separated and lived apart one from the other howsoever in a short time having experienced the want of that comfort which mutual society procures their choler was appeased and so they returned to enjoy converse and the assistence which Friendship and Company afforded in which condition they passed four Years during all which time they saw many Ships sail near them yet none would be so charitable or curious as to be invited by their Smoak and Flame so that being now almost desperate they expected no other remedy besides Death to put an end to their Miseries Howsoever at length a Ship adventuring to pass nearer than ordinary espied the Smoak and rightly judging that it must be made by some Shipwrecked Persons escaped to those Sands hoisted out their Boat to take them in Serrano and his Companion readily ran to the place where they saw the Boat coming but so soon as the Mariners were approached so near as to distinguish the strange Figure and Looks of these two Men they were so affrighted that they began to row back but the poor men cryed out and that they might believe them too not to be Devils or evil Spirits they rehearsed the Creed and called aloud upon the Name of Jesus with which words the Mariners returned took them into the Boat and carried them to the Ship to the great wonder of all there present who with admiration beheld their hairy shapes not like Men but Beasts and with singular pleasure heard them relate the story of their past misfortunes The Companion dyed in his Voyage to Spain but Serrano lived to come thither from whence he travelled into Germany where the Emperour then resided all which time he nourished his Hair and Beard to serve as an Evidence and Proof of his past Life wheresoever he came the People pressed as a Sight to see him for Money Persons of Quality having also the same curiosity gave him sufficient to defray his charges and his Imperial Majesty having seen and heard his Discourses bestowed a Rent upon him of Four thousand Pieces of Eight a Year which make 4800 Ducats in Peru and going to the Possession of this Income he dyed at Panama without farther Enjoyment All this Story was related to me by a Gentleman called Garci Sanchez de Figueroa one who was acquainted with Serrano and heard it from his own Mouth and that after he had seen the Emperour he then cut his Hair and his Beard to some convenient length because that it was so long before that when he turned himself on his Bed he often lay upon it which incommoded him so much as to disturb his sleep CHAP. IV. Of the Idolatry and Gods which the Ancient Incas adored and Manner of their Sacrifices FOR better understanding of the Life Customs and Idolatry of the Indians of Peru it will be necessary to distinguish the times before the Incas from those wherein their Rule and Empire began their Gods and Sacrifices and Customs being much different according to the Ages for the Men themselves in the first times were at best but as tamed Beasts and others were worse than the fiercest Creatures To begin with their Gods we must know that they were agreeable to the quality of their own corrupt and abominable manners and every Nation Province Tribe and House had its particular God for their Opinion was that one God would have business sufficient to take care of one Province or Family and that their Power was so confined that it could have no virtue or extent within the Jurisdiction of another and because their Fancies were not so sublimated as to frame abstracted Notions of Deities such as Hope Victory Peace and the like as the Romans did in the time of Gentilism they adored whatsoever they saw such as Flowers Plants Herbs Trees especially Pines and Elmes Caves Stones Rivers and particularly in that Province which is called the Old Port they had a high Veneration for the Esmerald because it is the Pretious Stone of that Countrey and the Diamond and Ruby are in no esteem because they are not known to them they also worshipped the Lion Tyger and Bear for their fierceness and with that submission and humility that they would not fly from them but offer themselves to be devoured by them In fine they adored any thing wherein they observed an Excellency as the Fox and Monky for Craft the Hart for his Swiftness the Falcon for his Agility and Courage and the Eagle for the Acuteness of his Sight such was the vanity aud folly in the imagination of this savage People who had no Scriptures to teach and enlighten them nor Prince to govern and protect them Howsoever there were other Nations more considerate in choice of their Deities adoring none but such as afforded them benefit and advantage as Fountains and cool Springs which yielded them Drink Rivers that watered their Pastures the Earth they called their Mother and worshipped because it yielded them Food the Air because they breathed in it and was their Life the Fire because it warmed them and dressed their Meat some also made choice of Sheep and Corn and Cattel and every thing that abounded most in their Countrey and served for nourishment to be a God and worthy of Divine Honour The Inhabitants near the Cordillera worshipped that Mountain for its height those of the Coast made the Sea their God which in their language they call Mamachoca and is as much as to say the Mother Sea the Whale for its prodigious bigness was in no less Veneration than the rest and every sort of Fish which abounded amongst them was deified because they believe that the first Fish in the World above them takes always care to provide them with a number of the like sort or species sufficient to maintain and nourish them Besides these there are two Nations which are Chirihuanas and others living about the Cape of Passau which are the North and South Borders of Peru that have no thoughts or inclinations to Religion and worship nothing either above or below but giving themselves over to stupidity and sloth neither having fear nor love live with the same sensuality that Beasts do because they have not as yet had the happiness to receive the instructions doctrine and government of the Incas who are the Indian Kings The Sacrifices which they made to these Gods were as cruel and barbarous as the Gods were stupid and senseless to whom they offered them for besides Beasts and Fruits and Corn they sacrificed Men and Women of all ages which they had taken in the War And some Nations of these exceeded so far in their inhumanity that they offered not onely their Enemies but on some occasions their very Children to these Idols The manner of these Sacrifices were to rip open their breasts whilst they were alive and so tear out their Heart and Lungs with the Bloud of which whilst warm they sprinkled their Idols then they inspected the Lungs and Heart to
