indeed all the Indians are seeing the effects which the Inca had operated on his own Subjects which was the best argument to convince them they immediately submitted to his Government and thus by degrees during the whole course of this Inca's Reign without violence or force of arms in a gentle and peaceable manner he reduced all the People as far as Chuncara which is about twenty Leagues in length with the Inhabitants of the parts adjacent to his Subjection over all which he prevailed so far as to plow and cultivate their Lands to lead a moral Life according to the Rules of the light of nature and that forsaking their Idols and evil customs which they practised they should worship the Sun and observe those Laws and Precepts which by Revelation his Father Manco Cupac had delivered to them all which the Indians readily accepted and embraced being highly satisfied with that benefit and improvement which the Dominion and Rule of Sinchi Roca had brought unto them who after the example of his Father studied all ways and means to endear that People to himself Some Authours report that this King proceeded much beyond the Countrey of Chuncara and extended his Dominions over the Nations of Cancalla Ruruchachi Assillu Asancatu Huancani and others all which he gained with such gentle treatment that he needed not Wars or other Arms than persuasions to invite them using these new plantations as good Gardiners doe their Orchards pruning and digging about their Trees in hopes of plenty and abundance of Fruit. Sinchi Roca having thus lived in peace and quietness for the space of many years and as some will have it for about thirty finding himself at length decaying and aged he declared that now after the labours and cares he had taken to reduce men to the knowledge of his Father the Sun he was now going to take his rest and repose with him His lawfull Son by his legitimate Wife and Sister Mama Cora or as others will have it Mama Ocllo called Lloque Yupanqui he left to succeed him as Heir to all his Dominions Besides this Prince he had other Sons by his Wife and more Children by his Kinswomen who were his Concubines all which we may call legitimate Moreover he had many Bastard Children by Women of other Families all which was allowable according to the rule and saying that it was fit and requisite that the Generation and Family of the Sun should be many and numerous CHAP. VIII Of the Third King Lloque Yupanqui and the signification of his Name LLoque Yupanqui was the third King of Peru called Lloque because he was left-handed and Yupanqui serves to denote his Vertues and generous Actions The word Yupanqui signifies as much as an account or reckoning as we say a Man of Account which is a Cypher or Hieroglyphick in that language for a sum of Vertues as Clemency Piety Gentleness c. all which were qualities inherent in that Person and is as comprehensive as the word Capac which contains the Riches of Fortune and the Wealth of Vertues inherent in the mind which Apellations or rather Titles they gave to none of their chiefest Lords but to the King onely it being esteemed a kind of Sacrilege to attribute such sacred Titles to any other for as the Romans gave the name of Augustus to their Emperours in a particular distinction to all others so it would have been a diminution to their Majesty to have made this peculiar Name common to their Subjects Lloque Yupanqui having taken a survey of his Dominions resolved to extend his Jurisdiction farther than the Possessions of his Fathers and being now the Lord of an Empire which had been established and radicated for the space of seventy years he thought it a more expedite way by force of Arms to reduce that People than by the slow insinuations which arguments and persuasions made upon them To this end having raised an Army of about six or seven thousand men under the conduct of his two Uncles and of his other Kindred whom he made Captains and Commanders over them he took his march towards the Countrey of Orcosuyu leaving that of Llmasuyu which his Father had already conquered the several ways to which divide in the Province of Chuncara he passed through the division of Collasuyu which contains the great Lake of Titicaca The Inca having passed the frontiers of his own Dominions entered the Countrey called Cana and immediately dispatched Messengers to the natural Inhabitants thereof requiring them to leave their bestial Sacrifices and superstitious manners and with all readiness to submit unto the Obedience and Service of him who was descended from the Offspring of the Sun The People of Cana desired time to inform themselves of all the particulars which the Inca commanded them as what were his Laws and what were the Gods which he enjoined them to worship in all which when they had been well instructed they readily confessed that their Religion and Laws were better and more rational than their own and therefore with a general consent they yielded and submitted to them and so went forth to receive their King with Joy and acknowledge themselves his obedient Subjects The Inca leaving Persons with them to instruct them in his Idolatry and to teach them the way of manuring and cultivating their Land he proceeded forward to that Nation which is called Ayviri but these being a sturdy and stubborn sort of People were not to be wrought upon by persuasions and promises or by the example of others but obstinately persisted in a resolution to dye in the defence of their Liberties which was a new difficulty and opposition that the Incas had never as yet encountred Thus both sides preparing for War they came to an ingagement which lasted long there being many killed both on one side and the other and being at length as it were a drawn Battel and the Victory doubtfull both Armies retreated into fast places which they had fortified after their own manner sallying out every day to Skirmishes and single Combats The People of the Inca avoided fighting what they were able desiring rather to overcome them with reasons and persuasions than by force of Arms but the Ayviri interpreting this backwardness of the Inca to be an effect of Cowardise became more obstinate and encouraged to press harder upon him so as almost to enter his Royal Tents but their force was repelled with force and were always repulsed with loss and disadvantage The Inca considering well the shame and dishonour it would be to him to be foiled by this People for that others by their Example might take courage to rebell and resist him he dispatched immediate Orders for new recruits to be sent him but these he designed rather for terrour and ostentation than necessity and in the mean time he straitned the Enemy so that there being a great scarcity of all Provisions amongst them they were compelled at length to make their way by force of
the whole Empire and added to his Religion many new Rites and Ceremonies and introduced many laudable Customs and new Laws tending to the better regulation of Moral life He ejected many of the Idols formerly Worshipped by his Subjects out of the Temples and forbad many barbarous and abominable customs in use amongst them And that he might shew himself as great a Captain and Souldier as he was a King and Priest he reformed the Militia instructing them in the Discipline of War and for encouragement of his Souldiery he established new favours and honours for those that should deserve them He also enlarged and beautified the great City of Cozco with sumptuous Buildings and supplied it with new Citizens and Inhabitants and particularly he erected a Palace for himself near those Schools which his Great Grandfather Roca had founded For which Magnificent actions and for his sweet and gentle disposition he was beloved and adored like another Jupiter He reigned fifty years and as some say seventy during all which time he lived in great peace and prosperity at the end of which he dyed being universally lamented by his Subjects having his place allotted to him amongst the Kings his Predecessors and enrolled in the List and Number of their Gods. He was embalmed according to the custome of their Countrey and his Obsequies performed with cries and sighs and sacrifices and other ceremonies of Funeral which continued for the space of a whole year He left the Universal inheritance of his Empire to his Eldest Son Yupanqui and his Wife and Sister Coya Anahuarque besides which he left above three hundred Sons and Daughters and that in all with legitimate and natural Children he made up the number of more than four hundred and yet the Indians esteem these but few considering they were the issue of so great and so good a Father The Spanish Historians confound the Names of this Father and Son in one denomination calling the Father Yupanqui and the Son Inca whereas Inca was the Royal Title as Augustus was to the Emperours The cause of this mistake amongst the Spaniards arises from the Indians themselves who having occasion to mention these two Kings say Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui which the Spaniards misunderstanding take to be one person and so confound the Father with the Son though in reality the Indians make great difference distinguishing this Yupanqui from his Father and others by the sirname of Tupac which is as much as to say resplendent in like manner they distinguish another Inca Yupanqui by the Father of Huayna Capac and another Tupanqui by the Grandfather of Huascar and so give some distinction to them all which I denote for better clearing the History to observing and intelligent Readers CHAP. XXXV Of the Schools which he founded and enlarged and of the Laws he made for good Government BLas Valera discoursing of this Inca hath these following words Viracocha being dead and placed by the Indians amongst the number of their Gods the Grand Titu his Son succeeded in his Throne by the Name of Manco Capac untill such time as his Father gave him the Name of Pachacutec which signifies as much as if they should call him the Reformer of the World the which Name was verified by the many famous Actions he performed and the many wise Sentences and Proverbs which he uttered the which were so excellent and renowned that having deserved that August Title the former Name began to be forgotten This Inca governed his Empire with that vigilance prudence and courage both in War and Peace that he not onely enlarged it towards all the four quarters of the World which they called Tavantinsuyu but strengthened and corroborated it by such excellent Laws and Statutes as were judged worthy to be confirmed by the Wisedom of our Catholick Kings those onely excepted which had respect to the Idolatrous Rites of their Religion and to the permissions of their Incestuous Marriages This Inca above all things amplified and endowed with Honours and Revenues those Schools which the Inca Rocca had first founded at Cozco He encreased the number of Masters and Teachers commanding that no Officer Captain or Souldier should be capable of any Honour Office or Dignity but he onely that could speak and who was knowing and skilfull in the Language of Cozco And that no person might plead excuse for his ignorance therein he ordained and appointed several Masters to teach that Tongue to all the Nobles and to others capable to serve in publick employment so that the Language of Cozco became the common and universal Tongue of all Peru However of late I know not how by negligence of Officers 't is almost lost and forgotten to the great damage and obstruction of the Gospel Such Indiansâ— as to these days retain that Language are much better civilized and more intelligent than those others who are as gross and corrupt in their Manners as they are in their Language It was this Pachacutec who prohibited all persons unless they were Princes and of the Bloud-Royal to wear Gold or Silver or pretious Stones or Feathers of divers colours or the fine sort of Goats Wool which they had learned to Weave with admirable Art. He commanded that upon the first days of the new Moon and other days of Festival they should go decently but not gaily dressed by which means he made moderate cloathing to become a fashion which to this day is observed by the Indians who are Tributaries and hath that good effect upon them that thereby they are freed from the danger of bad Arts which oftentimes necessitate Men to exercise unlawfull contrivances for the sake of fine cloathing and gay apparel Though indeed at present those Indians who are Servants to Spaniards or live amongst them are become greatly corrupt in that particular not valuing their honour or consciences in comparison with the gallantry and finery of their Apparel This Inca likewise enjoyned great temperance in Eating though he gave more liberty to the Commonalty as well as the Princes in the excess of Drink He ordained particular Officers to oversee and take notice of idle Persons and Vagabonds not suffering any person to want business or employment but to serve his Father or his Master so that Children of five or six years of Age were not excused from some employment and work agreeable to their years Even the lame and blind and dumb had some sort of work put into their hands the Old Men and Women were set to affright away the Crows and Birds from the Corn and thereby gained their Bread and Cloathing And lest Men by reason of continual labour and toil should become weary and their lives burthensome he provided that for their better ease they should have three Days of repose and divertisement in every Moon by which they accounted their Month He appointed three Fairs in every Month to be held at the end of every nine Days so that such as lived in the Villages might at the end
