozco and the like passed in other Cities where the same rigour of Justice had been put in practice as namely in Huamanca Arequepa the Charcas and the New Plantation So soon as it was generally known that the aforesaid Sentence was repealed and that the Heirs were restored again to the possession of their Lands the Spaniards took a liberty to report That this course was taken without any order from his Majesty or direction from the Council of the Indies but meerly by the Power and arbitrary Will of the Vice-King intending by such severities to shew his Power and secure himself from all Mutinies and Conspiracies for the future But the Vice-King being now of another Humour and proceeding with that gentleness and good temper which we have before mentioned was pleased to grant unto a certain Gentleman of Worth and Virtue and of an agreeable Person named Pedro de Orsua a License to make a Conquest of the Country of the Amazons which runs along the River Marannon which is the same we have mentioned before where Francisco Orellana deserting Gonçalo Piçarro came into Spain and begged of his Majesty the aforesaid Conquest but he died in the way and never put his Enterprise into Action In pursuance of this Grant Pedro de Orsua went from Cozco to Quita to raise Souldiers who were willing to adventure on new Conquests For in Peru all the Lands were measured out and divided amongst the Antient Conquerours and men of Merit in that Empire He also gathered all the Arms and Provisions he was able to which the Citizens and Inhabitants of those Cities largely contributed by their Bounty and Liberality for so obliging was Pedro de Orsua in his carriage towards every one as engaged their Affections to render him all the Assistances and Services they were able Many Souldiers attended him from Cozco amongst which was one called Don Fernando de Guzman with whom I was acquainted he was lately come from Spain and there was another who had been an old Souldier called Lope de Aguire a fellow of an ill shapen Body and of worse Conditions and Practices as are described in a Book of the Elogies of Worthy and Illustrious persons written by John de Castellanos a Secular Priest who had a Benefice in the City of Tunja in the new Kingdom of Granada These Elogies though written in Verse are yet a true History and wherein he fills six Cantos with the expedition of Pedro de Orsua and how he marched with 500 men well armed and appointed together with a considerable body of Horse He also relates the manner of his death how he was killed by his own Souldiers and his most intimate Friends that they might enjoy a beautiful Lady whom Orsua carried for a Companion with him the which passion of Love hath been the ruin of many brave Captains in the World such as Hannibal and others The principal Actors in this Tragedy were Don Fernando de Guzman Lope de Aguire and Salduendo who were in love with this Lady besides several others whom this Author names who also farther relates That these Traytors set up Don Fernando for their King which Title he was so vain and foolish as to accept though he had no Kingdom to possess nor right to any thing but his own ill Fortune which soon followed him being killed by the same Friends who had promoted him to his Royal Dignity And then Aguire took upon himself the Government which he so well exercised that at several times he killed above 200 men he plundered the Island of Margarita where he committed most detestible Cruelties Thence he passed over to other Isles near adjacent where he was overcome by the Inhabitants but before he would yield himself he killed his own Daughter whom he brought with him for no other reason than that after he was dead she might not be called the Daughter of a Traytor This was the sum of all those Cruelties which indeed were most Diabolical and the beginning and ending of this whole Enterprise which commenced with so much Gallantry and mighty Preparations of which I was in part an Eye-witness CHAP. XV. The Count de Nieva is chosen Vice-King of Peru. He sends a Message to his Predecessor The Death of the Marquis of Cannete as also of the Count de Nieva Don Garcia de Mendoça returns to Spain The Lawyer Castro is appointed Governour of Peru. WHilst these matters were transacting in Peru and that Orsua and his Fellow adventurers with him were defeated upon the great River of the Amazons his Majesty King Philip the Second was mindful
took from them to bestow in Marriage upon those who had deserved well from him which seemed a favour to them both unto the one that the Inca would vouchsafe to receive and prefer his Daughter and to the other that he was pleased to bestow her on him with his own hand being for that reason esteemed pretious for not so much the gift as the Donor being regarded rendred the least present from the Inca's hand equal to the highest treasure as if it had something of Divinity conferred with it Sometimes though but seldom the Incas preferred their natural Daughters of the Royal Bloud to the Curacas and Governours of Provinces for Wives as signals of his favour and as engagements to them to continue in their Loyalty of which sort the Inca having many to bestow abroad had no necessity to have recourse to those for a supply who were entred in the Sacred and Royal Foundations for that would have been a diminution to their exalted Degree a violation to their Religion and an impiety to mix divine race with prophane Bloud CHAP. VII Of other Women who conserved their Virginity and of Widows BEsides these Virgins who lived Recluses in Cloisters under the Vow of perpetual Chastity there were many other Women of Royal Bloud who lived in retirement and vowed to conserve their Virginity though with liberty to go abroad and visit their nearest Relations and assist the sick and Women in their Travels and to be present at the Ceremony of shaving when they gave a Name to their first-born These Women were held in great Esteem and Veneration for their Chastity and purity of their Lives giving them by way of Excellency or of some Vertue Divine the Title of Occlo which signifies something of supereminent Sanctity and this their Chastity was not pretended or feigned but true and real for if any falsity or hypocrisie were discovered in it they burnt them alive or threw them to the Lions to be devoured I remember that I knew one of these that was very ancient and had never been married which they called Occlo sometimes she visited my Mother and as I have heard she was her Aunt by the Grandfather I can say I am a witness of the great respect they bore towards her and especially my Mother who for her Relation Years and Vertue behaved her self towards her with all imaginable Reverence and Veneration Nor must we here omit the Modesty and Vertue of Widows in general who for the first Year of their Widowhood kept themselves retired and free from all conversation there being very few of those who had not Children that married again much less those who were provided with them did ever return to a second Marriage but lived with Continence and Chastity for which reason the Laws were favourable towards them commanding Labourers to plow and cultivate their Lands before those of the Curacas with many other privileges which the favour of the Inca indulged to them The truth is it was a disparagement for a Man who was not a Widower himself to marry with a Widow for as they said he lost I know not what quality and repute by such a condescension And this is what is most observable in reference to Virgins and Widows and modest Women CHAP. VIII Of their Marriages in general and how their Houses were governed IT will now be proper in this place for us to treat of their Marriages and how they were joined together in the Kingdoms and Provinces subjected to the Inca In order hereunto it is to be noted that every year or every two years the King commanded his Officers to take an account of such young Men and Maidens of his Lineage as were marriageable within the City of Cozco that so they might be matched together the Maidens were to be of eighteen to twenty years of age and the young Men from twenty to twenty four and upwards under which age they were not esteemed to be of years of consent for that it was necessary they should be of a ripe age and judgment to govern their Families which could not be done by Children in their minority At the Ceremonies of Matrimony the Inca stood between the two Persons and casting his Eyes upon them both he called the Man by his Name and then the Woman and taking their hands into his joined them together which being the bond of Matrimony the Function was performed and being by the Inca consigned to their Parents they went home to the House of the Bridegroom's Father where the Wedding was kept for four or six days with great rejoycing This was the manner and form of their legal Marriages which for the great Favour and Honour the Inca had performed in this Function were called in their Language the Incan Couple The King having in this manner matched those of his own Lineage then the next day following the Officers for this Employment joined the Neighbourhood of the City with respect to that Division which we have mentioned at the beginning of this History of the Upper and the Lower Cozco The Houses which were appointed for the Habitation of the new married Couples who were Incas concerning whom we treat at present were prepared by the Indians of those Provinces whose charge it was according to such provision as was made in that case All the Furniture and Utensils of the Houses were provided at the charge of the Parents every one of their Kindred giving them something towards House-keeping which was all the Ceremony or Sacrifice performed at that Solemnity and though many Spanish Historians report divers other barbarous Customs in use at Marriages it is for want of a distinct knowledge of the Rites of one Province from another for in those Provinces indeed which were remote from Cozco and where the Seigniority and Rule of the Incas had not as yet arrived there may have been many absurd and impious Ceremonies in use which since have been corrected and abolished by the more wise and refined Government of the Incas But as to the true Politicks of the Incas they observed no other Form of Marriage than this before recited according to which the Curacas in their Provinces and the Governours in their respective Divisions conformed their discipline and as Fathers and Lords of their Countrey practised it in the same manner as did the Inca. And though the Inca who was Governour was present at the Marriages which the Curaca solemnized yet it was not to interpose or diminish the Authority of the Curaca therein but onely to approve that in the name of the King which the Curaca had performed by virtue of the power he exercised over his own Vassals When the Commonalty or ordinary sort married the Community of the People were obliged to build and provide them Houses and the Parents to furnish them It was not lawfull for any to marry out of his own Province or People but as the Tribes of Israel they were obliged to match within their own
without them they cannot sustain themselves with Bread nor with the necessary provisions for Life All which works are not so totally destroyed but that there still remain some ruines and appearances of them CHAP. XXV The Inca visits the remote parts of his Empire and Ambassadours come thither to him offering the Subjection and Vassalage of their People THE Inca Firacocha having provided all things towards the work of this great Aqueduct which was necessary for watering the Herbage of those Countries he passed from the Province of Chinchasuyu to Cuntisuyu with intention to visit all the parts of his Empire The first Provinces which offered in this Journey belonged to Quechua two of which being of greater note than others were Cotapampa and â—â—â—â—â— to which the Inca made extraordinary demonstrations of Honour out of respect to the Service they had done him in his late War against the Chancas Thence he travelled forwards through all the other Provinces of Cuntisuyu as well the Mountainous Countries as the Plains and Vallies and Lands along the Seacost that so no place or Region might complain of disfavour or want of the Inca's presence which was the most welcome and desirable object to them in the whole Universe In all the places where he came he made strict inquisition concerning the behaviour of his Officers and Ministers and in what manner they discharged their Duty and Trust such as were found guilty of any neglect or injustice he punished with the utmost rigour and severity saying that those who had made use of the Royal Authority to pillage or oppress his Subjects were more criminal than those common Robbers who in contempt of the Imperial Ordinances and Laws and by force of their own private power invaded the Rights and Properties of the People From Cuntisuyu he entred into the Provinces of Collasuyu passing from one unto the other as they offered in his way all which he comforted with the Rays of his Favours which he imparted in their respective degrees as well to the Commonalty as to the Curacas and on the Sea-coast he journyed as far as to Taracapa During the stay which the Inca made in the Countrey of the Chancas Ambassadours came to him from the Kingdom of Tucma which the Spaniards call Tucuman being distant about two hundred Leagues Southwest from the Chancas addressing themselves unto him after this manner Most mighty Prince Capa Inca Viracocha The Report of your famous Deeds the Equity and Justice of your Proceedings the Excellency of your Laws instituted for the sole Benefit and Welfare of your Subjects the Purity of your Religion Clemency and Mercy and the wonderfull Miracles which your Father the Sun hath performed in your favour and for your assistence hath reached the utmost Confines of our Dominions and is yet carried farther on the Wings of Fame the which Report hath made such impression on the Hearts of all the Curacas of Tucman that they have sent us hither to implore the powerfull Protection of your sacred Empire and that you would vouchsafe to own them for your people and that as such you would appoint Incas of the Royal Bloud to preside over them who may not onely administer Justice to them but likewise instruct them in those Laws and Customs and Religion which they are to observe in hopes and expectation of which we do here in the name and behalf of all our Kingdom prostrate our selves before you as the undoubted Off-spring and Issue of the Sun acknowledging you for our King and Lord and in testimony thereof we do here offer our Persons with the Fruit of our Lands as Livery and Seisin and in token and evidence that we surrender our Persons and Lands into your possession Having said thus much they laid open their Presents of Garments made of Cotton Pots of excellent Honey as also Corn and divers sorts of Pulse but as to Gold or Silver they produced none being not of the Growth of their Countrey and which the Spaniards notwithstanding the search and pursuit which they made after it have not discovered in those Quarters The Ambassadours having made these Presents they prostrated themselves with profound reverence before the Inca who received them with a gratious acceptance according to his accustomed goodness and in farther token of his favour he commanded the Incas who were his Kindred to drink with them which was the greatest Honour he could confer At this entertainment they were farther assured of the Good-will of the Inca and how much he took this voluntary submission and resignation of themselves and Countrey in good part in return whereunto they assured them of all the kind treatment imaginable and that the Inca distinguished between those who out of good-will and affection freely became his Subjects and those who by force of Arms were compelled to Obedience Then they gave them for Presents to their Curacas Vestments of such sort as were made for the Inca woven by the hands of the Select Virgins and which for that reason were accounted Divine and Sacred and to the Ambassadours many other Presents were made of different qualities Then the Incas of the Royal Bloud were appointed who were to instruct them in Religion and preside over them as Governours that leaving their bestial and brutish course of living they might receive and observe the Laws and Ordinances of the Incas And in company with these Ministers several Artists and Workmen were sent who were skilfull in making Aqueducts and cultivating the Lands that so by good husbandry the Estate of the Sun and of the King might be improved and increased The Ambassadours having been thus entertained for some days at the Court of the Inca where they observed the good Order and Rule and Excellent Laws of his Government They confessed that such Constitutions as those could have no other Original than from the Sun or something Divine and that their own Customs and Laws did partake of nothing but what was brutish and without any Morality And with this consideration being made zealous for the Inca'S Service and Glory they expressed themselves in this manner to the Inca Sir said they we are greatly sensible that the World is made happy by your Laws and Government of which that every part may partake some share and proportion we are to make known unto you that not far from our Countrey to the South-West from us there lyes a Kingdom called Chili which is very rich and populous and though we our selves have had no Commerce or correspondence therewith by reason of those snowy Mountains and inaccessible Passages which divide us from them yet we have received by an undoubted Tradition from our Forefathers that there is such a Nation worthy the Employment of your Arms and of your Dominion The which we the more willingly discover that so they also with us may Adore your Father the Sun and enjoy the same common Benefits and Laws which are made and designed to civilize and improve the Nature of
or clear Springs nor indeed was there any good Water near the City of Cozco When my Father after the War of Francisco Hernandez Giron in the Year 1555. and 56. was Governour of the City they then brought their Water from Ticatica which water was excellent good arising about a quarter of a League from the Town to the chief Market-place from whence as I hear they have now turned it by a Conduit pipe to the Square of St. Francisco and instead thereof they have brought another Fountain to that place of exquisite Water running with a plentifull stream CHAP. V. Of the manner how they Interred their Kings and that the Obsequies and Rites of Burial continued for the space of a whole Year THE Rites of Burial which they performed for their Kings were solemn and of long continuance In the first place they embalmed their Bodies with such rare Art that as we have said before in the year 1559. they were so firm and plump that they seemed to be living Flesh. Their Bowels were interred in a Temple which was situated in the Countrey called Tampu upon the Banks of a River below Yucay about five Leagues distant from the City of Cozco where were many stately Edifices of Stone Of which Pedro de Cieça speaking in the 94th Chapter of his Book saith that it was reported for certain how that in some places of the Palace or Temple of the Sun the Stones were joined or cramped with melted Gold which with the cement they used were well fixed and consolidated together When the Inca or some principal Curaca dyed the Servants who were his greatest Favourites and the Wives that were the most beloved by him did either kill themselves or offer themselves to be buried alive in the Tomb of their Masters that so they might accompany them into the other World and renew their immortal Services in the other Life which as their Religion taught them was a corporeal and not a spiritual Being whereby it may appear that what some Historians write relating to this matter namely that they killed the Servants after the death of their Masters is a mistake for that would have been a piece of Tyranny and Inhumanity above the capacity of humane Nature for under this pretence one Man might lawfully kill another and remove him out of the way who was hatefull to him or stood in opposition to his Designs or Interest The truth is they needed no Law or compulsion to enforce them to follow the Fate of their Master for when he was dead his Servants crouded so fast after him desiring death that the Magistrates were forced sometimes to interpose with their Authority and persuade them that for the present their Master had no need of more attendance but that in due time when they naturally yielded to their own Mortality it might then be seasonable enough for them to repair to their Services and Offices in the other World. The Bodies of their Kings after they were embalmed were seated before the Image of the Sun in the Temple at Cozco to whom they offered Sacrifices as to Demons or Men of Divine Race For the first month after the death of the Inca the whole City bewailed their loss with loud cries and lamentations and every Parish or quarter of the Town went out in their several Divisions into the fields carrying the Trophies of the Inca his Banners and Arms and Garments and whatsoever was to be buried in the grave with his Bowels with their sighs and lamentations they mentioned and repeated the mighty Acts that he had done in the Wars and the good Acts of Charity and Beneficence that he had shewed to them and their Neighbourhood After the end of the first month they then commemorated the Death of their Inca at the Full and New of the Moon and so continued till the end of the first Year when they concluded the solemnity with full pomp and state appointing Men and Women practised in the Art of Cries and Lamentations who like excellent Tragedians acted their parts of sorrow in the most formal and passionate manner imaginable singing the Acts of the dead King in sorrowfull Tones and Accents What we have said hitherto was the part onely of the Commonalty besides which the Court and Nobility performed the Obsequies with as much difference to those of the people as there was of Eminence in their condition and of Wealth and Politeness in the manner of their living What was practised in the City of this kind was also imitated in the Countries the respective Curacas stirring up the people to demonstrate by their outward gestures and actions their inward sorrow and passion for the death of their Inca. With these Cries and Lamentations they went to visit all the places within their Province where at any time their Inca had pitched his Camp or made his abode or residence though but for a night and there they all with loud Lamentations repeated the Favours and Honours and Benefits that he had performed for them in that place And thus much shall serve to have said touching the Funeral of the Incas in imitation of which something of this nature was performed in honour of their Caciques of which I remember to have seen some passages in the time of my infant Years for in the Province of the Quechuas I once saw a multitude of people gathered in a field to lament the Death of a Cacique carrying his Garments upon Poles in fashion of Banners or Ensignes my curiosity prompted me to ask them what all that noise and tumult meant to which they answered me that it was the Funeral Lamentation of Huamam-pallpa for so they called the deceased Cacique CHAP. VI. Of the General and Solemn Huntings which the Kings made in all parts of their Kingdom THE Kings of Peru enjoyed with their other parts of Greatness and State certain days appointed for Solemn and General Huntings called in their Tongue Chacu And herein it is to be observed that all sorts of Game were forbidden to be killed unless Partridges Pidgeons Doves or lesser Birds for the Service and Table onely of the Incas who were Governours or of the Curacas nor was thus much permitted neither but under a limited quantity and by command and order also of the Justice This prohibition was observed under the same penalties that all other observances of their Law were enjoined and herein they were rigorous and severe lest Men betaking themselves to the pleasure of the Field should delight in a continued course of sports and so neglect the necessary provisions and maintenance of their Families By which strict restraint the Game both of Birds and Beasts was so common and in abundance and tame that they entred even into their Houses where though they could not kill them yet howsoever they might affright and drive them out of their Fields and Pastures for that though the Inca was Master of the Game yet he loved his Subjects better than to have them
Conquests and vain Rodomontadoes of the Chinchas THE Inca much satisfied with this submission congratulated with the Curaca Chincha the happiness of the ensuing Peace whereby an end was put to the miseries of a bloudy War which was destructive to his people And speaking Kindly to this great Commander of the Yuncas assured him of pardon from his Brother the Emperour and because he perceived him to be much dejected and afflicted for his fault he encouraged him with many kind and obliging expressions telling him that the King his Brother was a gratious and mercifull Prince who never recalled to memory the enmity shewn him at first provided that having once submitted and acknowledged him for their Lord they did never afterwards return to their rebellion And as an evidence of favour and acceptance he commanded that Vestments should be given them of the finest sort and so all concluded in a mutual satisfaction These Indians of Chincha boast much of this resistence they had made against the Incas pretending that they repelled them twice because they reckoned the exchange of the first Army with the second to be a kind of retreat They report also that the Incas were many years before they could conquer them and that at length they submitted upon conditions and promises and that they were won rather by gifts and presents than subdued by force of Arms. Thus was the mild usage and treatment which the Incas shewed to them interpreted for a sign of their own Valour and Courage whenas in reality the power of the Incas was so great in those days that they could with facility have subdued them had they in earnest applied their Strength and Military Art in that Conquest but Men have liberty to talk of the Mighty Actions of former times and of their Ancestours without offence to any in the present Age. They report farther of themselves that before they were Subjects to the Inca they were of that power and Martial disposition that they made frequent Incursions into the Neighbouring Countries from whence they carried Spoils and Trophies of Victory that they were so dreadfull to those who inhabited the Mountains that those people for fear of them deserted their Countrey and that they often came as far as the Province of Colla. All which appears to be false because these Yuncas are naturally a sluggish and dull Nation and not given to labour or travel and therefore it is not probable that they would undertake a March of almost 200 Leagues through greater Provinces and more populous than their own And that which makes this report still more improbable is That the Yuncas being as we have said born in a very hot Countrey where it never Rains and where consequently the noise of Thunder is never heard are so affrighted with the sound and claps of it so often as they enter into the Hilly-Countries that with consternation and terrour they return into their own Climate and therefore it is not credible they should adventure into Mountains where the voice of Thunder is often heard and which their ignorance made so horrible and affrighting to them Whilst Yupanqui employed himself in Establishing the Government of Chincha and putting all things into the best order and posture he was able he gave intelligence to his Brother of the success of his proceedings desiring him to relieve the Army which remained then on Duty by exchange for another that so he might proceed in the entire conquest of the Yuncas And whilst he was thus setling the Government in Chincha and imposing new Laws and Customs on them Informations were brought him against certain persons guilty of Sodomy to which sin that Countrey was much addicted All which he took and condemned and burned alive commanding their Houses to be thrown down their Inheritances to be destroyed their Trees rooted up that so no steps or marks might appear of any thing which had been built or planted by the hands of Sodomites and that their memory as well as their actions might be abolished with them they destroyed both their Wives and Children which severity though it may seem unjust was yet an evidence of that abhorrence which the Incas conceived against this unnatural Crime Some time after this Conquest the Incan-Kings honoured and enobled this valley of Chincha with a famous Temple dedicated to the Sun with a House also for the Select Virgins it contained about thirty thousand souls being one of the most pleasant and delightfull Vallies of Peru. The Actions and Exploits of the Inca Pachacutec were many and various though his Conquests for the most part were performed in the same manner wherefore to divert the Reader with some varieties we shall now intermix our Discourse with two principal Festivals which the Incas celebrated with the greatest solemnities and then we shall return again to the Life and Atchievements of this King. CHAP. XX. Of the principal Festival of the Sun and in what manner they prepared themselves for the Celebration of it THE principal Festival was called Raymi which sounds or at leasts signifies as much with them as Pascha which with us in English is Easter amongst the four Festivals celebrated by the Incas in the City of Cozco which was the Metropolis of their Religion as Rome is to us none was observed with that solemnity as this which they called Yntip Raymi held in the month of June in honour of the Sun soon after the Summer Solstice and if they attributed this name of Raymi to any other Feast it was in reference or as it depended on this chief Festival This Solemnity was performed to the Sun under Notion of the Supreme Sole and Universal God by virtue of whose Heat and Light all living Creatures were generated and sustained At which also they commemorated their first Father Inca Manco Capac and Coya Mama Occlo his Wife and Sister owning and acknowledging them to be descended from the Sun and sent by him into the World for the common benefit of Mankind For which important Reasons this Festival being esteemed the most solemn all the principal Captains and Commanders of the Army and Curacas or Lords of Provinces assembled themselves at Cozco to celebrate this Feast not that it was of Precept or Injunction but out of mere Devotion to the Sun and respect to the Inca. In case any Curaca or Officer were hindred by Age or Infirmity or by any distant Employment in service of the Inca he then sent his Son or his Brother or some other Relation to assist at this Function in his Name and Place nor did the Inca esteem himself excused from this personal attendance unless the War or remote Visits of his Kingdoms obliged him to be absent At the first Ceremonies the King as High-Priest did always administer for though there was another High-Priest of the same legitimate Bloud being a Brother or Uncle of the Inca to whom it properly belonged at other times to officiate yet this being the chief of
