nor did they expect him for this whole year And though this was great good News to him yet when he considered the weakness of the four Ships then he began to be sensible of the evil Counsel which some of his Confidents had given him to burn his own five Ships and how much Francisco Carvajal was in the right when he condemned that counsel and said one of these five Ships was able to fight with all the other four which Aldana commanded After this Acosta sailed to the Port of Huaura where Palentino saith there is excellent good Salt and in such abundance as is sufficient to supply all Italy France and Spain Gonçalo Piçarro having received intelligence of what Acosta had performed at Los Reyes and what Diego de Mora had done at Truxillo he resolved to send Licenciado Carvajal with three hundred men under his command to hinder Acosta from landing his men or taking water or cutting wood and likewise to keep Diego de Mora in some awe and act other matters as occasion should serve Licenciado Carvajal having accordingly provided all things necessary for his march the Lieutenant General Carvajal gave a stop to his proceedings condemning the Counsell as not good for he was persuaded within himself that he would revolt with all his men to the other party that which hath fixed him said he so long with us was nothing but a desire to revenge the murther of his brother the Agent and now since that is over and the late Ordinances repealed and a general Pardon given for all Crimes past there is no doubt but he will pass over to the King's party with whom all his Kindred and Relations are engaged and are men of quality and eminent in their Offices nor can he forget how without any fault the halter was about his neck and the sentence ready to be executed John de Acosta was of the same mind and earnestly persuaded Piçarro not to send him upon which the design was altered and Acosta was sent in his place with the three hundred men formerly ordered for Licenciado Carvajal but when Acosta was on his march he observed a kind of backwardness in some of his Souldiers and an inclination to revolt unto the other party the which was verified by the flight of twelve Souldiers men of note and great reputation And some of his friends assured him whether true or false it is not certain that several others had the same intention and that the chief Leader of them was Lorenço Mexia de Figueroa the Conde de Gomera's Son-in-law on which information without farther proof or testimony he put him to death This Gentleman was married to Donna Leonor de Bobadilla the Widow of Nunno Jovar who was Lieutenant General to Governour Hernando de Soto in that enterprize which was designed for the Conquest of Florida as we have at large related in that History he left one Son and a Daughter called Maria Sarmiento who was married in Cozco to Alonso de Loaysa an Inhabitant of that City the very night that they were married happened the insurrection of Francisco Hernandez Giron as we shall relate God willing in its due place The Son was called Gonçalo Mexia de Figueroa a very hopefull youth he went with me to the Grammar School but he died very young to the grief of all those who were acquainted with him But let us leave Acosta upon his march and the others upon the coast to relate the disaster which befell Pedro de Puelles in Quitu for he having received advice that the late Ordinances were repealed and a general Pardon given for all Crimes and Treasons already past he resolved to accept the benefit of that gratious Proclamation and return to his allegiance and duty towards his Majesty and thereby renounce Piçarro and his Cause for whom and for which he had zealously engaged himself in former times To compass the Plot intended Pedro de Puelles made a solemn invitation to all his Souldiers and Captains and then amidst the entertainment he resolved to propose what was fit in order to his Majesty's service and for a motive thereunto he designed to make known to them that a general Pardon was granted and the late Ordinances repealed Pedro de Puelles had in private communicated this his intention to a certain Souldier of note called Diego de Urbina who also entrusted the secret to one Rodrigo de Salaçar a fellow as crooked in his conditions as in his body this Rodrigo esteeming the matter easie and already well prepared to take effect resolved that Pedro de Puelles should not have the honour to himself but that his Majesty and the President should own the signal service of reducing three hundred men to their allegiance solely to his management and valour This purpose of his he made known to four of his friends whose surnames were Bastida Firado Hermosilla and Morillo which were the names by which they were known giving them to understand what the intent of Pedro de Puelles was and therefore to wrest so signal a service out of his hands and appropriate it to their own merit he proposed to kill Pedro de Puelles to which they all assented and agreed as they accordingly did and went next morning being Sonday all five together to the house of Pedro de Puelles and sent him up word that Captain Salazar was come to make him a visit and to attend him to Church to hear Mass. Pedro de Puelles took the visit kindly from them and desired them to walk up into his chamber for he was not as yet out of bed It is reported that four of them entred in and that Rodrigo de Salazar remained at the door to see first how matters succeeded though some say he did goe in but I have heard the story related often in the manner before mentioned These four Villains killed Pedro de Puelles with their Swords and Daggers and then with Rodrigo de Salazar they ran out into the Market-place and declared for the King to which all the City inclined and concurred with the greatest cheerfulness in the World. CHAP. IX A Challenge is sent to Salazar to fight a Duell on occasion of the Murther of Pedro de Puelles Diego de Centeno fights with Pedro Maldonado and enters into Cozco ROdrigo de Salazar and his Complices having performed this Exploit went with all expedition to join with the President Gasca and happily met him in the Valley of Sausa where he received them with all the kindness imaginable and praised them highly for their Loyalty and Demonstrations of Allegiance to his Majesty which he took notice of and should be rewarded in its due season but Diego de Urbina who was a friend to Pedro de Puelles considered that the Discovery he had made of his Friend 's secret was the cause of his unhappy fate and that Rodrigo de Salazar enjoyed all that honour and applause which was justly due to his dead Friend wherefore
redemption and represented by the Indians with gracefull and proper action nor were they altogether strangers to this divertisement because in the times of the Incas they usually represented their own Stories in Dialogues and therefore more easily improved in that Art to which they were formerly inclined by a natural aptitude It is observable how well they Acted a Comedy made by a Jesuit in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary which he wrote in the Tongue Aymara which is different from the Language of Peru the Argument was on those words in the 3 d Chapter of Genesis where it is said I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and that she shall break thy Head c. This was Acted by Children and Young men in the Countrey called Sulli And at Potow they rehearsed a Dialogue which contained all the Particulars of our Faith at which about 12000 Indians were present At Cozco another Dialogue was recited of the Child Jesus at which were all the Nobles and People of the City assembled Another was recited in the City which is called the City of the Kings where the Lord Chancellour and all the Nobility were present together with an innumerable company of Indians the Argument of which was the Most Holy Sacrament composed in Spanish and the General Tongue of Peru which was repeated by the Indian Youth in Dialogues and pronounced with such grace and emphatical expression with such air and handsome gestures intermixed with Songs set to pleasant Tunes that the Spaniards were much contented and pleased to behold them and some shed tears for joy to see the ingenuity and good inclination of those poor Indians that ever after they conceived a better opinion of them considering them not to be blockish rude and filthy but docible gentle and capable of improvement When these Indian Youths desire to commit any thing to memory which is given them in writing they go to those Spaniards who are acquainted with letters desiring them to reade the first lines to them four or five times over untill they have learned them by heart and to fix them better in their memories they repeat every word often to themselves and mark it with Pebbles or little Granes of divers colours of about the bigness of Pease called by them Chuy which serve for helps to their Memories and such industry and care they use till at length they have perfectly overcome the difficulty and learned their part or lesson Those Spaniards to whom the Young Indians have recourse for their Learning how great soever they are do not yet disdain to teach and inform them giving them all the encouragement they are able So that these Indians though naturally dull of invention have yet an aptitude to imitate any thing which is proposed before them John Cuellas a Scholar who was a Native of Medina and Canon of the Cathedral of Cozco who taught the Grammar to the Children which were of Spanish and Indian Parents and to others of best quality in that City can give us the most clear testimony thereof For he was moved to perform this charitable Office at the intreaty and instance of the Scholars whose Masters and Tutours in exchange for better preferments had forsaken their Charge for though every Scholar gave ten pieces of Eight a Month for his Learning yet it was but little in respect of their small number which perhaps were not above 17 or 18 in the whole Town I knew one amongst them who was an Inca called Philip and was Pupil to a rich and honourable Priest named Father Peter Saâ—chez who observing the ingenuity of this Youth took pains to instruct him in his Studies in which he profited so well that he became as good a Grammarian as any that was of the Spanish and Indian Bloud The change of many Masters was a great obstruction to their Learning for every one of them having a different way of Teaching they began not from the rules and principles formerly taught them but made them to begin from their own methods and forget what they had before learned which was a great prejudice to their proceedings untill this good Canon undertook to instruct them in the Latin Grammar which he continued for the space of two years amidst the Tumults and Wars raised between D. Sebastian de Castilla and Francisco Hernandes Giron which were the cause of much bloud fire and destruction and were of that continuance that scarce was one fire extinguished before another flame broke forth At this time this Canon Cuellas observing the great docility of his Scholars and their inclinations to be improved in all Sciences and the want of able and industrious Masters to cultivate the minds of this people would cry out and say Oh Children what pity it is that I do not see a dozen of you Students in the University of Salamanca And indeed this good Canon had reason so to say because his attendance at the Choire took him off from the employment of Teaching his Scholars with such sedulity as to make them perfect in the Latin Tongue Howsoever the little improvements they made were good evidences of their natural wit and understanding which now in these days praised be God is much advanced by that abundance of Learning and light of Sciences which the Jesuits have introduced amongst them And so much shall suffice to have discoursed on this subject it being now time to return to the History of the Succession of the Incas and of their Conquests and great Actions Royal Commentaries BOOK III. CHAP. I. Mayta Capac the fourth Inca gains Tiahuanacu and what sort of Buildings were found there THE Inca Mayta Capac having performed the Ceremonies due to the Obsequies of his dead Father resolved to visit the remote parts of his Dominions and though he had already in the time of his Father travelled those Countries yet being then in his Minority and under the Tuition of his Parents and Counsellours he had not the opportunity to demonstrate the Excellency of his Vertues nor yet to be observed by his people as he was now being an absolute Prince Wherefore after the example of his Ancestours he honoured and satisfied the several Provinces of his Kingdom with the lustre of his Presence giving such testimonies of liberality courage and generous disposition to his Curacas and all other his Subjects that they remained with great admiration of his Royal Vertues and Abilities of mind Having accomplished this Visitation he re-assumed the design of enlarging his Dominions after the example of his Ancestours covering his ambition and covetousness under the specious pretence of reclaiming the Nations from their barbarity and vain superstitions to a more civilized life and to the true and religious worship and adoration of the Sun Accordingly he raised an Army and in the Spring following he began his march with twelve thousand Men under the Command of four Generals and their Inferiour Officers taking his way as far as that place where the Lake
