I remember I saw these Pictures once brought forth on Corpus Christi day or the Feast of the Holy Sacrament Under this denomination of Chanca many other Nations were comprehended as Hanco hualla Utunsulla Uramarca Villca and others all of which make their boasts of being descended from different Originals some from this Fountain others from that Lake every Nation esteeming that for their God and thereunto offering Sacrifice from whence they owned and derived their Pedigree the Ancestours of these people were said to be come from far and to have conquered many Provinces in their passage untill they arrived at the Countrey of Antahuaylla the which they subdued by force of Arms and expelled the ancient Inhabitants of it and afterwards gaining much Land from the Quechuas they drove them up and straitned them in their Quarters made them pay a Tribute which they exacted with the highest Tyranny besides many other famous Atchievements of which their posterity did greatly glory Of all which the Inca Roca being well informed he thought them worthy of his Conquest so that so soon as he arrived on the Confines of Antahuaylla he dispatched his usual Summons to the Chancas requiring them to submit to the Off-spring of the Sun or otherwise prepare themselves for battel These people assembling together to consider of these Summons were divided into two several Parties and Opinions Some maintained that they ought not to refuse to receive the Inca for their Lord who was descended from the Sun others who boasted of their Lineage from Leon were of a contrary persuasion for being Allied to Leon and Masters of many Countries and People judged it a disparagement to be subjected to any other or to be cheated with a fabulous pretence of the Sun and his Family and that it was more agreeable to the Banners which they carried and the ancient Honours which they had acquired by the Conquest of so many Nations rather to subdue others than tamely to submit to an unknown Master and forgetting all their ancient bravery poorly and basely to yield themselves at the first Summons without so much as an appearance in the Field or displaying their Banners would argue the highest piece of degeneracy and cowardise of mind in the World. In this ambiguity of mind and irresolution sometimes inclining to a surrender and then again to adventure a battel the Chancas persisted many days of which the Inca having intelligence determined to enter their Countrey and affright them with the advance of his Army for that perhaps to a people of their disposition who availed themselves much upon their ancient Prowess and Victories indulgence and gentleness would be argued as a point of fear and cowardise and that therefore to attempt them briskly was the onely way to strike a terrour in them and astonish them with the fear of a cruel War and a severe Punishment as an effect thereof in pursuance of this resolution he ordered his Major-Generals to invade the Countrey of Antahuaya and immediately upon their entry to send their Summons to the Chancas telling them plainly that they must either receive the Inca for their Lord or else must prepare to offer their lives a sacrifice to his Sword for that their contumacy and rebellion was such as was not longer tolerable and that their delays and impertinencies had already wearied his patience The Chancas observing this resolution of the Inca and that the Quechuas and other Nations whom in former times they had injured and provoked judged it convenient to temporize and with a feigned submission to accept the conditions of Surrender being moved thereunto out of fear of his force and of that revenge which their Enemies might by this opportunity take upon them rather than out of any affection or esteem they had to his Laws and Ordinances as will be proved hereafter in the process of this History The Inca leaving his Officers to receive their submission proceeded forward in his Conquests to another Province called Uramarca which also is surnamed Chanca and is a small Countrey but very populous and inhabited by such a hardy and war-like Nation that had their Numbers been equal to their Courage they had been capable to have made a stout and considerable resistance for that the people on this side were not so easie and simple and fond of the Incas and their Government as were those of Contisuyu and Collasuyu howsoever to be short those of Uramarca submitted but with much reluctancy and against their inclinations Thence the Inca marched forwards to the people called Hancohuallo and Villca named by the Spaniards Vilcas who with the same unwillingness yielded to the power of the Inca for that these people being all Chancas were Lords themselves of divers Provinces which by force of Arms they had subdued and did daily enlarge their Dominions with which their ambition and covetousness increasing they could not without difficulty forego their Usurpations and Tyranny over others to yield themselves to the same conditions the which refractary humour of theirs the Inca Roca observing reproved in them with severe reprehension and though they received his Admonitions with Mortification and Anger yet they durst not openly own and discover their dislike In both these Provinces their custome was to Sacrifice Children to their Gods at their principal Feasts of which the Inca being informed he made a discourse to them of the inhumanity and unreasonableness of such a custome and that for the future they should Adore the Sun for their God and receive the Statutes and Ordinances which he had given them declaring to them by his own mouth that he would exact the life of every Child at their hands whom they should in that manner attempt to destroy and that in punishment for the offence he would destroy and root out their whole Nation and give their Countrey to be inhabited by a better sort of people of more bowels and compassion who should love and cherish their own bloud as nature required them Nothing could come more dolefull and sad than this news to the Ears of these people who were persuaded by the Devils whom they worshipped for their Gods that this Sacrifice of tender Infants was most acceptable of any to the Infernal Powers From Villca he took the way on the left hand and marched Westward towards the Sea-coast and entred one of those two Provinces which are both styled by the name of Sulla though for distinction sake one of them is called Utumsulla these two Provinces comprehend under them many Nations of different Names some of them being full of people others having but few And in the Histories of these matters to avoid tedious discourses they report that the Number of them might be of about forty thousand Families in the subduing of which the Inca is said to have spent much time and some report three years which were chiefly taken up in the persuasions and gentle Arts which the Inca used for reducing of that people being more
believe that you are the Sons of our great God Viracocha and Messengers of the Pachacamac for which cause and in confirmation of what my Father delivered us we have made it a Law and published it in the Schools of Cozco that none shall dare to take up Arms against you or offend you wherefore you may doe with us as you please it being Glory sufficient for us to die by your hands whom we esteem the Divine Messengers of God by whom you must be sent considering the Actions you have already performed Onely I desire to be satisfied in one doubt How comes it to pass as you say that you come to treat of Friendship and a perpetual Peace in the Name of the two before mentioned Princes and yet on the other side without so much as any Summons or sending to treat with us or know our Will or Pleasure towards you you have committed such outrages and slaughters in the Countries through which you have passed I conceive that the two Princes which employed you have given you such Commission to act with such severity against us without any fault of ours and I imagine that the Pachacamac hath so commanded them to proceed wherefore I say again Doe your pleasure with us onely I beseech you to have compassion upon my poor Relations whose Death and Misfortunes will grieve me more than my own The Inca having ended his Speech all his Attendants which stood round about him were so affected with his last Words which declared the loss of the Empire that they shed many Tears with an abundance of Sighs and Groans for what the Inca had now pronounced concerning the Destruction of his Empire he had at other times formerly repeated And whereas his Father Huayna Capac had uttered this Prophecy and mentioned the time to be short and ready to be fulfilled Atahualpa thought of nothing else but concluded the Fate unavoidable and the Decree of the great Pachacamac not to be resisted the which superstitious opinion being fixed and impressed in his Mind was the cause that the Spaniards so easily conquered and subdued his Countrey and debased his Soul and Spirit at the presence of the Spaniards amongst the rest of the Company which was present with the Inca were two Accomptants or Historians who with their Knots made certain Ciphers describing or figuring all the passages of that Audience with the Words of Hernando de Soto and with the Answer of the Inca though all was very ill expressed by the Interpreter The Ambassadours were much astonished to see the Lamentations and hear the Cries of the Lords and Captains there present and yet observed a steaddiness and constancy in the Countenance of the Inca and not knowing the cause and reason of so much sadness were touched with compassion and sorrow for them And here Blas Valera much bewails the want of a good Interpreter that might by a true and faithfull understanding of all that was said have given better satisfaction both to the Indians and to the Spaniards for when the Ambassadours heard talk of the Slaughters and Outrages committed in Puna and Tumpiz they were apprehensive that the Inca had entertained some thoughts of Revenge for the Interpreter neither knew how to render the Words of the Inca nor the Answer of the Ambassadours And now the Ambassadours desired leave of the Inca to depart and return to their Companions which was readily granted them the Inca saying That they might depart in peace and that he would speedily go into Cassamarca to visit the Sons of the God Viracocha and the Messengers from the Pachacamac The Spaniards departing out of the King's Palace could not but again admire the Riches of it and the Adoration and Worship which the people shewed towards them for as they were going to mount their Horses two Curacas with their Servants came to them desiring that they would not disdain to accept a small Present though unworthy the acceptance of such Gods or Godlike Men as they were laying before them Riches of like quality as before though in much more abundance such as Vessels of Gold and Silver with Ingots of Gold and Wedges of Silver unwrought The Spaniards being strangely astonished at this excess of Courtesie began to quit all fears and suspicions of any ill Designs of the Indians towards them blaming again the ignorance of their Interpreter who for want of Expressions had betrayed them to many Errours as he did afterwards to many others as will appear in the sequel of this History CHAP. XXI How the two Spaniards returned again to their Companions and how they prepared themselves to receive the Inca. THE two Ambassadours being returned made a relation of all the Riches and Greatness they had seen in the Palace of the Inca and of the Courtesie they had received which appeared by the Presents of which a share was divided to every Person Notwithstanding all which like good Souldiers and cautious Men they prepared their Horses and Arms not knowing the occasion they might have for them the day following and though they well knew the multitudes which accompanied Atahualpa yet like brave Spaniards they were not in the least dismayed but prepared to receive them wherefore so soon as it was day the Cavalry ranged themselves in three Divisions of twenty in a Troop for they were not in all above sixty in number the Commanders or Captains of them were Hernando Piçarro Hernando de Soto and Sebastian de Betalcaçar who at first concealed themselves under two old Walls that so their sudden Sally might give the greater fear and surprise to the Indians The Governour himself was supported with an hundred Foot-Souldiers which in all exceeded not that number and for their better encouragement he put himself in the Head of them on the side of the Tampu which was like a great field where they placed themselves to expect the coming of the King Atahualpa who soon after appeared being carried in a Chair of Gold on the Shoulders of his People with such pomp and Majesty both of Servants and Courtiers as evidenced his greatness in Power and War before his Chair came great multitudes of People who gathered up the Stones and cleared all the ways of Rubbish or Impediments which might hinder his Chair-Men in the way or cause them to stumble with him also came great Attendants of the Nobility His Guards were divided into four Squadrons consisting of eight thousand Men the first Division which was the Van-guard marched before the King like Scouts or Officers to clear and secure the ways two others marched on each side like the Wings of an Army as Guards of his Person and a fourth marched in the rere The Captain or Commander in Chief of them was called Ruminnavi which signifies an Eye of Stone from a Pearl or Catarack which grew in his Eye In this order Atahualpa marched for the space of a League which was the distance between his Palace and the Quarters of the Spaniards in
his Kingdom by his Father's Testament or was he declared Heir The 6th Was Huascar still living or was he dead or did he dye a natural Death or was he killed by order of Atahualpa and when was it either before or since the coming of the Spaniards The 7th Was Atahualpa an Idolater and did he command his Subjects to sacrifice Men and Children The 8th Did Atahualpa raise unjust Wars and was he guilty of the Bloud of much People The 9th Did Atahualpa entertain many Concubines The 10th Did Atahualpa receive the Tribute of the Empire since the Spaniards took the possession of it and did he consume and embezle it The 11th Do you know that since the coming in of the Spaniards that Atahualpa hath given Presents or Gifts out of the Royal Treasury to his Kindred and Captains and how and in what manner hath he embezled and wasted the Wealth of the Publick The 12th Do you know that King Atahualpa hath since his Imprisonment treated with any Captains and Souldiers to rebell and raise War against the Spaniards and what Levies of Men and what Preparations of Arms have been made for War Upon these Interogatories they examined ten several Persons seven of which were Servants to the Spaniards and three of them were not that so they might not appear to be their Creatures yet they all declared whatsoever Philipilio put into their Mouths as Gomara affirms Onely there was one Witness who was none of the Servants belonging to the Spaniards called Quespe who was Captain of a Company being the last that was to be examined suspecting that the Interpreter would say something which he had not testified he to prevent it answered in short either in the Affirmative or in the Negative saying either Y which is yes or Manam which is no. And lest the Interpreter should falsifie these Words which were not well understood by the Persons present when he spake in the affirmative he would nod with his Head two or three times and when in the negative he would shake with his Head and his Right-hand at which the Judges much admired being pleased with the subtilty of the Indian Howsoever the Death of Atahualpa being determined Sentences was passed upon him and accordingly he was executed as we have already declared though many of them as well such as belonged to Piçarro as those who came with Almagro who were of a generous Spirit dissented and protested against the Fact. The Names of the most eminent amongst them were Francisco de Chaves and Diego de Chaves who were Brothers and Natives of Truxillo Francisco de Fuentes Padro de Ayala Diego de Mora Francisco Moscoso Hernando de Haro Pedro de Mendoca Juan de Herrads and Alonso de Avila and Blas de Atiença with many others all which were of opinion that it was not lawfull to put a King to death who had treated them kindly and had never done them any Injury and if in case he were guilty of any Crime they should transport him into Spain there to be tried by the Emperour and not by themselves who had no Power or Jurisdiction over Kings That they should consider the Honour of the Spanish Nation which must greatly suffer in the Reputation of the World and be branded with Tyranny and Cruelty whensoever it should be objected against them that they had put a King to death during the time that they had given their Parole to the contrary and were under Obligations of Treaty and Articles for his Ransome of which they had already received the greatest part That they should be cautious how and in what manner they stained their great Atchievements with an Act so foul and inhumane as this that the fear of God should restrain them who after so barbarous an Action could not expect Blessings or Successes agreeable to their happy beginnings but on the contrary Misfortunes and Ruines and an unhappy end to all those who had a hand in this Wickedness That it was not lawfull to put any Man to death without hearing what he could say in his own Defence that they appealed from their Sentence to the Emperour Charles the 5th and in the mean time constituted Juan de Herrada Protectour of the Person of King Atahualpa These and many other particulars of this nature they uttered not onely in Words but also in Writing solemnly protesting before the Judges against this Fact and against all the evils which might be the consequences thereof Nor were those on the other side less bitter and violent against those who favoured Atahualpa calling them Traitors to the Royal Crown of Castile and the Emperour their Sovereign the augmentation and enlargement of whose Dominion they had endeavoured to prevent That by the death of this Tyrant they might secure their own Lives and the entire Dominion of that whole Empire all which by the contrary would run great danger and hazard Of all which and of the Mutinies which these Dissenters caused they would inform His Majesty that so he might distinguish between such who were his loyal Subjects and faithfull to his Service and those who were Traitors and mutinous and obstructive to the enlargement of his Dominions Thus were the Discords enflamed to such a degree that they had broken out into a Civil War had not some more moderate Men and less passionate interposed between both Parties and represented how destructive and fatal such Differences might prove to both sides and to the success of the Design in hand in case that Christians on the score of Infidels should enter into a Civil War. They moreover represented to those who maintained the Cause of Atahualpa that they should consider how they were no more than fifty in number and inferiour to the contrary party which consisted of three hundred and fifty so that in case they should pretend to decide the controversie by Arms the Issue would be their own destruction and the loss of that rich Kingdom which now they might secure by the Death of this King. These Reasons and Considerations abated the Spirits of those who protected Atahualpa so that they concurred with the others in his Sentence of Death which was accordingly executed CHAP. XXXVIII Of the Wit and Subtilty of Atahualpa and of the Treasure whâ—â—â— was colleâ—â—ed towards his Ransome ATahualpa as we have said was of a quick and ready Understanding an Instance whereof we have in this passage which indeed hastned his Death for he observing the Spaniards to read and write did believe that it was a Gift natural to them and born with them to try which he desired a Spaniard who came to visit him or that was one of his Guard that he would write the Name of God on the Nail of his Thumb the Souldier having vvrote as he desired he asked three or four Souldiers one after another vvhat that Word meant they all told him that it vvas the name of God. At length Don Francisco Piçarro came in vvith vvhom after he had discoursed
precincts of their Jurisdiction To which Bachicao made answer That in case he came attended with his Souldiers it was onely with intent to guard himself from the attempts of the Vice-king without other design to the damage or prejudice of their Countrey for that his Commission was onely to transport Doctour Texada one of his Majesty's Justices into Spain who by Instructions received from the Courts of Judicature was sent to render an account to his Majesty of all Matters which had passed of late in Peru and that he would onely set him on shoar there to refresh himself for a while and make such Provisions as were necessary for his Voyage Upon this assurance admission was given him into the City but so soon as he arrived two Ships which were then in the Port made sail into the Sea but one of them was chased by the Brigantine and being taken was brought back and both the Master and his Mate hanged at the Yard-arm which much offended the Town and put them into a great consternation but it was now too late to defend themselves or repent of their folly in trusting their estates and lives to the mercy of Bachicao who was now entered the City and there being no hopes of timely relief from Captain John Guzman who was raising men for assistance of the vice-Vice-king which men afterwards revolted to Bachicao who also seized on the Cannon which Vaca de Castro had brought thither with the Ship on which he made his escape Thus did Bachicao tyrannize over the people seizing their estates with an arbitrary power for none durst to assert a right and title to what he possessed in contradiction to his will and pleasure and during the time of his aboad here he publickly put two of his Captains to death who conspired against him and moreover he acted other pieces of like severity by virtue of his own absolute authority causing the Cryers to proclaim openly before those whom he put to death So is the will and command of Captain Hernando Bachicao At this time Vaca de Castro was at Panama where having intelligence that Bachicao was coming he fled to Nombre de Dios and embarked for Spain in the North-sea as did also Diego Alvarez Cueto and Jeronimo Curbano who were Ambassadours from the Vice-king likewise at the same Port Doctour Texada and Francisco Maldonado took shipping for Spain and sailed friendly together though of three several Factions Doctour Texada dyed in the Voyage in the Chanel of Bahama but Francisco Maldonado and Diego Alvarez arrived safe in Spain and immediately took post for Germany to render an account to his Majesty respectively of the Affairs committed to their charge Vaca de Castro touched at the Isles of Terçeras and thence sailed to Lisbon from whence he travailed to the Court for he thought it not safe to goe by the way of Seville where the Brothers and Relations of John Tello de Guzman lived whom as we said before he had caused to be put to death after the overthrow of Diego Almagro the younger being arrived at the Court he was by Order of the Council of the Indies confined to his House and an Accusation brought against him after which he was imprisoned in the Fort of Arevalo for the space of five years during which time his cause was depending After which they appointed him a House in Simancas and thence as the Court removed they assigned him the Village of Pinto and the bounds thereof for his confinement untill his business was fully determined Thus far are the words of the Accountant General Augustine de Carate And here he breaks off without telling us farther what sentence was given in his case because he had ended his History before that time And indeed by reason of the malicious informations and calumnies of his Enemies which were all false the determination of his cause was protracted for a long time at which he was not much troubled because he knew that at length he should come off with the honour and reputation of a good Minister and Governour of that Empire which accordingly succeeded for he was restored to his former place in the Royal Council of Castile from which he was so long kept out that when he came to be restored he was then the most ancient Member of all that Council and in this condition I found him when I was at the Court of Madrid in the year 1561. And besides this favour of his restauration he had other rewards given him in recompence for his hard usages and services performed in Peru in conservation of the Imperial Authority and to his Son Don Antonio Vaca de Castro who also was a Knight of the Habit of St. Jago as his Father was there was a Rent given him of twenty thousand pieces of Eight out of such Lots or Divisions as he should chuse and esteem of that value I remember to have seen this Gentleman at Nombre de Dios as he passed in the Retinue of the Count de Nieva who was sent for Vice-king of that Kingdom in the year 1560. and went then to take possession of that Estate which was the reward of his Father who to speak without flattery or partiality was generally reputed to have been the best Governour that ever had passed into those parts as is agreed by all the three Historians in the characters which they give of him there being not one ill action for which they blame him And now let us return again to Peru and relate what the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez was contriving all this time The Vice-king being retired as Carate reports in the sixteenth Chapter of his Book with about an hundred and fifty men at the time that Bachicao surprised the Ships in Tumbez he marched with them as far as the City of Quitu where he was chearfully received and his Souldiers re-inforced to the number of about two hundred men resolving to remain in that Countrey which yielded plenty of provisions for the subsistence of his men untill such time as he received farther Orders and Instructions from his Majesty And taking good information of all things that passed from Diego Alvarez de Cuero he kept strong Guards and Spies on all the high Roads to inform himself of all the actions that Gonçalo Piçarro was doing though it is three hundred leagues distant from Los Reyes to Quitu during which time four Souldiers who were dissatisfied upon some occasion with Piçarro stoal a Boat and coasted all along the shore from Los Reyes by the help of their Oars untill they came to a shore which was the nearest Sea to Quitu where being arrived they informed the Vice-king of all passages how the People of Los Reyes and other places were discontented with the Government of Piçarro and with the tyranny which he used towards them ejecting some out of their Houses and Estates imposing Souldiers on free-quarter upon them and other burthens which they were not able to support of which they
he was not one third so high and without any proportion to his other parts when he was on Horse-back he seemed much less than he was for he was all Thighs and Leggs and his Countenance was very ill-favoured and unpleasant but what nature had denied to him in his Body was largely recompensed to him in the endowments of his Mind for he had not onely all those which this Authour declares of him but many more considering that he regained his Empire again to his Majesty which was almost totally ruined and revolted from its allegiance I my self knew him and particularly one evening I was with him when he stood in the Court-yard of my Father's house leading to the open place from whence he saw the Feasts of Bulls and Sports on Horse-back with their Darts but he lodged then in the houses of Thomas Vasquez now in the possession of his Son Pedro Vasquez where also Gonçalo Piçarro lodged when he was in that Town and situate on the outside of the Street which is in the middle between our house and the Convent of our Lady of the Mercedes and though those Houses have at one corner Windows which look out into the Market-place from whence Licenciado Gasca might have seen all those Sports howsoever he chose rather to see them from my Father's Court-yard which more immediately fronts with the Market-place And now we shall proceed to declare his Actions which were not performed by the Sword or Lance but by the force of his reason and council which carried him on with such success as obtained all the points he desired both in Peace and War and at length conducted him out of the Countrey without any Complaints or Accusations against him of violence or oppression His weapons were Patience to bear and undergo all the labours and difficulties which presented and mildly to suffer the insolences and affronts of the Souldiery he also had a great stock of subtlety and craft and good management to penetrate into the Plots and Designs of his Enemies and to circumvent and disappoint them from all which we have arguments sufficient to prove the difficulty of his undertaking especially if we consider the condition of this Empire when this worthy person undertook to settle and reduce it to obedience And here we shall omit to give an account of the particulars of the Voyage which the President made to Nombre de Dios to whom hereafter we shall give that Title referring the Reader to Diego Fernandez for that relation and so shall proceed to what succeeded after his arrival there The President received the first News of the death of the Vice-king in Santa Marta from Licenciado Almandarez who was then Governour of that Province and of that new Kingdom from whence both Gasca and those with him apprehended great difficulties in their design judging it almost impossible to reduce a People without Arms who had proceeded so far in their Rebellion as to kill the vice-Vice-king in a pitched Battel But the President not to discourage his People concealed the opinion and apprehension he conceived thereof and to prevent farther disturbances which might arise he publickly declared that he had sufficient power and authority to pardon all the Crimes of what nature soever which were already committed so that no man ought to doubt of pardon or of a general Act of Oblivion Moreover he considered that by the death of the vice-Vice-king that general hatred was removed from the People which they conceived against his perverse and untractable humour and that thereby they might more easily be reduced to the service of his Majesty Besides which another difficulty was obviated in case it should be thought necessary for quieting the People to send the Vice-king out of that Countrey who might object the injustice of such proceedings against a person who for no other reason than the Service of his Majesty against Rebels and Tyrants was banished the Countrey and deprived of his Authority The President Gasca comforting himself with such Considerations as these sailed to Nombre de Dios where he was received by the Souldiers of Hernan Mexia and by the Inhabitants all well armed but they shewed him very little respect and less affection speaking contemptibly of his person with affronting words of all which as Diego Fernandez saith he took no notice but spake kindly and chearfully to all sorts of People But the Clergy of the City like true Servants of God went in procession with the Cross to meet and receive the President whom they conducted to the Church to sing the Te Deum Laudamus with which kindness the President was much pleased and thanked God that some People were remaining who were acquainted with their duty and good manners and in some kind made amends for the disrespects of others but that which added most to his satisfaction was that the night following Hernan Mexia who was one of the Captains of Gonçalo Piçarro and much obliged to him for several favours came privately to speak with him offering himself to the service of his Majesty and to use his utmost endeavours to engage other Captains and Souldiers to return unto their Loyalty and duty towards their Prince Moreover he gave him a large Narrative of the State of the Countrey and of the Fleet which was at Panama and of the Condition of the Captains and Souldiers which were embarked thereupon and how that Pedro de Hinojosa was Admiral thereof for all which Advices and Promises the President returned him thanks and promised him in the name of his Majesty a suitable reward desiring his secrecy in the whole matter And thus Peace and Friendship being agreed between them they privately discoursed every night together and Hernan Mexia gave him an account of all matters which they wrote to him from Panama Thus did the President gain every day upon the good wills and affections of the People and Souldiery so that many of them went to dine and converse with him and in all his discourses he told them plainly that he came thither to no other end and intention than onely to reduce them to their obedience and loyalty due to his Majesty by terms of peace and friendship and with promises of reward That the King had given him full power and authority to promise them a general Pardon for all crimes and faults which were already past and that if People would not be contented herewith on fair terms he for his part was ready without farther force to return speedily into Spain This was his common discourse and declaration at all times when he was in publick with intention that the report hereof might be spread in all parts of the Empire some few days after the arrival of the President at Nombre de Dios Melchior de Verdugo of whom we have formerly made mention appeared before the City of Panama with intention to enter with his two Ships into the Port But the Citizens were in great combustion hereupon by reason that