Castle for that was then destroyed but from a House belonging to one of the Incas which was situated on the side of that Hill where the Castle was formerly built called Collcampata I saw also the four Indians run with their Lances and the common people shake their Cloaths with all the other vile and foolish practices as eating their Bread called Cancu and burning the Torches called Pancuncu For my part I had not the curiosity to sit up so late at night as to be present at their nocturnal Festival Howsoever I remember that I saw one of their Pancuncus lodged in the stream which runs through the Market-place and near to the House of my School-fellow John de Cellorico I remember to have seen many Indian Boys to have run from it but I being a Child of six or seven years old and not Catechised in their Religion nor knowing the cause remained unconcerned at the bundle of Straw not thinking it so terrible as did the Indians This Torch we now speak of was thrown into the stream which runs through the City and carried abroad according to the ancient institution for the Feast was not now observed with that strictness and veneration as it was in the times of their Kings for beginning now to become obsolete it was rather performed in remembrance of their ancient customs than out of an opinion of any effect or virtue of such a practice for there remained still some old superstitious fellows who refused Baptism and obstinately adhered to their ancient Gentilism In times of the Incas the Torches were carried out of the City and there cast into the River the water with which they washed their bodies though it were brought from other streams was yet to be poured into the River which runs from the City that so the evils which it washed might be carried far distant and by force of the current be lodged in the Sea. As we have before mentioned There was another Feast not publickly celebrated but kept in every private family and that began about the time after they had ended their Harvest and lodged their Fruits in their Store-houses called Pirva Their custome was to burn a small quantity of Tallow or Fat near the places where they had lodged their Stores as a sacrifice to the Sun the Nobles and rich people offered tame Conies which they call Coii giving thanks for the provisions of bread with which they were supplied for the sustenance of the whole year and praying that he would be pleased to bestow this blessing on those conservatories of their bread that they might keep them well and safe for the support and maintenance of humane life There were other Feasts which the Priests celebrated within the Temple of the Sun without any publick processions being the monthly sacrifices offered to the Sun but these were not to be compared with the solemnity of the other four principal Feasts which were like our Grand Festivals of Easter and Christmas and the like CHAP. VIII The Description of the Imperial City of Cozco THE Inca Manco Capac was Founder of this City of Cozco which the Spaniards have honoured with the continuance of its Name and Title calling it the great City of Cozco and Metropolis of all the Kingdoms and Provinces of Peru. And though they once called it the New Toledo yet the impropriety of it soon caused that Name to be disused For Cozco is not encompassed by a River as is Toledo nor like it in the situation the Houses being placed one above the other on the side of a Hill so high that it surveys from all parts a large and spatious Plain beneath it the Streets are very long and wide and the publick Market-places very great so that the Spaniards in general as also the publick Notaries and other Writers style it by no other Name than by its ancient Title for Cozco being like another Rome the Imperial Head of many Kingdoms and Provinces may equally deserve a title agreeable to its noble and generous Atchievements and likewise in some things be compared with Rome As first in that it was originally founded by its Kings Secondly in that it was the Head and Chief City of many Nations subjected to its Empire Thirdly in the Excellencies of its Laws which were many and wise and rarely tempered for the government of its people Fourthly in the qualities of the Men who were educated in Civil and Military Discipline and were civilized and freed from all barbarity in their manners Howsoever we may say that Rome had this advantage of Cozco that the knowledge of Letters had eternized the fame and honour of Rome and that its people were not more celebrated for the success of their Arms than they were illustrious and renowned for their Arts and Sciences when Poor Cozco hath had nothing but Memory and Tradition to deliver its great Actions and feats of Arms to posterity But Rome had the help of Historians to record its famous Deeds and was as much beholding to the Pen as to its Arms it being doubtfull whether great Heroes are more obliged to Writers who have transmitted the fame of their mighty Actions to all posterity or Writers are to the Noble Heroes for opening unto them so large a field of great and various Atchievements But this was not the fortune of our poor Countrey which though abounding with Men famous in Arms and in Intellectuals and capable of Sciences did yet for want of knowledge in Letters leave no other Monuments of their past actions but what Tradition hath conserved and transmitted in some few abrupt and scattered sentences from Fathers to their Children which also are in a great measure lost by the entrance or Invasion of a new people for where an Empire or Government hath had its period being overwhelmed by the power of a stronger Nation there also by natural consequence must the memory of Acts and Customs perish which have not been recorded by a skilfulness in Letters For my own part being moved with a warm desire and affection to conserve the poor remains of Antiquity in my own native Countrey I have adventured on this laborious Design of Discovery and of tracing the Footsteeps of the lost reliques of its forgotten Customs and Manners and therefore that this City of Cozco which was once the Metropolis of many Kingdoms and Nations may be revived and yet live in its ancient Fame I have resolved in this Chapter to make some Description of it as I have received it by Tradition and also as a true born and faithfull Son of that City to declare what I have seen of it with my own Eyes and in what state and condition it was in the Year 1570. when I departed thence specifying what ancient Names were still in use belonging to places and divisions of the City with what alterations were at that time made in the names of Parochial Churches and Streets which the Spaniards have built since their coming thither The King
besides those which we have mentioned in the third Book and fifteenth Chapter of our History of Florida which are found in many parts of that great Kingdom particularly in that rich Temple of the Province called Cofachiqui the 18 Mark weight of Pearl besides the two Chests which Acosta mentions to have been brought for the King's account were all choice Pearls and such as at several times were called out by the Indians and set apart for the King's use and service to whom a fifth part belonged of all the Pearls which were taken and accordingly delivered into the Royal Wardrobe from whence they were given out for adorning a Manto and Petticoat for the Image of our Lady of Guadalupe embroderying a whole Suit such as the dress of her Head Frontlers Surcoat hanging Sleeves and hem of her Garments all with the finest sort of Pearl set in Diamond-work the House or Chair of State made for this Image which were usually of a darkish colour were now covered with Rubies and Emeralds set in Gold by which it was apparent by whose command and at whose charge those Artists worked and to whose service the Catholick King did dedicate so great a Treasure which was immense and beyond the abilities and magnificence of any other than his onely who was Emperour of the Indies But to compute and rightly to calculate the Riches of this Monarch we ought to reade the fourth Book of Acosta wherein are such strange discoveries of things in the New World as are almost incredible Amongst which I have been an eye-witness my self at Sevil in the year 1579 where I saw a Pearl which a Gentleman called Don Diego de Temez brought from Panama and designed for King Philip the Second the Pearl was about the bigness of a Wallnut and roundness of a Pigeon's Egg it was valued in the Indies at twelve thousand Pieces of Eight which make fourteen thousand four hundred Ducats Jacomo de Treco of Milan an excellent Artist and Jeweler to his Catholick Majesty esteemed it at fourteen thirty fifty and sometimes at a hundred thousand Ducats that is that it had no price for in regard there was none like it in the World and that there was none with which it might be compared it was not capable of any estimation In Sevil many went to see it for a sight giving it the Name of the Foreigner A certain Italian Gentleman at that time went about that City and bought up all the choicest Pearls he could find for account of a Great Lord in Italy when having purchased a String or Chain of the best yet being compared and laid by the Foreigner they seemed like so many little pebles of the Brook. Those that knew and were acquainted with Pearls and pretious Stones did aver that it weighed 24 Quilats above any other that was ever known but what that means I am not skilfull enough to interpret The Proprietor of this Pearl said that a little Neger Boy which was not worth above a 100 Ryals fished the shell wherein it was contained out of the water which was so cragged and promised so little outwardly that they were going to cast it again into the Sea but yielding unexpectedly so great a profit to the Master he was pleased in reward for the benefit to give liberty to the Slave and in honour to the Master on whom fortune had bestowed so great a Treasure the Inhabitants of Panama were pleased to make him their High Constable the Pearl was never polished because the Master would never consent that it should be touched unless it were to bore a hole through it for they never attempt to alter the fashion or shapes of them but string them as they come from the shells so that some of them come out very round others long others flat others round of one side and flat on the other but those vvhich are in fashion of a Pear are most esteemed because they are not common When a Merchant hath got one of this shape he presently enquires and makes search for another vvhich is like it for being vvell matched they rise double in their price so that vvhen a Pearl being single is valued at a hundred Ducats being afterwards vvell matched vvith another doth presently double its price and both give a value to each other because they are made the more fit for Chains and Neck-laces for vvhich they are principally designed Pearl is of a nature vvhich vvill admit of no polishing being composed of a certain shell or tunicle vvhich covers it and vvhich decays vvith time losing much of its lustre and brightness vvhich it had at first hovvsoever vvhen they take off the upper coat or tunicle of the decayed part that vvhich is under appears as oriental as it did at first but yet vvith great damage to the Pearl being considerably lessened at least one third of its bigness Hovvsoever the best sort of Pearls do never decay and may be excepted from this general rule CHAP. XXIV Of Gold and Silver SPain it self is a sufficient witness of the Gold and Silver which comes from Peru considering that for the twenty five years last past besides what hath been formerly carried there hath been every year transported twelve or thirteen Millions according to Register besides that which hath passed without account There is Gold found in all the parts of Peru some more and some less generally in every Province It is found on the top or surface of the Earth carried by streams and currents and washed down by great flouds of Rain which the Indians gather and put into water separating it from the Earth as the Silver-smiths do the filings which fall in their shops That which is found in this manner is called Gold in dust because it is like filings some of which are indifferently big and about the fashion of a Mellon-seed some are round and others of an oval form all the Gold of Peru is about eighteen or twenty Quilats more or less in goodness onely that which comes from the Mines of Callauaya or Callahuaya is of the finest sort being twenty four Quilats and better as I have been informed by some Gold-smiths in Spain In the year 1556 there was digged out of the veins of a Rock in the Mines of Callahuaya a piece of Gold Ore of the bigness of a Man's head in colour like the Lungs of a living creature and indeed did something resemble it in the shape having certain Persorations through it from one end to the other in all which holes there appeared little kernels of Gold as if melted Gold had been dropped into them some of them being outwardly in knobs and others more inward Those that understood the nature of Mines were of opinion that had that piece of Ore been suffered to remain it would all with time have been turned into perfect Gold. In Cozco the Spaniards looked upon it as strange and unusual and the Indians called it Huaco as they did every thing which was
bigness The Accountant General Augustine Carate in the 14th Chapter of his first Book having at any time occasion to speak of the Riches of the Royal Palaces belonging to the Incas reckons up vast Treasures and almost incredible but I shall onely repeat what he says particularly of this Golden Chain which I have extracted verbatim Guaynacava when he had a Son born caused a Golden Chain of that weight to be made as many Indians still alive can testifie that being fastened to the Ears or Luggs of two hundred Indians it could scarcely be raised by them and in memory of this remarkable Fabrick of Gold the Child's Name was called Guasca which in their Language signifies a Rope or Cable with the additional Title of Inca. And thus far are the Words of that noble Historian of Peru. This rich and magnificent piece of Gold together with other vast Treasures the Indians made away with or concealed so soon as the Spaniards invaded their Countrey and so confounded them beyond all recovery that no knowledge or intimation remains where any part of them is to be found And in regard this rich and stately piece of Gold was compounded and framed onely for that time when the Prince an Heir was to have his Lock cut and his Name imposed they surnamed him Huascar adding it to his other Names of Ynti Cusi Hualpa and because Huasca signifies a Rope or Cable for in the Language of Peru they have no Word for a Chain they for better Grace of the Word added R. the which took so much with his Subjects that they for the most part called him Huascar omitting Ynti Cusi Hualpa which Word Hualpa signifies the Sun of Chearfulness For whereas in those days the Incas became very potent and that power for the most part raises in Men a Spirit of Pride and Vanity so they began to be weary of those ordinary Titles which anciently expressed their Grandeur and Majesty and expected other Hyperbolies and Exaltations of Divine Attributes which might raise them to the Heavens and make their adoration equal to that of their God the Sun. So they called him Ynti which signifies the Sun or Phoebus Cusi Chearfulness Pleasure Contentment or Rejoycing And thus much shall serve in Explanation of the Names and Titles of the Inca Huascar Let us now return to his Father Huayna Capac who having given order for the making of this Chain and left sufficient directions for the fashion and size thereof that so it might be ready against the time that his Child was to be weaned he prosecuted the Design he had already began of making a Visit to the remote parts of his Empire the which having finished in the space of two Years being about the time that his Child was to be weaned he returned to Cozco where all things were prepared that could be contrived to make this Feast solemn and joyfull and full of divertisement and then the Child received the Name of Huascar CHAP. II. Ten Vallies of the Coast are reduced one after the other as they lay in order and Tumpiz surrenders of it self A Year being past after this Solemnity Huayna Capac ordered that an Army of forty thousand Men should be raised with which he marched into the Kingdom of Quitu taking the Eldest Daughter of the King of that Countrey which he had Conquered to be his Concubine during the time of that Expedition but first to prepare and hallow her she was sent to remain some days in the House of the Select Virgins By this Woman he had Atahualpa and his Brothers as we shall see by the sequel of this History From Quitu the Inca descended into the Plains by the Sea-coast and in prosecution of his Conquests he came to the Valley called Chimu now Trugillo which was the ultimate bounds to which his Grandfather the good Inca Yupanqui had proceeded as we have already mentioned From thence he sent his Heralds with the accustomary Summons and Offers of Peace and War to the Inhabitants of the Valley of Chacma and Pascasmayu These people having long been Borderers and Neighbours to the Subjects of the Inca had from them been informed of the gentleness of their Kings and the advantage of their Government and therefore from a quick sense of so much felicity returned answer That they desired nothing more than to be Subjects to the Inca to obey his Laws and be ruled by him All the other eight Vallies followed the Example of these two adjoining Provinces being situate between Pacasmayu and Tumpiz and are these which follow namely Canna Collque Cintu Tucmi Sayanca Mutupi Puchiu and Sullana in the settlement of which Countries and in the improvement of them with good Husbandry and in making Aqueducts to water their Glebe-lands and Pasturage two years were spent rather than in the Conquest or Subjection of them for they chearfully and with free Will surrendred themselves to the Inca. During which time the Inca relieved his Forces three or four times for in regard the Air of that Countrey was hot and moist and consequently unwholsome he judged it fit for the better health of his Subjects to change his Guards frequently that so the Diseases of the Countrey might not enter the Camp before they were again relieved by an exchange of fresh Men. The Inca having subjected these Vallies returned to the Kingdom of Quitu where he remained for the space of two Years that so he might adorn that Countrey with sumptuous Edifices and stately Aqueducts wherewith he advantaged and obliged that people After which he commanded a levy to be made of fifty thousand Souldiers which being raised and armed he marched with them along the Sea-coast untill they came to the Valley of Sullana which is the nearest Sea to Tumpiz from whence he sent his usual Summons and Offers of Peace and War. The Inhabitants of Tumpiz were a sort of people more luxurious in their Diet and Habit than all those who live on that Coast and had already submitted to Obedience of the Incas their manner was to wear a Garland on their Heads by way of distinction which they called Pillu Their Caciques or Lords maintained Buffoons Jesters Dancers and Singers for their Pastime and Divertisement but their Religion yet was vile and base for they adored Tigers and Lions and offered the Bloud and Hearts of Men in Sacrifice they were served and obeyed with great Fear and Awe by their own Subjects and feared by Strangers howsoever being possessed with dreadfull Apprehensions of the Inca they had no heart nor courage to make opposition against him and therefore returned Answer to his Heralds that they were with all willing obedience ready to receive him for their Lord and Emperour The like Answer was made by the Inhabitants of the Vallies upon the Coast and other In-land Nations called Chunana Chintu and Collonche Jaquall and others seated on the neighbouring parts CHAP. III. Of the punishment inflicted on those who killed the Officers
arose amongst the Chachapuyas and the Valour of Huayna Capac WHilst the King Huayna Capac was preparing for his return to Cozco and to visit several Kingdoms in his way many Caciques or Lords of those Provinces adjoining to the Coast which were reduced to the Obedience of the Empire presented themselves with such Gifts and Offerings as their Countries afforded amongst which they brought a Lion and a Tyger both Creatures most fierce in their Nature and which the Inca very much esteeming gave order that they should be kept and nourished with singular care by which Creatures God was pleased to work so great a Miracle in favour of the Christians as we shall hereafter relate that they were adored by the Indians for it and esteemed like their Incas for Children of the Sun. The Inca Huayna Capac having provided all things necessary for government of Affairs both in War and Peace departed from Tumpiz intending in his Journey to visit one half of his Kingdom in length as far as the Chicas which is the ultimate Confines of Peru and then taking a compass to visit the other half which lies to the Eastward And being in the Countrey of the Chichas he employed and substituted certain Visitors to survey the Kingdom of Tucma called by the Spaniards Tucuman and others to visit Chile and with them he sent many Vestments of such sort as the Inca himself wore and other Curiosities for the Governours Captains and other Ministers of the King as also for the Curacas who were Natives of those Countries that so they might in the Name of the Inca oblige them with those Presents which were highly esteemed In his Journey from Cozco and his return thither he visited the Fortress which was then almost finished and the better to give Life and Encouragement to the chief Architects and Labourers in the Work he himself would lay his own hand to some part of the Edifice This Visitation or Progress being made in which four Years were spent he commanded Souldiers to be levied for the farther Conquest of Tumpiz to the Northward where it stretches it self along the Sea-Coast and whilst he resided in the Province of the Cannaris which was the way as he thought that did lead to Quitu that he might the better descend for Conquest of that Coast News was brought to him that the Inhabitants of the great Province of Chachapuyas seeing him engaged in Wars and Conquests of great importance took that opportunity to make a Rebellion and confiding in the fastness of their craggy and mountainous Countrey and in the numbers of their People which were sturdy and stout had made a general Massacre of all the Governours and Captains and many of the Souldiery which the Inca had appointed to preside over them and such of the Souldiers whom they had spared they made Slaves to serve them in the basest Drudgeries and meanest Offices So soon as this Intelligence was brought to the ears of Huayna Capac with great anger and disdain he countermanded all his Troops from their march on the Sea-coast and appointed them to bend their course towards the Chachapuyas resolving to punish them with the extremity of severe Justice and he in person went to the place which he had appointed for the general Rendezvous and whilst his Army was gathering into a Body he sent his Summons to the Chachapuyas requiring them to return to their Obedience and declaring pardon to all such as should voluntarily submit themselves but these brutish people instead of returning a submissive and penitent Answer treated the Messengers with indignities and opprobrious words threatning them with Death if they did not immediately depart the which rude treatment the Inca highly resenting made all the speed imaginable to unite his Forces and having assembled and fitted his Army he marched to a great River where they found many Boats made of a sort of light and boyant Timber which in the common Language of Peru are called Chuchau The Inca considering that it was neither honourable nor decent for his Person nor People to pass over the water in companies of five or six iâ—â— Boat commanded that all these Boats should be joined together and linked one to one by which means the Army might march over them in a more compact and conjoined Body as over a Bridge the which was ordered with so much Art and industry that the Inca and his Army passed the Water in one days time and then with all expedition marched in Battalia towards Cassa Marquilla which is the principal Province of that people intending to destroy and consume all before him for as this Prince availed himself much in being esteemed gentle and gratious towards his good and loyal Subjects so he desired no less to render himself terrible to Rebels Traitors and Falsifiers of their Word These Rebels being sensible of the just Anger of the Inca and the power of his Army and the punishment of their crime which they too late repented and also considering the rude and brutish terms and treatment they had used towards the Messengers which brought the late Summons from the Inca with which despairing of all favour and pardon they resolved to demolish their Houses and Dwellings and with their Wives and Children and such as were able to flee unto the Mountains Howsoever the old people and infirm remaining behind and being of more experience and more considerate than the others recalled to mind the late generosity of this Huayna Capac and the assurances they had that he would never refuse the Instances and Requests made him by a Woman did therefore address themselves to a certain Matron named Chachapuya a Native of Cassa Marquilla who had formerly been the Wife of Tupac Inca Yupanqui the Great beseeching her that she would with all the Prayers and Tears she was able endeavour to divert the present danger and appease the Wrath of the Inca persuading him notwithstanding the late provocations to receive the people to pardon and mercy without which there could be no hopes or other expectation than a total ruine and â—desolation of that Province This Matron considering her self involved with the her family in same Destruction readily inclined to this good Office and so with Women of all Ages without admitting one man into their company she went forth to meet the Inca whom finding about two Leagues distant from Cassa Marquilla she boldly prostrated her self at his Feet and with great presence of mind expostulated in this manner with him Sir said she where is it you are going Do not you consider that full of Rage and Indignation you are going to destroy that Province which your good Father gained and added to his Empire Consider I beseech you that you are proceeding against the Rules of that Clemency and Piety which are natural to you and that you are going to execute that Desolation and Destruction in your anger which you will repent with much remorse so soon as you return to your sober
King which the Incas for the reputation of their Idolatry call Revelations from their Father the Sun. Besides these various Prognosticks and Sayings delivered by their Oracles many affrighting Comets appeared in the Air and amongst the rest one with extraordinary Rays of a greenish colour very terrible to behold and moreover a Thunderbolt fell in the Palace of the Inca himself all which strange and ominous matters being put together did greatly trouble and puzle the Wisedom and Art of their Magicians and Philosophers called Amautas who were the Sages and Priests of that Religion who being also conversant with familiar Spirits presaged the death of Huayna Capac with the destruction of the Royal Family and the total Ruine and Downfall of the Empire with many other dismal Calamities and Misfortunes which their Nations in general and every one in particular was to sustain howsoever these fatal Stories were not vulgarly published lest they should dismay and terrifie their people with utmost despair who were naturally superstitious and of a melancholy temper apt to receive impressions of this nature Huayna Capac finding himself now sensibly to decay and his end to approach summoned all his Sons and Relations with the Governours and Captains of the neighbouring parts to come to him and declared to them That he was then going to Heaven to rest with his Father the Sun who had some time since revealed to him that he would shortly call him from a certain Lake or Fountain or River Now in regard that I am seized said he with this Distemper by the chilness of the Water in which I bathed it seems to me a certain token that I am called by my Father and that this is the time of my Dissolution So soon as I am dead I would have my Body opened as is the Custome of Kings my Heart and Bowels I would have carried and interred in Quitu as a Testament of my love to that Kingdom but my Corps I would have carried to Cozco there to be buried with my Kindred and Ancestours In a particular manner I recommend my Son Atahualpa whom I love with a tender Affection bequeathing unto him my Kingdom of Quitu with whatsoever additions he shall gain and acquire thereunto by his own Arms commanding and enjoining you that are my Captains to serve him with all Fidelity and Allegiance as your true and natural Prince requiring you to perform all Obedience towards him in every thing for I shall illuminate him with Revelations from my Father the Sun. I farther recommend unto you and desire you to use Moderation and exercise Justice towards our Subjects and Vassals that so we may deservedly continue the Title of being Lovers of the Poor and that in every thing you behave your selves as Incas who are the true Off-spring of the Sun. Having ended this Discourse to his Children and Kindred he summoned all the Captains and Curacas who were not of the Bloud Royal recommending to them faithfull and dutifull Allegiance to their King and in the last place he told them That there was an old Prophecy derived by Revelation from his Father the Sun That after the Reign of twelve Kings there should come a new Nation never before known in those parts that should gain and subject all those Kingdoms and Provinces with many others to their own Dominion which I greatly suspect to be those who now sail upon our Coast being a valiant People much surpassing ours in all points of Excellency Likewise you are to observe that in me the number of twelve Kings is completed and I farther make known to you that in a few Years after my departure out of this Life that this new Nation will invade you and then will be accomplished that which our Father the Sun hath revealed that they shall become your Lords and Masters Wherefore I encharge you to serve them as Men for they in every thing have the advantage of you their Law is better than yours their Arms and military Discipline more warlike and more invincible than yours and lastly I leave my Peace with you for I am summoned by my Father the Sun to rest and repose with him Pedro de Cieça in the 44th Chapter of his Book touches upon this Prophecy which Huayna Capac had delivered concerning the Invasion of the Spaniards and that after his Reign the Empire would be translated to a stranger people which was like those that sailed in the Ship. All which the Inca told his people in Tumipampa which is a Countrey not far from Quitu where it is said the news was first brought of the Spaniards who were the Discoverers of Peru. Francisco Lopez de Gomara in the 115th Chap. of his Book relating the Discourse which intervened between Huascar and Hernando de Soto who was afterwards Governour of the Florida and Pedro del Barco saith that when they two travelled alone from Cassamarca to Cozco as we shall relate in its due place Huascar being then a Prisoner amongst other Discourses which he recounts of him reports farther of him in these Words which follow And lastly he assured them that he was the true and lawfull Lord and Heir of these Kingdoms and that Atabaliba was a Tyrant and Usurper and that he would see the Captain of the Christians and inform him so much that so he might revenge his Injuries and restore him to his Liberty and Kingdoms for that his Father Guayna Capac had at the time of his Death commanded him to be a friend to the people who were white and fair wearing Beards for they were to be Lords of those Countries c. So that this Prophecy was commonly known in all Peru as all Historians write All the preceding particulars delivered by Huayna Capac were esteemed to be his last Will and Testament and held by the Indians in high estimation and therefore they complied most punctually with his Commands I remember that one day the old Inca formerly spoken of discoursing before my Mother and relating these particular matters and of the coming in of the Spaniards and how they gained the Countrey I took an occasion to ask him how it came to pass that this Countrey being so rocky and mountainous as it is and the people warlike so that they could make Conquests of many Provinces and form a mighty Empire how I say it came to pass that they should submit and render themselves to so small and so inferiour a number as the Spaniards were In answer unto which he repeated the old Prophecy concerning the Spaniards telling me that the Inca had commanded them to obey and serve them as a people endued with many more Excellencies than they and having said this he turned to me and with anger in his face reproved me for having termed them Cowards and unwise and in answer to my demand he told me That the last Words which our Inca uttered whereby he commanded us to resign our Empire and subject our selves to a stranger Nation were much more