so miserable and mean-spirited that they fear they shall want Earth and Water and Air. Whence the Indians had a Proverb amongst them which the Spaniards afterwards allowed in their Language calling a Man Quillacu when they would denote a covetous person or any of a vile and sordid nature and these were those on whom the Inca imposed a Tax or Tribute of Lice that so they might oblige them thereby to pick and cleanse themselves not suffering their bodies to be devoured alive by this vermine Tupac Yupanqui and after him his Son Huayna Capac did greatly ennoble these Provinces of the Cannarians and that also which is called Tumipampa with these publick Edifices and Royal Palaces adorning the Walls of the Chambers with the Figures of Herbs and Plants and all living creatures represented in Gold and Silver the Doors of them were plated with Gold and studded with Emeralds Torquoises and other pretious Stones for those Indians made it their business to make them Presents of things of great ostentation and to please and flatter their humour adorned their Temples and Palaces with all the Treasure they were able to procure Pedro de Cieça in the 44th Chapter of his Book treating at large of the Richness wherewith their Temples and Royal Chambers were adorned in the Provinces belonging to the Cannarians as far as Tumipampa which the Spaniards miscall Tome-bamba by a mistake of letters he there says That besides these Riches there was an immense sum of Treasure laid up in Jars and Pots and other Utensils together with rich Robes and Vestments of Silver with curious stitches of which he touches in many passages of his History the which was so neat and curious the Gold being stitched or woven in less pieces than Seed-pearl and with such artificial work that the best Silver-smiths in Seville have asked me the manner how they were woven or sown so close that the seam could not be discerned a small piece of which work I brought into Spain and it was highly prized and esteemed Pedro de Cieça having discoursed at large of the Treasure of the Cannarian Provinces hath these words In short whatsoever I can utter or express of the Riches with which the Incas have adorned their Palaces will fall short of the true value of it and then speaking in particular of the Chambers and Temple of Tumipampa he saith That the Indians report that the greatest part of those Stones of which those Chambers and Temple were built were brought from the great City of Cozco by command of the King Huayna Capac and his Father Tupac the Great by force of Men who drew them with Cables which if so was very wonderfull considering the weight of the Stones and the great number of them and the distance of the way These are the very words of that Historian who by reason of the difficulty of that work seems to doubt the truth of that report which the Indians gave but for my part who am also an Indian and acquainted with the humour of my Countreymen I do declare my belief to be thus far of it it being probable that those Incan Kings who were always desirous to shew favour to their Subjects would also oblige them in the transportation of these Stones from Cozco which coming from thence were esteemed Sacred For if it were a favour to have a licence granted for building a Temple to the Sun in any principal Province because thereby the Inhabitants became Citizens of Cozco much more must it be to have the very Materials of it brought from the City it self by command of the Inca without other charge or labour to the Natives and not onely to have their Temple resemble that at Cozco but also to be the same with it in the substance Now the Indians to enjoy such a piece of grandeur which they esteemed to be God-like and Divine would omit all other Works to employ themselves in the carriage of these Stones over Rocks and craggy Mountains and to such a far distance as it is from Cozco to Tumipampa which is no less than 400 Leagues which none would believe but those who were employed in the work But as to the report which Pedro de Cieça received from the Indians who averred that the greatest part of those Stones of which the Temple and Palaces of that Countrey were composed were brought from Cozco was more to boast of the favour and honour which the Inca did them in giving out such a Command than to raise the glory of such a Work by a belief that the Stones were really brought from so far a distance And so much shall serve for what we have to say concerning the Greatness and Riches of those Royal Palaces and Temples of the Sun which were built in Tumipampa and in all parts of Peru. CHAP. VI. Of the Conquest of many other and great Provinces as far as the Confines of Quitu THE Inca having settled and established affairs in Canaris he returned to Cozco where he spent several years in the administration of good Government and other just actions appertaining to the Office of a Great King. But as it is natural to Puissant Princes to be ambitious and desirous to enlarge their Empire so likewise this Inca thought it not fit to lose longer time in a reposed life but to proceed in his Conquests to which end he raised a considerable Army with which he marched to the Confines of Tumipampa from whence beginning his Conquests he reduced many Provinces as far as the Borders of the Kingdom of Quitu which extend little less than 50 Leagues in length the chief places of which are Chanchan Moca Quesna Pumallacta which signifies the Countrey of Lions because they abound more in those parts than in the places thereabouts and are adored by the Inhabitants of Ticcampi Tiucassa Cayampi Urcollasu and others of less note for their Gods the which places being very thin of people were easily reduced and moreover the Lands are very barren and the people sottish without Lords or Government or Religion or Political Communication every one adored that for God which they most desired or rather they worshipped nothing living like brute beasts scattered and wandering in the Fields and Woods whom there was more trouble to instruct and inform with any kind of good manners than to overcome or reduce these they taught to make Cloths and Shoes and to Manure the Land for watering of which they made Aqueducts and Chanels for them In all these Provinces the Incas made large Roads and High-ways and Store-houses to lay up Provisions for sustenance of the Souldiery and Chambers for their Kings but would not honour so vile and servile a sort of Inhabitants with the beauty of Temples dedicated to the Sun or with the Houses of Select Virgins they being capable of little more than to keep themselves clean from Lice by obligation of that Tribute they were to pay in them Whilst the Inca Tupac Yupanqui was
wild Huanacu and Vicanna though it was not so mortal amongst them because they belonged to colder Countries and did not herd in such droves as the tame Cattel This Murrain also extended it self to the very Foxes and affected them in so cruel a manner that as I remember in the Year 1548. when Gonçalo Piçarro was at Cozco and victorious after the Battel of Huarina I saw a great many Foxes which were seized with this Plague come into the City by night and in the morning were found dead in the Streets having great boils on their Backs from Head to Tail which were caused by this Plague amongst Beasts The Indians who were very superstitious in matters of this nature did from hence prognosticate the Death of Piçarro which accordingly ensued in a short time afterwards When this Murrain first began amongst the Cattel they applied many Remedies which served rather to encrease than abate the evil amongst which one was to kill or bury alive one of the kind which was infected as Acosta mentions in his 4th Book but in regard the evil encreased so fast that neither the Indians nor Spaniards knew in what manner to give a stop to it they at length made a trial how it might be done by fire or cauterizing then they tried to cure it by preparations of Mercury and Sulphur and Hogs-grease but all proved too violent Remedies so that the Cattel dyed the more speedily by them At length after many experiments made they found none better than to anoint the parts where the Scab arose with Hogs-grease melted and warm taking great care to observe if the Scratches began on their Legs and then to anoint them for the Murrain seized them first there before it spread it self into the upper parts This was the best remedy they found yet served for little untill the evil influences were over which were the causes of it And by reason of the great benefit which they found by this Grease they very much esteemed of Hogs though for the numbers of them they were cheap and yielded no great price It is observable that this general Plague upon almost all sorts of Cattel did not yet touch the wilder Animals such as Stags and Fallow-Deer because perhaps they were of another temper I remember that in Cozco they made choice of St. Antonio for their Saint and Protectour against this Murrain for which cause they solemnize a Festival to him every year Though this sort of Cattel be great and large as we have said and the Journies long which they travell yet they put their Masters to no charge either in their Meat or Shoeing or Stable nor in their Pack-saddles or Girts or Cruppers or Stays or other Utensils which our Carriers use for when they come to the end of their days journey they onely throw off their burthen and send them to feed on the Grass which the Land affords being at no charge either of Straw or Corn though they would gladly eat Corn if their Masters would be so kind as to bestow it upon them Then as to their shoeing there is no need of it for besides that they are cloven footed they have a kind of a callous or spungy matter on their Feet without a Hoof. Then for their Pack-saddles they have no need of them because they have so much wool on their Backs as serves in the place of a Saddle and keeps the burthen fast and close which the Masters of them take care to lade in such manner as that it may lie even and well poised and not touch so far as to gaul the Withers nor have they need of a Surcingle which our Carriers use for the Beast wearing no Pack-saddle all Girts or Cords may rub off the Flesh howsoever many of them travelling in a Drove were tied one to the other having 20 or 25 beasts running loose so as to ease and change the Burthens of those which were tired The Merchants in travelling carried their Tents with them which they pitched in the Fields wheresoever they found it convenient to lodge and repose and there unloaded their Merchandize so that they never entred into Villages or Towns because too much time and labour would be lost to put their Cattel to Grass and then to go and fetch them up In their Journey from Cozco to Potocchi in going and returning they are commonly four months besides the time that they are detained at the place for traffick and packing up their Merchandize One of this sort of Sheep which was of the best kind was worth in Cozco eighteen Ducats and one of the more ordinary twelve or thirteen The chief Merchandize brought from that City was Cuca and Garments for the Indians All that I have before spoken I have seen and observed with my own Eyes but how things have been ordered since my departure I know not I have traded with many of them for this commodity as the Merchants went and came and I am assured that some of these Travellers have sold a Basket of this Cuca for above thirty Pieces of Eight weighty Money And notwithstanding the value of their Commodities and that these Caravans or Droves of Sheep returned with thirty forty fifty and an hundred thousand Pieces of Eight yet such was the security of those Countries and the little danger they had of Thieves or Robbers that they lodged and slept in the open Fields without other Guards or Defence than their own The like security and confidence did Men use in their dealings and Merchandize as also in payment of their Rents or Loans of Money making no Conveyance or Writing or Obligation besides their mere Word which they kept and observed so punctually that when a Spaniard had lost Money by Play he would say to the Winner Tell such a one that the Money which he ows me he should pay to you in satisfaction of what you won of me at Cards These Words were esteemed as sufficient as a Bill of Exchange for such was the Innocence and the simplicity of those Countries that no scruple was made in giving all belief and credence thereunto and this was so common that whether the Person were a Merchant or a Souldier or a Lord of Indians his Word would pass and he was credited in every thing that he uttered and such was the security of the ways that it seemed the golden Age wherein was no fraud nor violence amongst Mankind And as I understand it continues still so in those Countries In times of Peace when all Wars were ceased many Nobles and Gentlemen having no employment thought it no diminution to their Honour rather than to remain idle to travell frequently to Potocchi and trade in Cuca and other Indian Commodities but then it was not esteemed honourable to sell or buy them by parcels but by the whole sale nor yet to deal in Spanish Commodities or to sell by the yard or open a Shop Howsoever many of them were pleased to travell with their Commodities it not
Soul at that time and for several years afterwards I my self have been present at some which were said for him when I was there Whensoever any occasion was offered to make mention of him I have heard several Gentlemen remember him with great praise of his Goodness and Vertue and some of them specified and recounted the kindnesses and good offices he had shewn to them in particular And whereas he was very familiarly acquainted and conversant in my Father's house I have been an Ear-witness of divers passages relating to his good Nature and to the generosity of his great Soul One of which was this That in their Voyage to Peru his people suffered much for want of fresh Water so that when they came to Tumpiz they became very sickly and many of them were so weakned by the Calenture Fever by reason of the Thirst they had endured that they were not able to leave the Ship and Land on the shore Wherefore Alvarado himself landed from the Ship and provided them with Water and though he had suffered as much by Thirst as any of them yet he would not taste a drop of Water untill he was assured that the Sick had drank and all the Ships-company had been provided Many other generous Acts of this nature were related of this worthy Gentleman though Gomara in his Writings gives a different character of him which he must have received from some of those as there were many who were envious and emulous of his Vertues and Fortune And though it was impossible to suppress the fame of his Exploits and Adventures which were notorious to all the World yet at least they endeavoured to eclipse and disparage the glory of them Of which this Authour being sensible did in part excuse and clear himself of the falsity of those reports which were given and so concludes the 192d Chapter of his Book with these words He that doth well and is not praised lives amongst bad Neighbours c. And this he said because he knew that in all estates of Men there are some who are envious and slanderers and unworthy the society of good Men being inclined to speak a lye rather than to utter truth in commendations of another And now we shall return to the Affairs of Peru and to the Transactions therein since the departure of Don Pedro de Alvarado from thence CHAP. XVII Of the Foundation of the City de los Reyes and of the City of Truxillo SO soon as the Governour had dismissed Don Pedro de Alvarado he immediately gave notice thereof to his Partner Don Diego de Almagro then at Cozco and therewith sent a great number of those Gentlemen which came with Alvarado to be entertained in the Service of the Prince Manco Inca and his Brothers John and Gonçalo Piçarro desiring them to be serviceable to the Inca and kind to the Indians for in regard the Inca surrendred himself voluntarily and of his own accord he would not have him lose that confidence and affection which he had conceived of the Spaniards in the mean time the Governour remained in the Valley of Pachacamac with design to build a City near the Sea-coast for the better advantage of Trade and Commerce And having considered upon this matter with his friends he dispatched several persons experienced in Maritime affairs to discover on both sides where was the most convenient place for a Port or Harbour At length being informed that four Leagues to the North of Pachacamac there was a very safe Port right against the Valley of Rimac which when the Governour had viewed and surveyed he transplanted the