to the Temple of the Sun and being about two hundred paces from the door they all except the King pulled off their Shoes and walked to the Gate of the Temple Then the Inca and all his Kindred entred in and performed as legitimate Children their Obeisance and Adoration to the Image of the Sun whilst the Curacas as unworthy of so great a Privilege attended without in the great Court which was before the Gate of the Temple Then the Inca offered with his own hand those Vessels of Gold with which he had performed this Ceremony and the other Incas delivered theirs into the hands of Priests who were Incas and particularly nominated and dedicated to the Sun for it was not lawfull for any Inca to officiate at this holy Service who was a Secular or not ordained to this sacred Function When the Priests had thus received the Chalices from the Incas they went afterwards to the Gate to take others from the hands of the Curacas every one of which proceeded in their order according to seniority or priority of time in which they had become Subjects of the Empire and so consigned into the hands of the Priests their Vessels of Gold and Silver with all sorts of Animals such as Sheep Lambs Lizards Toads Serpents Foxes Lions and Tygers c. all rarely well cast and moulded in Gold and Silver which they presented for their Offerings to the Sun every one in some small quantity according to their Abilities The Offertory being made every one returned to his place and then the Incas who were Priests came with great droves of Lambs Ewes and Rams of divers colours for the Flocks of those Countries have as much variety in their colours as the Horses have in Spain all which Cattle were the proper Goods and Estate of the Sun out of which they chose a black Lamb for that colour was preferred before all others as most proper for Sacrifice and most pleasing to Divinity for they said that brown Cattel were of the like colour as well within as without and that the white though white over all their Bodies had yet some black spots on the tip of their Snouts or Noses which was esteemed a defect and therefore less fit for unspotted Sacrifices for which reason the Kings most commonly were clothed in black their mourning being a kind of yellowish and spotted colour From the first Sacrifice of the black Lamb they made their Prognostications and Divinations of matters relating to the Feast likewise in all matters of importance relating to Peace or War they took their Omens and Signs from the Sacrifices of Lambs searching into their Heart and Lungs and thence divined from the colour and clearness of them whether their Offerings were acceptable to the Sun or not whether the day of battel were to be successful and victorious and whether the Year were to be fruitfull Howsoever they did not always consult the entrails of Lambs but in some matters they opened the Bowels of a Ram in others of a barren Ewe for it is observable that they never killed a breeding Ewe but such onely as were barren or by age unfit for Procreation When they killed a Lamb or Sheep they turned his Head towards the East and without tying his Legs either before or behind three or four Indians held him fast and laying him down the Priest opened his left side into which thrusting his Hand he tore from thence his Heart and Lungs and all his vitals not cutting them but tearing them out whole with his hand from the very upper parts of the Throat and Palate to the lowermost Entrails great care being taken that all the Vessels should be kept entire and united with the same connexion that they had in the Body CHAP. XXII Of the Divinations made from these Sacrifices and the Fire with which they were consumed THE most happy Omen of all they held to be the throbs and palpitations of the Lungs which if they still moved and continued living when they were first drawn from the Body they then esteemed the Omen certainly good and could dispence with other less promising Symptoms for that this had a superiour and an over-ruling power over all other unlucky appearances Then they drew out the Guts and blowing them up with Wind they tied the neck very hard and close and they pressed them on each side with their Hands observing by which way the Wind found its easiest passage into the Veins and Lungs which the more they swelled and became replete with Wind the better was the Omen accounted There were many other particulars observed by them which I have forgotten but these which I have before mentioned I am well assured of having noted them in my Journals and remember that when I was a Youth I saw them twice performed by certain old Indians not as yet baptised I do not mean the Sacrifice of Raymi for that was abolished long before I was born onely the superstitious inspection into the Entrails of Lambs and Sheep in order to Divination and the Sacrifices of them after such inspection was still continued in my time the which Sacrifices were offered after the manner of those at the principal Feasts It was held for a very bad Omen if the Lamb or Sheep after they had opened his side proved so strong as to be able by strugling to get the Mastery of them which held him and to stand upon his Feet It was also esteemed for a bad Omen if in drawing out the Entrails the mouth of the Small-guts broke off from the Ligatures of the Stomach so as not to come out whole and entire It was also a bad Omen for the Lungs to come forth bruised or broken or the Heart wounded besides other things as I have said which I neither noted nor made enquiry of onely these I remember being told me by certain Indians whom I found offering these Sacrifices and indeed they were willing to be free with me and resolve me in any thing I asked them concerning their good or bad Omens for I being then but a Youth they entertained no jealousie or suspicion of me But to return to the Solemnity of the Festival of Raymi we farther say If the Sacrifice of the Lamb declared not that fortunate Omen which was desired then they made trial of another with a Ram and if that neither promised fair or happy Tidings then they consulted the Bowels of a barren Ewe and if that also did not foretell something more hopefull they then proceeded in their Sacrifices and Solemnities of the Feast with Sorrow and Mourning saying that the Sun their Father was for some Crime or Omission in his Service angry and displeased with them and therefore in vengeance thereof expected the punishment of War or Famine or some other Judgment but then when the Omens were happy and smiling they rejoiced with high contentment being full of hopes and expectations of fortunate successes This Sacrifice of the first Lamb from whence they