discourse with the Devil imagining that by such submission and resignation of their Persons they obliged their Familiar to hear and answer them And of this Idolatry I can give testimony because I have seen it with my own eyes All the Priests of the Sun in the City of Cozco were of the Bloud-Royal though for the inferiour Officers of it such others were assigned as had gained the privilege of being called Incas Their High Priest was either to be Brother or Uncle to their King or some other of nearest Bloud their Priests used no Vestments different from others In other Provinces those which were Natives or related to the Principal men were made Priests though the Chief Priest amongst them was an Inca that matters might bear some conformity with the Imperial City which rule was also observed in all Offices relating to War and Peace that so the Natives might have their share in the Government and not seem to be slighted or neglected They had also some Houses for Virgins which professed a perpetual Virginity where they ever remained Recluses of which and of the King's Concubines we shall have occasion hereafter to treat more at large All these Laws in Government and Rites in Religion they pretend for the greater authority of them to have received from their first Inca Manco Capac and that where Matters were imperfect it was left to his Successours to establish and complete For as they affirm that these Laws both in Religion and Government were derived from the Sun and inspired by him into his Children the Incas so it is hard to affirm to whom in particular such and such Laws were to be attributed CHAP. V. The Division of the Empire into four Parts and of the Registers kept by the Decurions and what their Office was THE Incas divided their Empire into four Parts which they called Tavantinsuyu and signifies the four Quarters of the Heavens viz. East West North and South The City of Cozco they esteemed the Point and Centre of all and in the Indian Language is as much as the Navel of the Earth for the Countrey of Peru being long and narrow in fashion of a Man's body and that City in the middle it may aptly be termed the Navel of that Empire To the Eastward they called the Countrey Antisuyu from the Province Anti which extends all along that great Mountain which runs through the snowy desert Eastward To the Westward they called the Countrey Cuntisuyu from that small Province which is called Cunti to the Northward lies the Province Chincha and to the Southward the Countrey Colla which extends it self to the Zur In these four Provinces are comprehended many great Countries and amongst the rest the Kingdom of Chile which contains about 600 Leagues in length towards the Zur and is within the Province of Colla and the Kingdom of Quita which is within the Division of Colla runs 400 Leagues to the Northward So that to name those Quarters is as much as to say East and West c. according to which the principal ways leading to the City were so called The Incas laid one method and rule in their Government as the best means to prevent all mischiefs and disorders which was this That of all the people in every place whether more or less a Register should be kept and a Division made of ten and ten over which one of the ten whom they called the Decurion was made Superiour over the other nine then every five Divisions of this nature had a Decurion over them to whom was committed the charge and care of fifty then over the two Divisions of fifty a Superiour Decurion was constituted to supervise a hundred so five Divisions of a hundred had their Captain which commanded five hundred and lastly ten Divisions had their General over a thousand for no Decurion had a greater number to govern or account for the charge of one thousand being esteemed a sufficient care for any that by his Under-Officers would undertake to account for his people and rule them well The Decurions of ten had a double duty incumbent on them one was with diligence and care to succour and sustain those which were under their Division giving an account to his Superiour Officer in case any of them should be in want or necessity of any thing as of Corn to sow or eat or Wool to cloath them or Materials to re-build their houses destroyed by fire or any other accident or should fall into any extremity whatsoever His other duty was to be Censor Morum or Monitor of their actions taking notice and giving information of the faults and irregularities of those under him which he was to report to his Superiour Officer who according to the nature of the Misdemeanour had the power of punishment howsoever the lower Officers had power to chastise the lesser defaults that so for every petty Misdemeanour they needed not to have recourse to the Superiour or General of them all whereby delays in Law-suits were avoided and long processes which tire and consume the people were speedily ended and litigious Causes and vexatious Actions determined without Appeals from one Judge to another and in case of publick differences between two Provinces they were always decided by the definitive sentence of one Justice which the Inca constituted by a special Commission What Officer soever either of higher or lower degree that was negligent or remiss in his duty incurred a penalty agreeable to the nature of his default If he administred not the assistence required or neglected to Indict an Offender though it were but the omission of one day without a lawfull excuse he was not onely liable to answer for his own default but to receive the punishment due to the crime of the Offendour And in regard every one of these Decurions had a Superiour over him who eyed and watched his actions they were all diligent in their duties and impartial in their justice no vagabonds or idle persons durst appear or trespasses were committed for the Accusation was readily brought in and the punishment was rigorous which in many small cases was even capital not so much for the sin it self as for the aggravation thereof being committed against the Word and Command of the Inca whom they respected as a God and though the Plaintiff or the injured person were willing to let fall his Suit and remit the penalty to the Offendour yet the course of the Law will still proceed imposing a punishment agreeable to the quality of the crime either death or stripes or banishment or the like In Families strict severity was observed to keep their Children within the rules of modesty and decent behaviour for there were Laws even against the ill manners of Children for whose miscarriages the Decurion as well as the Father was responsible So that the Children of the Indians who are naturally of a gentle and complying temper are educated in great awe and made modest by the correction and example
which we formerly mentioned by the names of Tapacri and Cochapampa where the Caciques attended in a readiness with their Souldiers to receive the Inca. From Cochapampa they proceeded forward to Chayanta and in their way thither they passed a most desolate and barren Countrey where is not one Foot of good Ground but onely Stones and Rocks and which produces nothing but Bushes bearing Thorns as long as a Man's finger and which the Indians use for Needles to sow the poor Drapery they wear and which sort of Thorn grows common in all parts of Peru Having passed this desart which contains about twenty Leagues in length and about as much in breadth they entred into Chayanta where the Inca commanded the Prince his Son to send the Summons which were usual and accustomary to the Inhabitants of that Province At the receipts of these Summons the Indians were divided into different opinions some were for present Submission and Obedience to this celestial Race which was descended from the Sun being assured all those Laws which were given and imposed by such an infallible Light could not be other than just gentle and such as tended rather to the Liberty and Security of the Subjects than to the Interest and Advantage of the Governour Howsoever others that were of a different sentiment and more stubborn in their humour argued That they had no need of a King or new Laws since that those which they had already were good and profitable and such as their Ancestours had lived under with great happiness and security that they had Gods already of their own whom they worshipped and served and knew no necessity that there was of a new Religion or Customs and what was most grievous that they must submit to the pleasure of a Prince who preached Religion and Sanctity to them and made them promises of Privilege and Liberty whenas perhaps to morrow so soon as he had gained them under his power he would then impose such Laws as were slavish and agreeable to his own Lust and Pleasure and therefore they concluded that it was better not to trust to such a hazard but rather to live in their own freedom or else die in the defence of it In this Suspence matters remained for some days both parties insisting on the truth of their opinions untill at length the fear of compulsion from the Inca and the hopes of receiving good and wholsome Laws from him extorted an answer which was dubious and favouring something of both opinions for they declared that they were willing to receive the Inca for their King and Lord but as to his Laws they were ignorant of them not knowing whether they conduced to their Benefit or Damage untill which time that they were informed of the substance and form of them they desired a cessation of Arms and of all violence and that the Inca with his Army might enter into their Countrey upon parole that in case his Laws proved not to their contentment that then he would quit his station and leave them to their own freedom and liberty but if they appeared as good as he avouched and affirmed them to be that then immediately they would submit and prostrate themselves before him and acknowledge him to be of the true race and progeny of the Sun. Though this people was in no capacity of giving conditions to the Inca yet he was pleased to accept such as they offered being resolved to adhere to the old Maxim of his Ancestours which was rather to conquer with love and affection than by force and therefore he assured them on his word that in case they did not think to adore his Father the Sun nor yet to accept his Laws he would then leave them to their own choice and freedom The which promise he made on an undoubted confidence that so soon as those Mysteries and excellent Statutes were revealed to them they could not but accept and embrace them and that they would onely be troubled that such admirable beauty of reason arrived so late to their hearing and knowledge Upon this assurance and promise the Inca entred into Chayanta where he was received with much awe and veneration but not with that mirth and rejoycing as they used in other parts at this Solemnity For as yet these poor people stood wavering between hope and fear untill the Reverend Counsellours deputed by the Inca with the Prince his Son and Heir took some pains for several days to declare and expound to them the Laws relating to their Idolatrous Religion and to their Secular Government the which they inculcated so frequently and with such patience and plainness untill at length they became capable of that Doctrine which they taught The Indians stood gaping all this while with wonderfull attention admiring that such Laws should be made for their honour and advantage and then burst out into Acclamations saying That worthy were they to be accounted Gods and esteemed for Lords of the Universe who were able to frame and deliver such Laws and Statutes to Mankind the which they promised to receive and obey and that renouncing all their former Idols rites and vain customs they vowed and swore to embrace the Religion of the Inca and in token thereof they prostrated themselves before the Prince who represented the Person of his Father the Sun and the Inca Capac Yupanqui Having thus yielded themselves in a solemn manner they fell to Dancing after the fashion of their Countrey shewing some new Dances which they had purposely made for the entertainment of the Incas and all people habited themselves in their best cloathes with Tinsel and Ribbons singing Ballads made in honour and praise of the Sun and the Incas and of their good Laws and Government and in fine they made all the demonstrations of love and affection imaginable CHAP. XVI Of the many Inventions which the Indians made to pass Rivers and to take Fish. HAving already mentioned the two several sorts of Bridges which the Incas made for passing Rivers one of which was composed of Osiers and the other of Rushes and Canes We shall now proceed to declare some other Inventions which the Indians projected for the same purpose for in regard the labour and charge of making Bridges was so great that they were onely made for convenience of the great Roads and the King's High-ways and that the Countrey being in other places large and wide wanted that convenience whereby the people might maintain communication one with the other wherefore Necessity which is the Mother of Ingenuity taught them several contrivances according to the disposition and nature of the Rivers as also how to swim on the Seas with such floats as served their present occasions for they had not as yet attained to the Invention of Boats or such Canoes as they use in Florida or the Isles of Barlovento and other places of the Main Land which are a sort of Troughs hewed out of Timber and are all of one piece but the
be made that they should own and worship no other God but the Sun and that the pebles and shining stones which they kept in their houses for divine Worship should be thrown into the streets and for better government and instruction of this people Governours and Teachers were appointed and set over them CHAP. XV. The People of Cassamarca make some resistence but are at length subdued ALL these things being performed and established according to the desire of Huamachucu the Incas proceeded forward in their Conquests and being arrived on the Confines of Cassamarca which was a place famous for the imprisonment of Atahualpa being a rich and fruitfull Province and the people stout and warlike they dispatched their usual Summons by a Herald requiring them to yield themselves on terms of peace and friendship The people of Cassamarca having long observed the progress of the Incas and the motion which their Arms had made towards them had already provided for a War having possessed the strong Holds and Passes of the Countrey and furnished them with Victuals and Ammunition of War and in confidence of such security returned a proud answer of defiance to the Incas giving them to understand that they would neither accept of new Gods nor new Laws nor a Stranger or Foreigner for their King but would adhere to those ancient Statutes and Religion which were known to them and their Ancestours and rather than relinquish them to embrace Novelties they were resolved to dye and undergo all the miseries which a cruel and enraged Conquerour could inflict With this Answer Yupanqui being provoked entred boldly into the Confines of Cassamarca where the Natives like a brave and hardy people manfully opposed themselves against him in all dangerous and difficult passes being resolved to dye or overcome The Inca though unwilling to engage out of a desire he had to spare the effusion of bloud was yet forced sometimes to fight that he might gain possession of the most difficult passes in defence of which the Enemy combating with all their might many were slain on one side and the other nor did they sometimes refuse Battel in the open Field but in regard the Conduct and Numbers of the Inca was more excellent and great than that of the Enemy they were forced to retreat into the Mountains and Rocks and fast places from whence making oftentimes their Sallies great slaughters did ensue Thus was the War continued for the space of four Months because the Incas were unwilling to take advantages entirely to destroy them but rather to suffer and weary them out untill their fury and mettle began to abate During all which time the Incas used their accustomary lenitives endeavouring to win them with all fair and mild treatment for as many as they took in War they released such as were wounded they healed and cured and then sent them away assuring them that so often as they took them they would use them with the same compassion being never wearied with doing good for that was the profession of the Incas and was their methed to overcome by Mildness and Beneficence rather than by Tyranny and Oppression the Women and Children which they found in the Mountains and Caves after they had fed them and treated them with respect and gentle terms they sent away that so they might relate the courtesies they had received and persuade their Fathers and Husbands not to persist longer in their Opposition and Rebellion against the invincible Family of the Sun. These and such like Instances of kindness being frequently repeated during the whole course of the War began to operate on the rude and fierce disposition of this People whose hard and obdurate temper being a little softened it was obvious and plain to them that it could be no unhappy condition to fall into the hands of such who being incited by a thousand provocations to destroy them did not onely seek ways to preserve and keep them from utter ruine but how also to bestow benefits and even also against their own Will to shew them mercy They considered also that