people which had begun to settle a Colony in the Valley of Saussa which is thirty Leagues from Rimac within the Land unto that convenient place where he founded the City of los Reyes in the year 1534. But as to the precise year Authours differ very much for some make it sooner and others later and some will have it in the year 1530 leaving out the 4. But not to insist on these several opinions let us compare the times with the great and notable Actions which succeeded for it is most certain and therein all Authours agree that it was in the year 1525 when Piçarro Almagro and the School-master Hernando de Luca did first enter into Articles of their Triumvirate Three years afterwards were spent in the discovery before they arrived the first time at Tumpiz Two years farther passed before they could finish their Voyage into Spain to procure their commission to make a Conquest and before their return back to Panama with Ammunition and Provisions for such an undertaking In the year 1531 they invaded the Island Puna and also Tumpiz and in December of the same year they took Atahualpa Prisoner and in March following being the year 1532 he was put to Death in October following they entred into Cozco where the Governour resided untill April 1533 when news came of the Arrival of Alvarado and in September he departed from Cozco to meet him and pay him the Money according to agreement And about the beginning of the year 1534 being Twelfth-day or the Day of the Kings he laid the Foundation of that City and so called it la ciudad de los Reyes or the City of the Kings In remembrance of which he made the Arms of the City to be Three Crowns with a Star shining over them the Form or Model of it was very beautifull for the Market place was very wide and large unless perhaps it was too wide for the City the Streets also were wide and streight so that from every corner of them cross-ways the Fields may be seen on all sides On the North-side there is a River from which several Chanels are cut to water the Lands round about and to supply every House in the City with water This Town at a distance makes no good shew nor appears well because the Houses are not covered with Tile but thatched with a sort of Straw which that Countrey yields for in regard it never Rains in that Climate nor for many Leagues distant on either side along the Coast the coverings of the Houses are all made of a sort of Straw or Rushes which grow in that Countrey on which laying a kind of Mortar or Earth mixed with Straw two or three fingers thick it makes a good defence against the Heats of the Sun But as to the Buildings themselves both within and without they are good and commodious and they daily improve their Art in Architecture This Town is about two small Leagues distant from the Sea but as the report is the parts nearest to the Sea are best inhabited The Climate is hot and moist and much of the same temperament with that of Andaluzia the difference of which is onely that the Days there are not so long nor the Nights so short in July and August as they are here so that the Sun arising there more late and setting more early hath not time to heat and
which was concerted with them by your Brother Titu Atauchi from which we can now expect little benefit if we take our measures from the Treatment of your Brother Atahualpa who having contracted for and paid his ransome was afterwards put to death And we must attribute it to the Mercy and Providence of the Pachacamac that they treated not your own Royal Person when in their power and under custody in the same manner as they had done your Brother As to your Restauration to the Empire there is little to be expected from a Nation so entirely given over to Avarice for it is not to be imagined that those who are greedy of the fruit should restore the tree unto the true Proprietor but it is more probable they should destroy and put him and his out of the way left they should aspire to that Empire which they resolve to enjoy Wherefore since the Spaniards themselves have given just cause to suspect and doubt the performance of their promises your Majesty ought immediately without delay to raise as many Souldiers as is possible and make such other provisions as are necessary for War wherein no time is to be lost for that they being now divided into several parties may be more easily Massacred and cut to pieces than when united in one body In management of which design we must agree to attack them all at the same time in several places so that they may not be able to assist or succour each other We must also secure the ways and stop and hinder all intercourse and correspondence between them And in regard your Souldiers are so numerous that their Multitudes may easily overwhelm such a handfull as are the Spaniards and are able to throw the very Mountains upon them if your Majesty so commands nay if they refuse to grant them Succours onely and Provisions they must necessarily perish with famine being as it were besieged by your Subjects who encompass them on all sides But this resolution is to be speedily executed for the success of the whole design depends thereupon of which we need not doubt if we consider the justice of our cause Which having said the Captain ended his Discourse whereupon a general Insurrection was concluded and resolved In pursuance whereof Messengers were dispatched with great secrecy to the Captains and Officers in all parts of the Kingdom enjoyning them to raise what Souldiers they were able and upon one and the same day to surprize and massacre all their New-come Guests and to furnish and supply the publick Granaries or Magazines with all the Provisions they could amass and gather And in regard those Repositories were much emptied by the late Wars of Atahualpa they ought to be again furnished and supplied from private Stores for which satisfaction and reparation was promised to be made to every particular person after these Enemies and Tyrants were destroyed and confounded That in the performance of this Exploit the life safety and liberty of them all did consist from the least to the greatest of them even to the very Inca. Upon which Command of Prince Manco Inca all the Souldiers which inhabit the Countrey from the City of los Reyes to the Chichas which is three hundred Leagues and more in length made a general Insurrection and put themselves into a posture of War But on the other side of the Kingdom which is from los Reyes to Quitu all was quiet for that the people were destroyed by the Wars of Atahualpa and by the slaughter the Spaniards had made of them on occasion of the Imprisonment and Death of that King. In like manner Advices were sent by disguised Messengers to the Kingdom of Chili who were publickly to pretend that they were sent to enquire of the Health of Paullu and the High Priest Villac Umu but were secretly to inform them of the truth and depth of the design whose part therein was to fall upon Almagro and his people and utterly to destroy them without which there was no hopes for the Inca of Restauration to his Empire The people being in Arms the Inca gave unto the people their respective tasks and parts of the work those who were the In-land Inhabitants as far as from Atahuaylla and those along the Coast from Nanascu which were on the side of Chinchasuyu were to attempt Rimac and kill the Governour and his Company The people of Cuntisuyu and Collasuyu and Antisâ—â—â— were to undertake Cozco and there to kill Hernando Piçarro and his Brothers and all the Spaniards with them which were not above two hundred in all and Captains were named with inferiour Officers both for one and the other Army The success of which as to what relates to the City we shall declare in the Chapter following wherein the Mercifull hand of God did manifestly appear in favour of the Spaniards that the Gospel might be propagated amongst the Gentiles and their Idolatry confounded CHAP. XXIV The Insurrection of Prince Manco Inca and of the Two Miracles which were wrought in favour of the Christians THE Plot being thus laid the Inca gave Command that the Souldiers now leavied and in a posture of War should march towards Cozco and to the City of los Reyes to kill slay and destroy the Spaniards therein and also as many of them as they found scattered and dispersed over the Kingdom for by the great kindness and peaceable disposition which the Indians had shewn to them hitherto the Spaniards became secure and without fear or jealousie of any Mischief employed themselves in digging Gold out of the Mines with as much confidence as if they had been in their own Countrey The War having taken its beginning from the slaughter of many Spaniards that were labouring in divers places they marched to Cozco with all the privacy they were able and came thither on the day appointed and that very night following they suddenly fell on the Spaniards with loud Noise and Shouts being two hundred thousand in number many of which were armed with Bows and Arrows which they shot with Fire-balls into all the Houses of the City not sparing the very Palaces of their Kings nor any other excepting onely the Temple of the Sun and the Chambers belonging to it and also the Convent of the Select Virgins and the Shops of the four Streets where this House was situate and though these Houses were despoiled of their Riches and without Inhabitants yet their Reverence and Devotion towards those sacred places caused them to abstain from all sort of Sacrilege or violence thereunto They also thought fit to conserve from Fire the three great Halls in the Market-place where they usually celebrated their Festivals in rainy Weather intending to maintain them for the like use again after they had freed themselves from the Tyranny of the Spaniards One of these Halls was situate in the highest part of the City adjoining to the Houses of the first Inca Manco Capac as we have described in the Model of the City
would not leave so much as one Piçarra under foot which is a pebble Stone in all Peru that if they affected Government and Dominion they should go seek it amongst the Manglares and in those high Mountains which run along the Sea-coast under the Equinoctial Those whom they suspected of Malignancy towards them they secured under safe Custody and because they were many in number they committed them unto two Prisons some they sent to the Fortress and others to the Cassana which is the common Prison of the Town We have formerly mentioned how that the Marquis Piçarro having dispatched Alonso de Alvarado and soon after Gomez de Tordoya with Recruits and Succours to his Brothers he himself remained in the City of los Reyes to order and dispose those Troops which came to him from divers parts according as he had demanded of which Gomara in the 137th Chapter of his Book gives this Account Alonso de Fuen Mayor President and Bishop of St. Domingo sent under the Command of his Brother Diego de Fuen Mayor Native of Yanguas many Spanish Musquetiers which were lately come to him with Pedro de Vergara Fernando Cortes sent upon his own Ship commanded by Rodrigo di Grijalua as far as from New Spain a considerable quantity of Arms such as Lances Sadles and Furniture for Horses Garments of Silk and one Suit of Martin's Furr Gasper de Espinosa brought from Panama Nombre de Dios and other parts of the Contenent a great Company of Spaniards and Diego de Ayala returned with good Recruits which he had gathered at Nicaragua and Quahutemallan besides many others from divers other parts So that now the Army of Piçarro was become far greater than ever and the number of his Musquetiers much encreased of which though he had no great use against the Indians yet they came seasonably to his Aid against Almagro as shall hereafter be related c. The Marquis finding himself so well reinforced for as Carate reports his Troops consisted of seven hundred Spaniards Horse and Foot he resolved in person to march to the Relief of his Brothers for his Mind could not be at rest being in daily apprehensions and fears for them and could not be satisfied whilst he remained at so far a distance Wherefore taking his way by the Plains and with short Days Marches he met the Intelligence which was sent him by Alvarado how that the Inca was retired that Almagro was returned to Cozco that two of his Brothers were imprisoned and a third dead all which ill News the Marquis received with a due sense of Sorrow and Affliction But that might not be oppressed with all his Griefs at the same time the second News of the loss of his Forces and Imprisonment of Alvarado came not to him untill two days after the Receipt of the former which served to augment the sense he conceived for his late Misfortunes Whereupon giving a stop to his March he resolved to return again to los Reyes though he was already advanced twenty five Leagues upon his Way for that when he departed thence he had made preparations onely for a War against the Indians but now the Design being changed and that he was to fight with Spaniards another sort of Arms and other accoutrements of War were to be provided as necessary against this Enemy Moreover he thought it advisable first to make trial of the more moderate Terms of Treaty and Accommodation not being willing to tempt Fortune a third time which had been severe to him in two former Adventures He farther considered That his Competitor was strong both in Horse and Foot and that they were wellarmed and that the most safe and easie way to extinguish that Fire which was now kindled in the Breast of Almagro was to revive the ancient Conditions of Brother-hood and Friendship which had been so often confirmed and ratified under so many Oaths and Religious Vows by Virtue of which that great and rich Empire having been gained and conquered it would be most lamentable to see the Enjoyment of those Blessings disappointed and at the end of all to see nothing intended but the Ruine and Destruction of each other On these Considerations he dispatched the Lawyer Doctour Espinosa unto Cozco with Instructions if possible to conclude some middle Terms of Accommodation between him and Almagro and that he should especially endeavour to make him sensible that in case their Quarrels and Dissentions should be made known to His Majesty and the Differences between his Governours suggested as irreconcileable it was more than probable that His Majesty would before they could lay the matter open before him provide himself with another Governour to supplant them both and who without Svveat or Labour vvould immediately enter into the Possession and Enjoyment of that Dominion which they at the Expence of so much Bloud and Industry had atchieved That he should consider that a good Peace was better than an evil War and that though those Words are commonly inverted yet under the present Circumstances they vvere most certainly true And lastly vvhen he should see that Almagro vvas not to be prevailed vvith on any equal Terms that then he should conclude with him on Conditions to release his Brothers and that as for the matter of the Government of Cozco he should rule and govern there in God's Name untill such time as that the case being stated and made known to His Majesty he should be pleased to determine the particular Limits and Precincts of each other's Government Provided also in the mean time that Almagro should not make any Attempt on the City of los Reyes nor on any of the Territories thereunto belonging Doctour Espinosa being thus dispatched with this Commission and these Instructions he arrived at Cozco where he proposed all matters accordingly to Almagro and his Officers but they vvere become so high and elated with their former Success that they vvould neither yield nor hearken to any Proposals And though Diego de Alvarado with his usual Candour and Moderation insisted That the Articles now offered were the very same that they formerly required for that they never demanded more than Possession and quiet Enjoyment of the City of Cozco yet they rejected all his Counsel and Offers saying That he was not to prescribe them Limits or confine and restrain them from marching towards los Reyes for that he was not to be imposed upon within his own Jurisdiction but in that prosperous and flourishing state of Affairs rather to give them to receive Conditions from others To which Diego de Alvarado made Answer that the Conditions were such as he himself gave and not received but all he could say was in vain and insignificant for it was entirely rejected And here it is observable that both Governours challenged the City of Cozco for his own and both agreed that the Limits of their respective Governments should be begun and be established from the Chanels without one to the Southward and the
