Silver piled up in their Store-houses as if they had been there laid for service of the Inca. The greatest part of these Riches when the Spaniards came in were thrown into Wells and deep waters by the Indians who observing their Enemies to be covetous and thirsty of Gold out of Malice to them concealed or destroyed them in such unrecoverable places where they could never be again retrieved that so the Memory and Tradition of the hidden treasures might be designedly lost to their posterity because they thought it a Prophanation to have that Wealth and Substances which was Dedicated to their Kings to be converted to the common benefit and use of Strangers Whatsoever we have related concerning the Riches of the Incas is confirmed by all the Historians who write of Peru with a more enlarged report of the prodigious Treasures Those Writers who treat of these matters most fully are Pedro de Cieça de Leon and Augustin de Carate who was Accountant-General in those parts which latter in the 14th Chapter of his first Book hath these words Gold was a Metal of great esteem amongst them because the principal Vessels for service of their Kings were made thereof and the Jewels of his Dignity and State were set in it Likewise they made Offerings of it in their Temples And the King Ytgaya made a Chair of Gold in which he sate weighing twenty five Quilats and which was worth twenty five thousand Ducats and was the same which Don Francisco de Piçarro challenged for his own prize because it was agreed at the time of the Conquest that besides his own share and proportion with the rest he might claim that Jewel which he should chuse and esteem of the greatest value Guaynacava at the Birth of his Eldest Son made a Chain of Gold so big and weighty that 200 Indians having seized the Links of it to the Rings in their Ears were scarce able to raise it from the ground And in memory of this joy at his Birth and of this great Chain they gave him the Name of Guasca which is as much as Chain or Cable with the Addition of Inca which was the Title of all belonging to the Royal Family The which particular I purposely alledge in this place to confute the opinion of those who living in Spain and being ignorant of the affairs of the Indies believed that the Indians had no esteem of Gold nor knew the value or price of it Besides which they had Vessels made of Gold wherein to lodge their Corn also the Figures of Men of Trees and Plants and Herbs made in Gold as all Animals of what sort soever which are the Words of that famous Authour in his History of Peru. That rich Prize which fell to the lot of D. Francisco Piçarro was part of that which Atahualpa gave for his Ransome and which Piçarro justly claimed as his due by Military Right being General of the Army He might moreover challenge by agreement the best Jewel from the great heaps of Riches And though there were others perhaps more valuable such as Jars and Vessels of Gold yet in regard that this had been the Seat of a King and the seizure of it presaged the Dominion of the Spanish Monarchy it seemed a prize more singular and worthy the choice of Piçarro before any other of greater estimation In the Life of Huayna Capac who was the last of all the Incas we shall speak more at large of this Gold Chain which was a thing incredible What Pedro de Cieça writes of the Riches of Peru and how the Indians made them away and concealed them is that which he specifies in the 21st Chapter of his Book as follows If says he all that which was buried in Peru and in these Countries were discovered and brought to use and light the value of it would be inestimable and all the possessions of the Spaniards inconsiderable in comparison of the hidden treasures For says he I being at Cozco in presence of many Persons of Quality heard Paulo the Inca discoursing of this matter and saying That if all the Treasures which belonged to the Provinces and Temples which are now lost should be again recovered and amassed together they would be so immense and great that all the Riches which the Spaniards possess would be no more in comparison of them than a drop of water is to a whole Bucket And to make the similitude more clear the Indians taking a handfull of Grane from a whole measure said Thus much the Christians have gained and the remainder is lodged there where neither we nor any else is able to assign Whatsoever this Treasure may have been though the Spaniards had not been Masters of it would certainly have been offered to their Devils and Temples and Sepulchres of their Dead for the Indians who neither purchase Lands nor Houses nor Cities with it nor esteem it the sinews and nerves of War do onely Adorn themselves with it being alive and bury it with them in their Graves being dead Howsoever in my opinion it was our duty to have advised the Indians of these Errours and to have made it our business to instruct them in the knowledge of the Gospel and our Holy Faith rather than our profession and whole concernment to fill our Purses and enrich our Coffers These are the Words of Pedro de Cieça in the 21st Chapter of his Book which I have copied Verbatim from thence This Inca which was called Paulo or by them Paullu of whom all the Spanish Historians make mention was one of the many Sons of Huayna Capac being a Man of Courage who took the King of Spain's side in his Wars against the Spaniards at his Baptism he took the Name of Christopher Paullu to whom my Master Garçilasso de la Vega was Godfather as also to his Brother Titu Aqui who afterwards was Baptized by the Name of Philip in respect to Philip the Second then Prince of Spain I was well acquainted with them both as also with their Mother called Annas though the two Sons died soon afterwards Lopez de Gomara writing of the Riches of the Kings of Peru in the 122d Chapter of his Book hath these very words All the Utensils of Inca's House Table and Kitchin were all of Gold and Silver at least of Silver and Copper In the with-drawing Rooms and Antichambers were Statues of Gold cast in the form of Giants and the Figures of all kinds of Animals in a like large proportion as also Trees and Herbs Fishes of the Sea and fresh Waters of all sorts which their Kingdom produced they had also Ropes and Chains Baskets and Hampers of Gold and Silver and Faggots of Gold piled up in Stacks as if they were intended for sewel In short there was no Figure of any Creature in the whole Kingdom which they did not imitate and represent in Gold They report also that the Incas had a Garden situated in an Island near to Puna where being desirous
and which is onely as they say profitable in that soil they expect their Harvest at its due season And to see how Divine Providence taketh care of all Creatures for that neither the Indians may want that Manure which onely makes their Land fruitfull nor the Birds of the Islands their food there are such quantities of Pilchards cast up by the Sea at those seasons as are not onely sufficient for the Food of Men and Birds and for dunging the Earth but even to lade many Ships if occasion should require It is said that this Fish is chased ashore by some Dolphins or greater Fish be it by what means it will the advantage is great and the Providence of God is admirable in these his Blessings towards his poor Creatures Who was the first Inventer of this manner of planting in holes with the Heads of Pilchards is uncertain we may rather attribute it to Necessity which is the Mother of Ingenuity for in regard as we have said that there is great want of Bread in all parts of Peru the same Understanding which in some parts taught them to plant their Mayz in holes the same also instructed them to make their Allies in the parts of Cozco and by this means every one sowing for his own maintenance and not to sell all People enjoyed sufficient for their support never any scarcity or famine having been known in that Land. CHAP. IV. How they divided their Water into several Rivulets for the refreshment of their Land and what Punishment they inflicted on the idle and negligent People that would not work IN those Countries where Water was scarce they took care to divide their Waters to every one according to his necessities and by such equal proportions and with that order that all quarrels and contentions for it were avoided and hereunto they had most especial regard in dry years when Rain was wanting for then they allotted out unto every one his certain hours having by experience learned in how much time an Acre of Ground might be supplied and drink the Water it required In which benefit neither the Rich nor the more Noble nor the Kinsman of the Curaca nor the Curaca himself nor the Governour nor the King himself enjoyed any privilege or preference before another but every one took his turn as his Lands and Furrows lay in order He that was negligent to take his turn and to watch his ground whilst the Water ran into the Furrows and Dams was punished for a sluggard in the most affrontive manner for he was to receive publickly three or four thumps on the Back with a Stone or whipped on the Armes and Legs with Switches of Osier and shamed with the disgracefull term of an idle and sloathfull fellow which was a great dishonour and disreputation to them calling them Mizquitullu which is Easie-bones being a word compounded of Mizqui which signifies sweet and Tullu which is bones CHAP. V. Of the Tribute which they gave to the Inca and of the Vessels they made to receive their Fruits HAving already declared the manner by which the Incas divided the Lands and the ways and inventions by which the Subjects improved them we are in the next place to proceed to shew what Tribute they gave unto their Kings The chiefest part of their Tribute did consist in their labour which was to cultivate and manure the Lands belonging to the Sun and to the Inca and also to gather and reap the Fruits and lay them up in the King's Barns One sort of Fruit which was in esteem amongst them was that which they call Uchu and the Spaniards Axi and we in English Red Pepper The places in which they laid their Corn called Pirua were made of Clay tempered with Straw In the times of the Incas they were very curious in this work and made them of different sizes and fashions some being long and narrow and others square some of them were made to receive thirty some fifty and some an hundred measures of Corn Every one of these Clay-vessels was put into a Chamber by it self just fitted to the proportion of the Vessel and fixed with Walls on each side so as not to be removed and in the middle of the Chamber a passage was left to go from one to the other to empty and fill them according to the seasons of the year for emptying these Vessels they opened a little shutter before of about a quarter of a Yard square or bigger or lesser according to its proportion by which they knew certainly the quantity that was taken out and what remained without measuring of it whereby and by the largeness of the Vessels they easily made the account of the quantity of the Mayz which remained in every Barn or Magazine I remember that I once saw some of these Clay-vessels which remained ever since the time of the Incas they were such as were of the best sort for they had belonged to the Convent of the Select Virgins who were Wives to the Sun and made solely for the service of those Women when I saw them they were in the House of the Sons of Pedro de Barco who had been School-fellows with me The Provisions of the Sun and of the Inca were laid up apart and in different Vessels though in the same Store-house or Magazine The Corn for Seed was given out by the Lord of the Land who was the Sun and the Inca as also the Corn which made Bread for the Labourers during the time that they cultivated and manured their Lands so that all the Tribute which the Indians were obliged to give was nothing but their personal labour their Lands and Fruits being free of all Tax or Imposition The truth of which is affirmed by Acosta in the fifteenth Chapter of his sixth Book in these words The Inca gave the third part of the Lands to the People but it is not certain whether this third part was so exactly measured as to answer an equality with that of the Inca But this is sure that great care was taken to render unto every one a sufficient proportion of Land for his maintenance and support In this third part no particular person had such a right as to be able to give it away or sell or by any ways alienate it to another because the Inca was the sole Lord of the Fee and the Original right was in him Of these Lands new Divisions were made every year according to the increase or diminution of Families so that the proportions of Lands were in general ascertained and the Divisions already laid out that there needed no great trouble farther therein Of all these Lands so given no Tribute was exacted unless it was their labour to cultivate and manure the Lands of the Inca and the Guacas and to gather the Fruits and lay them up in their Store-house which was all the Tribute or Imposition required of them These are the words of Acosta who calls the Sun by the Name of Guacas
or bigness or nimbleness which they omitted to carry and present with their Offerings of Silver and Gold that so by this way of Homage and Duty they might acknowledge him the supreme and universal Lord of all and testify the zeal and affection they bore to his Service CHAP. VIII How this Tribute was conserved and laid up and how it was expended and in what Service WE are come now to enquire in what manner this Tribute was conserved in what it was expended and what account was given of it and herein it is to be observed that there were three Treasuries in the whole Kingdom wherein they amassed and kept the Tributes and publick Profits In every Province whether it were great or small there were always two Magazines or Storehouses in one of which they laid up corn and provisions for support of the Natives against years of scarcity or famine in the other all the Profits and Benefits belonging to the Sun and the Inca were laid up besides which they had other smaller Store-houses built upon the King's High-way about three or four Leagues one from the other which the Spaniards make use of at present for Inns and Lodgings when they travell All the Estate of the Sun and the Inca which lay within fifty Leagues about the City of Cozco was all brought thither for maintenance and support of the Court that so the Inca might not onely have a sufficient plenty for himself and Family but likewise to bestow in Rewards and Presents to his Captains and Curacas and to entertain and treat them But some part of the Revenue which belonged to the Sun and which was within the aforesaid limits of fifty Leagues was separated and laid up apart for the common benefit of the People What Revenue was coming in from other places more remote without the compass of the fifty Leagues was laid up in the King's Store-houses which he had in every Province and from thence it was transported to the places which were built on the common Road for receiving Provisions Arms Cloths Shoes and all necessaries for an Army that so in all parts they might readily be supplied whensoever they marched unto any of the four quarters of the World which the Indians called Tavantinsuyu These Store-houses being thus as we have said provided were able to supply and furnish an Army with whatsoever they needed so that in their march they neither lay upon free quarter nor burthened the People nor might any Souldier rob or vex the Inhabitants upon pain of Death Pedro de Cieça in the 60th Chapter of his Book speaking of the great Roads hath these Words The Incas had great and large Store-houses wherein they stowed and laid up all their Ammunition and Provisions of War in which they were so carefull that they never failed to make due and large Provisions and in failure thereof the Officer encharged was severely punished and consequently the Army being thus well provided no person was permitted to break into the Fields or Houses of the Indians though the damage were never so inconsiderable under less than a capital punishment Thus far are the Words of Pedro de Cieça and the reason of this severity was grounded on the sufficient maintenance which the Souldiers received who were thus well provided for by the People on condition that they might be secured from their violence and outrages and thus as the Magazines in the Roads were emptied by the Souldiers in their March so they were again replenished and supplied by the Provincial Stores Augustin de Carate discoursing of the great Roads or the King's High-Ways as we shall hereafter have occasion to mention more at large doth in the 14th Chapter of his first Book say That besides these common Store-houses on the Roads Guaynacava gave command for building in all the mountainous Countries large and capacious Houses able to receive him and his Court and all his Army and to be seated at the distance of a days march one from the other In the plains also he built others of the like capacious Form but those were situated more remote one from the other being at eight or ten or perhaps fifteen or twenty Leagues asunder according as the Rivers or conveniences of Water happened and these Houses were called Tombos where the Indians laid up such quantities and stores of Arms and other necessaries for an Army that every one of them was sufficient to cloath and arme and feed twenty or thirty thousand Men with the Provisions contained within it self and yet the Army though it was numerous was yet well accoutred with all sorts of Weapons such as Pikes Halberts Clubs and Pole-Axes made of Silver and Copper and some of them of Gold having sharp points and some of them hardened by the fire besides Slings and Darts thrown by hand Thus far are the Words of Augustin Carate touching the Provisions lodged in the Roads for accomodation of the Army If the King were at any time put unto excessive charge in his Wars so that his Revenue could not reach the expence then in that case it was lawfull for the Inca as universal Heir to his Father the Sun to make use of his Riches and Revenue and that whensoever the Wars were finished the overplus which remained of such Provisions were carefully laid up in the respective Store-houses for support and maintenance of the People in Years of Famine and Scarcity in which such care was taken that the Inca himself judged it an Employment fit to be supervised by his own particular regard and inspection The Priests in all parts of the Empire were maintained at the charges of the Sun that is whilst they were actually employed in the Service of the Temple for they attended by Weeks according to their turns but when they were at home and out of waiting they then sed and maintained themselves from the fruits of those grounds which were equally divided to them with other People by which and the like Parsimony used in expending the Revenue of the Sun his Stores were always great and plentifull and sufficient to assist and succour the Inca as his necessities and urgencies did require CHAP. IX That the People were supplied with Clothing and that no Beggars were allowed amongst them AS by this good Order and Method the Souldiery was well provided with Clothing so with the like care every two years a certain proportion of Wool was distributed to the Commonalty and to the Curacas in general wherewith to make Garments for themselves their Wives and their Families and it was the Office of the Decurions to see and render an account to the Superiour Officers how far this Wool was employed to the uses unto which it was designed The Indians were generally very poor in Cattel and the Curacas themselves for the most part were Masters of so few as were not sufficient for supply of themselves and their Families whereas on the other side the Sun and the Inca had such vast Flocks and
Battel which followed and the Courage with which the Prince overcame his Enemies THE Prince Viracocha sent his Ambassadours to the Enemy then encamped at Sacsahuana with offers of peace and friendship promising to them Pardon and an Act of Oblivion for all that was past But the Chancas being well informed that the Inca Yahuar-huacac had left his City and retired into some remote part they were so encouraged thereby that though they knew that the Prince his Son was in Arms and in a posture to defend the City yet they so slighted his Ambassadours that they would not so much as hear them or give them Audience for being puft up with the vain opinion that the Father being fled the Son would speedily give place promised to themselves an assurance of Victory with these hopes next day following they removed their Camp from Sacsahuana and marched towards Cozco and though they made what haste they were able yet in regard they were to March in order of Battel the night came on before they could arrive at the Prince's Camp and therefore they pitched about half a League short of the Enemies Quarter Notwithstanding which the Inca Viracocha dispatched other Messengers to them with Tenders of Peace and Pardon but the Chancas still continued obstinate not vouchsasing other Answer than with great scorn and disdain saying That to morrow it should be determined who deserved the Title of King and in whose power it was to offer Peace and Conditions of Pardon This Answer being given both Armies remained the whole night upon their Guard with Centinels set on each side and in the morning by break of day the Squadrons Arming themselves with great Noise and Shouts with sound of Trumpets and Timbrels and Cornets they began the on-set The Inca Viracocha marching in the head of his Army was he that threw the first Dart at the Enemy with which the Battel began The Chancas in hopes of Victory of which they seemed to be assured fought with great resolution And the Incas who did not despair neither of success adventured to rescue the Life of their Prince and revenge the affront which the Rebels offered The Fight continued untill Noon being maintained with equal Courage on both sides the slaughter was great and not as yet determined to which party the Victory inclined At length the 5000 Indians which lay in Ambush made their sally and with extraordinary resolution and shouts attacking the right Wing of the Enemy began to give a turn to Fortune for being fresh they so pressed the Chancas that they were forced to give way and retreat with great loss and slaughter Howsoever animating one the other they engaged a second time endeavouring to recover the Ground which they had lost being enraged to meet that opposition which they never expected and so much difficulty in attaining a Victory which they promised to themselves with so much ease and assurance After this second onset they fought two hours longer the advantage still continuing doubtfull and uncertain At length the Chancas growing tired and weary began to faint and observing that fresh recruits continually re-inforced the Army of the Incas the Chancas became discouraged and desperate of Victory For those people who before were fled from the City with fear and the Neighbouring Countries thereabouts having received intelligence that the Prince Viracocha was returned and made head against the Enemy in defence of the Temple of the Sun they joined together into small Bodies of fifty and a hundred in a Company and in such Troops rushed into the Battel with more noise than numbers The Incas observing these unexpected succours to come in cried out that the Sun and the God Viracocha had converted the Rocks and Stones of the Countrey into Men and had raised them up to fight in defence of his own cause and people the which report took the easier impression in the minds of that people who being accustomed to the belief of superstitious Fables were willing in this exigence to support their courage with the power of a Miracle The Chancas also who were a people of the like superstitious fancy giving ready credence to this rumour were strook and affrighted with a strange amazement and this belief so far dilated and radicated it self afterwards in the minds of the simple people of the whole Kingdom that it was accounted an Impiety and a piece of Atheism and Prophaneness to distrust or question the truth of this report Of which Geronimo Roman writing in his Treatise of the West-Indies and in the 11th Chapter of his second Book speaking particularly of this Battel hath these very words It is certain according to the report of all the Indians who discourse of that famous Battel that the Inca remained Master of the Field and won the day and they farther believe that by a miraculous power of the Sun the Stones of the Field were Metamorphosed or transformed into Men and arose up in Battel against the Enemy and that this was done in accomplishment of that promise which was given to the Valiant Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui for so also they give this Title to the Prince Viracocha These are the Words of that curious Arthour of the aforementioned Book who in the said Chapter touches many points in brief of which we have recited some and shall farther have occasion to touch on others in the Sequel of this History of the Kings of Peru. In like manner Acosta mentions the Vision which appeared to Viracocha though there be some difference in the proper Names belonging to the Kings of that Age. And indeed both he and other Writers mention this Battel as other matters with such brevity that they seem almost to pass it by as a matter inconsiderable And indeed for the most part all the Relations which the Spaniards give of the Indians are very intricate and confused the which we may lawfully attribute to the little knowledge they had of their Language and the loss of those Knots which were the Monuments and Characters of their History howsoever they deliver the substance of them without any regard either to time or order but in what manner or method soever that they are wrote I am yet pleased to recite the passages which they deliver that so by their Authority I may be acquitted of the Scandal of writing Fables for if they prove such they ought to be esteemed the Fictions of my Parents and such as the Spaniards themselves have heard and perhaps believed though not with such Faith as I have done who sucked in those Stories with my Milk and received a deep impression of them in the time of my tender Infancy This Acosta farther proceeds in these words which I have copied from the 21st Chapter of his sixth Book Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui reigned 70 Years and made great Conquests the principal cause and original of his success was occasioned by his Elder Brother who taking upon him the Government by consent of his Father was overthrown
was the Great Tupac Yupanqui who was great Grandson to Viracocha The third was Huayna Capac the Son of Tupac Yupanqui and Grandson of the Fourth Generation to Viracocha the two last were Men with gray Hairs yet did not seem so aged as Voracocha One of the Women was said to be the Body of the Queen Mama Runtu Wife of Viracocha the other of Coya Mama Occlo Mother of Huayna Capac and it is probable that they might be Husband and Wife considering that the Bodies were laid and found so close together and what is more strange these Bodies were more entire than the Mummies wanting neither Hair on the Head nor Eye-brows and even the very Eye-lashes were visible They were clothed with the same sort of Garments which they wore in their Life time the List or Wreath appeared about their Heads which was all the Badg or Ornament they shewed of their Royal Dignity The posture they were in was sitting after the manner of the Indians their Hands crossed on their Breasts with the right hand upon the left their Eyes cast downwards looking towards the Earth Acosta it seems had seen one of these Bodies of which discoursing in the 21st Chap. of his 6th Book saith That it was so well conserved by a certain sort of bituminous matter with which they embalmed it that it seemed to be alive the Eyes were so well counterfeited by a mixture of Gold that they seemed lively and natural I must confess that my want of Curiosity did not move me to make so narrow a scrutiny into this matter as I should have done had I believed that I should have had occasion to write of them for then I should not onely have viewed and considered the Bodies themselves more exactly but also have made enquiry of the Natives concerning the manner and receipt of this way of embalming which perhaps they might rather have imparted to me who am a Native and one of their Relations than to the Spaniards who are Strangers and Aliens to them unless perhaps the Art and Secret is lost amongst them as many other things are of the like nature For my part I could not discover any thing of this bituminous matter of which Acosta speaks though certainly there must have been some excellent Secret without which it was impossible to have conserved Bodies with their Flesh so plump and full as these were This Acosta treating farther of these Bodies in the 6th Chapter of his 5th Book hath these Words which follow In the first place saith he they had an Art to conserve the Bodies of their Kings and Great Men without stinking or corruption for the space of above two hundred Years in which manner the Bodies of the Inca-Kings were found at Cozco erected in their Chapels and Oratories where they were adored which the Marquess of Cannete when he was Vice-roy of the Indies caused to be removed from thence that he might abolish the Idolatrous Worship which they performed towards them and transported three or four of them to a place called the King's Town which appeared very strange and stupendious to the Spaniards to see Bodies after so many years so firm and sound as they were These are the Words of Acosta from whence I observe that these Bodies had been removed to the King's Town almost twenty years before he had a sight of them which being a hot and moist Air was more apt to taint and corrupt Flesh than the cold and dry Air of Cozco and yet notwithstanding he saith That twenty Years after their removal they were still firm and uncorrupt as formerly and appeared with such Life that they wanted onely Speech to make them seem to be living I am of opinion that the way to conserve Bodies is after they are dead to carry them to the Mountains of Snow where being well dried and congealed by the cold and all humours consumed and digested then afterwards to apply that bituminous matter which may plump up the Flesh and render it full and solid as the Living But I onely adventure on this conjecture from what I have seen the Indians doe when they have carried a piece of raw Flesh into the cold Mountains where after it hath been well dried by the Frost they have kept it as long as they pleased without salt or any other preservative and this was the manner which the Incas used for drying and keeping all the flesh Provisions which they carried for Food to maintain their Army I remember that I once touched a finger of Huayna Capac which seemed to me like a stick of wood and so light were these Bodies that an Indian could easily carry one of them in his Armes or on his Shoulders to the Houses of Spanish Gentlemen who desired to see them When they carried them through the Streets they covered them with white Linen and the Indians falling down on their knees before them sighed and wept shewing them all the reverence imaginable and some of the Spaniards also would take off their Caps and uncover their Heads to them as they passed in testimony of the respect they bore to the Bodies of Kings with which the Indians were so pleased and overjoyed that they knew not in what manner to express their thankfulness to them This is all that we have been able to deliver concerning the Actions of Viracocha in particular the other Monuments and Sayings of this famous King are lost for want of Letters and Learning to record them to posterity and have incurred the Fate of many famous Men whose glorious Exploits and Deeds have been buried in the Graves with them Onely Blas Valera reports one memorable Saying of this Viracocha which being often repeated by him was observed by three Incas who kept it in remembrance as also the Sayings of some other Kings which we shall hereafter specifie That which this Inca delivered had reference to the education of Children of which he was made the more sensible by that Severity and Disfavour with which he was treated by his Father in the time of his Minority his Saying was this That Parents are oftentimes the cause of ruine to their Children when either they educate them with such fondness that they never cross them in their Wills or desires but suffer them to act and doe whatsoever they please whereby they become so corrupt in the manners of their infancy that Vice grows ripe with them at the Years of Manhood Others on the contrary are so severe and cruel to their Children that they break the tenderness of their Spirits and affright them from learning discouraging them in that manner by menaces and lectures of a supercilious Pedant that their Wits are abased and despair of attaining to knowledge and vertue The way is to keep an indifferent mean between both by which Youth becomes valiant and hardy in War and wise and political in the time of Peace With which Blas Valera concludes the Reign of this Inca Viracocha Royal Commentaries BOOK VI. CHAP. I.