the power of the Inca did daily increase as theirs did diminish and that Famine and the Sword were evils inevitable Wherefore consulting with their Curacas upon these difficulties they concluded and agreed to receive the conditions offered them by the Inca rather than perish our of an obstinate and perverse humour Upon this resolution they dispatched their Ambassadours to the Inca confessing the Faults and Errours they were guilty of in so long opposing and trying the Patience of the Incas whose Generosity could not be parallelled by any of humane Race and therefore confessing them to be of the lucid family of the Sun they with all humility begged to be received into the number of their Vassals and that both the Prince and the General his Uncle would be pleased to intercede with the Majesty of the Imperial Inca in their behalf that so he would condescend and vouchsafe to own and receive them for his Subjects Scarce were these Ambassadours come into the presence of the Inca before the Curaca Cassamarca and his Nobles resolved to go themselves and personally demand Pardon for their Offences and accordingly appearing before the General they prostrated themselves after the most humble fashion of their Countrey repeating in substance the same words which their Ambassadours had uttered The Inca Capac Yupanqui gratiously accepted this Address encouraging them with great assurances of the Inca's Pardon and Favour and that he would be as kind and tender of them as he was of his other Subjects and for the opposition they had already made and the acts of Hostility committed during the time of War they should never more be called to remembrance provided that they continued obedient and by their Services and Duty performed and endeavoured to deserve those benefits which the Sun had encharged unto his Children to communicate unto such who willingly and without compulsion yielded themselves and their people faithfull and loyal Subjects to the Inca which being said the Curaca and his followers bowed themselves and worshipped saying that their Generosity and Heroick Actions deservedly entitled them to an universal Dominion over all others and gave a clear evidence of their undoubted Desceâ—â—â— from the Sun and Extraction from something else than humane Race After which they were dismissed and returned to their own Habitations CHAP. XVI Of the Conquest of Yauyu and of the Triumph celebrated in honour of the Uncle and Nephew THE General was much pleased with this Conquest and considering the fruitfulness of the Soil and pleasant situation he esteemed it the best Flower he could add to his Brother's Crown and therefore most worthy to be improved to which end he directed that the scattered Cottages should be reduced into a Town in which the people might live in a more comfortable and political Society That a Temple should be erected to the Sun and a House for the select Virgins
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
so straitened them that they could receive no sustenance unless it were some small quantities of the Seeds of Herbs and Leaves of Turnips which some few were fain to fight for and gain with the point of the Launce In one of these Sieges of this City they broke the Images of Christ and our Lady and other Saints to the great dishonour of God which none but his infinite Mercy and Patience could have suffered In the last Siege which the Indians laid to this place they surprised the Spaniards and killed the Centinels and without any opposition entred and possessed themselves of the Town exercising such cruelty as was agreeable to the barbarity of their Natures for they butchered the Children and chained the Women and Nuns intending to carry them away into Slavery but whilst they were thus busily employed in packing up and disposing their Booty and plundering every where without order the Spaniards took courage and with that opportunity fell upon them and God assisting their endeavours they rescued their Wives and Nuns from their violent hands and with the loss of some few forced them to fly and quit both their Prey and their City The last Victory which the Indians obtained was when they took Villarrica with great effusion of Spanish bloud they set fire to the four Quarters of the Town and killed all the Friars of St. Dominick St. Francis and the Merceds with all the Clergy that were there carrying all the Women away Captives many of which were Ladies of Quality and Condition And this was the Fate of that City which was once of Fame and great Renown and illustrious amongst the neighbouring Cities of that new World. Thus far proceeds the Relation of Chili in the Year 1604. To all which nothing can be farther said than that these were Judgments of God which his secret Providence permits for the chastisement of Mankind And herewith let us return to the good Inca Yupanqui to conclude the remaining Actions of his Reign CHAP. XXVI Of the quiet Life of the Inca Yupanqui and of the Actions wherein he employed himself untill the time of his Death THE King Yupanqui having established and confirmed the Conquests which his Captains had made under the security of good Laws and settled Religion in all parts having also made provision for his own Royal Revenue and separated a maintainance for the Priesthood of the Sun he determined to put an end to his farther Conquests which are now far extended reaching no less than a thousand Leagues in length so that he resolved to spend the remainder of his Days in erecting Monuments and Trophies of his greatness which might ever conserve his Memory in great Renown To which end he built new Fortresses and many Temples dedicated to the Sun with Houses for the Select Virgins Royal Palaces and made many Aqueducts Walks and Gardens He also endowed the Temple of the Sun in Cozco with greater Riches of which though it stood in no need yet he thought it a duty to contribute some thing towards the glory of him whom he honoured and esteemed for his Father and more especially he busied himself in building and completing the Fortress at Cozco for which his Father had made provision of all materials and gathered great quantities of Stones and Rocks of which we shall hereafter have occasion to discourse more at large He also personally visited all the parts of his Empire that so he might with his own Eyes see the State of things hear the Complaints and Aggrievances of his people and provide a Remedy and Relief for his Subjects to all which he attended with so much care and compassion that he worthily deserved to be surnamed The Pious In these Employments this Prince with great Peace and Tranquillity spent his time for several Years being greatly beloved and obeyed by his Subjects at the end of which falling sick and finding within himself his end to be near he called the Prince who was his Heir and his other Sons together recommending to them by way of Testament the strict observance of their Laws and religious Rites of their Idolatrous Worship and above all encharged them to perform and administer Justice to their Subjects in the most equal balance and therewith he gave them his Blessing of Peace for that now his time was come to depart this Life and rest with his Father the Sun who called and summoned him to his Mansions of Felicity Thus dyed Yupanqui full of Glory and Triumph having enlarged his Empire above five hundred Leagues in length to the Southward being as far as from Atacama to the River Maulli and to the Northward one hundred and forty Leagues along the Coast from Chincha to Chimu He was lamented with great grief and having ranked him in the tenth Order of their Gods who were Children of the Sun because he was the tenth King they celebrated his Obsequies with great solemnity which according to their Custome continued for the space of a whole Year offering unto him many Sacrifices He left Tupac Inca Yupanqui his Heir and eldest Son which he begot of his Wife and Sister called Coya Chimpu Occlo to succeed him in all his Dominions The proper Name of this Queen was Chimpu but the word Occlo was a sacred Title amongst them he left many legitimate Sons and Daughters of the true Bloud besides many other natural Children to the number of about two hundred and fifty which was no great matter amongst them considering the many Women which those Kings maintained in every Province of their Dominions And because this Inca laid the Foundation of this great Work it is requisite that we should treat of it immediately after the Life of its first Founder because it is the most excellent Trophy of the Incan Magnificence and that which may serve for a matter of Ostentation and Glory not onely to the Authour himself and the preceding Kings but sufficient to derive Honour to all their Posterity in future Ages CHAP. XXVII Of the Fortress of Cozco and the greatness of the Stones with which it was built THE Incas who were Kings of Peru erected many wonderfull and stately Edifices their Castles Temples and Royal Palaces their Gardens Store-houses and other Fabricks were Buildings of great Magnificence as is apparent by the ruines of them though very obscure conjectures are to be gathered from such remains The work of greatest ostentation and which evidences most the Power and Majesty of the Incas was the Fortress of Cozco whose greatness is incredible to any who hath not seen it and such as have viewed it with great attention cannot but admire it and believe that such a work was erected by Enchantment or the help of Spirits being that which surpasses the Art and power of Man. For the Stones are so many and so great which were laid in the three first rounds being rather Rocks than Stones as passes all understanding how and in what manner they were hewen from the Quarry or
Arms the Battel was very hot and bloudy many being killed and wounded on both sides till at length the Ayaviri being worsted never durst shew their Faces any more in Battel The Incas not being willing to take this advantage to destroy them utterly endeavoured rather by Famine to reduce them to his Obedience During which Siege the recruits which the Inca had sent for arrived in his Camp the Report of which so dismayed the Enemy that they immediately surrendred and submitted to the Mercy of the Inca who first having severely reproved them with bitter termes for having resisted the Offspring of the Sun he pardoned their Contumacy and Rebellion and leaving Officers and Instructours to teach them in the ways of Religion and humane Living and to require from them that riches which they had forfeited to the Sun and the Inca he proceeded against that People which they call Pucara In this Countrey he built a Fortress for better defence of his Frontiers and conservation of his Conquests and the rather because the situation of the place being by nature strong was by Art and Industry rendred impregnable and served to reduce the People of Pucara which were by no other means to be subdued but by a War which having done and furnished his Fortress with a strong Garrison he returned with great Joy and Triumph unto Cozco CHAP. IX The Conquest of Hatun Colla and the Fables which those of Colla report concerning their Original MAny Years had not passed before Lloque Yupanqui returned again to the frontiers of his Conquests that he might make a farther progress in reducing the Indians and enlarging his Dominions The Report which the Incas had spread from their beginning of being sent from the Sun to instruct and reduce Mankind from a bestial way of living to Rules of Morality and Political Society had made preparation in all places for reception of their Doctrine and became most plausible and prevalent in the minds of those People who knew not how to discover that ambition of the Incas which they had concealed under the specious principle of the Sun's Commands with this pretence the Inca sent to raise eight or nine thousand men well armed and having set Officers over them and chosen Counsellours for himself he passed the Countrey of Collasuyu and at length arrived at his Fortress called Pucara where afterwards that great overthrow was given to Francisco Hernandez Giron which is since called the Battel of Pucara from thence he sent Ambassadours to Paucar colla and Hatun colla which are Countries of a large extent containing divers Nations requiring them to yield ready Submission and Obedience to him and that being admonished by the example of the Ayaviri they should fear to oppose the Progeny of the Sun left the like punishments of Famine and Slaughter should be the rewards of their Rebellion The People of Colla gave ear to this admonition and assembling their Chiefs or most principal Men amongst them in Hatun Colla which is Colla the great they generally concluded that all those Plagues and Mischiefs which had befallen the Ayaviri and those of Pucara was sent from Heaven as a judgment for having resisted the Children of the Sun and therefore with unanimous consent they declared themselves Vassals of the Inca that they would adore the Sun and observe and keep all those Laws and Ordinances which he should impose upon them and with this intention they went out to meet the Inca and received him with Acclamations and with new Songs and Musick which they had framed and composed for this occasion The Inca received their Curacas with many kind and obliging Expressions and to evidence the esteem he had of them he bestowed on every one of them garments which belonged to his own Person with other Presents very acceptable and in process of time afterwards these two People and their Posterity were ever highly favoured by the Incas especially those of Hatun Colla both for the readiness with which they embraced the Worship of the Sun and for their docible and gentle Nature which encouraged the Incas to build magnificent Temples in their Countrey and found Monasteries for Virgins which were matters of high admiration amongst the Indians The Collas consist of many and divers Nations and report that their first Parents issued from the great Lake Titicaca which they esteemed to be their Mother and before the times of the Incas amongst other Gods they offered Sacrifices to this Lake upon the Banks of it Some of them report that their Parent proceeded from a great Fountain others that their Ancestours issued from Caves and the hollow of Rocks and accordingly at certain seasons they offered their Sacrifices to them others that they originally issued from a certain River and therefore held that the Fish of it were sacred and that it was a sin to eat them In this manner some adored one Deity and some another howsoever because that that People abounded much in flocks of Sheep they had one God common to them all which was a white Ram saying that there was a great sheep in the higher World for so they call Heaven which had a particular care of them giving them a greater increase and number of Sheep than to any other of the neighbouring People of Peru and for that reason they offered up Lambs and the fat of Mutton to this Sheep-faced Deity But this God and all others the Inca took from them allowing them no other but the Sun whom he encharged and commanded them without any other Rival to adore and worship besides which he altered that infamous Custome of Dissoluteness and Incontinence amongst single Women to whom it was lawfull and a laudible quality to be common Whores before their Marriage though afterwards they were obliged to be true and faithfull to one Husband But as to those Fables which relate the Original of these People the Incas took no pains or care to confute them for as they were obliged to believe the descendence of the Incas from the Sun so the Incas in like manner would not seem to disapprove the Fables and Reports they made of their own Original Having laid these foundations of Government and Religion the Inca returned again to Cozco giving a stop for the present to his Conquests and Proceeding for it seemed to be the most reasonable Policy to give time and space for these new Subjects to taste the sweetness and lenity of the Inca and by their own experience to make report of it and publish it to the neighbouring Nations that so they might be more easily induced to embrace the like advantage rather than overpowering all by cruel and hasty conquests their Government should appear tyrannical and partaking of an ambitious and covetous Spirit CHAP. X. The great Province of Chucuytu surrenders on terms and conditions of Peace and after the example thereof many other Provinces submit THE Inca was received at Cozco with all the demonstrations of joy and triumph