in the last Chapter of the first Book of this second Part where we speak of the Loyalty and Affection which the Indians taken in fight profess unto the Spaniards In this manner they marched forward fighting every other day more or less untill they came to a warlike People called Chuquisaca where they engaged with many thousands of Indians who straitned the Spaniards with want of Provisions and kept them always allarm'd with continual Skirmishes wherein many were killed and wounded which the Historians mention but with great brevity Gomara in the 143d Chapter and Carate in the 12th Chapter of his 3d. Book saith That Gonzalo Piçarro made a Discovery as far as the Province of the Charcas where he was surrounded with such numbers of Indians which assailed him on all sides that he was forced to desire succours from the Marquis who supplied him therewith both of Horse and Foot from Cozco and for better expedition the Marquis gave out that he himself would go in person and accordingly he marched out with them three or four days from the City This Siege as Authours write was so close and strait that the Spaniards being reduced at last to the utmost extremity sent advice thereof to the Marquis by the Indians whom they retained in their Service who as we have seen before had served for Messengers with all fidelity in the like dangers in confidence of whom they dispatched many of them by divers ways so that in case some should miscarry others might escape The Marquis being hereby made sensible of the great Distress to which his Brother Gonzalo Piçarro was reduced dispeeded a Captain with Succours and gave out for the more haste of the Supplies as Carate saith that he himself would go in Person but neither the diligence used in sending Relief which would have come too late nor yet the appearance which the Marquis made of going in Person would have availed toward the delivery of the Spaniards from the straits of that Siege had not God most wonderfully appeared for them and sent the Divine St. Jago the Patron of Spain visibly to fight on their side as he had done before at Cozco The Christians seeing themselves thus wonderfully favoured and that in this as in the like occasions they had been rescued by Miracle they fought with such Courage that before the Succours came they had gained the Victory In remembrance of which signal Favour which God had performed for them they determined to establish a Colony of Christian People in that place where now a Cathedral Church is built and the Royal Chancery is held which is ennobled and enriched to that degree in which we see it at present all which is arisen from the Mines of Potosi which are about eighteen Leagues distant from thence Blas Valera giving a Relation of all the memorable Battels which happened between the Spaniards and the Indians in Peru gives an Account of that which was fought in this Province and says that God by his Angel fought there for his Gospel CHAP. II. The Marquis makes a Division of the Kingdom and Province of the Charcas and Gonzalo Piçarro is sent to the Conquest of the Canela THE War being ended and the Indians setled in peace the Marquis made a Division of the Countrey amongst the principal Persons concerned in the Conquest To his Brother Hernando Piçarro he divided a very large share and another part to Gonzalo within whose Division some years after the Silver Mines of Potosi were discovered of which one part belonged to Hernando Piçarro as Inhabitant of that City and though he were then in Spain yet one Mine was resigned to his Officers to dig the Plate for his Benefit and Use the which was of so rich a vein that in something more than eight months they digged Silver of the finest sort from thence without any Allay and without other trouble than onely to melt down the Metal I have mentioned these Riches in this place having forgotten to specifie them when in the first part of these Commentaries we treated of that famous Hill. To my Lord Garçilasso de la Vega that part was given which is called Tapacâ—ri To Graviel de Rojas another very considerable Possession was given and the like to many other Cavaliers and all within the compass of one hundred Leagues of which also some part was given to the City called la Paz or the City of Peace But these Divisions then given were of little value though the Soil was fruitfull and abounding with all Provisions and very populous and well inhabited by Indians untill the Mines of Potosi were discovered in those parts for then the Rents were raised ten for one and those Possessions which yielded two or three or four thousand Pieces of Eight amounted afterwards to twenty thirty and forty thousand Crowns a year The Marquis Francisco Piçarro having given order to sound that City which is called the City of Plate and having divided the Indians under that Jurisdiction amongst the Conquerours and Adventurers all which happened in the Years 1538 and 1539. he had not rested and reposed in quietness from his civil War and late Conquests before he undertook some other more laborious and more dangerous Adventures than the former which shall hereafter be related By the death of Almagro the Marquis remained sole and supreme Governour of more than 700 Leagues of Land which reach North and South from the Charcas to Quitu and had enough to doe how and in what manner to secure those new Conquests which his Captains had made in divers parts and how to rule with Laws of Justice those People who were setled in a quiet and peaceable Condition yet since the desire of Rule and Government is never to be satisfied his Warlike Mind was incited to farther Enterprises being encouraged with the good Fortune of his past Successes For now the News arrived that besides the Limits of Quitu and other Countries over which the Incan Kings were supreme Commanders another Countrey was discovered both long and wide where Cinnamon was growing for which reason they called it the Countrey of Canela which signifies Cinnamon The Marquis had a desire to employ his Brother in that Conquest with intention to make the Extent of his Land as long and wide as his own and having consulted hereupon with those of his Cabinet Council he renounced his right to the Government of Quitu and transferred it to his said Brother so that in the Conquest of Canela which lies Eastward from Quitu he might have the benefit of supplies and succour from that City Having this Design in his Eye he sent for his Brother Gonzalo who was then in the Charcas employed in the settlement of a new Colony in the City of Plate and of that Division of Indian Subjects and rule over them as was faln to his lot and possession Gonzalo Piçarro at the Summons of his Brother repaired speedily to Cozco where the Marquis then resided and having there
yet those of Potocsi were not discovered and confiscated to the use of Almagro all the Indians Riches and Wealth vvhich belonged to the Marquis Don Francisco Piçarro vvhich amounted to a vast sum the like he did of the Plantations of Captain Diego de Rojas of Perançurez of Graviel de Rojas of Garçilasso de la Vega and of all other the Inhabitants of that Town whom he knew well affected to the party of Piçarro Another Messenger was sent into the Province of Chachapuyas which Alonso de Alvarado had kept in peace and quiet and who having seen and read the Declaration of Don Diego which promised great rewards to such as obeyed him and threatned such as opposed him he notwithstanding seized on the Messenger and persuaded a hundred that were with him to follow him and serve his Majesty to which they having yielded a chearfull assent he declared for the King and set up his Standard And though Almagro wrote him very kind Letters endeavouring to allure him to his party he refused all his Offers protesting that he would never own or acknowledge him for Governour untill such time as he had seen his Majesty's express Commission and Commands for the same which as he knew his Majesty would never grant so he did not doubt but with the help of God and the Valour of his Souldiers to revenge the bloud of the Marquis and punish the contempt which he had put on the Authority of his Majesty All which Alvarado adventured to say and act trusting to the advantage of the situation of that Countrey which as we have said in several places was very Mountainous by help of which he hoped to secure his small force untill such time as recruits and greater numbers of those who were Piçarrists could come in to joyn with him being well assured that all that party and the people inhabiting along the Coast would readily assist and serve the Emperour Where now we will leave them for a while to treat of others who followed the same course The Officers and Instruments of Almagro which were dispatched with his Commission to Cozco durst not proceed with the like rigour there as in other places for they well knew that as there were many well-affected persons in that City so those who were rich and principal Men there and had power over the Indians were all devoted to the service of his Majesty And that the contrary party consisted onely of some poor indigent Souldiers and such as were newly come into that Countrey who hoped by such disturbances and alterations to make their fortunes Those who were the Chief Justices at that time in the City were Diego de Silva whom we have formerly mentioned under the Name of the Son of Feliciano de Silva a Native of the City of Rodrigo together with Francis de Carvajal who afterwards was Major-General to Gonzalo Piçarro These persons having seen the Orders did not think fit to irritate the contrary party by a flat and down-right denial of all compliance but having consulted the Jurats and the Community of the City Council returned answer That in an Act of such great weight and importance it was necessary that Don Diego should send a more ample power than that which he had already done which seemed short and defective in many particulars upon tender of which they promised to receive him for their Governour But this was said not with any intention to comply but onely to amuse them and spin out time untill they could unite their forces which were for the most part dispersed in their possessions and employed in the Gold Mines of which most of the Inhabitants of that City of Cozco had some shares allotted to them CHAP. XI What the Inhabitants of Cozco acted in order to the King's Service What also was done in favour of Don Diego Vaca de Castro nominated in Spain for Judge to determine the quarrels and differences in Peru. GOmez de Tordoya who was principal Citizen and Chief of the Common Council of that Corporation was not then present when the Orders and Commission of Almagro were brought to Cozco having been in the Countrey for six or seven days to divertise himself with Hawking and other sports so soon as he had read the Letters which advised him of the Tragical Death of the Marquis for whom he conceived a particular esteem being his particular Friend and Confident he was much grieved and shrinking up his shoulders turned his head toward the Hawk he carried saying It is now more seasonable for us to prepare for a War with Fire and Sword than to attend to our sports and our Countrey recreations for being a judicious Man he well foresaw all those miseries and calamities cruel deaths and revolutions which would be the certain consequences of the late successes Hereupon he immediately returned to the City and not to give any occasion of jealousie or offence to the contrary party he came in by night and having discoursed with several of the Corporation he told them that it was necessary to convene the people of Arequepa of the Charcas and of the parts lying Southward from Cozco and to assemble the Spaniards which were dispersed about the Countries To which end he advised them to dispeed Messengers of which he offered himself for one This resolution being taken he departed that very night from Cozco and went in search of Captain Nunno de Castro who then resided at his Plantation which was about fifteen or twenty Leagues from the City where being arrived they both dispatched Messengers to Pedro de Ançures and to Garçilasso de la Vega and having informed them of the late successes they required them as good and loyal Subjects to repair to Cozco there to perform such Services as their duty to his Majesty required After these Messages were dispatched Gomez de Tordoya went in all haste to seek out for Captain Pedro Alvarez Holguin who with a hundred Spaniards was marched to the East of Collao to conquer the Indians of those parts who as yet had not been subdued and travelling with all diligence and haste at length he over-took him and gave him a relation of the Death of the Marquis and how Don Diego de Almagro pretended to govern the Empire Wherefore he desired him to take this business to heart and to interest himself so far in this service of God and the King as to become Captain and Chief Leader of the people who had joyned in this League and Association together and farther to oblige him he offered to serve under him in quality of the meanest of his Souldiers Pedro Alvarez being sensibly touched with the Justice of the cause and pleased with the Honour so freely offered to him accepted the Command and Charge and immediately set up a Standard for his Majesty sending Messengers to the Charcas and to Arequepa to publish his Declaration containing his Reasons and Intention of this War farther giving them to understand that he would march fair