that slays another like himself must necessarily dye for it and pay the punishment with his own life for which reason the Kings Our Royal Progenitors did ordain that whosoever killed another should pay the price of bloud with his own life Thieves are not upon any terms to be tolerated because they are a generation who would rather live upon prey and robbery than gain riches by honest labour or enjoy their possessions by a lawfull title Adulterers who take away the good reputation and honesty of another Family are disturbers of the common peace and quiet and are as bad as Thieves and Robbers and therefore to be condemned to the Gallows without mercy A truly noble and courageous spirit is best tried by that patience which he shews in the times of adversity Impatience is the character of a poor and degenerate spirit and of one that is ill taught and educated When Subjects are obedient their Kings and Governours ought to treat them with gentleness and clemency but the perverse and obstinate are to be ruled with a severity and rigour moderated by prudence Judges who are corrupted by Gifts clandestinely received from Plaintiff or Defendant are to be esteemed for Thieves and to be punished for such with capital punishment Governours ought to have a special eye unto two things first that they themselves observe and execute the Laws of their Prince and not suffer others to transgress them And next that they seriously consider and contrive all matters which may tend to the good and benefit of their respective Provinces That Indian who knows not how to govern his own Family will be much less capable to rule a Kingdom A Physician or Herbalist who knows the Names but is ignorant of the Virtues and Qualities of Herbs or he who knows few but is ignorant of most is a mere Quack and Mountebank in Physick and deserves not the name and repute of a Physician untill he is skilfull as well in the Noxious as the Salutiferous qualities of Herbs He that would pretend to count the number of the Stars is a Fool and worthy to be derided These are the Sayings and Sentences of the Inca Pachacutec which were conserved in memory by their Knots they having not attained to the more ready way of letters or cyphers Royal Commentaries BOOK VII CHAP. I. Of the Colonies planted by the Incas and of the two different Languages in Peru. IT was a custome amongst the Incas to transplant the people from one Province to another that is from barren Lands and Countries to more fruitfull and pleasant soils whereby both the government was secured from rebellion and the condition of the people advantaged by a happy and profitable exchange In performance of which design the Incas had always a respect to the condition and quality of the people and the temperature of the climate transplanting those who had been born and bred in hot or cold Regions into Countries of the same degree and equal temper of heat and cold Likewise in Provinces where the people multiplied greatly and were become too numerous to be contained within the limits and compass of it then did they subtract from thence such a number as might ease the Province and supply the wants of other places The like was practised in Collao which is a Province of 120 Leagues in length containing several other Nations under its jurisdiction This Countrey being very cold produced neither Mayz which is Indian Wheat nor Uchu which is Red Pepper and yet it abounds with Pulse and all sorts of lesser Grane such as that they call Papa and Quirua which do not grow in hot Countries and is also rich in Flocks and Herds of Cattel From all those cold Provinces they transplanted great numbers of Indians to the Eastward by the Mountains of Anits and to the Westward along the Sea-coast where lyes a vast Countrey containing many large and fruitfull Vallies which produced Mayz and Red Pepper in great abundance and which before the times of the Incas for want of the Art and Knowledge of making Aqueducts and Chanels for watring the Furrows of their Land lay wholly dispeopled and deserted The Incas Kings having well considered the benefit of these improvements did frequently transplant their people from the barren to more commodious and happy soils and for their refreshment in those Plantations furnished them with a quantity of Water sufficient for their Lands making it a Law that they should succour and help one the other and by bartering their commodities one for the other what one wanted was supplied by the other By these means also the Incas secured their own Revenue which was paid them in Mayz or Indian Wheat for as we have said before one third of their Fruits which their Lands produced did belong to the Sun and another third to the Inca. Moreover by this course the Incas were supplied with great quantities of Mayz for maintenance of their Armies in that cold and barren Countrey so that the Collas were able to carry great quantities of Quinua and Chinu and great slices of that which they called Charqui to their Kindred in other Plantations and in exchange and barter for them returned home laden with Mayz and red Pepper and other Fruits which those Countries yielded which commodious way of trade was of great benefit and consolation to the Indians Pedro Cieça de Leon in the 99th Chapter of his Book discoursing of this manner of mutual Commerce saith That in fruitfull Years the Inhabitants of Collao live with contentment and plenty but in dry years they suffer great wants and scarcity of all Provisions The truth is had not the Incan-King prescribed excellent Laws for the government of this People and ordered every thing with a provident and industrious regard certainly these Countries would have laboured under great penury and wants and perhaps have relapsed into the same bestial condition in which they once were before the times of the Incas And thus much I affirm because I know that the Climate under which the Collas inhabited is cold and therefore not so fruitfull as the warmer Regions of more happy Countries And in regard the mountains of Andes did border on all sides of those Colonies it was ordered that all parts should issue forth a certain number of Indians with their Wives and Children who being planted according to the direction of their Caciques in such places as were convenient might improve their Lands and by Industry and Art supply that which was wanting by nature which People were called Mitimaes and were so obedient and observant to their Lords and Captains that to this day they are Drudges to them their principal care and business being to manure and cultivate the Coca Plantations which are so pretious and profitable that though in all Collao they neither sow nor reap Mayz yet neither the Lords who are Natives nor the Common People who are industrious do want sufficient quantities of Mayz Honey and all
ordered their return designing after some time of repose to employ them on some more gratefull and more pleasing Conquests The Vice-King D. Francisco de Toledo who governed those Kingdoms in the year 1572 resolved to conquer those Chirihuanas as Acosta in the 28th Chapter of his 4th Book doth relate at large and in order thereunto having appointed a considerable force of Spaniards provided with all necessaries to undertake that enterprize he entred into that Province carrying with him great numbers of Horses and Cows to breed and increase but he had not marched far before he experienced the insuperable difficulties of that undertaking which he not believing by any former report not yet admonished by the ineffectual attempts which the Incas made upon it was forced at length to abandon his Design and fly shamefully out of the Countrey The ways were so bad that the Mules were not able to pass with his Litter so that he was carried on the Shoulders of Spaniards and Indians whilst the Chirihuanas cried after them with Curses and Reproaches saying Throw down that Old Woman from her Basket that we may eat her alive For the Chirihuanas as we have said are a sort of people greedy and ravenous after Flesh because they have none in their own Countrey either of tame or wild Cattel the Soil not producing Herbage or other nourishment for them being over-run with Briers and Bushes and not cultivated with the least Art or Industry Had they conserved the Cattel which the Vice-king left them ordering Cow-keepers or Herdsmen to attend them as was practised in the Islands of Hispaniola and Cuba they might have had an increase sufficient to have stocked their Countrey Howsoever that barbarous people even from that little Conversation and Learning which they had from the Spaniards during their short abode in their Countrey reaped some benefit as to their manners for they did never afterward eat the Flesh of their own dead onely they were thirsty after the Bloud of their Neighbours and so raving for the Flesh of their Enemies that they despised their own Lives to gain theirs being insensible of all Dangers at the sight of their Prey and so much did they long for humane Flesh that when they surprised at any time Shepherds keeping their flocks of Sheep or Herdsmen watching their Cattel they would forsake and neglect the Herds and Droves to take and devour the Flesh of the Shepherds This inhumane barbarity was so dreadfull to all sorts of people and their Neighbours round about that ten Chirihuanas would chase a thousand others to whom they were so terrible that they affrighted their Children with their very Name The Chirihuanas also learned from this short visit of the Spaniards to make Houses not for private Dwellings but for the publick reception of all comers the Fashion of which was one wide Gallery divided into as many Apartments as there were Persons the Room being no bigger than what was capable to receive one single person for they had no Houshold-stuff nor Garments to cover them going always naked And thus much shall serve for what we have to say of the condition and brutish Life of the Chirihuanas who are so bestial and inhumane that nothing less than a Miracle can reclaim them from this gross and irrational course of Life CHAP. XVIII Of the Preparations which were made for the Conquest of Chili THough the good King Yupanqui had had but ill success against the Chirihuanas yet it did not discourage his Design for the Conquest of Chili or for Atchievements of a more noble Nature For in regard the great Maxime of the Incan State was the increase of their Empire they were ever attempting and designing some thing towards the enlargement of it and indeed such was the Constitution of it in those days that they could not well subsist without War their people being numerous and without Employment and the Stores of Arms Cloths and Shoes which were the Tribute of the Provinces yearly increasing there would have been no consumption of them without a War but would have decayed and perished in the Magazines or Store-houses without use for as to Gold and Silver as we have said none was exacted nor were they in use as current Coin but onely were the voluntary Presents which the Vassals gave for adornment of the Royal Palaces and Temples belonging to the Sun for these Reasons and for the Love and Obedience which his Subjects bore towards him the King Yupanqui accounted himself to be in a proper and able condition for making a War upon the Kingdom of Chili to which end having advised with his Council concerning the way and manner of carrying on the War and having constituted and ordained Officers for administration of common Justice during his absence he proceeded on his way to Chili as far as Atacama which was the most remote Province that was peopled on that side between which and Chili were great Desarts without People or Provisions and there he intended to pitch his Camp to give heat and life to the design From Atacama the Inca sent his Spies and a party like a Forlorn-hope to discover and observe the ways and Difficulties of the passage and because the care was great and the true Discovery of vast importance the charge of it was committed to Incas onely the Kings not being willing to entrust the common safety to the faithfulness of any but such as were of the Royal Lineage These Incas took with them certain Indians from Atacama and Tucma for their Guides for as we have said before these had some knowledge of the way for the better assurance of which it was ordered that from two Leagues to two Leagues the Guides should go and return with a report of the way and difficulties which they encountred in it and should by such Advices accordingly contrive with most advantage to lodge and lay their Provisions for the Army in the most commodious places With this labour and diligence they penetrated eighty Leagues through this desart Countrey which is as far as from Atacama to Copayapu which is a little but a well peopled Province environed round with long and wide Desarts for to pass forward as far as to Cuquimpu are other eighty Leagues of desart-Countrey The Spies having made a Discovery as far as Copayapu and taken as much notice of every thing as could be done by a survey of their Eyes they returned with all diligence to render an account to the Inca of what they had seen and observed The Inca having received their Information ordered ten thousand Men to be made ready under the Command of General Sinchiruca and two other Major Generals whose Names are not known the which being dispatched marched in the best order that the way would permit having their Provisions carried on the backs of Sheep whose Flesh also served for Victuals This Army being dispeeded away the Inca Yupanqui commanded that they should be followed by ten thousand more for the
brought from thence for they had no instruments of Iron or Steel wherewith to cut or fashion them Nor less wonderfull is it to think how they could be carried to the Building for they had neither Carts nor Oxen to draw them with and if they had the weight was so vast as no Cart could bear or Oxen draw then to think that they drew them with great Ropes over Hills and Dales and difficult ways by the mere force of Mens Armes is alike incredible for many of them were brought ten twelve and fifteen Leagues off particularly that Stone or Rock rather which the Indians call Saycusca which signifies tired or weary because it lies in the way having never been brought so far as to the Building but it is certain that it came fifteen Leagues from the City and was transported over the River of Yucay which is almost as broad as the Guadalquiver which runs by Cordova The Stones brought from the nearest parts were from Muyna which is five Leagues distant from Cozco But to proceed farther in our imagination of this matter and consider how it was possible for this people to fit and join such vast Machins of Stones together and cement them so close that the point of a Knife can scarce pass between them is a thing above all admiration and some of them are so artificially joined that the crevices are scarce discernible between them Then to consider that to square and fit these Stones one to the other they were to be raised and lifted up and removed often until they were brought to their just size and proportion but how this was done by Men who had no use of the Rule and Square nor knew how to make Cranes or Pullies and Cramps and other Engines to raise and lowr them as they had occasion is beyond our imagination being of that bigness that Joseph Acosta saith was prodigious For the bigness and compass of these Stones I shall rather refer my self to the Authority of this Acosta than to the report of my School-fellows of whom I desiring to be informed of the just proportion of these Stones they sent me the measures of them by Fathoms and not by Yards and Inches which account not being so exact as I desired it seemed requisite in a work so wonderfull and in which the vastness of the Stones is the greatest matter of Admiration to take the more authentick testimony of Notaries Acosta in the 14th Chapter of his 6th Book saith That the Expences which the Incas made in building Forts Temples Houses of Pleasure and other Edifices was very great and the labour excessive as the Ruins which remain make to appear and are still to be seen in Cozco Tiaguanaco Tambo and other places where the Stones are of that vast proportion as passes understanding how they were hewen squared and carried to the places where they are now fixed It is certain that for erecting those vast Buildings of Forts and Temples in Cozco and other parts by direction of the Inca there was the assistence and concourse of great multitudes required from all Provinces for the forwarding of these Works the labour was certainly great and the fashion admirable and unusual for they used no Mortar nor had they Iron or Steel to cut and polish the Stones nor Instruments or Engines to carry and raise them and yet they were so curiously joined and fitted that the places where they joined were scarce discernible and yet the Stones were of that vast bigness as is incredible unless it be to those who have seen them In Tiaguanaco I measured one my self which was thirty foot in length and eighteen in breadth and six foot in thickness In the Wall of the Fortress built at Cozco there are Stones of a far greater bigness which were laid by hand and what is most admirable is that they were never cut by any Rule being rough cast and without equal proportion and yet are fitted and joined one within the other without any Mortar or Cement all which must be done by force of Men and great toil and labour for certainly to fit one Stone to the other which were at first unequal there must be often removes which could not be performed easily but by force and strength of the Armes All which are the Words of Acosta extracted verbatim whereby he manifests the difficulty of that labour to Men who had not the use of those Instruments and Engines which are common amongst us Perhaps the Incas in the height of their Glory were desirous to recommend the greatness of their power to the admiration of all Ages as also to shew the Art and ingenuity of their Master-builders not onely in polishing their freezed Stone which the Spaniards do much admire but also in laying their rough Stones called by the Italians a la rustica in which they did as much excell as in the former and herein they did not onely shew themselves Artists but Souldiers also in the contrivances of their Fortresses which they built in every advantageous Pass and place where such a Bulwark might be of defence or bar against the Incursions of an Enemy This Castle or Fortress they erected on the top of a high Hill on the North-side of the City called Sacsahuamam at the foot of which are the Dwelling-houses of Cozco which extend themselves at a great distance on all quarters the side of this Hill which is towards the City is exactly perpendicular so that it is impregnable and cannot be stormed on that part nor can it be battered with Cannon by any level or upper ground which commands it though the Indians before the coming of the Spaniards had no thoughts or imagination of Cannon nor provided any other defence than a thick Wall of Stone curiously polished on all quarters being about two hundred fathom in compass every row of Stones was of a different height and yet laid exactly by the line and so well fitted and enchased one within the other that they needed no Lime or other Mortar to cement them The truth is they used no Mortar mixed with Sand because they knew not how to burn Lime howsoever they had a kind of a red Earth of a bituminous matter which was very binding and such as served to fill up holes and nicks in the Building And in this first row they shewed both Industry and Art for the Wall was thick and the Workmanship rare on all sides CHAP. XXVIII Of the three Walls which are most to be admired of all this Work. ON the other side from the City the Hill hath an open prospect to the Plains and the ascent to the Fortress is so easie and wide that an Enemy may easily attack it in a formed and orderly Body Wherefore they fortified it on that side with three Walls one before the other each Wall being 200 fathom in length being made in the shape of a half Moon because they come to join with the single Wall which is towards the
they had found and pitched upon they cast down all the rows of Stones above them to ten or twelve degrees above them untill they came to those which fitted their occasions In this manner they wholly overturned and destroyed the Majesty of that noble and stately building unworthy of such a Fate and which will ever remain an object of great compassion to all Beholders the Spaniards were so expedite in the destruction of it that in my time there remained onely some few ruines which we have formerly mentioned The three great Rampires of Rock are still remaining because the Stones are so vast and weighty as cannot be removed howsoever they have disordered some of them in hopes of finding that Chain or Cable of Gold which Huayna Capac made for they had some intimation that it was buried there The good King Inca Yupanqui who was the tenth of the Incas was the first Founder of this abused and injured Fortress though others will have it begun by his Father Pachacutec because he had left the first draught and model of it and had made Provisions of great quantities of Stone and Rocks for the Building besides which there were no other Materials The whole Work was fifty Years before it was completed not being finished untill the Reign of Huayna Capac nor then neither as the Indians report for that the great Rock which rested in the way was designed for additional Buildings to it but to this and many other Buildings in divers parts of the Empire a stop and disappointment was given by the Civil Wars which arose not long after between the two Brothers Huascar Inca and Atahualpa in whose time the Spaniards made their Invasion and then those Destructions and Ruines followed which are apparent at this Day Royal Commentaries BOOK VIII CHAP. I. The Conquest of the Province Huacrachucu and whence that Name was derived THE Great Tupac Inca Yupanqui whose Name of Tupac signifies Brightness and Splendour and indeed the greatness of his Atchievements deserve no less a Title so soon as his Father was dead took upon him the coloured Wreath and having complied with the Obsequies Rites and Funeral Ceremonies and Sacrifices due to the memory of deceased Kings in which he spent the first Year of his Reign he took a Progress into the several Kingdoms and Provinces of his Empire for it was the constant Custome of the young Heir so soon as he came to his Sovereignty to shew himself to his Subjects that they might both know and love his Person and that both the publick Counsellers in Provinces and particular Persons might have opportunities to represent their Aggrievances personally to the King whereby the Judges and Ministers of Justice might with more care perform their Duties fearing to tyranize and oppress the people Having in these Journies and Visitations passed four long years with which his people remained highly satisfied and contented he decreed that fourty thousand Men should be raised and put in Arms against the following Year that so he might proceed forward in the Conquests and Designs which his Ancestours had projected The great pretence on which the Incas did most avail themselves and that which best covered the Ambition they conceived for enlargement of the Empire was a Zeal towards the Welfare of the Indians whose unhumane and bestial Customs they desired to reform and improve to a more moral and political way of living and to a knowledge and worship of his Father the Sun whom they owned and proclaimed for their God. The Army being raised and all things put in order for this Design and a Governour appointed for Rule of the City the Inca took his march by way of Cassamarca intending to invade the Province of Chachapuya which as Blas Valera says signifies the Countrey of stout Men it lies Eastward from Cassamarca the Men being very valiant and the Women beautiful These Chachapuyas adored Serpents and worshipped the Bird Cuntur for their principal God on report of which the Inca Tupac Yupanqui was greatly moved to reduce this Province to his Empire being famous in several respects but the approach to it was difficult the situation being mountainous and craggy and the people of it above forty thousand in number These Chachapuyas bound a Sling about their head for the dress and ornament of it being thereby distinguished from other Nations the manner and fashion of their Sling was different from other Indians being the chief Arms which they used in the War as they were to the Ancient Mayorâ—ons But before they came to the Province of Chachapuya they were to pass through another called Huacrachucu which is very large and great but the situation mountainous and the people fierce They wear for a devise and distinction on their heads or rather did wear it for now all those fancies are confounded a black Binder of Wool stitched with white flies and instead of a Feather upon it they carried the point of a Horn of a Deer or Stag whence they had the Name of Huacrachucu which is the horned Caps for Chuâ—â— signifies the Sash about the head and Huaâ—a a Horn. This people before they were subdued by the Incas adored Serpents and in their Temples and Houses set up their figures for Idols to be worshipped This Province offering it self in the way to Chachapuya was first to be subdued and accordingly orders were given to the Army to attack it the Natives appeared in defence of their Countrey supposing it impregnable and not passable for an Army and therefore at all the difficult passes opposed the Enemy in which Skirmishes many were slain on both sides Which being observed by the Inca and his Council they considered that in case they proceeded in that rigorous and forcible manner the consequence would be of great damage to their own people and the total ruine and extirpation of their Enemies To prevent which having gained some strong and fast places they sent their Summons and Proposals of Peace and Friendship as was the custome of the Incas by which they made known to them that the intention and design of the Inca was to doe them good as had all his Ancestours done to the other Nations they had subdued and not to tyranize but to bring them greater benefit than he could expect from them That they would doe well to cast their eyes for example or other Nations whose Lands or Possessions they had not taken away but iâ—â—roved by Aqueducts and other benefits That they had permitted the Curacas to enjoy the same Government which they formerly had having no other design in all their Wars and Actions than to force Men to Adore the Sun and reform them from their inhumane and bestial customs These Propositions afforded great matter of debate to this people for though many were of opinion that they ought to accept the terms of the Inca and receive him for their Lord yet the younger sort who were more in number and of less experience opposed the
Slaughter The Bear is called Veumari There are no Tigers but onely in craggy and horrid Mountains of the Antis where also Serpents are produced of a prodigious bigness being of about twenty five to thirty foot long which they call Amaru and in compass as big as a Man's Thigh where also are great numbers of Snakes or lesser Serpents called Machachuay and poisonous Serpents and many other venemous Insects but Peru is free of these venemous Creatures A certain Spaniard with whom I was acquainted killed a Lioness of a prodigious bigness within the Antis on that side which borders toward Cozco which having lodged her self in a high Tree he shot her down with four Arrows and ripping her up found her with young of two Whelps which were the Cubs of a Tiger well known by their Spots What the Word is for a Lion in the general Tongue of Peru I have forgot and yet I cannot much reproach my memory but rather lay the fault on my own neglect not having in the space of forty two years either spoken or read in that Language which I think is a very good excuse to any who would blame me for this forgetfulness I think the Tiger is called Uturuncu though Acosta calls a Bear Otoroncos according to the corrupt manner of the Spanish pronunciation There is another sort of animal in the Antis very like a Cow but without Horns nor yet so big the Hide makes a most strong sort of Leather and as some say resists a Sword better than Buff or a Coat of Mail. They have wild Boars in shape like our tame Hogs but there are not many of this kind on that side of the Antis which borders upon Peru And as to matters on the other remote parts of the Antis it is not my design or purpose to treat Monkies and Apes there are many both great and small some of them with Tails and others without them Of the natures of them we might say much but because Acosta hath wrote thereof at large we shall use his own Words as he sets them down in the 39th Chapter of his 4th Book being agreeable to what both the Spaniards and Indians report and of what I my self have been an Eye-witness His Words follow There are great numbers of Micos which are a sort of Monkies found in all the Mountains as well those which are on the Main land as in the Islands in Antis they are of the same species with the Baboons but differ in the length of their Tails and in their proportion and size some of them being three or four times bigger than others Some of them are all black others grey and others spotted Their activity and motion is such that they seem to have reason and discourse leaping from one Tree to another in imitation of Birds In Capita as I travelled from Nombre de Dios to Panama I saw one of these Micos spring at one leap from a Tree to another Tree which grew on the other side of a Stream which to me seemed most strange and wonderfull Their manner is to sit on their Tails at the end of a Bough and thence to throw themselves to what place soever they please and when the distance is so far that they are not able to reach it they use this contrivance many of them getting together one hangs at the Tail of another making a kind of a long Chain with which fetching a long Swing the lowermost throws himself with the help of the others to the bough they aim at where hanging by his fore feet stretches out his Tail to the next companion and so one helps the other untill all are come over The tricks and mimical postures which they have are matters of great divertisement and the actions which they perform in obedience to their Commanders seem effects of humane Understanding rather than of irrational Creatures I saw one of these Monkies at Cartagena in the House of the Governour of which they related such strange things as to me seemed almost incredible They said that they sent him often to the Tavern for Wine with Money in one hand and a Bottel in the other and that when he was come to the Tavern he would not deliver his Money untill he had received his Wine if the Boys met with him by the way and made a houting or noise after him he would set down his Bottel and throw Stones at them and having cleared the way he would take up his Bottel and hasten home and that though he loved Wine excessively yet he would not dare to touch it unless his Master gave him licence They say also that if he saw a Woman at any time fine and well dressed he would presently pull her by the Cloths and ruffle them in a strange manner Perhaps something may be reported of these Creatures more than I have seen howsoever it is most certain that there is no Animal in the World so sagacious and so delighted with humane Society as this sort and race of Monkies and because the Reports concerning the understanding of these Creatures are so strange that the Instances thereof seem incredible to me and would perhaps appear fabulous to others I shall therefore omit to mention them and onely bless and admire the Authour of all Creatures that amongst all his works made for the use and benefit of Mankind he hath shaped and fashioned a Creature so ridiculous in its form and postures as serves to move laughter and yield matter of Recreation and Divertisement to Man whom he hath made Lord of this Universe Some have written that Solomon brought his Monkies from the West Indies but I am of another opinion and believe that they were fetched from the Eastern Parts Thus far are the Words of Acosta to which may be farther added that these Apes and Monkies carry their young ones at their backs untill they are able to shift for themselves the young ones taking hold with their fore-feet about their necks and clasp their hind legs about their middle all which besides their tricks and inventions before recited serve to demonstrate their sagacious dexterity and shifts like experienced Souldiers in time of necessity And because the noise they make is a Language by which one understands the other as for my part I believe that all Birds and Beasts do by their several voices understand the meaning of their own species therefore the Indians say that they can speak and that they disguise their want of speech to the Spaniards lest they should send them to work in the Mines and dig for Gold and Silver and that in imitation of the Indians they carry their young ones at their backs And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of Apes and Monkies CHAP. XIX Of their Tame and Wild-fowl both of Water and Land. THE Indians of Peru have no tame fowl but onely a sort of Ducks so called by the Spaniards because they have some kind of likeness with those in Spain they
besides those which we have mentioned in the third Book and fifteenth Chapter of our History of Florida which are found in many parts of that great Kingdom particularly in that rich Temple of the Province called Cofachiqui the 18 Mark weight of Pearl besides the two Chests which Acosta mentions to have been brought for the King's account were all choice Pearls and such as at several times were called out by the Indians and set apart for the King's use and service to whom a fifth part belonged of all the Pearls which were taken and accordingly delivered into the Royal Wardrobe from whence they were given out for adorning a Manto and Petticoat for the Image of our Lady of Guadalupe embroderying a whole Suit such as the dress of her Head Frontlers Surcoat hanging Sleeves and hem of her Garments all with the finest sort of Pearl set in Diamond-work the House or Chair of State made for this Image which were usually of a darkish colour were now covered with Rubies and Emeralds set in Gold by which it was apparent by whose command and at whose charge those Artists worked and to whose service the Catholick King did dedicate so great a Treasure which was immense and beyond the abilities and magnificence of any other than his onely who was Emperour of the Indies But to compute and rightly to calculate the Riches of this Monarch we ought to reade the fourth Book of Acosta wherein are such strange discoveries of things in the New World as are almost incredible Amongst which I have been an eye-witness my self at Sevil in the year 1579 where I saw a Pearl which a Gentleman called Don Diego de Temez brought from Panama and designed for King Philip the Second the Pearl was about the bigness of a Wallnut and roundness of a Pigeon's Egg it was valued in the Indies at twelve thousand Pieces of Eight which make fourteen thousand four hundred Ducats Jacomo de Treco of Milan an excellent Artist and Jeweler to his Catholick Majesty esteemed it at fourteen thirty fifty and sometimes at a hundred thousand Ducats that is that it had no price for in regard there was none like it in the World and that there was none with which it might be compared it was not capable of any estimation In Sevil many went to see it for a sight giving it the Name of the Foreigner A certain Italian Gentleman at that time went about that City and bought up all the choicest Pearls he could find for account of a Great Lord in Italy when having purchased a String or Chain of the best yet being compared and laid by the Foreigner they seemed like so many little pebles of the Brook. Those that knew and were acquainted with Pearls and pretious Stones did aver that it weighed 24 Quilats above any other that was ever known but what that means I am not skilfull enough to interpret The Proprietor of this Pearl said that a little Neger Boy which was not worth above a 100 Ryals fished the shell wherein it was contained out of the water which was so cragged and promised so little outwardly that they were going to cast it again into the Sea but yielding unexpectedly so great a profit to the Master he was pleased in reward for the benefit to give liberty to the Slave and in honour to the Master on whom fortune had bestowed so great a Treasure the Inhabitants of Panama were pleased to make him their High Constable the Pearl was never polished because the Master would never consent that it should be touched unless it were to bore a hole through it for they never attempt to alter the fashion or shapes of them but string them as they come from the shells so that some of them come out very round others long others flat others round of one side and flat on the other but those vvhich are in fashion of a Pear are most esteemed because they are not common When a Merchant hath got one of this shape he presently enquires and makes search for another vvhich is like it for being vvell matched they rise double in their price so that vvhen a Pearl being single is valued at a hundred Ducats being afterwards vvell matched vvith another doth presently double its price and both give a value to each other because they are made the more fit for Chains and Neck-laces for vvhich they are principally designed Pearl is of a nature vvhich vvill admit of no polishing being composed of a certain shell or tunicle vvhich covers it and vvhich decays vvith time losing much of its lustre and brightness vvhich it had at first hovvsoever vvhen they take off the upper coat or tunicle of the decayed part that vvhich is under appears as oriental as it did at first but yet vvith great damage to the Pearl being considerably lessened at least one third of its bigness Hovvsoever the best sort of Pearls do never decay and may be excepted from this general rule CHAP. XXIV Of Gold and Silver SPain it self is a sufficient witness of the Gold and Silver which comes from Peru considering that for the twenty five years last past besides what hath been formerly carried there hath been every year transported twelve or thirteen Millions according to Register besides that which hath passed without account There is Gold found in all the parts of Peru some more and some less generally in every Province It is found on the top or surface of the Earth carried by streams and currents and washed down by great flouds of Rain which the Indians gather and put into water separating it from the Earth as the Silver-smiths do the filings which fall in their shops That which is found in this manner is called Gold in dust because it is like filings some of which are indifferently big and about the fashion of a Mellon-seed some are round and others of an oval form all the Gold of Peru is about eighteen or twenty Quilats more or less in goodness onely that which comes from the Mines of Callauaya or Callahuaya is of the finest sort being twenty four Quilats and better as I have been informed by some Gold-smiths in Spain In the year 1556 there was digged out of the veins of a Rock in the Mines of Callahuaya a piece of Gold Ore of the bigness of a Man's head in colour like the Lungs of a living creature and indeed did something resemble it in the shape having certain Persorations through it from one end to the other in all which holes there appeared little kernels of Gold as if melted Gold had been dropped into them some of them being outwardly in knobs and others more inward Those that understood the nature of Mines were of opinion that had that piece of Ore been suffered to remain it would all with time have been turned into perfect Gold. In Cozco the Spaniards looked upon it as strange and unusual and the Indians called it Huaco as they did every thing which was