was also a Mayzall which bears the Indian Wheat of an extraordinary begness the seed whereof they call Quinua likewise Plants which produce lesser Seeds and Trees bearing their several sorts of Fruit all made of Gold and Silver and excellently well representing them in their natural Shapes In the Palace also they had heaps or piles of Billets and Faggots made of Gold and Silver rarely well counterfeited And for the greater adornment and Majesty of the Temple of their God the Sun they had cast vast Figures in the forms of Men and Women and Children which they laid up in Magazines or large Chambers called Pirva and every year at the principal feasts the People presented great quantities of Gold and Silver which were all employed in the adornment of the Temple and those Gold-smiths whose Art and Labour was dedicated to the Sun attended to no other work than daily to make new Inventions of rare workmanship out of those Metalls In short they made all sorts of Vessels or Utensils belonging to the Temple of Gold and Silver such as Pots and Pans and Pails and Fire-shovels and Tongs and every thing else of use and service even their very Spades and Rakes of the Garden were made of the like Metall that with very good reason they might call the Temple and all the House of the Sun the Coricancha or the Ingot of Gold. In imitation of this Temple at Cozco they made the Temples which were in the other Provinces of that Kingdom of many of which as also of the select Virgins Pedro de Cieça de Leon makes mention in his Observations of that Countrey but omits to describe either the number of them or the places in which they were but onely such as occurred to him in his travels through the great roads leaving those unmentioned which remained on both hands out of the way perhaps to avoid a tedious prolixity he might pass them by in regard that by the model of one the others may be described In the adornment of which Temples the Curacas contended according to that abundance which their Countries produced of Gold and Silver and herein they were very zealous that so they might both honour their God and flatter their Prince by which means all the other Temples were plated with Gold and Silver and might stand in some competition and terms of comparison with that of Cozco The nearest Kindred or Relations to the Curacas were made the Priests of those Temples which were in the Provinces though the Chief Priest or Superintendent over them was an Inca of the Bloud Royal because it was necessary that he should direct the manner and order of their Sacrifices after the use and custome of Cozco for in regard they were now to abhor and reject their Sacrifices of Men and Women and Children and were forbidden to eat Man's Flesh and many other barbarous Rites of abomination and superstition it was necessary for them to have the superiour guidance of an Inca lest they should forget the true way and relapse back again into their former customes This Superintendency which the Incas exercised was very acceptable to the Indians for as they esteemed much of their management both of civil and martial Affairs so likewise they believed that they had most need of their direction in religious Worship from whom all the knowledge thereof was descended to them And thus much shall suffice to have touched concerning the riches of that Temple other matters of which may be properly related in their due places CHAP. XXV Of the famous Temple of Titicaca and of the Fables and Allegories alluding to it AMongst the many famous Temples which were dedicated to the Sun in Peru and which in Ornament and Riches might compare with that of Cozco that in the Isle of Titicaca was of chief Fame and Renown The word Titicaca signifies the Forest of Lead being compounded of Titi which is lead and Caca which is a Forest the Lake in which this Island is situated hath taken the same name being about two Musquet shot from the main Land and is about five or six thousand paces in compass where the Incas reported that the Sun their Father first placed his two Children the Man and Woman whom he sent into the World to convert Mankind from the Errour of their ways and to teach and instruct them the Rules of right Reason and Religion To this Fable they add many others of ancient date saying that the Rays of the Sun after the general Floud were first seen in that Island and in that Lake before they appeared in any other place and that this Lake is seventy or eighty fathom deep in some places and about eighty Leagues in compass the reason they give for not being navigable or why Boats cannot go upon it I can say little unto onely Blas Valera writes that there is such quantities of the Magnet or Load-stone in all parts of it that hinder the Navigation or use of the Compass By help of this Fable and his own Ingenuity the first Inca Manco Capac took the advantage to persuade the Indians that he and his Wife were the Children of the Sun and that they were placed in it by their Father that from thence they might proceed into the World to teach and instruct it in the way of true Religion as we have at large related in the beginning of this History The Incas who were Amautas or Philosophers and wise in the politicks made use of both these Fables and related them by way of Prophecy saying that when the Sun darted his first Rays of Light into that Island he then gave a sign and promise that from that place the first Doctrines of Light should issue the which promise was afterwards accomplished by those Kings who proceeded thence and taught the World how to cast away the turpitude of their manners and live by another Law and Rule of Reason By advantage of these and other such Inventions it was not difficult for the Incas to persuade the other Indians of their descent from the Sun and to confirm their belief by those many benefits and advantages which their Doctrine and Religion brought with them On the assurance of these two Fables the Incas and all his Subjects did really esteem this Island to be a faced and a holy piece of Ground and with that opinion they erected a rich Temple on it all plated with Gold and dedicated to the Sun where generally all the Provinces subjected to the Inca did yearly offer Gold and Silver and pretious Stones in a thankfull acknowledgment of those two Blessings he had given them in that place and that Temple being of greater Devotion had the same attendence and Officers belonging to it as that of Cozco And so immense was the quantity of Gold and Silver which was amassed in that Island besides that which was cast and framed into Utensils for the service of the Temple that the Report which the Indians make
of it is incredible and more to be admired than believed Blas Valera speaking of the Riches of this Temple and of the quantities of Gold and Silver which abounded after all Vessels and Ornaments were supplied saith thâ—â— he was informed by those Indians who are called Mitmac and are a Colony who inhabit in Copa-Cavano that there was such a superfluity of Gold and Silver after all was finished as might have been sufficient to have raised and completed another Temple without other materials whatsoever and that so soon as those Indians had news of the Invasion of the Spaniards and were informed that their Errant and Business was to despoil them of their Riches they demolished their Temple and threw all the materials and the immense Wealth of it into that great Lake There is another Story which passes not unlike this That in the Valley of Orcos which is about six Leagues from Cozco towards the Sea of Zur there is a little Lake of less than half a League round but very deep and encompassed with high Woods It is reported that when the Indians understood of the Arrival of the Spaniards they threw a great quantity of the Treasure belonging to Cozco into it and amongst the rest that Chain of Gold which Huayna Capac caused to be made of which we shall speak in its due place upon assurance and belief hereof twelve or thirteen Spaniards who sojourned at Cozco not Inhabitants but Merchants and Adventures entred into an agreement together on terms of equal benefit and loss to possess themselves of that Treasure by draining the Lake for it in order whereunto they sounded the depth and found twenty three or twenty four fathom water besides the mudd which was also deep then they resolved to open a sluce or bay at the lowest ground or level of the Lake that so a wide chanel being made for the water to pass into the River of Yucay the Lake might be sewed or emptied by the great vent it would find by such an evacuation in other parts they could not open it farther because of the Rocks and disadvantage of the ground nor did they lay their Trench open to the top which perhaps might have been better but to save charges made a Mine and cut their Drain under ground This work was begun in the Year 1557. with great hopes and expectations of Treasure and being entred about fifty paces within the Earth they unhappily crossed upon a Vein of hard Rock at which pecking a long time they found that they struck more fire out of it than they drew water in which having spent much money time and labour they at length gave over the work as desperate and desisted from their Enterprise I remember that I entred two or three times within the vault whilst they were working and have heard it often reported that the Indians threw infinite Treasure into Lakes Caves and Mountains beyond all hopes or possibility of recovery Those Kings who were Incas besides the Riches they bestowed and encouragement they gave for the adornment of this Temple they endeavoured much to improve the very Land of this Isle that so they might render it fertile and fit to bear Fruit and that in gratitude to this place on which their Ancestours descending from Heaven had set their first footsteps they might enoble it with all sorts of good Husbandry and Agriculture to this end they levelled and cleared it of Rocks and Stones then they made Walks and covered them over with good Earth and Manure brought from far and made the ground capable to produce Mayz or Indian-Wheat which by reason of the coldness of the Climate is not produced in that Countrey this grane with other seeds they sowed in the Gardens which they had made and which yielded good increase together with a small quantity of Flax the which Fruits the King sent as sacred Presents to the Temple of the Sun and the select Virgins at Cozco with orders to disperse them all over the Convents and Temples of his Dominions of which they sent some grane of this Year to this place and next Year to the other which were in high esteem as Reliques or sacred Donatives and hereof they sowed some in the Gardens belonging to the Temples of the Sun and of those Houses which were of publick use within the Provinces and divided and reparted them amongst the People some Granes of this Corn they cast into the Granaries of the Sun and of the King and into the publick Magazines of Corn believing that some divine virtue was contained in it and that it would bless and increase the Corn with which it was mixed and conserve it from corruption and render all more wholsome for humane sustenance and that Indian who was so happy as to be able to get but one grane of this Mayz to throw into his Heap was possessed with a certain belief that he should never want Bread in the whole course of his Life so superstitious were they in all matters relating to their Religion and their Incas Royal Commentaries BOOK IV. CHAP. I. Of the Convent of those Virgins who were dedicated to the Sun. AMONGST the many things worthy of Observation which those Heathen Kings followed in their vain Religion and Gentilism the Profession which some of their Women made of perpetual Chastity and the Retirements which were built for them in several Provinces are not here to be omitted and for better understanding who those Women were to whom they dedicated themselves and wherein they were employed we shall declare very distinctly because it is a matter which the Spanish Historians touch but slightly and as the Proverb goes as the Cat doth a Coal of fire and particularly we shall here treat of the House at Cozco because that that was the model or pattern of all the rest In that City is a certain Lane which they call Acllahuaci which is as much as the House of the separated Virgins This Lane passed through the two Streets which lead from the Market-place to the Convent of St. Dominick which was anciently the Temple of the Sun one of these Streets passed directly from a Corner of the Market-place bending on the left hand towards the great Church to the Northward When in the Year 1570. that I departed from that City this then was the chief Street for the Merchants and the other Street which passes from the middle of the Market-place where in my time the Prison was led directly on the right hand to the said Convent of St. Dominick The Front of this House was just opposite to the Market-place and opened between those two Streets before mentioned the backside of it bordered on another Street which crosses East to West so that this House was placed in an open square between the Market-place and the three Streets and between this and the Temple of the Sun there was a separate pile of Buildings with the great Area or Court-yard before the Temple Whence we plainly