whereby they were to make their application to his Majesty for a redress of these aggrievances which were designed against them in pursuance of which with the consent and advice of the Visitor they named two Friers of good esteem and two Burgomasters of the City Council whom they deputed in behalf of the whole Kingdom to carry their address into Germany where the Emperour at that time resided being employed in Wars against the Lutherans with them the Visitor sent his Letters of recommendation giving his Majesty to understand how much the suspension of the late Statutes concerned the Service of God and of his Majesty and the conservation of the common peace and quiet of that Countrey and on the contrary what inconveniences troubles and confusions might result from the execution of them In all which particulars the Visitor performed his word like a Gentleman For in his Letters to his Majesty having in the first place given a relation of his voyage and of what happened at his arrival in New Spain he touched upon divers things relating to the execution of the New Statutes remarking what in every Law might properly be restrained or enlarged within this Letter he inclosed a paper containing 25 Heads relating to such conditions as were proper and tending to the welfare of the Indians and in what manner they might be best conserved and the Natives increased howsoever the Articles were all for the most part in favour of the Spaniards who were Inhabitants of those Countries With these Dispatches the persons deputed to carry the Address embarked for Spain and with them several others who were willing to be absent to avoid the force of these new Laws howsoever some few days after they were published the Visitor craftily and underhand began to insinuate and privately to put some of the new Regulations into practice The most easie and safe way as he thought was to begin with the King's Officers who could not reasonably complain of such Rules as their Master imposed on them in pursuance whereof he acquitted the Indians of their services to them in like manner he released them from all manner of service to Convents Bishops and Hospitals and hereof gave immediate advice to his Majesty In the mean time the Friers and Burgesses who were deputed to carry this Message departed from New Spain and having had a fair wind gained a prosperous passage and arrived safe in Castile from whence they hastned with all diligence into Germany to represent their cause before his Imperial Majesty and in regard the Wars in Germany were very hot and the persecution of Monasteries and religious Persons which the Hereticks exercised in those parts were very grievous the Friers thought fit to change their habit and accouter themselves in the fashion of Souldiers In short their negotiations at the Court were successfull and speedily dispatched having obtained his Majesties Royal hand for the ease and redress of their aggrievances they by the first Fleet gave an account of the success of their affairs and how prevalent the recommendations and report which the Visitor had given them were towards the relief and redress of their aggrievances So soon as these Dispatches arrived at Mexico and that the Letters were read at the Common Council of the City they all immediately repaired to the House of the Visitor but in a far different manner and with a more cheerfull aspect than when they first came to offer their petition and considerations against the new Statutes for now without that sullenness of look which they formerly shewed they now with smiles and pleasant looks returned him many thanks for the Letter which he had so kindly wrote in their favour by virtue of which they had obtained the Royal Mandate which they delivered to him commanding the Visitor to suspend the execution of the new Laws untill farther Order and moreover it was therein added that his Majesty would speedily give directions for dividing the Countrey among the Conquerours and the Inhabitants thereof and accordingly in the very next Fleet his Majesty sent a Commission to Don Antonio de Mandoca to make a distribution of such Lands as lay waste and without any Possessour all which gave such general satisfaction that the Common Council of the City gave orders for a day of festivity and rejoycing to be solemnly celebrated which was performed with Bull-baiting and other Sports and Pastimes in such manner as the like was never practised before After which all fears and jealousies vanishing every man followed his pleasures and delights And farther to confirm them in the Assurance that the new Laws should not be put in execution an Instance was given them by the death of one of the Conquerours who leaving a Widow without Issue the Vice-king and the Visitor ordained that the Indians who were his Subjects and whom he held in villenage should still continue in the same condition subjected to the Widow of the deceased the which action took away the remainder of the jealousie they apprehended concerning the Practice of the new Statutes Thus Don Francisco Tello having performed all matters in New Spain in the manner as we have related and setled every thing according as he was commanded by his Majesty he returned again to Castile where he was preferred by his Majesty to be President in the Courts of Judicature in Granada and Valladolid and made President of the Royal Council of the Indies and in the month of December 1566. his Majesty conferred upon him the Bishoprick of Osma Thus much shall serve to have said concerning the new Laws and Constitutions in Mexico We shall now proceed to give a relation of the many sad misfortunes and calamities which were the consequences of them in Peru where all things being managed in a different manner to those of Mexico occasioned great Disorders in that Empire the riches whereof being great it was necessary to use the more severity and rigour to put the new Statutes in practice whence proceeded so many slaughters ruines robberies tyrannies and cruelties that we are not able to describe the tenth part of those Miseries which Spaniards and Indians of both sexes and all ages sustained in that great tract of Land where was nothing but Misery and Confusion for the space of 700 leagues together The End of the Third Book Royal Commentaries BOOK IV. CHAP. I. Of the Accidents which befell the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela so soon as he landed on the Continent and on the Confines of Peru. IN the preceding History we have given a Relation of the happy and prosperous State of Affairs in the Kingdom of Mexico caused by the Moderation Wisedom and good Conduct of the Visitor Don Francisco Tello de Sandoval We are now on the contrary obliged to make a Relation of the Ruines Slaughters and other Calamities of the Empire of Peru caused by the Rigour Severity and Evil disposition of the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela who so obstinately against the opinion and sense of
all engaged in the conquest of that Kingdom their mutual concernment for each other was such as to favour one the other to their utmost power but others who would not trust themselves in the Town removed far from it and lived amongst the Indians the which proved the more secure course for thereby they saved their lives whilst many others were put to death by the cruelty of the advers Party And indeed this was the misfortune of Lewis de Ribera and of Antonio Alvarez and of twenty four or twenty five Gentlemen more who were all Inhabitants of the City of Plate which is about thirty Leagues distant from Los Reyes who came with design to serve the King and having passed and endured great hardships in their travails and difficulties to avoid falling into the hands of Piçarro and his people they came at length near to Los Reyes where they received the unwelcome News of the misfortunes of the Vice-king how and in what manner he was imprisoned embarked and sent to Sea with this sad intelligence they gave themselves for lost for neither durst they adventure into the City because all the Countrey had declared for Piçarro nor did they think it Prudence voluntarily to trust themselves in the power of the enemy Wherefore every one took his proper course and shifted for himself The like many other Gentlemen did who came to serve his Majesty under the Vice-king so that they were scattered and dispersed over all the Countrey And some not esteeming themselves safe in the Parts of Peru fled to the Mountains of Antis where they were famished or devoured by Tigers others were taken by the salvage Indians not as yet conquered and sacrificed to their Idols Thus men out of fear of falling into the hands of their Enemies precipitated themselves into desperate Courses esteeming Barbarians and wild Beasts to have more Bowels of compassion than Tyrants This direfull effect had the immoderate and ungoverned Passion of the Vice-king for had he been a man of any temper he had surmounted all his difficulties and had been defended by the powerfull succours of the Rich Noble and Persons of the greatest Interest who were the Flower of Cozco and the Charcas when on the contrary both he and his party were lost being exposed to the Cruelties of War and to the mercy of their Enemies who put many of them to death CHAP. XVIII Gonçalo Piçarro comes to the City of Los Reyes Several Citizens of note are put to death because the Judges delayed to proclaim Piçarro Governour AND now Piçarro taking short marches towards the City of Los Reyes by reason of the great Incumbrance of Cannon which he had with him came at length to the Province called Pariacaca where Augustin Carate was lately stopped and deteined and there called him before him to relate the Message which he brought to him which Carate in the thirteenth Chapter of his fifth Book declares in these words I said he knowing the danger I was in of my life did in the first place communicate the business I had in charge to Piçarro in private who afterwards cause◠me to be introduced into the Tent where all his Captains were assembled and there commanded me to declare that which I had before imparted unto him And Carate saith farther that being informed of the mind of Piçarro he made use of his Letters of Credence from the Judges to declare in their behalf and in their names many things tending to his Majesty's Service and for the good and benefit of the Countrey particularly that since the Vice-king was embarked and sent away whereby their desires were allowed and granted That they should make good unto his Majesty the Treasure which Blasco Nunnez Vela had consumed and spent as they had already made known by their Letters that a Pardon should be granted to the Citizens of Cozco who had revolted from his Camp to serve the Vice-king◠which might easily be granted considering the Justice of their Cause And that Messengers should be sent to his Majesty to inform him of the state of Affairs and of all the passages which had occurred and to excuse whatsoever had passed with many other things of this nature To which Particulars no other Answer was given than that he should tell the Judges that for the good of the Countrey it was requisite to make Piçarro Governour thereof and when that was done they would then take such other Measures for the publick good as should be proposed by them and on the contrary in case of refusal they would give up the City of Los Reyes to be plundred and sacked by the Souldiery With this Answer Carate returned to the Judges who were troubled to receive a Message so contrary to their expectations and so plain and publick a Declaration of the mind of Piçarro whom they once believed to be better inclined and to have no other designs and pretensions than onely the expulsion of the Vice-king and the suspension of the new Laws wherefore in answer to this demand they returned a message to the Captains giving them to understand that having considered of their Proposals they knew not how to grant or treat on them unless they were delivered in writing according to the usual methods and way of proceedings in those matters When this matter was known all the Representatives of the several Cities which were going to the Camp returned back again and joining with those of other Corporations who were then assembled at Los Reyes gave in a Petition to the Judges sitting on the Bench desiring a concession of what was verbally required The Judges considered hereof as a matter of great concernment and dangerous for they had no Commission to warrant them in this Declaration nor had they liberty or power at that time to refuse it for Piçarro had made by this time a very near approach to the City and had possessed himself of all the ways and avenues thereunto so that in this strait and difficulty they resolved to consult with the persons of greatest power and authority in the City and to desire their opinion and concurrence with them a memorial whereof they sent to Friar Geronimo de Loaysa Archbishop of Los Reyes to Friar John Salano Archbishop of Cozco to Garcia Diaz Bishop of Quita to Friar Thomas de San Martin Provincial of the Dominicans and to Augustine Carate Accountant Treasurer and Comptroller of his Majesty's revenue desiring their opinion and sense in this matter of high concernment not that they were to seek or doubtfull in what could legally be done or required or that they were at liberty to grant or refuse what Gonçalo Piçarro and his Captains required but onely that these persons might bear their part in the burthen and become Witnesses that what they granted to Piçarro was extorted by force and not yielded by a voluntary consent Whilst these matters were debating Gonçalo Piçarro advanced within a quarter of a League of the City where he