they proceeded from the Race of the Northern Tartar whom they resemble in the shape and air of their features and in their barbarous way of living but then we must fansie as some Geographers do that the West side of America is Continent with Tartary or at least disjoyned from thence by some narrow strait of which I am well persuaded we have no certain Knowledge But to let these Matters pass and consider the Condition in which the Spaniards found the Inhabitants of Peru when they first came amongst them they were I say a naked People simple and credulous believing every thing that the Spaniards told and promised them To which they were induced out of an opinion that the Spaniards were Viracocha's or the Off-spring of the Sun whom they adored for God and in whom they believed according to the Light of Nature that there could be no falsity or shadow of untruth Wherefore they were strangely surprized whilst in a peaceable manner they were treating with the good men and whilst Friar Valverde with a Cross in his hand was preaching to Atahualpa their King that then without any Cause given they should be killed with Swords and Lances and five thousand of them massacred before the face of their Prince And yet they would not foregoe this foolish imagination though afterwards contrary to the faith given they saw their King imprisoned and his liberty promised upon a vast ransome of Gold and Silver which when paid and fully complied with he was notwithstanding strangled in prison and no other liberty given him than that freedom which Death bestows upon all mankind And yet this silly People could not but entertain a high esteem of the Spaniards as of those who were come to teach them a better Law and still called them Viracocha's or People descended from their Father the Sun imagining that thi◠new sort of People in Beards and Ruffs had received Commission from that glorious Light which they adored for punishment of their Offences to swear and lye and violate all the Bands of humane kind And yet that which farther shews the simplicity and good nature of this People is that in despight of all the ill usage received from the Spaniards they would prove still faithfull to them upon a principle they had received that to whomsoever they had yielded themselves in War they were to be faithfull with such uncorrupted Loyalty and Truth that no consideration either of King Wife Father Family or Countrey could absolve them from the Obligation and Duty they owed to their Countrey vid. p. 487. And hence it was that so many Indians fought against their Countrey-men in union with the Spaniards and served them for Spyes to give them intelligence of whatsoever was designed in the Camp of the Indians But this flexible and good nature of this People did not soften the haughty mind of the Spaniards towards them who esteeming the rest of the World Slaves to them oppressed the Indians with such servitude and slary as the nature of man was not able to sustain Of which that wise and good Emperour Charles the Fifth taking notice he dispatched new Orders to Peru for ease of the Natives and to exempt them from that inhumane Tyranny which one man ought not to exercise towards another But this gratious Indulgence of the Prince served to raise greater Disturbances amongst the Conquerours who refusing to quit their Commands and exempt their Indians from their Vassalage and Services openly opposed the Governours and Officers which were sent to put the new Ordinances in execution which afterwards proceeded to an open War and Rebellion which with various successes continued for many years till at length the King of Spain was forced to moderate the rigour of his new regulations and condescend to his Subjects by conserving to them that tyrannical Power which they pretended unto by right of Conquest over the Indians in which they were so unmercifull that had not King Philip the Second contrived a supply of Negro's out of Africa to work in the Mountain of Potosi and other Mines the whole Indian Nation had before this been utterly extinguished But God who is just and compassionate of the Creatures which he hath made would not suffer these Cruelties to pass unpunish'd but caused the Spaniards themselves to be instruments of his vengeance on each other So Francisco Piçarro and Diego Almagro after having conquered the Countrey fell at variance about sharing the Government and dividing the Spoil which was decided by the Sword Then Gonçalo Piçarro pretended to the Government of Peru for his Life by virtue of the Patent which the Emperour had given to his Brother the Marquis Piçarro and in defence thereof and in opposition to the new Laws before mentioned he raised Wars against the Justices and the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez whom after several Fights and Skirmishes he killed in Battel And though this Piçarro was afterwards subdued by the wise conduct of the President Pedro de la Gasca yet things did not continue long quiet before they broke out again into new disturbances So Don Sebastian de Castilla made a Rebellion and headed the Male-contents who being disappointed of the reward they expected for the services they had done against Gonçalo Piçarro endeavoured to right themselves by their own Power and killed the General Don Pedro de Hinojosa Then Vasco de Godinez killed Don Sebastian de Castilla and set up for himself but was soon subdued and put to death by Alonso de Alvarado Then Egas de Guzman a bold and bloudy Villain pretended to be the Head of a Party but he and his Complices were soon dispersed for want of Associates to abet their Cause And lastly Francisco Hernandez Giron with about twelve or thirteen more began a Rebellion in Cozco and with that small number killed most of the Magistrates of the City and put most of the Inhabitants to flight with whom afterwards many discontented Souldiers joining they carryed on a War against the Government for several years with much bloud and cruelties acted upon each other for now the common Souldiers were become so mutinous for want of employment that they were ready to join with any person that pretended to a resentment And indeed there was not an ordinary Fellow but who had so great a value for himself on the honour of being a Spaniard and a Souldier that he swallowed in his vain thoughts all the Riches of the Indies and fansied that the whole Government and Wealth of Peru was not a sufficient Reward for a person of his high Merit and Extraction In this manner was Peru conquered and with this sort of People hath it been since that time planted which we have reason to believe have buried themselves in sloth and luxury How well they have improved that Countrey and used those Riches which God hath given them and how humanely they have treated the poor Natives I leave to the Historians of our modern times and for the Valour
took from them to bestow in Marriage upon those who had deserved well from him which seemed a favour to them both unto the one that the Inca would vouchsafe to receive and prefer his Daughter and to the other that he was pleased to bestow her on him with his own hand being for that reason esteemed pretious for not so much the gift as the Donor being regarded rendred the least present from the Inca's hand equal to the highest treasure as if it had something of Divinity conferred with it Sometimes though but seldom the Incas preferred their natural Daughters of the Royal Bloud to the Curacas and Governours of Provinces for Wives as signals of his favour and as engagements to them to continue in their Loyalty of which sort the Inca having many to bestow abroad had no necessity to have recourse to those for a supply who were entred in the Sacred and Royal Foundations for that would have been a diminution to their exalted Degree a violation to their Religion and an impiety to mix divine race with prophane Bloud CHAP. VII Of other Women who conserved their Virginity and of Widows BEsides these Virgins who lived Recluses in Cloisters under the Vow of perpetual Chastity there were many other Women of Royal Bloud who lived in retirement and vowed to conserve their Virginity though with liberty to go abroad and visit their nearest Relations and assist the sick and Women in their Travels and to be present at the Ceremony of shaving when they gave a Name to their first-born These Women were held in great Esteem and Veneration for their Chastity and purity of their Lives giving them by way of Excellency or of some Vertue Divine the Title of Occlo which signifies something of supereminent Sanctity and this their Chastity was not pretended or feigned but true and real for if any falsity or hypocrisie were discovered in it they burnt them alive or threw them to the Lions to be devoured I remember that I knew one of these that was very ancient and had never been married which they called Occlo sometimes she visited my Mother and as I have heard she was her Aunt by the Grandfather I can say I am a witness of the great respect they bore towards her and especially my Mother who for her Relation Years and Vertue behaved her self towards her with all imaginable Reverence and Veneration Nor must we here omit the Modesty and Vertue of Widows in general who for the first Year of their Widowhood kept themselves retired and free from all conversation there being very few of those who had not Children that married again much less those who were provided with them did ever return to a second Marriage but lived with Continence and Chastity for which reason the Laws were favourable towards them commanding Labourers to plow and cultivate their Lands before those of the Curacas with many other privileges which the favour of the Inca indulged to them The truth is it was a disparagement for a Man who was not a Widower himself to marry with a Widow for as they said he lost I know not what quality and repute by such a condescension And this is what is most observable in reference to Virgins and Widows and modest Women CHAP. VIII Of their Marriages in general and how their Houses were governed IT will now be proper in this place for us to treat of their Marriages and how they were joined together in the Kingdoms and Provinces subjected to the Inca In order hereunto it is to be noted that every year or every two years the King commanded his Officers to take an account of such young Men and Maidens of his Lineage as were marriageable within the City of Cozco that so they might be matched together the Maidens were to be of eighteen to twenty years of age and the young Men from twenty to twenty four and upwards under which age they were not esteemed to be of years of consent for that it was necessary they should be of a ripe age and judgment to govern their Families which could not be done by Children in their minority At the Ceremonies of Matrimony the Inca stood between the two Persons and casting his Eyes upon them both he called the Man by his Name and then the Woman and taking their hands into his joined them together which being the bond of Matrimony the Function was performed and being by the Inca consigned to their Parents they went home to the House of the Bridegroom's Father where the Wedding was kept for four or six days with great rejoycing This was the manner and form of their legal Marriages which for the great Favour and Honour the Inca had performed in this Function were called in their Language the Incan Couple The King having in this manner matched those of his own Lineage then the next day following the Officers for this Employment joined the Neighbourhood of the City with respect to that Division which we have mentioned at the beginning of this History of the Upper and the Lower Cozco The Houses which were appointed for the Habitation of the new married Couples who were Incas concerning whom we treat at present were prepared by the Indians of those Provinces whose charge it was according to such provision as was made in that case All the Furniture and Utensils of the Houses were provided at the charge of the Parents every one of their Kindred giving them something towards House-keeping which was all the Ceremony or Sacrifice performed at that Solemnity and though many Spanish Historians report divers other barbarous Customs in use at Marriages it is for want of a distinct knowledge of the Rites of one Province from another for in those Provinces indeed which were remote from Cozco and where the Seigniority and Rule of the Incas had not as yet arrived there may have been many absurd and impious Ceremonies in use which since have been corrected and abolished by the more wise and refined Government of the Incas But as to the true Politicks of the Incas they observed no other Form of Marriage than this before recited according to which the Curacas in their Provinces and the Governours in their respective Divisions conformed their discipline and as Fathers and Lords of their Countrey practised it in the same manner as did the Inca. And though the Inca who was Governour was present at the Marriages which the Curaca solemnized yet it was not to interpose or diminish the Authority of the Curaca therein but onely to approve that in the name of the King which the Curaca had performed by virtue of the power he exercised over his own Vassals When the Commonalty or ordinary sort married the Community of the People were obliged to build and provide them Houses and the Parents to furnish them It was not lawfull for any to marry out of his own Province or People but as the Tribes of Israel they were obliged to match within their own
confine himself within those bounds on penalty of his highest displeasure in compliance to which severe admonition the Prince returned again to his retirement and the keeping of his Flocks Howsoever the Incas who were Counsellours and had the King's Ear and of a nature very superstitious and credulous especially of Dreams took this advertisement in another fashion than the King apprehended it telling him that such an Apparition as this was not to be slighted especially since it presented it self in the form of Viracocha who was Brother to the Inca and of Alliance to the Sun in whose name and behalf he brought this Message Nor was it credible that the Prince should be so much an Impostour as to dare to entitle the Sun to such an apparent forgery or delude the Inca his Father with a Lye and therefore that it were best to examine the matter more strictly and by Sacrificing to the Sun make judgment of the good or bad Omens and not neglect any care or diligence whatsoever in a matter of so high importance for to leave the matter neglected and slighted were to contemn the advice which the Sun had sent and his Messenger Viracocha and in short to add Errour unto Errours and Sins unto Sins Notwithstanding all which the Inca had conceived that prejudice against his Son that he could upon no terms admit the counsel which his Kindred gave him but rather termed the Vision he declared to be the effect of a wild and furious brain imagining by lyes and forgeries to bring his extravagant humour again into repute which was such an aggravation of his former folly that he deserved on this very score to be deprived of the inheritance and declared for ever uncapable of the Succession and that in the place of him some other of a more flexible and gentle temper worthy the title of being allied to the Sun should be ordained and proclaimed the true Heir in the place and stead of a revengefull merciless and tyrannical Prince and of one of a far different temper to that sweet and pleasant humour of his Ancestours which had been the most forcible Arms to win and overcome all the Nations they governed Moreover that in Wisedom they ought to provide against all Rebellions but not on the score or belief of the vain words of a wild fellow who ought to be punished and have his Head cut off for daring to break the limits assigned for his Banishment and profaning the Sacred Name of the Sun with a pretence so false and enthusiastick as this And therefore he charged them not to mention this matter farther nor so much as to name the Prince for that he had already determined in what manner to deal with him The Incas upon this Command of the King were silent and urged the matter no farther howsoever they could not forbear to revolve the thing in their minds as portending some sad and dismal disasters For the Indians were naturally addicted to Signs and Prognostications and especially if the King or the Prince or the High Priest who were esteemed Gods and Oracles had any Dream they were never at ease untill the Diviners or Magicians made the Interpretation in which they esteemed themselves so expert that they not onely pretended to interpret the Dream but also to declare what the Incas themselves had related short or mistaken in it CHAP. XXIII The Rebellion of the Chancas and of their Ancient exploits in War. THree Months after this Dream of the Prince Viracocha for so afterwards his Friends named him from the Vision he had seen a confused and uncertain rumour came of an Insurrection in the Provinces of Chincasuyu and that all the people were in Arms which is from Atahualla about forty Leagues Northward from Cozco through all the Countries to the farthest extent of the new Conquests This News had as yet no certain authour or ground being but whispered as in cases of like nature and though it agreed with the Dream of the Prince Viracocha and seemed an Accomplishment of the words of his Vision yet the King gave no heed or credit to it believing it to be a Canterbury tale or Stories of the way broached to revive the Dream of the Prince which seemed almost forgot and out of memory Some few days after the report became hotter than before and common in every Man's mouth though still uncertain and without any particulars for the Enemies had obstructed all the ways and passages in that manner that no intelligence should be carried and that the knowledge of their Rebellion might be first made known by appearance of their force before Cozco Howsoever at length certain and particular information was brought that the Nations called Chanca Uramarca Villca Uiusulla Hancohuallu and other Neighbouring Nations were all in Arms and having killed all the Governours and Officers of the Inca were now Marching with an Army of forty thousand Men against the City These Nations as we have said being all reduced by the power of the King Inca Roca rather out of fear than love had ever since suppressed their rancour and malice to the Incas with intention to own and testifie the same when occasion presented which now seemed fairly to offer it self in the time of this Inca Yahuar-huacac who being a Prince not addicted to War but rather intimidated by the apprehnsion and fear he conceived from his sinister Omen and being also moved with compassion of the hard usage and unnatural treatment which the Inca shewed towards the Prince his Son they judged it warrant and reason sufficient to revenge his cause in detestation of the base cowardise and tyranny of this mean-spirited and yet cruel Inca Wherefore with what expedition and secrecy they could they incited their Neighbours to rebell who being already well disposed in the matter they easily took fire and putting themselves in Arms and with a body of thirty thousand Men marched directly against the Imperial City of Cozco The principal Authours and Contrivers of this War besides other Lords were three principal Curacas of three great Provinces all comprehended under the common name of Chanca The first of these Lords was called Hancohuallu a Young Man of twenty six years of Age the second was Tumay Huaraca and the third Astu Huaraca the two last of which were Uncles and Brothers to Hanco-huallu The Ancestours of these three petty Kings before the times of the Incas waged a perpetual War with their Neighbouring Nations especially with the people called Quechua under which denomination five other great Provinces were contained For which reason and for the Tyranny and Oppression which they suffered from them the Quechuas were greatly pleased to accept and receive the Protection of the Incas And so on the contrary these petty Kings greatly resented the curb and power the Incas imposed upon them by restraining them in their Progress and Conquests rendring them in the place of absolute and sovereign Princes Tributaries and Vassals which they stomached
Battel which followed and the Courage with which the Prince overcame his Enemies THE Prince Viracocha sent his Ambassadours to the Enemy then encamped at Sacsahuana with offers of peace and friendship promising to them Pardon and an Act of Oblivion for all that was past But the Chancas being well informed that the Inca Yahuar-huacac had left his City and retired into some remote part they were so encouraged thereby that though they knew that the Prince his Son was in Arms and in a posture to defend the City yet they so slighted his Ambassadours that they would not so much as hear them or give them Audience for being puft up with the vain opinion that the Father being fled the Son would speedily give place promised to themselves an assurance of Victory with these hopes next day following they removed their Camp from Sacsahuana and marched towards Cozco and though they made what haste they were able yet in regard they were to March in order of Battel the night came on before they could arrive at the Prince's Camp and therefore they pitched about half a League short of the Enemies Quarter Notwithstanding which the Inca Viracocha dispatched other Messengers to them with Tenders of Peace and Pardon but the Chancas still continued obstinate not vouchsasing other Answer than with great scorn and disdain saying That to morrow it should be determined who deserved the Title of King and in whose power it was to offer Peace and Conditions of Pardon This Answer being given both Armies remained the whole night upon their Guard with Centinels set on each side and in the morning by break of day the Squadrons Arming themselves with great Noise and Shouts with sound of Trumpets and Timbrels and Cornets they began the on-set The Inca Viracocha marching in the head of his Army was he that threw the first Dart at the Enemy with which the Battel began The Chancas in hopes of Victory of which they seemed to be assured fought with great resolution And the Incas who did not despair neither of success adventured to rescue the Life of their Prince and revenge the affront which the Rebels offered The Fight continued untill Noon being maintained with equal Courage on both sides the slaughter was great and not as yet determined to which party the Victory inclined At length the 5000 Indians which lay in Ambush made their sally and with extraordinary resolution and shouts attacking the right Wing of the Enemy began to give a turn to Fortune for being fresh they so pressed the Chancas that they were forced to give way and retreat with great loss and slaughter Howsoever animating one the other they engaged a second time endeavouring to recover the Ground which they had lost being enraged to meet that opposition which they never expected and so much difficulty in attaining a Victory which they promised to themselves with so much ease and assurance After this second onset they fought two hours longer the advantage still continuing doubtfull and uncertain At length the Chancas growing tired and weary began to faint and observing that fresh recruits continually re-inforced the Army of the Incas the Chancas became discouraged and desperate of Victory For those people who before were fled from the City with fear and the Neighbouring Countries thereabouts having received intelligence that the Prince Viracocha was returned and made head against the Enemy in defence of the Temple of the Sun they joined together into small Bodies of fifty and a hundred in a Company and in such Troops rushed into the Battel with more noise than numbers The Incas observing these unexpected succours to come in cried out that the Sun and the God Viracocha had converted the Rocks and Stones of the Countrey into Men and had raised them up to fight in defence of his own cause and people the which report took the easier impression in the minds of that people who being accustomed to the belief of superstitious Fables were willing in this exigence to support their courage with the power of a Miracle The Chancas also who were a people of the like superstitious fancy giving ready credence to this rumour were strook and affrighted with a strange amazement and this belief so far dilated and radicated it self afterwards in the minds of the simple people of the whole Kingdom that it was accounted an Impiety and a piece of Atheism and Prophaneness to distrust or question the truth of this report Of which Geronimo Roman writing in his Treatise of the West-Indies and in the 11th Chapter of his second Book speaking particularly of this Battel hath these very words It is certain according to the report of all the Indians who discourse of that famous Battel that the Inca remained Master of the Field and won the day and they farther believe that by a miraculous power of the Sun the Stones of the Field were Metamorphosed or transformed into Men and arose up in Battel against the Enemy and that this was done in accomplishment of that promise which was given to the Valiant Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui for so also they give this Title to the Prince Viracocha These are the Words of that curious Arthour of the aforementioned Book who in the said Chapter touches many points in brief of which we have recited some and shall farther have occasion to touch on others in the Sequel of this History of the Kings of Peru. In like manner Acosta mentions the Vision which appeared to Viracocha though there be some difference in the proper Names belonging to the Kings of that Age. And indeed both he and other Writers mention this Battel as other matters with such brevity that they seem almost to pass it by as a matter inconsiderable And indeed for the most part all the Relations which the Spaniards give of the Indians are very intricate and confused the which we may lawfully attribute to the little knowledge they had of their Language and the loss of those Knots which were the Monuments and Characters of their History howsoever they deliver the substance of them without any regard either to time or order but in what manner or method soever that they are wrote I am yet pleased to recite the passages which they deliver that so by their Authority I may be acquitted of the Scandal of writing Fables for if they prove such they ought to be esteemed the Fictions of my Parents and such as the Spaniards themselves have heard and perhaps believed though not with such Faith as I have done who sucked in those Stories with my Milk and received a deep impression of them in the time of my tender Infancy This Acosta farther proceeds in these words which I have copied from the 21st Chapter of his sixth Book Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui reigned 70 Years and made great Conquests the principal cause and original of his success was occasioned by his Elder Brother who taking upon him the Government by consent of his Father was overthrown