of the Sun and after these two Offices were performed he departed from the City to see his Father who all this while conserved himself within the Straits of Muyna and in the same place where he had formerly left him The Inca Yahuar-Huacac received the Prince his Sun with all the expressions of joy and contentment imaginable congratulating his Success and victorious Archievements but yet his Countenance appeared so melancholy and reserved that he seemed thereby to testifie more of Emulation and Envy than of real Satisfaction for the shame and confusion he conceived in seeing his Son victorious seemed to upbraid his Cowardise nor can it well be determined whether the Envy of his Son's Honour or the sense he had for basely forsaking the Temple of the Sun or the fear of being deposed for his mean and pusillanimous Behaviour was most prevalent in his confused mind But certain it is that at this publick interview few words passed between them what afterwards happened in private is not certainly known but it is believed by the Indians that the whole Discourse was in reference to the Government which of the two should reign and which appeared by the sequel it being resolved between them that the Father having forsaken and abandoned the City was no more worthy to return unto it For Ambition and desire of Government is so prevalent in the minds of Princes that they are willing to take any pretext to cover their aspiring thoughts and indeed this imputation of Cowardise seemed the more plausible reason in that it was seconded by the suffrages of the people and the consent of the Court to which the Father condescended being constrained thereunto by force and by an abhorrence the naturally had to War especially to Civil Dissentions Upon which agreement the draught of a Palace was immediately designed and intended to be built between the Straits of Muyna and Quespicancha where was an excellent Air and pleasant Situation and easily improveable by Gardens and Orchards and all the Divertisements of Hunting Fishing and other Royal Pastimes being much advantaged therein by the benefit of the River Yucay into which many Streams and Brooks fall on the East-quarter of the House The Foundation of this House being laid some ruines of which do to this day remain the Prince returned to Cozco where he changed his yellow for the crimson Wreath and yet was contented that his Father should still conserve his Royalty in the colour of his Ribbon on condition that he renounced the substantial parts of Government for proud and ambitious Men can endure punctilio's and immaterial circumstances in others whilst Power and Greatness is reserved for themselves This Fabrick being completed it was furnished with all things necessary and such attendance allowed as was agreeable to the State and Magnificence of a King so that Yahuar-huacac found no difference in his living unless it were in being freed and eased from the Burthen of Government In this solitary manner this poor King passed the remainder of his unhappy days deposed from his Kingdom and confined to the Countrey having exchanged his condition with his Son who now lived and governed in the City whilst the Father lived an Exile in the fields having his Conversation with Beasts rather than Men. This unhappy Fortune as the Indians believe was the effect of that direfull Omen of weeping bloud but yet in their political reflexions on some passages they concluded that in case the Inca in the time of the obstinacy and perverseness of his Son had instead of a confinement to a Countrey Life given him a small Dose of that Poison which was in practice amongst the Tyrants and Magicians of that Empire he might easily have diverted that sad Fate which his Tears of Bloud portended But others better inclined to speak favourably of the Prince for though they could not wholly acquit him of Crime towards his Father yet they moderated it in some manner by alledging that his Father's Fate might have been worse in case his Enemies had prevailed for having forsaken the Protection of his City and Empire out of mere Cowardise it was some Happiness to have his Defaults repaired by the Valour of his Son under whom the Succession was secured and his own Life spared and defended Others speaking of the general Praise of their Kings said to this effect That this unhappy Inca had no thought or imagination of Poison for that all other his Predecessors having made it their business to prohibit the practice of it and destroy the use of it in the World he himself was ready to have checked any such motion within his own Mind in case either his Thoughts or persuasion of others had suggested such a remedy to him Others herein applauded the Religion and Generosity of the Incas who scorned to act that which their own Decrees had made unlawfull it being unseemly and beneath the Dignity of the Sun's Race to allow that in themselves which they had made illegal in their Subjects Many such Discourses and Reflexions passed on this matter according to every Man 's particular fancy and opinion with which we shall conclude our History of Yahuar-Huacac and not farther mention other particulars of his Life leaving him at his Countrey retirement to die with obscurity CHAP. XXI Of the word Viracocha and why they called the Spaniards by that Name BUT to return now to the Prince to whom they gave the Name of Viracocha by reason that the Vision which appeared to him in a Dream so called himself And in regard this Phantafm was described by the Prince to appear with a long Beard and Garments trailing on the ground which was a much different habit to the fashion of the Indians who naturally have little Hair in their Faces and by custome wear Coats not reaching farther than their knees so soon as they had a sight of the first Spaniards that invaded Peru and observed their long Beards and Garments which clothed all parts of their Bodies and that their first Action was to take and kill Atahualpa their Tyrant King who not long before had murthered Huascar the lawfull Heir and Successour and destroyed all those of the Royal Bloud which might endanger his Title to the Government without any regard to Age or Sex with many other Cruelties which we shall recount in their due place When I say they observed that the Spaniards revenged the Bloud of their Incas and punished the enormous Crimes they called to mind the Apparition Viracocha and comparing the punishment which he executed on the Chancas for their rebellion with the Justice which the Spaniards performed on Atahualpa in revenge of the Murthers he committed on the Royal Family they presently concluded that the God Viracocha was the Parent of the Spaniards for which reason they received and welcomed them to their Countrey and worshipped and adored them with the Name of Viracocha and hence it was that the Conquest of Peru became so easie that six Spaniards onely of
to his Eldest Son and his Prophecy concerning the Invasion of the Spaniards WE have seen already by what hath preceded in what manner Viracocha passed some years and in what tranquillity and prosperity he governed his Empire We are now to speak of his Children and Family his Eldest Son was born of Coya Mama Runtu who was his Sister and true and lawfull Wife he was at first called Titu Manco Capac though afterwards by the last Will and Appointment of his Father his Name was changed to Pachacutec which signifies as much as one who subverts the World or turns it upside down and though it was commonly taken in the worst sense for some alteration from bad to worse yet it is said he was so affected with this Word that he was desirous to have called himself by that Name but in regard that the Name of Viracocha was so dilated over all Countries and the Voices of the people so accustomed to it that he could not assume that Appellation to himself yet he was desirous to communicate it to his Son being as he believed a means to keep alive the memory of the Apparition and the renowned Actions of his Father Acosta in the 20th Chap. of his 6th Book saith That the people were so much scandalized at the Name of Viracocha which this Inca took to himself because it was the proper name of God that he was forced to clear himself of this prophanation by saying that the Spirit which appeared to him in his Dream had commanded him to take that Name and Title upon himself And that the Inca Pachacuti who succeeded him was a great Souldier and Politician having invented many superstitious rites which he introduced into the Worship of their Religion which are the words with which Acosta concludes that Chapter All which is in confirmation of what I have said namely that a Vision appeared to him in his Dream that he took the Name of that Apparition and that afterwards he gave the Name of Pachacutec to the Son who succeeded him The Name of the Queen was Mama Runtu which Word Runtu signifies an Egg so called because of the whiteness of her Face being perhaps fairer than the Women commonly are of that Countrey The Indians report that this Viracocha was the Authour of the Prophecy which foretold the Invasion of the Spaniards and was conserved amongst the Archives of the Kings of Peru which was That at a certain period of Years after the succession of such a number of Kings there should come a sort of people from far remote Countries never seen or known before in those Regions who should take away their Religion and subvert their Empire The substance of which Prophecy was contained in two such obscure Sentences as were difficult to be explained or interpreted The Indians say that this Inca after the success and verification of his Dream became the Oracle of Mankind for that the Amautas who were the Philosophers of those times as also the High Priest and the most Ancient Elders of the Temple of the Sun who were the Magicians that presaged of things to come did often interrogate him concerning his Dream and of Comets seen in the Heavens as also of Divinations by the flying and singing of Birds and of several other superstitious Prognostications which they made from their Sacrifices and Entrails of Beasts and to all the Responses which Viracocha made to their Enquiries they yielded entire Faith and Credence esteeming him the Oracle and chief in Divination What he delivered in this manner was judged worthy to be conserved by Tradition in the memory of their Kings onely and that the knowledge of such divine Revelations was not to be made common or prophaned by the Discourse of the People for that it was not fit for them to be pre-acquainted with the times and seasons when their Idolatrous Worship should have an end and the Empire be overthrown and the Divinity of the Incas questioned and changed into the state and common condition of humane kind For which reason there was no farther mention made of this Prophecy untill the time of Huayna Capac who revealed it openly a little before his Death as we shall hereafter declare more at large though some Historians make but a short tale of it and say that a God which the Indians worshipped called Ticci Viracocha delivered this Prophecy But for what I have delivered herein I have the authority of an old Inca whom I have often heard recount the Fables and Antiquities of their Kings in presence of my Mother And in regard the coming of the Spaniards into Peru and the Conquest of it by them the destruction of their Idolatry and the preaching of the Gospel of Christ in those parts did correspond with the Prophecy of Viracocha the Indians did therefore give the Name of Viracocha to the Spaniards fansying them to be Sons of that imaginary God whom he had purposely sent as we have already said to relieve the Incas from the Oppression and Violence of the cruel Tyrant Thus we have cursorily touched on this wonderfull Prophecy which for many years had been revealed to the Inca-Kings and which was afterwards accomplished in the Reigns of Huascar and Atahualpa which were great Grandchildren to the third Generation to this Inca Viracocha CHAP. XXIX Of the Death of Viracocha and how the Authour saw his Body AT length the Inca Viracocha in the Height of Majesty and Zenith of his Prosperity submitted to the common fate of Mankind he was generally lamented and bewailed by all the Empire and adored afterwards as a Child of the Sun to whom they offered Prayers and Sacrifices He left to Pachacutec his Eldest Son the Inheritance besides whom he had many legitimate Sons and Daughters of the Royal Bloud with others born to him by his Concubines he conquered and reduced Eleven Provinces four of which were to the South of Cozco and seven towards the North. It is not certainly known to what age he lived nor how long he reigned though according to common report he governed above fifty Years and so he seemed to me to have been an ancient Man when I saw his Body at Cozco about the beginning of the Year 1570. which was the time when I was upon my departure for Spain and then I remember that going to take my leave of the Governour or Chief Justice of the City called Paul Ondegardo a Native of Salamanca amongst other Favours which he did me he was pleased to lead me into an inward room and there tell me that before I departed it would be convenient for me to have a sight of some of my Relations that so I might have another Story to tell of them in Spain with that he shewed me five Bodies of Incas three of Men and two of Women one of which the Indians report to have been the Body of Viracocha which seemed to be very aged the Hairs of the Head being as white as Snow The second they say
other Fruits in exchange for their Coca Thus far are the Words of Pedro de Cieça extracted verbatim from his Original Writings Moreover they transplanted the people sometimes on other occasions when having subdued some warlike and stubborn Nation which being remote from Cozco might be apt to rebell then in such case of suspicion or jealousie to prevent all danger of Mutinies their practice was to transplant the people from their own soil to some other Countrey nearer and within the reach of the Inca where finding themselves encompassed with loyal Subjects and friends to the Government more easily submitted their Necks to the Yoke and so become faithfull against their own Inclinations When any of these Exchanges were made of Colonies they were always accompanied with some of those whom the first Inca Manco Capac had honoured with the Title of being Incas by privilege and these were such as were appointed to govern and instruct the others The title of these Incas was an honour to all those whom they accompanied so that they were much more honoured and respected by the neighbouring and adjacent People The Colonies which were thus transplanted were called by the common Name of Mumac Another piece of their policy much conducing to the regular Government of their Empire was a Command and an Injunction laid upon all their Vassals obliging them to learn the Language of the Court which to this day is called the common or universal Tongue for the teaching of which certain Masters who were Incas by privilege were appointed and ordained to instruct the People in it besides which the Incas had a Court-language appropriated to themselves which being esteemed the holy and divine Speech was not to be prophaned by vulgar Tongues This as they write me from Peru is entirely lost for the Empire of the Incas being ruined their Language ran the common fate of their other Regalities The Reasons why the Incan-Kings did command that one common Language should be used was for two respects first to avoid the multitude of Interpreters which would be necessary for understanding the variety of Languages spoken within the Jurisdiction of that great Empire And in the next place the Incas entertained a particular satisfaction when they could speak their own words unto their Subjects and not be beholding to the Tongue of another believing also that their Subjects with much more chearfulness received the gratious Speeches of their Prince from his own mouth than when they were conveyed to them by the breath of their Officers but the chief Reason and Ground of this policy was in reference to foreign Nations who for want of common Speech and Dialect were subject to misunderstandings whence Enmities and cruel Wars arose amongst them for appeasing which and reconciling their Affections nothing seemed more probably conducing than a communication in speech whereby all Misunderstandings might be obviated and the People be induced to love each other as if they were of the same Family and Parentage With this artifice the Incas reconciled different Nations in a strict alliance who had before been divided in their Idolatry Customs and Manners of Living and so effectual hath this Expedient been that Nations who have hated each other have thereby been allured into amity and friendship by it The which good effect being observed by many Countries who had not as yet attained the happiness