made their Divinations being offered great droves of Lambs and Sheep were brought afterwards for the common Sacrifice but then they did not open their sides being alive as they did the first but after the usual manner they fairly cut their Throats and flead them the Bloud they saved and with it offered the Heart unto the Sun burning the Body altogether untill the whole Lamb was consumed and converted into Ashes The Fire for that Sacrifice was to be new and then kindled as they called it from the hand of the Sun to allight this Fire they made use of a great Bracelet worn by the High Priest which they called Chipana being after the fashion of those which the Incas commonly put on the Wrist of their Left-hand this being greater than ordinary was held over a Cylinder of the bigness of a half Orange bright and well polished which uniting the Rays of the Sun in one point cast such a reflexion into the Cylinder as easily set fire to the Cotton which being finely combined was put into it and readily received the flame With this fire alighted from the Sun they burnt their Sacrifices and dressed all their Meat for that days provision of this fire they carried some into the Temple of the Sun and some to the Convent of the Select Virgins to be there conserved for the space of the following Year being esteemed a most unhappy Omen in case it should by any accident have been extinguished If on the Vigil or Day before the Festival which is the time when they prepared all things in a readiness for the Sacrifice the weather should have proved cloudy so that the Sun did not appear then for kindling this Fire they made use of two round pieces of a hard sort of Wood being about the bigness of the middle finger and about half a yard long called Vâ—yaca which being rubbed hard together produced a Flame and with these the Indians struck fire as we do with a Steel and Flint when they travelled and passed through desart and unpeopled Countries and I have frequently seen the Shepherds make use of the same Howsoever it was accounted a bad Omen to be enforced on that day to have recourse unto that instrument for in regard the Sun did then hide his face from them it argued his displeasure and anger for some offence committed All the flesh which was prepared for that Sacrifice was dressed in the publick Market-place and there divided amongst the Guests which came to the Feast and distributed first to the Incas then to the Curacas and afterwards to the Commonalty according to the several Orders and Degrees The first Dish or Course served in at this solemn Banquet was that sort of Bread which they called Cancu then they brought in several varieties of Meats without Drink it being the custome over all Peru not to drink at the time of their Meals From what we have said concerning the Indians sipping from the Bowl or Cup offered them by the hand of the Priest the Spaniards raised a report that the Indians communicated in the same manner as do the Christians but having plainly delivered the matter of Fact we shall leave the similitude or comparison to every Man's fancy The Dinner or Banquet of Meats being over great quantities of Drink were brought in in which the Indians were notoriously addicted to exceed though by the Mercies of God they are so well reformed from that Vice by example of that Temperance and Sobriety which they observed in the Spaniards that it is now a strange thing to see an Indian drunk the Vice being generally become detestable and esteemed infamous so that had the like good example been shewn in other things to this People as hath been in this it might have produced the same good effect and signalized the Spaniards for true Apostolical Preachers of the Gospel CHAP. XXIII Of the Order in which they drank one to the other THE Inca being seated on his Chair of Massie Gold raised on a Pedestal of the same metal he sent a Message to his Kindred called Hanan Cozco and Hurin Cozco that they should in his name drink a Health to those Indians who were the most famous and renowned in their respective Nations First they nominated the Captains who had signalized their valour in the War being for their Martial Exploits preferred before the Curacas and in case a Curaca who was a Lord over some Vassals had merited also the honour of a Captain they called and mentioned him with both Titles In the next place the Inca sent to invite unto drinking the Curacus who lived in the parts adjacent near to Cozco being such as had been reduced by the first Inca Manco Capac and for that reason having the privilege of being called Incas they were preferred in the next place to the Incas of the Royal Bloud and before all other Nations for it was a Maxime amongst those Kings never to alter or diminish those Titles of Honour or Privileges which their Ancestours had bestowed as favours on their Subjects but were rather willing to confirm and enlarge them Now their form and manner of Drinking one to another was this all the Indians generally according to thâ—â—ondition and quality had and do still keep a couple of Cups to drink in equaâ—y matched being of the same size and shape and of the same Metal either of Gold Silver or Wood that so every Man might drink alike and have his equal proportion one with the other He that invited to the Drink held up his two Cups in each hand and then gave to him whom he invited the Cup which was in his Right-hand in case he were of greater Quality and if he were of inferiour Degree then that in his Left and then both drank at the same time and afterwards receiving his Cup again he returned to his place though commonly as these Feasts the Person inviting was greater than the Person invited so that the Invitation was an evidence of grace and favour of the Superiour to his Inferiour though from this Custome afterwards it came that when the Inferiour invited the Superiour it was by way of acknowledgment of his Service and Vassalage In observance of this common Custome of Invitation the Incas who carried the Drink from the King said to the Person invited The Capa Inca hath sent me to invite you to drinking and I am come to drink with you in his name Whereupon the Captain or Curaca took the Cup into his Hands and lifting up his Eyes unto the Sun as if he would return him thanks for the great Favour he received from his Off-spring and then having taken the Draught with silence returned back the Cup making signs of profound Reverence and Adoration with his Hands and kissing the Air with his Lips. But it is to be noted that the Inca did never send Invitations of drinking to all the Curacas in general but to some particular persons of them who were famous and