Mankind The Inca having taken notice of this advice ordered the Ambassadours to be dispatched that they might return again into their own Countrey Thence he proceeded forward on his progress through all the Provinces of Collasuyu dispersing his Favours and Rewards to the Curacas and Captains not neglecting the Commonalty and people of low degree and condition so that all sorts from the highest to the lowest received particular satisfaction and contentment from the presence of the Inca For so much had the Fame of his Divine Dream and his Victory at Yahuarpampa raised his Esteem in the minds of the people that they not onely received him with Joy and Acclamations but paid him Divine Honours and Veneration as if he had been some New God though now by the Mercies of the true God they have quitted that Idolatry and being disabused and rightly informed in Religion they onely conserve a gratefull Memory of that King who was so fortunate and propitious to them both in War and Peace From Collasuyu he passed into Antisuyu where the people being poor and mean were not able to demonstrate such Ostentation and Magnificence as others had done howsoever according to their degree and quality they shewed as joyfull hearts as their simplicity was capable to express In evidence of which they erected Triumphal Arches in the way by which he was to pass the which being formed of Timber they covered with Rushes and crowned with Garlands strowing all the ways with Flowers expressing the joyfulness of their hearts after the custome of their Countrey and as was usual at their greatest Festivals In these visits the Inca spent three years not omitting at the due seasons to celebrate the Feasts of the Sun which they called Raymi and Citua And though they could not be performed with such Solemnity as at Cozco yet in compliance with their Religion they expressed their Devotion with such Rites and Ceremonies as the circumstances of time and place would admit And now having accomplished his Progress he returned to the City where his Presence was greatly desired as the Protectour and Defender of it or rather as he who had laid a new foundation of an abandoned and ruined place And therefore the Court and City associated together with new Sonnets and Panegyricks composed in his praise to meet and conduct their Adored King to his place of Residence CHAP. XXVI The Valiant Hanco-huallu flies out of the Empire of the Incas THus in the manner which we have declared this Inca travelled twice through all Quarters of his Dominions and when that in his second Progress he passed through the Province of the Chichas which is the most remote part of Peru to the Southward News was brought him of the flight of the brave Hanco-huallu at which he was greatly concerned wondring at the reason or cause for such a resolution This Man it seems was King of the Chancas and though for nine or ten Years he had proved the gentle Government of the Incas who in revenge or punishment of his late offence had not diminished the least point of his Power or Jurisdiction but rather on the contrary treated him with due honour and respect yet in regard that he and his Forefathers had reigned as absolute Lords and Princes over many Nations whom they had subdued by their Arms and Power his generous spirit could not yield to any Subordination or hold his Countrey in feud to a Superiour He also envied the Quechuas for the Esteem they had gained in the favour of the Inca by the Services which in the late War they had performed and by whose means and assistence the Victory was wrested from himself Nor could he endure to behold that people which was Inferiour and once truckled to him to stand now in equality and in competition with him for Honour and Power the which unpleasing imaginations so possessed his disquiet mind that contrary to the sense and opinion of the Lords and Nobles of his Countrey he resolved to purchase his own Liberty and absolute Power though with the loss and resignation of the Estate he possessed in his own Dominions In order hereunto he imparted his Resolutions to certain Indians who were his Friends and faithfull to his Interest giving them to understand that he could not support a Subjection to the Will and Dominion of another and therefore was resolved to Abandon his Native Patrimony and Inheritance to recover an Absolute Sovereignty in remote parts or dye in prosecution of it This design of Hanco-huallu being rumoured abroad amongst his people it was agreed that such Men as inclined to his party should with their Wives and Children depart privately in small Companies lest Numbers of People and Troops should make a noise and give jealousie to the Inca and that at length they should assemble and meet at a general Rendezvous in some place beyond the Dominions of the Inca where he himself would follow after them and appear in the Head of them as their King and Leader This seemed to be the most agreeable counsel and best expedient to recover their Liberty for that it were a folly and rashness to endeavour it by force or to set up their Power against the Puissance of the Inca Nay though such a design should seem feasible and practicable yet considering the gentleness of the Inca and with what kindness and humanity he had returned the Acts of Hostilities which they had offered him it would seem a part of ingratitude and perfidiousness which could not enter into the Breast of a Generous Prince to rise again in Arms against him But then to recover their Liberty by a peaceable surrender of their Estates and Power was not onely innocent and inoffensive but allowable also under the strictest circumstances and obligations by which they were bound to the Inca than whom there could not be a more benign and more indulgent King in the whole Universe With these Arguments and Reasons the brave Hanco-huallu prevailed on the minds of those to whom he first communicated his design and they whispering it one to the other it became the common discourse and found such a general approbation and concurrence that the Chancas who naturally loved their Lord and Sovereign were easily persuaded to run the fortune of their Prince so that in a short time they numbred 8000 fighting Men which in a Body marched out of their Countrey besides Women and Children under the Command and Conduct of the Valiant Hanco-huallu the fame of whose Courage and the fierceness of the Chancas who were always reputed for a fighting and warlike Nation struck such terrour in all places and regions through which they marched that none durst oppose or interrupt them in their passage The fear likewise of them caused the Inhabitants to furnish them with Provisions untill they came to the Provinces of Jarma and Pumpu which are about 70 Leagues distant from their own Countrey And though in this March they encountred certain inconsiderable Skirmishes and could
their Feathers were sacred so they were the peculiar note and mark of the Imperial Dignity For my part I am of opinion that there are many other Birds of the same species with these and that though I will not deny but that there may be a Phenix in the World yet that this Bird is not of that kind is most probable howsoever the Indians may maintain what opinion they please and in devotion to their Fore-fathers may fansie them like these Creatures which are rare and esteemed sacred It is certain that the Feathers of these Birds were highly esteemed of in those days though they are more common now being worn by many who falsly pretend to a descent from the Royal Bloud of the Incas though in reality the Race of those Princes is almost totally extinct for in regard the example of foreign fashions hath confounded the true distinctions on the Head by which the quality of every Person was known so it gave a confidence to many to usurp this Royal Mark and pretend to Princely Descent every one almost assuming the Title of an Inca or a Pallas These Feathers were planted over the coloured Wreath which bound their Temples the pique Feathers pointing upwards removed at a little distance one from the other as they were naturally spread Having these Feathers on their Heads they carried great respect for all sorts of Birds and Fowl so that they took care how they affrighted or chased them away Every new Inca that succeeded to the Empire procured new Feathers for that the former belonged to the King deceased who being embalmed conserved all his Ensigns of Regality of which these Feathers were an especial mark Such was the Majesty of this Bird Corequenque and such was the Reverence and Respect which the Incas expressed towards it which though the matter it self be of little importance to the People of Spain yet the knowledge thereof may be pertinent to such as have the curiosity to be acquainted with the Customs and practices of the Incan-Kings But to return again to our Novitiates So soon as they had received these Marks of Chivalry they were conducted to the principal place of the City where a general Festival was publickly solemnized for many days with Songs and Dances in honour and triumph for their Victories the like also was more privately celebrated in the Families of their Parents and near Relations who boasted and rejoiced much in the proficiency of their Sons challenging to themselves a share in their commendations for they having instructed them in martial Exercises how to manage their Arms and make their Shoes and educated them with hardship remote from effeminacy and softness did justly triumph and glory that having performed their duty towards their Sons in their Childhood had now accomplished them with Abilities to serve their Countrey either in War or Peace CHAP. XXIX How Chuquimancu a Lord of four Vallies yielded himself BUT to return again now to the Reign and Conquests of the Inca Pachacutec we are to understand that the General Capac Yupanqui having subdued and conquered the great Curaca Chincha sent to the King his Brother for a new Army whereby he might be enabled to overcome those Vallies or Plain Countries which presented themselves before him The Inca with all readiness supplied him with new Forces commanded by good Officers providing them with all sorts of Victuals and Ammunition agreeable to the greatness of the Enterprise The new Army being come with which also the Prince Yupanqui returned being very desirous to exercise and signalize himself in the War the General of Chincha boldly proceeded out of his Quarters and posted himself in the pleasant Valley of Runahuanac which is as much as the People's Terrour because in the River which runs through that Valley many people had been drowned who supposing the Water to be as shallow in the Winter as in the Summer rather than go a League about by way of the Bridge have foolishly adventured to wade over it but the Chanel being deep and the Current rapid have most miserably perished in the Waters But the Spanish Historians give this Valley and the River the name of Lunaguana by corruption of three Letters of this Word one Writer says that the Word Guano signifies mudd or dung because it affords good Sullage and great improvement for their arable Lands but this Letter G. ought to be H. so that the true word is Huano for the Peruvian Tongue doth not admit of the Letter G. which word Huano signifies dreadfull by this particular and many other instances that we could give it is very apparent how little the Spaniards understood that Language and what gross mistakes also the Mongrels or those that are mixed of Spanish and Indian Bloud did likewise make for they taking the accent in part from their Fathers both in speaking and writing are often guilty of strange corruptions which when I have observed I have endeavoured to correct amongst them but to little purpose considering how prevalent conversation is and the communication of a people to whom they are subdued and become Vassals In those days this Plain of Runahuanac was greatly peopled as also another Low-Countrey lying to the Northward of it called Huarcu which contained thirty thousand Inhabitants in like manner also Chincha was inhabited and other Countries situated North and South of it but now there are not two thousand Inhabitants reputed to be there in all and some lie wholly desolate unless they be some few Spaniards who have taken up their dwellings in those parts Having already related the Conquest of Yuncas we are now to take notice that the Plain of Runahuanac with three others to the Northward of it called Huarca Malla Chillca were all in subjection to a great Lord called Chuquimancu who having several of these Provinces under his Jurisdiction presumed to give himself the Title of King and by reason of his Power claimed an Authority and Dominion over others who were not really and duly his Subjects This King for so we may term him hearing that the Incas marched against him joined what forces he was able to make and boldly attempted to meet and give a stop to the Enemy at the pass of the River where after several Skirmishes wherein many were slain on each side the Inca at length passed the River by help of some flat botomed Boats and Floats which he had made for that purpose Nor did the Yuncas make all the resistence they were able in regard their King Chuquimancu declared his Design of retreating to the Valley of Huarcu which as he falsly supposed was the most advantageous Post but being unskilfull in the Art of War he was deceived in his measures as will hereafter appear for the Incas having well encamped their Army made their benefit of this ill Counsel and in less than a months time gained all the delightfull and pleasant Valley of Huarcu The Inca for security of his Arrear and for Convoy to
thus employed in reducing and instructing the Provinces before mentioned other Nations which are seated to the Westward of these bordering on the Confines of that Province which the Spaniards call Puerto Viejo or the Old Port sent their Ambassadours to the Inca with Presents beseeching him to receive them for his Subjects and Vassals and that he would be pleased to send them Captains and Teachers who might instruct them in the way of living in Societies and how to manure their Lands that they might live like Men and not like Beasts promising for themselves all loyalty and faithfulness Those that made the first motion to send this Embassy were of the Nation of Huancavillca The Inca gratiously received their Address commanding that satisfaction should be given them in all their desires and so Teachers were sent to instruct them in Religion and in the Laws and good Customs of the Inca Enginiers were also sent them to make Aqueducts and manure their Fields and reduce them into Societies But afterwards the ingratitude of this people was such that contemning the favours and promises which the Inca had made them they arose up against his people and barbarously murthered them all As Pedro de Cieça in his Observations reports which because it serves to confirm the particulars we have often repeated in this History touching the gentleness and good-nature of the Incas who were always ready to teach and instruct the Indians who submitted to their Dominion we have here inserted the Words of de Cieça that so what we have said concerning the Incas may also be confirmed by the authority of the Spanish Writers His Words are these which follow To return then to our purpose I say that I have heard from Old Indians who were Chiefs in the time of the Great Topa Inga Yupanque that some of his Captains with certain Troops which they had drawn out from those Garrisons which he maintained in divers Provinces of his Kingdom had by divers ways of management reduced much people to the friendship and service of the Inca the principal sort of which went with their Presents to the Province of Paltas to pay their respects of reverence and duty to the Inca who courteously received them with all affection bestowing on several of them rich pieces of Woollen made at Cozco And whereas the occasions of the Inca required his return to his principal Provinces where he was so much esteemed that they styled him Father and honoured him with Titles of Supreme Eminence And such was his affable disposition towards all that his Fame was great and his Memory perpetual But in regard the occasions of his Kingdom were so pressing that he could not stay and in Person visit those Indians he committed the care of that Government to certain Officers who were Natives of Cozco and whose charge it was to instruct them in the manner of living that they might become rational Creatures and live with some form and rule But these did not onely shut their Ears to necessary instructions and disdain the Orders which the Officers of Topa Inga prescribed for their living under Laws in good society and using laudable customs and ways to live such as Manuring their Lands and other matters which contribute to the happiness of of life But in return for such benefits which they ill understood they killed their Instructors not suffering one of them to live and escape and this villany they acted without any provocation or any oppression whereby they might deserve ill from them It is said that when the Inga Topa heard of this Massacre temporizing with the present state of his affairs he dissembled the matter not having opportunity at that time to revenge the Death of those Captains and Subjects Thus far are the Words of Pedro de Cieça with which he concludes his Chapter To which we add that the Inca having finished the Conquest of those Provinces returned again to Cozco to take some repose and divertisement after his great labours and cares in War. CHAP. VII The Inca conquers Quitu and sends to his Son the Prince Huayna Capac to come to him THE Inca Tupac after some few years of ease and peace re-assumed again the thoughts of War resolving to turn his Arms against the Kingdom of Quitu being a Countrey great and famous of 70 Leagues in length and 30 in breadth the Soil fruitfull and capable by good Husbandry of great improvement and benefit to the Inhabitants Wherefore providing an Army of forty thousand strong he marched to Tumipampa which borders on the Confines of that Kingdom sending thence the usual Summons to the King of Quitu who styled himself after the Name of his Countrey This Prince was of a barbarous and rude nature and consequently fierce and cholerick feared by his Neighbours for the great Power and Dominion he had over them Wherefore relying on his own force he confidently answered that he was Lord and Sovereign himself and would acknowledge no other nor receive Foreign Laws but gave such as he thought fit to his own Vassals nor would he forsake the Gods of his Ancestors which were wild beasts and great trees such as afforded them flesh and wood and other benefits necessary for the support of life The Inca having received this answer would not immediately break into Acts of Hostility endeavouring for awhile to try the effects of gentle allurements and moderate terms according to the rule and maxime of his Ancestors But this kind usage operated little on the affections of the people of Quitu who grew more proud and insolent by the condescentions of the Inca which was the cause that when the War broke out it continued many months and years during which time many Skirmishes and Battels happened with great slaughter and damage on both sides Tupac Inca Yupanqui perceiving that this War was likely to continue long sent for his Eldest Son and Heir the Prince Huayna Capac that so he might exercise and practise him in the War commanding him to bring a recruit of twelve thousand Men with him his Mother was called Mama Occlo Sister of his Father according to the custome of those Kings who always took the Eldest Sisters for their Wives The Spanish Historians say that Huayna Capac in the vulgar Language of that Family signifies a Rich Youth But it is certain that those Indians in giving their Names and Sirnames to their Kings observed as we have said other Elegancies and Phrases in Speech different from the common Language having ever some respect to those symptoms and appearances of Vertue which they observed eminent and hopefull in their Princes adding other August Titles agreeable to the Prowess and Illustrious Actions performed in their Manhood And so because this Prince demonstrated in his Youth clear evidences of a Royal and Magnanimous Soul they gave him the Name of Huayna Capac which signifies as much as a Youthfull Spirit invigorated with inclination to heroick and illustrious Atchievements For when they gave
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
them to refresh and enjoy themselves with the plenty of such Provisions as he had made for their Journey for that both he and all his Subjects were desirous to see his Kinsmen who were related with him to their common Father the Sun whom therefore they honoured and to whom they promised all obsequiousness and allegiance And having expressed thus much in behalf of the Inca he afterwards for such were his instructions made this Speech from himself Inca Viracocha said he thou Progeny of the Sun since it hath been my fortune to carry you this happy Message I presume with this occasion to beseech you that you would gratiously be pleased to grant me these three Requests In the first place that you would esteem my Inca and King Atahualpa for your Friend and enter into a perpetual League of peace and friendship with him Secondly that you would forgive and pardon what crime or fault soever our people have either out of ignorance or want of due consideration committed against you And lastly I beseech you that the punishment which by Command of the great God your Father Viracocha you have inflicted on those of the Island of Puna and those of Tumpiz and other parts you would moderate and remit towards those of Cassamarca and such others whom you shall meet and that in regard you are an Inca and descended from the Sun that you would pardon and exercise that Clemency which is one of your divine Attributes And having said thus much he commanded that the Presents should be delivered to the Governour and the other Spaniards his companions the which Presents were Goats Sheep dried slices of the flesh of wild Beasts such as of the Huanacu the Vicunna Stags Elks and fallow Deer of which they brought many alive that so they might see of what sort of Beasts those slices of dried flesh were they presented them also with tame and wild Conies Partridges both dead and alive with Water-fowl and with innumerable smaller Birds likewise with Mayz in the grane and some made up in Bread as also with Fruit both dry and green Honey in the Combs and in Pots with Indian Pepper which they call Uchu and great quantities of drink made of their Wheat and of that grane which they call Mulli Moreover they presented many Vestments of the finest sort such as those with which the Incas were cloathed besides Parrots Monkies Apes and Marmosets and other Animals and strange Insects which as we have said were common in that Countrey As also many Vessels of Gold and Silver to drink in with Plates and Dishes for the Table with many Emeralds and Turquoises And as a particular signal of respect to the General they brought him a pair of such Hose as the Inca himself wore with two Bracelets of Gold which they call Chipana the which two were for variety and change because the Inca wears but one at a time and that is on the Wrist of his left Arme which is a signal of Military Honour which none are qualified to receive but those of the Bloud-Royal or Captains or Souldiers who had signalized themselves by some notable Acts of bravery in reward of which the King conferred that Ornament with his own hand and on both these reasons and respects Don Francisco was esteemed worthy of this signal favour For in the first place he was believed to be a legitimate Issue descended from the Sun and their God Viracocha and secondly his Acts of Valour and Bravery did bespeak and proclaim him for a famous and renowned Captain And thus having made their Presents to the Governour and his Spaniards Titu Atauchi desired them to pardon this presumption of having made so mean and low an Offering to the Children of the Sun unto whom hereafter they would endeavour to make amends by their future observance and dutifull performances The Governour and Captains taking very kindly their obliging Complements and much more their Presents returned in the first place their thanks to the Inca and then to his Ambassadour but when they understood that he was Brother to the King they shewed him extraordinary honour and respect according to his quality and having given him a short Answer to his Embassy he returned fully satisfied and with high contentment Their Answer in short was this That the Spaniards were come by Order and Commission from the Pope or High Priest to turn them from their Idolatry and to instruct them in the true Religion of the Christians They were also come from him who was Emperour and King of Spain who was the greatest Prince of the Christians to enter into a League of Friendship and a perpetual Peace and to make an Alliance with the Inca and all his Empire and never to doe them hurt or offer them any violence besides many other things which they would more at their leisure communicate to the Inca but neither Gomara nor Augustine de Carate make any mention of these rich Presents nor of an Ambassadour who was Brother to the King nor of any Answer made by the Governour onely they speak of some Hose and Bracelets which they brought to the Commander in chief and of some Ruffles or Cuffs for Shirts but these Authours did not consider that the Indians in their natural Habit do not wear Linen The King Atahualpa sent that Message and Presents to the Spaniards with an opinion that thereby he might appease the Sun whom they fansied to be angry and displeased by reason of the resistence which the Indians of the Isle of Puna and the Valley of Tumpiz had made against the Spaniards of whom some of them as we have said being killed they feared a thousand judgments and punishments for their Rebellion against those who were descended from the Sun and their God Viracocha To the terrour of this apprehension the Prophecy which his Father Huayna Capac had delivered came fresh into memory which was that after his time a strange Nation which was not seen or heard of before should enter their Countrey ruine their Empire subvert their Government and destroy their Idolatry And now the King Atahualpa did really believe that the time for accomplishment of this Prophecy was come for that unless these few Spaniards had been assisted by the power of the Sun who was angry with his people it were impossible that so small a handfull of Men should be able to make such slaughters as they had done at Panama Puna Tumpiz and other parts And now fearing the like at his own home he ordered his Brother the Ambassadour to make those three Requests before mentioned in his own Name for though Atahualpa was unwilling to discover any such fear or timorousness in himself yet the apprehension and dread of these things were so fixed in the mind of Atahualpa that his spirit and courage which was formerly brave and aspiring was now become cowed and low with these imaginations and became so intimidated that he never durst make any resistence or opposition
to his people that they should neither hurt nor offend the Spaniards though they should take or kill their King himself On which passage Blas Valera takes occasion to say That as God by the presence of Queen Esther mollified the Spirit of King Ahasuerus so by means of the Holy Cross which the good Friar Valverde held in his hand he charmed the Spirit of this Cholerick and Warlike Prince Atahualpa not onely to a degree of gentleness and quiet temper but even to an entire submission and humble resignation the which we ought to attribute to a Miracle of the divine Mercy for God designing to reduce this people to a knowledge of the true Doctrine of the Holy Gospel was pleased by this and other miraculous instances which we shall find scattered in divers places of this History to operate on the Spirits of this barbarous people Some Writers blame Friar Valverde for this disorder saying that he moved the Spaniards thereunto and encouraged them to lay hands on their Weapons requiring them to doe justice and take revenge for the affront which the King had given them by throwing the Book on the ground which the Friar had put into his hand and some say this could not be the cause for that neither the Friar delivered a Book into the hands of the King nor did he receive it But the truth of all was this Friar Valverde startled at a sudden out-cry of the Indians arose up on a sudden from the seat on which he sate discoursing with the King and running in haste his Book and the Cross which he held in his hand fell on the ground and then catching them up again he ran with speed crying to his Companions that they should offer no hurt to the Indians for that Atahualpa was kind and well affected towards them and that he observed by his Answers and demands his good intentions to satisfie them in all matters according to his capacity but the noise and out-cry of the people was such that the voice of the Friar was not heard amongst them And here it is to be noted that it is not true what some Historians report of Atahualpa that he should say You believe that Christ is God and that he died I adore the Sun and the Moon which are immortal And who taught you that your God created the Heaven and the Earth To which Valverde made answer This Book hath taught it to us Then the King took it in his hand and opening the Leaves laid it to his Ear and not hearing it speak to him he threw it upon the ground Upon which they say that the Friar starting up ran to his Companions crying out that the Gospel was despised and trampled under foot Justice and Revenge upon those who contemn our Law and refuse our Friendship In like manner it is fabulous what they write of the Inca that he should say that he was free and owed not Tribute to any for that he knew no King superiour to himself I should be glad to be a friend to the Emperour who hath evidenced his Power and Greatness in sending Armies into Countries so remote but as to what you mention of Obedience to the Pope I cannot understand the Reasons which should oblige me to a subjection unto him For he who pretends to transfer another's right unto his friends and commands me to quit and renounce the Kingdom which I hold by Inheritance to I know not whom shews himself a Man of little understanding and less justice And as to the change of my Religion of which I am in my conscience satisfied and believe to be Holy it would be dishonourable and a folly in me to question the truth thereof which by ancient tradition and undoubted testimony hath been approved by my Ancestours All which I say was false and framed by the mistakes and flattery of Writers for Atahualpa never questioned the right of paying Tribute but onely insisted on the Reasons why and wherefore it was due and expected from him which demands or questions put the Indians into a combustion The Commander in chief of the Spaniards and Captains under him sent notwithstanding the former relation which they had forged unto the Emperour and forbid all people under severe penalties to make any other report or narrative of what had passed in this particular the truth of which is as I have related it and which may be proved not onely by the Historical or Hyeroglyphical Knots of the Province of Cassamarca but by the testimony of several of those Conquerours who were then present at those transactions Blas Valera saith That one of them was his own Father from whom he hath often heard it confirmed In short we say that 5000 Indians were killed that day 3500 of which were slain with the Sword the rest were old and infirm Men and Women and Children which were trampled and trodden under foot for an innumerable number of all Ages and both Sexes were gathered together to see the Solemnity of this strange and unheard-of Embassy Moreover a great number of Indians perished under the Ruines of a Wall which fell by force of the violent crouds of people which pressed under the shelter of it Two days after this defeat the Cross was found in the same place where Friar Valverde had let it fall for no Indian durst approach near it because perhaps it was like that which the Indians adored in Tumpiz believing that there was some Divinity or mysterious Power in that piece of Wood and being ignorant of the Religion of Christ our Lord they asked pardon for those offences by which they had provoked him to anger And now the Indians began to call to mind the ancient Prophecy delivered by Tradition from their Inca Viracocha whereby he not onely foretells the change of their Laws People and Government but also that their superstitions and religious Rites and Ceremonies should be consumed and perish by fire And in regard they were ignorant of the time when these things were to be accomplished whether now or hereafter both the King and his People were strook with such astonishment that they knew not what to determine nor did they resolve on any thing either defensive to themselves or offensive to the Spaniards onely they considered and worshipped them as Gods and Messengers of the Great Viracocha whom they adored under this denomination and belief Thus far this Relation is extracted out of the Papers of Blas Valera which I shall willingly quote hereafter in several parts of this following History for he was not onely a religious Man but one very curious in finding out the truth and sincere in laying down matters as they really were acted in which he was not satisfied by his Enquiries from Spaniards but likewise took his Informations from the Indians themselves For which reason wheresoever I find any thing of his tending to our purpose I shall quote them as authentick for their authority and in the mean time cannot but much