or precedent of so much cruelty unless it were in the case of the Chancas which happened in the Reign of the Inca Viracocha Perhaps the matter being well considered it might be a fore-runner of that grand rebellion and defection which was the destruction of the Empire and ruine of the Bloud-Royal as we shall now see in the sequel of this History CHAP. XII Huayna Capac makes his Son Atahualpa King of Quitu THE Inca Huayna Capac as we have before noted had by the Daughter of the King of Quitu who was Heir to that Kingdom a Son named Atahualpa who was a person of great understanding and of a quick wit and apprehension he was also of a subtile jealous and cautious temper naturally courageous and addicted to War of a good shape and gentile body with a pleasant Air in his mouth as have commonly all the Incas and Pallas which are Ladies These Endowments of mind and body were so pleasing to his Father that he loved him entirely and would have him always in company with him and would have made him his sole Heir and Successour to his Empire but that he could not disinherit his Eldest Son Huascar who claimed by Right of Primogeniture a title to all the Estate and Empire of his Father Howsoever as to the Kingdom of Quitu there seemed some colour of justice to dismember it from the Empire and confer it in right of his Mother on her Son Atahualpa the which being the desire and intention of Huayna Capac he sent for the Prince Huascar then at Cozco to come to him and in a full Assembly of his Captains and Curacas spake to his legitimate Son and Heir in this manner It is well known Prince that according to the ancient Custome and Canon of our Ancestours derived to us from our first Father Manco Capac this Kingdom of Quitu belongs to your Crown and Inheritance having ever been maintained for a rule unto this day that whatsoever Kingdoms or Provinces have been conquered have ever been annexed to the Imperial Crown of which Cozco is the chief City and Metropolis But in regard I bear so tender an affection towards your Brother Atahualpa that it would grieve me much to see him poor I could therefore wish you would consent to part with the Kingdom of Quitu that so I might bestow it upon him for though the Inheritance in right be yours yet considering that that Kingdom was the Patrimony of his Fathers and came by his Mother and that I have added many Countries and Provinces to your Patrimony you may the more easily condescend to my desires in this and so yielding Quitu to your Brother whose Vertues deserve a Royal condition your interest will be fortified and strengthened by the assistence of such an Associate who being endeared the more by this obligation will be able to recompence the favour and serve yoâ—â— in the Wars for the Conquest of many other Countries which are adjacent to your Frontiers and pay you for the release of this Kingdom by the acquisition of many more which if you think fit to grant I shall then depart with contentment out of this World when I go to rest with our Father the Sun. The Prince Huascar answered his Father with a chearfull frankness telling him that he was over-joyed of this opportunity wherein he might demonstrate his readiness to obey his Father the Inca in any thing which he might esteem for his service and that if it were necessary for the better accommodation of his Brother Atahualpa that he should release other Provinces provided it may be to give his Father satisfaction he would esteeming nothing so dear and valuable as his pleasure and contentment Huayma Capac having received this obliging Answer from his Son Huascar gave him leave to return to Cozco and then contrived the ways in what manner to settle his Son Atahualpa in the Kingdom of Quitu adding other Provinces to his Crown and Dignity he also bestowed upon him several of his Captains of best experience and furnished him with part of his Army and in short omitted nothing to render him great though it were to the prejudice of the Prince to whose right the whole Succession and Inheritance appertained And being a most tender and indulgent Father and passionate in the love of this Son he designed to be an Assistant to him in the Administration of all the affairs of his Kingdom during the time of his life the which resolution was taken both out of care and favour to his Son that so he might lay a good foundation to his Kingdom and also that he might the better keep the new Conquests lately made upon the Sea-coast and Inland Countries in subjection for the people there being warlike barbarous and bestial were ready upon all occasions to rebell and rise in Arms against the Government of the Inca For securing of which Peace it was the custome and practice of the Incas to transplant the people from one Province to another which was an approved course to make them quiet and peaceable and much more observant and submissive to their Kings as we have at large discoursed in those places where we have treated of Colonies called by them Mitmac CHAP. XIII Of the two famous and great Roads in Peru. IT were but justice to the Life and Memory of Huayna Capac if we mention those two great Roads which run North and South through the whole Kingdom of Peru because the making of them is attributed unto him One of them passes along by the Sea-coast and the other over the Mountains to the Inland Countries which Historians describe with high Enlargements though in reality the work exceeds the common fame And in regard I cannot pretend to lay them down with such exactness as some have done I shall therefore refer my self to their Relations and begin with Augustin Carate who in the 13th Chapter of his first Book speaking of the Original of the Incas hath these words In a due and orderly succession of these Incas there was one called Guaynacava which signifies a rich young Man who came to the Government and encreased and greatly enlarged his Dominions his business being chiefly to advance Justice and Reason he so far prevailed on the uncultivated understandings of that barbarous people that he seemed to have worked Miracles in political conversation having reduced them without the help of letters to Obedience and Rule and gained so far on the affection of his Vassals that for his service they readily applied their hands and their hearts to make and open a large Road in Peru which was so famous that we cannot in justice omit to mention and describe it in regard that amongst the seven Wonders of the World there was none made at greater expence and labour than this When this Guaynacava marched with his Army from Cozco to conquer the Province of Quitu which are about five hundred Leagues distant one from the other he suffered many
difficulties in his passage by reason of the inaccessible ways over Rocks and Mountains which he was to overcome Howsoever having passed and subdued that Countrey and being now to return again victorious and triumphant the Indians broke a convenient way through the Mountains which they made both plain and wide breaking the Rocks and levelling the Ground which was ruff and uneven so that sometimes they were forced to raise it fifteen or twenty fathom in height and in other places to sink it as far and in this manner they continued their work for five hundred Leagues in length And it is reported that when this work was finished the way was so plain that a Cart or Coach might be driven over it yet afterwards in the time of the Wars all this workmanship and labour was demolished by the Indians to make the ways and passes more difficult to the Christians Now if we compare this work with the short cut onely of two Leagues of Mountain which is between Espinar Sâ—govia and Guadarrama in Spain and consider what charge and labour hath been there employed onely to make that way tolerably passable for the Kings of Castile when at any time they passed with their Equipage and Court from Andaluzia or Toledo and travelled into parts beyond those Mountains which as I say if it were considered what an immense and incredible work must this seem to have been Nay farther the Incas were not content with this for this Guaynacava intending again to visit the Province of Quitu for variety in his Travels he resolved to take his passage through the Plains which the Indians though with no less difficulty made as convenient as that of the Mountains for in all those Vallies which were watered with Rivers and Fountains and were planted with Trees which as we have said elsewhere did commonly continue for a full League they made a way almost forty foot wide with thick Mud-walls on each side being four or five Frames or Pannels of this Mud in height And then entring out of these Plains into the sandy ways they drove in great Stakes into the ground on one side and the other that so Travellers might not mistake their way or wander either on one hand or the other and in this manner all was ordered for the space of five hundred Leagues being the same distance as over the Mountains But now the Stakes fixed in the sandy Grounds are in many parts broken or plucked up by the Spaniards who in the times as well of War as Peace made use of them for fuel yet the Walls which are made in the Vallies remain entire unto this day by which we may conjecture and judge of the greatness of this work And thus did this Guaynacava go by one way and return by another being always covered with Boughs of Trees and entertained with the fragrant smells of sweet Flowers Thus far are the Words of Augustin de Carate Likewise Pedro de Cieça de Leon discoursing of this matter and of the Road through the Mountains hath these words in the 37th Chapter of his Book From Ypiales you travel to a small Province called Guaca and in the way thither you pass that famous Road which the Incas made in those parts and may be compared to that which Hannibal made over the Alpes when he marched into Italy and indeed considering the great Chambers and Store-houses which were made in that way it seems a more difficult and a more admirable piece of work Of which Pedro de Cieça enlarges no farther howsoever in the 60th Chapter of his Book speaking of the Road over the Plains he hath these words That I may proceed in my History with due method I have thought it requisite before I conclude to mention something relating to the Road over the Plains which as I have touched in other places is a work of singular remark and importance And therefore I must here denote something of that high Road over the Plains half of which at least is a way made by order of the Ingas the which though now it is in many places broken down and demolished yet the Ruines of it are durable evidences of the power of those who first commanded the same to be made The Indians attribute this work to Guaynacapa and Topa Ynga Yupanque his Father who descended by these Vallies to the lower Provinces though some report that Inga Yupangue the Grandfather of Guaynacapa and Father of Topa Ynga was the first who discovered that Coast and passed those Plains unto it and that the Caciques or chief Governours of those parts made the Road fifteen Foot broad by command and direction of that Inga on each side a very strong Wall was built adjoyning to which were fine groves of Trees planted the Boughs of which did sometimes reach over the way being laden with Fruit and the floor or the way under foot was smooth and easie the Woods and Forests all along were inhabited by Singing-birds Parrots and Fowls of all sorts And farther this de Cieça treating of the Store-houses and places of entertainment and provision saith That these Walls reach all along the way excepting onely those sandy desarts which could not bear a foundation Howsoever as proofs of the greatness of the Founders and as signs and marks to direct Travellers great Timbers in the manner of Piles were driven into the ground at such a space and distance as were easily seen from one to the other And as they were very carefull to keep the ways in the Vallies clear and the Walls in good repair so also the like diligence was used to keep up the Posts or Stakes in case any of them should be blown down by the Wind or overturned by any other accident So that this Road was certainly a great piece of Workmanship though not so laborious in the making as that of the Mountains In these Vallies also there were some Fortresses and Temples of the Sun which we shall specifie in their due places Thus far are the Words of Pedro de Cieça which we have extracted verbatim Likewise John Botero Benes makes mention of these two Roads and in his Observations denotes them for miraculous Works and in short says thus much of them From the City of Cozco there are two great Roads or King's High-ways running at least two thousand Miles in length one of which goes by the way of the Plains and the other leads by the Mountains And in making these ways in the manner they now are being twenty five Foot broad it was necessary to raise the Vallies level the Mountains and cut through the solid and living Rocks which is a Work so great as exceeds above any comparison the Pyramids of Egypt or the Roman Edifices All which is extracted out of the Words of the three preceding Authours who treat of these two famous Roads every one of which exalts their praises to such a degree as most pleases his fancy though they all come short of
the breast of Huascar he grew so sad and pensive that not being able to support longer the burthen of his jealousie he dispatched a Messenger to his Brother Atahualpa giving him to understand that according to the ancient Constitution and Canon of the First Inca Manco Capac which had been observed by all generations descended from him the Kingdom of Quitu and all the dependencies belonging to it were properly and of right inherent in the Crown and Imperial Seat of Cozco And though he had quitted his claim thereunto in respect to that forced obedience he owed to his Father yet by the strict Rules of Justice he was not obliged thereunto nor was any such Resignation lawfull being to the damage of his Crown and to the right of his Successours which his Father had neither power to enjoin nor be to perform But in regard his Father had so commanded it and he assented he was willing to confirm the same Grant to him on two Conditions First that he do not add one Foot of Land to his present Dominions for that all his Conquests do of right belong to the Empire and secondly that as a Feudatory he perform towards him Homage and Vassalage This Message Atahualpa received with all the submission and humility imaginable and having taken three days time to return his Answer he with all the seigned affection and subtile dissimulation he could contrive made this Reply That he had always in his heart entertained obedient thoughts towards his Lord and Sovereign the Capac Inca and that as an evidence thereof he would never attempt to encrease and enlarge his Dominions of Quitu but by the order and with the consent of his Majesty to whose pleasure he was so entirely devoted that in case he should think sit to dispose otherwise of his Kingdom he would willingly resign all to his command and live as privately in his Court as any of his Uncles and Kindred serving him both in Peace and War with faithfulness and diligence This joyfull Answer from Atahualpa the Messenger returned with all expedition by the Post remaining still at the Court of Atahualpa in expectation of Instructions from the Inca of what farther to act and negotiate therein The Inca receiving this soft Answer with great joy and satisfaction replied again That he did not in the least repine at the Possessions which his Father had bestowed on Atahualpa for that he did again confirm them to him provided that he did always within such a term of years repair constantly to Cozco and perform the Homage he had agreed To which Atahualpa returned answer That he was very happy to know the Will and Pleasure of his Lord the Inca but much more to perform it which that he might doe he would speedily repair to the place appointed to take the Oath of Allegiance and for the doing thereof in the most solemn manner he desired his Majesties licence and permission that all the Provinces of his State might attend him thither to join with him in the solemn celebration of the funeral Obsequies of his Father Huayna Capac according to the custome observed by the Kingdom of Quitu and the Provinces depending on it and that having accomplished that ceremony both he and all his Subjects would take the Oath of Allegiance and Fealty Huascar Inca easily consented to this gratefull Proposition which his Brother had made to him giving him to understand that he might take his time of coming to Cozco when it seemed most convenient and that he gave him leave to celebrate the rites of his Father's Funeral according to the custome of his Countrey And so both the Brothers appeared satisfied the one rejoycing at the good correspondence he had with his Brother little suspecting the malitious design that lay concealed under it of bereaving him of his Life and Empire and the other pleased himself with the thoughts and contrivance of his damnable Plot which he had laid to make himself Master both of one and the other CHAP. XXXIII The Subtilties which Atahualpa used to take suspicion from the mind of his Brother THings being thus prepared the King Atahualpa published a Decree through all his Kingdom and Provinces that all people who were able to travel unto Cozco should within the space of so many days prepare themselves to take a Journey thither that they might according to the ancient custome of their Nation celebrate the Funeral Rites of the Great Huayna Capac his Father and take the Oaths of Homage and Allegiance to their Supreme Monarch Huascar Inca and that for the greater glory and splendour every one should appear in his best Ornaments and Garments befitting such a Solemnity but secretly he intimated his instructions to his Captains that in their respective Divisions they should take care to chuse such select Men as were Souldiers and better armed for War than accoutred for performance of the Obsequies and that they should march in divers Divisions of five and six hundred in a Squadron and so disguise the matter as to appear in the outward shew rather like Servants and Attendants than like Souldiers and that every Division should march at two or three Leagues distance each from the other And moreover he gave Orders to the Captains who led the Van that when they were come within ten or twelve days March of Cozco that then they should shorten their pace that the Rere might come up to them who were commanded to double their March that so they might overtake those in the Van. In this order the Troops of Atahualpa consisting of above thirty thousand select Men most being old veterane Souldiers proceeded in their March who also were Commanded by those famous and experienced Captains which his Father had left and recommended to him two of which Officers were especially famous above the rest one of which was called Challchucima and the other Quizquiz and Atahualpa gave out that he would himself in Person bring up the Rere Huascar placing great confidence in the words of his Brother and much more in that untainted Loyalty which the Indians had ever born to their Incas a testimony of which faithfulness is given by Acosta in these words taken out of the twelfth Chapter of his sixth Book Without doubt said he great was the reverence and affection which this people shewed to their Incas it having never been known that any one of them was ever guilty of High-Treason c. For which reason Huascar suspecting nothing less than such a faithless and treasonable design did with all freedom and generous liberty give order that they should be supplied with all Provisions in their way and all kind treatment shewed them as befitted Brothers who were travelling to perform the Funeral Rites of their Father and to take the Oaths of Fealty and Allegiance Thus both Parties moved on different considerations that of Huascar with all the simplicity and sincerity imaginable and the other of Atahualpa with all the subtile artifice and cunning
this Story he recounts the cruel treatment and hard usage of poor Huascar during the time of his imprisonment together with the dolefull complaints he uttered which we shall rehearse in their due place This Coya Cuxi Varcay which he says was the Wife of Xayre Topa was called Cuss Huarque of whom we shall discourse hereafter The Field where this Battel was fought was called Quipaypan by corruption though properly it had the Name of Quepaypa which signifies a Trumpet as if from thence the Triumph of Atahualpa was trumpeted and sent its sound into all parts of the Empire I remember that when I was a Boy I went three or four times into those Fields with other Boys who were my School-fellows where we enjoyed the recreation of Hawking with some Hawks which the Indian Faulconers managed for us In this manner as we have related was all the Bloud-Royal and Family of the Incas extinguished and extirpated in the space of two years and a half and though they might in a much shorter time have exhausted the veins of Royal Bloud yet to prolong their pleasure in Cruelty they reserved some on which their appetites might feed and still be delighted in new exercises of torment The Indians say that the Field where the great effusion of this Bloud was made was called Yahuarpampa or the Field of Bloud and that it rather took its denomination from the Bloud of the Incas than from that of the Chancas for though the quantity of the Bloud of the Chancas was greater yet the quality of the Incas made theirs much more estimable and the death of Women and Children being of tender sex and age rendered the many Murthers more tragical and execrable CHAP. XXXVIII How some of the Bloud-Royal escaped the Cruelty of Atahualpa SOme notwithstanding all this escaped out of the City some came not within their power and others by the connivance of the people of Atahualpa who being satiated with this slaughter and touched with some remorse to see that bloud so plentifully shed which they once adored for Divine connived at the escape which some of them made out of the circle in which they were encompassed and not onely so but some gave them opportunity to change their Apparel which was the badge and distinction of an Inca for disguises after the Habit of common Indians For as we have said before the Incas were distinguished by their Garments but those whom they permitted to make an escape were Infants and Children under the Age of ten or eleven years amongst which my Mother was one together with her Brother Don Francisco Hualipa Tupac Inca Yupanqui with whom I was acquainted and who since my abode in Spain hath wrote me several Letters besides which I knew very few who escaped from this miserable Outrage from whom I received the Relation of all that I report concerning this execrable slaughter I knew also two Auquis who were Princes being Sons of Huayna Capac the one called Paullu who was one of those who escaped as we have mentioned the other was called Titu and being a Child then was afterwards baptized whose Christian Name we have formerly signified Paullu left a Son which descended from Spanish Bloud whose Name was Don Carlos Inca he was my School-fellow and afterwards Married with a Noble Lady born in that Countrey and from Spanish Parents by whom he had Don Melchior Carlos Inca who in the last year which was 1602 came into Spain to see that Court but chiefly by the advice of some friends who persuaded him that he should receive great rewards for the Services which his Grandfather had performed towards the Conquest and Settlement of Peru and afterwards for the resistence he made against those Usurpers and Tyrants of whom we shall speak in our History of the Empire but a more especial respect was due to him for being the Great Nephew of Huayna Capac and descended by the Male line so that he is the Head and chief Family of those few which remain of the Bloud-Royal He now at present resides at Valladolid in expectation of rewards which though they may be great and considerable yet can scarce be such as may equal his merit I know not whether Titu had any Issue but I remember two Nustas or Princesses which were the lawfull Daughters of Huayna Capac one of which was called Beatriz Coya and was afterwards Married to Martin de Mustincia a Noble Person who was Accountant of the Revenue of the Emperour Charles the Fifth in Peru they had three Sons which were called the Bustincias and another called John Sierra de Leguizano who was a fellow Student with me at School the other Nusta was called Donna Leonor Coya the first time she Married was with a Spaniard called John Balsa with whom I was not acquainted being then young they had a Son of the same Name who went also to School with me But her second Marriage was with Francis de Villacastin who was one of the first Conquerours of Peru as also of Panama and other Countries There is a Story which goes of him worthy to be noted which I found in the History of Francis Lopez de Gomara which is That this Villacastin was the first that planted Colonies in Pedrarias Nombre de Dios and Panama that he opened a passage and made a Road from one Town to another with great pains and charge through Rocks and Mountains in which were infinite numbers of Lions and Tygers and Bears and such multitudes of Monkies of all sorts and sizes that being disturbed they would make such a hideous noise as was sufficient to make Travellers deaf and would climb up Trees with great Stones to let them fall on the heads of such as came within their reach Thus far are the Words of Gomara But I have seen some Marginal Notes in a Book wrote by one of the Conquerours of Peru in which is this passage That a Monky threw a stone at a person armed with a Cross-bow named Villacastin and beat out two of his Teeth he was afterwards one of the Conquerours of Peru and Lord of a great Countrey called Ayaviri but being taken Prisoner he dyed in Cozco he was one who took part with Piçarro in Xaquixaguana where one that owed him a displeasure gave him a cut over the face after he yielded to quarter He was an honest Man and did good to all though he dyed poor after he was despoiled of his Indians and of his Estate This Villacastin killed the Monky with his Cross-bow he chancing to shoot at the same time that the Monky threvv his stone Thus far are the Remarks of the Conquerour the vvhich I can in part confirm because I knevv the person and savv that he vvanted tvvo Teeth in the upper rovv of his Mouth and it vvas the common report in Peru that they vvere beaten out by a Monky I have thought fit to insert this Story as I do others of like nature for the truth of
vvhich I refer my self to divers Witnesses Other Incas and Pallas I knevv to the number of tvvo hundred vvhich vvere all of the Royal Bloud but of less note than those vvhich I formerly mentioned vvho vvere the immediate Sons of Huayna Capac My Mother vvas his Brothers Daughter vvhose Name vvas Huallpa Tupac Inca Yupanqui I vvas acquainted vvith one Son and tvvo Daughters of King Atahualpa one of them vvas called Angelina of vvhom the Marquis Don Francisco Piçarro begat a Son called Francisco vvho vvhen vve vvere of the Age of eight or nine years vvas a great Antagonist and Competitor vvith me for running and leaping his Uncle vvas Gonçalo Piçarro This Marquis had also a Daughter called Francisca vvhich vvas very beautifull and Married aftervvards to his Uncle Hernando Piçarro her Father begat her upon a Daughter of Huayna Capac called Ynes Huallas Nusta vvho vvas aftervvards Married to Martin de Ampuero an Inhabitant of the City of los Reyes The Son of the Marquis and another of Gonçalo Piçarro coming into Spain dyed young to the great grief of those vvho knevv them being the hopefull Off-spring of such renovvned Fathers But as to the other Daughter of Atahualpa I may mistake her Name vvhich vvas either Beatriz or Isabel she Married vvith a Spaniard called Blas Gomera and Wedded a second time vvith a Gentleman who was of Spanish and Indian Bloud called Sanco de Rojas but his Son was called Francisco Atahualpa he was a very handsome Youth well shaped and of a lovely countenance as were all the other Incas and Pallas but he dyed young We shall shortly mention him on occasion of a Story which my old Uncle the Brother of my Mother told me when he related the Cruelties of Atahualpa There was another Son of Huayna Capac remaining with whom I was not acquainted he was called Manco Inca and was the lawfull Heir to the Empire for Huascar dyed without Issue Male of whom we shall make mention hereafter CHAP. XXXIX Of what farther Cruelty was used towards the Servants of the Court. BUT to return to the Cruelties of Atahualpa who not content with the death and slaughter of all the Royal Family together with the Lords Captains and Nobility proceeded to Massacre all the Servants of the Court who were Domesticks within the House of whose Function and several Ministeries we have given a particular in its place for these were not particular persons but whole Villages to whose care it belonged to provide Servants for the Court and to change and alter them according to their times of waiting with these also Atahualpa had a quarrel for the Relation they had to the Court as also because they bore the Name of Inca which was conferred on them by that privilege and favour which the first Inca Manco Capac conferred on them Upon these Atahualpa vented his Cruelties but with more exquisite torment on such who were more near Attendants on the Person of the King such as Porters Keepers of the Wardrobe and Jewels Butlers Cooks and the like with whose lives not contenting himself together with the bloud of their Wives and Children he proceeded to burn and destroy their Houses and Villages which they inhabited but such as were Servants at a farther distance such as Cleavers of Wood and Drawers of Water were more gently treated for some of those they decimated killing every tenth or fifth Man in some places every third Man so that all the Villages within six or seven Leagues of Cozco suffered a particular and extraordinary Persecution besides the general calamity in which the whole Empire was involved being filled in all places with Slaughter Fire Robberies Rapes and Violences with what other miseries and devastation the licence of an unbridled Souldiery can exercise upon a Nation Nor were the Cities and Towns which were remote from Cozco exempt from the like calamities for so soon as Atahualpa heard of the Imprisonment of Huascar he entred all the Countries which were bordering on his Frontiers with Fire and Sword and particularly that which is called Cannaris because at the beginning they refused to yield him Obedience In revenge for which so soon as he gained power he treated them with all the severity imaginable which Augustin Carate in the 15th Chapter of his Book expresses in these Words Coming into the Province of Cannaris he assassinated sixty thousand Men being they had made opposition against him and putting all to Fire and Sword he laid wholly waste the Plantation of Tumibamba which is situate in a Plain and watered with three streams and thence proceeding in his Conquests left not one Man alive of all those who defended themselves c. the like Francisco Lopez reports almost in the same Words But Peter de Cieça is more large in his Relation saying that the want of Men and the abundance of Women in his time belonging to the Province of Cannaris was the cause that in the Wars of the Spaniards the Writers thereof mentioned Indian Men for Indian Women for to them they gave Commands in the Army And in giving the reason for it he useth these Words in the 44th Chapter of his Book Some Indians tell us saith he that by reason of the great numbers of Women which remained after that Atabalipa had destroyed all the Men of this Province whom he unhumanely butchered and after he had routed and destroyed in the Countrey of Ambaro the Brother of Guascar called Antoco who was the Captain-General of that people and had put to death all the Men and Children of that Province coming with green Boughs and Palms in their hands to implore his Mercy yet not being moved with such a spectacle of compassion he with a cruel and severe countenance commanded his Captains and Souldiers to fall upon them and slay them all by which a miserable slaughter was made of multitudes of Males as we have related in the third Part of this History so those who are now living say that there are fifteen Women in that Countrey to one Man. Thus far are the Words of Peter de Cieça with which we shall end this unpleasing Story of the Cruelties of Atahualpa for the present and reassume the particulars again in their proper places And now occasionally upon these Cruelties I was put in mind of a Story of Don Francisco the Son of Atahualpa who dyed some Months before I went for Spain which is this The day after his Death very early in the Morning before his Burial those few Incas who were remaining made a visit to my Mother and amongst the rest came the Old Inca whom I have formerly mentioned who instead of condoling and saying I am sorry for your loss because the party deceased was my Mothers Brothers Son he said to my Mother I am glad that the Great Pachacamac or Maker of the Universe hath conserved you unto this day in which you have seen the end and destruction of all your Enemies adding many other expressions full of