answer We shall leave the Name of Gualpa untill the end of this Chapter and shall begin with the word Ronto or Runtu which signifies an Egg not of a Hen in particular but in general of any Fowl vvhether tame or vvild and vvhen they mention an Egg they add the Fovvl or Bird from vvhich it is produced as of a Hen Partridge or Dove c. And so much for Runtu or the Egg. As to the expression of Gualpa or Hen to signifie a Covvard the Indians may have deduced or taken it up from the Spaniards as is ordinary for people vvho have entertained a familiarity and conversation vvith another to borrovv their phrases and proprieties of their Language as is commonly seen hovv our Spaniards that travel into Italy France Flanders and Germany do frequently make use of the Proverbs and Expressions vvhich they have learned from stranger Nations so also the Indians have taken this vvord from the Spaniards to denote a Covvard for othervvise in their ovvn Tongue they vvant not vvords more significant than this Spanish Saying for they sometime call him Huarmi vvhich is Woman and have the proper vvord Campa vvhich signifies a Man of a pusillanimous Spirit and one vvithout Heart or Courage as also they have the vvord Llanclla so that the Metaphor of a Hen is borrovved from the Spaniards in vvhich I may be credited considering that I my self am an Indian The word Gualpa is corrupted by contraction of the Syllables and is instead of Atahualpa which doth not signifie a Hen but was the Name of the last Inca that reigned in Peru whose Life was so bloudy as we shall relate in its due place that he exceeded in cruelty all the fierce and wild Beasts and Basilisks in the World for he being a Bastard by subtile artifices and contrivances Murthered his Elder Brother Huascar who was lawfull Heir and Usurped his Kingdom and so with cruel torments never before known or invented he destroyed the whole Bloud-Royal both Men Women and Children over which more tender Sex that his cruelty might triumph he subjected them to the most exquisite torments that his tyrannical malice could invent and not satiating himself sufficiently with his own flesh and bloud his unhumane rage proceeded to a destruction of all the Servants and Dependants on the Royal Court which as we have said were very numerous for Offices were not confined to single persons but to Villages and Towns which were obliged to serve in their turns such as Porters at the Gate Sweepers Water-bearers Gardiners and the like all which by their Villages and Communities being employed in these services had their Habitations for the space of five six and seven Leagues round Cozco whom he totally destroyed and not being contented with a Massacre of the Inhabitants he demolished their Dwellings and put all to a miserable devastation and yet his cruelties had proceeded farther had not the Spaniards who in the furious progress of his Tyrannies entred that Countrey given a stop to his farther executions Now whereas the Spaniards in a short time after their coming took this Tyrant Atahualpa and in the publick Market-place putting him to the Wrack executed him before the people in the most exemplary manner of punishment which when the Indians observed they praised their God the Sun who had sent the Spaniards to perform justice and revenge himself of the Tyrant who had destroyed his Children and all those of his Bloud and Family For which reason the Indians looking upon the Spaniards as those who were sent from their God did yield entire obedience to them surrendring themselves absolutely to their disposal which was a means to facilitate their Conquests for they adored them as the Progeny which was descended from their God Viracocha who appeared in a dream to one of their Kings and therefore they gave the Name of Viracocha to the Spaniards On this false supposition they conceived this simple fancy that when they heard the Cocks crow which the Spaniards brought in and were the first that were ever seen in Peru they imagined that the Cocks pronounced the word Atahualpa in abhorrence of his detestable tyrannies whence contracting the word they called Cocks and Hens by the Name of Gualpa And whereas the Indians recounted these Fables to their Children whereby they descended by way of tradition to after Ages the Boys when they heard the Cocks crow would answer in the same tone crowing out Atahualpa and I must confess when I was a Boy that I used amongst the other young Indians to imitate the same tune when I ran about the Streets And thus we Children quavered out Atahualpa imitating as near as we could the voice of the Cock Nor did we onely tune his Name to our Song but we brought the Names of his principal Captains into the Air of our Musick as Challcuchima Quilliscacha And Ruminavi which signifies the Eye of a Stone because he had a Pearl as we call it on one of his Eyes Blas Valera having in his loose and scattered Papers given an account of the sudden Death of Atahualpa farther saith that though he had been cruel to his Relations and those of his Bloud yet in the Government of his own people he was endued with incomparable Excellencies endearing them to him by many obliging circumstances and at last in Elegant Latin uses these words Hence it was that so soon as his Death was divulged amongst his Subjects they would comfort themselves in saying that the very Cocks which the Spaniards had brought over would not suffer the Name of so great a Person to perish or be forgotten lamenting in their dolefull tone the Name of Atahualpa and therefore they gave the Name of Atahualpa to all Cocks which word the Indians of all Nations vulgarly received as did also the Spaniards and Preachers take up that word when they would express the Name of a Cock to the Indians Thus far are the Words of Blas Valera who received this Relation in the Kingdom of Quitu from the Subjects of Atahualpa who were as well inclined to him as good Subjects are to their natural King And on the contrary such as lived in Cozco and were of a different faction interpreted the crowing of the Cock with Atahualpa in his voice to be by way of abhorrence and detestation of the many cruelties and tyrannies of which he was guilty By which I suppose that I have sufficiently now confuted the three former Conjectures and that I have clearly proved that there were no Cocks or Hens in Peru before the Conquest which the Spaniards made of it As the Spaniards brought Hens and Pigeons first into Peru so also they brought Peacocks thither from Mexico for before that time none of that kind had been seen in my Countrey It is a thing very remarkable that Hens did not hatch their Chickens in Cozco nor yet in the Vallies neighbouring to it though they fed them with the best nourishment they could contrive to give
the breast of Huascar he grew so sad and pensive that not being able to support longer the burthen of his jealousie he dispatched a Messenger to his Brother Atahualpa giving him to understand that according to the ancient Constitution and Canon of the First Inca Manco Capac which had been observed by all generations descended from him the Kingdom of Quitu and all the dependencies belonging to it were properly and of right inherent in the Crown and Imperial Seat of Cozco And though he had quitted his claim thereunto in respect to that forced obedience he owed to his Father yet by the strict Rules of Justice he was not obliged thereunto nor was any such Resignation lawfull being to the damage of his Crown and to the right of his Successours which his Father had neither power to enjoin nor be to perform But in regard his Father had so commanded it and he assented he was willing to confirm the same Grant to him on two Conditions First that he do not add one Foot of Land to his present Dominions for that all his Conquests do of right belong to the Empire and secondly that as a Feudatory he perform towards him Homage and Vassalage This Message Atahualpa received with all the submission and humility imaginable and having taken three days time to return his Answer he with all the seigned affection and subtile dissimulation he could contrive made this Reply That he had always in his heart entertained obedient thoughts towards his Lord and Sovereign the Capac Inca and that as an evidence thereof he would never attempt to encrease and enlarge his Dominions of Quitu but by the order and with the consent of his Majesty to whose pleasure he was so entirely devoted that in case he should think sit to dispose otherwise of his Kingdom he would willingly resign all to his command and live as privately in his Court as any of his Uncles and Kindred serving him both in Peace and War with faithfulness and diligence This joyfull Answer from Atahualpa the Messenger returned with all expedition by the Post remaining still at the Court of Atahualpa in expectation of Instructions from the Inca of what farther to act and negotiate therein The Inca receiving this soft Answer with great joy and satisfaction replied again That he did not in the least repine at the Possessions which his Father had bestowed on Atahualpa for that he did again confirm them to him provided that he did always within such a term of years repair constantly to Cozco and perform the Homage he had agreed To which Atahualpa returned answer That he was very happy to know the Will and Pleasure of his Lord the Inca but much more to perform it which that he might doe he would speedily repair to the place appointed to take the Oath of Allegiance and for the doing thereof in the most solemn manner he desired his Majesties licence and permission that all the Provinces of his State might attend him thither to join with him in the solemn celebration of the funeral Obsequies of his Father Huayna Capac according to the custome observed by the Kingdom of Quitu and the Provinces depending on it and that having accomplished that ceremony both he and all his Subjects would take the Oath of Allegiance and Fealty Huascar Inca easily consented to this gratefull Proposition which his Brother had made to him giving him to understand that he might take his time of coming to Cozco when it seemed most convenient and that he gave him leave to celebrate the rites of his Father's Funeral according to the custome of his Countrey And so both the Brothers appeared satisfied the one rejoycing at the good correspondence he had with his Brother little suspecting the malitious design that lay concealed under it of bereaving him of his Life and Empire and the other pleased himself with the thoughts and contrivance of his damnable Plot which he had laid to make himself Master both of one and the other CHAP. XXXIII The Subtilties which Atahualpa used to take suspicion from the mind of his Brother THings being thus prepared the King Atahualpa published a Decree through all his Kingdom and Provinces that all people who were able to travel unto Cozco should within the space of so many days prepare themselves to take a Journey thither that they might according to the ancient custome of their Nation celebrate the Funeral Rites of the Great Huayna Capac his Father and take the Oaths of Homage and Allegiance to their Supreme Monarch Huascar Inca and that for the greater glory and splendour every one should appear in his best Ornaments and Garments befitting such a Solemnity but secretly he intimated his instructions to his Captains that in their respective Divisions they should take care to chuse such select Men as were Souldiers and better armed for War than accoutred for performance of the Obsequies and that they should march in divers Divisions of five and six hundred in a Squadron and so disguise the matter as to appear in the outward shew rather like Servants and Attendants than like Souldiers and that every Division should march at two or three Leagues distance each from the other And moreover he gave Orders to the Captains who led the Van that when they were come within ten or twelve days March of Cozco that then they should shorten their pace that the Rere might come up to them who were commanded to double their March that so they might overtake those in the Van. In this order the Troops of Atahualpa consisting of above thirty thousand select Men most being old veterane Souldiers proceeded in their March who also were Commanded by those famous and experienced Captains which his Father had left and recommended to him two of which Officers were especially famous above the rest one of which was called Challchucima and the other Quizquiz and Atahualpa gave out that he would himself in Person bring up the Rere Huascar placing great confidence in the words of his Brother and much more in that untainted Loyalty which the Indians had ever born to their Incas a testimony of which faithfulness is given by Acosta in these words taken out of the twelfth Chapter of his sixth Book Without doubt said he great was the reverence and affection which this people shewed to their Incas it having never been known that any one of them was ever guilty of High-Treason c. For which reason Huascar suspecting nothing less than such a faithless and treasonable design did with all freedom and generous liberty give order that they should be supplied with all Provisions in their way and all kind treatment shewed them as befitted Brothers who were travelling to perform the Funeral Rites of their Father and to take the Oaths of Fealty and Allegiance Thus both Parties moved on different considerations that of Huascar with all the simplicity and sincerity imaginable and the other of Atahualpa with all the subtile artifice and cunning
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
have their Lodgings therein In this Fortress of which there remain some Ruines to this day Guayna Capac did by his Deputy gather and collect the Tributes of the People and laid them up there with many pretious Jewels as also all Provisions for the Souldiers of the Garrison and for those which marched that way also they report that in this Fortress the Lion and Tiger were kept which had been sent thither by Guayna Capac and were the same which they let loose upon Pedro de Candia with intent that they might tear him in pieces at that time when Francis Piçarro came first to this Countrey with his thirteen Companions to make a Discovery of Peru. In this Fortress of Tumbez were many Silver-smiths which made Vessels of Gold and Silver and other pieces of rare Workmanship for service and ornament of the Temple which they esteemed holy and sanctified as also for service and honour of the Inca and for his perpetual Fame and lasting Memory they plated all the Walls of this Temple with panes of Gold and Silver And the Women which were dedicated to the service of the Temple had no other employment than to spin and weave the finest sort of their Wool which they performed with great curiosity And in regard we have in the second Part of this History related as much as we could understand or had reason to believe concerning the Kingdom of Peru from the time of Mango Capac who was the first to the time of Guascar who was the last King that descended by lawfull Succession we shall add no farther in this Chapter than what will serve to illustrate this History Thus far the Words of Peter de Cieça collected out of that part of his History wherein he treats of the great Riches of Tumpiz and of the wild Beasts which they set upon Peter de Candia but proceeds no farther reserving the remainder of his Story to be related in the third Part of his Works which have not as yet been published to the World. CHAP. XII Of the Miracle which God wrought in Tumpiz BUT to return unto our purpose We say That those wild Beasts beholding the Christian and the Cross which he held in his hand immediately lost their natural fierceness and as if they had been two Dogs which he had bred up came and fawned upon him and cast themselves at his Feet Peter de Candia considering this Miracle which God had wrought for him took courage and stroked them on the Head and Sides laying the Cross upon them whereby these Gentiles might understand that by virtue of that Standard the savage Beasts had lost their ferocity and were made tame The Indians seeing this Wonder conceived that Peter was no mortal Man but descended from Heaven and from the Sun and therefore with common consent adored him as a Child of their God the Sun bringing him into their Temple which was lined with broad plates of Gold that so he might be informed in what manner they honoured and worshipped his Father in that Countrey And having shewed him their Temple with the Vessels of Gold and Silver and other Ornaments and Riches which were for the service of it they conducted him to the Royal Lodgings of his Brothers the Incas whom they esteemed also for Children of the Sun. Then they lead him through all the Palace that he might see the square Halls the Chambers and Antichambers together with the furniture of Gold and Silver they shewed him also all the Vessels which were for service of the Inca such as Jars and Cups and Pots all which even to the Shovels and Tongs of the Kitchin were all of Gold and Silver Then they brought him into the Gardens where he saw Trees and lesser Plants and Herbs and wild Beasts and creeping things such as we have said were placed in the Royal Gardens which were all made in Gold and Silver at which the Christian was as much astonished as the Indians were to see a Man so strange and wonderfull as he appeared unto them CHAP. XIII Peter de Candia informs his Companions of what he had seen and therewith they all return unto Panama PEter de Candia being abundantly satisfied with what he had seen returned with all Joy imaginable to his Companions taking much larger steps back than his gravity allowed him in his march towards the people He then informed them of all which had passed and what immense Riches he had seen at which his Companions remained with astonishment being scarce able to give credit to his Relation howsoever being ready to believe what they so much desired they were abundantly satisfied with the Labours they had formerly sustained in quest of those mighty Treasures and Riches promising unto themselves the possession and enjoyment thereof had they but the fortune to entice and persuade Men to adventure for them And having thus discovered what they desired and more than they expected they returned to Panama having not force sufficient to proceed farther Augustin Carate reports that three Spaniards remained on the place after the others were departed or as Lopez de Gomara says but two who out of a curiosity of seeing those Riches which Peter de Candia had mentioned or out of a covetous desire of gaining some of them in case they were such as were reported refused to return with their other Companions But it is not known what afterwards became of them the Spanish Historians say that they were killed by the Indians but that is not probable because they were worshipped and adored by them as descended from the Sun but it may rather be supposed that they dyed of Sickness that Coast being very unhealthfull for the Bodies of Strangers and these being those who perished from the number of the thirteen dying as is believed amongst the Indians their Memory was forgotten and no mention made of them in the Exploits recounted of the other Companions These thirteen Spaniards consumed at least three Years in the discovery of Peru as the Spanish Authours testifie Augustin Carate in the 2d Chapter of his first Book hath these Words Having made these Discoveries in the space of three Years they returned to Panama during which time they sustained much hardship and underwent many Dangers they endured Want and Hunger and received Wounds in their Skirmishes with the Indians but most of all their greatest disappointments proceeded from their own civil Discords and Dissentions the which Piçarro did often by his prudence and gentleness accommodate and appease giving them great encouragement by the assurances he made them of the faithfulness and diligence of Almagro who was making provisions of Victuals of Men Horse and Arms and indeed Almagro and Piçarro were both so cordial and zealous in this Design that they spared neither their Estates nor their Lives in this Adventure having made themselves poor and indebted who were before the richest of their Countrey Thus far are the Words of Carate likewise Gomara avouches the like in this manner
Incas usually drink and these were attended with four Youths of the same Kindred though not of the lawfull Line in regard their Mothers were Natives of the Kingdom of Atahualpa The Maidens having bowed before the Inca delivered one of the golden Cups into his Hand and the other to Hernando Piçarro as the Inca directed And then Titu Atauchi who was the King's Brother and he that was sent on this Embassy to the Spaniards told Philip the Interpreter that he should acquaint them that the Inca was desirous to drink with them which according to the custome of their Countrey was an evidence of Respect Peace and everlasting Friendship Hernando Piçarro having understood the Words of the Interpreter made a low Reverence to the Inca took the Cup and drank Then the Inca having drunk twice or thrice of his own Cup gave the remainder to his Brother Titu Atauchi Then he took one of those Cups which the other Maiden brought and ordered the other to be given to Hernando de Soto who did the same thing as his Companion had done before him and the Inca having drank twice or thrice as before gave the remainder to his Uncle called Choquchuamam Having thus drank the Ambassadours began to declare their Message but the King desired them to desist for a while that he might behold and admire the form and figure he saw in them of his God Viracocha and at that instant six Boys and six Girls very well habited came in bringing green and dry Fruits of several sorts with their finest Bread and Wine made of the Seed of the Tree Mulli and with them they brought very fine Towels made of Cotton because Flax did not grow in their Countrey then one of the Maidens called Pillcu Ciça Nusta made a Speech to the new Guests and said O you who are Sons of Capac Inca Viracocha taste of these things which we bring you which will be a great contentment and satisfaction to us The Spaniards admired much to see such Civility and Courtesie in a people whom they reputed barbarous and to live in all bestiality and filthiness wherefore that they might not seem to contemn or slight that Courtesie which they so freely offered they ate something of what they had set before them and then said it was sufficient with which the Indians were highly satisfied CHAP. XX. The Speech of the Ambassadour and the Answer of the Inca. SIlence being now made Hernando Piçarro desired Hernando de Soto to speak and deliver his Message for that more time was not to be lost and likewise that he would be as short and succinct as he could that so they might return again that night and lodge with their Companions for that it was not prudence to confide much in those People who were Infidels and who perhaps might shew them such Courtesie the more easily to ensnare and betray them So then Hernando de Soto rising up made his Reverence after the Castilian manner and uncovering his Head sate down again and then said Most serene Inca You are to understand that in this World there are two supreme Princes one is the Pope who is High Priest and sits in the Place and Tribunal of God the other is Emperour of the Romans called Charles the 5th King of Spain who having understood the blind Ignorance in which the Natives of these your Kingdoms live despising the true God who is the Maker of Heaven and Earth bestowing the Worship due unto him upon his Creatures and upon the Devil himself who deceive and delude them have sent their Governour and Captain General Don Francisco Piçarro with his Companions and some Priests who are the Ministers of God to teach your Highness and your Subjects the Divine Truth and his holy Law and for this Reason it is that they have undertaken this long Journey to your Countrey where having received effects of your Bounty from your liberal Hand they entred yesterday into Cassamarca and this day they have sent us to your Highness with Offers of Peace and Concord which shall endure for ever between us that so receiving us under your Faith and Protection we may have leave to preach our Law and that your Subjects may hear and understand the Gospel which will be of great Honour as also of Benefit and Salvation to your Souls And on this occasion Blas Valera who was a very religious and zealous Man for the Salvation of those poor Gentiles doth very much lament that those important Words of Hernando de Soto should fall to the ground for want of a good Interpreter learned in both Languages and one who was affected with such inward Charity as might have moved his Heart with efficacy to have explicated the force of those Words But alas it was the misfortune of that Empire and of the first Conquerours to have no better an Interpreter than this Philip who was such an ignorant Sot as not to be able to render the sense either on one side or the other but rather gave things to be understood in a different manner and with that barbarity as spoiled the Honour and Dignity of the Embassy of which both the Inca and Standers-by were sensible finding that the Words of the Interpreter were of a contrary sense to the matter discoursed which caused the Inca to say This stammering Fellow runs from one word to another without understanding and from one errour to another that his Silence were better than his Words Which Expressions of the Inca were more significant in the Indian than in the Spanish Language And also the Captains and Lords being sensible of the Defects of the Interpreter did attribute the ill Expressions and want of Sense to his Ignorance and not to want of Understanding in the Ambassadours whom they esteemed for Gods and adored them for such and accordingly the Inca returned this Answer to the Ambassadours I am much pleased said he Divine Lords that you and your Companions are in my days come into these remote Countries that so I might see those Prophecies and Prognostications fulfilled which our Ancestours have left us though in reality my Soul hath much more reason to be sad when I consider that the end of our Empire approaches of which according to ancient Predictions your coming is a Forerunner and yet I cannot but say that these times are blessed in which our God Viracocha hath sent such happy Guests which shall transform the State of our Government into a better condition of which Change and Alteration we have certain assurance from the Tradition of our Ancestours and the Words of the last Testament of our Father Huayna Capac for which Reason though we had certain Intelligence of your entrance into our Countrey and the Fortifications you made in it and of the Slaughter you committed in Puna Tumpiz and other parts yet neither I nor my Captains have entred into any Consultation how or in what manner we might expell you from hence because we hold and
accordingly hath sent his Captains and Souldiers to execute his Commands as he did for the Conquest of those great Islands and Countries which are adjoining to Mexico and having subjected them by force of Arms hath reduced them to the acknowledgment of the true Religion of Jesus Christ for the same God hath commanded that so it should be For which reason the Emperour Charles the 5th hath chosen for his Ambassadour and Lieutenant Don Francisco de Piçarro who is here present that so the Kingdoms of your Highness may receive all the benefits of Religion and that a firm Peace and Alliance may be concluded and established between His Majesty and Your Highness on condition that your Highness and all your Kingdom become Tributaries that is paying a Tribute to the Emperour Thou maist become his Subject and delivering up your Kingdom and all the Administration and Government thereof Thou shalt doe as other Kings and Lords have already done and have the same quarter and conditions with them This is the first point Now as to the second When this Peace and Alliance is established and that thou hast submitted either voluntarily or by constraint then thou art to yield true and faithfull Obedience to the Pope who is the High-Priest and thou art to receive and believe the Faith of Jesus Christ our God. Thou art also to reject and totally to abandon the abominable Superstition of Idols which being done we shall then make known to you the Sanctity and Truth of our Law and the Falsity of yours the invention and contrivance of which proceeded from the Devil All which O King if Thou wilt believe me Thou oughtest to receive with readiness and good-will being a matter of great importance to thy self and to thy people for if thou shouldst deny and refuse to obey Thou wilt be prosecuted with the Fire and Sword of War untill we have constrained thee by force of Arms to renounce thy Religion for willingly or unwillingly Thou must receive our Catholick Faith and with surrender of thy Kingdom pay a Tribute to our Emperour but in case thou shouldst contend and make resistence with an obstinate mind be assured that God will deliver thee up as he did anciently Pharaoh who with his whole Army perished in the red Sea and so shalt Thou and all thy Indians perish and be destroyed by our Arms. CHAP. XXIII Of the Difficulty there was to interpret the sense and meaning of this Speech of Friar Vicente de Valverde UPon this Speech Blas Valera makes some Reflexions in order to the better understanding of his History saying that the Historians which treat of these matters make mention of this Speech of the Friar but howsoever with some variety for some leave out the first part and others the second and some have abbreviated it in their Relations But howsoever Blas Valera saith that John de Oliva and Christopher de Medina who were Priests and skilfull in the Indian Language and several other Writers have specified this Speech at large in both parts as spoken by Friar Vincent and they all agree that it was a most tart and rude Speech without any mixture of sweetness or allurement whatsoever and that the Interpretation thereof was much worse as we shall see hereafter and these Authours do much more approve the Speech which Hernando de Soto and Piçarro made to Atahualpa being more gentle and modest than the sharp and ill-natured Speech of Friar Vincent And now as to the Interpretation which was made to King Atahualpa of these Words we may believe it was very impersect and corrupt for this Philip the Indian who was all the Interpreter they had was a Native of the Island of Puna and born of common and bloekish Parents and was scarce arrived to the age of twenty two years and was not onely ill learned in the Spanish but also in the general Tongue spoken by the Incas at Cozco which is different from that used in Tumpiz for as we have said at the beginning the Language of Cozco is more refined in respect of all other Indians whose Language is barbarous and corrupt And moreover this Interpreter had learned his Spanish of himself without Rule and some Words onely which he had gotten up amongst the Souldiers and lewd People such as zounds and dammee and the like and besides he was but a Servant to the Spaniards and learned onely to speak like the Negroes and though he had been baptised yet he was ignorant of all the Principles of Religion having neither knowledge of Christ our Lord nor of the Apostles Creed This was all the Education and Learning which our first Interpreter had in Peru and accordingly the Translations he made out of Spanish were all imperfect and of a contrary sense not that he made his mistakes voluntarily from malice but from ignorance speaking like a Parrot things that he did not understand as for example when he was to declare and explain the nature of the Trinity as that God was three and yet one he would say God was three and one that is four the which appears by their Quipus which is their Knots used in the Countrey of Cassamarca where these Affairs passed and indeed he was much to blame if we consider that in the Peruvian Language they have no words to express the Trinity the Holy Ghost Faith Grace the Church the Sacraments and other Words of the like Mysteries for which reason the Spaniards who study that Language in our times and endeavour to express their mystical Notions are forced to coin new words most accommodated to the reason of this people and to the manner of Expressions of the most intelligent Indians who having understood something of the Spanish Language and Learning have of themselves framed new Words to supply the defects of their Speech whereby the Preachers are now able to express any thing in conformity to the understanding of their Auditory We have upon divers occasions given several Instances of the Barrenness and Defects of the Peruvian Language and therefore we ought not to lay the sole blame on our first Interpreter for even in these our Days which are twenty nine Years since that time there are almost as many gross mistakes made by our present Interpreters as were by Philippillio who never conversed with the Spaniards in other Language than his own In short I say that I never knew an Indian who spake good Spanish but two Youths onely who were my School-fellows and from their childhood went to School and learned to reade and write Spanish One of which was called Carlos the Son of Paullu Inca besides these two I have observed so little curiosity in the Indians to learn the Spanish Tongue that I never knew any of them who addicted himself to the study either of writing or reading thereof and never exercised any other means than what came by mere converse and common discourse nor were the Spaniards on the other side more studious in learning the