Christ our Lord as is performed in the Mass and celebrated on such days as the Spaniards had time and leisure to hear it and that some Indians who had entered themselves into the Service of Spaniards received the Sacrament of Baptism and that likewise the Sacraments of Marriage and Penance were practised so soon I say as these four Holy Mysteries were made known and appeared for the other three were not as yet introduced into those Countries the Devils became dumb and silent and lost that familiar discourse and conversation in publick which as we have said they formerly used and practised with those Gentiles onely they whispered sometimes in secret with the famous Magicians who were said to have a greater power and influence upon them And though at first the party of Huascar gave out that this sullen reservedness and silence of the Oracles was caused by the anger and displeasure of the Sun for the tyrannies and cruelties committed by Atahualpa yet at length they were convinced of a more over-ruling cause which affected the Indians with a general fear and consternation believing that the entrance of these new Guests into their Countrey had over-awed and silenced their Oracles the which opinion served to augment the dread and reverence they had of the Spaniards and confirm the Name which they gave them of Viracocha who is the God especially adored by them and held in more esteem and worship than all their petty Huacas of which we have already given a more large relation CHAP. XXXI How Huascar Inca demanded succour and justice from the Two who went on discovery HErnando de Soto and Peter del Barco having travelled above a hundred Leagues came at length to Sausa where the Captains of Atahualpa held Huascar in imprisonment of which the Spaniards being informed they desired to see him and the Inca being in like manner desirous thereof though he was kept under close custody yet at length they obtained admission What discourse passed between them at that time was not well understood for want of an Interpreter nor could they express themselves in any other manner than by signs Onely afterwards it was reported That Huascar being informed by the Indians that the principal design of the Spaniards was to doe justice and to relieve Men under oppression and violence which pretence as the Spanish Writers affirm was always in a specious manner published by the Spaniards from the time of their first Invasion of those Countries and which at all times they boasted in pursuance of the Commands of his Majesty who enjoyned them to hurt none and to render unto every one his due Of which as we say Huascar being assured he with more assurance of redress complained of the tyranny cruelty and injustice which he had received from his Brother Atahualpa who not content to despoil him and his Heirs of his Kingdom and Dominions resolved to bereave him of his life and to that end had imprisoned him under strict and watchfull Guards Wherefore with all earnestness he conjured them not to abandon and leave him in that condition but to take him with them out of the hands of that Guard which designed so soon as they were departed to put him to death And whereas they had published and made known unto all persons that their intentions were to ease and relieve the oppressed he was well assured that so soon as they had received true information from the Captain-General of the justice of his cause they would restore him again to his Liberty and Kingdom Upon which condition he promised them not onely to fill the Chamber with Vessels of Gold and Silver unto the line drawn by his Brother but that he would raise and pile them up unto the very ceiling for the performance of which he esteemed himself much more able than his Brother in regard that he was well acquainted with the places where secret Treasures of his Father were concealed and where his Ancestours had amassed immense Sums and Riches which his Brother would have embezled and much diminished to build Temples and Altars for accomplishment of his Vows in which he had been so profuse that he was become poor and unable to comply with the Ransome which he had promised In answer whereunto Hernando de Soto and Peter del Barco gave him to understand by signs that in obedience to the Command of their Captain-General they were obliged to proceed as far as Cozco and for that reason could not stay with him but at their return they would perform whatsoever might tend to his service and advantage After which they departed leaving poor Huascar more sad and disconsolate than before for having once entertained some hopes and expectation of relief by their coming he became absolutely desperate and desponding of life and comfort believing as it afterwards happened that their visit and discourse was a prelude to his death CHAP. XXXII How these two Spaniards arrived at Cozco where they found Crosses in the Temples and Royal Palaces THese two Companions proceeding on their Journey towards Cozco arrived on the high Promontory of Carmenca from whence they took a survey of the Imperial City and much admired the neighbouring Towns and Villages which encompassed or were adjoyning to it The people coming forth to meet them received them with joy and mirth with Musick and Dances erecting Triumphal Arches in the ways crowned with Flowers and Garlands and strowing the streets with Rushes and lodged them in those Royal Apartments which were called Amarucancha belonging to Huayna Capac for being in their estimation persons of Divine Race they allotted those Chambers for them which appertained to their greatest and most beloved King. At the entrance thereunto was a very fair Tower being four Stories high each of which had a cieling of Timber in such manner as covered the Royal Chambers and which were so lofty that to speak in compass the Turret above was a high as any Spire in Spain unless that of Seville The top thereof was in form of a Globe as were all the Chambers and above all in the place of a Weather-cock or Vayne which the Indians did not understand they had erected a Ball which added much to the height and was so large that the hollow of it contained above sixty Foot in compass called by them Sunturhuaci which signifies as much as the rare piece of Architecture there being no other building adjoyning thereunto to support or hide it In my time it was thrown down or demolished to make the Market-place more large and airy though the truth is it took not up much place and now in lieu thereof the Jesuits have erected a high Coloseo or Pyramid as we have mentioned in the first Part of this History The next day after the Spaniards arrived the Indians carried them in several Palanchines or Seats placed on Mens shoulders to see and view the City and as they passed the people adored and worshipped them after the manner of their Gentilism and
in this particular yet the Devil who is the common enemy of Mankind endeavoured by all his wiles and artifices to obstruct the conversion of those Indians the which in a great measure he effected by the aid and assistence of his diligent Ministers the seven mortal Sins which being in those times of liberty let loose greatly prevailed committing all those outrageous Villanies which might bring a disrepute on the profession of the Gospel Hence arose those Wars which in a short time after were waged between the Indians and the Spaniards occasioned by persidiousness and non-performance of the Articles for that Pride would not stoop nor consent to a restitution of the Kingdom to his proper and lawfull Master Afterwards Anger prevailed and raised War between the two Companions Piçarro and Almagro which being maintained by Envy and Emulation one not supporting the greater power of the other continued untill both of them perished in a competition for Authority for Almagro was killed by the Brother of Piçarro and so was Piçarro slain by the Son of Almagro These Wars were followed by others between that good Governour Vaca de Castro with whom I was acquainted at Madrid in the year 1562 and Don Diego de Almagro Junior for Pride which is the Mother of Dissention was so prevalent in the mind of this Youth that having neither a Spirit to submit to his Lord and Sovereign nor Power to maintain his Dominion he perished in his folly Soon after Covetousness and Tyranny raised a War between the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela and Gonçalo Piçarro the which in a few years after was followed by Stirs and Combustions between Don Sebastian de Castilla and Francisco Hernandez Giron occasioned by Gluttony and Luxury All which Wars succeeding one after the other for the space of twenty five years were raised by the malice and contrivance of the Devil as we shall demonstrate in their due place and were great obstructions to the propagation of the Gospel for by reason of continual disturbances neither the Priests could freely Preach nor had the Infidels leisure nor convenience to receive the Doctrine of Faith being under the continual amazements of Fire and Sword and other miseries in which the Indians had a greater share than the Spaniards being oppressed by both sides and compelled to supply both Camps with Provisions and carry the burthens for them on their shoulders with wonderfull patience and labour of which I my self have in part been an Eye-witness CHAP. VII Of the Entrance of the Spaniards into Cozco and of the great Treasure which they found there SO soon as the Inca Titu Atauchi had dispeeded Francisco de Chaves and his Companions with the aforesaid Capitulations he sent an Express Messenger to Inca Manco Capac who was his Brother by the Father's side with advice of the Articles agreed and of all particulars which had passed that so being well informed of all matters he might be provided to act and treat with the Spaniards The General Quizquiz sent in like manner to advise him that he should by no means disband his Army but rather increase it untill such time as he had wholly concluded and setled matters with the Spaniards lest being secure and over confident of their kindness he should fall into the same snare and run into the same fate which his Brother Atahualpa had already suffered With these Informations and Advices the Indians sent their humble Submissions to Manco Inca acknowledging him for their Supreme Lord and King for though they had been Enemies to him whilst he stood in competition with his Brother Atahualpa yet that difference being now ended by his Death all was reconciled it being agreed at a Council of War that the Empire should be restored to that person unto whom the Succession did by lawfull Inheritance appertain And on this foundation they resolved to unite their forces for Expulsion of the Spaniards in case they could not live in amity with them believing themselves much more formidable by this concord and union than when they were divided into several Factions and Parties The Prince Manco Inca received the Advices of his Brother and the Addresses of Quizquiz with much joy being much pleased to find that those who were his late Enemies were now reconciled and joyned with him in his just claim and title to the Empire And herein he was the more satisfied to understand that the Spaniards concurred in the like intentions having on all occasions openly declared their inclinations to right and justice Upon which presumption the Inca adventured to apply himself to the Spaniards to demand Peace and Friendship and in a simple and sincere manner to require the Government and Dominion over his Kingdom according to the Capitulations which his Brother Titu Atauchi had sent to him And here we shall leave him for a while in his preparations for such an Address untill its due time and place and return to our Francisco Piçarro who being better advised by the late damage which his people had sustained from Titu Atauchi did now march with more caution and less security than before so that they met no considerable Encounters unless a few flying Skirmishes near the City of Cozco from whence the Inhabitants sallied out to defend a Pass but making a feeble and poor resistence they hastily fled to their Houses from whence carrying away their Wives and Children and what Stock and Goods they could collect they retired into the Mountains being greatly affrighted with the reports of what had succeeded in Cassamarca for that Countrey having been subject to the power of Atahualpa made some resistence being desirous if possible to revenge the Death of their Prince Gomara treating of this particular passage hath these words The next day the Spaniards entred into Cozco without any opposition and presently they fell at work some to unrip the Gold and Silver from the Walls of the Temple others to dig up the Jewels and Vessels of Plate which were buried with the Dead others pillaged and rifled the Idols and sacked the Houses and the Fortress where still great quantities of Gold and Silver were conserved which had been there amassed and laid up by Guayna Capac In short there was more Gold and Silver found in this City and in the parts about it than what was produced at Caxamalca by the ransome of Atabaliba Howsoever the particular share belonging to every individual person did not amount unto so much as the former Dividend by reason that the number was greater which was to partake thereof nor was the second fame so loud as the first which published the Triumph of Riches with the Imprisonment of a King. A certain Spaniard entering into a Vault found there an entire Sepulchre of Silver so thick and massy that it was worth fifty thousand pieces of Eight others had the fortune to find such as were of less value for it was the custome of rich Men of those Countries to be buried in this manner
persons that he had confiscated the Goods and Estates of other Men and converted them to his own use that he had made a division of Indians and reparted them amongst his friends without any Commission from his Majesty that at present he came with an Army against the Standard-Royal and gave defiance to the Governour who was established by the King's Commission And farther to justifie his cause he did there in hearing of all his Army by virtue of the Power committed to him by his Majesty pronounce sentence against Almagro proclaiming him Rebel and Traytor and for his crimes did condemn him to die and lose all his estate both real and personal requiring all the Captains and the whole Army to be aiding and assisting to him in the execution of this Sentence which he declared by virtue of a Commission from his Majesty whereby he was constituted and appointed Chief Minister and Governour of that Empire The Sentence being given Vaca de Castro concluded that according to the Answer of Almagro which evidenced a resolution to persist in his rebellion there was no farther place to hope for Peace by way of Treaty Wherefore he put his people into a posture of defence having received intelligence that Almagro and his Army were approaching near Having drawn his Forces into the Field he made them a Speech telling them That they were to consider who they were from whence they came and for whom and for what cause they were to fight that the possession and enjoyment of that whole Empire was held up to them for a reward and prize to the Conquerours if they were overcome neither he nor they could escape death and if on the contrary they won the Field they would be for ever happy for besides the duty and obligation incumbent on them as true and loyal Subjects to serve their King they would remain Lords and Possessours of all the Divisions of Land which had been already made with the vast Wealth and Riches thereof and for ever to enjoy the same in peace and quietness And so to those who were not as yet so well provided with possessions he did promise them in the Name and Word of his Majesty to divide and set out Lands to them for reward of their Loyalty and Service to their King. In short he told them that he knew there was no need of long Speeches and Exhortations to incite Courage in such Noble Cavaliers and Valiant Souldiers and though he was well assured they would be forward in action yet they should see him their Leader to be the first who should break his Lance in the Front against his Enemies Answer was made hereunto with common voice that they would all dye rather than be overcome and since every Man esteemed himself equally concerned in this Enterprize they earnestly intreated the Governour not to hazard himself in the Front of the Battel but rather conserve his own Person on whose safety the Welfare of the whole Army did greatly depend and that he would please with a Guard of thirty Horse to retire to some place in the Rere from whence he might see how the Battel went and accordingly order and apply Succours to that part which he judged to be most hardly beset and oppressed in compliance with the importunity of his Captains the Governour consented to take his station in the Rere in which posture they expected the coming of Almagro whose Quarters were about two Leagues from thence and the day following the Scouts returned with news that the Enemy was come within half a League with design to give them Battel Hereupon the Governour immediately drew out his Forces into Battalia On the right hand of the Infantry he placed the Royal Standard desended by Alonso de Alvarado and carried by Christopher de Barrientos Native of Ciudad-rodrigo and Inhabitant of Truxillo where Pedro Alvarez Holguin was possessed of a great Estate and Jurisdiction over the Indians Gomez de Alvarado Garçilasso de la Vega and Pedro Ançures who were Captains of Horse flanked the Foot on the left Wing Carate saith in the 18th Chapter of his fourth Book That these Commanders marched very orderly keeping their Colours and Companies in an equal line they themselves being in the first rank and that the Infantry Commanded by the Captains Pedro de Vergara and John Valez de Guevara marched between the two Wings and Squadrons of Horse and that Nunno de Castro who Commanded the Harquebusiers was placed in the Van to begin the Fight and being repulsed to retire into the main Body Vaca de Castro remained with his thirty Horse in the Rere at some distance from the main Body from whence he might be able to observe all that passed and accordingly apply succours and relief where occasion did most require Thus far Carate Pedro de Alvarado wore over his Arms a Coat of white Satten slashed and pinked saying That when Archers shoot at Butts there are very few which hit the white Mark. In this posture they remained in expectation of the coming of Almagro who by this time was entred the Plain and encamped on the ridge of a Hill so far distant from the Royal Army as was out of Cannon-shot Pedro Suarez Serjeant-Major who had been long a Souldier in Italy and trained up to the War soon perceived the advantage they had of the ground and drew up his Squadrons in form and manner to answer those of the Enemy His Insantry he flanked on one side and the other with Wings of Horse Commanded by his Captain-General John Balsa and Major-General Pedro d' Onnate and the Captains were John Tello de Guzman Diego Mendez John de Onna Martin de Bilbao Diego de Hojeda and Malavez All which were brave fellows and well resolved to conquer the Empire and acquire Dominion over the poor Vassals of that Countrey The Serjeant-Major placed all the Artillery in the Front of which Pedro de Candia was chief Master or Captain bearing directly on that side of the Enemy where it was possible for them to be attacked And then he went to Almagro who with a Guard of eight or ten Men was placed in the midst between the Horse and Foot and said to him in this manner Sir your Lordship hath now all your Forces so advantageously drawn up under the defence of your Cannon that if you please but to continue in this order and not to move from it you may overcome your Enemies either without push of the Lance or stroke of Sword For let the Enemy come which way they will you must break and destroy them with your Cannon before they can come within shot of Musquet But by that time that things could be thus ordered and disposed it was towards the Evening when the Sun was onely two hours high Vaca de Castro and his Council were much divided in their opinions whether they should engage that day or not Francisco de Carvajal who was Serjeant-Major and an experienced Souldier was of opinion that
this they were obliged to no other Tribute or Service and of this nature my Father was possessed of three little Villages in the Valley of Cozco and in the parts adjacent the Inhabitants of Cozco held divers such like Cottages obliged to the use and service of the City And where it happened out that the lot fell to any person in places uninhabited they presently sent to the Head-quarters to be supplied with Indians in part of the Tribute due to them and accordingly the same was granted and the Indians which were allotted to them with great chearfulness and contentment followed and observed the imposition of their Masters so that when the President Gasca came and found this particular point so equally disposed and established he approved thereof and made no manner of alteration therein As to the third Precept which retrenched the Bishops Monasteries and Hospitals in those large proportions of services which former Governours had bestowed upon them over Indians It seemed neither injurious nor unreasonable wholly to take them away for that the Intention of the Governours was not to grant them for a longer time than they were impowred by his Majesties Commission which was only for two lives which being expired their right ceased and herein Monasteries Bishopricks and Hospitals though of perpetual durance yet could not pretend to a greater privilege than the Adventurers and Conquerours of those Empires The remaining part of this third and fourth Ordinance we shall declare hereafter in the place where we give a relation of the Complaints which those made who believed themselves injured and damnifyed thereby CHAP. XXI Of the Officers which were sent to Mexico and Peru to put these Laws into Execution And a Description of the Imperial City of Mexico WHen these Laws of the new Establishment came over It was farther ordered that the Court held at Panama should be dissolved and another new one erected in the confines of Guatimala and Nicaragua to which Court the whole Terra Firma or Continent was to be subjected It was farther ordained That another Court of Chancery should be erected in Peru consisting of four Judges and a President to whom the title should be given of vice-Vice-king and Captain General And that a certain person should be sent unto New Spain with a power of Visitation to oversee the Government of the Vice-king and the Proceedings in the Court of Mexico and of the several Bishopricks and to take an account from the Officers of the Royal Revenue and of all the Justices of that Kingdom All which Regulations were issued forth with the aforementioned Ordinances which as formerly declared were fourty in number And whereas there resided in the Court of Spain many Indians from all parts divers Copies of these new Rules were translated sent-over and dispersed which all and every particular person inhabitants of those two Empires took out for his information being of general concernment but so displeasing were these new regulations to the generality of those People that in high discontent they caballed together and held publick meetings to contrive a remedy Some few days after the publication of these Orders his Imperial Majesty nominated Don Francisco Tello de Sandoval a Native of Seville who had been Inquisitor of Toledo to be his Visitor for which Office he judged him the most proper person he could chuse in consideration that he had formerly been a member of the Royal Council of the Indies and a person of great probity and prudence and for that reason was well worthy of the emploiment to see that the new Laws should be put in execution as well in New Spain as in other parts of the Empire and to that purpose that he should visit all places to see them actually performed and put into practice At the same time Blasco Nunnez Vela who was Surveyor General of the Forts of Castile was named President and Vice-king of the Kingdoms and Provinces of Peru concerning which matter Carate in the second Chapter of his fifth Book hath these words following The great experience his Majesty had of this Gentleman whom he had tryed and approved in other Governments of Countries and Cities namely in Malaga and Cuenca and having found that he was a Gentleman of great probity and rectitude executing impartial justice unto all men without respect to persons and that he was ever zealous for the Royal Interest and that with great courage he performed the King's Commands and without failure in any thing his Majesty therefore judged him worthy of this honourable emploiment Thus far are the words of Carate Moreover Don Diego de Cepeda a Native of Tordersillas who had been Judge in the Isles of the Canaries and Don Lison de Texada a Native of Logromo who had been Judge of the Marshal's Court held at Valladolid for deciding points of Honour and Don Alvarez who had been a Pleader or Advocate in the same Court with Don Pedro Ortez de Carate a Native of the City of Ordunna formerly Mayor of Segovla were all four put into Commission and appointed Officers in those parts Moreover Augustine de Carate who had been Secretary of the Privy-Council was appointed Auditor General of all the Accounts of those Kingdoms and Provinces and of that whole Continent To whom and to the persons above-mentioned these Rules and Orders above-mentioned were delivered with Command That so soon as the Courts were setled and established in the City of Los Reyes where his Majesty commanded they should be held the several Laws mentioned in the sequel of the Commissions should be observed and maintained without any violation Thus much is reported by Diego Fernandez in the second Chapter of his Book and the like also is mentioned by Augustine Carate almost in the same termes and that these Laws were issued out and dated in the month of April 1543. And now in the first place we will briefly relate the happy success of these matters in Mexico from whence we will proceed to Peru and there declare the sad and dolefull effects thereof which happened in that Kingdom as well to Spaniards as Indians In the month of November 1543. the Vice-king together with his Judges Ministers and Chief Super-Intendent Don Francisco Tello de Sandoval embarked at San Lucar upon a noble Fleet consisting of about 52 Sail of good and tall Ships and loosing from thence with a prosperous gale arrived in 12 days at the Islands of the Canaries from whence having taken some refreshments they pursued their voyage and then divided their Fleet those for New Spain steering their course to the right-hand and those for Peru unto the left where we will leave our Vice-king in prosecution of his voyage to relate the success of the Visitor or Super-Intendent in the Kingdom of Mexico And passing by the many particulars of his voyage which are mentioned by Diego Fernandez Paletino we shall say in short that in the month of Febr. 1544. he safely arrived in the Port of St. John
all his Council and Officers pursued the design of putting the new Statutes into practice that for want of due consideration of what might conduce to his Majesties service he put the whole wellfare of the Empire into danger We have formerly mentioned how that the two Fleets bound for Peru and Mexico separated each from the other in the Gulf or Bay of Las Damas and steering thence a different course the Vice-king with a prosperous Wind arrived at Nombre de Dios on the 10th of January 1544. from whence he travailed to Panama where he manumitted or set at liberty great numbers of Indians and freed them from their duty and servitude to the Spaniards who had brought them from Peru and caused them again to return thither the which action was displeasing and ill resented on all sides for that the Spaniards were highly troubled to be deprived of the Vassalage of their Indian Servants whom they had instructed and taught to be industrious and they themselves being turned Christians and inured to the service of the Spaniards and domesticated in their families were unwilling to quit their Masters And though it was often insinuated to the Vice-king that this action would prove to the disservice both of God and the King to exempt the Indians from their servitude to the Spaniards in regard that such of them as had declared and professed themselves Christians could not long continue in that state but so soon as they returned to the power of their Caciques would renounce Christianity and revert to their old principles and Sacrifices to the Devil Moreover they represented unto him that though his Majesty ordained that the Indians should be set at liberty yet he commanded that they should be free to reside where they pleased and not be forced against their own wills to return unto Peru and with so little Provision and ill accommodation that it was almost impossible for them to be sustained but that most of them must perish in the voyage thither To all which the Vice-king made no other reply than that such was the express command and pleasure of his Majesty from which he was resolved not to deviate in the least tittle and accordingly he sent his Orders to all Masters of Indians that they should immediately set their Indians at liberty and furnish them with provisions for their voyage in pursuance of which Command 300 Indians were embarked and dispatched away but so ill accommodated and provided in the Ship that many of them were starved with hunger and others being landed and left to shift for themselves on the coast perished with famine and the hardship they sustained in that desolate Countrey Such persons as undertook to dissuade the Vice-king from putting the new Laws into practice offered many Reasons to the contrary representing unto him the many late unhappy Civil Wars which would easily be renewed by a People whose humours were already in a fermentation and disposed to make insurrections These Discourses being displeasing and ungratefull to the Vice-king moved him to unhansome expressions and to tell them that such Motions as those were punishable and that were he in a place within his own jurisdiction he would advance the Promoters thereof unto the Gallows the which angry and rude Answer gave a check to all Addresses intended to be made to the Vice-king of this matter Blasco Nunnez remained twenty days in Panama during which time the Sheriffs and Justices of the City received several advices of the state of Peru in which two things were very considerable One was that upon the advice of the coming of the new Rules the Conquerours of Peru were all in a Mutiny and in great Discontent And the other that it was impossible to put the same in execution without great danger of subverting the whole Government For that it being but lately since the Battel was fought wherein Vaca de Castro overthrew Diego de Almagro the younger with the Slaughter of 350 men and that those who survived esteemed that the dangers they had sustained by the suppression of this Rebellion was a piece of such service to his Majesty as deserved a high reward rather than the least diminution of their Estates and Privileges Howsoever the Justices and Officers being acquainted with the humour and disposition of the Vice-king did not think fit to inform or press him farther supposing that upon his arrival in Peru having seen and observed the nature and constitution of those Countreys he would be more easily convinced and more apt to receive the impressions of better Councils but the Vice-king being of a froward and petulant disposition easily moved with the least occasion resolved not to suffer the Judges to associate or go in company with him swearing that before they came thither he would effect and compass all matters according to the Rules and Laws which were prescribed Carate who was then Governour of Panama being at that time sick and in his Bed the Vice-king made him the Complement of a Visit before his departure when Carate told him that since he was resolved to depart without the attendance and company of the Judges he earnestly desired and heartily admonished him to enter into the Countrey in a mild and gentle manner and not to propose or attempt to put any of the new Laws into execution or practice untill the Courts of Justice were erected and setled in the City of Los Reyes and till he was fully possessed of the Power and Authority of the Countrey for before that time such an enterprize would not be feasible nor prove honourable for his Majesty nor conduce to the welfare of the People or conservation of the Government And in regard that several of those new Laws which he designed to put in execution were very rigorous and oppressive on the People he advised him to suspend them untill he had given his advice thereupon unto his Majesty with his opinion of the mischiefs which might accrue thereby and that if after all this his Majesty should continue his Pleasure to have them executed it might then be more seasonable to promulge and put them in practice for that by that time he might be able to get into Power and establish himself in the Government All which and many other things were declared to him by Carate but he not relishing them being contrary to his humour served onely to move his Choler and cause him in a passion to swear that he would without other preamble or address to the King for other Instructions immediately execute the new Laws without the help or assistence of the Judges who upon their arrival in Peru should find that he had no need of their help to enforce those Laws In this manner without other attendance than his own private Family he embarked and on the 4th of May he arrived in the Port of Tumbez from whence he travailed over Land and all the way he went he published the new Orders and caused them to be executed and