joy and contentment on this occasion But I not well understanding the meaning of this Drollery replied to him and said Uncle why should we rejoice for the Death of Don Francisco since he was our Kinsman and Acquaintance With which turning towards me with great anger and passion and taking the end of his Mantle and biting it with his Teeth as the manner is amongst the Indians when they are in a rage retorted upon me and said What you have a mind to be a Kinsman to an Auca the Son of another Auca which signifies a Tyrant and Traytour who destroyed our Empire and killed our Inca who exhausted our Bloud and extirpated our Family who committed so many outrages unnatural to our Kindred unknown and abhorred by our Forefathers Give me but this dead Rascal into my hand and you shall see me eat him raw without Pepper or Salt. Oh that Traytor his Father was surely no Son of Huayna Capac our Inca but some mean Bastard of an Indian of Quitu with whom his Mother plaid the Whore and abused our King for if he had been an Inca he could never have been guilty of those horrid Cruelties and Abominations he committed nor could such execrable designs have entred into his imagination for considering that it was a fundamental Doctrine of our Ancestours never to doe hurt or damage unto any no not so much as to their Enemies What Monster then of iniquity must this Man be who violating all the Rules of Humanity hath imbrued his hands in the bloud of all his Relations Then do not say that this person can be descended from our Lineage whose disposition was unnatural and different to the temper and constitution of our Forefathers Consider what an injury you doe to them to us nay to your self in styling us the Kinsmen of a most cruel Tyrant who from the degree of Kings reduced those few of us who escaped his outrageous hands to the condition of servitude and slavery All this and much more this Inca uttered with such rage moved by a sensible remembrance of those detestable cruelties which Atahualpa had committed that the satisfaction they received by the Death of Don Francisco was changed into woe and lamentations And indeed this Francisco during the time of his Life was so sensible of the common hatred of Mankind towards him which avoided his conversation flying from him as from the Pestilence that he with shame absconded himself and lived retired within his own doors the like also did his two Sisters who hearing all places resound with Auca which properly signifies Cruelties Tyrannies and Misfortunes were filled with shame and confusion CHAP. XL. What remains survived of the Incan Family A Long time after I had finished this ninth Book I received Advices from Peru out of which I have framed this Chapter concerning the Reliques of the Incan Bloud which being greater than I thought I have added as pertinent to this History For in the year 1603 they all joined in a Letter directed to Don Melchior Carlos Inca Son of Don Alonso de Mesa who lived near Cozco and likewise to my self desiring us that we would intercede in their behalf with his Majesty that he would be pleased to exempt them from Tribute and from those grievous Exactions with which they were charged in common with other Indians for performance of which they delegated all and every of us with full Power and Authority from them particularly named descended from such and such a King and for better proof of their Lineage they sent a Royal Tree of their Pedigree drawn out upon a Yard and half of white Taffity made of the Bark of the China Tree descending from Manco Capac to Huayna Capac and his son Paullu the Chief Incas being all curiously painted in their ancient Habits upon their Heads they wore the coloured Twist or Wreath in their Ears their great Earings with Partesans in their hands in the place of Sceptres being painted from their Breasts upwards The Papers were directed to me which I addressed to Don Melchior Carlos Inca and Don Alonso de Mesa then residing in the Court at Valladolid because my other affairs would not permit me to attend this cause in which I should otherwise have gladly employed both my time and life This Letter which was subscribed by the Incas was wrote by one of them in a very fair Character the phrase or style was partly Indian and in part Castillian they being all now much conformed to the Spanish Mode and it was dated the 16th of April 1603. I did not think fit to insert a Copy thereof here because it is too sad and tragical recounting the dolefull estate into which they were fallen The Address is penn'd with such assurance of his Majesty's favour that as we all believe whensoever his Catholick Majesty shall be informed and made sensible thereof he will not onely ease them of their burthens but bestow such privileges on them as are decent and becoming the Royal Off-spring of Kings The Scheme vvhich they drevv of their Pedigree vvas exactly framed for the Kings vvho vvere Incas vvere painted in their several Figures denoting on each side the descendencies from them vvith this Inscription Capac Ayullu vvhich is the Royal Off-spring and is the Title in common to all signifying thereby hovv all of them vvere derived from the first Inca Manco Capac then the Pedigree of every King hath its particular distinction vvith different Names by vvhich appears hovv every one descended from such and such a King. The Issue or Progeny of Manco Capac they call Chima Panaca from vvhich forty Incas are successively descended That of Sinchi Rocca they call Raurava Panaca from vvhence proceeded sixty four Incas That of Lloque Yupanqui the third Inca they call Hahuaniva Ayllu from whence descended sixty three Incas That of Capac Yupanqui they call Apu Mayta from whence are fifty six That of Mayta Capac the fifth King they call Usca Mayta from whence are thirty five That of Inca Roca they call Vicaquitau from whence are fifty That of Yahuar Huacac the seventh King they call Aylli Panaca from whence are sixty nine The Issue of Inca Pachacutec and his Son Inca Yupanqui being joined together are called Inca Panaca and make up a double number of ninety nine The Off-spring descended from Tupac Inca Yupanqui they call Capac Ayllu which signifies no more than the Royal Progeny which confirms what we have declared before concerning that Title and of this branch there are onely eighteen The Off-spring of Huayna Capac they call Tumipampa in remembrance of that solemn Festival which he instituted in honour of the Sun and celebrated in that wide and open Field which is situate in the Province of Cannaris where he erected Royal Palaces and Store-houses for support and accommodation of the Souldiery together with a Monastery for the Select Virgins and a Temple of the Sun all which were so magnificent and stately and so full of
entred into Articles under Hand and Seal never to forsake each other in any Dangers or Discouragements whatsoever that should happen untill they had made an entire Conquest of Peru and that vvhat Riches or Booty they should gain should be friendly and amicably divided between them It was agreed that Hernando de Luque should remain and be their Agent at Panama to order and provide for their Affairs so as to yield them succours that Piçarro should be employed in the Discovery and that Almagro should go and come with supplies of Men and Horse and Ammunition for relief of their Companions who were immediately employed in the Conquest This School-Master they called Harnando the Fool or Coxcomb and the same might be said of all the three for who cannot but blame such Men as these who having endured great Travails and Labours in the World and already entred into years so that the youngest of them passed fifty and all of them rich and commodious in the World yet that Men under these circumstances should engage themselves in new Adventures full of uncertainty without knowledge of the Countrey whether it were rich or poor and without consideration of the hazards and difficulties of it seems the Work and Design of rash and adventurous Fools But the good fortune of those who now enjoy the Benefit of their Labours was that which called them to this Enterprise or rather the Mercy and Providence of God towards those Gentiles who was pleased to make use of those means for propâ—â—â—tion of the Gospel in those parts which he confirmed by such signs and Wondâ—â—s as very much conduced to the easiness of the Conquest CHAP. II. Of the excellent Fruit and Advantages which have resulted from the Union and Agreement of these three Spanish Cavaliers THis triple accord which these three Spaniards made at Panama puts me in mind of that confederacy which the three Roman Emperours made at Layno a place near Bologna but yet in comparing them one with the other they are so different in their several circumstances that they seem to hold no agreeable comparison or similitude for on the one side those were Emperours and these but private and poor Persons those treated of the Division of the old World which had been the Prize and Conquest of their Roman Ancestours and which they desired to enjoy with peace and plenty but these engolfed themselves into Toils and Labours to gain the Empire of a new World which was so unknown to them that they were ignorant both of the difficulties they were to sustain in the Conquests and of the value of their Victories when acquired If also we consider the intentions and effects of one and the other we shall find the same diversity for that Triumvirate composed of three Tyrants was concluded and established on no other ground than to exercise a tyrannical Power over all the World and to afflict and destroy but this was a design of three generous Gentlemen each of which deserved an Imperial Crown having no other end than to enrich the World with unknown Treasures as every days experience proves and as will be made manifest in the following Chapters Moreover the intention of that Triumvirate was to betray their Allies Friends and Parents into the hands of their Enemies but this was to sacrifice themselves for the advantage of others that they might acquire a benefit equally profitable to Enemies as well as Friends all which appears by those immense Riches which daily issue from the Bowels of the unknown World and are communicated not onely to Christians but even to the Gentiles Jews Moors Turks and Hereticks who enjoy the benefit of these generous Labours But that which we ought primarily to consider that by our Triumvirate Christianity was first introduced into the great Empire of Peru and a Gate opened to the preaching of the Gospel by which many faithfull Souls have been gathered into the bosome of the Church so that who is it that can sufficiently admire or express the greatness of this Enterprise Oh thou great Name and Family of the Piçarros how much are all the Nations and Inhabitants of the old World indebted unto thee for those vast Riches they have extracted from the new and how much more do those two Empires of Mexico and Peru owe to thee for those thy two Sons Hernando Cortes and Francis Piçarro and for thy Brothers Hernando Piçarro John Piçarro and Gonçalo Piçarro by whose indefatigable labours those poor Indians have been drawn from the darkness of obscure Ignorance to the true light and knowledge of the Gospel How much therefore is this Triumvirate to be approved and applauded above that of the three Roman Emperours of which Guichiardin in his History of Florence gives this Censure Laino a place famous for the League contracted between Marcus Antonius Lepidus and Otavianus who under the term and notion of a Triumvirate contrived and executed such abominable pieces of Tyranny as had never before been practised or named at Rome but our Triumvirate deserves a quite different Character as the Writings of Lopez de Gomara Augustin de Carate and other modern Historians will abundantly prove whose Books and Relations we shall as often quote as our subject matter on which we treat shall require a confirmation from their Authority CHAP. III. Of the little Money which was in Spain before the Conquest of Peru. TO make more evidently appear the great Riches which this Triumvirate purchased to the World we must make a large digression from our design in hand and for the more clear elucidation hereof we must make use of the Authority of some Historians who have noted and described the Revenue of certain Kingdoms which before the Conquest of Peru were vastly short of that Income which they yield at present Bodinus in his Book of Commonwealths shews both in general and particularly specifies the Revenues of some Commonwealths and Princes to have been of inconsiderable value before the Conquest of Peru in comparison of their present improvements and instances in several Estates which were mortgaged or sold at mean prices he tells us how small was the pay of Souldiers and the wages which Princes gave to their Servants and at how cheap a rate all things were sold and in short that what was formerly valued at an hundred Crowns a year is now worth a thousand and that all Lands and Houses are risen twenty times in the value of their rent Farther he instances in the ransome which Lewis the 9th King of France paid for his own Person to the Soldan of Egypt which he says amounted to no more than five hundred thousand Florins and this he compares with the ransome of three Millions which Charles the first of France paid to the Emperour Charles the 5th for his ransome Farther he adds that in the Reign of Charles the 6th which was about the Year 1449. the yearly Revenue of the whole Crown of France did not amount to above four
have their Lodgings therein In this Fortress of which there remain some Ruines to this day Guayna Capac did by his Deputy gather and collect the Tributes of the People and laid them up there with many pretious Jewels as also all Provisions for the Souldiers of the Garrison and for those which marched that way also they report that in this Fortress the Lion and Tiger were kept which had been sent thither by Guayna Capac and were the same which they let loose upon Pedro de Candia with intent that they might tear him in pieces at that time when Francis Piçarro came first to this Countrey with his thirteen Companions to make a Discovery of Peru. In this Fortress of Tumbez were many Silver-smiths which made Vessels of Gold and Silver and other pieces of rare Workmanship for service and ornament of the Temple which they esteemed holy and sanctified as also for service and honour of the Inca and for his perpetual Fame and lasting Memory they plated all the Walls of this Temple with panes of Gold and Silver And the Women which were dedicated to the service of the Temple had no other employment than to spin and weave the finest sort of their Wool which they performed with great curiosity And in regard we have in the second Part of this History related as much as we could understand or had reason to believe concerning the Kingdom of Peru from the time of Mango Capac who was the first to the time of Guascar who was the last King that descended by lawfull Succession we shall add no farther in this Chapter than what will serve to illustrate this History Thus far the Words of Peter de Cieça collected out of that part of his History wherein he treats of the great Riches of Tumpiz and of the wild Beasts which they set upon Peter de Candia but proceeds no farther reserving the remainder of his Story to be related in the third Part of his Works which have not as yet been published to the World. CHAP. XII Of the Miracle which God wrought in Tumpiz BUT to return unto our purpose We say That those wild Beasts beholding the Christian and the Cross which he held in his hand immediately lost their natural fierceness and as if they had been two Dogs which he had bred up came and fawned upon him and cast themselves at his Feet Peter de Candia considering this Miracle which God had wrought for him took courage and stroked them on the Head and Sides laying the Cross upon them whereby these Gentiles might understand that by virtue of that Standard the savage Beasts had lost their ferocity and were made tame The Indians seeing this Wonder conceived that Peter was no mortal Man but descended from Heaven and from the Sun and therefore with common consent adored him as a Child of their God the Sun bringing him into their Temple which was lined with broad plates of Gold that so he might be informed in what manner they honoured and worshipped his Father in that Countrey And having shewed him their Temple with the Vessels of Gold and Silver and other Ornaments and Riches which were for the service of it they conducted him to the Royal Lodgings of his Brothers the Incas whom they esteemed also for Children of the Sun. Then they lead him through all the Palace that he might see the square Halls the Chambers and Antichambers together with the furniture of Gold and Silver they shewed him also all the Vessels which were for service of the Inca such as Jars and Cups and Pots all which even to the Shovels and Tongs of the Kitchin were all of Gold and Silver Then they brought him into the Gardens where he saw Trees and lesser Plants and Herbs and wild Beasts and creeping things such as we have said were placed in the Royal Gardens which were all made in Gold and Silver at which the Christian was as much astonished as the Indians were to see a Man so strange and wonderfull as he appeared unto them CHAP. XIII Peter de Candia informs his Companions of what he had seen and therewith they all return unto Panama PEter de Candia being abundantly satisfied with what he had seen returned with all Joy imaginable to his Companions taking much larger steps back than his gravity allowed him in his march towards the people He then informed them of all which had passed and what immense Riches he had seen at which his Companions remained with astonishment being scarce able to give credit to his Relation howsoever being ready to believe what they so much desired they were abundantly satisfied with the Labours they had formerly sustained in quest of those mighty Treasures and Riches promising unto themselves the possession and enjoyment thereof had they but the fortune to entice and persuade Men to adventure for them And having thus discovered what they desired and more than they expected they returned to Panama having not force sufficient to proceed farther Augustin Carate reports that three Spaniards remained on the place after the others were departed or as Lopez de Gomara says but two who out of a curiosity of seeing those Riches which Peter de Candia had mentioned or out of a covetous desire of gaining some of them in case they were such as were reported refused to return with their other Companions But it is not known what afterwards became of them the Spanish Historians say that they were killed by the Indians but that is not probable because they were worshipped and adored by them as descended from the Sun but it may rather be supposed that they dyed of Sickness that Coast being very unhealthfull for the Bodies of Strangers and these being those who perished from the number of the thirteen dying as is believed amongst the Indians their Memory was forgotten and no mention made of them in the Exploits recounted of the other Companions These thirteen Spaniards consumed at least three Years in the discovery of Peru as the Spanish Authours testifie Augustin Carate in the 2d Chapter of his first Book hath these Words Having made these Discoveries in the space of three Years they returned to Panama during which time they sustained much hardship and underwent many Dangers they endured Want and Hunger and received Wounds in their Skirmishes with the Indians but most of all their greatest disappointments proceeded from their own civil Discords and Dissentions the which Piçarro did often by his prudence and gentleness accommodate and appease giving them great encouragement by the assurances he made them of the faithfulness and diligence of Almagro who was making provisions of Victuals of Men Horse and Arms and indeed Almagro and Piçarro were both so cordial and zealous in this Design that they spared neither their Estates nor their Lives in this Adventure having made themselves poor and indebted who were before the richest of their Countrey Thus far are the Words of Carate likewise Gomara avouches the like in this manner
Apparition Thus did the Indians judge of those Spaniards who were cruel and ill natured to them calling them Cupay which is the Name they give to the Devil but on the contrary such as were gentle kind and compassionate towards them they not onely confirmed their former Titles which they had given them but added thereunto such other compellations as they attributed to their Kings as Yntipchurin Child of the Sun Hanc-chacuay a Lover of the poor and when they would higher exalt the Goodness and Vertue of those Spaniards who treated them kindly they called them the Sons of God which when they would express in Spanish for the Name of God which is Dios they would pronounce it Tius because the Letter D. is not in the Indian Language So Tiuspachurin is with them the Son of God though in these times by learning the Spanish Tongue they are come to a better pronunciation Such Honour and Veneration did these poor Indians shew at the beginning to those Spaniards who were compassionate and good natured towards them and the like respect do they still bear towards the Clergy as well as to the Seculars in whom they observe the brightness of Vertue to shine with Humility and Gentleness without Avarice or Luxury for the Indians are naturally of a good disposition very meek and humble cordial to their Benefactours and gratefull for the least favour or good they receive The which natural proneness to make acknowledgments for good Offices done they derived from the ancient Customs of their Kings whose Studies were for the publick wellfare of their People by which they merited all those Names and Surnames of Renown which were attributed by their People to them CHAP. XLI Of the Faithfulness which the Indians of Peru shewed unto the Spaniards when taken by them in the War. THE Indians of Peru held this Maxime or Principle That if any yielded himself or having been taken by a Spaniard in the War he was thereby become his absolute Slave and esteemed him by whom he was taken to be his Idol and his God and that he ought to honour and revere him for such and to obey serve and be faithfull to him unto the death and not to deny him either for the sake of his Countrey Parents Wife or Children Upon this Principle they preferred the Wellfare of a Spaniard who was their Master before all other considerations whatsoever and would sell or betray their own Family if their Master required it and that it were necessary or conducing to his Service by which means the Spaniards never wanted Spies nor Intelligence of whatsoever passed amongst the Indians which was of great use to them in the Subjection and Conquest of that Countrey for they believed it to be a real duty in them to be obedient unto those to whom they had yielded themselves Captives and therefore would engage in fight on their Masters side against their own Countreymen and Relations as if they were their mortal Enemies When some Spanish Troops in their March had taken some Indian Captives and that the Commanders would share them amongst the Souldiers according as every Man wanted a Servant the Indian would refuse to acknowledge any other for his Master than him onely to whom he had yielded himself and when they were told that it was the Rule of War to divide equal shares to every Souldier and that he who was already provided was to permit his Companion to be equally accommodated The Indian answered that he would obey on condition that when the Christian to whom he was allotted had taken another Captive that he might have the liberty to return to his Master to whom he had first submitted the like Fidelity the Women also professed Three Indians taken in this manner I left in the House of my Father and Lord Garçilasso de la Vega one of which was called Alli which is as much as to say Good he was taken in a Battel of which there were many in Collao after the Indians had made their general Insurrection in one of which this Alli fought like a very stout Souldier and having engaged far with some few Persons he took no care to save himself untill he saw all his Companions put to flight and hardly pursued by the Spaniards and having then little hopes of safety or refuge he laid himself amongst the dead to which posture he had opportunity to compose himself by the darkness of the night and casting away his Shirt he wallowed in the bloud of the slain that so he might seem to be one of them The Spaniards returning from the pursuit unto their Camp in several Companies three or four of them happened to pass that way where this Indian lay counterfeiting the dead Man and whilst they vvere vievving the dead my Lord and Master Garçilasso de la Vega observed one of them to pant and dravv his Breath vvhereupon he vvent near him and touched him vvith the point of his Spear to try if he had sense and vvere living so soon as the Indian felt the prick he immediately started up and cried for quarter fearing that there vvas nothing less than Death for him After vvhich he remained in the Service of my Father vvith that Fidelity and Subjection vvhich vve have already expressed being desirous to evidence the same on all occasions He vvas aftervvards baptized calling himself John and his Wife Isabel. Royal Commentaries BOOK II. CHAP. I. Don Pedro de Alvarado goes to the Conquest of Peru. THE Fame of the great Atchievements in Peru and the Riches thereof was now spread in all parts with such Renown that as Lopez de Gomara in the 26th Chapter of his Book reports the Spaniards crowded in such numbers to take a share of the Gold that Panama Nicaragua Quahutemallan Cartagena and other Plantations and Islands were almost dispeopled and left desolate Amongst the rest Admiral Don Pedro de Alvarado one of the most famous and renowned Captains of that age being not contented with the Glory and Riches he had acquired by the Conquest of the Empire of Mexico Utlatlan and Quahutemallan resolved to augment his Greatness by his attempts upon Peru. To which end he obtained a Commission from the Emperour Charles the fifth to conquer plant and govern all that Countrey which he should gain at such a number of Leagues distant from the Jurisdiction and Conquests of Francisco de Piçarro For this Enterprise he made Levies of many stout Fellows and moreover many Gentlemen of Quality from all parts of Spain offered their Services especially those of Estremennos because Don Pedro himself was a Native of Badajoz This noble Person amongst his many other Excellencies of Nature was endued with such nimbleness and activity of Body that thereby he saved his own Life when the Marquiss del Valle was forced to make a retreat from Mexico for the Indians having broken the Bridge over which the Spaniards were to pass This Don Pedro with the help of a Lance which he carried
tempted them to a condition of starving both with cold and hunger Thus far are the Words of Gomara and then Carate proceeds and says Thus did they travel without hope or comfort or power to succour one the other for it happened that a Spaniard who carried his Wife and two little Children with him finding them so tired and weary that they could travel no farther nor himself able to carry them he sate down with them to take some repose during which time they were all frozen to death and though the Man could have escaped yet such was his compassion to his Wife and Children that he would rather perish with them than forsake them in that condition With such labour and difficulty as this they passed the snowy Mountain rejoycing much when they had got over to the other side Thus far are the Words of Carate in the 9th Chapter of his second Book And here we may condole this unhappy fate that the first Spanish Woman which came to Peru should thus most miserably perish As to the five hundred Men which these Authours account to have been with Alvarado I have been informed from several that were with him that they were no less than eight hundred Spaniards perhaps they might be no more than five hundred that came from Nicaragua and that when they were landed in Peru other recruits might join with them so that in the Plains of Rivecpampa where Alvarado and Diego de Almagro entered into Articles of Confederacy together they might arise to the number of eight hundred But another Historian makes a difference of three years time between these matters but that is not much to our purpose As to the Canes in which they found the Water called Ypa they are commonly as big as a Man's leg or thigh though the end of them is not thicker than the finger of a Man's hand they grow in no other than in hot Countries where they make use of them to Thatch their Houses The information they had of the Water was from the people of the Countrey who guided them to the Canes some of which contained six Gallons of Water and some more according to the bigness of them which is proportionable to their height Augustine Carate in the 10th Chapter of his second Book writing the Journal of this Don Pedro de Alvarado gives this description of the Canes In this Journey saith he they endured much hunger and greater thirst for such was their want of Water that had they not met with Groves or Thickets of Canes which yielded good and wholsome Water they had all perished These Canes are commonly about the bigness of a Man's leg every knot of which contained about a quart of Water having a natural propriety to imbibe or suck in the nightly Dews which fall from the Heavens besides which there was no Water nor Springs in that dry Countrey and herewith Don Pedro refreshed both his Men and Horses Thus far Augustine Carate gives us an account of General Don Pedro de Alvarado where we shall leave him for a while and return to the Spaniards and Indians which we left in Cassamarca CHAP. III. How the Body of Atahualpa was carried to Quitu and of the Treason of Rumminavi SO soon as Don Francisco Piçarro and Don Diego de Almagro had buried Atahualpa they travelled to Cozco visiting in their way thither that very rich Temple which was situated in the Valley of Pachacamac from whence they carried away all the Gold and Silver which Hernando Piçarro had left behind not having been able to take it with him From thence they proceeded to Cozco in which Journey though they had many steep and craggy Mountains many swift Torrents and deep Rivers to pass yet they met no very great difficulty but that onely which we shall hereafter relate And thus leaving them on their way let us return to the General Challcuchima and other Captains of Atahualpa who joyned themselves with the Nobles of the Court and other principal persons who remained in Cassamarca So soon as the Spaniards were departed from that Province on their Journey to Cozco the Indians took up the Body of their King and according to his Command transported it to Quitu where they interred it with such decency as became the Burial of a Prince and yet with such little pomp as was agreeable to a conquered people that had yielded to the subjection of a foreign and stranger Nation Rumminavi seemed the most forward of any both to receive the Body of the King and to Embalm it though already corrupted and tending to putrefaction and in the mean time he secretly made Levies and prepared a way to set up himself in the Government dissembling all respect and obedience to Quilliscacha the Brother of Atahualpa and that he might try in what manner his mind stood affected to Rule and Dominion he persuaded him to bind his head with a coloured Wreath if he were desirous to revenge the Death of his Brother All which Rumminavi uttered with design to blind the understanding of Quilliscacha and cover his plots and evil intentions untill he could bring his affairs to maturity but to this persuasion Quilliscacha refused to hearken saying That the Spaniards would not easily quit their Empire and in case they would yet there were so many Sons of Huayna Capac surviving who were ready to lay their claim to the Government and had a better right and title to it than himself that some or other of them would adventure to assume the Government and that the people would appear in vindication of the just title and cause of the undoubted Heir for whose sufferings by the late unhappy Wars and Miseries they had a true sense and compassion This prudent and cautious Answer of Quilliscacha did not alter the sinister designs and intentions of Rumminavi for being both a Tyrant and Barbarous he resolved to proceed and set up his own interest telling his familiar friends in their private discourses with him that according to the Practices and Examples which he had seen the right to Rule and Govern belonged to the strongest for that he who could wrest the Power into his own hands and kill his Master as Atahualpa had Murthered his Brother and as the Spaniards had Atahualpa the same had title sufficient to constitute himself Chief and Supreme Lord. Rumminavi remaining firm in this principle and resolute in this design made great preparations to receive Atahualpa assembling the people together under pretence of performing the funeral Obsequies of their late Inca the which Solemnity though formerly continued for the course of a year was now concluded within the space of fifteen days At the end of which Rumminavi judging not fit to let pass so fair an opportunity whereby to compass his designs for that fortune having put into his hands all those whom he intended to kill as namely the Sons and Brother of Atahualpa the chief Captain Challcuchima with many other Captains and Lords
up and down the Fields and there to be laid in State like some Idol Nor were the Spaniards contented with this prize but still thirsting after greater Riches were hot in the pursuit of the Treasures of Huayna Capac and of others hidden by the ancient Kings of Cozco but neither then nor afterwards were any of those Treasuries known howsoever they tortured and vexed the poor Indians with severe usage and cruelties to shew and discover to them the rich Sepulchres Thus far are the Words of Gomara extracted verbatim from the 124th Chapter of his Book Carate in the 8th Chapter of his second Book speaking of some Spaniards who went in pursuit of an Indian Captain saith as follows And not being able to meet with him they returned to Cozco where they found a greater prize both of Gold and Silver than that in Caxamalca all which the Governour divided amongst his people Thus far are the Words of Carate And now I suppose by these Authorities it hath been sufficiently proved that the Riches which the Spaniards found in Cozco were greater than those taken in Cassamarca and to acquit my self in the truth of what I relate I am pleased to cite or quote the Spanish Historians and to specifie their Names lest I should seen like the Magpye to deck my self with borrowed feathers But to return now to those Treasures which as Gomara mentions were discovered by the Spaniards under-ground both in Cozco and in the parts adjacent It is certain that for the space of seven or eight years after the Spaniards had remained in quiet possession of that Empire several Treasures were discovered both within and without the City and particularly within the Precincts of that Palace called Amurucancha which upon the division made fell to the lot of Antonio Altamirano and where it happened that a Horse galloping round a Court-yard of that Palace strook one of his feet into a hole which they supposed at first to be some old Sink or drain for Water from the House but looking more narrowly they found the hole opening to a Jar of Gold weighing above two hundred pounds weight for the Indians make greater or less of these as their occasions require using them to boil their Drink and Liquours in With this great Jar they found others of Gold and Silver and though they were not so large yet they were valued at above eighty thousand Ducats Moreover in the Convents of the Select Virgins and particularly in that part which fell to the share of Pedro del Barco and afterwards came to the possession of Hernando de Segovia who was an Apothecary and with whom I had an acquaintance this Hernando altering his House and removing some part of the foundation found a Treasure of seventy two thousand Ducats with which and with above twenty thousand Ducats more which he had gained by his Practice he returned into Spain where I saw him at Seville where in a few days after his Arrival he died for mere grief and sorrow that he had left Cozco as several others have done whom I knew in the same condition Hereby it is manifest that the Treasures which the Spaniards found in that City when they made their entrance first into it were very considerable as were those also which were afterwards discovered And it is probable that the Riches had been much greater had not the Indians as we have said in the first Part hid them away to conceal them from the sight of the Spaniards CHAP. VIII Of the Conversion of an Indian who desired to be informed of that which was the true Law of Mankind THE first day that the Christians entered into the Imperial City of Cozco an extraordinary matter passed between a Spaniard and an Indian which was this A certain Gentleman who was a Native of Truxillo called Alonso Ruyz roving about and sacking the City as the others did chanced to enter into a House from whence the Master came forth courteously to receive him and at first speaking to him with a smiling countenance in his own Language bid him welcome telling him that for many days he had expected his coming for that the Pachacamac had by Dreams and Visions assured him that he should not dye until a stranger Nation should come which should instruct him in the true Law which he was to follow And since said he I have languished all my life with this desire in my heart I am confident that you must be that person which is designed to instruct me The Spaniard not understanding at first the words which the Indian said to him yet he apprehended that what he uttered was very kind for he had learned those two words in the Indian Language You are very welcome which the Spaniards express in four and also guessing by the chearfulness of the Indian's countenance that he was desirous of his conversation so often as his leisure would admit nor so much out of a placency in his company as for some sober and religious end he resolved to stay and take up his Lodging with the Indian who during the time of his aboad entertained and treated him with as much kindness and accommodation as his Cottage could afford At length three or four days being past and things a little settled and quieted after the Spaniards had sacked the City Alonso Ruyz went out to find Philip the Interpreter and having found him he returned with him to his Lodging to be better informed of what he as yet imperfectly understood and at first he proposed several Queries concerning his Customs and manner of living in answer unto which he gave them to understand that he had been a Man of an humble and peaceable Spirit contented with his own fortune and never offered injury or violence to his Neighbour That he was desirous to be informed of that which was the true Law of Mankind for that his own Law did not answer or satisfie the many notions he had conceived in his mind of a better and a more sublime Religion Hereupon the Spaniard endeavoured in the best manner he could to instruct him in the Principles of the Catholick Faith which true Faith was That he should worship God in the Trinity and the Trinity in Unity And because as we have intimated before that there wanted words in the Indian Language to express that Mystery he advised him to keep the word Trinity and the word Credo in his memory for that those words would let him in unto that Faith which the Roman Church which is the Mother of all good Christians doth believe and embrace And having repeated these words often and having to several questions made to him answered Yes in the Affirmative a Priest was called who being satisfied in what had passed and that the Indian desired to be a Christian he was baptized to the great satisfaction of all three that is of the Priest the Person baptized and of Alonso Ruyz who was his Godfather in a short time after which the