bigness The Accountant General Augustine Carate in the 14th Chapter of his first Book having at any time occasion to speak of the Riches of the Royal Palaces belonging to the Incas reckons up vast Treasures and almost incredible but I shall onely repeat what he says particularly of this Golden Chain which I have extracted verbatim Guaynacava when he had a Son born caused a Golden Chain of that weight to be made as many Indians still alive can testifie that being fastened to the Ears or Luggs of two hundred Indians it could scarcely be raised by them and in memory of this remarkable Fabrick of Gold the Child's Name was called Guasca which in their Language signifies a Rope or Cable with the additional Title of Inca. And thus far are the Words of that noble Historian of Peru. This rich and magnificent piece of Gold together with other vast Treasures the Indians made away with or concealed so soon as the Spaniards invaded their Countrey and so confounded them beyond all recovery that no knowledge or intimation remains where any part of them is to be found And in regard this rich and stately piece of Gold was compounded and framed onely for that time when the Prince an Heir was to have his Lock cut and his Name imposed they surnamed him Huascar adding it to his other Names of Ynti Cusi Hualpa and because Huasca signifies a Rope or Cable for in the Language of Peru they have no Word for a Chain they for better Grace of the Word added R. the which took so much with his Subjects that they for the most part called him Huascar omitting Ynti Cusi Hualpa which Word Hualpa signifies the Sun of Chearfulness For whereas in those days the Incas became very potent and that power for the most part raises in Men a Spirit of Pride and Vanity so they began to be weary of those ordinary Titles which anciently expressed their Grandeur and Majesty and expected other Hyperbolies and Exaltations of Divine Attributes which might raise them to the Heavens and make their adoration equal to that of their God the Sun. So they called him Ynti which signifies the Sun or Phoebus Cusi Chearfulness Pleasure Contentment or Rejoycing And thus much shall serve in Explanation of the Names and Titles of the Inca Huascar Let us now return to his Father Huayna Capac who having given order for the making of this Chain and left sufficient directions for the fashion and size thereof that so it might be ready against the time that his Child was to be weaned he prosecuted the Design he had already began of making a Visit to the remote parts of his Empire the which having finished in the space of two Years being about the time that his Child was to be weaned he returned to Cozco where all things were prepared that could be contrived to make this Feast solemn and joyfull and full of divertisement and then the Child received the Name of Huascar CHAP. II. Ten Vallies of the Coast are reduced one after the other as they lay in order and Tumpiz surrenders of it self A Year being past after this Solemnity Huayna Capac ordered that an Army of forty thousand Men should be raised with which he marched into the Kingdom of Quitu taking the Eldest Daughter of the King of that Countrey which he had Conquered to be his Concubine during the time of that Expedition but first to prepare and hallow her she was sent to remain some days in the House of the Select Virgins By this Woman he had Atahualpa and his Brothers as we shall see by the sequel of this History From Quitu the Inca descended into the Plains by the Sea-coast and in prosecution of his Conquests he came to the Valley called Chimu now Trugillo which was the ultimate bounds to which his Grandfather the good Inca Yupanqui had proceeded as we have already mentioned From thence he sent his Heralds with the accustomary Summons and Offers of Peace and War to the Inhabitants of the Valley of Chacma and Pascasmayu These people having long been Borderers and Neighbours to the Subjects of the Inca had from them been informed of the gentleness of their Kings and the advantage of their Government and therefore from a quick sense of so much felicity returned answer That they desired nothing more than to be Subjects to the Inca to obey his Laws and be ruled by him All the other eight Vallies followed the Example of these two adjoining Provinces being situate between Pacasmayu and Tumpiz and are these which follow namely Canna Collque Cintu Tucmi Sayanca Mutupi Puchiu and Sullana in the settlement of which Countries and in the improvement of them with good Husbandry and in making Aqueducts to water their Glebe-lands and Pasturage two years were spent rather than in the Conquest or Subjection of them for they chearfully and with free Will surrendred themselves to the Inca. During which time the Inca relieved his Forces three or four times for in regard the Air of that Countrey was hot and moist and consequently unwholsome he judged it fit for the better health of his Subjects to change his Guards frequently that so the Diseases of the Countrey might not enter the Camp before they were again relieved by an exchange of fresh Men. The Inca having subjected these Vallies returned to the Kingdom of Quitu where he remained for the space of two Years that so he might adorn that Countrey with sumptuous Edifices and stately Aqueducts wherewith he advantaged and obliged that people After which he commanded a levy to be made of fifty thousand Souldiers which being raised and armed he marched with them along the Sea-coast untill they came to the Valley of Sullana which is the nearest Sea to Tumpiz from whence he sent his usual Summons and Offers of Peace and War. The Inhabitants of Tumpiz were a sort of people more luxurious in their Diet and Habit than all those who live on that Coast and had already submitted to Obedience of the Incas their manner was to wear a Garland on their Heads by way of distinction which they called Pillu Their Caciques or Lords maintained Buffoons Jesters Dancers and Singers for their Pastime and Divertisement but their Religion yet was vile and base for they adored Tigers and Lions and offered the Bloud and Hearts of Men in Sacrifice they were served and obeyed with great Fear and Awe by their own Subjects and feared by Strangers howsoever being possessed with dreadfull Apprehensions of the Inca they had no heart nor courage to make opposition against him and therefore returned Answer to his Heralds that they were with all willing obedience ready to receive him for their Lord and Emperour The like Answer was made by the Inhabitants of the Vallies upon the Coast and other In-land Nations called Chunana Chintu and Collonche Jaquall and others seated on the neighbouring parts CHAP. III. Of the punishment inflicted on those who killed the Officers