obeyed laying a Tax or Imposition on the People according to the numbers of those Indians they held and taking them away from others caused them all to be held as of the King. In this manner he passed through Piura and Truxillo proclaiming the new Laws as he went and causing them to be executed without admitting any Petition or Argument thereupon And though the Inhabitants alledged that this method of proceeding was not justifiable without hearing the Objections they had to produce unto the contrary and that the Laws were not to be enforced without knowledge of the Cause or publication of his Power or Commission in a Court of Judicature it being expresly signified by his Majesty that those new Laws were to be published in Court in presence of the Vice-king and four Judges Howsoever the Vice-king unmoved by any reasons or persuasions proceeded resolutely to execute them threatning those who refused to obey them the which struck great terrour and confusion into the minds of the People considering that the Laws were general and comprehensive of all sort of People without any qualification or restriction And herein this vice-Vice-king was so positive that so soon as he was landed on the Coast of Peru he dispatched his Emissaries before him to the City of Los Reyes and to Cozco giving them to understand that he being arrived within those Dominions the whole power and authority as Vice-king devolved upon him and that thereupon the Commission and Command of Vaca de Castro was superseded Some few days before these advices were brought to the City of Los Reyes the whole tenure of the new Regulations dispatched from the King by Blasco Nunnez Vela were made known by the Copies which were dispersed in all places so that the Corporation of Los Reyes dispatched away the Advices thereof to Antonio de Ribera and John Alonso Palomino desiring them to make Vaca de Castro acquainted therewith but he was not ignorant before of all that passed for his Servant in Spain called James de Aller being informed of the new Statutes and Regulations speedily posted with them to his Master in Cozco so that he was informed of every particular before the Vice-king arrived Thus far is reported by the Writings of Fernandez de Palentino and generally all the Historians agree with him in the same Relation CHAP. II. Judge Vaca de Castro goes to the City of Los Reyes and discharges those who went with him upon the way The great noise and disturbance which the Execution of the new Laws occasioned and the mutinous words which the People uttered thereupon THE Governour Vaca de Castro having received information of the approach of the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela and of the tenure of the Laws which he brought with him and that he put them in execution with all the vigour imaginable without hearing any man speak or admitting any Petition to the contrary he thought fit to secure his own interest and party by a due compliance with him in order whereunto he went to the City of Los Reyes there to receive him for Vice-king And though the Corporation of the City of Rimac sent their Emissaries Antonio de Ribera and John Alonso Palamino to him and also others from the City of Cozco and other parts persuading him not to goe in person to the Vice-king but rather to send a Message to him in the name of all the People desiring him to suspend the execution of the new Laws And whereas this Vice-king by reason of his rough and obstinate humour had rendred himself uncapable of Office by not giving ear to the complaints and aggrievances which his Majesty's good Subjects offered to him shewing nothing but fierceness in the execution of matters of the smallest moment they were generally of opinion that he should be rejected and not admitted to the Government and that in case Vaca de Castro would not concurr with them herein they did not doubt but to fix upon another person who should join with them in the opposition which they intended to make By this obstinacy and fierceness of the Vice-king all Peru was put into a flame and the humours of the people into a fermentation there was now no other talk or discourse over all Peru than of the new Laws the contents of which the Messengers of the Vice-king whom he had sent before to take up his quarters had openly divulged in all places and thereunto the rumour of the people as is common in such cases had aggravated the severity thereof the more to provoke and incense the people Hereupon Vaca de Castro prepared himself for his Journey to Los Reyes and being upon his departure from Cozco he was accompanied with a numerous Train of Citizens and Souldiers for being a person well beloved there would not have remained so much as one person in the City if he would have accepted of their attendance and being on his way he was met by Messengers from the vice-Vice-king giving him to understand that his Commission for the Government was now superseded by his arrival in those parts and that he was to receive and acknowledge him for the chief Governour of that Countrey to all which Vaca de Castro chearfully submitted and desisted from exercising the power of his Office but before that time by a Writing under his hand he had bestowed and settled several Plantations of Indians on certain persons who had by their services and sufferings well deserved the favour and reward of his Majesty being such of whose merits he had been an eye-witness or at least had received sufficient Testimonials of their loyalty and good services before he came to the administration of the Government The Messengers which the Vice-king sent before to provide for his entertainment gave a relation in all places in what manner the new Laws were put in practice and how enforced how he had freed the Indians in Panama from their duty and vassalage to the Spaniards against whose will and in despight of whom he had embarked and sent them away to Peru how he had in Tumpiz St. Michael's and Truxillo laid a Tax upon some Lands and freed others and settled them all in Capite to be held of the King according to the rules prescribed by the new Laws without any consideration of difference or distinction of cases but made all things equal without admitting of provisoes or reservations or hearing what any man had to alledge but with an unshaken resolution pretended that so was his Majesty's pleasure The which so much enraged the people who accompanied Vaca de Castro that most of them returned back to Cozco without so much as taking their leave of the Governour pretending that they could not appear before a man so fierce and arbitrary without danger of being by him condemned to the Gallows Howsoever they gave out that when the Auditours and Justices came they would then appear to give in their plea and reasons against such proceedings yet in the
rather than of equity for it was an intolerable injustice in the King to take away those Slaves whom he had sold and yet not return the money for them and the price he had received and that Monasteries Hospitals and Churches and the very Conquerours themselves should be divested of their servants and slaves to make them vassals to the King And what was most unreasonable in the mean time a double duty and tribute was imposed upon the Indians which was intended for their ease and relief though in reality it proved their greatest aggrievance and oppression Thus far are the words of Gomara CHAP. III. Of the Discourse and Reports the People of Peru raised against the Promoters of the new Laws and particularly against the Civil-Lawyer Bartholomew de las Catas SUch Liberty the People generally took in their Discourses against all those who had been Contrivers and Promoters of these new Laws that they reported a thousand evil things of them and particularly of Frier Bartholomew de las Casas who being notoriously known to have had a chief hand in these new Regulations fell under the severe lash of their Tongues for as Diego Fernandez one of the first Adventurers and Conquerours of Peru reports they ript up a thousand Misdemeanours of which he was guilty before he entred into the profession of a religious Life and particularly how he had endeavoured to make himself the Conquerour and Governour of the Island in Cumana and that he had been the cause of the destruction and slaughter of many Spaniards by the false reports he had given to the Emperour of the State of Affairs in Peru making great and large Promises of advancing the King's revenue and of sending vast quantities of Gold and Pearl to the Flemins and Burgundians who resided in the Court of Spain Many of those Spaniards who had been employed in the Conquest of the Isles of Barlovento were well acquainted with Bartholomew de las Casas before he professed himself a Frier and were well informed of the effect and success of the Promises he made touching the Conversion of the Indians in the Isle of Cumana of all which Lopez de Gomara in the 77th Chapter of his History writes so particularly that it is probable he might have received a Relation thereof from some of the Conquerours of that Countrey in confirmation whereof and for the better authority of this his History I will here insert the very Chapter it self the Title whereof is as followeth Chapter the 77th wherein is contained a relation of the Death of those Christian Spaniards who followed Bartholomew de las Casas a Priest. Bartholomew de las Casas a Priest was in that time at St. Domingo when the Monasteries of Cumana and Chirivichi were in their flourishing state and condition and having heard a good report of the fruitfulness of that soil of the gentle and pacifick humour of the Natives and of the great abundance of Pearl which that Countrey afforded he sailed into Spain and demanded of the Emperour the Government of Cumana promising to improve and increase the Royal Revenue which was much abated by the frauds and abuses of those Officers who had it in managemet But John Rodriguez de Fonseca and Dr. Lewis Capatoa and Secretary Lopez de Conchillos contradicted him in his report and represented him as a person uncapable of such office and emploiment in regard he was not onely a Priest but a person of ill fame and reputation and ignorant of the Countrey and of the state of those affairs which he pretended to declare Howsoever upon the pretence of being a good Christian and of a new method he proposed by a more ready way to convert the Indians and upon promises of advancing the King's revenue and sending them store of Pearls he obtained the favour of Monsieur Laâ—ao Lord Chamberlain to the Emperour and of several Flemins and Burgundians who were men of power and authority in that Court. At that time great quantities of Pearls were imported into Spain so that the Wife of Xeures begged 170 * Marks of them which came on account of the King's fifths and many Flemins and others begged great quantities from the King. He desired to have Workmen and Artificers to be sent with him rather than Souldiers who were fit for nothing but to plunder and pillage and to be mutinous and disobedient to Commands He desired also to be accompanied with a new order of Knights who should wear a golden Spur and carry a red Cross of different shape and fashion to the order of Calatrava which distinction as it ennobled them so also it was a testimony that they went voluntarily and of their own accord Moreover Orders were sent to Seville to provide him with Ships and Seamen at the charge of the King and with this equipage he arrived at Cumana in the year 1520 with about 300 Artificers all wearing Crosses at which time Gonçalo de Ocampo resided at New Toledo who was much troubled to see so many Spaniards under the command of a person of that ill character and transported thither by order of the Admiralty and Council because the Countrey was of a different nature to what it was reported to be in the Court. Howsoever Bartholomew presented and shewed his Commission requiring that according thereunto they should quit the Countrey and leave it free for him to plant his People and to govern the place Whereunto Gonçalo de Ocampo made answer that with all ready obedience he did submit thereunto but howsoever he could not put those matters into execution without first receiving directions from the Governours and the Judges of St. Domingo by whose Commission he was placed in that station And in the mean time he passed many a jest upon the Priest on certain occasions which had formerly happened for he was well acquainted with him and knew his humour and his conversation sometimes he jeered his new Knights and their Crosses all which the Priest would put off with a Jest though he was inwardly troubled to be taxed with so many Truths which he could not deny And in regard they would not give him admittance into the Town of Toledo he built himself a House of Wood and Morter near to the Monastery of St. Francis which served him for a Magazine wherein to lodge his provisions stores and instruments during the time that he went to St. Domingo to make known his Complaints and seek a Redress Gonçalo de Ocampo went also I know not for what cause or reason whether on this occasion or for some Law-suit he had with the People of that place but certain it is that all the Inhabitants followed him so that the Town was abandoned by all excepting the Artisans and Mechanicks which he brought with him The Indians who were glad to make their advantages of these differences and quarrels amongst the Spaniards took this opportunity to demolish their Houses and to kill all the golden Knights and others which remained
not justifyable and therefore according to the rules of Justice they could not doe less than to set him at Liberty Hereunto the Vice-king replyed that he was committed by his order and that he intended to have hanged him as well for that Motto or Sentence which was wrote on the wall of his Inn as also for several other scandalous reports he had vented against his person And though he had no witness to produce in this matter yet by the authority and privilege of a vice-Vice-king he had power not onely to imprison him but also to put him to death if he so pleased without rendering an account to any person whatsoever to which the Judges replyed that there was no Government but what was agreeable to Justice and founded on the Laws of the Kingdom and on these terms they parted so that the Judges on the Saturday following freed Antonio Solar from the prison and confined him onely to his own house and speedily afterwards they set him at liberty This manner of proceeding angred the Vice-king to the very soul and provoked him to contrive some way of revenge which he supposed he had effected in this manner which was this It seems that these Judges with their Servants were lodged and dieted in the house of one of the richest Citizens in the whole town and had been there lodged and boarded by order of the Vice-king for a short time untill they could otherwise provide for themselves And now the Vice-king thinking to doe them a discourtesie recalled the aforesaid Order forbidding the Citizens to entertain them longer upon pretence that it was not suitable to the King's honour nor to their own quality to lodge upon free-quarter or to keep company with Citizens and Merchants To which the Judges gave for answer That as to their lodging they could find no other convenient place untill such time as they could hire a house by lease for some term of years that for the future they would pay for their diet And for matter of their conversation with Merchants it was not unlawfull or prohibited but on the contrary it was practised in Castile by all those who were of the King's Council as being beneficial to them to understand by information from trading men all the transactions and businesses of the World. In this manner both parties remained at variance each with other which was apparent at all times whensoever occasion offered In pursuance whereof one day Dr. Alvarez made Affidavit before a Master of Chancery that he had paid a certain sum in Gold to Diego Alvarez who was brother-in-law to the Vice-king to have him nominated and preferred to an Office by the Vice-king the which deposition he highly resented Thus far are the words of Carate and the same is again confirmed by Diego Fernandez almost to the same purpose For in this manner saith he the Vice-king and the Judges seemed like two different factions and parties to increase which so soon as Antonio Solar was set at liberty he went privately about raising mutinies and discontents in the minds of the people against the Vice-king to increase and inflame which they reported abroad many bad things which the Vice-king had said and done And though all was so far from being true that nothing of that nature did so much as enter into the thoughts or imagination of the Vice-king yet by reason that Blasco Nunnez was hated and detested by the people all the evil that was said of him found easie admittance and he appeared as black as common same could make him for such indignation the people conceived against him that the name of Vice-king became as odious though the first that ever governed Peru as the name of King was to the Romans after they had expelled Tarquinius Superbus and his Family Thus far are the words of Diego Fernandez Palentino Also Dr. Gonçalo de Yllescas in his Pontifical History of the Popes having occasion to treat of the affairs of Peru gives this Character of the froward and uneasie disposition of Blasco Nunnez Vela After these things says he Vaca de Castro for the space of a year and a half quietly and peaceably governed all matters untill such time as he was superseded by Blasco Nunnez Vela a Gentleman of good quality of Avola who was sent thither with Character of Vice-king bringing with him many severe Rules and Laws which he put in execution over and above which he put in practice others for which he had no Commission the which this Doctor Yllescas declares in a few words and says more than all our Historians durst to say or write upon this particular subject Whilst these disturbances happened in the City Los Reyes the like mutinies or greater arose in other Towns and Corporations of less consideration Howsoever the like spirits of Ambition Envy Tyranny and Desire of Government did not so far prevail as they did in that City of Los Reyes And now dissention and quarrels over-ran all and amidst these Turmoils the poor Prince Manco Inca had the misfortune to be killed though he remained content and quiet in his retirement and became a voluntary exile whilst other men striving for his Empire committed many murthers and slaughters as appeared in the late Wars and we might apprehend others more bloudy yet to come in case it were possible for any to be more bloudy and cruel than those which were past And here it is to be noted That Diego Mandez and Gomez Perez with six other Spaniards whom we formerly nominated and mentioned to have made their escape out of prison where they had been confined by the faction of the Piçarros and by the Justice of Vaca de Castro and having taken refuge with this Inca they by his means came to know and receive all the Informations and Advices concerning the new Troubles and Dissentions arising upon the execution of the new Laws for whereas it was reported that the Vice-king came to turn all things upside down and to change and alter all the Constitutions of the Countrey the Inca who was encompassed within the craggy and lofty mountains was informed by his Subjects of all these revolutions which he thought might be of benefit and concernment to him With this news Diego Mendez and his Companions were highly pleased and persuaded the Inca to write a Letter to the Vice-king desiring his Licence to be enlarged from his retirement and appear in his presence and serve his Majesty in any thing as occasion should offer the Inca was induced at the persuasion of the Spaniards to make this Petition who told him that it might be a means to open a way to his recovery of the whole Empire or at least of the best part of it The Spaniards also wrote as from themselves desiring a pardon for what was past and a protection or safe conduct in the attendance of his Lordship to perform their duty to him Gomez Perez was the person appointed and elected to be Ambassadour from
that they would keep Order and Military Discipline to avoid surprise and that he and the other Gentlemen who were his Associates would maintain and pay them as was reasonable in regard they were employed for conservation of their Lives and Estates And with such fair pretensions as these he persuaded the people to joyn with him in the justification he had made of his cause which being generally approved they freely offered their Services to defend him to the last drop of their bloud and in this manner he departed from Cozco attended with the Citizens and Inhabitants as before mentioned Thus far are the words of Carate With these preparations before-mentioned which amounted unto five hundred Souldiers and twenty thousand Indians to attend the Camp for twelve thousand onely were requisite to draw and manage the Cannon and Artillery Gonçalo Piçarro departed from Cozco to march unto the City of Los Reyes giving out that his design was no other than onely to petition and to treat and being marched as far as Sacsahuana being four leagues distant from the City we shall leave him there a while and return to the vice-Vice-king to declare how matters passed between him and his Subjects in Los Reyes and other parts Though Blasco Nunnez Vela was settled in the seat of his Authority and received for Governour of that Empire yet he was uneasie and unable to relish the sweetness of Power by reason of those discontents and jealousies which the people conceived in execution of the new Rules of Regulation wherefore to secure his Person from any treasonable attempt and as a mark of his Authority and State he gave order to Captain Diego de Urbina to raise and arm fifty Archebusiers to be his Life-guard and attend his Person on all occasions as Gomara reports in the 158th Chapter of his Book And now none durst open his mouth to him for suspending the practice of the new Laws as Carate saith in the Fifth Chapter of the Fifth Book And though a Petition had been preferred to him in open Court from the Corporation of that City where it had been publickly debated yet he refused to hearken thereunto and though he plainly confessed himself that those Laws were prejudicial to the interest of the people and could not be put in execution without dis-service to his Majesty and that if those persons who formed and ordained them were here present and had observed the difficulties and inconveniences that attended them they would never have persuaded his Majesty to have constituted or enacted the same and that though for these reasons he was resolved to send his Commissioners together with theirs to supplicate his Majesty that he would be pleased to recall those Ordinances as inconsistent with the good of his People howsoever in the mean time he could not suspend the execution having Instructions and Commands from his Majesty to the contrary Thus far are the words of Carate who with other Writers proceeds in this manner During this time the Road from Cozco was so stopped that all intelligence was intercepted so that none was brought either by the Spaniards or Indian Messengers more than that Gonçalo Piçarro was come to Cozco where the people who were fled from Los Reyes and other parts flocked to him upon the news that there was like to be a Civil War. Whereupon the Vice-king and the Judges dispatched their Orders to the Citizens of Cozco giving them to understand that their duty was to receive Blasco Nunnez for their Vice-king and therefore those present Letters were to summon them to appear forthwith at Los Reyes with their Horse and Arms. And though these Orders were intercepted on the Road yet some Copies of them were brought to Cozco by some persons who came by by-ways the which so wrought upon several of the Citizens that they accordingly came and made their appearance at Los Reyes to serve the Vice-king as shall hereafter be declared Affairs standing upon these terms certain intelligence came to the Vice-king of all that had passed at Cozco which so alarm'd him that he gave immediate Orders to increase his Army to raise and maintain which having occasion for a good sum of Money he caused the Money being an hundred thousand Pieces of Eight laden by Castro de Vaca on board a Ship for account of his Majesty to be brought a-shore and employed for the use and service to his Army The persons to whom he gave Commissions of Captains to command the Horse were Alonso de Monte Major and Diego Alvarez de Cuero his Brother-in-law of the Infantry were Martin de Robles Paul de Meneses and Captain of the Arquebusiers was Gonçala Dias de Pinnera his Brother Vela Nunnez was made Captain General Diego de Urbina Lieutenant General and John de Aguire Sargeant Major His whole Army besides Natives consisted of six hundred Souldiers of which there were an hundred Horse two hundred Fire-arms and the rest were Pikes and Lances He caused great store of Fire-arms to be made some of Iron and some of Bell-mettle for he gave Orders to take down the Bells of the great Church and to cast them into Muskets he also made great quantities of Halberts And because he suspected the affection and reality of the peoples good will towards him he caused several false Alarms to be given that so he might try in what manner the Souldiers and People would behave themselves if occasion were And because he was jealous of the practices of Vaca de Castro with his Servants and others of his Party to whom he had given the liberty of the City under a confinement not to exceed the bounds thereof he one day about Dinner-time caused an Alarm to be given that Gonçalo Piçarro was near at hand and had entred the Market-place with his Army upon which occasion he gave Orders to Diego Alvarez de Cuero to seise on the Person of Vaca de Castro who with other Officers took also Don Pedro de Cabrera Hernan Mexia de Guzman his Brother-in-law as also Captain Lorenço de Aldana Melchior Ramirez and Baltasar Ramirez his Brother and carried them all together to the Sea-side and embarked them upon a Ship belonging to the Fleet commanded by Captain Jeronimo de Curbano a Native of Bilboa in a few days after which he set Lorenço de Aldana at liberty and banished Hernan Mexia to Panama and Melchior and Baltasar de Ramirez to Nicaragua but he continued Vaca de Castro in the Ship without making any Process by Law or legally laying any Fault or Crimes to their charges or receiving any information against them Thus far are the words of Augustine de Carate in the sixth Chapter of his Book CHAP. X. Two of the Inhabitants of Arequepa revolt to the Vice-king with two of the Ships belonging to Gonçalo Piçarro and the Citizens of Cozco desert his Army WHilst the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez was troubled with these thoughts and fears a lucky accident happened much to his