his Kingdom by his Father's Testament or was he declared Heir The 6th Was Huascar still living or was he dead or did he dye a natural Death or was he killed by order of Atahualpa and when was it either before or since the coming of the Spaniards The 7th Was Atahualpa an Idolater and did he command his Subjects to sacrifice Men and Children The 8th Did Atahualpa raise unjust Wars and was he guilty of the Bloud of much People The 9th Did Atahualpa entertain many Concubines The 10th Did Atahualpa receive the Tribute of the Empire since the Spaniards took the possession of it and did he consume and embezle it The 11th Do you know that since the coming in of the Spaniards that Atahualpa hath given Presents or Gifts out of the Royal Treasury to his Kindred and Captains and how and in what manner hath he embezled and wasted the Wealth of the Publick The 12th Do you know that King Atahualpa hath since his Imprisonment treated with any Captains and Souldiers to rebell and raise War against the Spaniards and what Levies of Men and what Preparations of Arms have been made for War Upon these Interogatories they examined ten several Persons seven of which were Servants to the Spaniards and three of them were not that so they might not appear to be their Creatures yet they all declared whatsoever Philipilio put into their Mouths as Gomara affirms Onely there was one Witness who was none of the Servants belonging to the Spaniards called Quespe who was Captain of a Company being the last that was to be examined suspecting that the Interpreter would say something which he had not testified he to prevent it answered in short either in the Affirmative or in the Negative saying either Y which is yes or Manam which is no. And lest the Interpreter should falsifie these Words which were not well understood by the Persons present when he spake in the affirmative he would nod with his Head two or three times and when in the negative he would shake with his Head and his Right-hand at which the Judges much admired being pleased with the subtilty of the Indian Howsoever the Death of Atahualpa being determined Sentences was passed upon him and accordingly he was executed as we have already declared though many of them as well such as belonged to Piçarro as those who came with Almagro who were of a generous Spirit dissented and protested against the Fact. The Names of the most eminent amongst them were Francisco de Chaves and Diego de Chaves who were Brothers and Natives of Truxillo Francisco de Fuentes Padro de Ayala Diego de Mora Francisco Moscoso Hernando de Haro Pedro de Mendoca Juan de Herrads and Alonso de Avila and Blas de Atiença with many others all which were of opinion that it was not lawfull to put a King to death who had treated them kindly and had never done them any Injury and if in case he were guilty of any Crime they should transport him into Spain there to be tried by the Emperour and not by themselves who had no Power or Jurisdiction over Kings That they should consider the Honour of the Spanish Nation which must greatly suffer in the Reputation of the World and be branded with Tyranny and Cruelty whensoever it should be objected against them that they had put a King to death during the time that they had given their Parole to the contrary and were under Obligations of Treaty and Articles for his Ransome of which they had already received the greatest part That they should be cautious how and in what manner they stained their great Atchievements with an Act so foul and inhumane as this that the fear of God should restrain them who after so barbarous an Action could not expect Blessings or Successes agreeable to their happy beginnings but on the contrary Misfortunes and Ruines and an unhappy end to all those who had a hand in this Wickedness That it was not lawfull to put any Man to death without hearing what he could say in his own Defence that they appealed from their Sentence to the Emperour Charles the 5th and in the mean time constituted Juan de Herrada Protectour of the Person of King Atahualpa These and many other particulars of this nature they uttered not onely in Words but also in Writing solemnly protesting before the Judges against this Fact and against all the evils which might be the consequences thereof Nor were those on the other side less bitter and violent against those who favoured Atahualpa calling them Traitors to the Royal Crown of Castile and the Emperour their Sovereign the augmentation and enlargement of whose Dominion they had endeavoured to prevent That by the death of this Tyrant they might secure their own Lives and the entire Dominion of that whole Empire all which by the contrary would run great danger and hazard Of all which and of the Mutinies which these Dissenters caused they would inform His Majesty that so he might distinguish between such who were his loyal Subjects and faithfull to his Service and those who were Traitors and mutinous and obstructive to the enlargement of his Dominions Thus were the Discords enflamed to such a degree that they had broken out into a Civil War had not some more moderate Men and less passionate interposed between both Parties and represented how destructive and fatal such Differences might prove to both sides and to the success of the Design in hand in case that Christians on the score of Infidels should enter into a Civil War. They moreover represented to those who maintained the Cause of Atahualpa that they should consider how they were no more than fifty in number and inferiour to the contrary party which consisted of three hundred and fifty so that in case they should pretend to decide the controversie by Arms the Issue would be their own destruction and the loss of that rich Kingdom which now they might secure by the Death of this King. These Reasons and Considerations abated the Spirits of those who protected Atahualpa so that they concurred with the others in his Sentence of Death which was accordingly executed CHAP. XXXVIII Of the Wit and Subtilty of Atahualpa and of the Treasure whâ—â—â— was colleâ—â—ed towards his Ransome ATahualpa as we have said was of a quick and ready Understanding an Instance whereof we have in this passage which indeed hastned his Death for he observing the Spaniards to read and write did believe that it was a Gift natural to them and born with them to try which he desired a Spaniard who came to visit him or that was one of his Guard that he would write the Name of God on the Nail of his Thumb the Souldier having vvrote as he desired he asked three or four Souldiers one after another vvhat that Word meant they all told him that it vvas the name of God. At length Don Francisco Piçarro came in vvith vvhom after he had discoursed
Revenge of the Murther he had committed on his King and all his Family that at present the Prince Manco Inca the lawfull Heir was in their Hands and Custody and treated by them with all imaginable Respect and Honour and with Promises of being restored unto his Empire and to the Height and Grandeur of Majesty in expectation of which all Indians were obliged to assist and serve them the better to engage them unto a performance of their Promise to the Inca And farther they informed them that these were Men descended from their Father the Sun and for that Reason they called them Incas and owned them for Kindred and Relations with the Name of their God Viracocha And in regard their General was Brother and Associate with him that resided at Cozco the Services and Kindnesses which were shewed to one would be accepted by the other and that the greatest Presents and best Treatment that could be given them would be much Gold and Silver and pretious Stones for they loved those things very much and since their Countrey yielded nothing besides Gold they would doe well to gather as much of it as they could and present it to the Spaniards who would not onely kindly accept it but the Prince Manco Inca would likewise esteem himself very well served by those Gifts Upon this Information the Indians of Copayapu were infinitely rejoiced with the Hopes to see their Inca restored to his Empire so that the same day they amassed together above the value of two hundred thousand Ducats in Vessels of Gold the which having been designed for the accustomary Presents which were due to their Incas were reserved untill that time for so soon as News came to Chili of the Wars between Huascar and Atahualpa the Incas who were the Captains and ruled that Kingdom desisted from their Services and from making Presents to the Inca untill such time as the Controversie about the Government was decided Paullu having amassed the Gold carried it to Almagro and presented it to him in the Name of his Brother Manco Inca and of all the Kingdom of Chili which much rejoiced and encouraged Almagro and his Souldiers to see that a small People in so short a time was able to provide such a quantity of Gold which was a clear evidence of the Riches of that Countrey When Almagro saw the Gold he smiled and heartily thanked Paullu telling him that such Gifts as these were so acceptable to him as would oblige him for the future as they did at present to make him such gratefull returns as would be much to his advantage Paullu perceiving that these Presents extorted kind Words and Promises from Almagro all which he believed endeavoured more and more to oblige him with Presents of that nature and accordingly sent to the Villages and inhabited Vallies which were thereunto adjoining to bring in all the Gold they had conserved for the Incas for that he had occasion thereof to make Presents unto the Viracochas who were Brothers to the Inca. Upon the Orders the Indians in a few days brought in three hundred thousand Ducats of Gold over and above the former quantity and laid them before Almagro which when he saw he hugged himself with the thoughts of that rich Countrey which was faln to his Lot the which esteeming now for his own in gratitude to his happy Fortune he became munificent in a high degree both to acquire Honour and Fame of which he was very ambitious and to gain the Good-will and Affection of his Souldiers and Companions which that he might procure he in presence of them all took out the Obligations and Bonds which every one of them both before and on occasion of this Enterprise had given him which amounted unto above an hundred thousand Ducats the which he tore and cancelled one after the other telling those who were bound to him in those Papers That he remitted and made Presents to them of their Debts wishing that the Summs had been greater that he might have had occasion to have obliged them farther and to those who were not indebted to him he gave Money to defray their Charges and make such Provisions as were then necessary with which Liberality all the Souldiers were greatly satisfied and pleased Lopez de Gomara in the 142d Chapter of his Book says That this act of Liberality was a piece of Magnificence rather of a Prince than of a Souldier yet when he dyed there was not any who would cover him with a rag of Cloth at the place where he was beheaded c. CHAP. XXI New Pretensions obstruct the Conquest of Chili Almagro designs to return unto Peru and the Reasons why ALmagro having reposed a while and refreshed himself his Men and his Horses after the Hardship sustained in the late Conquests he then consulted of the Way and Method how to subdue the other Vallies and Provinces of the Kingdom of Chili which were not subject to the Dominion of the Inca for those that were upon appearance of Paullu Brother of their King needed no other force to render them obedient wherefore Almagro communicated unto Paullu his Intentions who considering that such Conquests would be Enlargements of his Brother's Empire readily assented and in order to that Design drew out from the Garrisons and places of Defence all the Force that were in them and issued out his Commands for making Provisions and bringing them to the Camp which having done he accompanied Almagro to the Conquest of the Provinces of Purumauca Antulli Pincâ— Canqui and the Parts adjacent as far as to the Province of Araueu In this Enterprise they had many Skirmishes with the Natives who behaved themselves valiantly and like Souldiers being in a signal manner dexterous in their Bows and Arrows with which they would shoot with admirable aim but the particulars thereof we shall not relate nor yet the Battels onely in general that they were very bloudy and stoutly fought because we must hasten to our History of Peru. In short therefore though the Enemies made good resistence yet the Spaniards gained upon them with happy Success by the Assistence and Good-will of Paullu and his Indians But these happy and prosperous proceedings were soon obstructed by Discord which always blowed the Flames of Feuds and Dissention between these two famous Brothers which were never quenched untill both of them were consumed as will appear in the sequel of this History Thus Almagro proceeding in a prosperous course of Victory though at the expence of Spanish and Indian Bloud at the end of five Months from the time that he entred Chili Recruits of an hundred Men were brought to him under the Command and Conduct of Ruis Dias and John de Herrada who as we have said were appointed to remain in Cozco to make Levies of Men and send him Succours Their passage was over the same Mountains and by the same way that Almagro had traversed before and though it happened at a better season of the Year that
I am well assured and I believe ye are all sensible that my Desires to reign and govern are not grounded on Principles of Ambition but that my Kingdoms may recover that Peace and Liberty which they enjoyed under the gentle and easie Government of my Ancestours it being the Duty of every good King to study the Prosperity and Welfare of his People and according to the practice of the Incas to prefer that before any other Consideration whatsoever But I have good reason to suspect and fear that the Designs of these Men whom we call Gods and say they were sent from Heaven are very much different from these Principles Howsoever for my part I cannot but with much Regret and Tenderness towards you seek to gain my point at the cost of your Lives and would rather live in a private manner despoiled of my Empire which is my Inheritance than to recover it at the expence of their Bloud whom I love as dearly as my own Children And now therefore that the Viracochas may not treat you ill for my sake I am resolved to retire my self and to live an Exile from my Countrey that so all Cause of Jealousie and Suspicion being removed by my Absence ye may be received into their good Grace and Favour And now I find the Prophecy of my Father Huayna Capac fully accomplished which was That a Stranger Nation should deprive us of our Empire and destroy our Laws and Religion Had we well considered this before we began the War we should have acquiesced and submitted because my Father the King enjoined us to obey and serve the Viracochas whose Laws as he said were better than ours and their Arms more powerfull than our force Both which things have proved true for so soon as they entred into this Empire Our Oracles became silent which is a sign that they yielded unto theirs And as to their Arms they have had an advantage over ours for though at the beginning we had the fortune to kill some few of them yet at length one hundred and seventy onely which survived were able to deal with us nay as we may say did conquer us seeing that in the end we are forced to retreat The truth is it cannot well be said that they conquered us nor can they boast much of their Victories for setting aside the Miracles which appeared in their Favour they of themselves gained no advantage over us For what can we say to the Fire which burned our own Houses and became extinct so soon as it touched theirs What can we think of that Cavalier who at the Extremity of the Siege appeared with Thunder and Lightning in his Hand and routed and destroyed all before him And then in the Night a most beautiful Princess appeared in the Clouds with an Infant in her Armes which with that astonishing Brightness she darted from her Eyes dismayed and blinded us in such manner that we knew not what we did and even feared to return unto our own Quarters how much less durst we adventure to give Battel to these Viracochas Moreover we have seen and tried how such a handfull of Men have been able to defend themselves against such multitudes of ours without Food Sleep or Rest that when we imagined they were wearied faint and ready to yield they appeared formidable and refreshed with new Vigour All which being considered 't is apparent that the Hand of God is in it and that the Pachacamac who favours them doth discourage and infuse fear into our Minds wherefore let us yield our selves rather than bring so many calamities upon our own Heads For my part I am resolved to retire within the Mountains of Antis and there secure and defend my self better than I am able to doe with all my power and there living quietly and without offence I shall not provoke those Strangers to doe Hurt and Mischief unto you for any Cause or Reason of mine In this my Solitude and Banishment it will be my Comfort to hear that it passeth well with you and that ye live with Liberty and Contentment under this new Government of the Spaniards wherefore instead of my last Will and Testament and in pursuance of that Command left us by my Father I do conjure you to serve and obey them to the utmost of your power so shall ye be well treated and used by them And so farewell and remain in peace and now methinks I am very sorry to leave you in the Hands of Strangers wishing with all my Heart that I were able to take you all with me When the Inca had ended his Speech his People dropped a Floud of Tears with such Groans and Sighs that the fulness of Sorrow stopped the utterance of Words nor durst they dissuade him from this resolution perceiving that he determined so to doe wherefore in the first place he disbanded all his Souldiers that were under Command of their respective Caciques advising them to repair unto their several Provinces and there patiently submit unto and obey and serve the Spaniards but the Inca collecting as many as he could together of his own Bloud and Family both Men and Women fled with them into the wild Mountains of Antis and seated himself at a certain place called Villcapampa where he passed his time as we may imagine in Solitude like a Prince deposed and dispossessed of his Sceptre and there lived untill he was killed by a certain Spaniard to whom he had given Protection and conserved from his Enemies and who most inhumanely sought his Life As we shall see in its due place CHAP. XXX What a certain Author reports of the Incan Kings and their Subjects BLas Valera discoursing of the Wisedom Abilities Prowess and Valour of the Indians of Peru he gives this Character of them as follows which I the rather mention because it conduces much to the matter in hand and will serve to confirm what we have already said and what we shall hereafter report The People of Peru exceed most Nations of the World in quickness of Wit and strength of Judgment the which appears in that they have been able without the help of Letters to attain unto the knowledge of many things which the learning of the Egyptians Caldeans and Greeks could never reach so that if in place of their Knots they had made use of Letters they had surpassed the Romans and Galls and other Nations in all points of Learning whatsoever That rudeness of Manners which appears in them at present is not for want of Natural Parts or Endowments of Mind but for want of practice in the Fashions and Customs of Europe and of Instructours in Liberal Sciences being taught nothing but what relates to Interest and Gain for such of them as have Masters or Teachers and leisure time and liberty to learn nay if they do but see a thing they will imitate it so exactly without being taught that they become better Artists and Mechanicks than the Spaniards themselves and would become
many Debates that new Laws and Constitutions ought to be established with peculiar reference and respect to the Governments of Mexico and Peru. The person who most warmly and earnestly insisted on this point was a certain Friar called Bartholomew de las Casas who some years past being a Secular Priest had travelled over the Islands of Barlovento and had been at Mexico and in the parts adjacent and having taken a religious Habit on him he proposed divers matters which he alledged were for the good of the Indians and tended to the propagation of the Catholick Faith and increase of the Royal Revenue but what effect and success his Councils had Francis Lopez de Gomara Chaplain to his Imperial Majesty relates in Chapter 152 and the same is confirmed by Carate Accountant-General of the Royal Exchequer in the first Chapter of his fifth Book The same is also related by a new Historian called Diego Fernando a Citizen of Palencia who recites the many disturbances which the new Laws and Constitutions caused both in Mexico and Peru this Authour begins his History from those Revolutions and differs very little from the substance of those particulars mentioned by the two others Wherefore we shall repeat singly what each Authour writes for considering the aversion I naturally have to all relations of fatal and dolefull passages I unwillingly recount any thing of that nature but being forced thereunto for declaration of the Truth and for continuation of the History I judge it convenient to fortifie my discourses with the testimony of the three foregoing Authours that so I may not seem of my own head to have framed matters which have produced sad and evil consequences to the whole Empire and which have proved ruinous to the several parties and factions of those Countries And left in the Quotation of these Authours or citing them by Notes in the Margent I should be taxed of mistakes or of having added any thing of my own I have rather chosen to follow my former method by repetition of their words verbatim in those particulars which contain matter of reflexion or blame on any person though in other things my discourses shall not be confined to their very words but rather serve for a Comment enlarging on many passages and adding to what they have omitted all which shall be performed with great respect to truth founded on the testimony of those who having been Eye-witnesses and Actors in those Revolutions have delivered undoubted Narratives thereof unto me without partiality or prejudice to any Wherefore now to proceed after this preamble we say That when the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela arrived in Peru I was then about four years of Age and afterwards in my riper years I was acquainted with several of those who are named in this following History In the first place therefore we will relate the many troubles which the new Constitutions caused in Mexico and the good effects which in the end were produced by the prudent and wise management of the Judge who was employed to put them in execution After which we will return to Peru and relate the many misfortunes slaughters and other miseries which attended them caused by the severity rigour and imprudence of that Vice-king who was Commissionated to execute those Laws and govern that Empire And though the History of Mexico is foreign to our discourse yet I have thought fit to compare the successes of one and of the other Kingdom which had various and almost contrary effects arising notwithstanding on the same causes That so Kings and Princes may by the examples and precedents of History learn and observe how dangerous it is to establish Laws which are rigorous and cause them to be executed by severe Judges who for want of moderation incline the Subjects and Vassals to a detestation of their Government whereby they lose that respect duty and allegiance which is due thereunto And indeed all Histories both Divine and Humane hath from all antiquity averred the truth hereof and the experience of these Modern times have given us to understand that never was any Rebellion commenced against Kings who were gentle and kind to their Subjects but when cruelty tyranny and oppression by taxes and heavy impositions prevailed then all things ran to misery and confusion CHAP. XX. Of the New Laws and Constitutions made in the Court of Spain for the better Government of the two Empires Mexico and Peru. WE must understand that in the year 1539 a certain Friar called Bartholomew de las Casas came from New Spain to Madrid where the Court resided at that time shewing himself in all his Sermons and familiar Discourses extremely zealous for the good of the Indians and a great Favourer and Protectour of them In evidence of which he propounded many things and maintained them to be very reasonable and which in themselves outwardly appeared holy and good yet in the execution thereof they proved rigorous cruel and difficult to be put into practice The proposals notwithstanding of this Friar were offered and laid before the Supreme Council of the Indies where they were ill approved and rejected by the prudence and understanding of Don Garcia de Loaysa the good Cardinal of Seville who was made of that Council in regard that for several years he had been Governour of the Indies and had more knowledge and experience of the affairs of those parts than any of those who had been Conquerours and Inhabitants thereof Wherefore dissenting from the opinion of the Friar his Proposals were not entertained but suspended untill the year 1542 when the Emperour Charles the Fifth returned into Spain after a long Journey he had made through France Flanders and Germany His Majesty who was endued with great zeal and devotion for propagation of the Christian Faith was easily persuaded to hearken to the gentle propositions of the Friar which he insinuated under the specious colour of Conscience and with the guise of Religion offered several new Laws and Constitutions to be enacted and put in force for the greater good and benefit of the Indians After his Imperial Majesty had duly heard and considered all that the Frier had to offer he assembled his great Council to which he farther added several grave and learned persons both Prelates and Lawyers and having laid before them the particular Laws and new Establishments they were approved and passed by the major part of the Assembly notwithstanding many being of a different opinion dissented from the Majority and declared their Votes to the contrary amongst which were the Cardinal aforementioned President of the Council the Bishop of Lugo Don John Suarez de Carvajal with whom I was once acquainted Francisco de los Covos Secretary to his Majesty Don Sabastian Ramirez Bishop of Cuenca and President of Valladolid who formerly had been President in St. Domingo and Mexico Don Garcia Manrique Count of Osorno and President of Ordenes who as Gomara saith had for a long time been Super-Intendent over the
this they were obliged to no other Tribute or Service and of this nature my Father was possessed of three little Villages in the Valley of Cozco and in the parts adjacent the Inhabitants of Cozco held divers such like Cottages obliged to the use and service of the City And where it happened out that the lot fell to any person in places uninhabited they presently sent to the Head-quarters to be supplied with Indians in part of the Tribute due to them and accordingly the same was granted and the Indians which were allotted to them with great chearfulness and contentment followed and observed the imposition of their Masters so that when the President Gasca came and found this particular point so equally disposed and established he approved thereof and made no manner of alteration therein As to the third Precept which retrenched the Bishops Monasteries and Hospitals in those large proportions of services which former Governours had bestowed upon them over Indians It seemed neither injurious nor unreasonable wholly to take them away for that the Intention of the Governours was not to grant them for a longer time than they were impowred by his Majesties Commission which was only for two lives which being expired their right ceased and herein Monasteries Bishopricks and Hospitals though of perpetual durance yet could not pretend to a greater privilege than the Adventurers and Conquerours of those Empires The remaining part of this third and fourth Ordinance we shall declare hereafter in the place where we give a relation of the Complaints which those made who believed themselves injured and damnifyed thereby CHAP. XXI Of the Officers which were sent to Mexico and Peru to put these Laws into Execution And a Description of the Imperial City of Mexico WHen these Laws of the new Establishment came over It was farther ordered that the Court held at Panama should be dissolved and another new one erected in the confines of Guatimala and Nicaragua to which Court the whole Terra Firma or Continent was to be subjected It was farther ordained That another Court of Chancery should be erected in Peru consisting of four Judges and a President to whom the title should be given of Vice-king and Captain General And that a certain person should be sent unto New Spain with a power of Visitation to oversee the Government of the Vice-king and the Proceedings in the Court of Mexico and of the several Bishopricks and to take an account from the Officers of the Royal Revenue and of all the Justices of that Kingdom All which Regulations were issued forth with the aforementioned Ordinances which as formerly declared were fourty in number And whereas there resided in the Court of Spain many Indians from all parts divers Copies of these new Rules were translated sent-over and dispersed which all and every particular person inhabitants of those two Empires took out for his information being of general concernment but so displeasing were these new regulations to the generality of those People that in high discontent they caballed together and held publick meetings to contrive a remedy Some few days after the publication of these Orders his Imperial Majesty nominated Don Francisco Tello de Sandoval a Native of Seville who had been Inquisitor of Toledo to be his Visitor for which Office he judged him the most proper person he could chuse in consideration that he had formerly been a member of the Royal Council of the Indies and a person of great probity and prudence and for that reason was well worthy of the emploiment to see that the new Laws should be put in execution as well in New Spain as in other parts of the Empire and to that purpose that he should visit all places to see them actually performed and put into practice At the same time Blasco Nunnez Vela who was Surveyor General of the Forts of Castile was named President and Vice-king of the Kingdoms and Provinces of Peru concerning which matter Carate in the second Chapter of his fifth Book hath these words following The great experience his Majesty had of this Gentleman whom he had tryed and approved in other Governments of Countries and Cities namely in Malaga and Cuenca and having found that he was a Gentleman of great probity and rectitude executing impartial justice unto all men without respect to persons and that he was ever zealous for the Royal Interest and that with great courage he performed the King's Commands and without failure in any thing his Majesty therefore judged him worthy of this honourable emploiment Thus far are the words of Carate Moreover Don Diego de Cepeda a Native of Tordersillas who had been Judge in the Isles of the Canaries and Don Lison de Texada a Native of Logromo who had been Judge of the Marshal's Court held at Valladolid for deciding points of Honour and Don Alvarez who had been a Pleader or Advocate in the same Court with Don Pedro Ortez de Carate a Native of the City of Ordunna formerly Mayor of Segovla were all four put into Commission and appointed Officers in those parts Moreover Augustine de Carate who had been Secretary of the Privy-Council was appointed Auditor General of all the Accounts of those Kingdoms and Provinces and of that whole Continent To whom and to the persons above-mentioned these Rules and Orders above-mentioned were delivered with Command That so soon as the Courts were setled and established in the City of Los Reyes where his Majesty commanded they should be held the several Laws mentioned in the sequel of the Commissions should be observed and maintained without any violation Thus much is reported by Diego Fernandez in the second Chapter of his Book and the like also is mentioned by Augustine Carate almost in the same termes and that these Laws were issued out and dated in the month of April 1543. And now in the first place we will briefly relate the happy success of these matters in Mexico from whence we will proceed to Peru and there declare the sad and dolefull effects thereof which happened in that Kingdom as well to Spaniards as Indians In the month of November 1543. the vice-Vice-king together with his Judges Ministers and Chief Super-Intendent Don Francisco Tello de Sandoval embarked at San Lucar upon a noble Fleet consisting of about 52 Sail of good and tall Ships and loosing from thence with a prosperous gale arrived in 12 days at the Islands of the Canaries from whence having taken some refreshments they pursued their voyage and then divided their Fleet those for New Spain steering their course to the right-hand and those for Peru unto the left where we will leave our Vice-king in prosecution of his voyage to relate the success of the Visitor or Super-Intendent in the Kingdom of Mexico And passing by the many particulars of his voyage which are mentioned by Diego Fernandez Paletino we shall say in short that in the month of Febr. 1544. he safely arrived in the Port of St. John