entire credence to their words adored them as Children of the Sun and obeyed them as their Princes And these poor wretches relating these matters one to the other the fame thereof so encreased that great numbers both of Men and Women flocked together being willing to follow to what place soever they should guide them Thus great multitudes of People being assembled together the Princes gave order that Provision should be made of such fruits as the Earth produced for their sustenance lest being scattered abroad to gain their food the main body should be divided and the numbers diminished others in the mean time were employed in building houses of which the Prince gave them a model and form In this manner our Imperial City began to be peopled being divided into two parts one of which was called Hanan Cozco which is as much as the Upper Cozco and the other Hurin Cozco which is the Lower Cozco those which were assembled under the King were of the Upper Town and those under the Queen were of the Lower Not that this difference was made out of any respect to Superiority for that they were to be Brothers and Children of the same Father and Mother and in the same equality of Fortune but onely it served to distinguish the followers of the King from those of the Queen and to remain for an everlasting Memorial of their first Beginning and Original with this difference onely that the Upper Cozco should be as the Elder and the Lower as the younger Children And this is the reason that in all our Empire this diversity of lineage hath remained being ever since distinguished into Hanan Ayllu and Hurin Ayllu which is the upper and the lower Lineage and Hanan Suyu and Hurin Suyu which is the upper and the lower Tribe The City being thus Peopled Our Inca taught his Subjects those Labours which appertained unto the Men as to plough and sow the Land with divers sorts of Seeds which were usefull and for food to which end he instructed them how to make Ploughs and Harrows and other Instruments fit and necessary for that purpose he shewed them also the way of cutting chanels for the Water which now runs through this Valley of Cozco and to make Shoes for their Feet On the other side the Queen instructed the Women in good Huswifery as how to spin and weave Cotton and wool and to make garments for their Husbands their Children and themselves with other Offices appertaining to the House In sum nothing was omitted conducing to humane Wellfare which the King did not teach his Men and the Queen her Women making them both their Scholars and their Subjects CHAP. IX The Actions of the first Indian King called Manco Capac THese Indians being in this manner reduced looked on themselves much bettered in condition and with singular acknowledgments of the benefits received and with great joy and satisfaction travelled through the Rocks and Thickets to communicate the happy news of those Children of the Sun who for the common good of all appeared on the Earth recounting the great good and benefits they had received from them and to gain belief amongst them they shewed them their new Habit and Cloathing and Diet and that they lived in Houses and in political Society This relation induced this wild People to see those wonders of which being fully satisfied by their own Eyes they ranged themselves amongst the rest to learn and obey and thus one calling and inviting the other the fame spread far and near and the people increased in such manner that in the first six or seven years the Inca had composed an Army fit for War and having taught them how to make Bows and Arrows and Lances and such Weapons as we use to this day they were not onely capable to defend but also to offend an Enemy and to compell those by force whose bestial nature detained from Humane Association And that I may not be tedious in the relation of what this Our first Inca acted you must know that he reduced all Eastward as far as the River called Paucartampu and eighty Leagues Westward to the great River called Apurimac and to the Southward nine Leagues to Quequesana To these several quarters Our Inca sent out particular Colonies to the largest a hundred Families and to the lesser according to their capacity These are the beginnings of this our City and of this our rich and famous Empire which your Father and his Adherents have despoiled us of These were our first Incas and Kings in the first ages of the World from whom the succeeding Princes and we our selves are descended but how many years it may be since our Father the Sun sent his Offspring amongst us I am not able precisely to declare because my Memory may fail me in it but I imagine they may be about 400 Years This our Inca was named Manco Capac and his Queen Coya Mama of Huaco who were as I have said Brethren of the Sun and Moon And thus having at large satisfied the request you made to me in relation of which that I might not incline you to sadness I abstained from venting tears at my Eyes which notwithstanding drop with bloud on my Heart caused by that inward grief I feel to see our Incas and their Empire ruined and destroyed This large Relation of the Original of our Kings I received from that Inca which was my Mothers Brother from whom I requested it and which I have caused faithfully to be translated out of the Indian into the Spanish Tongue which though it be not written with such Majesty of words as the Inca spake it nor with that significancy of termes as that Language bears nor so large and particular to avoid tediousness as it was delivered to me howsoever it may serve to give sufficient light to the nature and knowledge of this our History Many other things of like sort though of no great moment this Inca often recounted in his Visits and Discourses he made me the which I shall declare in their due places being now troubled that I made no farther enquiries into other matters for which I have room here to place them with good authority CHAP. X. Wherein the Authour alledges the Authority he hath for the Truth of his History HAving thus laid the first Foundation whereon to build our History though as to the Original of our Kings of Peru it may seem something fabulous it now follows that we proceed forward to relate in what manner the Indians were reduced and conquered enlarging the particulars which the Inca gave me with divers other additions concerning the Natural Indians and their Kings which the first Inca Manco Capac reduced under his Government with whom I was educated and conversed untill I arrived to the age of twenty years during which time I became informed of all the particulars concerning which I write for in my youth they related these stories to me as Nurses doe tales or fables to their