Spaniards left them in quiet because Almagro did not judge it convenient to continue his Quarters in that place Thus far are the Words of Carate with whom Gomara agrees and in the 130th Chapter of his Book hath these Words Quizquiz flying and running away had not gone many Leagues before the Spaniards fell upon his rere which when the Indians perceived they defended the Banks of a River to keep the Spaniards from passing Their numbers were so great that whilst some maintained the passage of the River others above got over and put themselves into a posture of fight intending to encompass the Spaniards on all sides and to kill and take them as they pleased then they possessed themselves of a little Hill which was very rocky to secure themselves from the Spanish Horse from which with some advantage and fresh courage they renewed the Fight and killed some of the Horse which could not easily turn or move in that rugged place and wounded several Spaniards of which Alonso de Alvarado de Burga was run through the thigh and Don Diego de Almagro himself narrowly escaped Thus far are the Words of Gomara The Spaniards which were killed in this Fight and died afterwards of their wounds received in the three late Skirmishes were fifty three in all reckoning the fourteen which Carate mentions and eighteen were cured of their wounds The Horses killed were thirty four one of which was that of Almagro which was overthrown by the rowling down of a Galga or Rock which struck him a-thwart his hinder leg and broke it with which Man and Horse came to the ground and had the stone taken them full both of them had been beaten to pieces Of the Indians not above sixty were killed for the Rocks were their protection on which the Spaniards and their Horse fought with great disadvantage for which reason Almagro withdrew his Forces and would not farther engage in those places being troubled at the loss he had received in those two days Engagements which Gomara in the 130th Chapter of his Book mentions in short and describes the unhappy Encounter which our Men had with the Rere-guard of Quizquiz c. Blas Valera reckoning up the most Memorable Battels and which had been the most fatal to the Spaniards of any in Peru he mentions eight besides several other Skirmishes of lesser moment and numbes this in the first place calling it the Battel of Quitu because it was fought on the frontiers of that Countrey and says that the Spaniards had then been most certainly defeated and destroyed had not the Divine Providence which designed by their means to propagate the Gospel in those parts appeared for them And also the Spaniards who were then present in those Engagements confirm the same and I have heard many of them declare that they often gave themselves over for lost in their Fights with the Indians and that when things seemed to be desperate and according to humane reason without all hopes and possibility of escape then presently and on a sudden their fortune would turn and by some unexpected accident from Heaven they became victorious And discoursing on these matters and of the great dangers and hazards they had sustained they would often say that if the Indians who came with no intention to fight and without any order being divided into four Squadrons were able to doe them so much hurt and put them into so much disorder what would they have done had they been aware and had come with design to engage under the Command and Discipline of their Commander Quizquiz who was accounted a famous and a renowned Captain as Gomara reports when he relates the Story of him and of the manner whereby he was put to Death by his own Souldiers After all which Don Diego de Almagro sent to gather the spoils which the Historians mention to have been a thousand head of Cattel and about a thousand Indian Men and Women for service which were forced or pressed to attend the Camp and which finding themselves free and at liberty ran away and fled to the Spaniards As to the fine Linen and Cloth little appeared for the Indians rather than be troubled with too great baggage burnt it and likewise made away with the Gold and Silver and concealed it in such manner as it never after came to light of all which Almagro gave intelligence to the Governour and of the success of the two Battels and dispatched his Advices by Indians whom he sent with his Letters And also that Don Pedro de Alvarado was on his Journey towards Cozco to make him a visit that so he might accordingly provide for his reception CHAP. XV. The Governour departs from Cozco to meet Alvarado he sees him and pays him the Money according to agreement THE Governour Piçarro having received intelligence of the loss of the Men and Horse which were killed by the Souldiers of Quizquiz was very much troubled esteeming it of ill consequence for the Spaniards to be baffled or the reputation which they had gained to suffer and be impaired in the opinion of the Indians but there being no remedy for what was past but onely patience he encouraged his Souldiers and advised them to proceed more warily for the future And in regard he was advised that Alvarado was marching towards Cozco he was desirous to prevent him and save him the trouble of a long Journey and therefore to cut matters short he provided to make him the payment for which Almagro had agreed and with that to persuade him to return for though he desired to see him yet it might be inconvenient and cause some disorders to have three Governours as in reality there would be within that Jurisdiction For these Governours when they were poor might possibly agree in co-ordinate rule each with other but being rich and powerfull and in a condition of Sovereignty which admits of no equal and perhaps of no Second they could not long continue Peace and a Brotherly Alliance the which discord caused by Ambition was the Original of all the misfortunes and fatal calamities which befell them as will appear in the sequel of this History On this consideration the Governour that he might hasten the dispatch and return of Alvarado resolved to go and meet him as far as the Valley of Pachacamac so that he might neither travel at too far a distance from the Sea-coast and might excuse him from a Journey of two hundred and forty Leagues as the going would be from Pachacamac to Cozco and the return back again to that place and besides he was not willing that he should see the Imperial City and the Grandeur and Riches thereof lest the temptations of that Wealth should cause alteration and a breach of the Articles agreed and therefore he was impatient untill he saw them again ratified and confirmed As to the Equipage for his Journey he took the opinion and sense of his Brothers and other Officers of his Army recommending in
escaped carried the news of their defeat and that the Viracochas were very numerous and strong for having but the day before found so many of them in a body together they were undeceived in the reports they had that the Spaniards or greatest part of them were departed out of the Countrey with Alvarado and Almagro Upon this advice Quizquiz assembled all his Captains to consider what would be most expedient in this case proposing it necessary to make a retreat for the present in order to gather Provisions which were greatly wanting and then on a sudden to assault the Viracochas and prosecute them untill they had entirely destroyed and extirpated them out of their Countrey but the Captains amongst whom Huaypallca who ever since the late successes was acknowledged the Chief were of a different opinion esteeming it their best course to render and submit themselves unto the Spaniards to desire Peace and Friendship with them whom to subdue it was a madness to imagine since experience had shewn them to be Invincible and that it was impossible to get Provisions from the Indians who had withdrawn themselves from their obedience and in that starving condition how difficult would it be for them to make War upon a victorious Army and which it were more easie to overcome with fair words and kind treatment than to resist a people come from Heaven which upon submission would readily entertain Friendship and Peace with them And in regard the Prophecy foretold by the Inca Huayna Capac namely that a stranger Nation should be Lords of that Nation was now fulfilled it was in vain to tempt the fortune of War longer But Quizquiz being a stout Man and a Souldier declared against this manner of submission upbraiding his Souldiers with cowardise and pusillanimity of spirit and with haughty and proud Language told them plainly that he had no need of their Counsel in this case nor in any other whatsoever and therefore he required them as their General to obey and follow him if they hoped for Success and Victory in this Enterprise But the Captains who from the time that they had been worsted in several Skirmishes which they had had with Alvarado and Almagro began to lose much of the Respect and Honour which once they conceived for Quizquiz because they believed he had not behaved himself with that Courage which he professed in divers Engagements against the Spaniards so that now quitting all Respect towards him they told him plainly That since he was so averse to all Peace and Friendship with the Viracochas and so resolute to maintain the War and confident of Victory that he should make no Delays but immediately engage in Fight with the Spaniards which would be much better than cowardly to retire and rather honourably to dye like brave Souldiers than to perish in the Mountains and Desarts with hunger like miserable People And this they declared to be their ultimate Resolution in the Case Quizquiz was not a little nettled to find his Captains replying so briskly upon him the which confirmed him in the belief of what he had for some days suspected that there was some Mutiny contriving against him in the Army and therefore he told them That he plainly perceived that they passed or transferred the respect they had for him unto Captain Huaypallca the which he could not endure and thereof admonished them to amend speedily before he proceeded to punish this their Offence And in the mean time he gave them to understand That he took notice of the liberty they used in their insolent Discourse which favoured of Rebellion and Disobedience towards their Commander into which he would make a strict Enquiry and Examination and punish both the Mutiniers and the chief Leader of them Huaypallca thinking himself reflected upon by this Discourse began to huff and be very angry and being elated and his Spirits raised by his late Successes and being sensible of the great Esteem which the Captains had for him he made an Attempt which none believed he had Courage to doe and wrested the Javelin which Quizquiz held in his Hand and forced it from him the which Weapon was the Ensign of his Command like those Truncheons which our Generals carry in their Hands and is called by the Indians Chuquiapu with this Lance or Javelin Huaypallca ran him through the Breast and being in like manner seconded by the other Commanders every one of which had a blow at him with his Weapon he was soon dispatched Thus Quizquiz ended his Days being the last and the most famous Souldier of all the Captains and Servants of Atahualpa his Fate was like that of his other Companions for the Justice of Heaven allways provides punishments agreeable to Mens Offences and raises up one Tyrant to punish and afflict another Hereupon Huaypallca and the other Captains disbanded their Army and every one in a disguise shifted for himself retiring into places where they thought they might live most hidden and obscure howsoever they lived in perpetual fear and apprehension of being betrayed by their own People CHAP. XIX Don Diego de Almagro makes himself Governour without the King's Commission and what Agreement was made between him and Marquiss Piçarro DIscord having now produced one of its effects amongst the Indians which was the Death of Quizquiz did endeavour to avail in like manner amongst the Spaniards had not Peace and Friendship which are an opposite party thereunto countermined its Works For it is to be noted that some Months after the News came to Peru of the Arrival of Hernando Piâ—arro in Spain and of the kind reception which the Treasure he carried had made for him and of the Honour and Respect which was shewed him in his Negotiations with His Majesty who was pleased to bestow the Title of Marquiss on his Brother of which Augustin Carate gives an Account in the 5th Chapter of his 3d Book in this manner Amongst other things for which the Governour Don Francisco Piçarro petitioned His Hajesty one was That in reward of his great Services performed in the Conquest of Peru he would be pleased to grant to him and his Heirs the perpetual Vassalage of twenty thousand Indians in the Province of Atabillios together with the Rents Tribute and Jurisdiction belonging thereunto and with the Title of Marquiss In Answer hereunto His Majesty readily bestowed on him the Title of Marquiss of that Province but as to the Command over the Indians he would first inform himself of the nature and quality of the Countrey and of what Damage or Prejudice such a Concession might prove and that then he would shew him all the Grace and Favour which was convenient From which time the Patent of his Marquisate taking date we shall for the future style him with the Honour of that Title Thus far are the Words of Carate who also affirms that besides this Honour his Government was enlarged for many Leagues but yet doth not tell us how far Hernando Piçarro obtained
the Court of Spain their Services were despised and vilified and that they were esteemed rather for Slaves than for Souldiers and Adventurers who deserved the Countrey and Riches they had Atchieved by their Industry and Valour But to appease them Francisco Piçarro told them that what they had gained by their Bravery and Virtue they deserved to enjoy and that they merited the same Franchises and Dignities as those who assisted the King Don Pelayo and his Successours to recover Spain out of the hands of the Moors and therefore he told his Brother that he was to seek and contrive some other expedient to satisfie the promise he had made to the Emperour for that none of them would willingly refund nor would he force any person to relinquish his right Then Hernando demanded so much per cent out of the Gold which was melted down by which he incurred the great displeasure and hatred of the people but that not being granted he went to Cozco and endeavoured to gain the good will of Mango Inca that by his favour he might procure a considerable quantity of Gold for the Emperour whose Coffers were greatly exhausted by the expence of his Coronation and by his Wars against the Turk before Vienna and by his Expedition against Tunis Thus far are the Words of Gomara with which he concludes that Chapter But we say that the Marquis sent his Brother to Cozco with Commission to be Governour there in his stead and with Instructions to be carefull to secure the Inca whilst he himself remained at los Reyes to people and increase that Plantation CHAP. XXIII The Means which Prince Manco Inca practised in order to his Restauration unto the Empire THE Prince Manco Inca being now a Prisoner in that Fortress which his Ancestours had built for ostentation of their Glory and as a Trophy of their Greatness little imagining that it should ever become a Prison for any of those descended from them did by his prudence and patience of mind endeavour to sweeten the bitterness of his Prison by caressing and treating the Spaniards both Commanders and Inferiours with gifts and presents not onely of Fruit Birds Flesh and other Provisions but likewise with Gold and Silver Emeralds and Torquoises And moreover his communication with them was so affable and obliging and with signs of so little regret and discontent for his Imprisonment that the Officers being well assured that he would not endeavour an escape gave him the liberty to walk freely within the Precincts of the Fortress During which time the Inca received intelligence that Hernando Piçarro was upon his Journey to Cozco to be Commander in Chief in that City upon which advice he made more urgent instances that he might have the liberty to live in one of his Houses within the City the which he easily obtained for he was so much in favour with the Spaniards that they refused him nothing of what he desired And this request the Inca more earnestly pressed at that time that Hernando at his coming might not find him a Prisoner and under that notion suspect him and cause him to pay his ransome and not give him credit or belief in any thing that he should promise In which particular we shall quote the testimony of Gomara and Carate who relate the matter almost in the same words Carate in the third Chapter of his third Book saith as follows Hernando Piçarro being arrived at Cozco made great Courtship to the Inca and though he treated him very kindly yet he always had an eye upon him We may believe that this extraordinary kindness was to introduce and usher in the Request he had to make him for some Gold both for the Emperour and himself Two Months after that Hernando arrived at Cozco the Inca desired leave of him that he might go into the Countrey of Jucaya where a certain Festival was celebrated whence he promised to bring him a Statue of Massy Gold which was made in representation of his Father Guaynacava and being on his Journey thither he then completed that which he had meditated ever since the departure of Almagro from Chili Thus far are the Words of Carate It is certain that the Inca did ask and obtain leave to go unto Yucaya which as we have formerly mentioned was the Garden of those Kings and about a League from thence near the River side was the place of their Sepulchres called Tampu where their Bowels were buried when taken out in order to embalm their Bodies and it is probable that the Statue of Gold which was to represent his Father might be placed there The Inca being at Yucaya on pretence of celebrating this Feast he summoned together some old Captains which remained of those belonging to his Father and others of principal note and at a full Assembly complained of the treachery and persidiousness of the Spaniards for not complying with the Articles and Capitulations which they had agreed and contracted with his Brother Titu Atauchi likewise of his Imprisonment under Irons and of the absence of the Captain-General who had twice when he was upon his departure promised to restore him to his Empire and had failed entertaining him onely with vain hopes and delusions Moreover he affirmed that though he was from the beginning sensible of the false and persidious intentions of the Spaniards yet he was willing to temporize and dissemble with them that so he might justifie himself before God and his people that he had been in no manner accessory to the breach of that peace which had been agreed between the Incas and the Spaniards that he well observed how the Spaniards divided the Lands of the Countrey amongst themselves both in Cozco Rimac and Tumpiz whereby it plainly appeared that they had no intention to restore unto him the Empire and that if he had dissembled compliance and contentment in all things towards the Spaniards it was with design to secure his own Person which without any occasion or offence they had imprisoned and cast into Irons Wherefore as loyal Subjects and faithfull Vassals he conjured them to give counsel to him their Prince in an enterprise of such grand importance for that his design was to vindicate his Right to the Empire by force of Arms hoping that neither the Pachacamac nor his Father the Sun would desert him in defence of his righteous cause For answer whereunto the Captains and Curacas made choice of one of the most Ancient amongst them to be Speaker and deliver the common Sentiments of them all thereupon who having first made his due Obeisance unto the Inca discoursed in this manner It never was Sir the Advice of your Council nor esteemed by them either secure or decent that your Majesty should commit your Person into the hands of Strangers or trust unto them for restitution of your Empire Howsoever they were willing to comply and concur with your Majesty's humour which they found inclining to the maintenance of that peace and concord
the Victory which the Cannarian had gained for had it been a Spaniard the Dishonour had been much less but to be overcome by one of their own Indian Vassals was an Affront and Disgrace which could portend nothing but ill fortune and being a People naturally superstitious and terrified with the apprehension of such Omens they never afterwards attempted any thing of Moment during the remainder of the Siege nor did any thing remarkable succeed unless the unfortunate Death of that worthy John Piçarro as we shall hereafter relate So often as I call to mind these Miracles and several others which God was pleased to work in favour of the Christians both at the Siege of Cozco and of los Reyes as we shall see hereafter I cannot but wonder that the Historians should be so silent therein especially since they were so clear and evident to all the World having in my youth heard them reported both by Indians and Spaniards with great admiration in memory of which after the Siege they dedicated unto our Lady that Gallery wherein the Spaniards were quartered and where now the Cathedral Church is built called by the Name of St. Mary of the Assumption and Advocation and the City it self they dedicated to St. James of Spain to both which Saints Anniversary Days of Feasts are appointed in thankfull remembrance for the gratious Benefits received the which Festivals begin in the morning with a solemn Procession and Sermon and then High Mass is celebrated and lastly the Day is concluded with the Sport of Bulls and other Recreations In the Porch of this Church which leads to the Market-place the Picture of St. James is painted mounted on a White Horse with his Buckler on his Arme and a Serpentine Sword in his Hand with many Indians dead and wounded under his Feet which Picture when the Indians beheld they said that a Viracocha like this was he that destroyed us in the Market-place In the Year 1560 when I departed from Cozco to go into Spain the Picture was then fresh the Insurrection of the Inca began in the Year 1535. and ended in 1536. and I was born in the Year 1539. so that I might well be acquainted both with Indians and Spaniards who had been actually in those Wars and Witnesses of those Apparitions which we have declared and I my self for five Years together have always been present at the Sports and Pastimes of those Festivals for which Reasons from plain demonstration I cannot but wonder why Historians have been silent in these particulars unless it be that they would attribute unto the valour of the Spaniards all the Honour of those Days without making due return of thankfull acknowledgment unto God for the Victories so miraculously obtained Many days after I had wrote this Chapter turning over the Leaves of the Book of Acosta I met with some thing to this purpose in confirmation of the Miracles which our Lord Jesus Christ and his Mother the Virgin Mary Queen of the Angels had wrought in the New World in favour of our holy Faith and Religion which when I had read and found my own Reports confirmed by his Authority I cannot express the Joy I conceived by this happy concurrence For since the Delivery of truth is my chief Aim and Design I cannot but be greatly delighted when I find my Relations confirmed either in part or in whole by the Authority of other Historians for I hate the Character of being either a Flatterer or a fabulous Writer which to avoid I have thought fit to produce the Words of Acosta in the 27th Chapter of his 7th Book which are as followeth When the Spaniards were besieged in the City of Cozco and so closely pressed and straitned that without the Assistence of Heaven it was impossible for them to escape I have heard from very credible Persons that the Indians threw Fire on the Roof of that House where the Spaniards were lodged and where now the Cathedral Church is built and though the Covering of the House was a sort of Thatch which they call Chicho or rather Ychu and that the Fire was made with a rasimy kind of burning Wood yet it took no hold on that combustible matter for our Lady appearing from above kept a constant Guard over that place and immediately extinguished the Fire all which the Indians visibly saw and remained with astonishment All the Relations and Histories which are wrote on this Subject report for a certain truth that in divers Battels which the Spaniards fought in New Spain and in Peru the Indians plainly discovered in the Air a Cavalier mounted on a white Horse with a Sword in his Hand fighting for the Spaniards whence it is that in all parts of the West-Indies great Devotion and Honour is paid to that glorious Apostle St. James and at other times in several difficult Encounters the Image of our Lady hath presented it self from which Christians have received inexpressible Benefits and were all these Apparitions and Wonders of Heaven particularly described they would swell a Volume too large for this History c. Thus far are the Words of Acosta who reports that almost fourty years after these matters were transacted he made a Voyage into Peru where he received Information of all these particulars And having said thus much we will return again to our Spaniards who remaining under such propitious circumstances of the Divine Providence were enabled to become the Masters of an hundred New Worlds CHAP. XXVI The Spaniards gain the Fortress with the Death of the worthy John Piçarro IN the 5th Chapter of the 8th Book of the first part we there mentioned the Loyalty which the Natives of the Cannaris bore towards their Kings the Incas and we then promised to declare how that on occasion of the great Love and Friendship which one of that Nation professed towards the Spaniards all the others withdrew their Obedience and renounced their Allegiance to the Incas In the 37th Chapter of the 9th Book of the first part we described the great Loyalty of that People towards their Princes we are now to give an account of the reason for which the same was afterwards denied The Cause was this When the Indians after the Victory observed the many Favours and Honours which the Spaniards bestowed on the Person of the Cannarian who fought the duel they became so entirely affectionated and devoted to the Spaniards that they denied all farther Service and Duty to their own Inca and from that time became Spies Informers and Betrayers of the other Indians and in the very civil Wars which the Spaniards had one with the other even to the time of Francisco Hernandes Giron the Cannarians which lived in Cozco under the Command of this Don Francisco the Cannarian and were then very numerous served for Spies and Informers against the Indians and in all the civil Wars which the Spaniards waged one against the other to that very War of Hernandez Giron the Cannarians who
better Scholars in reading and Writing and be more expert in all sorts of musical Instruments than the Spaniards had they onely the advantage of being taught nor would they prove ill Scholars in the Latin Tongue And moreover they are not more ignorant in our Books than we are in the knowledge of theirs for though we have now lived amongst them and have had Conversation with them for seventy Years yet have not attained to the knowledge of their Knots nor the nature of their Accounts when they in a short time have attained to the knowledge of our Letters and Ciphers which are evidences of their Ingenuity and good capacity And as to their Memory they generally exceed the Spaniards having by their Knots and Joints of their Fingers figured several Common places out of which they do extract particulars in their due Order for the help and benefit of the Memory And what is more strange the same Knots serve for divers Passages and Arguments of History and giving them onely the Subject they will run on with a History as currently as a Reader can his Book which is an Art unto which no Spaniard as yet hath been able to attain nor know in what manner it is performed and are all good Arguments of the acute Judgment and great Memory of the Indians As to their Art in Military Affairs take all things in their due Circumstances the People of Peru are more expert than those of Europe for shew me the most brave and famous Captains of Spain or France on Foot without Horses without Armour without Lance Sword Pistol or other Fire-arms let them appear in their Shirts without Cloths with a Sling instead of a Girdle and their Heads covered with a Cap of Feathers or Garland of Flowers instead of a Head-piece or Steel Bergandine let them march with their bare Feet over Briers or Thorns let their Diet be Herbs and Roots of the Field carrying a piece of a Mat in their Left hands instead of a Buckler and in this manner let them enter the Field to blunt the Edges of Swords and Halbards and Pikes with three Forks and let them stand the Stone-slings the poisoned Arrows and the skilfull Archer which will hit the Eye or the Heart or anything if in this naked and simple condition they become Conquerours I will then say that they deserve the Fame and Reputation of valiant Captains above the Indians but in regard it is impossible to put the Europeans in this state and condition or to persuade them to the use of such Arms Customs or Habit so humanely speaking they will never make trial or essay to gain Victories with such tools or instruments And on the contrary were the Indians armed as are the Europeans trained up with the same Military Discipline and instructed in the Art of War both by Sea and Land they would be more invincible than the Turks Of the Truth hereof Experience is the best proof for whensoever the Spaniards and Indians were equal in their Arms the Spaniards were slain in great numbers as for Example in Puno of Mexico and long before that in other places for the truth is when the Spaniards have been laden and encumbred with their Arms and the Indians free and light the Spaniards have been often defeated in open Battel as in Quitu in Chachapuaya in Chaquisaca in Tucma in Cunti in Sausa in Parcus in Chili and other parts Wherefore in comparing the Valour and Prowess of the Spaniards with that of the Indians both of Mexico and Peru there can be no measure or trial made by the Success or Conquests by reason of the great inequality in their Arms and above all the Invention of Fire-arms was more terrible to them than all the rest and seems something more than what is humane or natural and in reality the Victories which have been obtained in most parts of the new World and especially in Peru were wonderfull Effects of Divine Providence and rather to be attributed to the Power of God in favour of the Gospel than to the Valour of the Spaniards But though we may compare the Europeans and the Asitiaticks together in the point of Arms yet we cannot admit of any Comparison between the Spaniards and the Indians as to the Art of War in which no doubt but the Spaniards have much the advantage But to let pass this point and compare Indians with Indians there is no doubt but the Incas and the People of Peru were much the better Souldiers of which they have given us sufficient Testimonies by the many Conquests they made over the many Countries they reduced to their Obedience and enjoyed nor were they signalized for their Valour of late Years onely as some People vainly imagine but for above five or six hundred Years past amongst which many Kings of them have been very powerfull namely Manco Capac Inca Roca Viracocha Inca Pachacutec and those descended from that Line to the great Huayna Capac who was Emperour besides many other Captains of the same Bloud of whom we have treated at large in other places Thus far are the Words of Blas Valera after which short digression let us return again to our Spaniards CHAP. XXXI Of the differences which arose between the Almagro's and the Piçarro's and of the Imprisonment of Hernando Piçarro SO soon as Almagro and Piçarro saw that the Inca had disbanded his Army and was fled and had left unto them free possession of the Empire they began then openly to discover their Passions and turn their Arms each against the other one affected to rule and govern absolutely alone and the other prepared to prevent and disappoint him of the Possession of that supreme Power which neither admits a Superiour nor a Rival Thus Almagro required Hernando Piçarro to surrender the City to him and leave him in free possession thereof pretending that it was the Part and Division which belonged to him and not to his Brother as not being comprehended within the two hundred Leagues of Land belonging to the Marquis which were to be measured and set out from the Equinoctial Southward along the Sea-coast according to the Capes and Points and Bays running by the Sea-shore but certainly Land was never measured in that manner or by other Lines than by the High-ways Howsoever the party of Almagro insisted on this point and would understand no other Measures than by the Sea-coast which if Piçarro had granted and condescended unto though His Majesty should have enlarged his Jurisdiction an hundred Leagues farther yet his Dominion would not have reached so far as los Reyes much less could it have extended unto Cozco Howsoever these groundless Reasons and Fancies had so far possessed the Mind of Almagro and his Party that they would suffer no Contradiction or hearken to any Arguments to the contrary but violently resolved to abandon the Kingdom of Chili and return to Peru and Cozco from whence afterwards so many Ruines and Mischiefs did ensue To