advantage and satisfaction for two persons which belonged to the City of Arequepa one of which was called Jeronimo de Serna and the other Alonso de Carceres seised upon the two Ships in that Port belonging to Gonçalo Piçarro which he had bought with his own money with intent to ship his Ammunition and Provisions thereupon and with them to be Master of those Seas which was of great and high concernment to him these two persons as we have said corrupted the Mariners and persuaded them to sail the Ships to Los Reyes where the Vice-king resided who received them with great joy and contentment for thereby perceiving that the Forces of his Enemy were wavering and enclining to his side he took it as a good Omen of his following success In the mean time it happened out in the Army of Gonçalo Piçarro which we left in Sacsahuana that the Citizens which belonged to Cozco reflecting within themselves upon the design in which they were engaged and considering how unbeseeming and improper a matter it was to petition for Justice with Arms in their hands which ought to be performed in a more humble and submissive manner it was agreed amongst the principal men amongst them as was before privately discoursed to desert the cause of Gonçalo Piçarro and return again to their own habitations The chief and leading men in this design were Graviel de Rojas Garçilasso de la Vega John de Saavedra Gomez de Rojas Jeronimo Costilla Pedro del Barco Martin de Florencia Jeronimo de Soria Gomez de Leon Doctour Carvajal Alonso Perez de Esquivel Pedro Piçarro and John Ramirez These are all particularly mentioned by the two Authours Carate and Diego Fernandez but besides these there were several others not named by them as John Julio de Hojeda Diego de Silva Thomas Bazquez Pedro Alonso Carrasco John de Pancorvo Alonso de Hinojosa Antonio de Quinnones Alonso de Loyasa Martin de Meneses Mancio Serra de Leguicamo Francisco de Villa Fuerta John de Figueroa Pedro de los Rios with his Brother Diego Alonso de Soto and Diego de Truxillo Gaspar Jara and others whose names I have forgotten who were in all about forty in number with many of which I had a personal acquaintance All these having deserted the cause of Gonçalo Piçarro returned to their own homes at Cozco where having provided themselves with such conveniences as were necessary for their Journey they with all diligence took their Journey to Arequepa with design to seise the two Ships belonging to Gonçalo Piçarro which they knew lay at that place and embark themselves thereon and sail to Los Reyes esteeming it for a great piece of service to the King and a means to ingratiate themselves with the Vice-king but herein they were disappointed for that the Captains Alonso de Carceres and Jeronimo de la Serna had forestalled them in their design having carried the Ships away to Los Reyes before their arrival And being thus disappointed of their hopes they considered of the securest way they were now to take to get to the Vice-king for they knew that Gonçalo Piçarro had stopped all the Roads and Passages over the Plains and Mountains wherefore they agreed to build a great Boat or Vessel and thereon to take their passage by Sea to Los Reyes the building of this Vessel took up forty days time to little purpose for the Carpenters being both unskilfull in building and the Timber green and unseasoned no sooner was the Vessel lanched and her Provisions laden upon her but the sunk down to the bottom in the very Harbour Wherefore finding that there was no other way now left them they resolved to hazard themselves on the Land which succeeded according to their desires for the Road being clear'd of their Enemies they arrived safe at Los Reyes but when they came thither they sound that the Vice-king was made a Prisoner and embarked and sent away into Spain As we shall understand more particularly in the sequel of this History This delay of forty days in building the Vessel was the cause of all the mischief which ensued for during that time the Vice-king was made a Prisoner which had otherwise been prevented had those Gentlemen opportunely arrived for had it been known that persons of that Quality had revolted from Piçarro and were come from Cozco to joyn with the Vice-king it would have brought so great aâ—reputation to his affairs that none would have dared to have touched the Vice-king or declared for the Party of Piçarro And as some Authours report the people seised on the Vice-king and put him on Ship-board onely out of fear to secure him from Gançalo Piçarro who they heard was on his march with intention to kill him But these Gentlemen of Cozco finding contrary to all expectation that the vice-Vice-king was sent away every man shiâ—ted for himself as well as he could some of which remaining in the City we shall have occasion to discourse of them hereafter On the other side Gonçalo Piçarro perceiving that those who were men of the greatest interest and power in the Army had relinquished his interest he gave himself over for lost and as the Historians report resolved to return to the Charcas or to retire into Chile with about fifty of the most faithfull of his Friends and Comrades who he was assured would stand by him to the last but whilst he was meditating of these matters Pedro de Puelles came to him and brought the news of the departure of the Vice-king which was so much to the advantage of Piçarro that he with new courage and triumph returned to Cozco The Indians which belonged to those who revolted he appropriated to his own service onely those who were in vassalage to Garçilasso de la Vega he bestowed on Pedro de Puelles and gave up his Houses to be plundred by the Souldiers one of which afterwards intended to have set fire to them having a fire-brand in his hand to that purpose and had certainly effected it had he not been prevented by another of a better and a more mild temper and disposition who said to him What hurt have these Houses done you if the Master were here we might revenge our selves upon him but what evil have these Walls deserved This word gave a stop to his intention and saved the House howsoever they plundred it from the top to the bottom not leaving any thing in it which was worth one farthing and turned out the Indian Servants both Men and Women charging them not to come within the Walls upon pain of death howsoever they permitted eight persons to remain therein nemely my Mother and Sister and a Maid-servant as also my self for my Mother would rather have died than have been without me and John de Alcobaça my Tutour with his Son Diego and his Brother and an Indian Maid which they would not deny me the service of John Alcobaça being a person of a good life and exemplary
two Boats were in a manner saved for being taken in time the Fire was put out and they received no damage but what was easie to be repaired The six Ships sailed away and made for Port Guaura about eighteen leagues to the lee-ward of Los Reyes where they provided themselves with Wood and Water as their necessities required and with them they carried Licenciado Vaca de Castro and being at Guaura they attended to hear the News of what had been the Issue of the Vice-king's imprisonment The Judges having advice hereof and considering that it was not probable the Ships should sail at a far distance whilst the Vice-king was in such danger of his Life they resolved to send Forces both by Sea and by Land to surprize the Fleet by some way or other in pursuance of which design they gave it in charge to Diego Garcia de Alfaro an inhabitant of that City and who was well experienced in maritime Affairs to repair the Boats which were saved on the shoar which being accordingly fitted and lanched into the Water they armed them with thirty Musquetiers and sailed with them along the Coast to lee ward and in the mean time John de Mendoça and Ventura Veliran were sent away by Land with another Detachment and both these Parties having an eye to each other they observed that the Fleet was at an Anchor in Guaura which when Diego Garcia saw he privately in the night conveyed himself behind a rock in the Port not far distant from the Ships where they could not be seen in the mean time those who were ashoar began to fire some Guns which they on board taking to be some Signal ashoar which those of the Vice-king's Party had made who were fled and were desirous to embark with them Vela Nunnez was ordered in the Boat to go ashoar to discover what the matter was and being just at the shoar side but not landed he was pursued in the rere by Diego Garcia and his men so that being cut off from the rest of the Fleet Vela Nunnez was forced to yield himself and Boat into the hands of the enemy after which they sent to summon Cuero telling him that unless he yielded the Fleet into their hands they were resolved to kill both the Vice-king and Vela Nunnez which Cuero fearing surrendred up his Ships against the consent and opinion of Geronimo Curbano who with the single Ship he had commanded set sail and made towards the firm Land for that two days before Diego Garcia came thither Cuero had commanded him to sail down the Coast and seize all the Ships they met to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Judges who from the very time that the Fleet departed from Los Reyes resolved to transport the Vice-king to a certain Island about two Leagues distant from that Port there to secure him from the violence of the Agent 's kindred who had attempted to kill him and therefore they sent him away with a Guard of twenty men upon a sort of Boats made of dry Rushes which the Indians call Henca And having advices of taking the Fleet they determined to send the Vice-king to his Majesty in the condition of a Prisoner with all the Informations and Depositions made against him which Licenciado Alvarez one of the Judges was to carry and for his reward and to bear his charges eight thousand Pieces of Eight were paid him the which Depositions and Process against the Vice-king were signed by all the Judges Carate onely excepted The Ships being then at Guaura the Vice-king was carried thither by Boat but Alvarez went by Land where the Vice-king being committed to his charge he sailed away with three of the Ships and was so much in haste that he would not stay for the dispatches from the Judicature but made Sail without them and as to Vaca de Castro he was carried back to Los Reyes upon one of the Ships which were lately seised Thus far are the words of Carate specified in the eleventh Chapter of the fifth Book whose authority in this relation we shall more particularly follow in regard he was present and a party concerned in all these transactions so we shall omit the sayings of other Authours in this matter unless something singular occurs on which Carate doth not touch CHAP. XVI The sad misfortunes of the Vice-king A Conspiracy in Rimac against the Judges and what was done thereupon The Vice-king is set at liberty ALL that is before declared is confirmed by Gomara though in a confused manner who farther proceeds in this manner in the 160th Chapter of his Book wherein he sets forth the sad misfortunes of the unhappy Vice-king When the Admiral says he refused to surrender up the Ships to save the life of the Vice-king they then treated him with opprobrious words telling him that a man who brought such Laws as those deserved the reward he now received whereas if he had come without them he had been honoured and adored but now the Tyrant is taken and our liberty restored with such reproaches as these they returned him again into the hands of Cepeda where they kept him disarmed in custody of Licenciado Ninno howsoever he did always eat with Cepeda and lodged in the same Bed with him but Blasco Nunnez fearing at this time to be poisoned asked Cepeda upon the word of a Gentleman when they first did eat together whether he might freely and without danger eat with him the which question was put to him in presence of Christopher de Barrientos Martin de Robles Ninno and other principal persons to which Cepeda returned answer am I said he so mean a spirited Rascal that if I had a mind to kill you I could not doe it without some secret treachery Your Lordship said he may eat as freely as if you were at the Table of my Lady Donna Brianda de Acumna meaning his Wife and to free you from all jealousie I will be your Taster the which he observed all the time that he remained in his House One day Friar Gaspar de Carvajal came to him and told him that by order of the Judges he was come to confess him the vice-Vice-king asked whether Cepeda was there and it being answered that he was not and that there was no others than the three afore-mentioned he caused him to be called and complained to him of his hard fate but Cepeda comforted him and assured him that there was none had power to take away his life but himself onely the which he spake on assurance of what had been agreed amongst them and then Blasco Nunnez embraced and kissed him on the Cheek in presence of the Friar Thus far are the words of Gomara which we have extracted verbatim and indeed if we consider it 't is a sad passage That one elected to be a Prince and Governour of an Empire so great as Peru should be reduced to such miseries as he was by his own Creatures and Confidents
This Father Gaspar de Carvajal was the Friar of whom we made mention formerly in the story of Francisco Orellana in what manner he opposed him in his treacherous design against Gonçalo Piçarro when they were upon the discovery of the Cinamon Countrey and how he was left upon the Trinity Island and returned afterwards to Peru where he declared the many hardships they had sustained in that discovery And upon this occasion I take leave to report a strange accident which befell a certain Gentleman named Don John de Mendoça of whom me made mention in a former Chapter and whom I knew an Inhabitant in Cozco which story because it is curious and perhaps not rarely happening in the world before 't is fit it should be known and the memory thereof conserved This Gentleman I say upon a solemn Festival throwing the Dart on Horseback in the Market-place of Mexico before he passed to Peru for he was one of those Gallants who accompanied the famous Don Pedro de Alvarado and running with his Horse full speed just as he was rising on his stirrups to throw his Dart with all his force his Horse on a sudden made a full stop and he being a tall and a slimm man and weak in the knees was cast over the Horses head with his feet hanging in the stirrups and his hands on the ground to save his face in which condition he had ran great hazard of his life had not some Friends who were near him amongst which my Lord and Master Garçilasso de la Vega was one come timely to his assistance Pardon this short digression for the strangeness of the accident and so we shall return again to our History During the time that the Vice-king remained a Prisoner at the Island which is distant about two leagues from the Port Don Alonso de Monte-mayor as Augustine de Carate reports in the twelfth Chapter of his fifth Book together with those who were sent in pursuit of Father Loaysa returned some of which the Judges seised upon and imprisoned and others of them they disarmed and imprisoned them with several others who came from Cozco in the Houses of Captain Martin de Robles and of other Citizens and being thus ill-treated they laid a Plot to kill the Judges and set the vice-Vice-king at liberty restoring him to his power and authority which they contrived in this manner It was ordered that in the night some Musquets should be fired in the House of Martin de Robles which should be a signal to Serjeant Francis de Aguirre who then kept Guard in Cepeda's House to kill him and immediately to possess and keep the avenues and corners of every Street with Souldiers and send a Party into the Market-place which giving an alarm a Doctour Texada and Licenciado Alvarez 't is probable they would come forth to relieve Cepeda when they would be ready to kill them and then they would immediately raise the City and declare for the King the which had certainly succeeded accordingly had not one who was a Native of Madrid and appointed to act in the Plot discovered all to Cepeda about an hour before the design was to be put in execution Immediately hereupon Cepeda issued out Warrants to seise the chief of those who were concerned in the Plot namely Don Alonso de Monte-mayor Paul de Meneses a Citizen of Talavera Captain Carceres Alonso de Barrionuevo with others who were Servants to the Vice-king and having examined the matter Barrionuevo was condemned to die but upon farther consideration his Sentence was to have his right Hand cut off having been the first contriver in this Conspiracy and thus this insurrection was suppressed Thus far Carate To which we may farther add That though the Judges found divers others guilty of that mutiny whom they might justly have punished with death yet not to appear bloudy and tyrannical which might be occasion of new Plots and Conspiracies and also upon the intercession of divers principal Persons of the City of Los Reyes they altered the Sentence against Barrionuevo as we have before declared and banished Alonso de Monte-mayor and others his Complices from the City into divers parts Northwards from thence All which afterward joyned with the Vice-king and accompanied him in all his misfortunes which proved the ruine of many of them After which Carate proceeds on with the History in this manner The news of these passages as they every day succeeded were carried to Gonçalo Piçarro supposing that upon intelligence of these matters he would presently disband his Army but he was far from that intention because he imagined that the rumour of the Vice-king's imprisonment was divulged with design to disperse his People that being abandoned and deserted by all they might dispose of his own Person at their pleasure which caused him to keep his Forces together and to march more orderly and cautiously than before But Licenciado Alvarez who was embarked with the Vice-king being conscious to himself that he had been a chief promoter and actour in the designs against him and in the punishment of those who had plotted to set him at liberty and being desirous to reconcile himself to him went the same day that he made Sail and was at Sea unto the Cabbin of the vice-Vice-king and there to excuse himself told him that the Office he had undertaken was with intent to doe him service and to free him out of the hands of Cepeda and from the danger of falling into the power of Gonçalo Piçarro whose arrival in those parts was shortly expected and that he might be assured of his reality in this matter he entirely resigned to him the command of the Ship together with his liberty and that he himself was at his disposal and devoted to his service beseeching him to pardon his past errours and faults which he confessed to have been great in his confederacy with others against him and that the merit of restoring him to life and liberty might attone and satisfie for his former crimes and accordingly he gave Orders to the ten men whom he brought with him for Guards to the Vice-king that they should henceforward observe and follow the commands of his Lordship The Vice-king returned him thanks and told him that he accepted the proffer and accordingly took the command of the Ship and Arms and carried himself fair towards him for a while but this good humour lasted not long before he began to treat him with more rude terms calling him Villain Mutinier and other opprobrious names swearing that he would hang him and though he reprieved him for the present it was onely because he had occasion for his service And this kind of deportment he used towards him during the time they were in company together sailing along the Coast to the City of Truxillo where many things happened which we shall hereafter relate Thus far Carate whose words we have repeated verbatim and who proceeds farther in this relation in the thirteenth
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-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
their milk they learned to pronounce the Name of God on no other occasion than of Prayers and Praises to him But whilst Gonçalo Piçarro was solemnizing the Festival appointed in honour to his new Title of Governour he did not forget his dependence on Spain and therefore proposed first to his Captains and Friends in private and afterwards publickly to the Citizens of Los Reyes that it was necessary to send Messengers to his Majesty to render an account of all that happened unto that time beseeching his Majesty in behalf of that whole Empire to confer the Government thereof upon Gonçalo Piçarro representing it as a matter much conducing to the service of his Majesty and to the common peace and tranquillity both of Indians and Spaniards And moreover that Piçarro should dispatch a private Agent as from himself who should lay before his Majesty the many services and labours which he had sustained for the enlargement of the dominions of Spain in those parts this Proposal was approved by the common consent of all and generally the World was of opinion that a Proposition of this nature tending so much to the welfare of the people to the increase of his Majesty's revenue and enrichment of his Subjects would not be refused onely Francisco de Carvajal as Diego Fernandez Palentino relates in the twenty eighth Chapter of his Book was of another opinion and declared that the best Agents to persuade in Affairs of this kind were a good body of Musquetiers Horse and Arms And though it was true that Subjects ought never to take up Arms against their King yet when they had once drawn the Sword they ought never to put it up again and that for the present if they would send Messengers they should be the Judges themselves who having been the persons that had imprisoned the Vice-king they were the most able to render an account to his Majesty of the reasons and causes which moved them thereunto This opinion was seconded by Hernando Bachicao but the votes of two men could not over-rule the sense of the whole Court who decreed to send Doctour Texada and Francisco Maldonado Usher of the Hall to Gonçalo Piçarro into Spain with instructions to represent unto his Majesty the present state and condition of their Affairs It was also ordered that these persons should embark on a Ship then in Port besides which there was no other at that time and whereon Licenciado Vaca de Castro was a prisoner and stood committed by order from the vice-Vice-king and now remained in expectation how the present Governours would dispose of him not judging it fit to fail for Spain without the Orders of some over-ruling power 'T was farther agreed that Hernando Bachicao should have the Charge to provide the Ship with Men and Guns and thereon to transport their Agents to Panama of which Vaca de Castro being informed by a Friend and Kinsman of his called Garcia de Mont-alvo he presently apprehended that in case they brought him ashoar from the Ship some mischief might ensue to him or at least some treatment not beseeming his quality and condition he resolved with the assistence of his Kinsman Mont-alvo and of the Servants then with him to weigh Anchor and set sail for Panama The matter succeeded as was expected and desired for there was not one person of Piçarro's faction then aboard and the Mariners were all for Vaca de Castro who was very well beloved and esteemed by the people of the Countrey Piçarro was greatly troubled at this disappointment for the sending of his Agents into Spain he esteemed to be the onely means to set matters right and well understood at that Court. CHAP. XXII How much Gonçalo Piçarro was troubled for the Escape of Vaca de Castro and what disturbance it caused Hernando Bachicao goes to Panama The Vice-king sends abroad his Warrants to raise Men. HEreupon as all the three Writers agree it was conceived that this Escape of Vaca de Castro could not be contrived without a Conspiracy of several persons concerned therein so that immediately an Allarum was given over all the Town the Souldiers were put in Arms and all those Gentlemen whom they suspected as well such as were Natives or Citizens of Los Reyes as those who had fled from Cozco and those who were of the Vice-king's party were all seized and committed to the publick prison and amongst them Licenciado Carvajal was one to whom Major General Carvajal sent order that he should at that instant confess and make his last Will and Testament for that it was decreed he should presently be put to death Carvajal with all readiness submitted to the sentence and began to prepare himself for the same the Executioner stood by him with his Halter and Gibbet and urged him to finish his Affairs howsoever he continued something long in his confession no question but he expected to dye without any reprieve howsoever such as considered the quality of his person and condition were of opinion that he ought not to have been brought under those circumstances but since it had so fallen out it would be dangerous to suffer him to live but then it was considered that in case Carvajal were put to death many of those who were now in custody would follow the same fate which would be a great loss to the Kingdom to be deprived of the most principal persons thereof who had always been faithfull to the Interest of his Majesty Whilst Licenciado Carvajal remained under these sad apprehensions certain sober persons went to Gonçalo Piçarro and told him that it were well to consider in this case how great an Interest the Licenciado Carvajal had in his Coutrey and that the Agent Carvajal who was his brother was put to death by the Vice-king for no other cause or reason than because his man followed the party and side of Piçarro and therefore for the very merit of his brother and for the services of this person he should spare his life who was and might be of great use and benefit to him for the future And as to the escape of Vaca de Castro all the World was well satisfied That neither Licenciado Carvajal nor the others who were imprisoned upon suspicion were concerned therein and that all this jealousie did arise from the vain censures of some people for which there was no just cause or ground To all which Declaration Gonçalo Piçarro answered little but seemed angry and disturbed commanding that none should move him farther in that matter Hereupon Carvajal and his Friends resolved to proceed another way which was by means of the Major General to whom they secretly presented a Wedge of gold to the value of two thousand pieces of Eight and promised him much more the which having accepted he began to be a little backward and cold in the execution of the sentence and went and came so often untill at length both Carvajal and all the others who were imprisoned were set at liberty So this
famine and their Horses so saint for want of grass and provender that they were not fit for a march wherefore the Vice king commiserating the condition of his men told them that if any one of them were desirous to remain behind he freely gave them their discharge but not a man of them accepted thereof but said that they would rather die with him than desert him so they marched day and night without sleep or repose or sustenance or any refreshment In the mean time intelligence was given to Gonçalo Piçarro of what had passed between the vice-Vice-king and Carvajal of which some who were Enemies to Carvajal made use to disparage his Conduct saying that it was in his power to have defeated the whole force of the Enemy at that time having surprized them as they were sleeping and at rest and I find that some Historians object this matter against him as a point of neglect but I who knew the person of the man am of another opinion and have heard from many well experienced in the War that since the time of Julius Caesar there hath not been a greater Souldier than he the truth is and so all Historians report that the Vice-king being a hundred and fifty to fifty that is three to one it was prudence in him not to adventure on such a disadvantageous undertaking but rather to make a Bridge of Silver for desperate men to escape over Moreover some say he had no Commission to engage or to hazard his men but in military matters it is hard to censure great Captains who better understand the secret of their affairs than Strangers can do Howsoever the matter was Gonçalo Piçarro reinforced him with two hundred men more which he sent under the command of Licenciado Carvajal by which auxiliary force they allarum'd and pursued the Vice-king untill he came to the Province and people called Ayahuaca seizing every day some of their Men Horses and Baggage so that by the time he came to Ayahuaca he had scarce eighty Men remaining of all his number howsoever he proceeded forward to Quitu where he hoped to find Provision for his Men. In the like straits also was the Army of Piçarro who being almost famished with hunger were forced to kill and eat their Horses for want of sustenance and indeed were in greater necessities than the Vice-king's Souldiers because Blasco Nunnez wheresoever he came destroyed every thing which he thought might be of benefit to the Enemy which followed him In this pursuit the principal that were taken were put to death by Carvajal namely Montoya an Inhabitant of Piura Brizenno of Puerto Veiejo Raphael Vela and one Baltaçar And farther to re-inforce Carvajal sixty Horse were sent under the command of Captain John Acosta consisting of the most select and choice Souldiers that were in his Army by which the Vice-king was straitned to the last extremity which Diego Fernandez in the fourty first Chapter of his Book expresses in these words Thus did the Vice-king says he march day and night with the small remainder of his Forces and finding no other provisions in many places than onely a few Herbs and Roots did often in despair and fury curse the Countrey and the day in which he entred into it and the people who were sent to him from Spain that had so basely deserted and betrayed him but John de Acosta who was lately come and his Men fresh pressed him so hard that he came close to him a little before his arrival at his quarters of Calva where coming something late and having marched hard he thought he had time enough to take some little repose But John de Acosta beating up his quarters about break of day fell upon the Front with such a surprize that he took many of their Men and Baggage onely the Vice-king had time to make his escape with about seventy of his best Horse After which John de Acosta made a retreat and returned to the main Body supposing that there was little more to be done upon the Enemy By which means the poor Vice-king tyred and famished came to the Province and his quarters in Calva And in regard two of his Captains namely Jeronimo de la Serna and Gaspar Gil advanced with their Companies and Colours before him he fansied that they went with intention to possess a certain pass on the way which when he was at Piura he had sent before and caused to be made of Timber with great labour upon a thick rock hanging over a river near Jambo Blanco in the Province of Amboca which being broken down would require some time to repair and having a suspicion that these Men went before to possess this Pass and by such a piece of service to reconcile themselves with Piçarro he resolved to prevent them by taking away their lives and accordingly he put it in execution causing their throats to be cut during the little space of leisure which the Enemy had given him so that now marching with a little more ease and security than before he came at length to Tomebamba where having taken up his quarters he executed another piece of cruelty on his Major General Rodrigo de Ocampo for though untill that time he had esteemed him to be his intimate and fast friend yet the like melancholy fancy of suspicion and jealousie entering into his head as did of the other two Captains he incurred the same destiny as they did though they had followed and attended him in all his misfortunes The death of these persons caused various Discourses and Judgements in Peru some condemning and others excusing the Vice-king therein From Tomebamba Blasco Nunnez proceeded till he came to Quitu without interruption and without that want and scarcity under which he formerly laboured And having in his way to Quitu received informations against Francisco de Olmos that he and others who came from Puerto Viejo had been the Authours of false reports to the disservice of his Majesty he no sooner came to the City but he examined the truth of those informations which were brought against those who came from Puerto Viejo the which being proved he consulted the matter with Licenciado Alvarez and then immediately executed Justice upon them cutting off the heads of some and hanging others under the Notion of Traytors to the King amongst those who suffered were Alvaro de Carvajal Captain Hojeda and Gomez Estacio but upon farther proof of the innocence of Francisco de Olmos he spared his life Thus far is related by Diego Fernandez Palentino but Lopez de Gomarra in chap. 168. writing of the death of those Captains gives us this account which is extracted verbatim out of his Book in these words Piçarro sent John de Acosta with sixty light Horsemen in pursuit of Blasco Nunnez to engage him or force him to a hasty retreat accordingly he marched to Tomebamba with fear and trouble and in want of all things and having a suspicion that Jeronimo de la