whose parties all the Noblemen and persons of Estates in Spain adhered on one side or the other and actually served untill the death of one of them determined the quarrel if a succeeding King after the Wars were ended should have deprived all those who were engaged in this quarrel both of one side and the other what troubles would it have created and how would it have moved the spirits of all the powerfull men in Spain The like which happened between the House of Castile and that of Portugal might be brought into example as namely the Party which held for Beltraneja who was twice sworn Princess of Castile and in favour of her many of the chief Lords of that Countrey appeared whom when Queen Isabella called Rebels and Traitours the Duke of Alva replied pray God Madam that we may overcome them for if we do not I am sure they will call us Traitours and prove us so too To apply these particulars in History to the present case what will become of us said they if the Successour to this King should seise on the Estates of those who were concerned in this War. Besides all which they uttered many scandalous and seditious words which we purposely omit not to offend the ears of the hearers howsoever the contrary Party was highly incensed thereat and both sides put into a fermentation whence all those mischiefs were derived which afterwards happened But to return to the Vice-king who was now on his Journey to Los Reyes so soon as the Messengers from Vaca de Castro came to him he received them to outward appearance kindly and with much respect and gave them a speedy dispatch that they might return freely again to Los Reyes where being returned they rendred a sad relation of the rigour and severity wherewith the new Laws were put in execution and of the rude and morose humour of the Vice-king who admitted of no Pleas or Petitions or Appeals to the contrary which served to add new fuel and blow all into a flame both in Los Reyes Cozco and in all that Kingdom So that now they began generally to discourse that they would neither receive this vice-Vice-king not obey the new Laws which he was putting into practice for that they were well assured that the very day that he entred Vice-king into Los Reyes and his Laws were published they should be no longer Masters of their Indians nor of their Estates and that besides the point of taking their Indians from them his Laws and new regulations included so many severe things that all their Estates were confiscated and their Lives endangered for by the same rule that they took away their Indians from them because they had been engaged on one side or the other with the Almagrians or the Piçarrists they might also take off their heads which was a case intolerable and not to be endured though they were reduced to the condition and lived under the notion of Slaves To such a pitch of mutinous humour the whole City of Los Reyes was incensed that they had almost taken a resolution not to receive the Vice-king which they had certainly pursued had not the Receiver General named Suarez de Carvajal and Diego de Aguero who were principal men of that Corporation and greatly esteemed for their prudence and moderation prevailed upon the people and dissuaded them from that rash design so that at length it was resolved to receive him in state and with much solemnity in hopes that by their services and humility they might incline his mind to some sort of flexibility and good nature at least that he might lend a gentle ear to the Pleas which they made for themselves and in favour of those Laws which the Catholick Kings and the Emperour himself had made in favour of the Conquerours and of those who had gained and subdued this new World with particular respect to the people of Peru who having acquired this rich Empire ought more especially to be cherished and favoured as persons of highest merit and desert It being thus determined to receive the Vice-king all the people decked themselves with their best ornaments and array preparing themselves against the day of his entry into this City when in the mean time Yllen Suarez de Carvajal and Captain Diego de Aguero were scandalously treated by the people who always mutinied against them whensoever as any thing went cross or contrary to their humour saying that for their own interest they had solicited and persuaded them to receive the Vice-king namely one of them being Receiver General of the King's Treasury and the other having been in the late Wars and both of them being Justices little esteemed the loss of their Indians more in regard to their own interest than to the service of the Emperour In the mean time the Vice-king pursuing his Journey put the new Laws in execution in all places wheresoever he arrived with his usual severity and rigour without admitting any plea to the contrary giving them to understand that he stood in fear of none but as a good Minister and Servant to his Master he was to obey his commands without respect or regard unto any At length he came to the Valley called Huaura where at the Inn he neither found Indian nor Provisions nor any accommodation whatsoever the which though in reality was caused by the default and omission of the Inhabitants of Los Reyes whose duty it was to take care of the Provisions in the way for the Vice-king yet he otherwise took it and attributed the want thereof to Antonio de Solar who was a Native of Medina del Campo and a Citizen because he was the chief Proprietor of that Valley for which reason he was highly incensed against him and more vehemently when upon a white Wall of that Inn which as the saying goes is the paper of bold and angry men he saw this Motto written He that will drive me from my House and Lands I will drive him out of this world if I can The which Sentence being supposed to be written by Antonio Solar or some other by his order he conceived a mortal hatred against him which though he concealed for a while yet at length it burst out as hereafter will be declared CHAP. V. In what manner they received the Vice-king the imprisonment of Vaca de Castro and of the great trouble which it caused both to the Vice-king and the People THUS were the people discontented sad and enraged though they endeavoured as much as was possible to conceal and dissemble it when the Vice-king arrived about three Leagues distant from Rimac where he was met by several Gentlemen of Quality and particularly by Vaca de Castro and Don Geronimo de Loaysa Bishop of that place afterwards made Archbishop who came thither to conduct him to the City The Vice-king received them all with much kindness and humanity especially the Bishop and Vaca de Castro entertaining no other discourse with them in the
Sattin and one of them led the Horse by the Bridle the which was performed with the same solemnity as they used in Castile to receive the person of the King. So soon as the Court was sate they began to treat and enter upon business as well relating to Justice as Government and herein he thought to render himself the more popular by favouring the cause of the poor who generally are more pleased with revolutions and changes than the rich And now the Devil who designed the downfall and ruine of this pernicious and evil Vice-king began to disturb and disquiet all the Countrey which was so lately settled after the troubles of an intestine War the first commotion took its rise from an ill understanding between the Vice-king and the Judges and indeed of all the Kingdom for that the vice-Vice-king resolving to carry on his work in putting the new Laws in execution he little regarded the Petitions and Addresses which were presented to him from the City of Los Reyes of Lima and other smaller Corporations Thus far are the words of Fernandez Palentino in the 10th Chapter of his Book And this Authour farther discoursing of the humour of this Vice-king and the shame the Devil owed him for being the cause of all those Commotions which were raised in the Countrey and also that he was the occasion of that discord which ruines Kingdoms and destroyes Empires and which particularly proceeded not onely to a quarrel between the vice-Vice-king and the Conquerours of that Kingdom but also to such a mortal feud between him and the Judges as was not to be reconciled And indeed herein the Judges had much advantage for that they were men of great temper discreet and unbiassed who foreseeing the many inconveniencies which the rumour onely much more the execution of the new regulations would occasion dissuaded those rash proceedings wherein they were the more positive in consideration that this Kingdom which was scarcely appeased and settled since the late Wars and was still in agitation and commotion would never be able to support such extravagant oppressions which would certainly be the cause of the total ruine and destruction of that Empire These plain representations made to the vice-Vice-king with intention and design onely if it had been possible to attemper his angry and froward disposition served to little purpose and effect for that his humour being wholly bent on his own obstinate resolutions he termed all those who concurred not with him in the same opinion rebellious to the King and enemies to himself And farther to widden these breaches he ordered the Judges to remove from his neighbourhood in the palace and to take other lodgings in other quarters for themselves All which and much more so inflamed the minds of both parties that sharp words and reparties frequently intervened between them Howsoever in regard the Judges for better administration of affairs were obliged to keep fair with the Vice-king they so concealed and dissembled their resentments that their passions were not publickly made known But because the resolution of the Vice-king to put in execution the new Laws became daily more and more apparent and manifest the Discontents and Quarrels arose daily to a higher degree and those who were injured and prejudiced thereby became uneasie and impatient And as Diego Fernandez in his 10th Chapter saith that the Judges considering the obstinate and inflexible humour of the Vice-king on one side to execute the new Regulations of the Emperour to whom by reason of the distance of the place no opportune or seasonable applications could be made for a moderation or redress and that on the other side in case they should condescend to be deprived of their Indians it would be very difficult to recover that vassalage again they were by these difficulties reduced to such a kind of Dilemma that they were all distracted and knew not which way to turn or resolve Nor was the people onely confused and unquieted by these thoughts but even the Vice-king found himself reduced to an inquietude and distraction of mind when he found the people mutinous and turmoiled with a thousand fancies and resolved to sacrifice their lives and fortunes rather than to submit tamely to their own destruction As hereafter we shall find by the success And thus far are the words of Palentino which we have extracted â— verbatim from his own Writings CHAP. VI. The secret quarrel concealed between the Vice-king and the Judges breaks out in publick Prince Manco Inca and the Spaniards who were with him write to the Vice-king NOR did the quarrel between the Vice-king and the Judges contain it self within the limits of private resentments but burst forth into the publick Streets and places of common Meetings the which calling into the mind of the Vice-king that Motto or Sentence which he had read in the Inn of Huaura belonging to Antonio Solar and which he believed was either wrote by himself or by his order for which cause as both Carate and Diego Fernandez report sending for him and discoursing with him in private and having given him some very severe terms and reprehensions he gave order to have the gates of the palace shut and calling his Chaplain to confess him with intent to have him hanged on one of the Pilasters of the Court-yard which leads towards the High-street But Antonio Solar refusing to confess his execution was suspended till such time as that his danger and case was divulged through the whole City upon the rumour of which the Arch-bishop and all the persons of quality came to intercede for a pardon or suspension of Justice and after great intercessions all that they could prevail was for one day's reprieve upon which he was committed to close imprisonment But the fury and impetuosity of this choler passing over he considered that it was not convenient to put him to death but rather to detein him in prison and accordingly he kept him under restraint without process of Law Endictment or any Accusation whatsoever for the space of two months untill such time as the Judges going on a Saturday to visit the prisons were desired by some of the friends of Antonio Solar to make their enquiry concerning the state of his affair with which though they were well enough acquainted before yet for form sake they asked him the cause and crime for which he stood committed to which he replied that he knew not any and then calling for the books of the prison to see what actions or process had been made against him and finding none and that the Keeper of the prison could assign no cause against him the Judges on the Monday following made a Report to the Vice-king that having visited the prison they found that Antonio Solar had been there committed and upon examination of the books no crime or cause was entered against him onely that he was there imprisoned by his order Wherefore in case no crime were laid to his charge his imprisonment was
not justifyable and therefore according to the rules of Justice they could not doe less than to set him at Liberty Hereunto the Vice-king replyed that he was committed by his order and that he intended to have hanged him as well for that Motto or Sentence which was wrote on the wall of his Inn as also for several other scandalous reports he had vented against his person And though he had no witness to produce in this matter yet by the authority and privilege of a Vice-king he had power not onely to imprison him but also to put him to death if he so pleased without rendering an account to any person whatsoever to which the Judges replyed that there was no Government but what was agreeable to Justice and founded on the Laws of the Kingdom and on these terms they parted so that the Judges on the Saturday following freed Antonio Solar from the prison and confined him onely to his own house and speedily afterwards they set him at liberty This manner of proceeding angred the vice-Vice-king to the very soul and provoked him to contrive some way of revenge which he supposed he had effected in this manner which was this It seems that these Judges with their Servants were lodged and dieted in the house of one of the richest Citizens in the whole town and had been there lodged and boarded by order of the Vice-king for a short time untill they could otherwise provide for themselves And now the Vice-king thinking to doe them a discourtesie recalled the aforesaid Order forbidding the Citizens to entertain them longer upon pretence that it was not suitable to the King's honour nor to their own quality to lodge upon free-quarter or to keep company with Citizens and Merchants To which the Judges gave for answer That as to their lodging they could find no other convenient place untill such time as they could hire a house by lease for some term of years that for the future they would pay for their diet And for matter of their conversation with Merchants it was not unlawfull or prohibited but on the contrary it was practised in Castile by all those who were of the King's Council as being beneficial to them to understand by information from trading men all the transactions and businesses of the World. In this manner both parties remained at variance each with other which was apparent at all times whensoever occasion offered In pursuance whereof one day Dr. Alvarez made Affidavit before a Master of Chancery that he had paid a certain sum in Gold to Diego Alvarez who was brother-in-law to the Vice-king to have him nominated and preferred to an Office by the Vice-king the which deposition he highly resented Thus far are the words of Carate and the same is again confirmed by Diego Fernandez almost to the same purpose For in this manner saith he the Vice-king and the Judges seemed like two different factions and parties to increase which so soon as Antonio Solar was set at liberty he went privately about raising mutinies and discontents in the minds of the people against the Vice-king to increase and inflame which they reported abroad many bad things which the Vice-king had said and done And though all was so far from being true that nothing of that nature did so much as enter into the thoughts or imagination of the Vice-king yet by reason that Blasco Nunnez was hated and detested by the people all the evil that was said of him found easie admittance and he appeared as black as common same could make him for such indignation the people conceived against him that the name of Vice-king became as odious though the first that ever governed Peru as the name of King was to the Romans after they had expelled Tarquinius Superbus and his Family Thus far are the words of Diego Fernandez Palentino Also Dr. Gonçalo de Yllescas in his Pontifical History of the Popes having occasion to treat of the affairs of Peru gives this Character of the froward and uneasie disposition of Blasco Nunnez Vela After these things says he Vaca de Castro for the space of a year and a half quietly and peaceably governed all matters untill such time as he was superseded by Blasco Nunnez Vela a Gentleman of good quality of Avola who was sent thither with Character of Vice-king bringing with him many severe Rules and Laws which he put in execution over and above which he put in practice others for which he had no Commission the which this Doctor Yllescas declares in a few words and says more than all our Historians durst to say or write upon this particular subject Whilst these disturbances happened in the City Los Reyes the like mutinies or greater arose in other Towns and Corporations of less consideration Howsoever the like spirits of Ambition Envy Tyranny and Desire of Government did not so far prevail as they did in that City of Los Reyes And now dissention and quarrels over-ran all and amidst these Turmoils the poor Prince Manco Inca had the misfortune to be killed though he remained content and quiet in his retirement and became a voluntary exile whilst other men striving for his Empire committed many murthers and slaughters as appeared in the late Wars and we might apprehend others more bloudy yet to come in case it were possible for any to be more bloudy and cruel than those which were past And here it is to be noted That Diego Mandez and Gomez Perez with six other Spaniards whom we formerly nominated and mentioned to have made their escape out of prison where they had been confined by the faction of the Piçarros and by the Justice of Vaca de Castro and having taken refuge with this Inca they by his means came to know and receive all the Informations and Advices concerning the new Troubles and Dissentions arising upon the execution of the new Laws for whereas it was reported that the Vice-king came to turn all things upside down and to change and alter all the Constitutions of the Countrey the Inca who was encompassed within the craggy and lofty mountains was informed by his Subjects of all these revolutions which he thought might be of benefit and concernment to him With this news Diego Mendez and his Companions were highly pleased and persuaded the Inca to write a Letter to the Vice-king desiring his Licence to be enlarged from his retirement and appear in his presence and serve his Majesty in any thing as occasion should offer the Inca was induced at the persuasion of the Spaniards to make this Petition who told him that it might be a means to open a way to his recovery of the whole Empire or at least of the best part of it The Spaniards also wrote as from themselves desiring a pardon for what was past and a protection or safe conduct in the attendance of his Lordship to perform their duty to him Gomez Perez was the person appointed and elected to be Ambassadour from
assail them Notwithstanding which they sallied out into the Market-place there to defend their cause and the better to summon people to their assistence they caused the Commission given to Martin de Robles to be proclaimed though by reason of the noise and tumult of the people little was understood Carate in the eleventh Chapter of his fifth Book reports that he was present when the Vice-king was made a prisoner and that the Judges being in the Market-place upon break of day some Musket-shot were made upon them from a Gallery of the Vice-king's house at which the Souldiers who were with the Vice-king were so incensed that they resolved to enter his house by force and kill all those who opposed them but the Judges pacified them with good words and sent Father Gaspar de Carvajal superiour of the Order of St. Dominick and Antonio de Robles Brother of Martin de Robles to let the Vice-king know that they had no other intention than onely to conserve themselves from being transported and shipped away by force against the express Command of his Majesty And that if he pleased without farther contest to come into the great Church they would there attend him otherwise he would put himself into manifest danger with all those who adhered to him Whilst these Messengers were gon to the Vice-king the hundred Souldiers who were of his Guard forsook him and revolted also to the Judges and then the Souldiers finding the entrance open and easie began to plunder the Servants Chambers which were in the Court-yard About this time Dr. Carate coming out of his Chamber to joyn with the Vice-king met the Judges in the way and seeing that he could not have entrance he went into the Church with them The Vice-king having received his Message and finding him abandoned by all those in whom he had placed the greatest confidence he went voluntarily into the Church and there delivered himself up into the hands of the Judges who brought him to Cepeda's House armed as he was with his Coat of Mail and Gantlet and seeing Carate in company with the rest What said he Carate are you also of this Party are you come also to take me in whom I reposed so much confidence To which he replyed Whosoever hath told you that I am of that number lies for it is notoriously known who are the persons who took you and who keep you Prisoner Then Orders were given that the Vice-king should speedily be embarked upon one of the Ships and sent into Spain lest Gonçalo Piçarro coming thither and finding him in custody should kill him or that the Relations of Agent Suarez should design the like in revenge for the Murther of their Kinsman and that what mischief befell him of that kind the fault of all would be objected unto them and farther they considered that in case they should send him away without some force or restraint upon him he might return ashore and fall upon them again what to doe herein they knew not or what to resolve so that they seemed to repent of what they had already done Howsoever there was no other remedy now but they must proceed and so they made Licenciado Cepeda their Captain General who with a strong Guard conducted the King to the Sea-side with intent to put him aboard a Ship but herein they found some difficulty for Diego Alvarez Cuero who was at that time Admiral of the Fleet seeing great numbers of people on the shoar and that they were bringing the Vice-king prisoner sent Captain Geronimo Curbano in his Long-boat armed with Small-shot and some Petrero's in the head to command all the Boats belonging to the Fleet to come aboard the Admiral and with them he went to require the Judges to set the Vice-king at liberty but this action produced little effect onely some Shot were interchanged between the Sea and the Town and so the Admiral returned again to his Ship. After which the Judges sent off a Boat to Cuero to require him to surrender the Fleet to them with the Children of the Marquis and that then they would deliver the Vice-king into his hands to be carried away with one of the Ships and if not that he must expect the sequel thereof This Message was carried with consent of the Vice-king by Friar Gaspar de Carvajal who at the Ship side openly declared it in the presence of Vaca de Castro who was then a Prisoner on board which when Diego Alvarez Cuero heard and considered the danger the Vice-king was in he presently landed the Children of the Marquis in the Boats belonging to the Fleet together with Don Antonio and his Wife which being done the Judges farther required a surrender of the whole Fleet or otherwise they threatned to cut off the Head of the Vice-king During this Treaty Vela Nunnez Brother of the Vice-king went to and fro with Messages between the Admiral and the Judges and seeing that the Captains of the Ships resolved not to abandon their Charge they returned with the Vice-king to the City under a very strong Guard. Two days after which the Captains of the Fleet received intelligence that the Judges and Souldiers were contriving means how to surprize the Fleet by sending a strong Party of Musquetiers in Boats to attack them for in regard they found that they could not prevail on Geronimo Curbano nor corrupt him by the great Offers they made to him and that the Seamen and Souldiers being Biscayners were faithfull to Cuero their Commander the Judges then resolved to reduce them by force which when the Captains understood they resolved to make sail out of the Port and pass their time upon the Coast untill his Majesty's Orders came to direct such course as might tend to a Settlement of those disturbances Farther they considered that aswell in the City as over all the Kingdom there was a Party well affected to the vice-Vice-king who had not been concerned in his imprisonment and that many of the true and loyal Subjects to his Majesty came daily in to their side and flocked aboard the Ships That the Fleet was indifferently well provided having ten or twelve rounds of Iron Shot and four of Copper and above fourty quintals of Gun-powder moreover they had four hundred quintals of Bisket five hundred bushels of Mayz and a good stock of salt Victuals which Provision would serve for a long time and then of Water they could not be hindred that being to be had along the Coast in all parts and places but then in regard their force was weak not having above twenty five Souldiers on board and that the number of their Mariners was not sufficient to manage ten sail of Ships they set fire to four of the lesser Vessels and also to two Fisher-boats which lay on the shoar and so with the six remaining Ships they made sail into the Sea. The four Ships burned down to the Water because there was no possibility of going out to quench them but the
commanded to march before to Truxillo and Piçarro himself with the chief of his Commanders remained behind to bring up the Rere About this time a Brigantine from Arequepa arrived in the Port of Lima which brought an hundred thousand pieces of Eight for account of Piçarro at the same time also came in another Ship from the Continent belonging to Gonçalo Martel and which brought his Wife Children and Family to be thence conveyed to Cozco where his habitation was This happy accident so encouraged Piçarro and his Party that they grew very high and insolent thereupon and as if fortune had been on their side they believed the whole world was their own Thus far Augustine de Carate to which Diego Fernandez adds that they became so proud and made such vain boastings that some talked as if Gonçalo Piçarro was to take upon him the Title and Crown of a King arguing in his favour that all Kings and Governours took their original and beginning by force that the Nobility of the world descended from the haughty and unjust Cain and the poor and meek from Abel that it plainly appeared in Heraldry which blazes the Escutcheons of great men that their Arms contain nothing but Weapons of War and Tyranny Francisco de Carvajal was much of this opinion and in confirmation hereof he desired that the Old Testament should be reviewed and the last Will of Adam there consulted whether therein he bequeathed the Kingdom of Peru to Charles the Emperour or to the Kings of Castile All which Gonçalo Piçarro hearkned unto with much satisfaction being pleased to hear the flatteries of his Abettors These are the words of Diego Fernandez which I have extracted verbatim out of the thirty fourth Chapter of his first Book On the Vessels which lately came into Lima Gonçalo Piçarro laded great quantities of Arms and Ammunition and thereon shipped an hundred and fifty select Souldiers And to give the better countenance and authority to his Affairs he carried Doctour Cepeda one of the Judges with him as also John de Caceres the Accountant General so that by the departure of Cepeda the Court of Justice was dissolved there remaining no other Judge at Los Reyes besides Cepeda and farther to prevent the coming forth of other Orders or Warrants Piçarro carried the Royal Seal with him And because the City of Los Reyes was a place of great importance to him he thought fit to confide it in the hands of some faithfull person whom he could trust and accordingly made choice of one Lorenço de Aldana to whom he delegated the Government of the City being a prudent wise and discreet Gentleman and one who was very rich having a great Estate and interest in Arequepa with whom he left eight hundred men for guard and safety of the City and Piçarro went attended with all the Inhabitants of the City and Gentlemen who had any command over the Indians and took shipping in the month of March 1545 and sailed to Port Santa which is about fifteen leagues from Truxillo where he landed and remained some days untill his other Forces could come up because it was a time of the year when the pasturage was green and well grown but lest he should oppress and burthen the Spaniards by his long abode there he removed his Camp to the Province of Collique where he remained for some time untill his Forces could come up to him and then making a general Muster of his Men it appeared on the Muster-rolls that his numbers amounted unto more than six hundred men Horse and Foot and though the Vice-king was equal in number yet Piçarro had much the advantage both in his Arms and preparations for War and in his Men who were for the most part veterane Souldiers trained up to War had been in many Battels and seen much of Action and besides they knew the Countrey and the difficult passages of it and were accustomed to the dangers and labours of War and had been practised therein ever since the Spaniards entred first upon the conquest of that Empire and on the contrary the Souldiers of the Vice-king were all new-raised men lately come out of Spain not trained to the War poor ill-habited and armed and their powder bad besides other wants which were amongst them CHAP. XXV The great preparations and provisions made by Gonçalo Piçarro to pass a Desart He faces the Vice-king's Forces who retreated to Quitu The good and prudent Conduct of Lorenço de Aldana GOnçalo Piçarro being in the Province of Collique and in the parts thereabouts made all the provisions he could for the subsistence of his Army for he was to travel over a hot dry sandy Desart of twenty leagues over where was neither Water nor any other refreshment And because Water was the most necessary of any thing in that hot and dry passage he summoned in all the Indians of those parts round to bring all their Pails Buckets and Jarrs for Water and commanded that the Indians who were appointed for the Carriages of the Army should leave all the Souldiers Clothes and other Baggage behind to carry Water and Provisions which were necessary for the support of Man and Beast In this manner the Indians were laden without any other incumbrance than that of Water and twenty five Horsemen were sent before by the common Road who were to give out in case they met with the Scouts of the Vice-king's Army that Gonçalo Piçarro was coming in person through the Desart that way but that the rest of his Army had taken the other Road. In this manner they travelled every Horseman carrying the provision of his own Horse behind him The Vice-king who had his Spies upon both the Roads received advice of the approach of the Enemy some time before they came upon which an alarm was given and it was said that they would go out and give them Battel but so soon as his Forces were brought together they marched out of the City to the side of a Hill called Cassa from whence they hastned away with all the speed they were able of which Gonçalo Piçarro receiving intelligence about four hours after he made no stay at St. Michael's not so much as to enter the Town or recruit his Provisions but without stop or delay pursued after the Enemy and that night travelled eight leagues where overtaking them he took many Prisoners seised all the Baggage of the Camp hanged several whom they thought fit and passing over rocky and almost unaccessible ways without refreshments they took Prisoners every day who for want of strength lagged behind Then Letters were wrote and sent by Indians to several persons of Quality in the Vice-king's Camp promising Pardon and great Rewards to any person who should kill him the which served to create jealousies and suspicions amongst those who were joyned with the Vice-king every one being afraid of each other which suspicions proved of fatal consequence and as we have mentioned before were the cause of many