of being Subjects to this Empire was a means to invite them to the Study of this general Language of Cozco the which they having learned and thereby Nations of different Tongues understanding each other their Affections were reconciled by it being from mortal Enemies become Confederates and Allies Howsoever by this new Government of the Spaniards many of the Nations who affected the Cozcan Tongue have now forgotten it the which Blas Valera confirms in these words It was the Command says he of the Incas that all Nations should speak the same Language though now in these days by whose fault I know not the same hath been lost and forgotten in many Provinces the which hath proved a great interruption to the spreading of the Gospel which hath much increased in the adjacent parts of Cozco where that Tongue is used and where that people are much more civil and docible than in other parts These are the words of Blas Valera to which he adds in another Chapter That the general Language of Peru ought not to be lost but rather taught and kept up by practice amongst the people so that the Preachers of the Gospel may have but one Tongue to learn and not be forced for every Province to study a different Speech which would be a task and labour not to be overcome CHAP. II. That the Great Lords of Provinces sent their Eldest Sons to be educated in the Court of the Incas and their Reasons for it THE incan-Incan-Kings enjoined all the Lords of their Vassals to send their eldest Sons to be educated at their Court that so they might imbibe certain good Principles of Learning and Religion in their tender years and being accustomed to a conversation and familiarity with the Incas might contract a friendship and an affection for their Persons and Government and these were called Mumac which is as much as Domesticks or of the Family Moreover it shewed the Grandeur of the Court to be frequented by the Presence and Service of all the young Heirs to those Kingdoms States and Provinces which depended on that Empire by which means the Language of the Court became more general and common being learned with ease and pleasure for it being the custome for the Sons of all Great Men to take their turns of waiting at Court they could not fail of attaining some words and smatches of the Court Language the which when they returned to their respective Countries they made use of in all companies being proud to shew what Courtiers they were and how much refined in thier Manners and Words having learned the Tongue of the Divine Family the which created an Emulation in others to attain that Tongue also for which their Neighbours and Acquaintance were so much admired And having also by the help of this Tongue an introduction to the Conversation and Familiarity of the Chief Officers of Justice and Managers of the Revenue of the Sun and of the Inca every one did so labour to obtain the advantage of this Tongue that without the instruction of Masters they with great ease and almost insensibly attained unto it by which means it came to be so generally spread in all parts that for the compass of almost one thousand three hundred Leagues it became the onely Tongue in use and esteem Besides the Honour and Grandeur that this Court received by the presence and attendance of so many noble Heirs another benefit did thence accrue by being a means to secure the Empire from Mutinies and Rebellion for so long as the young Heirs were at the Court they were like so many Pledges and
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
that praise and admiration which is due to the Greatness of so mighty a Work For were there nothing more in the matter than onely a continued distance of five hundred Leagues in length it were much to be admired but when we consider that this Road passes over ascents on the Mountains of two three and four Leagues high it is then so strange that nothing seems to be comparable to it Besides all which we must note that on the highest tops of the Hills from whence was the best prospect there were erected certain Lodges or Houses of Pleasure which were seated on each side of the way with Stone-stairs to go up to them where the Chair-men which carried the Sedans did usually rest and where the Incas did sit for some time taking the Air and surveying in a most pleasant prospect all the high and lower parts of the Mountains which wore their coverings of Snow or on which the Snow was falling which certainly was a most pleasant view for from the tops of some very high Mountains one might see sixty seventy eighty or an hundred Leagues round in which variety of prospect the piques of some very high Mountains were to be seen that seemed to touch the Heavens and other Chasms and Precipices so low and deep as seemed to extend unto the centre of the Earth Of all which Works there is nothing remains but Ruines and such as War and time have not been able to destroy Onely in the Road by the Plains and in the desarts of Sand which are wide and vast and where also are some Hills and Dales there they have droven in their Piles or Posts of Wood which being placed in sight one of another do serve for Marks to direct Travellers in their way where there is no path or beaten road because it being all Sand the track and footsteps are covered by the Sand so often as it is moved by the Wind And therefore these Posts are so necessary to Travellers as the Needle of the Compass is to direct a Ship through the floating Waves CHAP. XIV That Huayna Capac received News how the Spaniards sailed along the Coast of Peru. HUayna Capac being busied and employed in the forementioned affairs and residing in the Royal Palaces of Tumipampa which are the most Magnificent of any in Peru advices were brought him that some stranger Nations never before seen in those Countries sailed along that shore to make a discovery of the Land upon which intelligence Huayna Capac was much surprized entertaining new fears and jealousies of an unknown people of whom no account of their Nation or the parts from whence they came could be given But we are to note that this Ship was Commanded by Basco Nunnez of Bilbo who was the first that discovered the South-Sea and the Seamen were Spaniards who as we have said before were the first that gave the Name of Peru unto this Empire which happened in the year 1515 the discovery of which Countrey being two years before There is an Historian who reports that the Ship and Spaniards belonged to Don Francisco de Piçarro and his thirteen Companions who were the first Discoverers of Peru in which there was a mistake between the first Discoverers and the first Conquerours There was also some errour as to the time for there was fifteen or sixteen years difference between one and the other for the first discovery of Peru and the Name given to it happened in the year 1515 and the year when Francisco Piçarro and his four Brothers with Don Diego de Almagro invaded that Countrey was 1531 and Huayna Capac died eight years before being in the year 1523 after he had reigned forty two years as is recorded by Blas Valera and found in his loose and scattered Papers wherein he writes as a curious Antiquary of the Original and Antiquity of those Kings Huayna Capac lived eight years after the News was brought him that the first Discoverers of those Countries coasted along his shore during which time he kept an extraordinary watch on the Coast and attended with greater care to preserve his people in Peace and Concord not being willing to extend and employ his force into new Conquests untill such time as he was well assured of the nature and condition of that people who in a Ship frequented and visited his Ports And herein he was the more troubled upon remembrance of the Prophecy of an ancient Oracle which foretold them that after such a Number of years and after the Regin of so many Kings there should arrive strange Nations never before seen in those parts who should take their Kingdom from them and destroy their Government and Idolatrous Religion the which Prophecy was fulfilled in this Inca as we shall see in the sequel of this History And as a preparative hereunto it happened out three years before this Ship was seen on the Coast of Peru that a prodigious and ominous sight appeared at Cozco which greatly affected Huayna Capac and astonished all the Empire the occasion was this That whilst they were celebrating the solemn Festival which was yearly dedicated to their God the Sun a Royal Eagle which they call Anca was seen soaring in the Air and pursued by five or six Kestrels and other Hobbies and smaller Hawks of which some for the rarity of them have been brought into Spain where they are called Aletos and in Peru Huaman the which exchanging their blows and strokes on the Eagle would not suffer him to escape in his flight but killed him with the flutters of their wings The Eagle not being able longer to defend it self fell down in the middle of the Market-place amongst the Incas as if she had implored their defence and succour and they willingly received her and finding her body covered over with scurf as with a scab and plumed of all her smaller Feathers nourished her with all the care imaginable but nothing availing to doe her good she died in a few days not being able to raise her self from the ground The Inca and his Ministers judged this to be a bad Omen of what was to succeed and the Astrologers and Diviners interpreted the matter to presage no less than the destruction and total ruine of their Empire and Religion which also being followed by great Earthquakes in divers places and such as were so extraordinary and violent as to overturn many high Mountains the Prodigies seemed terrible and such as were the certain fore-runners of dismal Judgments The Indians also who inhabited the Sea-coast observed that the tides in their ebbings and flowings did not keep their usual course nor did the waters contain themselves within their due bounds Comets also and strange Apparitions were seen in the Air and to encrease this terrour the Moon was observed in a clear and bright night to be encompassed with three large Haloes or Circles the first was of a bloudy colour the second of a blackish inclining to green and the third was like a
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
makes the summ greater by 194330 Ducats than what is before mentioned In those former times such great summs seemed incredible because they were not known though now they create no great Wonder since it is manifest that for these thirty years past there have been imported ten or twelve Millions every year in the River of Guadalquivir the which my Countrey having sent as an Offering to Spain and all the old World hath thereby been more profitable to Strangers than kind and natural to her own Children Gomara in the 118th Chap. of his Book speaking of this Ransome hath these Words Francisco Piçarro sent the fifth part of his Spoils together with a Relation of his Successes by his Brother Hernando unto the Emperour and with him returned many of the Souldiers very rich with twenty thirty and forty thousand Ducats a Man. In short they brought away almost all the Gold filling the Bank of Seville with Money and the World with the fame and discourse thereof and with desires of that enterprise Thus far are the Words of Gomara It is well known that those who returned were sixty in number The Governour shared to his Companion 120000 Ducats being so much as appertained to him out of his proportion To Hernando de Luque the Schoolmaster nothing was divided because it was known that he being already failed could be no farther usefull so that Historians have no occasion to make other mention concerning him CHAP. XXXIX Of the Discourses which the Spaniards made upon these Affairs BY the Death of these two Brother-Kings or rather Enemies Huascar and Atahualpa the Spaniards became absolute Lords and Masters of both their Kingdoms there being none remaining to defend the People or make head against them for the race of the Incas being almost extinct the Indians were like Sheep without a Shepherd having none to govern them either in Peace or War and besides the Civil and intestine Discords between the Factions of Huascar and Atahualpa were become irreconcileable so that both Parties being desirous to gratifie the Spaniards made them the Instruments of each other's Revenge Moreover those Captains who were of Atahualpa's party were divided amongst themselves for some of them made head against the Spaniards as we shall see hereafter and others disbanded the Armies under their Command with intention to set up an Inca of their own choice supposing that he would be more kind and indulgent to them than a strange Prince the Person whom they elected was Paullu the Son of Huayna Capac being one of those who had made his escape from the Cruelty of Atahualpa The Person who had the principal hand in this Election was the Major General Quizquiz who was in Cuntisuyu when the News came of the Imprisonment of Atahualpa and until that time had been an Enemy to Paullu But urgent and violent necessities cause Men to stoop unto mean and low Actions and more especially Tyrants and Men of poor and base Souls who finding themselves sinking regard neither Honour nor Conscience but onely such means as tend to their own vile and mischievous Designs Quizquiz was an Officer of Atahualpa and a stout and an experienced Souldier To Paullu they gave the coloured Wreath but he received no satisfaction in that Royal Signal because he knew that the lawfull Inheritance belonged to Manco Inca and not to himself which when Quizquiz observed and that Paullu was cold and not desirous of the Government he then set up for himself resolving to contend with his own Force and Prowess and accordingly having raised an Army he marched towards Cazco to know what was become of his King Atahualpa upon which March we shall leave him untill we come to the time and place of his Actions The Spaniards observing with what Honour and Adoration they were generally received by the Indians and that according to the report made them by the six Spaniards who went on Discovery all Veneration and Service was paid to them they often entertained familiar Discourses one with the other on that Subject making various Reflexions on the causes thereof as the fancy of every Man did suggest Some would attribute the success of all to their own Prowess and Valour for that the Indians seeing them so stout and resolute believed them to be invincible and so out of mere fear and terrour submitted and yielded and framing a thousand Rodomontado's of their own Conduct and Courage searched not for any cause beyond themselves not reflected on the Prophecies of Huayna Capac which foretold the coming of the Spaniards into their Countrey who should destroy their Idolatry and their Empire and out of this superstitious Belief yielded all up without resistance Howsoever there were some more considerate than the rest who being zealous for the service of God and for the propagation of the Christian Faith attributed all their Successes to the miraculous Operations of God in favour to the propagation of the Gospel that so the Faithfull as well as Infidels beholding them with wonderfull attention the one might be thereby induced to receive the Faith with readiness and love and the others be encouraged to preach it with fervour and charity towards their Neighbours and with due respect towards God who hath shewed them such great and miraculous works And indeed we may aver it for a truth that it could be no less than miraculous That a Spaniard or two should travell alone two or three hundred Leagues in an Enemies Countrey and be carried through it on Mens Shoulders and all Respect and Adoration paid to them as if they had been Gods whenas they might have thrown them over some Bridge or down some precipice or by other means have easily destroyed them is a conservation above all humane Wisedom and Direction and ought to be solely attributed to the Divine Providence by such as profess themselves good Christians and Preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Others improving this consideration and Argument farther did some times in presence of the Governour discourse to this effect That in regard Atahualpa had received Baptism it had been more conducing to the quiet of that Kingdom and propagation of the Catholick Faith to have conserved him alive and paid him all Honour and Respect requiring of him that since he himself was become a Christian that he should publish an Edict in favour of that Religion commanding all his Subjects and Vassals within a certain time to be baptized certainly this course would have been extremely prevalent for three or four most pungent Reasons every one of which singly might have been sufficient to have converted the whole Nation how much more when they all concurred together As first The Command of the Inca to which in the most trivial matters Obedience is yielded as to the Law of God how much more would it be in the Case of Religion delivered by those whom they in their own Minds esteemed to be Gods. Secondly the Natural Obedience which they always yielded to their Incas