between the Foot was very sore and bloudy with such noise and out-cryes that the numbers seemed much greater than they were In the first charge Captain John Cabrera was slain and soon after Captain Sancho Sanchez d' Avila but before he fell he did great execution with his Sword having cut down whole files and ranks of the Enemy but being overwhelmed with numbers and advantages of Arms they were forced to yield to the greater power of the Enemy which ranging victoriously on all sides the chief Commanders were killed with most of the Souldiery The Vice-king fought very stoutly with his Horse and in the first Charge had the fortune to dismount Alonso de Montalto besides other exploits which he performed with great resolution and courage he was disguised in his habit for over his Arms he wore an Indian Coat which was the cause of his death for when he saw his Forces totally defeated he would then have fled but his escape was prevented by an Inhabitant of Arequepa called Hernando de Torres who engaged with him and not knowing who he was gave him such a blow with a Battle-ax on the head with both his hands that he knocked him to the ground And here Carate in the thirty fifth Chapter of his fifth Book gives relation of this passage in these words The Vice-king and his Horse was so tired with the last night's march having neither rested nor slept nor eaten that to overthrow him and his horse was not very difficult howsoever the battel was obstinately disputed between the Foot but seeing the Vice-king fall their courages failed and submitted to the Conquerour most of them being slain upon the place Thus far Carate If Hernando de Torres had known the person of the Vice-king which he might have done had he discovered who he was by the mark of his Order of St. Jago he would certainly have spared his life and taken him prisoner but supposing him to be a common man clothed in an Indian habit he killed him without distinction The vice-Vice-king might rather have been blamed for wearing a disguise but his intention was not to be spared but to fall amongst the rest in case he were overcome and not to outlive his honour and power So soon as Carvajal saw that the field was their own and that they were secure of victory he with great diligence sought out for the Vice-king that he might wreak his revenge upon him for the death of his Brother and found that Pedro de Puelles was giving him another mortal wound though with his fall and a shot through his body he was then expiring his last breath a common Souldier was the first who discovered the body of the Vice-king to Pedro de Puelles otherwise it had remained unknown under the disguise Licenciado Carvajal had a mind to have alighted from his Horse to have given him the last fatal stroak but Pedro de Puelles told him that it was too mean an action for him to lay his hands on a dying man howsoever he commanded his Negro to cut off his head as he did and carried it with him to Quitu where it was fixed on the head of a Lance untill it was made known to Gonçalo Piçarro who in anger caused it to be taken away and buried together with the body A certain Authour gives a relation hereof in this manner The head of the Vice-king was carried to Quitu and there for some time exposed on the common gallows but this giving offence to some people it was taken down and joined with the body and enterred together with it And here it is remarkable with what niceness this Authour touches this point for not to say that Piçarro gave order to have the Head removed from the gallows he says that some taking offence thereat caused the Head to be removed so that he seems tacitly to accuse Gonçalo Piçarro as if by his order the Head was exposed or at least that he consented thereunto but the truth is he was troubled at the action and that so soon as he was informed thereof he gave immediate order to have it removed the which is confirmed by the testimony of Gomara but flattery and partiality to a side is always prevalent with Writers who by adding or diminishing can make a story turn which way soever they please Gomara speaking of the death of the Vice-king saith That when Hernando de Torres had with a blow stunned Blasco Nunnez and knocked him from his Horse and as many believe unknown to him by reason that he was under the disguise of an Indian habit Herrera the Confessour to Piçarro came to confess him and first asked who he was to which Blasco Nunnez replied that that question was not material for he was to doe his Office which he desired him without farther queries to perform for he was afraid of some torments and cruelties would be committed on his person Thus far Gomara Then came the Executioners and cuff off his head and exposed it on the gallows and some rude and insolent Souldiers drew out some hairs from his beard and in disdain and triumph said Your cruel and passionate temper hath brought you to this a certain Captain of my acquaintance carried some hairs of his beard about him for several days untill they were taken from him by order Thus did this unfortunate Gentleman end his days for insisting too earnestly on those methods which were neither agreeable to the constitution of the Kingdom nor yet to the service of the King whence that effusion of bloud ensued and those many commotions as have been related in the preceding History and which proved fatal as well to Indians as to Spaniards as will also farther appear in the sequel of that Relation which still remains And though his obstinacy in this point is much blamed by many yet certainly he is in part to be excused on account of those precise and severe commands he brought from Court and which he was by the supreme power enjoined to execute as will be proved by the testimony of those Authours whom we shall hereafter have occasion to name and as he himself die often say as before mentioned CHAP. XXXV The Funeral of the Vice-king The Actions of Gonçalo Piçarro after the Battel The Pardon he gave to Vela Nunnez and of the good Laws he enacted for the bette◠Government of that Kingdom GOnçalo Piçarro seeing that he had gained a clear Victory caused the Trumpet◠to found a retreat for he perceived that his people were greatly dispersed in the pursuit whereby much bloud was unnecessarily spilt on the side of the Vice-king two hundred men were slain and not above seven of the Souldiers of Piçarro as Carate reports because the people of the Vice-king were so tired and weary with their long march the night before that they seemed rather to suffer themselves to be killed than to fight and herein they shewed their great zeal to his Majesty and their readiness to die in
and asked her where those three men were which she had hidden she denied to know of any but he confidently charging her with it and naming one of them whom he suspected she was so confounded that she could not longer persist in the denial and therefore taking a manly courage it is true said she they are in such a Chamber and I will bring them to you with a Knife that you may cut their Throats and drink their Bloud and eat their Flesh that so you may be glutted and satiated with humane Bloud after which you are so thirsty and so being just going away Carvajal called her and said let them alone let them alone and let me alone also and the Devil take thee and thus Joanna Leyton gained her point and victory over him This relation I received from one of the greatest enemies that Carvajal had but a person of great probity called Gonçalo Silvestre of whom we have formerly made mention Some short time after this Joanna de Leyton went to live at Arequepa where Dionysio de Bobadilla brought the Heads of Lope de Mendoça Nicholas de Eredia and of three or four others and before he went to pay his respects to Pedro de Fuentes who was Governour of that City under Gonçalo Piçarro he made a visit to this Joanna Leyton believing that she would gladly hear of the health of her Master Francisco de Carvajal The Lady received him with a good welcome and having first passed the usual complements at meeting and made enquiry after the welfare of her Lord she earnestly entreated Bobadilla to deliver the Head of Lope de Mendoça into her hands that she might have the satisfaction to bury it in such manner as became a person of his merit and loyalty to his King but Bobadilla excused himself saying that he durst not doe it for that she well knew the severe humour of Carvajal his Lord who would for such an offence hang him and quarter him but she still continued her importunity and desired him for God's sake to let her have it and that she would give him two hundred pieces of Eight wherewith he might oblige and help one of his indigent Souldiers for what good said she can it doe you since the Head is dismembred from the Body to drag it through the Streets and fix it on the Gallows But Bobadilla still desired her excuse three or four times with the same words and she continued to press him with the greatest earnestness in the world but at length seeing that she could not prevail with all her intreaties and promises she grew angry and then said Well set it up then in the name of God but know that you had better have let it alone and that the two hundred pieces of Eight which I offered for it I will employ in Masses to be said for his Soul and I tell thee farther that he whosoever he is that is not contented to have that Head honourably buried will not live long and I hope shortly to see thy Head in the place of it This discourse passing thus Bobadilla as the Historians say was ready to die with laughter admiring much at the Dialogue he had with Joanna Leyton and from her went directly to present the Heads to Pedro de Fuentes And commanding the Indians to unfold the Clothes wherein they were enwrapped they did it so awkerdly and were so puzzled at it that he was forced to come himself and lay them open some of the Spaniards standing by said that the Heads stank but Bobadilla made answer No Gentlemen said he the Heads of our Enemies cut off with our own hands do never stink but rather smell sweet by which he shewed himself a true Scholar and Servant to Carvajal for all his Disciples were of the same stamp Francisco de Carvajal having thus defeated Captain Diego Centeno and killed Lope de Mendoça Nicholas de Eredia and others and having refreshed his Souldiers and gratified those who revolted to him at the River of Plate with Horses Arms and Money the better to oblige them to him he kept his head-quarters at the City of Plate making what Money he was able to send to Piçarro About this time the Souldiers of the Invasion who were many of them noble by birth being ashamed to have been so easily overcome and angry at the death of Nicholas de Eredia their chief Commander and other their Companions entered into a Conspiracy to revenge the same with the bloud of Carvajal and that truly in pure revenge and not out of covetousness as some report but that is not probable because not long before they were so generous as to refuse money which was offered them for their Pay. The principal Conspiratours were Lewis Pardomo Alonso Camargo and others who had formerly been pardoned by Carvajal as we have mentioned before and with these thirty others were engaged in the Plot whose names are not known and agreed to kill him on such a day and all of them took an Oath of Secrecy laying their hands on a Crucifix But Carvajal who was a suspicious man and carefull of his own person and had many friends who were very true to him came to a discovery of the whole Conspiracy to prevent which he seized upon the principal Actours therein and with great fury and madness uttered in a raving manner these words as Diego Fernandez reports Senior Balmaseda and other Cavaliers of the Invasion have conspired to kill me notwithstanding my kind treatment of them and the respect I shewed them above the true and loyal Servants of my Governour and Lord Piçarro c. And thus having put six or seven of the principal Plotters to death he pardoned all the rest but to secure himself from them knowing them to be desperate men he sent them in the nature of banishment to Gonçalo Piçarro by different ways to whom he had lately wrote a relation of all passages and how his Enemies were totally routed and defeated and about the same time Francisco de Carvajal received in exchange of his relation an account of the Battel at Quitu wherein the Vice-king was slain with what else he had done after this success and how he intended to goe to the City of Los Reyes where he desired to meet Carvajal that they might there consult and agree upon such measures and methods as were to be taken for the future CHAP. XL. The substance of Carvajal's Letter to Gonçalo Piçarro and of his Discourse by word of mouth persuading him to proclaim himself King of Peru. And how others encouraged him thereunto THIS fortunate News put Carvajal into a thousand thoughts concerning the state of Piçarro's affairs contriving how it might be possible for him to perpetuate his power and rule not meaning under the Emperour but by virtue of his own absolute and independent authority having with assistence of his own Brother and his own Arms won and gained that Empire Diego Fernandez in the fourty ninth Chapter of
173. were very many and gives an account of that passage in these words Francisco de Carvajal and Pedro de Puelles wrote a Letter to Piçarro to give himself the Title of King and by that means to excuse the sending of Ambassadours to the Emperour and in lieu thereof to provide good Horses Armour Shot and Arms which were the best Advocates for justification of his Cause and that he should apply those fifths and rents and duties which Cobos without deserving any part thereof had carried away unto his own use some were of opinion not to yield the Countrey unto the King but upon terms that he should grant likewise unto them the inheritance of their Lands others said that they would make a King as they thought fit as had been practised in Spain when Pelayo and Garci Ximenez were set up Others said that unless the Government of Peru were given to Piçarro and his Brother Hernando Piçarro set at liberty they would call in the very Turks to their assistence And all of them concurred in that general opinion that the Countrey was their own and that they might make a Division thereof amongst themselves in regard they had won it by conquest and at the expence of their own bloud Thus far Gomara which Fernandez Palentino confirms in the thirteenth Chapter of his second Book in these words which I have extracted from thence These Actions being ended they marched to the City of Los Reyes discoursing on the way of the methods which were now to be pursued Some were of opinion that the King would overlook all things that were past and confirm Gonçalo Piçarro in the Government others more impudently said that it was no matter whether the King did approve of things or not for that his Commands would find little effect or compliance in those parts Licenciado Cepeda who was desirous to flatter and please Piçarro in all things approved of the saying of Hernando Bachicao and others that all the Kingdom and Dominion of Peru did by right and by just claim belong unto him to prove which he produced many examples whereby it appeared that many Kingdoms Provinces and Countreys which at first were gained by force of Arms were afterward conserved and after a long tract of time were esteemed the hereditary Possessions and devolved to posterity by an undeniable Title witness the Kingdom of Navarre and the reason form and manner how these Kings were anointed which he compared with the circumstances of Piçarro and then he concluded that never was any King upon the face of the Earth who at the beginning had ever a more fair and clear Title to a Kingdom than Gonçalo Piçarro had unto his all which Piçarro heard with great attention and delight for besides that humane nature is naturally ambitious of power and government his affections were also for want of due consideration let loose to the immoderate desires thereof for he was a man naturally of a dull capacity and knew not how to write or read and therefore made not those reflexions on the consequences of things as thinking-men usually do And in regard that Cepeda was a learned and a well read man and esteemed for his judgment and knowledge every one approved his sayings and none did contradict or question any thing that was said by him for this matter was the whole subject of their discourse at all times when they were in conversation together Thus far Palentino We have formerly mentioned what is reported by Gomara concerning the duties which Cobos took without deserving or doing any thing for them the truth of which matter stands thus His Imperial Majesty was pleased to grant unto his Secretary Francisco de Cobos one and a half per Centum upon all the Gold and Silver which was brought to the Mint and Treasury of his Majesty where the Fifths were deducted for the use and benefit of the King but then Cobos was to be at the whole charge to find Coals for melting and to provide Say-masters to refine and assay the Gold and Silver to pay the Minters and in fine to desray all charges and expences thereof whatsoever which were so great that the Secretary would rather have been a Loser than a Gainer thereby but in regard that every one who went to pay his Fifths might the better make up his accounts and know how much he was to pay and how much remained to him the manner was to bring the Gold and Silver ready melted refined and assayed by the King's Assay-master at the proper cost and expence of the person to whom it belonged by which means Cobos did not perform his obligation which he had given and for that reason Gomara saith that he took duties which he had not deserved CHAP. XLI Gonçalo Piçarro declares his duty and allegiance to the King he departs from Quitu and goes to Truxillo and Los Reyes and the great joy was made at his coming BUT notwithstanding all this discourse and persuasion Gonçalo Piçarro from a principle of Loyalty to his Sovereign could not resolve to take upon himself the Title of King and more especially because he could not but believe that his Majesty would confirm him in the Government of Peru in consideration that he and his Brothers had done great Services having by the Conquest of that Kingdom annexed it to the Imperial Crown and by virtue of the Commission given to his Brother the Marquis he was to hold that Government during his life with liberty to name a Successour after his death and that his Brother had accordingly nominated him Then as to his proceedings and successes against the Vice-king he supposed that his vigorous and unreasonable proceedings in execution of the new Laws might easily justifie his Actions For that the Vice-king refused to hear the Addresses and Petitions which were made to him by the whole Kingdom and for that reason he was chosen and elected by the unanimous consent of all the People to represent their complaints and aggrievances which he had rejected and absolutely refused to receive Then as to the imprisonment of the Vice-king and designing to embark and send him away for Spain it was not done by him but by the Judges upon these considerations which he meditated within himself Piçarro flattered himself with high expectations that he should not onely obtain pardon from the King but a new confirmation and settlement of the Kingdom of Peru upon him thus men of Arms and great Souldiers take false measures of their merits and the rewards which they expect for them But in regard Gonçalo Piçarro did not accept of the offer which his friends made him his refusal was interpreted as the effect of a weak understanding and not proceeding from a principle of loyalty towards his Prince and perhaps upon this ground it was That all Historians in the character they give of him represent him as a person of a weak understanding though in reality those who have been familiarly acquainted with him
the Marquis hath done for Us and which shall ever be remembred to the advantage of his Sons and Brothers Given at Venloe the 16th day of the Month of February 1546. I the KING By command of his Majesty Francisco de Erato The Letter which the President wrote to Gonçalo Piçarro was to this effect Illustrious Sir SUpposing that my stay would not have been so long in this Countrey I deteined the Emperour's Letter by me intending to deliver it with my own hand nor did I think fit in the mean time to acquaint you of my arrival out of respect to his Majesty's Letter which ought to have come first unto your hands before mine But considering that the Affairs of his Majesty would require my presence here for some time and hearing that you had convened an Assembly of the People to meet you at the City of Lima to consider of Affairs which depend on things already past I judged it necessary to employ an express Messenger with his Majesty's Letter and with the same occasion also to send you mine the bearer whereof named Hernandez Paniagua is a Person of Quality and one considerable in your Countrey and very much your Friend and humble Servant What I have now to say to you farther is to acquaint you That in Spain there have been great Consultations concerning the manner how the commotions and disturbances which have been raised in Peru since the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez whom God forgive came into those parts were to be taken and resented And after his Majesty had well weighed and considered the several Debates and Opinions thereupon there hath no cause appeared hitherto to believe that the same did proceed from any motive of disobedience or dis-service to his Majesty but merely from a principle of self-preservation which induced them to oppose that severity which the Vice-king used in the execution of the new Laws against the privileges and rights of that Countrey And farther his Majesty hath considered the obstinacy of the Vice-king who would admit of no Petition or Appeal or suspension of the new Laws untill such time as his Majesty was acquainted with the inconveniences thereof all which appears at large in your Letter to his Majesty and which gives a farther relation that you had taken upon you the Government at the instance and desire of the Court of Justice and which they had delivered unto youâ— by Commission under his Majesty's Broad Seal in virtue whereof you promise to serve his Majesty and profess that to have refused the Government at that time would have been a disservice to his Majesty and that you accepted it on no other terms than such as became a good and a loyal Subject and with intention to resign it at the command and will of his Majesty All which being thus understood by his Majesty he hath sent me to quiet the minds of the People by a revocation of those Laws according to the prayer of your Petition with power to publish a general Pardon for all Faults Crimes and Misdemeanours already committed and lastly to take the opinion and direction of the People of this Countrey concerning the methods which are to be used for the advancement and promotion of the service of God and for the common goâ—d and welfare of the Inhabitants And in regard there are many Spaniards in those parts who are unemployed and have no possessions it is thought fit that they should be provided out of new discoveries which is the onely way for them to gain honour and riches according to the example of the ancient Conquerours wherefore I heartily desire you to consider these matters with the understanding of a good Christian and the worthy mind and intention of a Gentleman and of a wise and prudent Person and with that affection and good will which you have alway shewed to the happiness and welfare of this Countrey and charity towards the Inhabitants thereof giving God and our Lady thanks to whom you are a zealous Votary that this great and important Affair in which you have so deeply concerned your self hath been so favourably interpreted by his Majesty and by the Grandees of Spain who were pleased to acquit your actions of rebellion and disloyalty and to style them with the more soft terms of defending his Majesty's Justice to which his Subjects were denied access or to be heard by way of Petition And now in regard your King who is a Catholick and a just Prince hath restored you and every person to the enjoyment of his own Estate and Possessions in as full and as ample a manner as they desired in their Petition It is but reason that you deal as sincerely and justly with your King by yielding due obedience to him and compliance with all his commands the which is a duty incumbent on us not onely by the Laws of Nature which oblige every Subject to be loyal to his King but also by the Laws of Scripture and Grace which injoyn us on the penalty of eternal damnation to render unto every man his due and especially obedience unto Kings And since you Ancestours have made themselves illustrious by their loyalty and by their services to the Crown which have gained them the Title of Nobles it will now be your part to Copy out this lesson in the largest characters rather than to degenerate from their lineage and cast a blemish on all their atchievements by your demerits and defection from their vertues The greatest concernment we have in this world next to the salvation of our Souls is our honour which is most resplendent in persons who move in your high sphere in which you are capable to brighten the lustre of your Ancestour's glories or otherwise by irregular actions to cast a blemish and an eternal obscurity upon them For whosoever falls from God by infidelity or from his King by treason and disloyalty doth not onely dishonour himself but likewise casts a blemish and infamy on his whole Family wherefore let me advise you to reflect hereupon with a wise and a prudent spirit weighing well the power of your King whose Forces you are very unable to withstand but lest your want of knowledge and experience in his Court not having viewed his Armies or fathomed the depth of his Counsels should betray you to an over-weening opinion of your own strength be pleased to figure unto your self the mighty power and puissance of the Great Turk who marched in Person at the head of above three hundred thousand fighting men which he brought into the Field against him besides Pioniers and other attendants on the Camp notwithstanding which when he met his Majesty near Vienna he durst not adventure to joyn Battel with him but rather endeavoured a retreat facing the Enemy with his Horse whilst the Infantry marched away and made their escape c. This Letter is writ more at large by divers Authours which we have thought fit to abbreviate because it relates the many Victories which the
about two from the Port and to prevent all escapes he kept constant Guards and Petrolls of Horse between the Camp and the Sea to intercept those who inclined towards the Enemy but to quiet the minds of the people and to know and understand the pretensions of Lorenço de Aldana an Inhabitant of Los Reyes named John Fernandez was sent to remain with Aldana in nature of a Hostage with intent that he should send another in the like quality to make known the design of his coming into that Port and what his pretensions were Accordingly Captain Penna was sent from the Ships and carried to Gonçalo Piçarro a Copy of the President 's commission from his Majesty and the general Pardon of all past Crimes with a Revocation of the late Ordinances which had caused all the disturbances And in regard his Majesty was not pleased to commit the Government into the hands of Piçarro Penna had Orders to persuade him by word of mouth to obey his King and submit to his Commands And here Palentino relates what we formerly touched about sending Commissions but he is mistaken in his Discourse for matters were now much altered and it was too late to treat of Commissions or Delegation of Powers as they were called for there was nothing now but noise and confusion and endeavours to escape as will appear by the sequel of this History Piçarro answered something warmly to the Message which Penna had brought him and bid him tell Lorenço de Aldana and Pedro de Hinojosa and the rest who had been sworn friends to him that they had faltly betrayed him and been the occasion to have him branded with the infamous name of a Traytour whereas he had never deserved to be so esteemed having sent Ambassadours to his Majesty to render him an account of all the transactions of those parts that his intentions were never to offend the King but to quiet and compose the disturbances of the Countrey and order every thing for his Majesty's better service He added many other things like a troubled and an angry man complaining of the falseness of friends and ingratitude of men whom he had raised and preferred to offices and places of Trust in requital of which they had unjustly and basely sold him He ordered that Captain Penna should be lodged in the Tent of Antonio de Ribera without liberty to converse with any person that so the dispatches and orders he brought might not be divulged amongst the people some Authours say that the same night Piçarro tryed if he could corrupt him with money to show him a way how Aldana's Ship might be betrayed to him and for that service he promised a reward of a hundred thousand pieces of Eight believing that if he could gain that Ship the others would of course fall into his hands but Penna made answer that he was not the person they took him for for that all the advantage and interest in the world could never prevail with him to be guilty of a Treachery so mean and manifest as that and therefore it was an affront to propose it to him the day following Piçarro ordered him to be returned safe to the Ships which was performed according to the faith and pledges which were given but on the other side the Proposals made to John Fernandez had better effect for Lorenço de Aldana having understood from Captain Penna that Piçarro concealed and smothered the Letters and Papers which were sent him in the publication whereof the success of his negotiation consisted there being no other means whereby the Inhabitants and Souldiers could come to the knowledge of his Majesty's gratious Pardon for all crimes and faults already committed and of the Repeal of the late Ordinances than by these Papers and Letters to disperse which he treated with Fernandez and obtained his promise to be instrumental therein to which purpose two Copies were drawn both of of the Pardon and of the Repeal of the Ordinances as also of the Letters which were wrote to particular persons all which were delivered into the hands of Fernandez and he safely returned ashoar So soon as he was landed he went directly to Piçarro and taking him apart from the company he told him secretly that Aldana had made him great promises in case he would disperse amongst the people those Papers and Letters which contained the pardon and revocation of the late Laws and to amuse Aldana with vain hopes I gave him said he my promise so to doe and received the Papers which I here faithfully deliver into your hand for since you have been pleased to entrust me with your person your safety and your estate having had so great a confidence in me as to adventure me for a Hostage amongst your Enemies I resolve to be faithfull and true to you and with my other vertues to bequeath that of faithfulness and truth to my posterity besides these he uttered many other flattering expressions wherewith to delude Piçarro and settle him in an assured confidence of his integrity and reality towards him Gonçalo Piçarro who was naturally in himself of a frank and noble disposition believed every word that Fernandez had told him and taking the Papers from him reposed an entire confidence in all his actions and dealings upon which Fernandez gained an opportunity with better security to publish and disperse his Papers those which were for particular friends in whom he could confide he delivered with his own hand and the others he threw in at Windows and put under Doors so that the Contents thereof were soon known and divulged over all the Town which had the effect and issue for which they were designed as we shall hereafter see in the sequel of these matters For no sooner was the substance of these Papers published with a particular clause That whosoever was desirous to gain the benefit of his Majesty's gratious Declaration and escape to the Ships should find Boats ready in the River to receive them and carry them on board but great Disturbance arose in the minds of the people for no man knew whom he could trust every one growing jealous and suspicious each of other and indeed there was just cause for it because those who had entred into the most solemn engagements were the first who broke them and fled to the Enemy And though the Camp was pitched at some distance in the fields and Orders given out for the Army to march by way of the plains yet several principal persons having obtained licence to goe to the Town under colour of making provision of necessaries for their march returned not again to the Camp as they had promised to Piçarro but renouncing his cause and interest marched away to Truxillo The most considerable of these persons were Vasco de Guevara Martin de Meneses Nicholas de Ribera Hernan Bravo de Laguna Diego de Escobar Francisco de Barlovento Diego Tinoco Francisco de Ampuero Alonso Ramires de Sosa all which had Possessions