inconveniencies of the Mountains that they were in no condition to make resistence Wherefore the Marquis hastned into the Plains and Almagro unto Cozco c Thus far Carate Almagro in the instructions given to his General ordered him not to fight but upon constraint for these two Governours had always inclinations to agree and not drive matters to the extremity of a breach as may be observed ever since their meeting at Cozco before Almagro departed for Chili when between themselves all the flames of difference were extinguished the like passed at Malla where as both the Historians agree they chearfully embraced each other with all the kindness and affection imaginable and discoursed of indifferent matters with pleasure and delight And this good correspondence continued untill wicked Incendiaries interposed who representing every action with an evil face incited and precipitated them to such destructive resolutions as were afterwards fatal and ruinous to them both Nor did these pernicious Counsellours reap any benefit thereby unto themselves but being involved in the same calamities were ensnared as is usual in their own devices But to proceed Carate in the 11th Chapter of his third Book hath these Words The Marquis remaining with his whole Army in the Plains just upon the turn of the Mountain he found that there was a great diversity of opinions amongst his Officers concerning the manner and way that they were to proceed at length it was resolved That Hernando Piçarro in quality of Lieutenant-General should march with the Army unto Cozco and that his Brother Gonçalo should be Commander in Chief and that being arrived there he should declare that his intention and design of that Expedition was in compliance with Justice to restore those Citizens to their Estates and Commands over the Indians who had been deprived and banished from thence by the force and usurpation of Almagro In this manner the Army proceeding on their march towards Cozco and the Marquis returning to the City of los Reyes Hernando Piçarro came at length near to Cozco where the Officers advised as most convenient to pitch their Camp in the Plains for that Night but Hernando was of a contrary opinion and would Quarter within the Mountain So soon as it was Day Orgonnos appeared in the Field with the Forces of Almagro drawn up in Battalia His Captains of Horse were Francis de Chaves John Tello Vincent de Guevara or rather Vasco de Guevara and Francis de Chaves was elder Brother to another of the same name who was an intimate and familiar friend to the Marquis On the side of the Mountain some Spaniards were drawn up with a great number of Indians who at that time served for Auxiliaries All the Friends and Servants of the Marquis who were Prisoners at Cozco were crouded into two Angles of the Fortress which being a Prison so strait as could not contain the number of the people some of them were pressed and crouded to death in the place The next Day in the Morning after Mass Gonçalo Piçarro with his Army descended into the Plain where they disposed their Troops into several Battalions and in that order marched towards the City intending to draw up his Men upon a Hill which over-topped the Castle upon supposition that Almagro discovering his force would scarce adventure to give him Battel which he desired to avoid knowing how much depended on the success thereof but Rodrigo Orgonnos having no such thoughts attended his coming in the open way with his Army and Artillery c. Thus far are the Words of Carate which are confirmed by Lopez de Gomara To which we shall add some things which these Authours have omitted and are worthy to be remembred and may serve for the more clear understanding of this History And as to the first which was the place where the Battel was fought we say it was an errour of those who relate it to have been on the Hill which over-looks the Fortress For certainly the Engagement was in that Plain which the Indians call Cachipampa which signifies the Field of Salt and is situate about a League distant to the Southward from the Fortress near to a pleasant Fountain of saltish Water of which the Inhabitants of the City and parts adjacent bringing the streams into several Salt-pans make great abundance of Salt And these Works of Salt lying between the City and the place-where the Fight was they called it the Battel of the Salinas Orgonnos drew up his Men into Battalia with intention to dye with his Sword in his hand And though the Enemy was much more strong than his Army both in Men and Arms yet having been a Souldier in Italy where he had seen much service and had vanquished in a single Combat a Cavalier who was a famous Commander he did not in the least droop in his courage or shew any inconstancy or fear of mind And being a stout Souldier he something resented and was heartily piqued at a Message which Hernando Piçarro had sent him two Days before because it appeared something like a challenge being to give him notice that he and a certain Companion would enter the Battel on Horse-back armed with Coats of Male over which they would wear a slashed Coat of Orange-coloured Velvet of which he thought fit to give him notice that in case he or any other had an intention to engage with him he might distinguish him by those Signals This Message Hernando was induced to send on the score of some Indignities which he remembred and resented ever since the time of his Imprisonment Orgonnos taking this for a challenge called Captain Pedro de Lerma to him whom he knew to be an Enemy to the Piçarros and one who ever since the business at Amancay had excluded himself from all possibility of reconciliation with them and told him saying Our Enemy is so confident of his Force that he already triumphs for his Victory giving us the signs by which we may know his Person Now in regard our Army is inferiour to his in Number though superiour in Courage and Bravery so that we have little hopes to subdue him howsoever let us at least ravish the enjoyment of Victory out of his hands nor suffer him whatsoever comes of it to see that joyfull day They are as they say two Companions so and so habited Let you and I Encounter them with such resolution as that they may be slain by our hands so shall we wipe off this affront and not dye unrevenged With this resolution they prepared themselves for the Battel which shortly ensued with great effusion of bloud and cruelty as will appear in the Chapters following CHAP. XXXVII Of the bloudy Battel of the Salinas ROdrigo Orgonnos to perform the part of a good Souldier put his Forces the next Morning very early into order of Battel his Infantry he reduced to one Battalion supported on each Wing by his Harquebusiers which were few in number and much less than those on
found guilty and condemned to dye during the time of which Trial the Indians having erected a Gallows for him he was brought forth to punishment and the Indians having in their own Language proclaimed his Crime were the Executioners also to hang him up which was a piece of Justice applauded by all who saw and heard of it But to return again to our History The Indians did not execute the design they had agreed which was to kill all the Spaniards after the Battel which they imagined might have been done after they were weakned by the common slaughter For God who intended by their means to propagate the Holy Gospel in those parts prevented that intention by dissention amongst the Indians themselves for that the Indians who were the Menial and Domestick Servants of the Spaniards being affected with a natural Loyalty to their Masters would not consent to the Massacre of them but rather judged themselves obliged to desend and fight for them for the remembrance of what was encharged them by Huayna Capac and Manco Inca occurred still to their mind by which they believed that an obligation lay on them to serve and obey the Spaniards Thus did the division between the Indian Servants and the others prevent the execution of their design from which also little success could have been expected considering that they had no Head or General to conduct them And if they had had one yet as Histories say the Indians who were on the side of the Conquerours would not well have accorded with those who were vanquished This Battel happened on the 6th of April 1538 which being on a Saturday which was the day after the Feast of Lazarus the Spaniards conceived a particular devotion for that Saint and in remembrance thereof built and dedicated a Church to him in those Plains where this Battel was fought and which was standing when I departed from thence Within this Church the Bodies of all those who were slain both of one side and the other were interred And though some alledge that the Battel happened on the 26th of April I cannot but believe that it was an Errour of the Printer who instead of 6 put down 26. Blas Valera describing the Grandure of the City of Cozco touches some particulars relating to this Battel and says That in those Plains there is a Church dedicated to St. Lazarus where for a long time lay interred the Bodies of those who were slain in that Fight Afterwards a Spaniard who was one of the Conquerours a Person both Noble and Religious was accustomed to resort frequently thither to pray for the Souls of those who were interred in that place And having continued this devotion for a long time at length he happened to hear sighs and deep groans from the Vaults of the Church and therewith appeared before him the Person of one of his friends which had been there slain but he said nothing more to him than onely to intreat him that he would continue his visits to that Church frequently at certain Hours both by Day and Night At first the Spaniard was possessed with great fear at the sight of this Apparition but at length being accustomed thereunto and encouraged by Admonitions and Directions from Father Andrew Lopez who was a Jesuit and his Confessour he continued his Devotions of Prayer not onely for his friend but for all those who were there buried without any concernment or distraction of mind exhorting likewise others to join with him both in their Prayers and Alms. And afterwards by the advice and example of this Person the Mestizos who were the Sons of Spaniards begotten on the Bodies of Indian Women did in the year 1581 transport the Bones of their Fathers from that place to the City of Cozco where they buried them in an Hospital and caused many Masses Alms and other pious Works to be celebrated and performed for them to which all the City concurring with a general Alacrity from that time forward the Vision ceased to appear Thus far are the Words of Blas Valera And now to complete the sum of all these Cruelties after this unhappy Battel there remains nothing more to be related than onely the Tragedy of Don Diego de Almagro himself the consequence of which was the total destruction of both the Governours with their Confidents and Abettours in which calamity the common Welfare of Peru was involved In which Relation both the Historians unanimously agree that is to say Carate in the 12th Chapter of his third Book and Gomara in Chapter 142 have these Words which are extracted verbatim in such manner as we have recited them in the following Chapter CHAP. XXXIX Of the Tragical Death of Don Diego de Almagro THis Victory being obtained and Almagro taken one side was enriched and the other impoverished which is the natural consequence of a Civil War waged between Citizens and Relations in Bloud and Consanguinity Fernando Piçarro immediately took possession of Cozco though not without much discontent and murmurings of the people for though he shared the spoils amongst them yet there not being sufficient to satisfie the expectations of every person Mutinies were feared to prevent which the Souldiers were employed on new Conquests and to make things more safe the friends of Almagro were joyned to the others without distinction And to take away farther cause or occasion of Faction and Mutiny Don Diego de Almagro Junior was sent a Prisoner to the City of los Reyes as to Almagro himself Process was made against him and a report was published that he together with his Son was to be sent Prisoner to los Reyes and thence into Spain But whereas it was commonly talked that Mesa and others intended to rescue him on the way which was a mere pretence to cloak the severity of their proceedings they sentenced him to Death The crimes laid to his charge were that he had entred Cozco by force of Arms that he had caused the effusion of much Spanish Bloud that he had entred into a secret Treaty with Mango Ynga against the Spaniards that he had given and prescribed Limits for Government and Jurisdiction without licence from the Emperour that he had broken all his Articles and Oaths that contrary to the Peace of their Sovereign Lord the King he had fought two Battels one at Abancay and the other at Salinas besides divers other Misdemeanours committed by him of lesser moment Almagro grievously resented the severity of this sentence and made such sad lamentations thereupon as were sufficient to draw Tears from the most obdurate heart And though he made his Appeal to the Emperour yet Fernando notwithstanding the importunities of many persons who earnestly urged him thereunto refused to admit of his Appeal All which not prevailing Almagro himself implored his mercy beseeching him to spare his life in consideration that when he himself was in his power he had not put him to death nor spilt the bloud of his Friends or Relations That he would
then manifestly appeared when with wonderfull patience he received the news of the Death of his Brother and of his other Kindred and of the Confiscation of his Lands and Possessions which belonged to him besides the vast expence he was put to both in Prison and to maintain his Law-suits This was all the World gave him in reward for his great and mighty Actions and for the innumerable difficulties he sustained to aid and assist his Brother the Marquis Don Francisco Piçarro in the Conquest of Peru performing as he always did the Office of Captain-General with which we will conclude this second Book returning thanks unto Almighty God who hath brought us so far as to this period Royal Commentaries BOOK III. CHAP. I. Of the Conquest of the Charcas and of other Battels between the Indians and the Spaniards BY the Death of Almagro and the Absence of Hernando Piçarro all the management of the Conquest and the weight of the Government of Peru was charged on the shoulders of Marquis Piçarro to whom God had given a sufficient talent of Wisedom to support the care both of one and the other had not evil Counsellours interposed to the disturbance and confusion of every thing for the Captains as we have mentioned in the preceding Book being dispeeded away and amused with new Conquests the Land was at rest and quiet amongst which Commanders Gonzalo Piçarro Brother to the Marquis was sent to conquer the Collao and the Charcas and people distant about two hundred Leagues to the Southward of Cozco with him the greatest part of those Cavaliers were sent who came in with Don Pedro de Alvarado to gain new Countries for those already subdued were onely such as were Dependances on the Cities of Cozco and los Reyes which together with all the Vallies along the Sea-coast as far as Tumpiz were divided amongst the first Conquerours who had had a hand in the Imprisonment of Atahualpa Wherefore it was necessary to enlarge those Conquests that out of them provision might be made for the second Adventurers who entred in with D. Diego de Almagro and Pedro de Alvarado Gonzalo Piçarro entred on the Collao with a good number of stout and valiant Men at first the Indians made little opposition but afterwards when they found them well entred into the Charcas and at a hundred and fifty Leagues distance from Cozco they then plied them close and frequently engaged them in Battels in which there were losses on both sides and the Indians aimed chiefly at their Horses for they were of opinion that if they could kill them and force the Men to fight on Foot they should have much the advantage and over-power them with their Multitudes At length it happened that after a bloudy Fight in which many were killed on both sides that the Spaniards gained the Victory To prosecute which on all sides several parties took divers ways and amongst the rest three Companions agreed to go with Gonzalo Piçarro One of which was Garçilasso de la Vega another John de Figueroa and the third Gaspar Jara all which had Commands over Indians in that Town which is now called the City of Plate and in the Indian Tongue Chuquisaca and afterwards they improved their Fortunes by Possessions in the City of Cozco where it was my Fortune to have acquaintance with them These four walking softly over a Plain to ease their Horses which were much tired with the Labours of the last Engagement and being at some distance from the place where the Battel was fought they discovered on the side of a little Hill below seven Indian Gentlemen all armed with their Bows and Arrows going to join with the Indian Army and very gallant with their Plumes of Feathers and other Ornaments So soon as they saw the Spaniards they put themselves into Rank at ten or twelve paces distant each from the other with design to divide the Enemy that they might come apart and not in a Body together The Spaniards made signs to them that they were Friends and would not fight with them but notwithstanding the Indians prepared their Arms and would not accept of their Friendship so that both sides engaged with great Courage and Resolution The Spaniards as they report themselves say that they were ashamed of the inequality of this match that four Cavaliers such as they were well armed and mounted on their Horses with Lances in their Hands should engage with seven Indians on Foot and naked without defensive Arms who notwithstanding refused not to fight with as much courage as if their Breasts had been covered with Steel assisting and helping each other with much Bravery That Indian who had none to encounter him always helped him that was engaged and so alternatively came in to the succour each of other sometimes cross and sometimes behind according to the Order and Method agreed amongst them so that for the most part two Indians fought with one Spaniard At length after a long Skirmish that every Spaniard had killed his Indian and one of them was in pursuit of a single Indian who as he was flying took up a Stone which he threw and hit the Beaver of his Head-piece which covered his Face with such force as half stunn'd him and had killed him outright had it not been for that piece of Armour howsoever notwithstanding the Blow the Spaniard made an end of this Indian and killed him also The other two Indians fled and escaped for the Spaniards were not very eager to pursue them considering that their Horses had been much tired and harassed with this second as well as with the first Encounter so that they thought it neither honourable nor worth their pains to kill the two surviving Indians After the Skirmish was over the four Companions staid a while to examine themselves and to know what hurt each Man had received and upon Enquiry they found that three of them were wounded and that two of these three had received three Wounds apiece though slight ones and the fourth had his Horse wounded with an Arrow the which hurt was many Days in healing according as he who was Master of the Horse related it to me in this manner All four of us said he were wounded but I most grievously of any because I was more sensible of the hurt which my Horse received than if I had been wounded my self by reason of the great want I had of him I remember when I was a Child the great lamentation the Spaniards made for their Horses and would rather have been wounded themselves than their Horses and in like manner this Gentleman was troubled for this misfortune In fine these four returned to the Army and acquainted their Companions that the Engagement which they had had with the seven Indians that day was more dangerous than the great fight with six or seven thousand of them Several other Skirmishes passed the same day of the like nature one of which was that which we have recounted
Peces John Diente and Martin Cote and thirty others of the most culpable or chiefest Offenders others who were pardoned for life were banished into the remote parts of that Kingdom Whilst the Governour was thus employed in doing justice at Huamanca he received intelligence that Almagro was taken and imprisoned at Cozco wherefore hastning to that place and arriving there he immediately caused the Sentence to be executed which he had passed upon him before the Battel not being willing to spend more time in new Processes Carate saith that they cut his throat in the same place and by the same Executioner who put his Father to death and who stripped him and took his Cloaths in the same manner as he had done his Father's onely some friends agreed for his Breeches Wastcoat and Shirt which were conserved to him his Body was laid out and exposed the whole day to publick view afterwards they carried it to the Convent of our Lady of the Merceds and there buried it by the side or in the very Grave of his Father without Winding-sheet or other Shroud than his own Cloaths onely out of charity some few Masses were said for his Soul. This was the end of Don Diego Almagro Junior which was so like to that of his Father that fortune seemed to make the circumstances of their lives parallel in every thing for besides that they were Father and Son and had the same Name they were endued with equal courage and conduct in War and with the same prudence and counsel in Peace and if there was any thing of excellency more in one than in the other it appeared in the Son who from his youth had been trained up in good literature in which by help of his good parts both for judgment and quickness of fancy he made great improvement they resembled each other in their Deaths which happened in the same place and almost in the same manner their Funerals were much alike for having been rich and powerfull they died so poor that their Burial-charges were paid upon charity and to render the circumstances of their lives in all things agreeable the Battels they fought and lost were both upon a Saturday Thus poor Don Diego Almagro Junior concluded the Scene of his Life who had been the bravest Mestizo that is one begot by a Spaniard on the body of an Indian Woman that ever this new World produced had he taken the right side and obeyed the Governour who was constituted by Commission from his Majesty He was a Man who had a handsome seat on Horse-back in both Saddles either riding with his legs at length or short as is the fashion on the Gennet At last he died like a good Christian with great repentance for his sins Almagro being dead they hanged up John Rodriguez Barragan and Ensign Enriquez with eight others who adventured to follow Almagro unto Cozco Gomez Perez and Diego Mendez and another companion of theirs made their escape out of Prison but finding no secure place wherein to conceal themselves in all Peru they fled to the Mountains where Prince Manco Inca remained in retirement and were followed by five others who went also to hide and cure themselves of their wounds in that place All which were received with great kindness and with as good entertainment by the Inca as he was able to give them but in what Coin they again repaid him will appear by the sequel for he was killed by one of them in requital for his favours and kindness towards them CHAP. XIX The good Government of Vaca de Castro the peace and quietness of Peru the cause and original of other Troubles DOn Diego Almagro Junior being dead and all the Complices and Heads of that party being either put to death or banished the whole Empire of Peru began to enjoy peace and settlement the name and interest of that Almagrian Faction being totally extinguished Judge Vaca de Castro being a prudent and a discreet Person in all his actions governed with much Equity and Justice to the great satisfaction and contentment both of Spaniards and Indians having established several Laws so advantageous to the Welfare of both Nations that the Indians themselves rejoyced in such happy constitutions and esteemed them equal to those which had been made by their Incas Likewise the Governour bestowed such Plantations of Indians which were void and forfeited for Rebellion on persons who had well deserved for their Services to his Majesty in the late War He also encreased the Possessions of others or exchanged them for those which were better in other places or Cities where they were most pleased to chuse their habitation At that time many of the Inhabitants of Charcas transplanted themselves and Families to Cozco amongst whom my Lord Garçilasso de la Vega was one who as we have said formerly had left the Province Tapac-ri to settle himself in the Province Quechua which belongs to the Nation Cotanera and Huamampallpa And though the Governour in the Divisions he made proceeded with all the equality and caution imaginable as was apparent to all the World yet many were discontented for want of having Lands and Plantations of Indians allotted to them which they believed and presumed to be due for all their Services and Labours they had sustained in the Conquest of Peru. Amongst these discontented persons there was a certain Gentleman called Hernando Mogollon born at Badajoz of whom we have made mention in the third Chapter of the first Book of our History of Florida This Gentleman presuming that he had well deserved and performed great Services in the Conquest of these new Countries and particularly at the Battel of Chupas where he signalized his bravery in an extraordinary manner of which Vaca de Castro himself was a Witness for which finding he had no reward or Lands or Indian Servants divided to him he went and applied himself to the Governour and told him plainly Sir In this Countrey as your Lordship well knows all People eat from the Labours of Mogollon and he alone starves with hunger And in regard that he was one of those who discovered Florida and was forward and active in other important Conquests which have been acquired to the Crown of Spain and lastly was present in the Battel of Chupas where he fought under your Lordship's Standard it is but reason that some remembrance should be had of him who hath not forgotten his Duty and Service to his Majesty The Governour considering well the Merits of the Man and that he asked nothing but what was very reasonable he bestowed upon him a small share of Lands inhabited by Indians And as an expedient to quiet the minds of other complaining and indigent Souldiers of which many were unrewarded and to prevent a farther Mutiny he imitated the example of Marquis Piçarro who on the like occasion dispeeded several Companies with their Captains to conquer and possess divers other parts of the Countrey by which means enlarging their Territories
this they were obliged to no other Tribute or Service and of this nature my Father was possessed of three little Villages in the Valley of Cozco and in the parts adjacent the Inhabitants of Cozco held divers such like Cottages obliged to the use and service of the City And where it happened out that the lot fell to any person in places uninhabited they presently sent to the Head-quarters to be supplied with Indians in part of the Tribute due to them and accordingly the same was granted and the Indians which were allotted to them with great chearfulness and contentment followed and observed the imposition of their Masters so that when the President Gasca came and found this particular point so equally disposed and established he approved thereof and made no manner of alteration therein As to the third Precept which retrenched the Bishops Monasteries and Hospitals in those large proportions of services which former Governours had bestowed upon them over Indians It seemed neither injurious nor unreasonable wholly to take them away for that the Intention of the Governours was not to grant them for a longer time than they were impowred by his Majesties Commission which was only for two lives which being expired their right ceased and herein Monasteries Bishopricks and Hospitals though of perpetual durance yet could not pretend to a greater privilege than the Adventurers and Conquerours of those Empires The remaining part of this third and fourth Ordinance we shall declare hereafter in the place where we give a relation of the Complaints which those made who believed themselves injured and damnifyed thereby CHAP. XXI Of the Officers which were sent to Mexico and Peru to put these Laws into Execution And a Description of the Imperial City of Mexico WHen these Laws of the new Establishment came over It was farther ordered that the Court held at Panama should be dissolved and another new one erected in the confines of Guatimala and Nicaragua to which Court the whole Terra Firma or Continent was to be subjected It was farther ordained That another Court of Chancery should be erected in Peru consisting of four Judges and a President to whom the title should be given of Vice-king and Captain General And that a certain person should be sent unto New Spain with a power of Visitation to oversee the Government of the Vice-king and the Proceedings in the Court of Mexico and of the several Bishopricks and to take an account from the Officers of the Royal Revenue and of all the Justices of that Kingdom All which Regulations were issued forth with the aforementioned Ordinances which as formerly declared were fourty in number And whereas there resided in the Court of Spain many Indians from all parts divers Copies of these new Rules were translated sent-over and dispersed which all and every particular person inhabitants of those two Empires took out for his information being of general concernment but so displeasing were these new regulations to the generality of those People that in high discontent they caballed together and held publick meetings to contrive a remedy Some few days after the publication of these Orders his Imperial Majesty nominated Don Francisco Tello de Sandoval a Native of Seville who had been Inquisitor of Toledo to be his Visitor for which Office he judged him the most proper person he could chuse in consideration that he had formerly been a member of the Royal Council of the Indies and a person of great probity and prudence and for that reason was well worthy of the emploiment to see that the new Laws should be put in execution as well in New Spain as in other parts of the Empire and to that purpose that he should visit all places to see them actually performed and put into practice At the same time Blasco Nunnez Vela who was Surveyor General of the Forts of Castile was named President and Vice-king of the Kingdoms and Provinces of Peru concerning which matter Carate in the second Chapter of his fifth Book hath these words following The great experience his Majesty had of this Gentleman whom he had tryed and approved in other Governments of Countries and Cities namely in Malaga and Cuenca and having found that he was a Gentleman of great probity and rectitude executing impartial justice unto all men without respect to persons and that he was ever zealous for the Royal Interest and that with great courage he performed the King's Commands and without failure in any thing his Majesty therefore judged him worthy of this honourable emploiment Thus far are the words of Carate Moreover Don Diego de Cepeda a Native of Tordersillas who had been Judge in the Isles of the Canaries and Don Lison de Texada a Native of Logromo who had been Judge of the Marshal's Court held at Valladolid for deciding points of Honour and Don Alvarez who had been a Pleader or Advocate in the same Court with Don Pedro Ortez de Carate a Native of the City of Ordunna formerly Mayor of Segovla were all four put into Commission and appointed Officers in those parts Moreover Augustine de Carate who had been Secretary of the Privy-Council was appointed Auditor General of all the Accounts of those Kingdoms and Provinces and of that whole Continent To whom and to the persons above-mentioned these Rules and Orders above-mentioned were delivered with Command That so soon as the Courts were setled and established in the City of Los Reyes where his Majesty commanded they should be held the several Laws mentioned in the sequel of the Commissions should be observed and maintained without any violation Thus much is reported by Diego Fernandez in the second Chapter of his Book and the like also is mentioned by Augustine Carate almost in the same termes and that these Laws were issued out and dated in the month of April 1543. And now in the first place we will briefly relate the happy success of these matters in Mexico from whence we will proceed to Peru and there declare the sad and dolefull effects thereof which happened in that Kingdom as well to Spaniards as Indians In the month of November 1543. the Vice-king together with his Judges Ministers and Chief Super-Intendent Don Francisco Tello de Sandoval embarked at San Lucar upon a noble Fleet consisting of about 52 Sail of good and tall Ships and loosing from thence with a prosperous gale arrived in 12 days at the Islands of the Canaries from whence having taken some refreshments they pursued their voyage and then divided their Fleet those for New Spain steering their course to the right-hand and those for Peru unto the left where we will leave our Vice-king in prosecution of his voyage to relate the success of the Visitor or Super-Intendent in the Kingdom of Mexico And passing by the many particulars of his voyage which are mentioned by Diego Fernandez Paletino we shall say in short that in the month of Febr. 1544. he safely arrived in the Port of St. John
mean time they seemed to act like discontented persons professing openly their aggrievances and dissatisfaction for when they came to Huamanca they took away all the Artillery which had been lodged there ever since the defeat of Almagro and carried them away to Cozco the chief Authour of which enterprise was called Gaspar Rodriguez who by the help of great numbers of Indians carried them away to the dissatisfaction of all those who either saw or heard of the action Vaca de Castro having intelligence hereof proceeded on his Journey and by the way it was his fortune to meet with a certain Priest called Baltasar de Loaysa who out of kindness told him that in the City of Los Reyes the people spake hardly of him and therefore he advised him to be wary and to go well attended both with Men and Arms. Vaca de Castro making use of this information desired those Gentlemen who came in his company and entred into his attendance that they would now be pleased to leave him and return to their own homes and that such who were unwilling so to doe and were desirous to continue with him yet at least that they should quit their Lances and Fire-arms though it were the practice at that time as well as many years after to travel both with offensive and defensive Arms. Accordingly his Friends that accompanied him laid aside their Weapons and by short journies arrived at length at Los Reyes the persons who were his associates were Lorenço de Aldana Pedro de los Rios Benito de Carvajal a civil Lawyer Don Alonso de Monte-Major and Hernando de Bachichao whose arrival at the City of Los Reyes was solemnized with great joy though much abated by the apprehensions they conceived of the severity of the new Statutes and the inexorable and inflexible humour of the Vice-king so different from the temper of his Predecessour So soon as he was arrived he immediately dispatched away from thence his Steward called Jeronimo de Serena and his Secretary Pedro Lopez de Caçalla with Letters to the Vice-king congratulating his safe arrival with offers both of his life and fortune to serve both his Majesty and his Lordship Whilst these matters passed on the way between Cozco and the City of Los Reyes other more unpleasing passages occurred in the Journey between Tumpiz and Rimac where the Vice-king without any difference or consideration of circumstances put the new Rules into execution with all the rigour and fury imaginable without giving ear to the defence or reasons which the Conquerours and Gainers of that great Empire could make or alledge in their own favour and behalf saying that so was the King's will and pleasure which admitted of no delay or contradiction or any thing besides pure obedience Hereupon all the Citizens and Inhabitants being generally concerned were inflamed and inraged for as Fernandez saith there was not a man amongst them unconcerned so that people began to talk loudly and scandalously against those new Laws saying that this course was the effect of the pernicious Counsels of evil men and of such as being envious of the riches and power which those Conquerours had acquired had for their own ends put his Majesty upon indirect means and upon rigorours courses very prejudicial to the publick welfare and persuaded him to see them executed by Officers inflexible and without reason all which is fully reported by Gomara in the 155th Chapter of his Book the Title of which is this The manner how Blasco Nunnez treated with those of Truxillo and of the Reasons and Objections which the People gave against the new Rules and Statutes At length Blasco Nunnez entred into Truxillo to the great discontent and general sorrow of the Spaniards for he immediately made Proclamation to impose a new sort of Tribute and to affrighten men from bringing the Indians under vassalage forbidding all people from oppressing or causing them to labour without pay or against their inclinations in fine the Indians were all brought under vassalage to the King and no other And though the people and several Corporations petitioned against the most oppressive Articles of the new Rules being willing to admit of the Tributes and Taxes which were imposed upon them and to free the Indians from their services yet the Vice-king would hearken to no terms of composition or moderation but positively persisted in the execution of the express commands of the Emperour without any Appeal All that they could get of him was this that he would write and inform his Majesty how ill he had been advised in the constitution and establishment of those new Laws Notwithstanding which fair words the Inhabitants who observed his inflexible disposition began to mutiny some said that they would abandon their Wives others declared that those Women or Wenches which by command of the Government they had married and taken for Wives they would renounce and cut them off from alimony and maintenance others said it were better to have no Wives or Children to maintain than to want the subsistence and benefit of Slaves who might labour in the Mines for them and in the works of Husbandry and other servile Offices for their support and easiness of living others required money and the price of their Slaves for which having paid the fifths unto the King their brand and mark had been set upon them others murmured and complained that their Services were ill rewarded and their time ill employed to have spent their youth and flower of their years in hardships and difficulties and at last to be deprived of their Servants and convenient attendances in their old age some shewed how their Teeth were fallen out with eating roasted Mayz during the time of War in Peru and others opened and displayed their wounds and fractures of their Bones and the bites of Serpents and venemous Creatures received in the enterprises they undertook to gain that Empire in which also they had spent their Estates and shed their Bloud and all to increase the Dominions of the Emperour in reward for which he was pleased to deprive them of those few Vassals they had purchased to themselves and the Souldiers huft and muttered that they would not concern themselves farther in new adventures since they had no encouragement but were resolved to live upon spoil and plunder on all hands The King's Officers and Ministers complained that they were hardly dealt with to be deprived of the vassalage of the Indians whom they had so kindly treated and used in their Services and the Friers and Clergy declared that they should be unable to support and sustain their Monasteries and Churches and Hospitals without the necessary services of the Indians But none spoke more daringly and freely both against the Vice-king and the King himself then did Frier Peter Munnoz of the Order of Merced saying plainly that his Majesty had ill rewarded those who had served him well and that those new Laws smelt rank of interest and selfishness