between the Foot was very sore and bloudy with such noise and out-cryes that the numbers seemed much greater than they were In the first charge Captain John Cabrera was slain and soon after Captain Sancho Sanchez d' Avila but before he fell he did great execution with his Sword having cut down whole files and ranks of the Enemy but being overwhelmed with numbers and advantages of Arms they were forced to yield to the greater power of the Enemy which ranging victoriously on all sides the chief Commanders were killed with most of the Souldiery The Vice-king fought very stoutly with his Horse and in the first Charge had the fortune to dismount Alonso de Montalto besides other exploits which he performed with great resolution and courage he was disguised in his habit for over his Arms he wore an Indian Coat which was the cause of his death for when he saw his Forces totally defeated he would then have fled but his escape was prevented by an Inhabitant of Arequepa called Hernando de Torres who engaged with him and not knowing who he was gave him such a blow with a Battle-ax on the head with both his hands that he knocked him to the ground And here Carate in the thirty fifth Chapter of his fifth Book gives relation of this passage in these words The Vice-king and his Horse was so tired with the last night's march having neither rested nor slept nor eaten that to overthrow him and his horse was not very difficult howsoever the battel was obstinately disputed between the Foot but seeing the Vice-king fall their courages failed and submitted to the Conquerour most of them being slain upon the place Thus far Carate If Hernando de Torres had known the person of the Vice-king which he might have done had he discovered who he was by the mark of his Order of St. Jago he would certainly have spared his life and taken him prisoner but supposing him to be a common man clothed in an Indian habit he killed him without distinction The Vice-king might rather have been blamed for wearing a disguise but his intention was not to be spared but to fall amongst the rest in case he were overcome and not to outlive his honour and power So soon as Carvajal saw that the field was their own and that they were secure of victory he with great diligence sought out for the Vice-king that he might wreak his revenge upon him for the death of his Brother and found that Pedro de Puelles was giving him another mortal wound though with his fall and a shot through his body he was then expiring his last breath a common Souldier was the first who discovered the body of the Vice-king to Pedro de Puelles otherwise it had remained unknown under the disguise Licenciado Carvajal had a mind to have alighted from his Horse to have given him the last fatal stroak but Pedro de Puelles told him that it was too mean an action for him to lay his hands on a dying man howsoever he commanded his Negro to cut off his head as he did and carried it with him to Quitu where it was fixed on the head of a Lance untill it was made known to Gonçalo Piçarro who in anger caused it to be taken away and buried together with the body A certain Authour gives a relation hereof in this manner The head of the Vice-king was carried to Quitu and there for some time exposed on the common gallows but this giving offence to some people it was taken down and joined with the body and enterred together with it And here it is remarkable with what niceness this Authour touches this point for not to say that Piçarro gave order to have the Head removed from the gallows he says that some taking offence thereat caused the Head to be removed so that he seems tacitly to accuse Gonçalo Piçarro as if by his order the Head was exposed or at least that he consented thereunto but the truth is he was troubled at the action and that so soon as he was informed thereof he gave immediate order to have it removed the which is confirmed by the testimony of Gomara but flattery and partiality to a side is always prevalent with Writers who by adding or diminishing can make a story turn which way soever they please Gomara speaking of the death of the Vice-king saith That when Hernando de Torres had with a blow stunned Blasco Nunnez and knocked him from his Horse and as many believe unknown to him by reason that he was under the disguise of an Indian habit Herrera the Confessour to Piçarro came to confess him and first asked who he was to which Blasco Nunnez replied that that question was not material for he was to doe his Office which he desired him without farther queries to perform for he was afraid of some torments and cruelties would be committed on his person Thus far Gomara Then came the Executioners and cuff off his head and exposed it on the gallows and some rude and insolent Souldiers drew out some hairs from his beard and in disdain and triumph said Your cruel and passionate temper hath brought you to this a certain Captain of my acquaintance carried some hairs of his beard about him for several days untill they were taken from him by order Thus did this unfortunate Gentleman end his days for insisting too earnestly on those methods which were neither agreeable to the constitution of the Kingdom nor yet to the service of the King whence that effusion of bloud ensued and those many commotions as have been related in the preceding History and which proved fatal as well to Indians as to Spaniards as will also farther appear in the sequel of that Relation which still remains And though his obstinacy in this point is much blamed by many yet certainly he is in part to be excused on account of those precise and severe commands he brought from Court and which he was by the supreme power enjoined to execute as will be proved by the testimony of those Authours whom we shall hereafter have occasion to name and as he himself die often say as before mentioned CHAP. XXXV The Funeral of the Vice-king The Actions of Gonçalo Piçarro after the Battel The Pardon he gave to Vela Nunnez and of the good Laws he enacted for the bette◠Government of that Kingdom GOnçalo Piçarro seeing that he had gained a clear Victory caused the Trumpet◠to found a retreat for he perceived that his people were greatly dispersed in the pursuit whereby much bloud was unnecessarily spilt on the side of the vice-Vice-king two hundred men were slain and not above seven of the Souldiers of Piçarro as Carate reports because the people of the Vice-king were so tired and weary with their long march the night before that they seemed rather to suffer themselves to be killed than to fight and herein they shewed their great zeal to his Majesty and their readiness to die in
173. were very many and gives an account of that passage in these words Francisco de Carvajal and Pedro de Puelles wrote a Letter to Piçarro to give himself the Title of King and by that means to excuse the sending of Ambassadours to the Emperour and in lieu thereof to provide good Horses Armour Shot and Arms which were the best Advocates for justification of his Cause and that he should apply those fifths and rents and duties which Cobos without deserving any part thereof had carried away unto his own use some were of opinion not to yield the Countrey unto the King but upon terms that he should grant likewise unto them the inheritance of their Lands others said that they would make a King as they thought fit as had been practised in Spain when Pelayo and Garci Ximenez were set up Others said that unless the Government of Peru were given to Piçarro and his Brother Hernando Piçarro set at liberty they would call in the very Turks to their assistence And all of them concurred in that general opinion that the Countrey was their own and that they might make a Division thereof amongst themselves in regard they had won it by conquest and at the expence of their own bloud Thus far Gomara which Fernandez Palentino confirms in the thirteenth Chapter of his second Book in these words which I have extracted from thence These Actions being ended they marched to the City of Los Reyes discoursing on the way of the methods which were now to be pursued Some were of opinion that the King would overlook all things that were past and confirm Gonçalo Piçarro in the Government others more impudently said that it was no matter whether the King did approve of things or not for that his Commands would find little effect or compliance in those parts Licenciado Cepeda who was desirous to flatter and please Piçarro in all things approved of the saying of Hernando Bachicao and others that all the Kingdom and Dominion of Peru did by right and by just claim belong unto him to prove which he produced many examples whereby it appeared that many Kingdoms Provinces and Countreys which at first were gained by force of Arms were afterward conserved and after a long tract of time were esteemed the hereditary Possessions and devolved to posterity by an undeniable Title witness the Kingdom of Navarre and the reason form and manner how these Kings were anointed which he compared with the circumstances of Piçarro and then he concluded that never was any King upon the face of the Earth who at the beginning had ever a more fair and clear Title to a Kingdom than Gonçalo Piçarro had unto his all which Piçarro heard with great attention and delight for besides that humane nature is naturally ambitious of power and government his affections were also for want of due consideration let loose to the immoderate desires thereof for he was a man naturally of a dull capacity and knew not how to write or read and therefore made not those reflexions on the consequences of things as thinking-men usually do And in regard that Cepeda was a learned and a well read man and esteemed for his judgment and knowledge every one approved his sayings and none did contradict or question any thing that was said by him for this matter was the whole subject of their discourse at all times when they were in conversation together Thus far Palentino We have formerly mentioned what is reported by Gomara concerning the duties which Cobos took without deserving or doing any thing for them the truth of which matter stands thus His Imperial Majesty was pleased to grant unto his Secretary Francisco de Cobos one and a half per Centum upon all the Gold and Silver which was brought to the Mint and Treasury of his Majesty where the Fifths were deducted for the use and benefit of the King but then Cobos was to be at the whole charge to find Coals for melting and to provide Say-masters to refine and assay the Gold and Silver to pay the Minters and in fine to desray all charges and expences thereof whatsoever which were so great that the Secretary would rather have been a Loser than a Gainer thereby but in regard that every one who went to pay his Fifths might the better make up his accounts and know how much he was to pay and how much remained to him the manner was to bring the Gold and Silver ready melted refined and assayed by the King's Assay-master at the proper cost and expence of the person to whom it belonged by which means Cobos did not perform his obligation which he had given and for that reason Gomara saith that he took duties which he had not deserved CHAP. XLI Gonçalo Piçarro declares his duty and allegiance to the King he departs from Quitu and goes to Truxillo and Los Reyes and the great joy was made at his coming BUT notwithstanding all this discourse and persuasion Gonçalo Piçarro from a principle of Loyalty to his Sovereign could not resolve to take upon himself the Title of King and more especially because he could not but believe that his Majesty would confirm him in the Government of Peru in consideration that he and his Brothers had done great Services having by the Conquest of that Kingdom annexed it to the Imperial Crown and by virtue of the Commission given to his Brother the Marquis he was to hold that Government during his life with liberty to name a Successour after his death and that his Brother had accordingly nominated him Then as to his proceedings and successes against the Vice-king he supposed that his vigorous and unreasonable proceedings in execution of the new Laws might easily justifie his Actions For that the Vice-king refused to hear the Addresses and Petitions which were made to him by the whole Kingdom and for that reason he was chosen and elected by the unanimous consent of all the People to represent their complaints and aggrievances which he had rejected and absolutely refused to receive Then as to the imprisonment of the vice-Vice-king and designing to embark and send him away for Spain it was not done by him but by the Judges upon these considerations which he meditated within himself Piçarro flattered himself with high expectations that he should not onely obtain pardon from the King but a new confirmation and settlement of the Kingdom of Peru upon him thus men of Arms and great Souldiers take false measures of their merits and the rewards which they expect for them But in regard Gonçalo Piçarro did not accept of the offer which his friends made him his refusal was interpreted as the effect of a weak understanding and not proceeding from a principle of loyalty towards his Prince and perhaps upon this ground it was That all Historians in the character they give of him represent him as a person of a weak understanding though in reality those who have been familiarly acquainted with him
to his service Howsoever when it was considered that Appeal was made to him in reference to the new Laws that the Letters of Instruction which were given herein and sent by Francisco Maldonado were miscarried and that Texada died at Sea the fault was cast upon the Vice-king who with too much rigour executed the new Laws without admitting of any Petitions or hearkening to the Reasons which were offered to the contrary but then he seemed again to be excused by the positive commands in his Instructions not to admit of any appeal or delay for that those methods were looked upon as certainly conducing to the service of God to the welfare and conservation of the Indians to the discharge of a good Conscience and to the increase of the King's Revenue when these things as we said were considered the anger of the Emperour much abated but his trouble increased by this unreasonable news which came to him at a time when he was engaged in a War in Germany and in those disturbances which were caused by the Lâ—iberaâ—s Howsoever considering how much it concerned him to relieve his Subjects in Peru and provide remedies wherewith to pacifie the commotions raised in those Kingdoms which yielded him a vast Income and Revenue he concurred in the opinion of his Council which was to send a person of a gentle and peaceable disposition and of experience and practice in affairs and different to the humour of Blasco Nunnez who was violent open in his Counsels and neither understanding Men nor Business and lastly considering that since a Lion could not prevail the gentle spirit of a Lamb might be much more mollifying and winning of the people such a person as this was Licenciado Pedro Gasca esteemed to be a man of a much better understanding than the other and one who had gained a reputation in management of the Commotions and Treaties with the Moors in Valentia And accordingly a Commission was given him with Letters and Orders in Blank to insert what Names he should think fit and all the late Ordinances and new Laws were cancelled and repealed and Letters were wrote to Gonçalo Piçarro all dated at Vienna in Germany in the year 1546. Thus Gasca was dispatched away and though he departed with a small number of Persons and a mean Retinue and with the Title onely of President yet he was high in esteem and great hopes were conceived of the success of his negotiations The shipping which attended him was meanly provided with Mariners and onely what was necessary that he might put the Emperour to as little charge as was possible and shew plainness to the people of Peru without affectation of state in all his proceedings the Judges he carried with him were Andreo de Cianca and Renteria being persons in whom he greatly confided When he arrived at Nombre de Dios he communicated his business to no man but treated with every man in such manner as agreed with the Character which was given of him saying that he was to go to Piçarro and that in case he would not receive him he would return again to the Emperour for that his profession was not to be a Souldier nor was he acquainted with the Art of War his business being onely to recall the late Ordinances and to preside in the Council And whereas Melchior Vedugo sent to let him know that he was coming to serve him with some other Companions he desired him to forbear a while and to attend his farther Orders And leaving his directions here he went to Panama where he constituted Garçia de Paredes Governour and appointed him a Garrison of those Souldiers which Hernando Mexia and Don Pedro de Cabrera who were Captains belonging to Piçarro had brought to him to defend that Town from the French who committed Piracies along that Coast and their coming thither was expected also but their Voyage was shortned by the Governour of Santa Maura who killed them all at a Banquet to which he had given them an invitation Thus far Gomara CHAP. II. Of the substance of the Commission which Licenciado Gasca brought His arrival at Santa Marta and Nombre de Dios the manner of his reception there and of the various Successes and Treaties which passed there NOW that we may add to what was omitted by this Authour relating to the Commission which Licenciado Gasca carried with him and in which he comes short for though in general he says that the Emperour granted him a power as large as he could desire yet not mentioning the particulars thereof we are to add that he gave him an unlimited and an absolute power in all things in such full and ample manner as his Majesty could grant commanding all people upon his Summons to come in to his assistance with Men and Horse and Arms and Money with Shipping Provision and whatever else he should require for his Majesty's Service He also carried with him a general Act of Pardon for all Crimes whatsoever and that no action should be brought against any person by reason thereof and that every man's Estate and Free-hold should be conserved to him And that he should cause the Vice-king to be embarked and transported into Spain in case he believed it conducing to the service of his Majesty and the quietness of the Kingdom He had also a Licence and Authority to make use of the Royal Revenue so far as he judged it necessary for reducing the Rebels for quieting the minds of the People and for due administration of Justice by the Government He had also Power and Authority to dispose of such Lands and Estates which belonged to Indians which were not already granted or given away and also of all Offices and Governments through the whole Empire as well those which were already gained and conquered as those which should be acquired and discovered hereafter And to himself there was no fixed or settled Sum appointed for his Salary or Entertainment but a liberty and privilege to spend so much as he judged convenient for his Majesty's Service of which the Auditor-General was to take an account and send the same to the Officers of his Majesty's Treasury All which particulars were set down and required by Licenciado Gasca who like a wise man provided as well for the future as for the present and also that malitious men might not say that Interest and a great Salary was the motive to incite him to laborious and difficult undertakings which at every step offered themselves but a true zeal onely to his Majesty's Service was his highest inducement to which he sacrificed all his peace and quietness and preferred it even before his own life And Gomara farther describing this Licenciado Gasca saith that as he was of much more solid understanding and better temper than the Vice-king so also he was of little stature and of a strange shape for from the girdle downwards he was as long as any tall man whatsoever and then from the girdle upwards to his Shoulders
the mean time Whilst Piçarro was arrived at the top of all his hopes and expected a confirmation in his Government and to be made perpetual Dictatour in that Empire he received Letters from Pedro de Hinojosa his General which gave him advice of the arrival of the President in those parts Piçarro and all his Captains were greatly surprized and troubled at this unexpected News and thereupon with some of the Citizens entred into consultation how and in what manner they were to behave themselves in this business the Debates were many and long and the opinions different to each other but at length they were reduced to two some were of opinion that either publickly or secretly the President was to be killed Others were of opinion that they should invite him to Peru where having discovered all his Papers Instructions and Commission that then they should endeavour to persuade or force him to concur with them and grant whatsoever they desired and in case they could not prevail it was but to put him off then with delays pretending that they had not power to conclude alone without the consent and concurrence of all the other Cities of that Kingdom with that of Los Reyes and in regard the Places and Cities were far distant each from the other there would be good cause of excuse and means to deferr the Assembly for two years And in the mean time the President would be deteined a Prisoner in the Island of Puna under a Guard of faithfull Souldiers who were to be carefull to intercept all Letters which he should write for information of his Majesty by default of which they might still continue under the notion of obedient and loyal Subjects Others were of opinion that the best and most expedite way was to cause him to return again into Spain and to persuade him thereunto with money and provisions for his voyage by which it would appear that they had treated him like a good Servant and Officer of his Majesty These Debates continued with great difference and heat for many days but at length it was by common consent agreed That Messengers should be sent from them to his Majesty to negotiate the Grant of such Particulars as were most conducing to the welfare of that Empire That they should give an account of all things which had been lately transacted and especially to insist in justification of their cause that they were compelled to the engagement of Quitu where the Vice-king was slain and in all their Discourses they were to charge the Vice-king as the Aggressour who had persued them through all places and at length forced them to kill him in their own defence And in fine the Prayer of their Petition was That his Majesty would be pleased to confer the Government of that Empire on Gonçalo Piçarro who by his own bravery and merit of his Relations had gained that Empire to the Crown and that farther he pretended a Title thereunto on the Commission his Majesty had given to his Brother to nominate a Successour thereunto after his death and in the mean time they desired that the President might be ordered to reside in Panama and not to proceed farther into Peru untill his Majesty should give new directions This matter being agreed upon Ambassadours were chosen who were to negotiate those great Points in Spain and to give the better countenance thereunto Don Tray Geronimo de Loaysa Arch-bishop of Los Reyes who was a great Prelate Father and Pastour of that City was entreated to accept of that Charge who being a Person of great esteem and interest in Spain it was presumed that he would be heard with the more favour the like also was desired of the Bishop of Santa Marta and Friar Thomas de St. Martin who was Provincial of the Order of St. Dominick and Lorenço de Aldana and Gomez de Solis were pitched upon to join with them in the Commission Money was ordered for their Voyage sufficient to defray all their charges and particularly it was ordered that Gomez de Solis who was chief Gentleman-usher to Gonçalo Piçarro should have thirty thousand pieces of Eight paid to him apart out of the which he was to give unto Pedro de Hinojosa so much as he judged necessary but as to Lorenço de Aldana he supposed that he had so many endearments towards him on account of his Countrey and mutual friendship which was between them that he did not doubt but that he would prove a faithfull correspondent and with all fidelity advise him of the accidents and successes of his Voyage but more particularly to acquaint him from Panama of the import and contents of the Commission and Instructions which the President had brought with him Accordingly these persons embarked in the month of October 1546. with Title of Ambassadours from the Empire of Peru unto his Majesty in whose Voyage nothing occurred worthy the Relation CHAP. IV. The Ambassadours arrive at Panama and both they and the People of that City revolt from Gonçalo Piçarro and deliver up their Fleet into the power of the President Paniagua comes to Los Reyes SO soon as the Ambassadours arrived at Panama Lorenço de Aldana went to take up his Lodgings with Pedro de Hinojosa and having first burnt the Commission and Instructions which he brought from Gonçalo Piçarro relating to matters which he had to act in Panama and Spain he made his Addresses to the President giving him in few words to understand his intentions and in a short time becoming better acquainted Aldana Hernan Mexia and Pedro de Hinojosa engaged to employ themselves in the Service of the President onely they pretended to make some difficulties for the first three days untill they had well digested their matter and then finding themselves all of an opinion they began to publish their intentions and on the fourth day they and all the Captains went to the President and professed their allegiance to his Majesty and in token thereof delivered up the whole Fleet into his possession and command together with the Arms Ammunition and Appurtenances thereunto belonging engaging upon Oath to doe homage to him and to serve and obey him in whatsoever he should command And in the mean time these Resolutions were kept as a Secret untill it was known how Gonçalo Piçarro received Paniagua and the message which he brought him The principal motives which incited these persons to revolt from Piçarro to the Service of his Majesty were impartially speaking the sense of true allegiance and duty which they owed to his Majesty In the next place it was secretly agreed that so soon as these Commotions were suppressed and the Countrey in peace and quietness that the Army should receive their full arrears of Pay the which was afterwards complied with in a more ample manner than they themselves had proposed of which we shall speak in its due place But nothing more prevailed and facilitated this matter than the Repeal of the late Ordinances and new
dispatches and orders from aboard his Ship being unwilling to trust himself ashoar for fear lest some treacherous person should design to kill him and fly to Gonçalo Piçarro for as Historians report there were people who revolted to Piçarro as well as from him to the King with which apprehensions and jealousies he remained aboard untill he received certain intelligence that Gonçalo Piçarro was removed eighty leagues from the City of Los Reyes and indeed by that time this News came he was removed at the distance of a hundred and ten leagues from thence And then adventuring ashoar with all his Captains and Souldiers he was received into the City with great joy being met by all the Inhabitants which though few yet the very Children came in to make up the number The charge of the Ships was committed to the care of John Fernandez the Sheriff of the Town with the usual formalities required in such cases And now Aldana being with his men lodged within the City he endeavored to get all the Arms and Ammunition into his hands but whilst he was busie and intent on these matters a flying report came that Gonçalo Piçarro was returning again towards the City and that he was not above four leagues off and though there could be no ground to imagine such a rumour to be true or possible yet such was the consternation that no man had power to consider the probability of the report but every one out of the abundance of his fear shifted for himself Those who were unprovided of Horses fled to the Seaside to secure themselves within the Ships those who had Horses travelled away and took the common way to Truxillo others who were not possessed with so violent a fear concealed themselves within the Osier-gardens and other secret places and in this manner they lay perdue or hidden for a whole night and a day untill such time as certain intelligence came that the report was false And then they all returned again to the City unless such who had travelled away at a farther distance Augustine Carate writes that Lorenço de Aldana came ashoar upon the ninth of September 1547. where we will leave him for awhile to speak of John de Acosta who was now on his march towards Cozco by way of the mountains consisting of three hundred Souldiers under the command of a Major General a Standard-bearer and other Officers as if it had been a great Army CHAP. XVI The Captains and Souldiers fly from John de Acosta Gonçalo Piçarro comes to Huarina from whence he sends a Message to Diego Centeno with his Answer thereunto WHEN John de Acosta came near to Cozco they received intelligence of the unfortunate success of Gonçalo Piçarro and of the general revolt of his People from him to conceal and smother which all endeavours were used but all in vain for many of the Letters which were dispersed abroad fell into the hands of Officers and Souldiers which made a full discovery of all matters and though none durst to confide in each other so far as to discourse and communicate the news yet by some accident or other the Advices became the publick talk and then the Major-General Paez de Sotomayor and Captain Martin de Olmos with whom I was acquainted resolved to kill John de Acosta which design was so secretly carried that one did not know the intention of the other but onely by certain conjectures and circumstances and in like manner at a distance treated with some Souldiers in whom they thought they could best confide but the Plot was not contrived so secretly but that it came to the ears of Acosta who became thereby more watchfull and doubled the Guards about his Person with those of whose faithfulness he was best assured The two General Officers growing jealous hereupon and knowing that John de Acosta was one day retired within his Tent and in secret conference with Captain Martin de Almendras and another intimate Friend of his called Diego Gumiel and fearing that they were plotting to kill them they resolved to revolt since they were disappointed in their design of killing Acosta and accordingly passing their word in secret one to the other without farther delay they mounted on Horseback with thirty-men following them with their Arms and in sight of the Camp marched boldly away towards Los Reyes The principal persons hereof were Paez de Sotomayor Martin de Olmos Martin de Alarçon chief Standard-bearer Garci Gutierez de Escobar Alonso Rengel Hernando de Alvarado Martin Monge Antonio de Avila and Gaspar de Toledo John de Acosta made pursuit after them and overtook three or four of them and put them to death but finding it in vain to prosecute them farther he desisted and followed his way towards Cozco where he took away the white Staves from the Sheriffs of the Town who were appointed by Diego Centeno and placed others in their stead And here he found Orders from Gonçalo Piçarro to come with all haste possible to Arequepa and to joyn his Forces with him there Accordingly John de Acosta marched out of Cozco but before he was twelve leagues advanced on his way Martin Almendras who was the person in whom he most confided fled from him carrying thirty of his best men with him and returning again to Cozco he took the white Staves away from the Sheriffs whom John de Acosta had constituted as if the success of great matters had depended thereupon and so he went to Los Reyes to the great admiration of Acosta who wondered much that a man so much esteemed and obliged by Gonçalo Piçarro should desert him who had treated him like a Son out of respect to the memory of his Uncle Francisco de Almendras who was killed by Diego Centeno John de Acosta durst not adventure to pursue Martin de Almendras lest all his Souldiers should follow the like example and therefore he took the direct way to Arequepa by long marches but still his numbers decreased by two and three in a company so that by the time he came to Arequepa to joyn with Gonçalo Piçarro he brought not above a hundred men with him as is confirmed by Palentino Chapter sixty eight of the second Book and by Carate the sixth Book Chapter eighteen And now having lost their Honours by being outlawed and proclaimed Traitours and their Estates which remained in the power of the Enemy there was nothing more to save but their lives onely and how that stake might be conserved was their onely consultation In fine Piçarro and his Captains resolved to take their march by the way where Diego Centeno was quartered because it was the passage to the high Mountains of Antis which are to the eastern parts of Peru in which quarters they designed to gain some Province to make their aboad in case they might there be suffered to remain in quietness and if not they intended then to proceed to the Kingdom of Chili to assist in the Conquest of that