name I have forgot came in to the assistence of his Master and shot Maldonado with a Carbine with which he fell soon but rising again to fight with Centeno more Company came in and seised on Maldonado and disarmed him and then pursued their Victory which was easily gained for by this time most of the Enemy's party had declared for the King and the rest had conveyed themselves away In all which Engagement nothing happened so remarkable as the Combat between Pedro Maldonado and Diego Centeno with both whom I was acquainted nor was there one drop of bloud shed but onely that of Centeno CHAP. X. A strange Accident which happened upon this Combat of Pedro Maldonado The death of Antonio de Robles Diego Centeno is chosen Commander in chief Lucas Martin is reduced to his Majesty's service An Agreement is made between Alonso de Mendoça and Diego Centeno PEdro Maldenado was one of the fattest and most corpulent men that ever I have seen and though the shot which was given him knocked him to the ground yet he received no wound for the bullet happened to strike on the Breviary which was in his bosom and so by the miraculous Providence of the B. Virgin to whom he was zealously devoted his life was preserved I my self saw the Breviary some years after for happening to be on a Saturday at Mass with Pedro de Maldonado for on that day in the Church of Merceds they always sing Mass to the Mother of God I desired him to let me see that Office or Breviary which is now called the Office of Miracle for I told him that I was very desirous and curious to say I had seen it he was pleased to comply with my request and I opened the Book and found that the Bullet had passed the cover and entered the first thirty or fourty pages and some twelve or fifteen leaves farther it had rumpled up together and had impressed the bigness and form of the Bullet as far as to that leaf where the Mass of our Lady begins and which in those days they bound up with our Lady's Office and with other Offices of Devotion as the Booksellers pleased for then there was not that care taken of Books as hath been since that time ordered by the Council of Trent for then the Breviaries were of that size as the Prayers are now for daily Devotions That night there was no other encounter than this which happened between Maldonado and Centeno though some Authours make a long relation of men killed and wounded but certainly it was not true of which I have as much certainty as a man can have that was not an eye-witness for six days after this matter happened I came to the City with my Uncle John de Vargas and with Captain Rodrigo de Pantoja and with about nine Spaniards more who came from a Plantation about thirty Leagues distant from Cozco as did also all my family who fled from Piçarro's party and came for refuge to that City with intent to be listed in his Majesty's service but I and my brother followed them and the next day after I came thither I was brought to kiss Diego Centeno's hands and I remember his left-hand was bound up in a piece of black Taffety and though he was wounded in the Thigh yet he seemed not very lame with it for I observed he was standing upon his Legs he was lodged in the House of Fernando Bachicao which now belongs to Don Lewis Palomino All which happened some few days after the Feast of the most Holy Sacrament in the year 1547. And we have finished the History hereof about the same month in the year 1605. and do confirm the truth thereof which I saw with my own eyes All the Fight was friendly and rather in words than actions for had they been in earnest as Historians say fourty eight men so ill armed as these were whose chief Arms were onely Daggers fastned to the end of Staves would have had a difficult task to have engaged against three hundred men all well armed and disciplined as those were under the command of Antonio de Robles Captain Antonio de Robles being thus defeated and abandoned by his Souldiers fled for Sanctuary into the Convent of Saint Francis which in those days was on the East side of the City and not where it now is from whence Diego Centeno sent the next day to bring de Robles to him not with design to kill him for he was a person of a gentle temper and not bloudy but to persuade him to serve his Majesty But Antonio de Robles as Carate reports of him was a Youth and of no great understanding and behaved himself as if he had been still Commander in Chief of the City uttering many insolent Sayings in favour of Piçarro's Party and reflecting with some disgracefull terms on the service of his Majesty at which Diego Centeno being greatly offended sent to take off his Head and though he was sufficiently provoked to have hanged him as it was generally believed he would yet being a Gentlemen he was sentenced to a more honourable death Those who were well affected to Piçarro's Party conveyed themselves away in the night and with great expedition travelled to Rimac where they brought the first news to Piçarro of the loss of Antonio de Robles and his men at Cozco which though ill news and deeply resented by Piçarro yet he covered and dissembled his trouble for a time and gave out his Orders and Commands in such manner as we shall declare hereafter but so soon as the news of the Victory which Diego Centeno had gained had spread it self in the Countries all those people who were absconded and had hid themselves in parts about forty or fifty leagues round returned to Cozco in great numbers amongst which were divers persons of quality and Souldiers of honour and fame who joyning with those in Cozco formed a Body of five hundred men who with common consent freely chose Diego Centeno to be their Commander in Chief who accordingly gave out Commissions both for Horse and Foot to several Captains whose names we shall mention when we come to relate the Battel of Huarina So soon as General Centeno had reformed his Forces he returned to Collao with design to fall upon Alonço de Mendoça who was appointed Governour of the City of Plate by Gonçalo Piçarro and to reduce him to obedience of his Majesty either by fair or foul means The news of Centeno's success at Cozco reached to the City of Arequepa in a very short time where a certain Captain resided called Lucas Martin Vegasso an inhabitant of that City and sent thither by Gonçalo Piçarro after the Battel of Quitu for Governour of the place This Captain having not as yet received intelligence of what had passed at Cozco resolved to bring an hundred and thirty men with him to Piçarro to serve him in his Camp but being on his march some few leagues from the City
dispatches and orders from aboard his Ship being unwilling to trust himself ashoar for fear lest some treacherous person should design to kill him and fly to Gonçalo Piçarro for as Historians report there were people who revolted to Piçarro as well as from him to the King with which apprehensions and jealousies he remained aboard untill he received certain intelligence that Gonçalo Piçarro was removed eighty leagues from the City of Los Reyes and indeed by that time this News came he was removed at the distance of a hundred and ten leagues from thence And then adventuring ashoar with all his Captains and Souldiers he was received into the City with great joy being met by all the Inhabitants which though few yet the very Children came in to make up the number The charge of the Ships was committed to the care of John Fernandez the Sheriff of the Town with the usual formalities required in such cases And now Aldana being with his men lodged within the City he endeavored to get all the Arms and Ammunition into his hands but whilst he was busie and intent on these matters a flying report came that Gonçalo Piçarro was returning again towards the City and that he was not above four leagues off and though there could be no ground to imagine such a rumour to be true or possible yet such was the consternation that no man had power to consider the probability of the report but every one out of the abundance of his fear shifted for himself Those who were unprovided of Horses fled to the Seaside to secure themselves within the Ships those who had Horses travelled away and took the common way to Truxillo others who were not possessed with so violent a fear concealed themselves within the Osier-gardens and other secret places and in this manner they lay perdue or hidden for a whole night and a day untill such time as certain intelligence came that the report was false And then they all returned again to the City unless such who had travelled away at a farther distance Augustine Carate writes that Lorenço de Aldana came ashoar upon the ninth of September 1547. where we will leave him for awhile to speak of John de Acosta who was now on his march towards Cozco by way of the mountains consisting of three hundred Souldiers under the command of a Major General a Standard-bearer and other Officers as if it had been a great Army CHAP. XVI The Captains and Souldiers fly from John de Acosta Gonçalo Piçarro comes to Huarina from whence he sends a Message to Diego Centeno with his Answer thereunto WHEN John de Acosta came near to Cozco they received intelligence of the unfortunate success of Gonçalo Piçarro and of the general revolt of his People from him to conceal and smother which all endeavours were used but all in vain for many of the Letters which were dispersed abroad fell into the hands of Officers and Souldiers which made a full discovery of all matters and though none durst to confide in each other so far as to discourse and communicate the news yet by some accident or other the Advices became the publick talk and then the Major-General Paez de Sotomayor and Captain Martin de Olmos with whom I was acquainted resolved to kill John de Acosta which design was so secretly carried that one did not know the intention of the other but onely by certain conjectures and circumstances and in like manner at a distance treated with some Souldiers in whom they thought they could best confide but the Plot was not contrived so secretly but that it came to the ears of Acosta who became thereby more watchfull and doubled the Guards about his Person with those of whose faithfulness he was best assured The two General Officers growing jealous hereupon and knowing that John de Acosta was one day retired within his Tent and in secret conference with Captain Martin de Almendras and another intimate Friend of his called Diego Gumiel and fearing that they were plotting to kill them they resolved to revolt since they were disappointed in their design of killing Acosta and accordingly passing their word in secret one to the other without farther delay they mounted on Horseback with thirty-men following them with their Arms and in sight of the Camp marched boldly away towards Los Reyes The principal persons hereof were Paez de Sotomayor Martin de Olmos Martin de Alarçon chief Standard-bearer Garci Gutierez de Escobar Alonso Rengel Hernando de Alvarado Martin Monge Antonio de Avila and Gaspar de Toledo John de Acosta made pursuit after them and overtook three or four of them and put them to death but finding it in vain to prosecute them farther he desisted and followed his way towards Cozco where he took away the white Staves from the Sheriffs of the Town who were appointed by Diego Centeno and placed others in their stead And here he found Orders from Gonçalo Piçarro to come with all haste possible to Arequepa and to joyn his Forces with him there Accordingly John de Acosta marched out of Cozco but before he was twelve leagues advanced on his way Martin Almendras who was the person in whom he most confided fled from him carrying thirty of his best men with him and returning again to Cozco he took the white Staves away from the Sheriffs whom John de Acosta had constituted as if the success of great matters had depended thereupon and so he went to Los Reyes to the great admiration of Acosta who wondered much that a man so much esteemed and obliged by Gonçalo Piçarro should desert him who had treated him like a Son out of respect to the memory of his Uncle Francisco de Almendras who was killed by Diego Centeno John de Acosta durst not adventure to pursue Martin de Almendras lest all his Souldiers should follow the like example and therefore he took the direct way to Arequepa by long marches but still his numbers decreased by two and three in a company so that by the time he came to Arequepa to joyn with Gonçalo Piçarro he brought not above a hundred men with him as is confirmed by Palentino Chapter sixty eight of the second Book and by Carate the sixth Book Chapter eighteen And now having lost their Honours by being outlawed and proclaimed Traitours and their Estates which remained in the power of the Enemy there was nothing more to save but their lives onely and how that stake might be conserved was their onely consultation In fine Piçarro and his Captains resolved to take their march by the way where Diego Centeno was quartered because it was the passage to the high Mountains of Antis which are to the eastern parts of Peru in which quarters they designed to gain some Province to make their aboad in case they might there be suffered to remain in quietness and if not they intended then to proceed to the Kingdom of Chili to assist in the Conquest of that
love from all men but these men soon afterwards received the reward due to their deserts Nor was the behaviour of Francisco de Espinosa less scandalous in his journey to the Charcas but rather worse if worse can be For in his passage he robbed and plundered all he could find which as a certain Authour says amounted to the value of sixty thousand Ducats and in Arequepa he killed two Spaniards one of which had Lands and Command over Indians in the City of Plate he hanged a Judge and an Officer of the Court and all four of them for no other reason than because they had served the King and in his return to Cozco he burn'd seven Indians upon pretence that they had given information of his departure to certain Spaniards who were fled from him All which he acted without Commission or Order from Gonçalo Piçarro or his Lieutenant General but merely out of his own arbitrary Power and Lust intending thereby to evidence his great zeal to the cause of him who was not pleased with such service for when he was informed of his Cruelties he abhorred both his person and his actions for Piçarro was of a mercifull nature and did neither approve of these nor other Cruelties committed by Carvajal of the like nature But to divert the Reader awhile from the sad relations of such Barbarities we will mention one generous action performed by a person infamous in those days whereby it will appear that he was not altogether so wicked as Historians describe him CHAP. XXV Of the Gratitude which Francisco de Carvajal shewed in Arequepa to Miguel Cornejo in return of those benefits and kindnesses which some years before he had done for him WE have now an occasion presented to declare some good actions performed by Francisco de Carvajal in lieu of the many bad ones which Writers report of him We formerly left him on his way to Arequepa in pursuit of his flying Enemies Upon News of his approach not onely those who fled from the Battel of Huarina but likewise the Inhabitants who were about fourty in number abandoned the City and took the way to Los Reyes along the Sea-coast So soon as Carvajal was entred into the City and had received information of their flight without stop or stay or repose so much as of one hour he dispatched twenty five of his chief and choice Harquebusiers after them commanded by an experienced Souldier who had all been instructed in the School of an excellent Master and were for their bravery termed his Sons and these made such expedition in the pursuit of them that they overtook them two days journey from Arequepa and seizing upon every one of them they brought them back again to the City not suffering one man of them to escape Amongst these was a noble Gentleman one of the first Conquerours and an Inhabitant of that City called Miguel Cornejo who had some years before much obliged Francisco de Carvajal when he came first into Peru before he had Lands or Estate or had acquired any Fame or Reputation or Interest in that Countrey the manner of it was this Carvajal travelling with his Wife Donna Catalina Leyton one maid-servant and two men-servants came to Arequepa where finding no Inn nor House of