contains about twelve Leagues in compass the Lord of which was by Name Tumpalla one of a proud and haughty Spirit for having neither by himself nor Ancestours acknowledged any Superiour they domineered over their Neighbours and thereby being at discord amongst themselves were the less able to make heâ—d or resistence against the Inca. Moreover this Tumpalla was vitious and luxurious in his Manners and Way of living for he kept many Wives and Boys used after the fashion of Sodomites they sacrificed the Bloud and Hearts of Men to their Gods which were Tigers and Lions and the Fish of that Coast which because they yielded them Food in great abundance were by them as well as by the common Indians adored for Deities These People when they heard the Summons of the Inca were greatly surprised and troubled to which that they might return their Answer Tumpalla assembled the principal Persons of his Island and then with great sorrow declared unto them saying Here now appears at the Gates of our Houses a certain Tyrant who threatens to take from us all our Goods and Estates and to destroy us all unless we readily receive him for our Lord and Master and now in case we should admit him we must renounce our ancient Liberty our Command and Principality which for many Ages hath descended to us from our Ancestours Nor is this all for this Foreigner not trusting to our Words and Fidelity will compell us to labour and erect Towers and Fortresses and having put Garrisons into them will force us to maintain the Charge and Expence that so we may never be in any capacity of recovering our Liberty He will moreover seize upon the best of our Possessions and take from us our Wives and Children and the most beautifull of our Daughters and what is most grievous he will abolish our Laws and ancient Customs and in the place thereof impose new ones upon us making us worship strange Gods and throw down our own with which we have been acquainted and in short live after their manner and pleasure which is the worst of servitudes Which being certainly our Case I leave it to you to consider whether we had not better die than be enslaved desiring you to consult and advise me what course is best to be taken in this exigence The Indians hereupon debating the matter amongst themselves did greatly bewail their own weakness and inability to resist so powerfull a Tyrant and that the correspondence between them and their Neighbours being very ill there was no hopes of making a firm and faithfull Confederacy with them in consideration of which having no prospect of defending themselves and that their resistence would produce nothing but Ruine and Destruction they concluded at last that the less evil was to be chosen which was to submit to the Inca and to make a Vertue of Necessity to dissemble a ready Obedience untill opportunity presented which might acquit them of their servitude On this Resolution Tumpalla did not onely render a very favourable and gentle Answer to the Messengers sent by the Inca but also dispeeded Ambassadours in his own Name and in behalf of all his Dominions to him with presents humbly offering himself and all his People to his Obedience beseeching him to grace that Island and his new Vassals with the favour of his Royal Presence which would be the greatest felicity that they could expect or imagine The Inca gratiously receiving this Address of Tumpalla ordered conveniences to be provided for passing his Army into the Island that he might take possession of the Countrey all which being prepared with great punctuality and in such manner as the shortness of the time would permit though not with such Pomp and Ostentation as Tumpalla did desire the Inca passed into the Island where he was received with Feasting and Dancing and new Songs purposely composed in Praise and Honour of Huayna Capac and his mighty Actions His Lodgings were provided in a new Palace lately built for the Inca was not to sleep in such a Chamber where any other Person had reposed The Inca remaining here for some days employed himself in giving out necessary Orders for the Government by Laws and the Institution of his Religion commanding the Inhabitants thereof and all the Neighbours of the Main Land bordering thereabouts which consisted of divers Nations and Languages that leaving the Worship of their former Gods they should forbear to sacrifice the Bloud or Flesh of Men nor eat it nor commit any other wickedness of this nature but that they should adore the Sun for their universal God and live amongst Mankind with Justice and Reason All which the Inca whose Father was the Sun pronounced as Legislator of that great Empire from whose Words nothing was to be subtracted or diminished upon pain of Death To which Tumpalla and his People answered that they would comply with whatsoever the Inca should please to enjoin them The Solemnity of the Festival being past which was provided for the more decent reception of the Inca the Curacas had time to think upon what they had done and considering more maturely of the rigour of the new Laws imposed upon them and how contrary they were to their ancient Customs and restrictive of those Pastimes and Divertisements they formerly enjoyed they began already to esteem a foreign Subjection grievous unto them and so being desirous to return to their old bestiality the Islanders and their Neighbours conspired together to kill the Inca and all his Army in a treacherous manner when the first occasion should occur To which end they consulted their Gods privately restoring their Idols to some secret and convenient places which that they might reconcile for the late affront offered them for their Revolt and Desertion they sacrificed to them demanding their Counsel and Advice whether the Enterprise they had now designed should be successfull and prosperous or not To this demand the Devil gave them this Answer That they should go on and be prosperous With which these Salvages became so proud and confident that they had immediately proceeded to the Execution of it had they not been dissuaded by their Magicians and Diviners who advised them to have patience for a while for that their Gods were willing to defer the Execution untill a better and more secure opportunity CHAP. V. The Islanders of Puna Massacre the People and Captains of Huaina Capac WHilst Huayna Capac was ordering and disposing Affairs for the better government of this People and reducing them to a more political way of living in the mean time the Curacas were meditating the manner how to execute their Treachery an occasion for which seemed to offer it self at the time when the Inca sending his Captains and Ministers with Commission and Instructions to inform and teach the Nations of the Main-land the Laws Doctrines Customs and Religion of the Incas for he then withdrew his Forces from the Island the Natives readily supplying Boats and Ferries to transport