then Piçarro turning his face to John de Acosta said Brother John what shall we doe Acosta presuming on his valour more than on his own discretion answered Sir let us fight and dye like old Romans No said Piçarro it is better to dye like Christians Gomara upon this occasion Chap. 186 saith than his words were like a good Christian and a valiant Man for he judged it more honourable to surrender than to dye for that he had never turned his back to his Enemy c. And he adds farther that Piçarro still kept himself in a very excellent garb mounted on a brave Horse of a Chesnut colour he was armed with a Coat of Mail and over it a Wastcoat of Sattin well beaten with many doubles and on his Head he wore a Helmet and Bever of Gold c. Augustine Carate says that the Coat which he wore over his Arms was of an incarnation Velvet covered almost all over with bosses of Gold and that he said to John de Acosta since all people are going over to the King I also am going likewise c. Having said this he proceeded to the Royal Camp with those Captains who were contented to follow him namely John de Acosta Maldonado John Velez de Guevara and as he was going in this manner he met with Pedro de Villavicencio whom he observing to be well attended asked who he was and understanding that he was the Serjeant Major he said to him I am Gonçalo Piçarro and am going to render my self to the Emperour having said this he yielded up to him his Dagger which he carried in his hand for that as Carate saith he had broken and spent his Lance upon his own people which fled from him Villavicencio was very proud of this his good fortune and with many fair words returned him thanks for the great favour he had done him and therefore in complement would neither require his Sword nor his Dagger which was girt about him which was of considerable value the Hilt being all of beaten Gold proceeding a little farther he met with Diego Centeno who said my Lord I am heartily sorrow to see your Lordship in this condition Gonçalo Piçarro smiled hereat a little and replied Captain Centeno there is nothing to be said more upon this matter my business is finished to day to morrow you your selves will lament my fall and without interchanging more words he was carried directly to the President 's Quarters who received him in such manner as the three Authours agree whose words we will faithfully repeat Carate Book the seventh Chapter the seventh saith And so he was carried before the President between whom some speeches passing which were judged to be bold and seditious he was committed to the custody of Diego Centeno c. Gomara Chapter 186. saith Villavicencio being proud of such a Prisoner conducted him forthwith to the presence of Gasca who amongst many other questions asked of him whether he thought he had done well in raising War against the Emperour to which Piçarro replied Sir I and my Brothers gained this Countrey at our own cost and expence and therefore I thought it no crime to aspire unto the Government having his Majesty's word and Commission for it Gasca in anger twice commanded that he should be taken from his presence and the custody of him was committed to the charge of Diego Centeno who petitioned for the same Palentino Chap. 90th relates the discourse which passed on this occasion as follows Gonçalo Piçarro saith he was carried before the President and being alighted from his Horse he made his humble obeisance to him the President laid his faults before him and would have comforted him but Piçarro continuing still inflexible and obstinate answered That it was he who had gained that Countrey and putting a smooth gloss on his actions endeavoured to justifie whatsoever he had done which so provoked the President that he retorted very severely upon him in presence of many standers-by and told him plainly that whatsoever he could pretend had not sufficient force to cause him to swerve from the duty he owed to his Prince much less to become ungratefull and obdurate for granting that his Majesty had conferred the favour and honour on his Brother the Marquis to govern this Countrey yet considering that thereby he had raised both him and his Brothers from a mean and poor to a rich and high condition and advanced him from the dunghill to a considerable degree it ought to be so owned and acknowledged especially since in the discovery of that Countrey there was nothing due to him it is true his Brother might pretend to some merit therein but he understood so well the favours his Majesty had conferred upon him as to esteem himself obliged for ever to continue loyal and within the terms of duty and respect Piçarro would have made some reply but the President commanded the Marshal to take him away and deliver him into the custody of Diego Centeno Thus far Palentino and with him the other two Authours agree but all of them are so short in the relation they give of this matter that we think it necessary to recount the story more particularly as it passed which was this When Gonçalo Piçarro came to the place where the President was he found him alone with the Marshall for the other Commanders ashamed to see him whom they had denied and sold retired at some distance from them the ceremonies of respect which were made passed on Horseback for Piçarro did not alight seeing that every man kept himself on his Saddle as did also the President and the first thing he asked him was Whether he thought he had done well in raising the Countrey against the Emperour and making himself Governour thereof contrary to his Majesty's will and pleasure and in killing his Vice-king in a pitch'd Battel To which he made answer that he had never made himself Governour but was raised thereunto by the Judges who at the request and desire of all the Cities of the Kingdom had given him a Commission in pursuance and confirmation of that Act of Grace which his Majesty had conferred on his Brother the Marquis impowering him to nominate a person to succeed him after his life and that it was manifest and notoriously known to all the world that he was the person nominated by his Brother and that having gained the Kingdom it was but just that he should be made Governour of it And as to the vice-Vice-king he was advised by the Judges as a thing lawfull and tending to the quietness and peace of the Empire and to his Majesty's service to drive out a person from amongst them who was so little fit and qualified for Government and as to his death he was not concerned in it but he having oppressed the people and put many to death without either Reason or Law was in revenge thereof killed by those whose Kindred Friends and Relations were murthered by him If those
Ethiopian and which will not be washed off again with any water untill it begins to wear away which it will doe in ten days time and then will wash off with the rine of that which gives the tincture In this manner they coloured this wretch Aguire and clothed him in poor habit like a Countrey Negroe and with this disguise they went out openly about noon day through the publick streets and Market-place with the Negroe Aguire marching before them with a Gun on his Shoulders and one of the Masters carried another before him on the Pomel of his Saddle and the other had a Hawk on his fist as if they had been going after their game and in this manner they went to the Hill called Carmenca which is the road to Los Reyes and is a great way thither through Streets and publick places from the house of Rodrigo de Pineda and at last they came to the out-guards of all where being asked for the Governour 's licence or pass-port he that carried the Hawk seeming to be troubled for this omission said to his Brother Pray stay for me here untill I goe and fetch a Licence or if you please to go softly before I shall quickly overtake you but he took little care for his pass-port since his Brother with his Neger was passed the Guards which being done they quickned their pace untill they had got themselves clear out of the Jurisdiction of Cozco which reaches fourty leagues in length And being come so far he bought a small Nag for Aguire and gave him some money in his purse and said to him Brother since I have accompanied you so far and brought you into a Countrey where you are free and out of danger you may goe now where you think fit for my part I can do no more for you shift for your self and with that he returned to Cozco and Aguire travelled to Huamanca where a Kinsman of his lived who was a Noble person and one of the richest Inhabitants of that City and was received by him as kindly as if he had been his own Son and was caressed and treated by him for many days and afterwards was sent away with all things necessary and convenient for him We shall conceal the name of this his Kinsman because it is not justifiable to receive and protect a person condemned or who stands outlawed by the Royal Justice This escape of Aguire was one of the strangest things that happened in those days considering the diligent search which was made for him by the Judge and the follies of Aguire after he had committed the Murther though they happened well and by his good fortune were the cause of his preservation for if he had taken refuge in a Convent of which there were but three in Town namely that of our Lady of the Seraphical St. Francis and of the Divine St. Dominick he had certainly been discovered and delivered to Justice but having thus escaped the Governour was not a little angry and ashamed to see his Justice eluded and the Offender placed out of reach of the Law. Howsoever he was praised by the bold and daring Souldiers who said that if there were many Aguires in the World who durst boldly adventure to vindicate their dishonours by such a revenge the Officers of Justice would not be so insolent and arbitrary as they now shew themselves CHAP. XIX Many Gentlemen of the Countrey goe to kiss the Hand of the Vice-king A particular Story of an impertinent Person A Mutiny in Los Reyes and how it was punished The death of the Vice-king and what Troubles happened after it WE have already touched something of the Entry of the good Vice-king Don Antonio de Mendoça into the City of Los Reyes where he lived but for a short time and that too with much anguish and infirmity of body which is rather to dye than to live so that his Government affords us little subject for Discourse When he came first into the City many Planters of the Countrey about came from all parts of the Empire from Quitu as far as the Charcas to kiss his hands and welcome him at his first arrival Amongst which there was one more kind than the rest and full of love and affectionate expressions and at the conclusion of all Sir said he God take from your days and add them unto mine Those said the Vice-king will be but few and ill ones The poor man recalling himself hereupon No Sir I mean that God would be pleased to take from my days and add them unto your Excellencies I understand your Complement replied the Vice-king Don't trouble your self for the mistake Howsoever the Story was quickly carried into the outward room where it occasioned much laughter Some few days after this a certain Captain whom we have formerly mentioned in this History came to the Vice-king pretending to give him some Informations for better Government of the Empire and amongst other things he said there was one Abuse necessary to be remedied the thing is this There are two Souldiers who lodge in such a place and goe always amongst the Indians with Guns in their hands and eat what they kill and destroy the whole Game of the Countrey they also make Powder and Bullets which is of ill example to the Kingdom for many times Troubles and Insurrections have ensued from such beginnings and therefore such men as these are to be punished or at least banished from Peru. The vice-Vice-king asked him whether these men did treat the Indians ill or whether they sold them Powder and Bullets or committed any other Outrages No said the Captain Nothing more than what I tell your Lordship Then said the Vice-king these are not faults but actions rather to be encouraged for it is no offence for Spaniards to live amongst the Indians and to eat what they get themselves by hunting and to make Powder for their own use and not to sell but 't is rather commendable and such actions as are fit for other men to imitate Go your ways Sir in the name of God for I desire that neither you nor others should bring me such Tales as these for these men you complain of must be Saints seeing they live such innocent lives as you inform me And in this manner was the impertinency of this Captain requited With this gentle and easie manner did this Prince govern the Empire but my Countrey was not worthy so much goodness and therefore Heaven called him thither During the time of his Sickness the Justices commanded that the personal services of the Indians should be taken off and accordingly it was proclaimed in the City of Los Reyes in Cozco and other parts under such penalties and rigorous clauses as gave great offence and caused new seditions and mutinies amongst the People for which a chief Incendiary one Luys de Vargas was condemned and executed but the Examinations and Tryals proceeded no farther because it was found that several principal men were
Camp and having repeated to them all that Pineda had acquainted him with he told them plainly that he was resolved to fight the enemy delivering his reasons for the same but still many of the Council opposed this opinion persisting that it was not safe to make an attempt on a Fortification with so much disadvantage when the Marshal saw that he was opposed by so many principal persons he desired Pineda to repeat himself before them all what he had before declared and what was his opinion concerning the state of Hernandez his Camp and how and in what manner he believed they would act Then Pineda told them that the Forces which Hernandez had might amount unto three hundred and eighty men of which two hundred and twenty were Musquetiers but all ill provided and most of them inclined to desert him and revolt to the Marshal and that he might have about a thousand Horses and Beasts of Burthen And as to what he believed of the state of Hernandez he was of opinion that they would march away that night if not prevented being affrighted and forced thereunto for want of provisions That in case they did march away the pursuit after them through craggy and mountainous Countries would be very difficult and ruinous to the Army as well as destructive to the Kingdom and that the passage over the River was easie and the way open to make an assault Hereupon the Marshal declared positively his resolution that day to engage the enemy and that he would not suffer them to escape out of his hands as they had formerly done from the Justices and prevent them from doing any farther mischief than what they had already committed and that to follow and pursue after them could not be done without hardship damage and suffering of the whole Army but some made answer and replied hereunto that whilst Hernandez remained in that fast ground it were more secure to let him escape from thence that to attempt him in that Fortification for that it was probable that having abandoned that place his Forces would disband of themselves without hazarding the life of one Souldier but the Marshal was not satisfied with this answer and said that it was not correspondent to his duty nor sutable to the honour of so many brave Cavaliers and good Souldiers as were there present to suffer those Rebels to range and wander up and down robbing and spoiling the Countrey without controll and therefore he declared himself resolved in despight of all opposition to give the enemy Battel Herewith many of the principal Captains who were present at this Consultation in the Marshal's Tent went out from thence much displeased and dissatisfied and particularly Gomez de Alvarado said Come since we must die let us go for I am sure it will be my fortune to be killed Thus far are the words of Palentino When the Council was risen several of the Inhabitants of Cozco and of the Charcas being men of Estates to the number of about thirty returned again to the Marshal amongst which were Lorenço de Aldana John de Saavedra Diego Maldonado Gomez Alvarado Pero Hernandez Paniagua Polo the Lawyer John Ortis de Carate Alonso de Loaysa John de Salas the Agitant Martin de Meneses Garcia de Melo John de Berrio Anton Ruyz de Guevara Gonçalo de Soto Diego de Truxillo all of them Adventurers in the conquest of Peru who taking the Marshal aside did earnestly entreat him to retract his determination concerning the Battel that he would consider of the situation of the place wherein the enemy was posted which was very strong and that his own was equal to it and as advantageously seated as theirs that he should observe and remember what Rodrigo de Pineda assured him of the scarcity and want of all Provisions in the Camp of Hernandez by reason of which they would be forced to quit their quarters there in the space of three days that he should expect untill the end of that time and see the issue after which he might consider farther and take such measures as should then seem most advantageous and convenient and in the mean time the enemy remained there before them and could not take a flight through the air but on the land onely on which they might be intercepted and obstructed in their passage by orders and instructions sent to the Indians whenas on the contrary it could not but prove destructive to attack the Enemy in so difficult a station it was well known that the event of War hath been always doubtfull and that to play such a desperate game was to deliver up their Souldiers to slaughter and to stand still untill they were all killed by the shot of the Enemy That he should consider the state of his own Forces which were in a much more happy condition than the Enemy for they neither wanted Provisions nor the attendance of Indians nor other necessaries to conserve them in the Camp. That the onely game they had now to play was to stand still and that then a Victory would follow of course without loss or hazard of his men and that it was not good to adventure without some cogent reasons the loss of what they had already gained The Marshal not reflecting or calling to mind that on the same River a Battel of the nature of this was lost as before related answered with some choler that he had well considered all these particulars but that it corresponded not with his duty nor was it reasonable or sutable to their reputation to suffer such a company of pitifull Rebels to march away with such boldness and insolence and every night to alarm him in his Camp which not being able to support any longer he was resolved to fight them that very day not doubting but that before Sun-setting he should kill and cut in pieces three hundred of their men wherefore he conjured them to talk no more of declining the Battel but that every one should repair to his charge and command and acquit himself of his duty upon penalty of being proceeded against as Traitours and disobedient to the command of their General There was now no farther place for Answers and Replies the Die was cast and the resolution fixed which caused many of the principal men to depart with a heavy heart and to discourse amongst themselves that the Marshal was prodigal of the lives of his Souldiers for if he looked upon them as his Friends his Kindred or Sons he would not expose them in that manner to be destroyed and slaughtered by the Enemy But what could be said more it was their misfortune and unhappiness to be subjected to the command of a passionate and an inflexible General who would not be persuaded to accept of a Victory which was offered to him but rather yield it to his Enemy at the expence of their lives and fortunes this and much more was expressed lamenting their condition and presaging as it were that ruine which ensued
being appointed for the Sea-coast the Royal Army marched to Huamanca on the way whereunto a Souldier of great reputation named John Chacon came to them having been formerly taken by the Rebels in the Rout at Villacori but having the credit and esteem of a good Officer Hernandez was very desirous to oblige him to be his friend and for that reason had given him the command of a Company of Musquetiers but John Chacon being a person of Loyal Principles to his Majesty secretly plotted with other friends to kill the Tyrant but as at that time there was no faith or honesty amongst that sort of People but that they sold and betrayed one the other as they could best make their Market so they discovered to Hernandez the Plot intended against him of which John Chacon having intimation he escaped before they could seize him and ran away in the sight of Hernandez and all his Souldiers howsoever in the way his Life was in great hazard for as we have said before the Indians having received Commands to kill all those who fled from the Battel they had certainly also killed Chacon had it not been for a Carbine he carried with him which he often presented at the Indians and thereby saved his Life howsoever he came wounded to the Royal Camp where he gave a large account of the State of Hernandez and his Forces and of what they intended and designed to act which information the Justices made use of for their better government and with much satisfaction they marched to Huamanca where we will leave them to relate what Francisco Hernandez was doing at the same time CHAP. XX. What Francisco Hernandez acted after the Battel He sends Officers to several parts of the Kingdom to plunder the Cities The quantity of Silver which they robbed from two Citizens at Cozco AFter the Battel Francisco Hernandez remained forty days within his Fortification both to please himself with the thoughts of Victory and to cure those of the King's Party who had received wounds in the Fight whom he caressed and treated as kindly as was possible to oblige them to remain his Friends of which many followed him untill the day of his overthrow during which time he dispatched his Lieutenant-General Alvarado to Cozco in pursuit of those who had escaped out of the Battel and likewise ordered his Serjeant-Major Antonio Carrillo to go to the City of Peace to Cucuito Potocsi and the City of Plate and to travel over all the Provinces to gather what Men Arms and Horses he could find that by such an employment he might divert and recover himself from the melancholy he had conceived for his late shamefull flight out of the Battel of Chuquinca and particularly he charged him to get what Gold and Silver he could find and also the Wine which was hidden for a certain Souldier lately of the Marshal's Army named Francisco Bolonna told him that he knew where a great quantity was concealed to bring which Antonio Carrillo with a party of twenty Souldiers taking Francisco Bolonna together with them was ordered abroad of which twenty Souldiers two onely were belonging to Hernandez and the rest had been the Marshal's men for which reason it was generally suspected and secretly whispered that Hernandez had sent his Serjeant-Major with these men to confound and destroy them and not to the end declared which accordingly happened as we shall see hereafter Likewise John de Piedrahita was sent to the City of Arequepa to provide what Men Horses and Arms he could find and upon this occasion he gave him the Title of his Major-General of the Army of Liberty for so Hernandez styled his Forces calling them Restorers of the People's Liberty And then to Alvarado he named him his Lord Lieutenant that with these swelling Titles these two great Officers might be encouraged with more pride and vain-glory to act the part they had undertaken According to Orders Alvarado went to Cozco in pursuit of those who had fled from the Battel at Chuquinca and the day before he entred into the City seven Souldiers of those formerly belonging to the Marshal came thither the chief of which was called John de Cardona and brought the sad news of the Marshal's defeat to the great grief and amazement of the whole City who could not believe it possible for such a ruinous fellow as Hernandez to gain such a Victory and being now affrighted with the cruelty of this Tyrant they resolved all to fly and abandon the City rather than to fall into his merciless hands Francisco Rodriguez de Villafuerte who was then High Constable gathered what people of the City he could together which with the seven Souldiers that were fled could scarce make up the number of forty men and with these he marched by the way of Collao some of these took up their lodging for the first night about a league and a half from the City of which the High Constable was one but others proceeded three or four leagues farther by which means they preserved themselves for this honest John de Cardona seeing the Constable take up his Quarters so near the Town he stole privately away from them and came to Cozco about midnight where he gave information to Alvarado where Villafuerte and about twenty others with him remained about a league and a half from the Town whereupon he commanded Alonso Gonçalez the Hangman General with a party of twenty men immediately to march forth and take Villafuerte and his Companions which was performed with that diligence that the next morning before eight a Clock Villafuerte and his Companions were all brought back to Cozco and delivered into the hands of the Lord Lieutenant Alvarado who intended to have put Villafuerte and several of those with him to death but in regard no crime could be laid to their charge the intercession of the Friends and Relations of Hernandez Giron in their behalf prevailed for them and obtained their Pardon Amongst the many Evils and Impieties which this Alvarado committed by order and direction of his General in this City of Cozco it was none of the least that in a Sacrilegious manner he robbed the Cathedral Church and the Monasteries of the Bells belonging to them For from the Convent of our Lady of the Merceds they took one of their two Bells from the Dominicans they did the like but from the Convent of St. Francis they took none because they had but one which at the earnest intreaty of the Friers they were perswaded to leave From the Cathedral out of five Bells they took only two and would have taken them all had not the Bishop with his Clergy appeared in their defence and thundered out his Curses and Excommunications against them for the Bells of the Cathedral were very great and had been blessed and consecrated by the Hands of the Bishop with Chrism and holy Oyl Of these four Bells they founded six pieces of Cannon one of which burst upon the tryal and
Church-men and Lawyers of that Kingdom had all generally been of his Opinion In fine he was brought forth to Justice at Noon day and drawn upon a Hurdle fastned to the Tail of a poor lean Jade with the Cryer going before and with a loud voice said This is the Justice which his Majesty and the Right Honourable Don Pedro Portocarrero Major General command to be executed on this Man who hath been a Traytor to the Royal Crown and Dignity and a Disturber of this Kingdom by vertue of which Authority his Head is to be cut off and fixed on the Gallows of this City his Houses are to be demolished and the Ground sowed with Salt and a Pillar of Marble thereon erected declaring the many Crimes of which he was Guilty Howsoever he died in a Christian manner expressing great Sorrow and Repentance for his Sins and the Evils and Mischiefs of which he had been the Author Thus far Palentino with which he Concludes this Chapter In fine Francisco Hernandez ended his Life as we have said his Head was fixed upon an Iron Spike and set on the Gallows on the right hand of that of Gonçalo Piçarro and Francisco de Carvajal his Houses at Cozco where he contrived his Rebellion were not demolished the Rebellion of Hernandez from the time that it first begun to the end thereof and till the day of his Death continued for the space of thirteen Months and some few days It is said that he was the Son of a Knight of the Habit of St. John his Wife afterwards entered her self a Nun in a Convent in the City of Los Reyes where she lived with Religious Devotion But about ten years afterwards a Gentleman called Gomez de Chaues a Native of the City of Rodrigo being much affected with the Vertue Goodness and Devotion of Donna Mencia de Almaraz the Widow of Hernandez desired to perform some Action whereby â—he might please and oblige her and supposing that none could be more acceptable than to take her Husband's Head from the Spike on which it was fixed he with another Friend brought a Ladder by night to the place where the Head was and not distinguishing the Head of Hernandez from those of Piçarro and Carvajal to be sure of the right they took them all three away together and buried them privately in a Convent And though the Justice made diligent enquiry after those who had committed this piece of Robbery yet no discovery was made thereof For in regard the sight of the Head of Piçarro was an Eye-soar to the People to whom his Memory was still grateful Inquisition was not made with such strictness as the Commands of the Officers required This Relation was given me by a Gentlemen who spent several years of his Life in Service of his Majesty in the Empires of Mexico and Peru his Name is Don Lewis de Cannaveral and now lives in the City of Cordoua Howsoever at the beginning of the year 1612 a Frier of the Seraphical Order of St. Francis who was a great Divine and born in Peru called Lewis Geronino de Ore discoursing of these Heads gave me another Relation and told me That in the Convent of St. Francis in the City of Los Reyes five Heads were there deposited he named Piçarro Carvajal and Hernandez Giron but for the other two he could not say whose they were Only that that Religious House kept them there in Deposite without Burial and that he was very desirous to know the Head of Carvajal having been a Man of great Fame and Reputation in that Kingdom I told him that he might have known that by the Inscription engraven on the Iron Grate on which the Head was fixed but he answered that the Heads were taken from the Iron Spike and laid promiscuously together All the difference between these two Relations is that the Friers of the Convent would not bury the Heads for fear of being concerned in the Robbery but only kept them in Deposite or Custody to be forth-coming in case they should be demanded by the course of Justice This Religious Frier travelled from Madrid to Cadiz by Order of his Superiours and Command of the Royal Council of the Indies to dispatch away twenty four Friers and to accompany them himself to the Kingdoms of Florida to preach the Gospel to those Gentiles I cannot say certainly whether he went with them or whether he returned after he had dispatched those Apostles He desired me to give him one of the Books I had wrote of the History of Florida And I presented him with three Copies thereof and four of these our Commentaries with which the Good Father was much pleased which he testified by the many thanks he gave me May his Divine Majesty prosper them in this undertaking to the intent that they may draw those poor Wretches out of the dark abyss of Idolatry to the knowledge and Service of the true God. And here it will not be from our purpose to relate the strange manner of the death of Captain Baltasar Velazquez so that Hernandez Giron may not go to his Grave alone and without some Company It happened some months after the former passages that Baltasar Velazquez residing in the City of Los Reyes and behaving himself like a brave young Captain he had two Imposthumes which broke out near his Groin which he out of bravery neglecting to Cure apply'd things to repel and drive them in not suffering them to operate and break outwardly which had been the only safe remedy but the Corruption festering within caused a Cancer in his Bowels with so much heat that he was almost roasted alive The Physitians not knowing what to apply gave him Vinegar to refresh him which served only to encrease his flame and to burn so violently that no Man was able to hold his Hand within a half yard distance from his Body And thus died this poor Captain leaving many Stories to the World of his brave Actions and Exploits to which a stop was put by a death so violent and miserable as this The Captains and Souldiers who pretended to places and rewards for their past services residing at that time at Cozco no sooner received intelligence of the imprisonment and death of Hernandez Giron than they immediately went to the Justices to demand Rewards for their past Services And being in the City of Los Reyes they with much importunity made their pretensions alledging that by reason of their expences during all the late War they had consumed all their substance and were become so poor that they had not wherewith to support their necessary charges and therefore it was but reason and equity to perform the Promise given them which was that so soon as the Rebbel was subdued they should be gratified in such manner as was equal That now the Rebbel was dead they expected a compliance for they had nothing more remaining than their pay which was little and the arrear as they accounted was very