and looking up stedfastly upon it such a Dust or Sand fell like a Devv from above into their Eyes that they knevv not the place in vvhich they vvere and so returned again to their quarters from vvhence for many days they durst not adventure to sally forth This vvas novv the seventeenth night that the Indians had so straitned the Spaniards vvithin the compass of the Market-place that neither by Day or Night they could adventure out unless in strong Parties but after this Apparition the Indians became so amazed than the Spaniards afterwards had the liberty of a greater compass and their Quarteâ—s were much enlarged But as Infidelity is always blind so in a few days the Impression made by the late Wonder beginning to wear away the Inca persuaded his Souldiers to make another attempt upon the Christians to which they were zealously moved out of an earnest Desire to see their Inca restored to his Empire Howsoever such was the sense they conceived from the late Apparitions that their Hearts failed them so soon as they put themselves into a posture of Fight so that all their Resolutions and Designs produced nothing more than Noise and Allarms which served to keep the Spaniards in a continual Watchfulness who seeing that the Indians durst not engage them they retired again to the Gallery which was their head Quarter and so often as they returned thither they blessed God who had conserved that narrow place for them wherein to cure their wounded and to shelter those who were as yet sound and well and for that reason they made a Vow to dedicate that place for a Chapel to the Service of God so soon as he should have freed and delivered them from the Hands of his Enemies In all which necessities the Indian Servants were very usefull bringing Herbs to cure the sick and wounded and Food to relieve the healthfull for as we have said in the first part of this History there are many skilfull Herbalists amongst the Indians so that the Spaniards themselves confess that unless the Indians had succoured them in their Distress relieving their Hunger with Mayz and Herbs and other Provisions and had served them for Spies and as it were Centinels to give them signals when the Enemy moved either by day or night it had fared worse with them and perhaps it had been impossible for them to have subsisted all which Service and Fidelity of the Indians to Strangers in their Countrey and to Enemies of their Kings and Religion is to be attributed to the wonderfull Providence of God who was pleased to infuse such Fidelity and ardent Affection into the Hearts of these poor Wretches towards the Spaniards their Masters that they would dye an hundred times and suffer all imaginable tortures rather than betray them After the Insurrection of the Indians was suppressed both the Natives of Cozco and all the other Nations who were present at that Siege confessed themselves to have been overcome by the appearance of the Virgin Mary the Lustre of whose beautifull Countenance which darted Rays from her sparkling Eyes charmed them with such Love and Affection towards them as not onely caused them to lay down their Weapons but likewise to accept and embrace the Catholick Faith and willingly to learn her Names and Titles both in the Latin and Castilian Tongues which to understand the better they have translated into their own Language all the Names and Titles given to our Lady which they repeat as often as they have occasion to pray and ask blessings from her But to return again to Prince Manco Inca his Captains and Souldiers it is certain that they were so terribly affrighted with the Visions they had seen that they durst not so much as mention them for the very thought and remembrance of them was full of Amazement Howsoever they continued the Siege in hopes of better fortune though they durst not adventure to engage having been often worsted by St. James who always appeared in the Front of the Spaniards which the Indians observing and that the new-come Cavalier affrighted and terrified them more than all the others they called out with loud voices and said Keep but up and restrain that Viracocha which rides upon the White Horse that he fall not upon us and you shall quickly see how we will dispatch and deal with all the others After the Siege had continued for the space of five Months a certain Indian Captain who was possessed with a great opinion of his own Valour was desirous to signalize himself and try whether Fortune would be more favourable in a single Combate than in a common Fight and upon this presumption he asked leave of his Superiour Officers to challenge any Viracocha whatsoever to a single Duel and in regard he observed that the Spaniards fought on Horseback with Lances he armed himself with the like Weapon and with a little Hatchet or Pole-Axe by his side called Champi which were all the Arms that he would use And in this manner he presented himself before the Guards which were always set for Centinels at every Avenue of the Market-place which was the head Quarters of the Spaniards and there with a loud Voice cried out That if any Viracocha had Courage to engage with him in a single Duel that he should come forth and fight with him for he there attended him with his Arms. But the Spaniards esteeming it a condescension too mean and no Honour to kill a silly Indian scorned to accept the Challenge But at length a Noble Indian of the Nation of Cannari who from his Infancy had been bred up a Page in the Court of the great Huayna Capac and then prosessed himself a Servant to the Marquiss Don Francisco Piçarro for having yielded himself to him in one of the late Skirmishes he ever after acknowledged him for his Master with this Person I had an Acquaintance and left him alive in Cozco when I came thence for Spain This Cannarian I say asked leave of Hernando and John and Gonçalo Piçarro Brothers of his Lord to answer the Challenge saying That since that Fellow had the boldness to defie the Viracochas that he who was a Servant of theirs would undertake the Duel not doubting but by virtue of their propitious Fortune to return victorious Hernando Piçarro and his Brother applauding his Courage and Resolution granted him licence upon which he took the like Arms which the other carried and went forth to meet him And having fought together a long while they closed three or four times and wrestled but being not able to throw one the other they loosed and again returned to the management of their Arms with which the Cannarian being most dextrous thrust his Enemy into the Breast with his Lance and then cutting off his Head he carried it by the Hairs thereof unto the Spaniards with which testimony of Conquest he was received with that Triumph which his Victory deserved The Inca and his People were much ashamed of
examined the cause of the principal Mutiniers who were Francisco de Miranda and Alonso Hernandez Melgarejo he hanged them up without any regard to their Nobility though they claimed the privilege of Gentlemen The which when Alonso Barrioneuevo knew who was also condemned he sent to the Mayor or Governour desiring that he might enjoy the privilege of a Gentleman that is that he might have his Throat cut and not be hanged alledging that in case he were hanged he should despair of his Salvation and be condemned everlastingly to the Torments of Hell. At the instance of certain friends the Governour granted the request and with some unwillingness commanded his Throat to be cut which I know to be true because I saw them all three after they were dead for being a Boy at that time I had the curiosity to see those things as they passed six or seven others were banished out of the Kingdom the rest made their escape away But as to Don Pedro Portocarrero he remitted his causes to the Lords Justices who having examined him set him at liberty Palentino speaking of Francisco de Miranda names him for a Citizen of Cozco whereas in reality he was not unless we will give the title of Citizen to any Inhabitant after the Castilian Style different to the Custome used in Peru and Mexico where none is called a Citizen unless he hath a Plantation and a Command over Indians in vassalage to him and is obliged as we noted in the first Part of these Commentaries to maintain his Houses in the place of his residence but Miranda could claim nothing of this matter for I knew him very well for a Niece of his was bred up in the same house with me she was born of an Indian mother and proved a woman of great probity and vertue Some few months after this punishment executed a small disturbance happened of which Palentino makes a long Story though in reality it was rather a Pretence raised to take revenge upon a poor Gentleman who without any malice had undertaken to give an account of Bastardies in several great and ancient Families and not onely on the man's side but on the woman's side also but what these Families were there is no reason we should mention in particular Moreover there were several other discontents in those days which turned into publick mutinies the punishment of all which fell upon a poor young Gentleman onely not of above twenty four years of age called Don Diego Enriquez a Native of Seville whom they put to death his untimely end was much lamented by all the City for though there had been above two hundred persons as Palentino reports concerned in the sedition yet the fate of this poor Gentleman was without any fault to pay for all The Justice also proceeded to execute farther Severities on Indians of principal note and on the Vassals and Servants of Noble and rich Citizens which ought rather to have been inflicted on the Masters themselves who had been the causes thereof These mutinies and disturbances of which Palentino gives so long and large relations proceeded originally from the Orders and Decrees which the Justices had made for taking off the personal Services of Indians towards their Lords requiring that such as found themselves aggrieved in this matter should not appear by their common Atturney in behalf of the Generality but that every man should appear and plead in his own person All which as we have formerly said were Artifices of the Devil contrived purposely to raise discord among the Spaniards whereby the progress of the doctrine of the Gospel might be hindred and the Conversion of the Indians to the Catholick Faith delayed the which proceeding was contrary to the sense and opinion of that wise and prudent person the President Gasca who having had experience that the new Laws which the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela had brought and put in execution in Peru had raised those commotions as would certainly have been the total destruction of that Empire had they not been repealed and having observed that whensoever any thing of that kind was moved all the Countrey was put into a flame he wisely therefore before his departure suspended the execution of his Majesty's command requiring him to free the Indians from services to their Lords But the Justices followed not this rule but sent their commands over all the Kingdom as before mentioned which gave occasion to the Souldiers to utter rebellious and seditious Speeches and were encouraged therein by considerable persons and men of Estates as Palentino writes at large in the second Part and first Chapter of the second Book CHAP. XVII Don Antonio de Mendoça is sent in quality of Vice-king to Peru he employs his Son Don Francisco to visit and survey the Countrey as far as the Charcas and dispatches him into Spain with a relation thereof A severe action is executed by a Judge ABout this time a new Governour or Captain-General of the whole Empire arrived in Peru with title of vice-Vice-king called Don Antonio de Mendoça who was Second Son of the House of the Marquis de Mondexar Count of Tendilla who as we have mentioned in the History of Florida was vice-Vice-king in the Empire of Mexico a person of great Sanctity and Religion endued with Christian Vertues and much a Gentleman The City of Los Reyes received him with great joy and solemnity and desired to introduce him under a Canopy of State but neither the Archbishop nor the Magistrates of the City could prevail with that Prince to accept of that honour as if it had been a piece of Treason towards his Majesty much contrary to the custome in these days in which great Men esteem more of one hour of such Pageantry than all the time of their life afterwards with him he brought his Son Don Francisco de Mendoça who was afterwards made General of the Galleys of Spain I saw him both here and there he always behaved himself like the Son of such a Father whose goodness and vertues he imitated and followed both in his youth and in the years of his old age When this Vice-king arrived in Peru he was much empaired in his health by long abstinence and acts of penance by which his natural heat began so far to fail that to recover it he used violent exercise and though that climate was naturally very hot yet he would chuse to go abroad at noon day with a certain little Hawk of that Countrey which they had taught to kill upon the Sands a sort of small Owls or other Birds and with this sport he divertised himself as often as his vacation from business would permit And by reason of his want of health he sent his Son Don Francisco to all the Cities from Los Reyes as far as the Charcas and Potocsi to bring him a true relation of the state thereof for information of his Majesty Don Francisco went accordingly upon this Visitation and as he passed I