entertainment to receive him he remained in the Streets for it is to be noted that in those times and many years afterwards there were no Houses of publick entertainment in all Peru nor were there any when I came from thence in the year 1560 but Travellers were used to take up their quarters with the Inhabitants of the Countrey or Province for such was the generosity of those Gentlemen in those days who had Lands and Indians allotted to them that they frankly received all Strangers into their Houses affording them entertainment not onely for days and weeks but also for months and years and likewise furnished them with Clothes untill such time as they were able to provide for themselves the which generous and obliging usage was the common custome and practice of that whole Countrey In this condition was Francisco de Carvajal in that City without friend or acquaintance or house whereunto to resort and so remained for the space of three hours on horse-back with his whole family in a corner of the Market-place when Miguel Cornejo having taken notice of him as he was going to Church at his return went up to him and asked him what his business was so long there since for above three hours he had observed him in that place Sir answered Carvajal I have no kindred friends or acquaintance in this Countrey and there being no Inns or places of publick entertainment whereunto I might goe to be received I am enforced to stay in this corner of the Street To which Miguel Cornejo replyed Your Worship hath no need of another Inn than my House whereunto if you please to goe you shall find us all ready to serve you to the utmost of our power After this he carried them to his House and entertained them untill such time as that Marquis Don Francisco Piçarro bestowed some Lands and Houses on Carvajal in that City for he was one of those choice Souldiers which Don Antonio de Mendoça Vice-king of Mexico sent to the assistence of the Marquis Piçarro when Prince Manco Inca had raised great Forces against him as we have formerly related in its due place When Francisco de Carvajal understood that Miguel Cornejo was amongst the prisoners that were taken he caused them all to be brought to his presence and having seen Cornejo he took him aside and began very kindly to complain and chide him Is it possible said he that you should fansie and imagine me to be so ungratefull as to forget the kind and charitable entertainment I received from you some years past in this very City or to believe that in return thereof I should not embrace all occasions to make known my gratitude is it possible for me to be so short of memory as not to remember how kindly you took me and my Family to your own home when there was no place to receive us and entertained us there for days and months untill such time as Marquis Piçarro of glorious memory had made other provisions for me And having ever conserved the thoughts hereof in my mind I carried great respect to every thing wherein you were concerned for though I had sufficient information that Diego Centeno was concealed within your possession and though I knew the very Cave it self where he was hid and nourished by your Indians yet I winked at it and took no notice thereof that I might not give you trouble nor bring you under a prejudice or ill notion with my Lord the Governour I might then easily if I had pleased sent some Files of Musquetiers and have brought Diego Centeno to me but for your sake I forbore to persecute him notwithstanding the mortal enmity between us Nor indeed did I much value
that Countrey having been one of those who had entred with Don Pedro de Alvarado and engaged with him in the Conquest of the Empire the news of his death being come into Spain his Brother gave a relation of the manner of it to the Emperour Charles the Fifth and that he had left two natural Children a Son and a Daughter who were poor and destitute because the Estate which their Father had from the services of Indians ended with his death in consideration of which his Majesty gratiously conferred for a portion to the Daughter the sum of twelve thousand ducats of Castile and settled upon the Son Gaspar Centeno who was a School-fellow of mine an Estate of four thousand pieces of Eight of yearly rent to be paid out of his Majesty's Royal Treasure in the City of Plate I have heard that this Estate was made an inheritance for ever but I know not how to believe it because I did never hear that any Estate of inheritance was ever charged on the King's Treasury but for one Life or two at most Some few months after the death of Centeno Licenciado Carvajal came also to an unfortunate end in Cozco as we have hinted before by a fall from a high Window for without any respect to his Office as Judge they cut the Cords of the Ladder by which he came up and went down Many other men died and came to unfortunate ends in divers Cities of Peru by which Lands and Estates over Indians became void and places made for other Pretenders by which the President had opportunity to gratifie many who were aggrieved to have been left out of the last Division but men were not satisfied herewith but as discontented and complaining as before as will appear by what follows for every man fansied that his Services merited the whole Empire of Peru. Now in the mean time whilst these violent Deaths and Misfortunes happened in the City of Plate and in Cozco the President Gasca was intent to the repairs of the City of Los Reyes and to erect a new Court of Chancery there which continues to this day He also contrived ways to people the City of Peace As Diego Hernandez Palentino declares in the second Book of the first Part of his History in these words Don Jeronimo de Loaysa says he was dispatched away with this Letter which he was to carry to the City of Cozco and was that which the President wrote to the Souldiers who were left out of the distribution and had no Estate allotted to them as before mentioned which caused great disturbances as that of Francisco Hernandez whose rebellion proceeded from that cause alone The President Gasca departed from Guanarima and went to the City of Los Reyes and in his journey he gave a Commission to Alonso Mendoça to be Governour of the New Colony which was founded in Chuquiabo and called our Lady of Peace which name was given to it by the President because it was founded in the time of Peace after so much War which had harassed that Countrey and because it is the middle way between Arequepa and the Charcas which are a hundred and seventy leagues distant from each other and is also the mid-way between Cuzço and the Charcas being in like manner a hundred and seventy leagues and being the road between such considerable Cities it was conceived necessary to have a City founded there for the convenience of Travellers and to prevent Robberies and Violences which were committed in those parts And having ordered all things in this manner he proceeded in his journey to Los Reyes and made his Entry into that City on the seventeenth day of September being there received with all the signal demonstrations of joy that could be expressed with Sports and Dances Feasts and Revels The President entered with the Royal Seal before him to signifie his intention to erect a Court of Chancery in that City The Seal and the President had a rich Canopy over them the Seal was on the right hand inclosed in a rich Case and carried on a white Horse covered with a Foot-cloth of Tissue to the very ground and which was lead by the Reins by Lorenço de Aldana the Chief Justice and the Mule of the President was lead by Jeronimo de Silva the Mayor of the City Lorenço de Aldana and the other Officers who bore up the Sticks of the Canopy were clothed with Garments of Incarnation Sattin and went bare-headed The Guards who were appointed to attend the Seal and the President had Liveries bestowed on them at the cost of the City as had all the Dancers and Actors cloaths and properties given them of Silk with divers colours And the Dancers came forth in their several Orders representing the Cities and principal People of Peru every one repeating a Distich or two signifying the fidelity of their People towards the Emperour LIMA I am the City of Lime Who came the first in time All happiness to bring Unto our Lord the King. TRUXILLO I 'm called the City of Truxillo Who with true Loyalty Came with my men to serve his Majesty In like manner Pyura Quito Guanuco and the Chachapoyas also Guamanca Arequipa Cozco and the Charcas presented themselves before the President with Verses to the same substance as before which being all in Dogerel rithm were scarce worthy of a Translation into English and indeed the Authour is of the same opinion for he saith that they were so dull and insipid that they savoured more of Indian than Spanish composure But to return now to the Reasons which Palentino gives for the foundation of the City of Peace which we have already mentioned we cannot allow that the prevention of Robberies could be any motive or reason for the building of that City for such hath been the generosity of that Empire called Peru of which may be said what cannot be said of any other Kingdom of the World namely that from the Conquest thereof which was in the year 1531 to this very time which is towards the end of 1610 it was never known or heard that either publickly or privately any Robberies had been committed nor have any Merchants and Dealers ever been assaulted on the highway though they have been known to carry with them vast quantities of Gold and Silver over Desarts and Mountains for the space of three or four hundred leagues and have travelled with such security that they adventured to lye in the fields day and night without other defence or guard than their mere Tents which is a thing so commendable as is spoken of both in the Indies and in Spain greatly to the honour and praise of this Empire We mean that such security as this is in time of Peace and not in the time of War for then as we have said before there is nothing but spoil and robbery where Violence and arbitrary Power and not Law prevail CHAP. VII The Cares and Troubles which the President Gasca sustained How he
this Work was the vanity of Bermejo and his Companions the Piçarrists who could not be contented with a less Prey than the person of the President Gasca himself for some desired to take a full revenge on him in lieu of the Pay and Reward he promised for the services they had done and others who were Piçarrists were become his inveterate Enemies on the score of the old quarrel and all cried out that they would make Dice of his Bones and Powder of his Flesh for said they he is so fine and subtile in all his dealings that certainly he cannot but make the best and the finest Gun-powder in the World But these men were deceived in their vain imaginations for though they did not seize the person of the President yet their revenge would have been more complete in sending him away without his Gold and Silver than if they had taken him alive and sacrificed him to their rage and fury CHAP. XII Of the leud Practices and Follies of the Contreras whereby they lost all the Treasure they had gained together with their Lives The diligence and good management which their Enemies used to bring them to condign Punishment BUT the good fortune of Licençiado Gasca which had accompanied him in all the successes before related and in the recovery of an Empire as great as Peru would not now leave him exposed to the Attempts of a leud and villanous sort of People for Providence still continuing her protection and favour to him suffered these wicked Wretches to be ensnared with their own Pride and Ignorance and those very men who had followed Francisco de Carvajal and had known and learned his Discipline and Art in War were so clouded in their understandings and reasons that they rashly precipitated themselves into death and destruction For in the first place after they had taken Panama and sacked and plundered the City they seized upon many of the principal men thereof amongst which were the Bishop and Treasurer to his Majesty as also Martin Ruyz de Marchena and the Sheriffs of the City and carried them away with intent to hang them upon the common Gallows which they had certainly done to the full satisfaction of John de Bermejo had not Hernando Contreras given a stop to the execution with which Bermejo being greatly enraged told him plainly that since he was pleased to appear in favour of his Enemies to the high discouragement of his friends it would be no wonder if his Enemies another day took their turn and hanged up him and all his Associates These words were a clear prediction of what happened in a short time afterwards For Hernando de Contreras took no other security from the Citizens for their quiet behaviour towards him than their bare Oath swearing that they would be as true and faithfull to him as if all the actions he had committed had tended to the service of God and of the King and to the benefit and advantage of the Citizens After which vain piece of confidence and folly they divided their Forces which in all consisted of no more than two hundred and fifty men into four Squadrons forty of which were remaining with Pedro de Contreras to guard the four Vessels which they brought with them and the other four they had taken in Port Salguero as we have said was sent with thirty men to the River of Chagre to take possession of the Silver which was robbed there Hernando de Conireras himself marched with forty Souldiers more by way of Capira to seise the President and sack Nombre de Dios both which exploits he thought very easie to be done by a surprise and John de Bermejo with an hundred and fifty men staid at Panama to keep and defend that City And besides these pieces of foolish management and miscarriages they were so inconsiderate as to entrust the merchandise which they had robbed in the hands of the Proprietors themselves and to other persons of reputation and note on security onely of Bonds under their hand-writing to yield them up to Hernando de Contreras when he should return from Nombre de Dios and so far were they transported with vain confidence that they looked upon themselves as Masters of all the new world And accordingly they gave out their Warrants to take up all Horses and Mules that could be found and to mount their Souldiers thereon and to go to the relief and assistence of Hernando de Contreras if occasion should be And with this Equipage Bermejo departed the City leaving it to it self and with as much assurance of faithfulness as if it had been his own House whereas on the contrary had they embarked all the Gold and Silver they had robbed upon their Ships together with the Jewels Merchandise and other Booty and had gone away themselves therewith they had totally destroyed and ruined the President and all his Adherents But they neither deserving so much good nor the President so much evil the wheel of fortune turned as we shall see by the sequel For so soon as it was day those who had escaped out by night whilst they were plundring the City one of which was Arias de Azevedo of whom the History makes mention dispatched away a Servant of his to Nombre de Dios to give intelligence to the President Gasca of all that the Rebels had done at Panama and though as yet the advice was imperfect yet it served to alarm the President in such manner as that neither he nor his People were totally unprovided On the other side the Inhabitants of the City whom John de Bermejo left with so much confidence and reposed that Trust in as to commit a great part of his spoil to their care and custody no sooner was his back turned than they assembled together rang out the Bells of the Town and fell to fortifying the City on the side towards the Sea and to secure the passage on the way of Capira in case the enemy should attack them on either side At the sound of the Bells all the neighbouring Inhabitants came in with their Arms being attended with their Negroes that in a short time between White men and Tawny they made up a force of above five hundred men all resolute to die in defence of the City Two of the Souldiers belonging to John de Bermejo who for want of Horses were left behind hearing the noise and confusion amongst the people fled away to give advice to their Commander how the City was in rebellion and again returned to the obedience of his Majesty Of which John de Bermejo sent immediate advice to Hernando de Contreras giving him to understand that he was going to Panama to cut those Traitours in pieces who had falsly violated their Oath and Faith to them and so he returned thither with confidence of becoming Master of it with as much ease as formerly but things happened out quite contrary to his expectation for the Citizens to prevent the burning of their