should declare the Message they brought unto his General Accordingly the first day passed in complement the General only bidding them welcome But the next day John Sierra being admitted to Audience he was severely reproved by the General for coming with the attendance of so many Christian Souldiers For which John Sierra excused himself saying That he brought them by the advice and order of the Governour of Cozco and his Aunt Donna Beatriz and then he declared to him the occasion for which he was sent and read to him the Letters from his Mother and the Governour with that also which the Vice-King had wrote to Donna Beatriz John Sierra having thus delivered his Message Betanços and the Frier were also called and admitted to the same place of whom they demanded the same questions to see what difference there was in the proposals which were made The Frier and Betanços produced the Writing of Pardon and declared the substance of the Embassy upon which they were employed and delivered the Present which the Vice-King sent to the Inca of several pieces of Velvet and Damask and two Cups of silver gilded together with other things of curiosity After which the General and Captains sent two Indians who had been present at all the discourse to give a relation to the Inca of the particulars which had passed which when the Inca had heard and thought well upon he gave answer That the Ambassadours should immediately return from whence they came with their Letters Act of Pardon and Presents for that he would not have to do with the Vice-King but remain free and independent of him as he had hitherto done But as John Sierra and the rest were departed orders were brought after them by two Indians that they should return immediately and appear before the Inca to give him and his Captains an account in person of the Embassy they had brought and being on their way and not above four Leagues from the Inca another Command was given that John Sierra should come alone and that the others should be dispeeded back with such convenient Provisions as were necessary for their journey The next day John Sierra was come within two Leagues of the Inca when he met a new Order to detain him two days longer before his admittance and in like manner Messengers were sent to cause Betanços and the Frier to return back to the Inca who at the end of two days sending for John Sierra he received him with such kindness and affection as was due to a near and principal Kinsman And John Sierra having expressed and explained the particulars of his Message in the best sense and words he was able the Inca seemed well satisfied and pleased with what he had delivered but in regard that being in his Minority and not master of himself nor having for want of years assumed the coloured Wreath it was necessary for him to refer all his Affairs and Treaties to the consideration of his Captains Which being done Frier Melchior de Los Reyes was also sent for and ordered to deliver the Embassy he had brought from the Vice-King which being accordingly signified the Offer was kindly understood and the presents accepted Howsoever it was ordered that the Frier and John Sierra should attend and expect an Answer after the Captains had consulted thereupon The debate being again re-assumed nothing was concluded but that more time was required to consult their Predictions and Oracles and to consider farther before they could come to a resolution And in the mean time not to detain John Sierra and the Frier any longer it was ordered that they should be dispatched away to Lima with two other Indian Captains who in the name of the Inca should attend the Vice-King and treat with him concerning the Pension and allowance which was to be given to the Inca in consideration that the Inheritance and Succession of those Kingdoms did by Right of Nature belong unto him Being in this manner dismist they travelled by the way of Andaguaylas to the City of Los Reyes where they arrived on St. Peters day in the month of June The Indian Captains having had Audience of the vice-Vice-King and declared what they had to say in behalf of their Inca were kindly received by him and hospitably treated for the space of eight days during which time they were lodged in the City and had frequent conferences with the Vice-King touching the entertainment which was to be given the Inca for the maintenance of his Court and Equipage agreeable to his Dignity so as to be able to live peaceably amongst them paying Homage and Obedience to the King. The Vice-King having consulted this point with the Arch-Bishop and Judges it was agreed to give an allowance to the Inca of seventeen thousand pieces of Eight yearly in Money for maintenance of himself and Sons besides the Indians and Estate of Francisco Hernandez and to hold therewith the Valley of Yucay together with the Indians and Lands formerly belonging to Don Francisco Hernandez the Son of the Marquis With some Lands belonging to the Fortress of Cuzco which was assigned to him for his dwelling house and place wherein he was to keep his Indian Court. In confirmation and for security hereof an instrument was drawn up to settle this Allowance on the Inca provided that in the space of six Months after the date thereof which was the fifth of July the Inca should accept of those Conditions and leave his habitation in the Mountains and come and live amongst the Spaniards This Writing was delivered to John Sierra who was solely appointed to return therewith accompanied only with the two Indian Captains and by that time that he was come to the Indian Court the Inca had received the coloured Wreath and with great joy received the Letters and Writings from the Vice-King c. Thus far Diego Hernandez which I thought sit to extract verbatim from his own Writings that I might not seem to have enlarged on the Care and Cautions used by the Indians in their Treaty above the Sphere of their Capacities And now it will not be from our purpose to explain some passages which this Anthor hath touched upon in the preceeding discourse The first is concerning those Carives who he says did eat one the other in the time of War it is true that this was accustomary in the Empire of Mexico in the antient times of Heathenisme But in Peru it was never practised For as we have said in the first part the Incas made severe Laws against those who eat human Flesh And therefore we must understand this Author according to the custome of Mexico and not of Peru. The Revenue given to the Inca did not amount to 17000 pieces of Eight for as we have said before the Lands of Francisco Hernandez did not yield above ten thousand pieces of Eight per annum And as to what he says they gave him in the Valley of Yucay which was the Estate of the Son of
this Gentleman did not pass into Peru we do not find his Name in List of the Vice-Kings which were transported into that great Kingdom In the mean time whilst these matters were transacting in the Court of Spain the vice-Vice-King of Peru dispatched away his Son Don Garcia de Mendoça for Governour and Captain General of the kingdom of Chile which was become vacant by the Death of Geronimus de Alderete who died on his way thither of grief to think that 800 Persons perished in the Galeon by his fault and the fault of his Sister-in-Law for he knew well that if it had not been in consideration of him the Master of the Ship would not have given License to that Religious Woman to keep a Candle in her Cabin by night which was the destruction of the Vessel and of all those therein The advancement of Don Garcia de Mendoça to that Charge and Trust was pleasing to all those of Peru so that many Souldiers and Persons of Estates offered themselves freely to accompany him in that Expedition knowing that it would be a Service acceptable to his Majesty and to the Vice-King Santillian the Chief Judge of the Chancery was appointed Deputy Governour to Don Garcia and to direct and guide him and he was earnestly intreated to accept of this Office. Great preparations were made over all the Kingdom for this Journey of Armes Horses Cloaths and other Ornaments which cost very dear in this Country where all the Commodities of Spain are raised to a vast price The vice-Vice-King also appointed three other Gentlemen of Quality for three several parts which were within that Conquest namely Gomez Arias John de Salinas and Anton de Aznayo every one of which was very stuâ—â—ous to discharge his Duty in his Office respectively Don Garcia de Mendoça being gone to his Government attended as we have said with a great number of Choice and Select Persons So soon as he was in the possession thereof he speedily designed the Conquest of the Indian Araucos who were become very insolent and proud by those Victories which they had gained over the Spaniards The first was that over Don Pedro de Valdivia which was followed by some others afterwards which are written in Verse by the Poets of those times which had been much more properly delivered in Prose for then we might have given Credit thereunto more than we can to the Fictions of Poetry The Governour having in a short time provided himself with all things necessary for the War entered into the rebelled Provinces with a number of brave Men Arms Amunition and Provisions for the Enemy had carried away every thing leaving the Country naked and without any Sustenance for an Army They had not entered very far into these parts but the Indians had fitted an Ambush for them and had composed a Vanguard of 5000 Indians with orders not to fight nor come within any danger of being forced by the Enemy to an engagement The Spaniards being informed by their Scouts and Spyes sent abroad that the Indians fled before them without any stop or stay in a setled place gave order to pursue them with all convenient speed and yet with such Caution as not to be entrapped by their Ambushes or Surprisals for the Governour at the time he first entered into that Country had been fore-warned by those who had been acquainted with the Stratagems which those People use in the War by skirmishing and flying to be always circumspect and doubtful of them Howsoever so eager was the Governour to pursue the Enemy in hopes totally to destroy them and by a bloody slaughter of them to discourage the rest from making farther opposition that he made little use of the Caution which was given him for leaving his Camp and Tents he followed the Enemy a whole day and a night and being removed at a good distance from thence out came the Indians from their holes and places where they had been hidden and seized on the Camp without any opposition and plundered and carried away all the Baggage and Necessaries belonging to the Army With the News hereof the Governour was forced to give over his chase and see to recover what the Enemy had plundered from him but it was too late for they were returned to their secret Holds and to the places where they had concealed their booty past all recovery The news of this success came to Peru almost as soon as that of the Governours arrival in the seat of his Government so that all the World wondered at this sudden accident and how in so short a time the Indians should be such Gainers and the Spaniards such Losers for they had lost all their Baggage even to their very Shirts and wearing Cloaths To repair this disaster the Vice-King sent away with all speed new Recruits of all things that were necessary in which he expended out of the King's Treasury vast sums of Gold and Silver at which People much murmured as Palentino saith meaning the first expence which was made when Don Garcia went to his Government of Chili but mentions not this second charge occasioned by the Robbery which the Indians had made upon him which was more displeasing than the former and moved People to say That the Vice-King for the sake of his Son had exhausted the Kings Exchequer of all the Treasure But as to what succeeded afterwards in the Kingdom of Chile we shall leave to other Writers and confine our selves to the Territories of Peru having expatiated our selves from thence no farther than only to touch on the departure of the vice-Vice-Kings Son from thence and the death of Loyola Those who think fit to write the History of that Kingdom will find subject enough whereon to enlarge their Discourses on a War which hath continued already for fifty eight years between the Indians and Spaniards that is The Araucans rebelled towards the end of the year 1553 and now we are in the year 1611 and the Wars not as yet ended We might here recount the unhappy death of the Governour Francisco de Villagra with 200 Spaniards more which happened on that ridge of Mountains which hath ever since had the name of Villagra We might here also tell of the death of Major General John Rodulfo with 200 men with him whom they killed on the Bogg or Marsh of Puren I could wish to have been informed of the several particular successes of these Affairs and many greater which happened in this warlike Kingdom that I might have added them to this History But I do not doubt where People have been born with such Martial Spirits but that the same Countrey will produce in future Ages Sons of her own endued with a Spirit and Genius of Learning capable to write their own History And it shall be my Prayer to God That Knowledge and Learning may flourish in all that famous Kingdom CHAP. XIV The Heirs of those who were put to Death for siding with Francisco Hernandez Giron
Brother trust me herein and when I come to my own Country I will send you 2000 pieces of Eight in payment thereof I do not doubt but he would have been as good as his word but my ill Fortune crossed me for three days after he arrived at Payta which is just on the Frontiers of Peru he died meerly by an excess of joy he conceived to see himself again in his own Country Pardon me Reader this Digression which I have presumed to make solely out of respect and affection to my School-fellow All the others died in their Banishment not one of them returning again to his own Country CHAP. XVIII How all the Incas of the Blood Royal and those of them born of Spanish Fathers and Indian Mothers were banished The Death and End of them all The Sentence given against the Prince with his Answer thereunto and how he received Holy Baptism ALL those Indians who were Males of the Royal Line and nearest of the Blood to the number of thirty six persons were all banished to the City of Los Reyes and there commanded to reside and not to stir from thence without special Order obtained from the Government With them also the two Sons and a Daughter of that poor Prince were sent the eldest of which was not above ten years of age The Incas being come to Rimac otherwise called the City of Los Reyes the Archbishop thereof named Don Geronimo Loaysa out of compassion to them took the little Girl home with intent to educate or breed her up in his own Family The others looking on themselves as Exiles driven out of their Country and Houses and put besides their natural ways of living took it so much to Heart and bewail'd their condition with such grief that in little more than the space of two years thirty five of them died together with the two Sons But what we may believe contributed likewise to their greater Mortality was the heat and moisture of the Climate upon the Sea-Coast wherein they lived For as we have said in our First Part of this History That the Air of the Plains is so different from that of the Mountains that those who have been bred in and accustomed to the Hilly Countries cannot endure the lower Airs which are made as it were Pestilential to them by the excessive heats and moistures of the Sea. This was the end of these poor Incas and as to the three which survived one of which was my School-fellow named Don Carlos the Son of Don Christoval Paulu of whom we have formerly made mention the Lords of the Chancery taking pity of their condition gave them liberty to return to their Houses and to more agreeable Air but they were so far spent and consumed beyond recovery that within a year and a half 's time all the three dyed Howsoever the whole Royal Line was not as yet totally extinct for the said Don Carlos left a Son who as we have said in the last Chapter of the first Part came into Spain with expectation to receive great Rewards and Preferments as he was promised in Peru but he died at Alcala de Hennares about the year 1610 by a Melancholly he conceived to see himself upon a quarrel he had with one who was a Knight as he was of the Order of St. Jago to be shut up within the Walls of a Convent and afterwards to be removed to another Convent where upon more discontent for his Imprisonment he dyed in the space of eight Months He left a Son of three or four Months old which was made Legitimate that it might be rendered thereby capable to inherit in right of his Father the same favour of his Majesty which by way of Pension was assigned to him on the Customs of Seville But the Child dying in a year afterwards the Allowance ceased And then was fulfilled the Prophesie which the Great Huayna Capac made concerning the Blood-Royal and that Empire In the Kingdom of Mexico though the Kings were very powerful in the times of their Gentilisme as Francisco Lopez de Gomara writes in his general History of the Indies yet no Wrong or Injury was done to them in matter of their due Inheritance or Right to the Succession because the Kings being Elective and chosen by the Grandees or Great Men according to their Vertue or Merit to the Government There was not the same Jealousy upon any in that Kingdom as was of the Heirs of Peru whom Suspition only brought to Destruction rather than any Faults or Conspiracy of their own as may appear by the Fate of this poor Prince who was sentenced to have his Head cut off But that his Condemnation might appear with some colour of Justice his Crimes were published by the Common Cryer namely That he intended to Rebel and that he had drawn into the Plot with him several Indians who were his Creatures together with those who were the Sons of Spaniards born of Indian Mothers designing thereby to deprive and dispossess his Catholick Majesty King Philip the Second who was Emperour of the New World of his Crown and Dignity within the Kingdom of Peru. This Sentence to have his Head cut off was signified to the poor Inca without telling him the Reasons or Causes of it To which he innocently made answer That he knew no Fault he was guilty of which could merit Death but in case the vice-Vice-King had any Jealousie of him or his People he might easily secure himself from those fears by sending him under a secure Guard into Spain where he should be very glad to kiss the hands of Don Philip his Lord and Master He farther argued that it was impossible that any such imagination could enter into his Understanding for if his Father with 200000 Souldiers could not overcome 200 Spaniards whom they had besieged within the City of Cozco how then could it be imagined that he could think to rebel with a small number against such multitudes of Christians who were now increased and dispersed over all parts of the Empire That if he had conceived or complotted any evil design against the Spaniards he would never have suffered himself to have been taken but would have fled and retired from them but knowing himself to be innocent and without any Guilt he voluntarily yielded himself and accompanied them believing that they called him from the Mountains to confer the same Favours and Bounty on him as they had done on his Brother Don Diego Sayri Tupac Wherefore he appealed to the King of Castile his Lord and to the Pachacamac from this Sentence of the Vice-King who was not content to deprive him of his Empire with all the enjoyments therein unless also therewith he took away his Life without any fault or colour of offence so that now he could wellcome Death which was given him as the value and price of his Empire Besides this he said many other things which moved pity in the Hearts of all the standers by
hither sor I will wait upon her my self and rejoyce at our happy meeting In this manner he entertained me a great while making many enquiries of my condition and how I spent my time and taking my leave of him he desired me often to visit him As I was going away I made him a submissive bow and reverence after the manner of the Indians who are of his Alliance and Kindred at which he was so much pleased that he embraced me heartily and with much affection as appeared by his Countenance At that time all the Caciques and as many Indian Officers as were from Cozco to the Charcas which is a Tract of Land reaching 200 Leagues in length and above 120 in breadth were then present and all attending on the Inca for whose sake the Feasts and Rejoycings which they made were celebrated with more Joy and Solemnity than in the parts and places of the Journey through which they had passed though others of more wise and sober temper were greatly troubled to consider the meanness and poverty of their Prince and that such Maygames as those were invented to express his Grandure Whilest these Shews were acting the Prince desired that he might be admitted to Baptism and that my Lord and Father Garçilasso might be his Godfather as it had formerly been agreed amongst them but he being then very weak and sick was not able to perform this Office so that another Gentleman one of the most antient and pincipal Citizens called Alonso de Hinojosa a Native of Truxillo was substituted in his place with this Inca Sayri Tupac his Wife named Cusi Huarcay was also baptized who as Palentino saith was the Daughter of Huascar Inca perhaps rather she might be his Niece for to have been his Daughter she must at least have been thirty two years of Age For Atahualpa took Huascar Prisoner in the year 1528 and the Spaniards entered into that Empire 1530 and as others will have it 1531 and when the Inca and his wife the Infanta were baptized it was in the year 1558 which being at the end thereof the Infanta according to this account must be above 30 years of age whereas in reality when she was baptized she was not above 17 years old so it must have been an Errour in the Calculation by calling her Daughter instead of Niece She was a Woman of great Beauty and had been much more Comely had she been fair but that tawny Complexion which is common to the Women of that Countrey much abates that sweetness of Air and those good features which are natural to them The Prince Sayri Tupac had a fancy to have the name of Diego which is James superadded to him at his Baptism in respect to that glorious Apostle St. James who according to a Tradition received from his Father and his Captains appeared miraculously in favour and defence of the Spaniards when they were besieged in that City The Inhabitants of the City honoured the day of the Inca's Baptism with the sport of Bulls and throwing Darts and other signals of joy appearing in rich Attire and costly Liveries I my self am an Eye-witness thereof having been a chief Actor in these divertisements After these Festivals were over and that the Caciques had made their Visits the Inca remained some days in the Conversation of his Friends and enjoyment of himself with ease and plenty during which time he visited that famous Fortress which his Ancestors had built much admiring to see it fallen to decay and partly demolished by those whose Glory and Honour it was to have kept up such a Monument and Trophy of their Conquests as this History testifies He also visited the Cathedral Church and the Convent of our Lady of the Merceds and of St. Francis and St. Dominick in all which he adored the most Holy Sacrament calling it Pachacamac Pachacamac which is God of Heaven and Earth And with the like profound Reverence he worshipped the Image of our Lady calling it Mother of God. Tho' some malitious Men who speak well of none seeing him with great Devotion on his knees before the Most Holy Sacrament in the Church of St. Dominick said that he was worshipping the Sun his Father and the bodies of his Ancestors which were interred in that Church He also visited the Houses of the Select Virgins dedicated to the Sun but passed by the habitation of his Ancestors which were totally demolished and other new Edisices erected by the Spaniards in their places All these particulars were not performed in a day nor in a week but in many making these visits his recreation and pastime to fill up his vacant hours And having passed several Months in this manner he went to the Valley of Yucay rather to enjoy the Air and delights of that Pleasant Garden formerly belonging to his Ancestors than in regard to any Claim or Propriety he had therein And there he continued during the short time of his Life which did not continue above three years afterwards He left a Daughter which was afterwards married to a Spaniard called Martin Garcia de Loyola of whom we shall speak at large in its due place and of the manner how he ended his days CHAP. XII The Vice-King raises and maintains Horse and Foot for security of the Empire Four of the antient Conquerours dye a natural Death THE Vice-King having acquitted himself of the importunities of those who pretended to Lands and Estates in reward of their Services by expelling them out of Peru having also put those to death who had sided with Hernandez Giron in his Rebellon and reduced the Prince who was Heir to the Empire unto the Service and Obedience of his Catholick Majesty which were all great things and of high importance He in the next place raised standing Forces of Horse and Foot to secure the Empire in peace and to desend the Power of the Courts of Justice and his own Person The Horsemen he called Lances and the Footmen Musqueteers to every Lance he assigned a Pension of a thousand Pieces of Eight a year with condition to maintain himself Horse and Arms without other charge the which were 70 in number The Musqueteers were to be 200 at five hundred pieces of Eight a year who were to be at all times in a readiness and to maintain and keep their Musquets and other Arms bright and well fixed These men were to be chosen out of those who were of approved Loyalty and faithfulness to the Service of his Majesty tho' many gave them a different Character and termed them Persons who if they had had their due had been fit only for the Gallies having been actually engaged in the Rebellions of Hernandez Giron and Don Sebastian de Cassilla and who for the Murders they had committed and the blood they had spilt in private quarrels amongst themselves had often deserved the Gallows but all was smothered up and the Vice-King's Commands obeyed And now the Kingdom being quiet and freed of those
fears to which it was subjected by the Seditions and Mutinies of a company of rash and rebellious Souldiers the vice-Vice-King bended his thoughts towards publick Edifices and to matters of good Government And at leisure hours he passed his time in honest Pleasures and innocent Recreations And herein he was much diverted by an Indian Boy of about 14 or 15 years of Age who pretended to be a Jester and of a very facetious and pleasant Humour He was presented to the Vice-King who took great delight to hear him talk and utter his little impertinencies part in the Indian and part in a corrupted Spanish Tongue and particularly when he would say your Excellency he would say your Pestilency which made the Vice-King laugh heartily and some then in Company who joyned in laughter with him would say that that Title was more corresponding to him than the other if it were rightly considered how great a Plague and Pestilence he had been to those whom he had killed and to their Children whose Estates he had confiscated and to those whom he banished out of Peru and sent them into Spain Poor Naked and Forlorn whom it had been a Mercy to have killed rather than to have treated in that inhumane manner And with such reflections as these evil-Tongues aspersed all the actions of the Vice-King as if Rigour and Severity were not agreeable to the Nature and Constitutions of the People of Peru. Amidst these various Revolutions of good and bad Fortune within this Kingdom the Marshal Alonso de Alvarado after a long and tedious Sickness contracted by Grief and Melancholly dyed For after the defeat which he received at the Battel of Chuquinca he scarcely enjoyed an hour of contentment but pined and macerated away till the Lamp of his Life was totally extinguished And because the manner of his Death was something extraordinary 't will not be impertinent to recount it in this place which was thus When he was in his last Agony of death and ready to give up the Ghost they removed him out of his Bed and laid him upon a Carpet in the same Chamber and by him a Cross made in Ashes according to the Custom of the Knights of St. Jago or St. James And having layen a short time upon the Carpet he seemed to revive and come to himself so that they returned him again to his Bed where after a short time falling into a like fit his Attendants laid him out on the Carpet in the same manner as before and then coming out of his Leipothymy and seeming better was again laid into his Bed and so between the Carpet and the Bed he continued for the space of forty days to the great labour and trouble of his Servants until at length he breathed his last A short time afterwards his eldest Son dyed by whose decease the Estate which descended to him from his Father came to devolve to the Crown But his Majesty considering the great Services which the Marshal had done was pleased to continue it to his second Son which was a favour granted to very few in that Empire The death of Don Alonso de Alvarado was seconded by that of John Julio de Hojeda a Noble person and one of the Ancient Conquerours and one of the Prime Citizens and of the first Rank in Cozco He was married to Donna Leonora de Tordoya Niece to Garçilasso de la Vega being Daughter to his Eldest Brother by whom he had Don Gomez de Tordoya who was Heir to his Estate Some few Months afterwards dyed my Lord and Father Garçilasso de la Vega after a long sickness of two years and a half with several intervals and changes For seeming once perfectly cured he mounted on horse-back and went into the City as one in good and sound health and thus continuing for the space of three or four Months his illness returned upon him again and confined him for as long a time to his Chamber where he remained until the time of his Decease and according to his last Will and Testament he was buried in the Convent of St. Francis. In those days it was the Custom to make very solemn Funerals carrying the Corps three times round the Parade or publick place and for every turn which was made a high Pedestal was raised whereon to repose the Body whilst the Responses were singing and then another stand was erected in the Church whereon to lay the Corps during the time whilst they celebrated the Office for the Dead But in regard that before all these Ceremonies could be performed it was tedious and troublesome to the Priest and People It was ordered by Garçilasso that the former punctillio's should be omitted and that his Body should be laid on a Carpet with a black Cloth over it without Pedestals or Stands which were troublesome and chargeable to erect which being accordingly observed as he had directed All others following the same Example to the great ease of the People When I was arrived in Spain I there received a Bolle from his Holiness giving License to take up the Bones of my Father and transport them into Spain which accordingly was performed and his Reliques brought over to him which I deposited in the Church of St. Isidoro in Sevile where they now remain buried to the Glory and Honour of our Lord God whose mercy be upon us Amen This Mortality was a year afterwards followed by the death of Lorenço de Aldana after a long and grievous sickness he never had been married nor ever had any natural Sons By his last Will and Testament he left his Lands to his Heir that therewith he might be enabled to pay such Fines and Taxes and Tributes which should afterwards be laid upon them He was a very Noble and Generous person and one of the second Adventurers who entered into Peru with Don Pedro de Alvarado Some short time after the War of Conçalo Piçarro was ended two young Gentlemen of his Kindred tho' not very nearly allyed came over to him in that Country whom he kindly received and treated as if they had been his own Sons At the end of three years that these young Men had been with him he thought it fit to put them into some way of livelyhood and in order thereunto he gave them a Stock and sent them to his Steward to teach them how and in what manner they might employ and improve it for according to the Custom of that Country whilst there was no War nor Expeditions on new Discoveries it was no disparagement to a Gentleman to trade and seek ways of gain rather than to sit idle and without business And so he gave them ten thousand pieces of Eight which are twelve thousand Ducats advising them that it was their Stock which with good husbandry they might increase to a considerable benefit and which he believed they would have received kindly from him and with thanks but these young Sparks scornfully rejected the Offer and told him That it