such as became loyal and obedient Subjects To which Piçarro made answer that since they were well acquainted with the implacable spirit of the Vice-king who had often boasted that he brought a Commission with him to take off his head he could not but wonder that they should send him bound to the hands of the Executioner and with the glorious title of their Representative to stand with his hands in his pockets untill the other should cut his throat And therefore rather than go in such manner on this errant he would chuse to return unto his own house and retirement and there expect his fate than to anticipate his death by going to the place of execution The Citizens seeing the resolution of Piçarro and considering the reasons which he alledged could not but concurr with him in his opinion as reasonable and therefore permitted him to raise Men under notion onely of his Guard and to defend him as several Authours averr in his passage through those Mountains wherein the Prince Manco Inca had fortified himself And with this license and under this colour for raising Men he increased his numbers to four hundred men as Gomara saith both Horse and Foot and as some say to many more which when the City observed they began to repent them of their Election and Design which put on the face of a Rebellion rather than the humble guise of Petitioners against which way of proceedings many made their protests and particularly the three before named as Gomara reports Howsoever Gonçalo Piçarro pursuing his design wrote very instant and urging Letters unto all parts where Spaniards inhabited and not onely to the three Cities before mentioned but to the Plantations of Indians addressing himself to them all particularly with such endearing terms as might best affect them offering to them his Life and Fortune to spend in their Service either upon the present emergencies or upon any other occasion which should occurr for the future by which his design was no longer under a dubious sense or disguise but became clear and evident as the three Historians write for that he set up a claim and title to the sole Government of Peru by virtue of an ancient Patent from the Emperour to his Brother Francisco Piçarro constituting and appointing him chief Governour and after him whom he should nominate to succeed him during life so that the Government was given for two Lives as was also the distribution of Indians and those held by vassalage for two Lives according to the original Grants given to the first Conquerours CHAP. IX Gonçalo Piçarro having named and appointed his several Captains and Officers departs from Cozco The Vice-king in like manner assembles his People and appoints Captains and imprisons Vaca de Castro and other principal men of note and quality WITH this specious pretence Gonçalo Piçarro proceeded in raising Men so that now it seemed rather an open War than an Address by way of Petition for relief against Oppressions and to make his designs yet more manifest he sent Francisco de Almendras who was my Godfather into the great Road leading to the City of Los Reyes with a party of twenty Men besides Indians carefully to intercept all persons that passed not permitting any to travel thither either from Cozco or Rimac All the Gold and Silver which was in the King's Treasury he feised as also the Estates of persons deceased and Monies deposited which he took up by way of loan and to re-pay the same again with interest all which he made use of for payment of his Souldiers and carrying on his design The Cannon which Gaspar Rodriguez and his Companions transported from Huamanca to Cozco and which were many and very good he seised upon and took with him for his Train of Artillery for the supply of which he gave order to make great quantities of Gun-powder for compounding which they wanted not Salt-peter in abundance for in the parts near Cozco the best Salt-peter is digged in all that Kingdom The Captains named for his Army were Alonso de Toro Captain of Horse who had formerly been Major General to Don Pedro Porto Carrero Pedro Cermenno was appointed Captain of the Harquebusiers John Velez de Guevara and Diego Gumiel were made Captains of the Lances and Hernando Bachicao was made Master of the Ordnance of which there were twenty excellent Pieces Moreover Carate in the Fifth Chapter of his Eighth Book tells us that he provided both Ball and Powder and all sort of Ammunition necessary and required to his Cannon And having thus prepared every thing in order to his evil intent he then professed openly that he and his Brothers having discovered that great and vast Continent and by their Adventures Hazards and Atchievements reduced the same with the help and authority of his Majesty's Commission under his Royal Power in return whereof he had remitted vast quantities both of Gold and Silver to his Majesty's Exchequer as might evidently appear upon the List and Register And that whereas after the death of the Marquiss his Majesty was so far from settling the Government upon his Son or himself as was confirmed by the Letters Patents that in lieu thereof he sent to make seisure of their Estates from which no person is exempted who by one matter or the other is not concerned and brought within the compass of these Rules and new Regulations and to mend the matter an obstinate person one Blasco Nunnez Vela was employed to put them into execution who would neither receive Petitions nor hearken to Reason treating the people with injurious and severe terms as might be easily proved by good and sufficient Witnesses and likewise that he had sent a Commission to take off his Head who had never disserved his Majesty but on the contrary as was manifestly known had been loyal faithfull and a good Subject as was apparent to all the world For which reasons as aforesaid he was resolved with the consent and approbation of the City to make a Journey to Los Reyes there to complain in the publick place of Judicature of the aggrievances of his Majesty's good Subjects after which they would dispatch Messengers to the King in the name of the whole Kingdom to inform his Majesty of the truth of all that had passed with their humble offers for a redress not doubting but his Majesty would yield a gentle and a gratious ear thereunto and when they had performed this their duty and could receive no relief they would then contentedly acquiesce and with humble resignation submit unto his Majesty's pleasure And whereas they could not esteem themselves safe and secure from the designs and menaces of the Vice-king who was marching against them with a Body of Men they agreed that this their Plenipotentiary should likewise be attended with a Body of Men merely for the security of his Person and to remain onely on the defensive part And with this design onely and no other he exhorted the Souldiers
Cypher and a suspicion of the Agent 's faithfulness and shewing them to the Judges demanded their opinion whether they were not ground sufficient to put him to death to which the Judges replied that it were convenient first to know the contents of them Hereupon the Agent was called for who coming did not seem as they say to be startled or change his countenance though he was severely treated with sharp words but took the paper and read it without hesitation Doctour John Alvarez noting the words which he read the sum or substance of all the Cypher was the number of Souldiers that were with Piçarro and what his intentions were who were in his favour and who not and in fine declared that he would watch his opportunity to slip away and come to the service of the Vice-king so soon as he could disengage himself according to the Counsel which the Agent had given him After which the Key of the Cypher was called for and the matter being thereby disclosed it was found to agree with the interpretation given by the Agent and to verifie the truth thereof Benito Carvajal came to Lima two or three days after Blasco Nunnez was seised not knowing any thing of the death of the Agent Thus far are the words of Gomara Howsoever there still remained upon the mind of the Vice-king such a jealousie of the Agent that like an evil Spirit it still haunted and followed him never suffering him to be at rest untill at last the direfull effects thereof broke out in the very Chamber of the Vice-king where the Agent was assassinated without any cause or reason for it which struck a greater terrour into the minds of the people on this side than was the late consternation in the Camp of Gonçalo Piçarro so that neither Party was free from Tragedies of their own And particularly here happened out one the night following occasioned by the flight of Baltasar de Castilla and others afore-mentioned The three Authours report this History almost in the same manner and first we shall repeat what the Accountant Augustine Carate says upon this Subject and then we shall add that from the others which he hath omitted That which he relates in the eleventh Chapter of his fifth Book is as follows and herewith we will return to the Subject of our History Some few hours after Don Baltasar de Castilla and his Companions were departed from the City of Los Reyes in pursuit of Loaysa as is before-mentioned the matter was not so secretly carried but that it came to the knowledge of Captain Diego de Urbina who was Major-General to the Vice-king for he going his Rounds in the night through the City and calling at the Houses of some of these who were fled neither found them at home nor their Arms nor Horses nor the menial Indian Servants which belonged to them upon which suspecting what was faln out he directly went to the Vice-king's Lodgings who was then in Bed and told him that he had reason to believe that the greatest part of the people had deserted the City The Vice-king was greatly troubled as was reason at this report and arising from his Bed gave immediate order to sound an alarm and that every man should stand to his arms and calling his Captains gave them order to go from House to House and make enquiry who were absent that so he might be informed of the number of those who were departed And having accordingly made search and found that Diego de Carvajal Jeronimo de Carvajal and Francisco de Escobedo were missing who were Kinsmen of Agent Yllen Suarez de Carvajal it was instantly believed that he was engaged in the Plot and in favour of Gonçalo Piçarro for it could not be imagined that his Kinsmen could have acted herein without his consent or at least without his knowledge in regard they all lodged under the same Roof and onely had two different Door to each Apartment but for better assurance of what was suspected the Vice-king sent his Brother Vela Nunnez with a guard of Musquetiers to bring the Agent before him and he being in Bed they caused him to rise and dress himself and so carried him to the Lodgings of the Vice-king who having not slept all night was laid upon his Bed with his Arms on to take some little repose And the Agent being introduced by way of the Court-yard-gate those who were then present report that the Vice-king presently arose and said Is it so Traitour that thou hast sent away thy Kinsmen to serve Gonçalo Piçarro To which the Agent made answer I beseech your Lordship not to call me Traitour for in reality I am not so then replied the Vice-king I swear by God that thou art a Traitour to the King. I swear by God said the Agent I am as good a Servant to the King as your Lordship At which words the Vice-king became so enraged that coming in his fury to him he stabbed him in the breast with his Dagger though the Vice-king denied to have done it himself but that his Servants and Halbardiers of his Guard hearing how insolently he answered gave him so many wounds with their Halberts and Partisans that he dyed upon the place without so much time as to confess or speak one word And lest being a person generally well-beloved the manner of his death should cause some mutiny and disturbance amongst the Souldiers of which an hundred every night kept watch within the yard of the House the Vice-king gave order to have his Corpse conveyed away by a certain private Gallery leading to the Market-place where some few Indians and Negroes received it and buried it in a Church near thereunto without other Shroud or Winding-sheet than onely his own Scarlet Cloak which he usually wore Three days after which when the Judges seised on the person of the Vice-king as we shall relate hereafter one of the first things they laid to his charge was the death of the Agent and the Preamble to their Process was that being carried about midnight into the House of the Vice-king he never since that time appeared and it was proved that they had wounded and buried him So soon as this murther was made publick it occasioned much talk and murmuring in the Town for every one was assured that the Agent was a true Friend to the Vice-king and his Cause having been the chief Instrument to persuade the Town of Los Reyes to receive him against the sense and opinion of the major part of the Judges These matters happened out upon Sunday at night being the thirteenth day of September 1544. Thus far are the words of Carate which are confirmed also by Diego Fernandez who in the seventeenth Chapter of his Book adds this farther They conveyed says he his Corpse by a certain Gallery and buried them in a corner or nook of the great Church near adjoining thereunto but some few hours after that his anger grew cool and that the
Chapter of his Book CHAP. XVII The Summons which the Judges sent to Gonçalo Piçarro and the misfortunes which befell those who deserted his Cause A Lvarez having set Sail and at Sea it was reported at Los Reyes that he and the Vice-king were agreed to which they gave the greater credit by some circumstances in his behaviour before he departed and more especially because he did not expect the dispatches which the Judges were preparing and which Carate had purposely delayed with pretence that they should be forwarded the day following This matter much troubled the Judges for that this Alvarez had been the chief promoter and instrument of the Vice-king's imprisonment and had been more concerned therein than any of the others but whilst they were doubtfull of the meaning and intention of Alvarez it was thought fit to send a message to Gonçalo Piçarro giving him information of what had succeeded and to require him by virtue of their Commission from the King whereby they were authorised and impowered to administer Justice and to order and command such things as tended to the peace and welfare of that Countrey that he should immediately disband his Army and repair to the City in regard they had already suspended the execution of the new Laws which was the sum of the Petition for which they came and had sent the Vice-king into Spain which was a point of higher satisfaction than they had demanded or pretended unto before wherefore in regard all matters were appeased they required him to come in a peaceable manner without an Army and in case he should desire to have a Guard for the security of his Person he might if he pleased come attended with fifteen or twenty Horse This command being dispatched away the Judges would have seconded it by some Citizens for the better countenance of the matter but there was none that would accept the Office apprehending some danger might be in it saying that they might be blamed by Gonçalo Piçarro and his Party for taking upon them such a message to them who pretended to come for the security of their Estates against such as in general were enemies to them Hereupon the Judges sent Instructions to Augustine Carate Accountant General of the Kingdom that he together in company with Don Antonio de Ribera an inhabitant of that City should go and signifie these matters for which he was authorised by the Credentials which were given him and accordingly they departed and travelled as far as the Valley of Xauxa where Gonçalo Piçarro was encamped who being already informed of the message which they brought which he knew would be unwelcome to his People for they apprehending that this message was brought with intention to disband them and thereby defeat them of the hopes they had to sack and plunder the City of Lima might probably thereupon fall into a mutiny to prevent which Jeronimo Villegas Captain of Piçarro's own Company was dispeeded away with thirty Musquetiers mounted on Horseback to intercept the messengers in their way and having met them coming they suffered Antonio de Ribera to proceed to the Camp but they stopped Augustine de Carate and took his dispatches from him and returned him back by the same way that he came as far as the Province of Pariacaca where they detained him Prisoner for the space of ten days with terrours and threats unless he desisted from farther prosecution of his Message and in this condition he remained untill such time as Gonçalo Piçarro arrived there with his Camp. Thus far are the words of Carate which are again confirmed by other Authours who proceed and say That those of the Corporation of the City of Los Reyes made choice of Don Antonio de Ribera and Augustine de Carate Accountant General because they were both men acceptable to Gonçalo Piçarro and the least suspected by him for that Don Antonio was as it were his Brother-in-law having married the Widow of Francisco Martin de Alcantara Brother to the Marquis Don Francisco Piçarro and Carate was a Person who being a stranger in the Countrey had no engagements or obligations in any part of the Countrey for which cause as we said they suffered Don Antonio to pass by reason of his alliance but the Accountant Carate was stopped by them Thus much is confirmed by Diego Fernandez who adds farther in the twenty fourth Chapter of his Book That at the Council held by Gonçalo Piçarro and his Captains to consider of the Answer which was to be returned to the Message sent by the Judges they onely touched upon one point thereof to which Francisco de Carvajal like a great Officer and Souldier made this reply That whereas the Judges did require that Gonçalo Piçarro should come to them with a Guard onely of fifteen or twenty Horse they understood it to be so many in a Rank to which interpretation all the Captains in the Council agreed and concluded that it was necessary for the welfare of the Publick to create Gonçalo Piçarro chief Governour and in all other things they would comply with the Judges and that in case they should refuse to accept these Proposals they were resolved to put the City to Fire and Sword c. Thus far Diego Fernandez Palentino But now to return to Graviel de Rojas and Garcilasso de la Vega and other Inhabitants and Gentlemen of Cozco who deserted Gonçalo Piçarro and were fled to Arequepa whence not finding passage by Sea they travelled along by the Sea coast and being at length arrived at Los Reyes they found themselves much at a loss for that the Vice-king whose fortune they intended to follow was already taken and embarked by force for Spain and whereas the Judges had a chief hand in this Conspiracy against the Vice-king and thereby seemed rather to incline to the Faction of Gonçalo Piçarro than to Blasco Nunnez Vela they were resolved not to engage with them Though if we impartially consider of these matters we shall find that the intention of the Judges was not as ill Tongues scandalously reported but was to prevent worse and more dangerous consequences proceeding from the Vice-king who was abhorred and hated by all men of Estates and Interest in that Countrey against whom he came chiefly to put the new Laws in execution Howsoever these Gentlemen looking with a prejudicial eye upon those things which the Judges had acted refused to joyn with them whom they esteemed to be favourers of the cause of Piçarro And whereas no Party appeared to set up the Royal interest they knew not unto whom they might adhere for they found themselves in the power of their enemies not being able to escape from them either by Sea or Land for after the Vice-king's imprisonment all the Countrey declared for Piçarro but the greatest number of the contrary party remained in the City of Los Reyes not having any other place whereunto to repair others absconded themselves amongst their Friends and Relations for having been
Marquis had performed to the Crown as also for other Causes which they alledged in favour and honour of Gonçalo Piçarro himself For now fortune being of his side the people began to speak favourably of him and he carrying himself with pretences of restoring to them their Liberty was generally cryed up and beloved of all and especially succeeding the Vice-king who was hated and detested by all mankind Thus far are the words of Diego Fernandez After which Carate in the thirteenth Chapter of his Book proceeds and says The Instrument for constituting Piçarro Governour being passed he made his Entry into the City in State and triumph In the first place Captain Bachicao led the Van-guard with two and twenty Pieces of Cannon made for the field which were carried on the Shoulders of six thousand Indians as we have mentioned before with all the other train of Artillery and Ammunition thereunto belonging and as they marched they fired the Cannon in the Streets and for Guard to the Artillery thirty Musquetiers and fifty Gunners were appointed After which followed the Company under command of Captain Diego Gumiel which consisted of two hundred Pique-men after which followed Captain Guevara with a hundred and fifty Musquetiers and then came the Company of Pedro Cermenno consisting of two hundred Harquebusiers immediately after which followed Gonçalo Picarro himself with three Companies of Foot attending like Foot-men by his side and he mounted on a very fine Horse and cloathed with a Coat of Mail over which he wore a thin Coat of cloth of gold after him marched three Captains with their Troops of Horse in midst of which Don Pedro Porto Carrero supported the Royal Standard on his right hand Antonio Altamirano carried the Ensign of Cozco and on the left Pedro de Puelles carried the Colours in which the Arms of Piçarro were painted after which all the Cavalry followed armed in form and point of War. And in this order they marched to the house of Licenciado Carate where the other Judges were assembled which was a default on Carate's side for he ought rather to have received him in the place of publick Judicature but here Piçarro leaving his Forces drawn up in the open Market-place went up into the Chamber where the Judges attended and received him with due order and respect and having taken the Oath and given the Security which is usual he went to the Town-house where the Mayor Sheriffs and other Officers received him with the accustomary Solemnities and thence he went to his own Lodgings and in the mean time the Officers quartered the Souldiers both Horse and Foot in the private houses of the Citizens giving order that they should entertain them upon Free-quarter This entry of Piçarro into the City and his reception there happened towards the end of the month of October 1544 being forty days after the imprisonment of the Vice-king and from that time forward Piçarro attended wholly to the management of his martial Affairs and to matters relating thereunto leaving all civil Causes and proceedings in Law to the Judges who held their Courts in the House of the Treasurer Alonso Riquelme And then he sent to Cozco for his Deputy Alonso de Toro to Arequepa for Pedro de Tuentes to the Villa de Plata for Francisco de Almendras and to other Cities for the principal Governours thereof Thus far are the words of Augustine Carate To which Fernandez Palentino in the sixteenth Chapter of his Book adds and says That Diego Centeno having accompanied Gonçalo Piçarro in quality of Procuratour for the Town of Plate as far as Los Reyes he there found that Piçarro had preferred his great Friend Francisco de Almendras to be Captain and chief Justiciary of that Town and therefore he desired him to move Piçarro that he might be dismissed and go along with him to the Villa de la Plata because his House and Estate was in those parts which license being obtained they travelled together to the Charcas where some time afterwards when Diego Centeno declared for the King he surprised and killed him and though in excuse hereof it may be alledged that it was done for the King's service yet he can never wipe off that blot of Ingratitude for during the time of the Conquest when Diego Centeno came very young into the Countrey he was supported and provided for in all his necessities and in the time of his sickness by Francisco de Almendras who was a rich and a principal person of quality in those days and took the same care of him as if he had been his Son the which benefits and kindnesses Diego Centeno publickly owned and when they were in private he called him Father as Almendras called him Son and therefore he ought for ever to be branded with Ingratitude unless the publick concernment for his Prince be able to untie and abolish all other private obligations and endearments whatsoever Gonçalo Piçarro finding himself now invested in his Power and Government which he held both by virtue of the Royal Grant given to his Brother the Marquis in whose right he pretended thereunto and now by the consent and election of the Judges began to give out his own Commission to Officers both Military and Civil and to sit and hear Causes which he dispatched with great readiness administring Justice with Reputation and Authority to the contentment and satisfaction of the whole City but these smooth and chearfull proceedings were mixed with their troubles and misfortunes For Captain Diego Gumiel who untill this time had always shewed himself zealous and passionate in the cause of Piçarro began to alter his humour and speak against him because he had refused to grant him a piece of Land with a Command over Indians which he asked of him in behalf of a certain Friend of his and with that occasion he railed against the Judges saying that they had unjustly taken away the Government from the Son of Marquis Francisco Piçarro to whom it appertained by lawfull inheritance descended from his Father in virtue of a Grant from his Majesty to confer it upon one who had no right nor title thereunto and for that reason he declared that he would use his utmost endeavours that the Son of the Marquis might recover his own Inheritance Gumiel frankly discoursing at this rate without regard to the place where or the person to whom he vented his passion at length the reports thereof coming to the ears of Piçarro he gave his immediate Orders to his Major-General that he should examine this matter and take such course as might restrain the licentious Tongue of that Captain for the future It is certain that the meaning of Piçarro was not to put Gumiel to death though Carvajal put that interpretation upon it and having asked some questions about the matter and hearing them confirmed went directly to Gumiel's Lodgings where without more to doe he strangled him and drew his Body into the Market-place saying give way Gentlemen for
commanded to march before to Truxillo and Piçarro himself with the chief of his Commanders remained behind to bring up the Rere About this time a Brigantine from Arequepa arrived in the Port of Lima which brought an hundred thousand pieces of Eight for account of Piçarro at the same time also came in another Ship from the Continent belonging to Gonçalo Martel and which brought his Wife Children and Family to be thence conveyed to Cozco where his habitation was This happy accident so encouraged Piçarro and his Party that they grew very high and insolent thereupon and as if fortune had been on their side they believed the whole world was their own Thus far Augustine de Carate to which Diego Fernandez adds that they became so proud and made such vain boastings that some talked as if Gonçalo Piçarro was to take upon him the Title and Crown of a King arguing in his favour that all Kings and Governours took their original and beginning by force that the Nobility of the world descended from the haughty and unjust Cain and the poor and meek from Abel that it plainly appeared in Heraldry which blazes the Escutcheons of great men that their Arms contain nothing but Weapons of War and Tyranny Francisco de Carvajal was much of this opinion and in confirmation hereof he desired that the Old Testament should be reviewed and the last Will of Adam there consulted whether therein he bequeathed the Kingdom of Peru to Charles the Emperour or to the Kings of Castile All which Gonçalo Piçarro hearkned unto with much satisfaction being pleased to hear the flatteries of his Abettors These are the words of Diego Fernandez which I have extracted verbatim out of the thirty fourth Chapter of his first Book On the Vessels which lately came into Lima Gonçalo Piçarro laded great quantities of Arms and Ammunition and thereon shipped an hundred and fifty select Souldiers And to give the better countenance and authority to his Affairs he carried Doctour Cepeda one of the Judges with him as also John de Caceres the Accountant General so that by the departure of Cepeda the Court of Justice was dissolved there remaining no other Judge at Los Reyes besides Cepeda and farther to prevent the coming forth of other Orders or Warrants Piçarro carried the Royal Seal with him And because the City of Los Reyes was a place of great importance to him he thought fit to confide it in the hands of some faithfull person whom he could trust and accordingly made choice of one Lorenço de Aldana to whom he delegated the Government of the City being a prudent wise and discreet Gentleman and one who was very rich having a great Estate and interest in Arequepa with whom he left eight hundred men for guard and safety of the City and Piçarro went attended with all the Inhabitants of the City and Gentlemen who had any command over the Indians and took shipping in the month of March 1545 and sailed to Port Santa which is about fifteen leagues from Truxillo where he landed and remained some days untill his other Forces could come up because it was a time of the year when the pasturage was green and well grown but lest he should oppress and burthen the Spaniards by his long abode there he removed his Camp to the Province of Collique where he remained for some time untill his Forces could come up to him and then making a general Muster of his Men it appeared on the Muster-rolls that his numbers amounted unto more than six hundred men Horse and Foot and though the Vice-king was equal in number yet Piçarro had much the advantage both in his Arms and preparations for War and in his Men who were for the most part veterane Souldiers trained up to War had been in many Battels and seen much of Action and besides they knew the Countrey and the difficult passages of it and were accustomed to the dangers and labours of War and had been practised therein ever since the Spaniards entred first upon the conquest of that Empire and on the contrary the Souldiers of the Vice-king were all new-raised men lately come out of Spain not trained to the War poor ill-habited and armed and their powder bad besides other wants which were amongst them CHAP. XXV The great preparations and provisions made by Gonçalo Piçarro to pass a Desart He faces the Vice-king's Forces who retreated to Quitu The good and prudent Conduct of Lorenço de Aldana GOnçalo Piçarro being in the Province of Collique and in the parts thereabouts made all the provisions he could for the subsistence of his Army for he was to travel over a hot dry sandy Desart of twenty leagues over where was neither Water nor any other refreshment And because Water was the most necessary of any thing in that hot and dry passage he summoned in all the Indians of those parts round to bring all their Pails Buckets and Jarrs for Water and commanded that the Indians who were appointed for the Carriages of the Army should leave all the Souldiers Clothes and other Baggage behind to carry Water and Provisions which were necessary for the support of Man and Beast In this manner the Indians were laden without any other incumbrance than that of Water and twenty five Horsemen were sent before by the common Road who were to give out in case they met with the Scouts of the Vice-king's Army that Gonçalo Piçarro was coming in person through the Desart that way but that the rest of his Army had taken the other Road. In this manner they travelled every Horseman carrying the provision of his own Horse behind him The Vice-king who had his Spies upon both the Roads received advice of the approach of the Enemy some time before they came upon which an alarm was given and it was said that they would go out and give them Battel but so soon as his Forces were brought together they marched out of the City to the side of a Hill called Cassa from whence they hastned away with all the speed they were able of which Gonçalo Piçarro receiving intelligence about four hours after he made no stay at St. Michael's not so much as to enter the Town or recruit his Provisions but without stop or delay pursued after the Enemy and that night travelled eight leagues where overtaking them he took many Prisoners seised all the Baggage of the Camp hanged several whom they thought fit and passing over rocky and almost unaccessible ways without refreshments they took Prisoners every day who for want of strength lagged behind Then Letters were wrote and sent by Indians to several persons of Quality in the Vice-king's Camp promising Pardon and great Rewards to any person who should kill him the which served to create jealousies and suspicions amongst those who were joyned with the Vice-king every one being afraid of each other which suspicions proved of fatal consequence and as we have mentioned before were the cause of many