into the most remote parts of Chili No replied the High Priest there cannot certainly be any who dares to disobey you or refuse your commands even to death Then said the King if it be so there must be some other whom Our Father the Sun takes and esteems for a more supreme and more powerfull Lord than himself by whose Commands he every day measures the compass of the Heavens without any intermission or hour of repose for if he were absolute and at his own disposal he would certainly allot himself some time of cessation though it were onely to please his own humour and fancy without other consideration than that of liberty and change For this Speech and others of the like nature which the Indians reported of this Prince the Spaniards conceived so great an opinion of his judgment and understanding that they believed the subtilty of his wit would very easily have comprehended and given admission to the Doctrines of the Catholick Faith. A certain Spanish Captain who might have heard this Story of Huayna Capac for it was commonly discoursed in Peru did make himself the Authour of this Saying and recounted it to Acosta for his own This Acosta in the fifth Book of his History of the New World mentions this particular Saying which is attributed to Huayna Capac but names not the person by whom it was uttered but reports That there was a certain Inca a person of a subtile wit and refined understanding who observing how his Ancestours had always adored the Sun for a God seemed to wonder at it and said that it was impossible for the Sun to be God. For God was certainly a great Lord who formed and acted all his matters with quiet and settlement but that the Sun was a thing always in motion which was contrary to the unalterable Being of God His reason was admirably good and sound and such as being well explained to the Indians might effectually have convinced them of their errours and follies Thus far are the Words of Acosta with which he concludes that Chapter The Indians who were very superstitious and scrupulous in their Idolatry interpreted this unpractised liberty which Huayna Capac took in beholding the Sun to be an ill Omen of some unhappy success But this conceit concerning the Nature of the Sun was not as I hear primarily to be attributed to Huayna Capac but that he received it first from his Father Tupac Inca Yupanqui who uttered something of the like nature CHAP. XI Of the Rebellion of the Caranques and their Punishment for it THE Inca Huayna Capac taking his Circuit through the several Provinces of his Empire which was the last Journey he made news was brought him that the Province of Caranque which was one as we have said that was the latest conquered in the utmost Confines of Peru was risen into rebellion for being a sort of barbarous and cruel people such as offered the bloud and heads and hearts of Men whom they had killed in sacrifice to their Gods and ate Man's flesh for not being able to bear the Laws of reason and good manners which were given them especially that which forbad the eating of Humane flesh they had joined with the neighbouring Countries in Alliance and League intending to make a general Insurrection For this reason they held many secret Meetings and gathered people to surprize and kill the Governours and Ministers of the Inca together with the Souldiers and Garrisons which were set over them And whilst matters were thus preparing for execution of their design at the time appointed they dissembled their submission and treachery with the greatest demonstrations of fidelity and kindness imaginable that the Incas being thereby become more confident of their Loyalty they might with the more facility and less danger find an opportunity to cut their throats The Plot being laid and the time come for the execution of it they without any remorse killed all the Incas and others which presided over them offering their heads hearts and bloud to their Gods in sacrifice by way of acknowledgment for being freed from their subjection to the Incas They then devoured their flesh and drank their bloud with much greediness for being debarred for some time from that food they longed for it and partly in revenge and partly from a voracious appetite thereunto they ate with spight satisfying both their palate and their anger The advice of which being come to Huayna Capac he was greatly troubled and immediately dispeeded away his Captains with an Army to execute justice for this great offence whilst he in person kept at some distance observing the success of this affair The Captains accordingly invested the Caranques but first according to their usual custome they sent Propositions of Peace and Amnesty in case they would return to obedience and submission of the Inca. But these barbarous Rebels were so far from accepting these terms that they impudently rejected and scorned them and so ill treated the Messengers that they hardly escaped from their hands Of which Huayna Capac being informed he resolved personally to assail them with his whole Army putting all to fire and sword before him The Rebels fought with great obstinacy and the Incas honourably acquitted themselves to revenge the affront to their King so that on one side and the other many thousands were slain But whereas the power of the Inca was as to that people invincible they in a short time began to abate in their courage and hopes so that not daring to fight in the open Plains they betook themselves to the Woods and Mountains and to defend themselves in difficult passes But such was the Power and Military Discipline of the Incas that they entirely defeated the Enemy taking many thousands of them Prisoners the most culpable of which and the most active in this Rebellion to the number of two thousand part of which were Caranques and part Allies with them were put to death having their throats cut within a Lake and their bodies sunk into the deep the waters of which being stained with the bloud the Lake was for ever afterwards called Yahuarcocha or the bloudy Sea in a perpetual Memorial of this rebellious crime and the punishment of it Pedro de Cieça mentioning this particular reports that twenty thousand of them suffered this punishment perhaps he means that so many might be killed in this War on both sides The Inca Huayna Capac having executed this justice in the punishment of Rebels departed for Quitu being much troubled that during his Reign such enormous wickednesses should arise which should require his extreme severity and rigour in the just punishment being an action as much contrary to his natural inclination as it was to the custome and practice of his Ancestours who most availed themselves on the Titles of Pious and Mercifull He was moreover much concerned that these unhappy accidents should concur in his time and not in the Reign of his Predecessours having no example