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
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
inconsiderable The Justices made answer That it was not the part of Loyal Subjects to his Majesty to raise a Mutiny on the score of Reward and of Moneys due to them That they and all the World knew that a Vice-king was hourly expected from his Majesty with Commission to govern that Empire That it would be convenient to expect until that time lest his Excellency should be displeased with the Justices and the Souldiers for being Carvers to themselves of their own Wealth and Fortune Wherefore they desired their patience for three or four Months before which time it was impossible but a Vice-King must arive and in case within that time no news came thereof they would then by their own Authority proceed to make a division of Lands to them being very sensible of the want they must have of a subsistance and that in the mean time they were greatly troubled that they could not comply with their desires for the present And therefore since the time was so short they ought to expect the coming of the vice-Vice-King and not suffer their impatience to disoblige him who would be ready to reward their expectation with greater plenty than was in their power and that a precipitation of their desires would cause them to lose that Reward which their Actions and Sufferings had long since deserved With these and such like Discourses the Justices moderated the violence of the Petitioners And it pleased God about six Months afterwards that news came of the coming of a Vice-King for whose reception all things were prepared and in the interim the Pretenders surceased their importunities in expectation of his Excellency who was the first that ever came to Peru with that honourable Character and Title The End of the Seventh Book Royal Commentaries BOOK VIII CHAP. I. How the Indians and Spaniards celebrated the Festival of the most Holy Sacrament at Cozco A relation of a quarrel which the Indians had on that occasion SInce the Method of History requires that every thing should be related in its due time and place we shall here at the beginning of this eight Book describe two particular passages which happened in Cozco after the Wars with Erancisco Hernandez were ended and before the arrival of the Vice-King whose Presence was instantly desired and expected in that Kingdom One of those Matters which according to this rule we are to mention is the pompous and solemn celebration of that Festival which We Catholicks call Corpus Christi performed in the City of Cozco After those Wars were ended which the Devil had raised to obstruct the increase and propagation of the Holy Gospel the last of which was that of Francisco Hernandez Giron and may God in his Mercy grant that it may still be the last and succeeded by no other of that Nature The Solemnity of that Festival is now observed with as much magnificence and perhaps with more than at that time For those Wars were concluded at the end of the year 1554 and we are now in the year 1611 from which time to this present in which we are writing this Chapter fifty seven years have passed of Peace and Tranquility My intention is only to write the Histories of those times and to leave the successes of the present to the labour of other Pens In those days there were about 80 Citizens or men of Estates in Cozco who were all Gentlemen of Noble Rank and Extraction for by the Name of Citizens we understand those who had Lands given them with Indians belonging thereunto subjected to them in vassalage Every one of these Gentlemen with great Curiosity adorned his Chair or Sedan which his Indian Vassals were to carry on the day of Festival the Ornaments thereof were Fringes and Embroideries of Silk and Gold and studded with Emerolds and other Precious Stones therein were placed the Image of our Lord or Lady or some other Saint or Saintess according to the devotion of the Spaniard or Indian whose care it was to dress up the Sedans which were something like those which the Co-fraternities use in Spain upon such Festivals The Caciques who lived in the parts adjacent to the City came thither to bear a part and share in the Solemnity attended with their Kindred and Nobility of their Provinces and attired in all the finery and gallantry with which they used to dress themselves at times of their own most Religious Feasts of which we have given a Narrative in the first part of these Commentaries every Sept or Linage carrying the Ensigns or Signals of their own Race and Families in which they take much pride and shew great ostentation Some of them came in the habit as Hercules is painted with the Lions Skin the Head of which served him for a Cap and this is the most honourable dress for they value themselves very much to be descended from a Lion Others appeared with great Wings extended at a large breadth like to Angels which they took from the Fowle called by them Cuntur which is much in esteem with them and from which they also glory to derive their descent Others were habited in Cloathes painted with Rivers Fountains Lakes Mountains Caves and the like having a Tradition amongst them that their Forefathers had their original from such places Others had strange devises with Gold and Silver and Coronets of Gold Some appeared like Monsters having their Hands like Claws or the Paws of Wild-beasts which they took in hunting Others feigned themselves to be Fools and Idiots endeavouring in all guises to please and divert their Kings and Governours Some would act the part of Riches and Grandure others personated Misery and Poverty and every Province assumed some thing that they thought might administer to divertisement and delight and which might serve to make up the solemnity of the Festival well knowing that variety was pleasing and contributed much to the satisfaction of the Mind By such Scenes and Representations as these with which the Indians did use to celebrate the Feasts of their own Kings did they now though with more ostentation appear and bear a part in shewing honour to the Most Holy Sacrament which is our true God Redeemer and Lord of all the which they performed with such Devotion and Sincerity as plainly demonstrated them to be a People freed from the Superstition and Vanity of their Gentilism The Clergy and Citizens were not wanting also to contribute their part to render this Festival the more great and glorious to which end a Scaffold was erected in the Yard leading to the Church on that side which fronts the Chief Market-place where the Most Holy Sacrament was exposed in a rich Circle of Gold and Silver The Officers of the Church placed themselves on the right-hand and those of the City on the left with them were several of those Incas which remained of the Royal Line to whom they gave a place of Precedence in token that that Empire was their Patrimony The Indians of the several
other Processes of Justice made against the Rebels in punishment for the late War. Howsoe're the Governour Munnoz prosecuted his Predecessour in that Office and laid four Articles to his charge The first was That he sported after the Spanish manner and custome with Darts on horse-back which did not become the Justice of that Town That he went often abroad to make private Visits without the Rod of Justice in his hand which gave an occasion to many persons to despise and expose the honour of the Government to Contempt The third was that in Christmas ' time he gave leave to the Citizens and others to play at Cards and Dice in his House and that he himself plaid with them which did not become the gravity of a Governour And lastly that he had taken a Clerk who was not a Free-man of the City nor had observed the formality which the Law required in that case For answer unto which he replyed That as to the sport of throwing Darts it was a pastime which he had used all the days of his Life nor would he leave it off so long as he lived tho' he were placed in an Office of far higher Dignity and Honour than that in which he was constituted and invested To the second he said that sometimes he went without his Rod to the next Neighbour or house near at hand where he was familiarly acquainted and where he was sufficiently assured to receive no affront for want of the Badge or Ensign of his Authority That as to the Play and Gaming at Christmas it was very true that he did allow thereof in his own house and did himself play which prevented many differences and quarrels which might otherwise have arisen in other places amongst proud and angry persons As to the Clerk he said that he being no Lawyer himself did not so much regard the ability or the manner how he was qualified for that Office as his Fidelity and Truth and faithful administration of which all the City was ready to give Testimony Some other Articles were drawn up against Monjaraz but he being only Deputy-Governour could not be so highly charged as was the Governour himself And the truth is the faults of neither were fit to be mentioned only the new Judge was willing to have something to say but there neither being Crimes to punish nor Debts to pay all Actions were smoothed and no Processes further made CHAP. VI. The imprisonment and death of Martin de Robles and the reason for which he was executed WE have mentioned before how that Altamirano Judge of the Court of Chancery in the City of Los Reyes was sent Chief Justice to the City of Plate where so soon as he was possessed of his Government he apprehended Martin de Robles a Citizen of that Town and without any Indictment or Process made against him he hanged him up publickly in the open Market-place At which the people much lamented and were greatly offended because he was one of the most principal men of Quality in the whole Empire and so aged and bowed down with Years that he could not bear his own Sword girt to his side but was carried after him by an Indian Page who attended him But when the Reasons of his death were more fully known the offence thereat was much increased as Palentino mentions in these words following The Vice-King sent a Warrant to Judge Altamirano to put Martin de Robles to Death The Reasons for which he gave that sufficient proofs had been made before him the Vice-King how that this Martin de Robles having been in company with several persons should say these words Let us go to Lima and teach the Vice-King better manners than to write in such a rude Stile and with so little respect and formality as he uses These are the words of which he was accused tho' it is generally believed that he never said them nor ever gave any colour or ground for such an Accusation Some say that this rash Speech was not that which provoked the Vice-King against Martin de Robles but some other suggestions of having been accessary to the Imprisonment and death of Blasco Nunnez Vela Vice King of Peru. Thus far this Author in an obscure manner expresses this Passage which we shall endeavour to clear and explain more at large It is true that Martin de Robles did say some such words which were to be taken in another Sense For as we have said before when the Vice-King wrote Letters from Payta to the several Governours and Justices of the Empire giving them to understand the news of his arrival in that Country the Superscription of his Letters were in this manner To the Noble Lord of such a place And in the Letter he treated them with Thou which was the common Stile to what person of Quality soever the which manner of writing gave great offence over all Peru For in those days and a long time afterwards persons of Quality and such as were rich in that Country always used in Writing to their Servants the Title of Noble saying To the Noble and within the Letter they wrote sometimes in the second and sometimes in the third person according to his Condition and Office wherein he served and this Custom prevailed until such time as a Pragmatica came forth to regulate the Terms of Honour which were given But in regard the Letters from the vice-Vice-King were in another Form and Stile they gave offence to such evil Men who were desirous of Change and disturbances and caused them with reflection on the present vice-Vice-King to commend and praise the Civility of those who were formerly in the same power who in all their Letters used Terms of Respect according to the Quality and Merit of the person My Father Garçilasso being then Governour of Cozco received a Letter from the Vice-King with the same Title and Superscription which some asked him how he could brook or how he could endure such a neglect To which my Father made answer that he could bear it very well since that the Vice-King wrote to him not barely by the Name of Garçilasso de la Vega but with the addition of Governour of Cozco which shewed him to be his Officer and Minister under him and that very shortly they should see how the Vice-King would change the Form and Stile of the Superscription of his Letters to him Which accordingly happened for about eight days afterwards the Vice-King being at Rimac he wrote a Letter to my Father directed in this manner To the Right Worshipful Senior Garçilasso de la Vega c. and within he treated him with such Terms as might become an Elder Brother towards his younger at which those who saw it did much admire I have had both these Letters in my custody for at that time I served my Father in quality of his Clark and wrote all the Letters which he dispatched to several parts of the Empire and in like manner I gave the
in his Rebellions are restored to their Estates and Plantations Pedro de Orsua attempts the Conquest of the Amazons His End and Death with many others with him THE Vice-King Don Andres de Hortado seeing those men whom he had banished from Peru for demanding a Reward of their past Services now again returned with Pensions assigned on the Treasure of his Majesty and on the Chest of the three Keys he wondered much at the success not imagining by what interest it could have been procured for them but more strange it seemed to him to hear of the coming of a new Vice-King to succeed him in that Office. This change of Fortune caused him to change his Humour and convert much of that haughty and severe Spirit which was natural to him into a Gentleness and Lenity more becoming the Office of a great Minister and in this good temper he continued to the end of his life which was so extraordinary that those who observed it would say That if he had begun as he ended he would have proved the most admirable Governour that ever had been in the World. Thus when the Kingdom observed this great change in the Vice-King the Country in peace and quietness and the rigour of the Justices converted into an affable and complying Humour those who had been lately oppressed by the heavy Hand of Justice assumed the courage to demand satisfaction for the evils and damages they had sustained Accordingly the Sons and Heirs of those Citizens who had been executed for being engaged in the Rebellion of Hernandez made claims of their Estates laying before the Justices the Instruments of Pardon which had been given to their Fathers and so followed the suit that after several hearings and reviews of their Cause they obtained Sentence to have their Lands and Commands over Indians restored to them together with all other Consiscations of their Estates and thus did they obtain a restitution of their Indians which the Vice-King had divided and conferred on other Spaniards to increase and better their Estates At all which the Vice-King was in great trouble and perplexity For not only did he suffer the affront to have his own Orders repealed but also lay under an obligation of making satisfaction to those who were dispossessed by some other returns or equivalents to be made them All that hath been said in this matter I saw my self transacted in Cozco and the like passed in other Cities where the same rigour of Justice had been put in practice as namely in Huamanca Arequepa the Charcas and the New Plantation So soon as it was generally known that the aforesaid Sentence was repealed and that the Heirs were restored again to the possession of their Lands the Spaniards took a liberty to report That this course was taken without any order from his Majesty or direction from the Council of the Indies but meerly by the Power and arbitrary Will of the vice-Vice-King intending by such severities to shew his Power and secure himself from all Mutinies and Conspiracies for the future But the Vice-King being now of another Humour and proceeding with that gentleness and good temper which we have before mentioned was pleased to grant unto a certain Gentleman of Worth and Virtue and of an agreeable Person named Pedro de Orsua a License to make a Conquest of the Country of the Amazons which runs along the River Marannon which is the same we have mentioned before where Francisco Orellana deserting Gonçalo Piçarro came into Spain and begged of his Majesty the aforesaid Conquest but he died in the way and never put his Enterprise into Action In pursuance of this Grant Pedro de Orsua went from Cozco to Quita to raise Souldiers who were willing to adventure on new Conquests For in Peru all the Lands were measured out and divided amongst the Antient Conquerours and men of Merit in that Empire He also gathered all the Arms and Provisions he was able to which the Citizens and Inhabitants of those Cities largely contributed by their Bounty and Liberality for so obliging was Pedro de Orsua in his carriage towards every one as engaged their Affections to render him all the Assistances and Services they were able Many Souldiers attended him from Cozco amongst which was one called Don Fernando de Guzman with whom I was acquainted he was lately come from Spain and there was another who had been an old Souldier called Lope de Aguire a fellow of an ill shapen Body and of worse Conditions and Practices as are described in a Book of the Elogies of Worthy and Illustrious persons written by John de Castellanos a Secular Priest who had a Benefice in the City of Tunja in the new Kingdom of Granada These Elogies though written in Verse are yet a true History and wherein he fills six Cantos with the expedition of Pedro de Orsua and how he marched with 500 men well armed and appointed together with a considerable body of Horse He also relates the manner of his death how he was killed by his own Souldiers and his most intimate Friends that they might enjoy a beautiful Lady whom Orsua carried for a Companion with him the which passion of Love hath been the ruin of many brave Captains in the World such as Hannibal and others The principal Actors in this Tragedy were Don Fernando de Guzman Lope de Aguire and Salduendo who were in love with this Lady besides several others whom this Author names who also farther relates That these Traytors set up Don Fernando for their King which Title he was so vain and foolish as to accept though he had no Kingdom to possess nor right to any thing but his own ill Fortune which soon followed him being killed by the same Friends who had promoted him to his Royal Dignity And then Aguire took upon himself the Government which he so well exercised that at several times he killed above 200 men he plundered the Island of Margarita where he committed most detestible Cruelties Thence he passed over to other Isles near adjacent where he was overcome by the Inhabitants but before he would yield himself he killed his own Daughter whom he brought with him for no other reason than that after he was dead she might not be called the Daughter of a Traytor This was the sum of all those Cruelties which indeed were most Diabolical and the beginning and ending of this whole Enterprise which commenced with so much Gallantry and mighty Preparations of which I was in part an Eye-witness CHAP. XV. The Count de Nieva is chosen Vice-King of Peru. He sends a Message to his Predecessor The Death of the Marquis of Cannete as also of the Count de Nieva Don Garcia de Mendoça returns to Spain The Lawyer Castro is appointed Governour of Peru. WHilst these matters were transacting in Peru and that Orsua and his Fellow adventurers with him were defeated upon the great River of the Amazons his Majesty King Philip the Second was mindful
ever since 1553 when the Indians began first to rebel been constantly carried on without Truce or Intermission during all that time as we have intimated before in several Places Whilst this Governour employed himself in the exercises of War he went one day according to his usual custom to visit the several Forts which were raised on the Frontiers to curb the Enemy and keep them from making incursions and depredations on those Indians who had submitted and were become Servants to the Spaniards And having supplyed all those Garrisons with Ammuntion and Provisions he returned to those Cities within the Kingdom which were setled and in peace And being without the Limits of the Enemies quarters as indeed he was and as he believed out of danger he dismissed 200 of his Souldiers which were then of his Guard and dispeeded them away to their respective quarters Leaving himself only with about thirty Companions amongst which were several Captains and old veterane Souldiers who had served many years in the Wars And being come into a very pleasant Plain they pitched their Tents intending to repose and solace themselves that Night and several Nights afterwards that they might recover the Sleep they had lost by their continual watchings for whilst they were on the Frontiers taking care to secure the Garrisons they were so continually allarm'd by the Enemy that they had not time to Rest Eat or Sleep The Araucos and Indians of other Provinces Neighbouring on these who had rebelled sent their Spies by Night to discover the condition of the Spaniards and finding them without Centinels and in all security fast asleep and as safe as their Enemies could desire they whistled to each other with Bird-Calls and gave notice by such kind of barking and howlings which Giacalls or Wolves use in the Night which were the signals agreed upon amongst them At these noises great numbers of Indians came flocking together and with all the silence possible went softly to the Spaniards Tents where finding them asleep and in their Shirts in Bed they cut the Throats of every one of them and carrying away with them their Horses Arms and all the Spoyl which belonged to the Spaniards This was the end of the Governour Martin Garcia Loyola which was much lamented over all the Kingdom of Chile and Peru but as often as that Discourse was moved either amongst Indians or Spaniards it was confessed that Providence had so ordered those matters that the death of the late Inca should in this manner be revenged on the Spaniards by the Hands of his own Vassals And herein it was more plainly evidenced by an Infatuation which possessed the Minds of such Captains and Veterane Souldiers practised in the Wars of that Country who knowing that they were near an Enemy incensed and enraged against them and thirsting after the Blood of the Spaniards should yet with so much security compose themselves to a sleep from which they did never afterwards awake This Governour Martin Garcia Loyola left one Daughter which he had by his Wife the Infanta Daughter of the Prince Don Diego Sayri Tupac the which Daughter was transported into Spain and there married to a Gentleman of Quality called Don John Enriquez de Boria His Catholick Majesty besides the Estate which the inherited from her Father in Peru was pleased as they wrote to me from the Court to confer upon her the Title of Marquess de Oropesa which is a Colony founded by the Vice-King Don Francisco de Toledo in Peru and called Oropesa by him in memory of his Ancestors which he desired might be continued in the new World besides which Title and Favour I am informed that a Consultation hath been held amongst the Illustrious Presidents and Lords of the Royal Council of Castile and the Indies at which also his Majesties Confessour was present with two other Advocates belonging to the Council of the Indies to consider what farther Gratifications could be made in reward of the many Services which her Father had done according to his Duty towards his Majesty and as a Compensation for her Patrimonial Inheritance Towards which as I am informed the Relation I have given in the first part of these Commentaries hath in some manner contributed Which if so I shall esteem my self sufficiently rewarded for the labour and pains I have taken to write this History though no other benefit or satisfaction accrues thereby unto my self CHAP. XXI The Conclusion of this Eighth Book and last of this History HAving in the beginning of this History shewed the Original of the Incas who were Kings of Peru and described their Increase and Conquests and all their generous Exploits together with the manner of their Government both in War and Peace and thereunto added their Religion and ldolatry practised in the times of their Gentilisme All which by the Divine favour and assistance we have largely handled in the first part these Commentaries by which I have complyed with the duty I owe to my Country and Kindred by my Mothers side In this second part we have at large related all those brave Acts and gallant Exploits performed by the Spaniards in the Conquest of this rich Empire in which I have complied tho' not fully with the Duty and Obligation I owe to my Father and to his Illustrious and Generous Companions So that now it may be time to conclude this Work and put an end to this Labour with the ultimate Reign and Succession of the Incas who with that unhappy Huascar were 13 in number who possessed the Throne of that Empire until the Invasion of the Spaniards But as to the other five which succeeded afterwards that is Manco Inca and his two Sons Don Diego and Don Philippe and his two Nephews we do not insert them in the Line of Kings for tho' they had a right to the Inheritance yet they never had possession of the Government but if we should reckon them in that number we might then account 18 who descended by the direct Male-line from the first Inca Manco Capac to the last of those Children whose Names I do not know The Indians do not reckon Atahualpa in the number of their Kings being as they call him an Auca that is a Traytor Tho' in the last Chapter of the first Part of these Commentaries we have given an account of all the Sons which in an oblique Line descended from the several Kings of which as we have there affirmed a true and an authentick List was sent me with Power and Authority directed to Don Melchior Carlos Don Alonso de Mesa and my self that we jointly or any one of us should lay it before his Catholick Majesty and before his Supream and Royal Council of the Indies to the intent and purpose that they might be freed from those Taxes and Impositions which they sustained Which Papers and Memorials as they came directed unto me I dispatched to the said Don Melchior Carlos and Don Alonso de Mesa But the said Don Melchior having Pretensions of his own would not weaken his own Interest by giving Countenance to their demands nor would he present their Papers that it might not be known thereby how many of the Royal Line were still surviving fearing lest his Interest should be divided and the benefit which he expected to himself alone might be imparted unto them all together So at the Conclusion of all he neither did good to them nor to himself I have thought fit for my own Discharge to give a Narrative hereof that my Relations of those parts may not accuse me either of unkindness or negligence in not performing what they have desired of me and entrusted me in I should have been very glad if I could have performed this Service for them with the hazard of my Life but it was impossible for me to have done any thing in this matter not being able to contribute more thereunto than only by writing this History in which I hope I have as well done Justice and Right to the Spaniards who have Conquered this Empire as to the Incas who were tho true Lords and Possessors of it To the Divine Majesty Father Son and Holy Ghost three Persons and one true God be Praise for Ever and Ever who have been pleased to grant me Grace and assistance to arrive at the Ultimate End and Conclusion of this History May it be to the Honour and Glory of his Divine Name By whose infinite mercy through the Blood and Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and by the Intercession of the ever Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Court of Heaven I beg Favour and Protection now and in the Hour of Death Amen sweet Jesus a hundred thousand times Jesus Amen Praised be God. FINIS The Indians have no Beards * Or Columbus * A sort of Fish. * Thunder Lightning Thunderbolt * ✚ * Perhaps it may be a sort of Housleek * A Name of one of their Gods. * A sort of Bird in that Countrey * A Game at Cards * What the Knots were is before mentioned * A double Pistol or 36 shillings English The Authour * Thirty six Maravedis make six pence * About ten pence This Story is very questionable for it is known that under the Equinoctial the Sap of the Vine can never fall and consequently no Fruit be produced Thirty six Maravedis make six pence Every Peso of Gold is about sixteen Ryals Plate which is nine shillings English * In Peru for want of Bergandines or Head-pieces they wore a sort of Armour for their Face like a cross Bar. 65 Ryalls plate to every Marco Tirar cannos is a sport in Spain much used on Horseback and which the Spaniards learned from the Moors used also by the Turks * To which the Bridge of Osiers was fastned * A Sport used in Spain