ever since 1553 when the Indians began first to rebel been constantly carried on without Truce or Intermission during all that time as we have intimated before in several Places Whilst this Governour employed himself in the exercises of War he went one day according to his usual custom to visit the several Forts which were raised on the Frontiers to curb the Enemy and keep them from making incursions and depredations on those Indians who had submitted and were become Servants to the Spaniards And having supplyed all those Garrisons with Ammuntion and Provisions he returned to those Cities within the Kingdom which were setled and in peace And being without the Limits of the Enemies quarters as indeed he was and as he believed out of danger he dismissed 200 of his Souldiers which were then of his Guard and dispeeded them away to their respective quarters Leaving himself only with about thirty Companions amongst which were several Captains and old veterane Souldiers who had served many years in the Wars And being come into a very pleasant Plain they pitched their Tents intending to repose and solace themselves that Night and several Nights afterwards that they might recover the Sleep they had lost by their continual watchings for whilst they were on the Frontiers taking care to secure the Garrisons they were so continually allarm'd by the Enemy that they had not time to Rest Eat or Sleep The Araucos and Indians of other Provinces Neighbouring on these who had rebelled sent their Spies by Night to discover the condition of the Spaniards and finding them without Centinels and in all security fast asleep and as safe as their Enemies could desire they whistled to each other with Bird-Calls and gave notice by such kind of barking and howlings which Giacalls or Wolves use in the Night which were the signals agreed upon amongst them At these noises great numbers of Indians came flocking together and with all the silence possible went softly to the Spaniards Tents where finding them asleep and in their Shirts in Bed they cut the Throats of every one of them and carrying away with them their Horses Arms and all the Spoyl which belonged to the Spaniards This was the end of the Governour Martin Garcia Loyola which was much lamented over all the Kingdom of Chile and Peru but as often as that Discourse was moved either amongst Indians or Spaniards it was confessed that Providence had so ordered those matters that the death of the late Inca should in this manner be revenged on the Spaniards by the Hands of his own Vassals And herein it was more plainly evidenced by an Infatuation which possessed the Minds of such Captains and Veterane Souldiers practised in the Wars of that Country who knowing that they were near an Enemy incensed and enraged against them and thirsting after the Blood of the Spaniards should yet with so much security compose themselves to a sleep from which they did never afterwards awake This Governour Martin Garcia Loyola left one Daughter which he had by his Wife the Infanta Daughter of the Prince Don Diego Sayri Tupac the which Daughter was transported into Spain and there married to a Gentleman of Quality called Don John Enriquez de Boria His Catholick Majesty besides the Estate which the inherited from her Father in Peru was pleased as they wrote to me from the Court to confer upon her the Title of Marquess de Oropesa which is a Colony founded by the Vice-King Don Francisco de Toledo in Peru and called Oropesa by him in memory of his Ancestors which he desired might be continued in the new World besides which Title and Favour I am informed that a Consultation hath been held amongst the Illustrious Presidents and Lords of the Royal Council of Castile and the Indies at which also his Majesties Confessour was present with two other Advocates belonging to the Council of the Indies to consider what farther Gratifications could be made in reward of the many Services which her Father had done according to his Duty towards his Majesty and as a Compensation for her Patrimonial Inheritance Towards which as I am informed the Relation I have given in the first part of these Commentaries hath in some manner contributed Which if so I shall esteem my self sufficiently rewarded for the labour and pains I have taken to write this History though no other benefit or satisfaction accrues thereby unto my self CHAP. XXI The Conclusion of this Eighth Book and last of this History HAving in the beginning of this History shewed the Original of the Incas who were Kings of Peru and described their Increase and Conquests and all their generous Exploits together with the manner of their Government both in War and Peace and thereunto added their Religion and ldolatry practised in the times of their Gentilisme All which by the Divine favour and assistance we have largely handled in the first part these Commentaries by which I have complyed with the duty I owe to my Country and Kindred by my Mothers side In this second part we have at large related all those brave Acts and gallant Exploits performed by the Spaniards in the Conquest of this rich Empire in which I have complied tho' not fully with the Duty and Obligation I owe to my Father and to his Illustrious and Generous Companions So that now it may be time to conclude this Work and put an end to this Labour with the ultimate Reign and Succession of the Incas who with that unhappy Huascar were 13 in number who possessed the Throne of that Empire until the Invasion of the Spaniards But as to the other five which succeeded afterwards that is Manco Inca and his two Sons Don Diego and Don Philippe and his two Nephews we do not insert them in the Line of Kings for tho' they had a right to the Inheritance yet they never had possession of the Government but if we should reckon them in that number we might then account 18 who descended by the direct Male-line from the first Inca Manco Capac to the last of those Children whose Names I do not know The Indians do not reckon Atahualpa in the number of their Kings being as they call him an Auca that is a Traytor Tho' in the last Chapter of the first Part of these Commentaries we have given an account of all the Sons which in an oblique Line descended from the several Kings of which as we have there affirmed a true and an authentick List was sent me with Power and Authority directed to Don Melchior Carlos Don Alonso de Mesa and my self that we jointly or any one of us should lay it before his Catholick Majesty and before his Supream and Royal Council of the Indies to the intent and purpose that they might be freed from those Taxes and Impositions which they sustained Which Papers and Memorials as they came directed unto me I dispatched to the said Don Melchior Carlos and Don Alonso de Mesa But the said Don Melchior having Pretensions of his own would not weaken his own Interest by giving Countenance to their demands nor would he present their Papers that it might not be known thereby how many of the Royal Line were still surviving fearing lest his Interest should be divided and the benefit which he expected to himself alone might be imparted unto them all together So at the Conclusion of all he neither did good to them nor to himself I have thought fit for my own Discharge to give a Narrative hereof that my Relations of those parts may not accuse me either of unkindness or negligence in not performing what they have desired of me and entrusted me in I should have been very glad if I could have performed this Service for them with the hazard of my Life but it was impossible for me to have done any thing in this matter not being able to contribute more thereunto than only by writing this History in which I hope I have as well done Justice and Right to the Spaniards who have Conquered this Empire as to the Incas who were tho true Lords and Possessors of it To the Divine Majesty Father Son and Holy Ghost three Persons and one true God be Praise for Ever and Ever who have been pleased to grant me Grace and assistance to arrive at the Ultimate End and Conclusion of this History May it be to the Honour and Glory of his Divine Name By whose infinite mercy through the Blood and Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and by the Intercession of the ever Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Court of Heaven I beg Favour and Protection now and in the Hour of Death Amen sweet Jesus a hundred thousand times Jesus Amen Praised be God. FINIS The Indians have no Beards * Or Columbus * A sort of Fish. * Thunder Lightning Thunderbolt * ✚ * Perhaps it may be a sort of Housleek * A Name of one of their Gods. * A sort of Bird in that Countrey * A Game at Cards * What the Knots were is before mentioned * A double Pistol or 36 shillings English The Authour * Thirty six Maravedis make six pence * About ten pence This Story is very questionable for it is known that under the Equinoctial the Sap of the Vine can never fall and consequently no Fruit be produced Thirty six Maravedis make six pence Every Peso of Gold is about sixteen Ryals Plate which is nine shillings English * In Peru for want of Bergandines or Head-pieces they wore a sort of Armour for their Face like a cross Bar. 65 Ryalls plate to every Marco Tirar cannos is a sport in Spain much used on Horseback and which the Spaniards learned from the Moors used also by the Turks * To which the Bridge of Osiers was fastned * A Sport used in Spain
supreme Council by way of Knots of divers colours tied in a silken twist the colours being as so many cyphers denoting the crimes they had punished and the bigness of them and manner of making them up signified that Law which was executed as we shall hereafter more particularly declare and in this manner by way of Knots they kept all their accounts so exactly and summed them up with such readiness that to the great admiration of the Spaniards their best Arithmeticians could not exceed them It is an opinion and held for a certain truth amongst them that there never was Inca of the Royal Bloud that was punished or that any of them did ever commit a crime which incurred the penalty of the Law For that the principles they received from their Parents the example of their Ancestours and the common belief of the World that they were the Progeny of the Sun born to instruct others to doe good and to refrain the people from Vice were considerations that made such impressions in them that they were rather the ornament than the scandal of Government disdaining to stoop to such base and mean actions as were transgressions of their Law The truth is they wanted the temptations which others had to offend for neither the desire of women or richness or revenge could be motives to them For in case any one of them entertained a passion for the Beauty of a Woman it was but to send for her and she could not be denied nay rather her Parents would receive the proposal with humble acknowledgments that the Inca would vouchsafe to cast his eye on his handmaid that was his Slave The like may be said as to the desire of Wealth they had no necessities but what were readily satisfied for being Children of the Sun all the Wealth and Riches of their Countrey was esteemed their inheritance and their occasions were satisfied by the Mandates sent to the Justices and the Governours of Provinces for a supply Nor were they liable to the unworthy passion of Revenge for none could provoke them to anger by injuries who sought all ways and means to please and oblige them for being adored as Gods it was esteemed blasphemy and sacrilege to disgrace them by Words or injure them in their Estates and therefore it may be said that never was Indian punished for disrespect or a malitious action against the Person of an Inca. Hence it is that the Spanish Historians have reported that an Inca was not capable of being punished for any Offence whatever which is a mistake and is as much as to say that the Incas were Libertines that they might be arbitrary and by Law act against it or that there were one Law for them and another for their People whenas an Inca was rather exposed to the greater severities than any other for he forfeited his Privileges was degraded of the Honours due to the Royal Bloud and esteemed for Aüca which is as much as a Traytor and a Tyrant Thus when the Spaniards commended and applauded the just and generous actions of the Incas the Indians would make answer that it was not strange in regard they were Incas and if they disapproved at any time their proceedings as in the case of Atahualpa who by Treason and Rebellion dispossessed Huascar his elder Brother and true Heir to the Monarchy as we shall relate in its due place their Reply was that no Inca could be guilty of such Enormities and if he were he was no true born Inca but some Bastard or Impostour of that Family In every Province according to the four Divisions the Inca constituted his different Councils of War of Justice and of his Treasury every one of which maintained their subordinate Officers one under the other even to the Decurions of Ten all which in their respective places rendred an account to their immediate Officers till the Report came to the supreme Council The chief Governour of every Division had the Title of a Vice-King and were always Incas of the true Bloud and Men approved for Prudence and good Conduct both in the time of War and Peace And so much shall suffice to have spoken concerning their Laws and Customs We shall now proceed to the History of their Lives and Actions relating those matters which are most famous and observable CHAP. VII Of the Life and Reign of Sinchi Roca second King of the Incas SInchi Roca succeeded his Father Manco Capac this name Roca is pronounced with some aspiration at the top of the Mouth and as Blas Valera says signifies a prudent and experienced Prince Sinchi signifies valiant for though he had no Wars with any yet because he was active in wrestling running vaulting throwing the stone and lance and excelled all others of that age in those Exercises he was surnamed the Valiant and Magnanimous This Prince having performed those Obsequies which were due to the solemnity of his Father's Interment took upon himself the Crown of his Kingdom which was no other than the coloured Wreath bound about his Temples determining in the first place to inlarge the Borders of his Dominions he assembled the principal Curacas and Counsellours which his Father had assigned him and in a grave and serious Oration amongst other things he told them that in performance of the Will of his Father which he declared to him at the time he was about to return to Heaven he resolved to go in Person and summon the neighbouring Nations to come in and be converted to the knowledge and adoration of the Sun and in regard they had the same Title of Incas as well as their King he conceived that the same Obligation lay upon them to serve the Sun who was the common Parent of them all and therefore required them to join with him in the same work and design that so they might reduce those People from their brutish and bestial course of living to a Life more regular and rational for that they seeing the improvements which the instructions of his Father the Inca had made in his own Subjects might be more easily allured to forsake their old barbarous Customs and embrace those which are more beneficial and refined Hereunto the Curacas gave this ready and chearfull Answer that they were not onely willing to obey his Commands in this particular but even to enter into the fire for his sake and so ending their Discourse they prefixed a day to begin their Journey and accordingly the Inca departed with a great Retinue of his Subjects taking his Journey by the way of Collasuyu which lies to the Southward from the City Cozco and as they travelled they persuaded the Indians with fair words to follow their Example and to become Subjects to the Inca and Devotaries to the Sun uniting with them in Religion towards their God and Allegiance to their Prince Those Indians which are of the Nations called Puchina and Canchi and are the next borderers being a People very simple and credulous as