take an omen of good or bad and know whether the Sacrifice had been acceptable to the Idol then they burnt the Entrails and ate the Flesh themselves with great joy and festivity though it were of their own Child or other Relation of the same bloud Blas Valera a certain Authour who in loose Papers wrote of the Indies describes those Nations by distinguishing the former from the latter ages and saith That those who live in Antis eat Mens Flesh and are more brutish than the Beasts themselves for they know neither God nor Law nor Vertue nor have they Idols or any Worship unless sometimes when the Devil presents himself to them in the form of a Serpent or other Animal they then adore and worship him When they take any in the War if he be an ordinary Fellow they quarter him and divide him to be eaten by their Wives Children and Servants or perhaps sell him to the Shambles but if he be of Quality or Noble they call their Wives and Children together and like Officers of the Devil they strip him of his garments and tye him to a stake and then alive as he is they cut him with Knives and sharp Stones paring off slices from the more fleshy parts as from the Buttocks Calves of the Legs and the brawny places of the Arme then with the Bloud they sprinkle the principal Men and Women and the remainder they drink and eat the Flesh as fast as they can before it is half broiled lest the miserable Wretch should dye before he hath seen his flesh devoured and intombed in their bowels The Women more cruel and inhumane than the Men wet the nipples of their Breasts with the bloud that so the Infants which suck them may take a share of the Sacrifice All this is performed by way of a religious Offering with mirth and triumph till the Man expires and then they complete the Feast in devouring all the remainder of his Flesh and Bowels eating it with silence and reverence as sacred and partaking of a Deity If in execution of all this torment the Patient was observed to sigh and groan or make any distorted faces then they broak his Bones and with contempt threw them into the fields and waters but if he appeared stout and enduring the anguish and pains without shrinking at them then his Bones and Sinews were dryed in the Sun and lodged on the tops of the highest Hills where they were deified and Sacrifices offered to them Such are the Idols and manner of living of these Brutes because the Government of the Incas was never received into their Countrey nor hath it any Power there at this day This Generation of Men came out from the parts about Mexico and spread themselves from Panama and Darien over all those great mountains which run as far as the new Kingdom of Granada and on the other side as far as the Cape of St. Martha All which particulars we have received from Father Blas Valera who in the Narrative he gives of their Lives and Manners much more aggravates their diabolical Practices than by any thing we have here related But other Indians less cruel and of a more mild Nature though they mingled humane Bloud with their Sacrifices yet they did it not with the death of any but drew it from Veins of the Arme or Leg or from the Nostrils in case of pains in the Head and from other parts as the nature or solemnity of the Sacrifice required Others offered Sheep and Lambs Conies Partridges and all sorts of Fowl Herbs and the Cocar-Nut so much in esteem amongst them with their Mayz which is a sort of Wheat as also Pulse Annise and Cummin and sweet Woods which rendred a perfume the which were severally sacrificed according to the nature of the Deity they adored And thus much shall be sufficient to have been delivered concerning their Sacrifices and Gods of the Ancient Gentilism CHAP. V. Of the Government Diet and Cloathing of the Ancient Indians THese People were as barbarous in their manner of living in their Houses and Habitations as they were in the Worship of their Gods and Sacrifices such of them as observed any thing of a Political Government lived in a kind of Society having houses near together placed without order of Streets or Passages appearing rather like Pens or Sheepfolds than humane Habitations Others by reason of the Wars and Variances amongst themselves lived on Rocks and Mountains and places inaccessible for their Enemies others dwelt in little Cottages scattered over the fields and vallies and every one feared himself as well as he thought convenient for commodiousness of Victuals and Water whether it were in Caves under ground or in the hollow of Trees the necessities rather than the conveniences of living being provided for and of this sort of People there are some yet remaining about the Cape of Passau as the Chirihuanas and other Nations whom the Incas have conquered and who still continue their ancient barbarity and savage manners and these are the most difficult of any to be reduced to the subjection of the Spaniards or the Christian Religion for having never had Learning or scarce Language sufficient to understand each other they live like Beasts without Communication Friendship or Commerce Those amongst them who had most of Understanding or of a Spirit most daring took the privilege to Rule and govern the others whom he treated as his Slaves with such Tyranny and Cruelty that he made use of their Wives and Daughters at his pleasure all things being confounded with War and Ruine In some Provinces they flead the Captives taken in War and with their Skins covered their Drums thinking with the sound of them to affright their Enemies for their opinion was that when their Kindred heard the rumbling noise of those Drums they would be immediately seized with fear and put to flight For the most part they lived by Robberies and the Spoils each of other the stronger preying upon the weaker was the cause of several petty Kings some of which perhaps being of a more gentle nature than others and who treated their Subjects with less rigour and cruelty were for that reason adored by them for Gods framing to themselves some representation of Divinity in the good actions of such men who had some allays in their cruel and tyrannical Government In other parts they lived without Lords or order of a Common-wealth but like so many Sheep passed together in all simplicity not that Vertue moderated their malice but their stupidity and ignorance made them senseless and uncapable of good or evil Their manner of Cloathing or covering their Bodies were in some Countries as immodest as they were ridiculous their Diet also was so foul and barbarous that we who know better may wonder at the beastiality In the hot Countries which were most fruitfull they sowed little or nothing but contented themselves with Herbs and Roots and wild Fruits and with that which the Earth