his Feet thus did they contrive and meditate new ways of cruelty Then he dispatched Baltasar Velazquez with another Souldier of note called Pedro del Castillo to go to Lima there to publish and extoll the great services which Basco Godinez and they had done which are the words of Palentino who therewith concludes that Chapter Though Baltasar Velazquez by being absent in the Charcas escaped the punishment which Alonso de Alvarado had designed for him yet he could not avoid a more severe judgment which Heaven had prepared to bring him to his end The news of the Insurrection of Don Sebastian de Castillia ran like lightning through the whole Kingdom to the great trouble and consternation of those who had Estates in the Countrey for these were they who were likely to suffer by all wars and confusions which arise for not onely being Lords of Manors holding many Indians in vassalage they were upon all occasions of this nature put to a vast expence but likewise they held their lives by a hair or thread being ever in danger of being killed in those rebellious tumults by the Souldiers who gaped and longed after the enjoyment of their possessions So soon as this news came to the City of Cozco they put themselves into a posture of defence against the enemy and by consent of the Corporation they elected Diego Maldonado surnamed the Rich to be their General having formerly been the most ancient Governour of any in that City Garçilasso de la Vega and John de Saavedra were made Captains of Horse and John Julio de Hojeda Thomas Vazquez and Antonio de Quinnones and another Citizen whose name I have forgot were made Captains of Foot who presently applied themselves with all diligence to raise Souldiers and herein John Julio de Hojeda was so active that in five days time he marched into the Market-place with three hundred Souldiers after him all very well armed and accoutred which seemed strange in so short a time Three days after this making eight days in all with the former five news came of the death of Don Sebastian which put an end to the War for the present The like happened in the City of Los Reyes as Diego Hernandez mentions Chap. 22. in these words The Court of Justice received intelligence of all the revolutions and tempests which were arisen for at the end of March news came of the death of the General and of the rebellion of Don Sebastian six days after which came news that Egas Guzman was up in Arms in the quarters of Potocsi and in four days more advices were brought of the death and destruction of those rebellious Tyrants for which great rejoycing was made in the City of Lima. Thus far Diego Hernandez We shall now in the following Chapter relate what course and methods were used to bring these men to condign punishment CHAP. XXVIII The Royal Court of Justice constitutes the Marshal Alonso de Alvarado to sit Judge on the Trial of the Rebels Decrees and Orders were issued out by the Judge and others by the Souldiers The Imprisonment of Basco Godinez and of other Souldiers and Men of Estates THE days of joy and festival being past in the City of Los Reyes for the death of Don Sebastian de Castillia and the defeat and destruction of the Rebels in which Ordonno de Valencia whom Diego Hernandez often mentions in his History had proved a principal Instrument though he had acted a double part and been concerned on both sides Howsoever his good fortune guiding him to bring the first news of the death of Don Sebastian the Judges in reward thereof bestowed upon him a division of some Lands with vassalage of Indians in the City of Cozco to the value of five or six thousand pieces of Eight of yearly Revenue where I left him in the enjoyment of the same when I came for Spain But others failed in that design and gained a contrary reward being accused and endicted before a High Court of Justice of which the Marshal Alonso de Alvarado was constituted Lord Chancellour by Commission from the Lords Justices for that he being known to be an upright and a severe person was esteemed a proper Instrument to punish those many outrages murthers and violences which had been committed against God and contrary to the peace and quietness of our Sovereign Lord Charles the Fifth Emperour and King of Spain In like manner for Trial of Offenders in the Charcas John Fernandez the King's Attorney General was ordained and appointed to proceed against and judge those Delinquents Moreover another Commission was privately sealed whereby Alonso de Alvarado was ordained chief Governour and Justiciary of all those Provinces and Captain General of all the Forces with full power to raise Souldiers and to pay them and all necessary Expences of the War out of the Royal Treasury These Commissions were sent to Alvarado in the City of Peace by virtue of which he immediately applied himself to the trial and punishment of the Rebels and in order thereunto he dispatched several persons of entire confidence and integrity into divers parts to seise and apprehend such as had been guilty and were fled to avoid the course of Justice into private corners and concealments amongst the Indians One of those employed upon this message was called John de Henao who pursued them so hard as to search for them with Canoes or Indian Boats in certain little Islands within the Lake of Titicaca and to hunt them amongst the Osiers and Rushes which grew by the Banks of those Islands and having taken above twenty of the most malignant and culpable amongst them he delivered them into the hands of Pedro Enciso then Governour in Chucuytu who having first examined them and taken their Confessions he sent them with a safe Guard to the Marshal It being by this time made known over all the Charcas and Potocsi that the Marshal was by Commission constituted Judge of those Provinces divers Souldiers who were conscious of their own guilt advised Basco Godinez whose crimes they believed were too black to admit of Pardon to be wary and cautious of his own person and to raise Souldiers to resist the Marshal the which as Diego Hernandez says Chapter the twenty second they represented to him as a matter very easie to be effected and that he should cause it to be published abroad that the Marshal and Lorenço de Aldana and Gomez de Alvarado intended to raise Arms and in an arbitrary manner to tyrannize over the Countrey which being once fixed in the minds of the people he might have a very laudable pretence to kill them all which being done there could be none to oppose or confront him Howsoever Basco Godinez was of another opinion for depending much on the service he had done his Majesty in killing Don Sebastian de Castillia and upon the enmity which was between him and John Ramon who accused and complained of him for not standing firm to
found very poor and necessitous but he could not bestow on them Lands with vassallage of Indians because the Natives of that Country had been all destroyed but he gave them Money and some Offices of benefit He made a Provision for Pedro de Orsua who was a very Noble Gentleman a great Souldier and Captain in the new Kingdom where he had performed many great exploits and Peopled a City named Pamplona but by the Severity and Injustice of a Judge who seized upon all his Estate Orsua was forced to fly and as John de Castallanos writes to take refuge in Nombre de Dios where the Vice-King Don Andres Hurtado de Mendoça met him and gave him a Commission to seek and suppress the Fugitive Negers called Cimarrones who lived in the Mountaines and robbed and pillaged all Merchants and Travellers who passed those ways murdering and wounding in a manner not sufferable so that there was no passing in less than twenty in a Company The number of these Negers increased daily for when any of them received the least hard word from his Master he presently forsook his Service having so good a Sanctuary and Receptacle to fly unto For this Enterprise and Design and to suppress these Negers Pedro de Orsua raised Men they were called Cimarrones which is a word proper to the Language of the Isle of Barlovento and to these Robbers several of the Souldiers of Hernandez Giron joyned being such as were banished and fled all which or as many of them as were concerned in this matter were pardoned by the Vice-King The Negers finding themselves hardly beset and distressed offered to treat and accept Articles of Accommodation which for quietness sake and for peace were granted to them and accordingly it was concluded That all those who had unto that time fled from their Masters should be Free-men and continue in their state of Freedom but for those who should for the future escape from their Masters the Cimarrones should be obliged to surrender them up again to their Patrons or pay the price demanded for them That a Neger Man or Woman being ill treated by their Master he or they paying the price which he or she or they cost the Master or Masters shall be obliged to set them at liberty That the Negers shall People and Inhabit that Countrey which they at present possess and shall live peaceably as good Common-wealths-men or Natives of the Country and not dispersed within the Mountains as formerly and that they shall have free Trade and Commerce with the Spaniards All which in order to Peace and Quietness was agreed and confirmed on one side and the other and the Negers gave Pledges and Hostages for security of the Peace Their King called Ballano delivered his own Person for a Hostage and his Subjects never redeeming him he was transported into Spain where he died Now in regard a little before the Vice-King began his Voyage a fatal accident happened to a Ship in the Ocean I have thought fit to insert it in this place as not altogether impertinent to this History Jeronimo de Alderete was sent from Chile into Spain on occasion of business in behalf of the Governour Pedro de Valdivia and during his Residence at the Court advice coming of the death of the Governour he Petitioned his Majesty for the place and obtained it And being ready to depart for Chile he took his Sister-in-Law with him an honest Vertuous person and one of those who are called Devout Women and with her he embarked on a Galeon where were 800 Persons and which was Admiral of six other Ships and sailed from Spain two Months before the Vice-King This Religious Woman being very devout desired leave from the Master of the Ship to keep a Candle in her Cabin by Night for reading her office to which the Master condescended considering it was for her Devotion and that she might pray for the whole Ship and also was Daughter-in-Law to the Governour Being at Sea and sailing with a fair wind it happened that a Physitian belonging to another Ship came aboard the Galeon to visit a Friend of his who was there and being old Acquaintance rejoyced to see each other Towards Evening the Physitian desirous to return aboard his own Ship was perswaded by his Friend to stay that Night with him for that the Weather was very fair and likely to continue and so the Boat was towed that night at the Stern of the Ship intending next morning to make use of it and return But it happened that that night this devout Woman being at her Prayers or rather fell asleep in the middle of her Office with her Candle lighted gave a fatal Example and Instance how dangerous it is on any occasion whatsoever to break the Rules and Orders of the Sea which are made for conservation of the Ship and those embarqued thereon one of which is That upon no pretence whatsoever any light shall be continued in the Ship by night unless it be that only which is placed in the Biddacle for the Compass or in the Lanthorn on the Poop For so it was that the Candle taking hold of the Timber of the Ship the flame broke out at the sides before it was discovered and burnt so violently that it was impossible to be quenched which when the Master perceived he ordered the Marriner who was at the Helm to draw up the Boat by the side wherein the Physitian had the day before come aboard and then went to the Governour Alderete and without any noise privately told him the misfortune of the Ship and so he and one of the two Sons he had aboard with the Governour and the Marriner steped into the Boat without calling or crying out to the others lest the People crouding into the Boat and every one endeavouring to save himself they should all be lost In this manner did the Master save his own life and as an expiation of his sin for breaking the Laws of the Sea which ought inviolably to be observed he sacrificed one of his Sons The Fire having such an abundance of matter administred to its nourishment such as Pitch and Tar increased so violently as soon awakened all the People in the Ship and being seen by the other Ships of the Fleet they came as near as they durst and put out their Boats to save as many of those as they could who should throw themselves into the Sea but the Fire coming to the Guns which were all shotted they discharged so fiercely that the Ships were forced for their safety to retire at a distance and suffer all the 800 persons then aboard to perish some being burnt and others drowned who for fear of the flames had thrown themselves into the Sea. The news of which was the occasion of great sorrow and lamentation over all Peru. Jeronimo de Alderete so soon as it was day got aboard one of his Ships and immediately commanded a Flag to be put out on the main