so went to Piçarro and informed him of the design of Vela Nunnez to make his escape for which they cut off his Head and hanged and quartered another concerned in the same Plot howsoever it was the common talk that this piece of cruelty was acted at the persuasion onely of Licençiado Carvajal for Piçarro had a kindness for Vela Nunnez whom he loved for his good nature and sweet disposition and never inclined to put him to death And this was the fate of this poor Gentleman by the false accusation of a treacherous fellow who was a Villain of the highest nature Francisco de Carvajal having some days before received intelligence of Piçarro's march to Los Reyes and his orders to meet him there he came to the Charcas with intention to joyn his Forces with him at the City it self Piçarro upon the news of his approach went a great way to meet him and caused a triumphal reception to be made for him as due to a Captain of his merit who had defeated so many Enemies and gained so many Victories Carvajal left Alonso de Mendoça for Governour of the City of Plate under Gonçalo Piçarro and brought with him about a million of pieces of Eight which he had digged from the Mines of Potocsi and from the Indians who are free and not under subjection of any Lord so that Piçarro was now furnished with plenty of money and then Carvajal took his opportunity to press him farther upon the Subject of making himself King repeating the same arguments which he had used in his Letter And here let us leave them their Officers and their Friends and particularly the inhabitants of the several Cities of that Empire employed in keeping all things peaceable and in quiet condition to the security and protection as well of Indians as Spaniards and to the increase and propagation of the Holy Catholick Faith by catechising and preaching to the Natives and to the advantage of Trade and of every private man's concernment which was so diminished and impoverished by the late Wars and Revolutions that no man durst pretend to an Estate for fear that it should be taken away either by the violent force of Tyrants who bare-faced plundred and pillaged all they could seise and lay their hands on or else by those who pretended to borrow it for the service of his Majesty And now as the Proverb is That it is good fishing upon turn of the Tide let us pass over into Spain and let us see what his Imperial Majesty is there designing for reducing to obedience the Rebels in Peru and to set at liberty the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez The End of the Fourth Book Royal Commentaries BOOK V. CHAP. I. Licençiado Pedro de la Gasca is chosen by the Emperour Charles the Fifth to reduce Peru. WHilst matters were transacted in Peru in the manner before related Diego Albarez Cueto and Francisco Maldonado arrived in Spain in Quality of Ambassadours the first of which was sent from the Vice-king and the latter from Gonçalo Piçarro and both went to Valladolid where the Court then resided under the Government of the Prince Don Philip who ruled that Kingdom in the absence of the Emperour his Father who like a Catholick Prince was at that time actually employed in the Wars in Germany against the Lutherans labouring to reduce them to the obedience of the Holy Mother the Church of Rome These Ambassadours did severally inform the Prince's Highness and the Royal Council of the Indies in the best manner they were able of all the transactions and successes which had happened in Peru untill the time of their departure from thence for then the Vice-king was still living The ill news of these great revolutions and troubles of that Kingdom caused many thoughts in the mind of the Prince for remedy of which his Highness summoned a Council of the most wise and grave persons and of most experience then residing at the Court which were the Cardinal Don John Tavera Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Don Fray Garcia de Loaysa Archbishop of Seville Don Francisco de Baldes President of the Royal Council and Bishop of Ciguença the Duke of Alva the Count of Osorno Francisco de Los Cobos Lord Lieutenant of Leon Don John Cunniga Lord Lieutenant of Castile Ramirez Bishop of Cuenca and President of the King's Bench in Valladolid all the Judges of the Royal Council of the Indies besides several other persons of great Quality all which as well as the Court in general did admire that those Laws and Ordinances which were made and designed for the universal good as well of the Indians as of the Spaniards of Peru should have such a different effect and prove the cause of the destruction both of one and of the other and so to endanger the Kingdom as even to put it in hazard of being alienated from the Crown of the Emperour To prevent which many consultations were held and great debates did arise thereupon some were of opinion that it was to be done onely by force of Arms and that immediately Souldiers were to be sent thither under the command of several experienced Captains but this opinion was opposed by the difficulty of such an enterprise for that the charge of shipping Souldiers Arms Ammunition Horses and Provision would be very great the Voyage was long the Navigation difficult and subject to a thousand hazards being to pass two Seas Other Counsels there were of the more moderate and grave sort of men who were of opinion that since all those disturbances were caused by the rigour of the new Laws and the severe and indiscreet manner of putting them in execution by the Vice-king the remedy thereof ought to be by contrary applications which was that the new Laws should be absolutely abrogated and declared invalid and that to declare and publish them for such a person should be sent of a mild gentle and affable temper◠and one of experience of the world of prudence and capable of Government in the times of Peace and yet a Souldier knowing how to manage a War if occasion should require The Person elected for this employment was Licençiado Pedro de la Gasca a Presbyter of the Church and a Member of the General Council of the Inquisition and one in whom all the fore-mentioned qualities did concurr and being thus elected he was offered to his Majesty for his approbation upon receipt of these Letters of recommendation Orders were given in such manner as Gomara writes in the 175th Chapter of his Book which I have thought fit to repeat word for word because he seems to be more plain and clear herein than any other Authour whatsoever When the Emperour saith he had received the news of the great disturbances in Peru and of the imprisonment of Blasco Nunnez he highly resented the insolence of the Judges who durst attempt so daring a piece of injustice against their allegiance and also condemned the proceedings of Gonçalo Piçarro as not tending
he called the Clown because he was not well shaped but very good for service the other he called Zaynillo Some Gentlemen of that time being in conversation together one of them who had been a Companion with Gonçalo Piçarro gave this Character of him which I heard from his own mouth When Gonçalo Piçarro said he was mounted on his Zaynillo he no more valued a Squadron of Indians than if they had been a swarm of Flies he was of a noble nature clear and sincere without malice fraud or designs he was a man of truth confident of his friend and of those whom he thought to be so which proved his ruine And because he was a man without cheats or fraud he was judged by Writers to be weak in his understanding but they doe him wrong for certainly he was of a clear head and naturally inclined to vertue and honour he was of an affable disposition and generally beloved both by friends and enemies and in short was endued with all the noble Qualities which become a great Person As to riches gained by his own industry we may properly say that he was Master of all the wealth of Peru which he possessed and governed for a long time and with so much justice and equity that the President did him the right to praise and commend his Government as we have before declared He conferred upon others great and large proportions of Land and jurisdiction over Indians that many of them amounted unto ten others to twenty and thirty thousand pieces of Eight of yearly revenue he was a very good Christian and zealously devoted to our Lady the Virgin Mary Mother of God as the President gave testimony in the Letter which he wrote He never denyed any thing which was asked for the sake of our Lady though of never so great an importance which being known to Francisco de Carvajal and his Officers when they had a mind to put any man to death they would never suffer his Petition to come to the ears of Piçarro lest they should ask a thing in the name of our Lady for whose sake he was resolved to deny nothing He was much beloved for his moral Vertues and military Exploits And though it was convenient for the Service of his Majesty to take away his life yet generally his death was lamented for the many Excellencies with which he was endued so that I never heard any that spake ill of him but all well and with great respect as became a Superiour And whereas Palentino saith that many gave their opinion and did earnestly insist that he should be quartered and his Limbs hanged up in the common high-ways leading to Cozco is a most false relation for never was any such thing either imagined or contrived for if ever any such thing had been intended it would certainly have been discoursed of in the times of peace and settlement as many other things were which were at first great Secrets and afterwards made known and divulged to all the World Nor indeed can it be believed that such a thing could be for all those of the Council excepting the President himself had many and great obligations to Gonçalo Piçarro having received signal honours and benefits from his hands and therefore it was not likely they would pass an infamous sentence against him though it was necessary for the service of his Majesty and the peace and quietness of the Empire that they should give their assent unto his death The End of the Fifth Book Royal Commentaries BOOK VI. CHAP. I. New Orders published by the President for suppressing Rebels The Offences which the Indians took to see Spaniards whipped The great Trouble the President had to answer the Demands of Pretenders and how he went from the City to make a Division of Lands NOR did the Troubles end here in this Empire called Peru nor were all the Insurrections suppressed by the Defeat of Gonçalo Piçarro and his Captains but rather were the Spirits of men more furiously inflamed than before as will appear by the sequel of this History for we must know that after the Victory obtained at Sacsahuana the President dispatched that very day to Cozco two of his Captains Hernando Mexia de Guzman and Martin de Robles with some Souldiers in whom they most confided to seise those of the Enemies Party who were fled thither after the Defeat and to prevent their own Souldiers from plundering or doing spoil in the City and from taking private revenge by bloud or otherwise under the pretence of Liberty of War as it was said some designed to doe The day following after the execution of Gonçalo Piçarro and his Associates the President raised his Camp from that famed field and marched towards the City which though but four leagues from thence yet he was two days on the way and in that time he detached a Party of trusty Souldiers under the command of Captain Alonso de Mendoça with Instructions to march into the Charcas and Potocsi and to seise and take the Captains which Gonçalo Piçarro had sent into those parts namely Francisco de Espinosa and Diego Carvajal the Gallant of whom we have formerly made mention and Licenciado Polo Hondegardo received a Commission to be Captain General of those Provinces with Orders to punish those who had favoured the Cause of Piçarro and likewise those who did not engage themselves in the service of his Majesty but stood neuters neither acting as Traytors nor professing themselves loyal and therefore were severely fined for their cowardise and want of duty With Licenciado Polo Captain Graviel de Rojas was also dispatched in quality of Treasurer for his Majesty to collect the Fifths and Tribute of the Royal revenue with the Fines which the Governour should inflict on Traytors and Neuters Out of which as Augustine Carate saith Book the seventh Chapter the eighth Licenciado Polo in a short time raised a million and two thousand pieces of Eight for that Graviel de Rojas dying on his journey to the Charcas Polo was forced to execute the Office of Treasurer in his stead And in the mean time whilst these things were acting in the Charcas the President remained in Cozco entertained with sumptuous Banquets and Sports to testifie the Joy they conceived for the late Successes and to see the Feast of Bulls and other Divertisements of like nature he had a Seat erected in the Court-yard of my Father's house on which occasion I had an opportunity to see his person as I have before mentioned And moreover he gave a Commission to Judge Andres de Cianca and to Major General Alonso de Alvarado to punish Rebels according to Law. Many Souldiers of note who had been of Piçarro's Party were hanged many quartered and above a hundred Spanish Souldiers whipped by four and six in company of which I was an eye-witness my self when being a Boy I went amongst the rest to see this punishment At which the Indians were greatly offended and wondred to
see Spaniards inflict a chastisement so infamous as that on their own Nation for though they had seen many of them hanged yet they had seen none whipped untill that time And for the greater disgrace they caused them to ride upon Sheep which are Beasts of burthen in that Countrey and not on Horses or Mules and in that manner take their whipping after which they were condemned to the Gallies At that time the President caused a general Pardon to be proclaimed clearing and acquitting all such from fault and punishment who had come in and revolted to the Royal Standard at the Battel of Sacsahuana and absolved of all Crimes during the Rebellion of Gonçalo Piçarro though they had been guilty of the death of the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela and other Ministers of his Majesty which Pardon did extend onely as to Life and criminal Matters reserving still a right unto the King to fine them as to Goods and to proceed against them in civil Cases for that Carate saith Book 7. Chap. 8. that Gonçalo Piçarro had made satisfaction for them by his own death And now since the Victory was gained and things reduced to peace and quietness the President found himself in much more trouble and with a greater weight of business on his Shoulders than in the time of War for that then the Officers concurred with him to support part of the Burthen but now in Peace he was singly engaged to sustain the Importunities and solicitations of above two thousand men who challenged Pay and Rewards for their past Services in which every one of the meanest sort pretended to so much merit that he thought he deserved the best Plantation in all Peru. And as to those persons who had really been serviceable and usefull to the President in the Wars they became infinitely troublesome and importunate in their Petitions so that the President to ease himself a little of these urgent addresses resolved to take a journey of about twelve leagues to the Valley of Apurimac to have more leisure at that distance to make the Divisions which were required of him and with him he took the Arch-bishop of Los Reyes for his Companion and also Pedro Lopez de Caçalla his Secretary and that he might not be interrupted in this business he commanded that neither Citizen nor Souldier nor any other person whatsoever should attend or follow him to that place Moreover he commanded That no Inhabitant of all Peru should return to his own home untill he had set out and allotted unto every man his Division by which continuance of the people in Cozco he imagined that he should secure the Commonalty from making any Mutinies or Insurrections but his chief design and care was to disperse the Souldiers in divers parts of the Kingdom and to employ them in new Conquests as had been the Maxim and Policy of those who first conquered this Empire but the President being obliged in haste to leave those Kingdoms had not time to disperse his Souldiers as was designed by which means new Troubles arose from Male-contents who thought they had reason to complain CHAP. II. The President having made the several Assignments of Land went privately to the City of Los Reyes And writes a Letter to those for whom no Provisions were made which caused great Disturbances amongst them THE President being retired into the Valley of Apurimac was employed there for the space of three months and more about dividing to every man his proportion of Lands during which time he received Addresses and Petitions from many persons setting forth their services and sufferings of which little or no notice was taken because that the scheme of all matters was already drawn and a repartition of the Lands was resolved upon and made amongst the principal Officers under the command of Pedro de Hinojosa as was capitulated and agreed when the Fleet belonging to Gonçalo Piçarro was surrendred to the President as is confirmed by the Historians of that time The President having made the Division on no better grounds nor with other measures than those which he and the Archbishop Don Jeronimo de Loaysa who were both Strangers to the Countrey had contrived he went to the City of Los Reyes and ordered the Arch-bishop within ten or twelve days afterwards to repair to Cozco and then to publish the Distributions which he had gratiously made and in regard some were so unfortunate as to have no provisions made for them he wrote them a consolatory Letter signifying his hearty desires and his real intentions to gratify them as occasion should offer The Letter which he wrote to them was this extracted verbatim from the History of Palentino the Superscription whereof was this To the Right-noble and Right-worshipfull Lords and Gentlemen and Sons of Gentlemen who are Servants to his Majesty in Cozco Right-noble and Right-worshipfull SIRâ—S WHEREAS it often happens that men are so blinded with affection and love to their own Affairs that they oversee all others and cannot make free use of their reason to render thanks to those who have highly merited their gratefull acknowledgments I have resolved to write these lines to you whereby to justifie my self beseeching you to conserve them as a memorial in my behalf and to let them remain with you as a testimony of that esteem which I have already gained with you and which I promise to improve by the services I design for every one of you so long as I shall live in Peru or in any other parts whatsoever But not to insist on any private or particular service which I have rendred to any single person amongst you I shall onely say in general that I have not omitted any thing wherein I might have been instrumental to promote that service For I dare boldly say that in all the Wars made in Peru or out of it 't was never heard or seen that ever such vast charges were made in so short a time and expended on so few people and what Lands were vacant or without Proprietors I have divided amongst you with as much justice and equality as I have been able with consideration both day and night of every man's merit which hath been the measure and standard upon which I have proceeded and which shall ever be my rule so long as I stay in Peru and I shall be carefull to divide and dispense amongst you onely his Majesty's loyal Subjects according to your services and loyalty to the Crown whatsoever remains undisposed with exclusion of all others untill you are fully satisfied And that you may enjoy the sole benefit of this rich Countrey to your selves I will not onely endeavour to banish those out of it who have been actually in rebellion but such also who have stood Neuters and have not acted as you have done and that untill you are fully repaired and made easie in your fortunes I will not suffer any new Guests either out of Spain or the Continent or from Nicaragua Guatimala
have enough for a person of your quality for I have heard that you are the Son of in your own Countrey naming his Father's Trade The Captain for so I call him presently replyed He lyes who told your Lordship so and so doth he who believes him and therewith he presently went out of the room fearing lest some body should lay hands upon him for his saucy Speeches but the President patiently endured all these affronts saying he was to suffer and sustain much more for the service of the King his Master besides which gentleness he used the Souldiers with much civility and entertained them with hopes and assurance to provide for them hereafter As Diego Hernandez confirms in the first Book of the second Part of his History Chap. 3. in these words We are to observe says he that during all the time that the President remained in Lima being about seventeen months great numbers of People flocked thither to demand relief for supply of their necessities and reward of their services for as hath been said many of the King's servants who were left out in the first division greatly complained of their hard usage About this time several Estates fell to the King by the death of Diego Centeno Gabriel de Rojas Licenciado Carvajal and others and consequently there was some more matter and substance wherewith to answer the expectation of some Pretenders but this not being a full supply served onely to increase the troubles of the President who by his gentle and civil Answers gave a general satisfaction to all people Some of the Pretenders kept a secret correspondence with the Under-clerks to give them information how Estates were distributed and those communicated all to the Captains and Souldiers with whom they had friendship and some had a sight of the Books themselves wherein they saw to whom such Lands were given and to whom such a Command and Lordship and it is now commonly believed that those Books were falsified and that the President himself who was a subtile understanding person did connive thereat and give permission to have the particulars secretly exposed so that every one might be the better satisfied with his Lot especially when they saw themselves nominated and designed to such an Estate and it is certain that there are some men who to this day are of opinion that they are deprived of the Lot and Portion which the President appointed for them and one person so entertained the thought thereof in his head that he became mad when he found himself disappointed But the President Gasca's great care and incumbence was to carry with him a good sum of Gold and Silver to the Emperour of which he had already amassed a million and a half of Castellano's which being reduced to Spanish Crowns of three hundred and fifty Maravedis to the Crown made two millions and a hundred thousand Crowns besides the Treasure which had been expended in the late War. And now the time for the President 's departure growing near which was a happiness greatly desired by him he hastned with all expedition possible to be gone lest some dispatch should arrive to detein him longer in the Kingdom And having finished and completed the remaining part of the Divisions he folded and sealed them up with order that they should not be opened and published untill eight days after he had set sail from the coast and that the Arch-bishop should confirm the Divisions he had made by Act and Deed from himself After this upon the twenty fifth day of January the President went from Lima to Collao a Port about two leagues distant from the City and upon Sunday following before he had set sail he received a Pacquet from his Majesty which seasonably came to his hands and therein his Majesty's Royal Signature to take off the personal Services And now whereas he was very sensible that the Countrey was much unquiet and discontented and full of ill affected men by reason of the Divisions made of Guaynarima and because many of the King 's true and faithfull Servants were left destitute and unrewarded whilst those who had taken part with Gonçalo Piçarro had shared amongst themselves the richest and best of all the Countrey And being now resolved upon his departure he published a Proclamation whereby he suspended the execution of his Majesty's Royal Signet for taking off personal services untill he had rendered a relation to his Majesty of the true state of that Countrey and of what else he conceived appertaining to his Majesty's service alledging his power so to doe in regard his Commission and Authority did not cease untill he had personally appeared in the presence of his Majesty and given him a verbal account of his Affairs and received his pleasure therein And so on Monday following he made sail carrying all the Gold and Silver with him which he had been able to gather Thus far Palentino who therewith concludes the Chapter CHAP. VIII The cause of the Stirrs and Insurrections in Peru. Some Persons condemned to the Gallies are entrusted to Rodrigo Ninno to conduct them into Spain His great discretion and wit whereby he freed himself from a Pyrate NOW as to what this Authour mentions touching the suspension which the President made of that Act whereby his Majesty takes off the personal services that is the services which Indians perform to the Spaniards It is clear and apparent that those late Ordinances executed with the rigour and ill nature of the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela were the cause of all those Commotions which harassed the Empire and took away the life of the Vice-king and had been the destruction of so many Spaniards and Indians as have been related in this History And whereas the President himself brought the revocation of these Ordinances and by means thereof and by his wise and discreet management the Empire was again recovered and restored to the obedience of his Majesty It neither seemed just nor decent for his Imperial Majesty nor agreeable to the particular honour of the President to introduce those new Laws and Statutes again which were formerly rejected and made void especially that of freeing the Indians from personal services towards their Lords which was the chief cause of all the complaints and troubles amongst them for which reason the President often said to several of his friends that he was resolved not to put that Law in execution untill he had first by word of mouth discoursed with his Majesty of the inconvenience thereof well knowing by experience that that Law would never be digested by the people but always prove a Scandal and Offence and perhaps put all things again into confusion and embroile whensoever the same were but moved or intreaty onely to be put in execution But the Devil as we have before mentioned designing to interrupt the peace of that Countrey that thereby he might hinder the propagation of the Gospel and the increase of Christianity contrived all means to unsettle and
fifty in number divided themselves into little parties of about three or four in company to pass more freely without any notice taken of them The Governour finding himself at Liberty summoned people in the King's name and took some of them whom he hanged and quartered And the Justices being informed of the Outrages committed by these Villains sent a Judge called Bernardino Romani with Commission to punish the Offenders who in pursuance thereof took and hanged almost all of them and the remainder he sent to the Gallies but Francisco de Silva and his Companions escaped to Truxillo where they entred into the Convent of St. Francis and there disguising themselves in that habit they travailed to the Sea-coast where they embarked on a Ship which transported them out of the Empire and so saved their lives In those days came sad and lamentable News from the Kingdom of Chile brought by a Citizen of St. Jago called Gaspar Otense giving an account how that the Araucan Indians of that Kingdom had made an Insurrection and had killed the Governour Pedro de Valdivia and his People of which we have rendred a large relation in the seventh Book of the first part of these Commentaries This disturbance amongst the Indians was of great consequence to all Peru for it began towards the end of the year 1553 and hath continued to the end of this being 1611 in which we are now writing these matters and yet the War is not at an end but the Indians are more proud and stand more on their terms than at first being encouraged by the many Victories they obtained and the Cities they destroyed God in his Mercy put a good end hereunto as is most for his Glory Perhaps in the following Book we may touch upon some later actions of the Araucans CHAP. XI Of some unhappy Misfortunes which befell both Armies The death of Nunno Mendiola a Captain belonging to Francisco Hernandez and also of Lope Martin a Captain in his Majesty's Army BUT to return to the Affairs of Peru We say that Hernandez Giron being departed from Pachacamac marched with great care and vigilance keeping his baggage close to him and always ready and in a posture to repulse the Enemy in case they should pursue and fall on him in the rere but after he had marched 3 or 4 days and found that no pursuit was made after him and had understood by his Spyes that the Councils held in the Enemies Camp were various and commonly contradictory and that what the Justices ordered was again countermanded by the Generals he took courage and marched more leisurely and with more ease and security than before Howsoever things passed not so smooth and fair neither between him and his most intimate friends but that many quarrels and disputes arose amongst them for being come to the valley called Huarcu he hanged up two of his principal Souldiers upon a bare suspicion that they intended to revolt for amongst them a jealousie onely was sufficient to take away the life of any man whatsoever though he were the greatest Confident and the most zealous for their cause Hernandez proceeding forward came to the valley of Chincha which was a Countrey abounding and plentifull of all provisions for which reason Captain Nunno Mendiola advised Hernandez to remain there for three or four days for refreshment of his Souldiers and making Provisions which were necessary for their farther march but Hernandez would not admit of this Counsel and looking at the same time on Mendiola he fansied that his countenance changed at the refusal and that he seemed discontented which opinion others nourishing in him endeavoured to increase and improve and told him plainly that Mendiola was resolved to pass over to the King's party which belief Hernandez easily admitted when he called to mind that Gamboa who was his Ensign was already revolted with Diego de Silva and thence he certainly concluded that it was with design to make way for his Captain and to treat and secure conditions for him against the time that he should find opportunity to escape upon which suspicion onely he ordered his Lieutenant General to take away his Horse and Arms and to discharge him the Army which was accordingly executed and not onely so but with them also he was deprived of his life And thus poor Captain Nunno Mendiola ended his days which was a due reward of his demerit having been one of the Conspiratours engaged in this rebellion Notwithstanding which several Souldiers still continued to revolt and came in to Paulo de Meneses giving him advice that Francisco Hernandez was in great disorder by reason that he was deserted by many of his Souldiers so that he had scarce 300 men with him though in reality they were above 500. Paulo de Meneses being encouraged with this News entered into consultation with his friends of the manner how he might beat up the Enemies quarters in the night which being agreed and the Souldiers on the march they called to mind that they had made no provision of Corn for their Horses which was a matter which should have been thought upon before but whilst they were considering hereof a certain Souldier who was one of those which had lately revolted from Hernandez called Francisco de Cuevas stept out and told them that he knew from whence to fetch a sufficient quantity of Mayz whereupon Paulo de Meneses sent him away with a dozen of Indians to carry the provision The Souldier accordingly went and dispatched away the Indians with their full burthens ordering them to go before and that he would presently follow so soon as his Horse had eaten his Corn when the Souldier found himself alone instead of returning to Paulo de Meneses he passed over to Francisco Hernandez to whom he gave an account of the number of his Enemies that they were marching against him and of their design to beat up his quarters the night following He then asked his pardon for having deserted him saying that it was the Providence of God which had directed him for good and sent him to bring this Intelligence that the Enemy might not take him upon surprize Now it is said that the reason of this revolt of the Souldier again to Hernandez was occasioned by a word which fell from a certain Souldier belonging to Paulo de Meneses who discoursing with another concerning the Rebels said that so soon as the War was ended the best of these Runagates would be called to an account and whipped and sent to the Gallies which being over-heard by this Souldier he resolved to return to his former Captain and to merit his Pardon by the intelligence he brought him Francisco Hernandez allarum'd with this information remained all that Evening and the night following in a posture of defence and ready to receive the Enemy but when Paulo de Meneses and Lope de Martin and the other Captains found that Francisco de Cueva came not back they presently suspected that he was returned
Chapter of the 4 th Book of this 2 d. Part. The Infanta Donna Beatriz tho'it were for no other reason than to see her Nephew in that City and not with expectation of being restored to his Empire received with great readiness and good will the Command and Order of the Vice-King and in pursuance thereof dispatched away a Messenger attended with Indian Servants to the Mountains of Villca Pampa where the Inca made his residence the Messenger himself was also of the Blood-Royal to render the offer more specious and more easily accepted His Journey was long and much about and over bad ways by reason that the Bridges were broken down but at length coming to the Out-guards guards he was there detained until hi◠Message was signified to the Inca after which being admitted a Council was called of all the Captains and Governours who were Tutours to the Prince for he being in his Minority had not as we have said as yet bound his Head with the coloured Wreath The Captains having received this Message were jealous of the reality thereof though brought to them by a Kinsman And therefore not being over-hasty to give Credence thereunto another Messenger was dispatched to Cozco in behalf of the Inca to spy and discover what deceit and fraud might be under this specious overture for they did much distrust the sincerity of the Spaniards keeping still in memory the death of Atahualpa and othertheir faithless and treacherous practices And until the return of this Messenger and his Associates those sent from Cozco were detained as Hostages and Pledges for better security of the honest and due performances by the Spaniards The Messenger was farther instructed that after he had applied himself to the Infanta Donna Beatriz he should discourse farther on the business with the Governour of Cozco and other Persons who might secure them of their fears and from the apprehensions they had of false and faithless designs and should desire both of the Governour and Donna Beatriz to send unto John Sierra de Leguicamo her Son by Mancio Sierro de Leguicamo who was one of the first Conquerours to deal faithfully with them in this matter and give to them his real opinion whether they might trust without Scruple or doubt of the proposition and offer which was made to them The Governour and the Infanta were both pleased at the coming of this Messenger from the Inca and with him sent Letters to John Sierra that as he was a near Kinsman to the Inca he should deal clearly with him and assure him that there was no other design in the Invitation than to see him abroad and out of those Mountains to the great Joy and Contentment of all his Relations But whilst these matters were in treaty at Cozco the Vice-King being impatient to see an end of this Negotiation which he thought would be over-long and tedious by other hands dispatched away immediately from himself a Dominican Frier whom Palentino calls Melchior de Los Reyes and with him a Citizen of Cozco named John Betanços the Husband of Donna Angelina the Daughter of Inca Atahualpa of whom we have formerly made mention this John de Betanços pretended to be very skilful in the General Language of the Country for which reason and for the relation he had by his Wife to the Prince Sayri Tupac he was sent in company with the Frier to serve for an Interpreter and to explain the Letters and the Substance of the Embassie upon which they were employed These two Ambassadours in obedience to the Vice-Kings Commands made all the haste they were able and endevoured to get admittance to the Inca by way of the City of Huamanca which was the nearest Frontier of any to the entrance into the Mountains where the Inca made his place of Residence For which reason the Spaniards gave the name to that Town of St. John of the Frontier because it bordered near the aboad of the Incas and was when the Country was first conquered by the Spaniards possessed by them on St. John's day But they could by no means procure admittance by this way for the Indian Captains and Governours fearing lest the Spaniards should take them upon surprize and carry their Prince away from them had so cut off all the Avenues that no Person without their License could approach the place of their Habitation Wherefore the Frier and John de Betanços took a compass twenty Leagues farther by the high Road to try if they could get entrance by the way of Antahuaylla but here also they were disappointed All which being advised by the Indians to the Governour of Cozco he wrote a Letter to the Ambassadours that they should not labour farther to no purpose but should come to Cozco where they should find directions in what manner to proceed In the following Chapter we shall set forth at large what passed in this particular affair according to the Narrative of Palentino extracted verbatim from his own Words whereby we may observe with what Prudence and Caution the Indians proceeded in this affair and how prudently they governed their Artifices whereby to discover the Cheats and Frauds which the Spaniards concealed under their specious offers with many other things observable on the part of the Indians CHAP. IX The suspicion and fear which the Governours of the Prince conceived on occasion of the Message which the Christians sent to them The ways and diligence they used to secure themselves from these jealousies THis Author in the fourth Chapter of the third book of his History saith as follows The Frier and Betanços being come to Cozco it was ordered That they should remain behind whilst the Governour Munnoz and Donna Beatriz went before the Ambassadours with her Son John Sierra to the Inca. Which being so agreed the Frier and Betanços went out of the City three days before them pretending to stay and expect them on the road But to gain the honour of being the first Ambassadours advanced as far as the Bridge called Chuquichaca which borders on the Jurisdiction of the Inca And having with great difficulty passed the Bridge they were detained by the Indian Souldiers who kept watch and guard on that side and there kept without other hurt or damage done to them not suffering them to proceed forward nor return back again and so remained until the next day when John Sierra with the Ambassadours from the Inca came to them with ten other Indians who were sent to meet the Ambassadours In sine John Sierra and the Ambassadours were permitted to proceed but Betanços and the Frier were detained The Inca being informed that John Sierra was near at hand and also that a Frier and Betanços who were Ambassadours from the Vice-King were not far distant he dispeeded a Captain with 200 Indian Souldiers whom they called Caribdes and are of that sort who eat the Enemies which they take in the War to signifie to the Ambassadours that the Inca's pleasure was that they