many excellent things and worthy of admiration and such as may be compared with the best Model of our Common-wealths and may afford us sufficient evidence of the genius of that people and of that natural readiness of mind capable to be improved to greater and higher matters Nor ought it to seem strange if some erroneous fancies have intermixed with their Customs for even Plato and Lycurgus and other excellent Legislatours have been guilty of some follies and interwoven superstitions and vain rites with their more substantial Laws And indeed in those wise Common-wealths of Rome and Athens many ridiculous Customs have been introduced which to considering men would appear as idle as any of those practices which have been in use amongst the Mexican or the Peruvian Common-wealths But we who entred by the Sword and afforded not time to these miserable Indians to give us proofs of their rationality but hunted them as wild Beasts through the Mountains and drew them as brutish creatures to bear the burthens of our slavish servitude could not entertain any great opinion of their Wisedom Howsoever some observing men who have been so curious as to penetrate into the secrets of their ancient Government and into the methods of their proceedings have found that the Order and Rules they followed were worthy of admiration Thus far are the words of Joseph Acosta who also adds that they had certain compendious Systems of Morality digested into Verse by way of Poetry in which also many of their Laws and the great Actions of their Kings were rehearsed and kept in a kind of tradition for better instruction of their posterity which savouring rather of Truth than Romance the Spaniards esteem them to be true and particular passages of their History But many other things afford them matter of laughter being ill-composed Fables superstitious and vain and such also as are contrary to common honesty CHAP. XVI Of those few Instruments which the Indians attained to and made use of in all their Works and Handicraft-Trades HAving already declared how far they were proceeded in their Moral and Natural Philosophy and in their Poetry it follows now that we should declare something of their Mechanicks and how much they failed in the Art of making those Instruments which are necessary for shaping and framing those Utensils which are required for convenient living and well-being And first to begin with their Silversmiths of which though there were great numbers and constantly laboured at their Trade yet they were not so skilfull as to make an Anvil of Iron or any other Metal caused perhaps for want of knowledge in what manner to dig their Iron and separate it from its Ore of which they had several Mines and called it Quillay and therefore instead thereof they made use of a certain hard Stone of a yellowish colour which being planed and made smooth was rare and of great value amongst them They knew not the invention of putting a handle of Wood to their Hammers but worked with certain Instruments they had made of Copper mixed with a sort of fine Brass Neither did they know how to make Files or Graving-tools or Bellows for Melting down Metals but instead thereof used Pipes made of Copper of about a Yard long the end of which was narrow that the Breath might pass more forcibly by means of the contraction And as the Fire was to be more or less so accordingly they used eight ten or twelve of these Pipes at once as the quantity of Metal did require And still they continue this way though our Invention of Bellows is much more easie and forcible to raise the Fire Nor had they the use of Tongs to take their heated Metal out of the Fire but rather drew it thence by a piece of Wood or some Bar of Copper with which they cast it into a heap of wet Earth which they kept purposely by them to cool their Metal untill such time as they could take it into their hands Notwithstanding this want of divers Instruments they made many things with great curiosity especially in Boaring Metals as we shall hereafter discourse more at large And notwithstanding their simplicity experience had taught them that the Steam and Effluviums from Metals is dangerous and prejudicial to Man's health and for that reason they founded all their Metals in the open Air and not under Coverts But above all their Carpenters seemed to be worst provided with Tools for though ours use many Instruments made of Iron those of Peru had no other than a Hatchet and a Pick-axe made of Copper they neither had Saw nor Augre nor Planer nor any other Tool for the Carpenter's work so that they could not make Arches or Portals for doors onely they hewed and cut their Timber and whitened it and then it was prepared for their Building And for making their Hatchets and Pick-axes and some few Rakes they made use of the Silversmiths for as yet they had not attained to the Art of Working in Iron Nor did they know how to make Nails or use them but tied all their Timber with Cords of Hemp. Nor were their Hewers of Stone more artificial for in cutting and shaping their Stones they had no other Tool than one made with some sharp Flints and Pebbles which they called Hihuana with which they rather wore out the Stone by continual rubbing than cutting For lifting or carrying up their Stones they had no Engines but did all by the strength and force of their Armes and notwithstanding all this defect they raised such mighty and stately Edifices as is incredible which appears by the Writings of the Spanish Historians and by the Ruines of them which still remain They knew not how to make Scissars nor Needles of Metal but in place thereof they used a certain long Thorn which grows in those parts for which reason they sowed very little but rather patched or cobled as we shall hereafter declare With this sort of Thorns they made also their Combs for the head which they fixed within a Cane which served for the back of the Comb and the Thorns on each side for the Teeth The Looking-glasses which the Ladies of Quality used were made of Burnished Copper but the Men never used any for that being esteemed a part of effeminacy was also a disgrace if not ignominy to them In this manner they passed as well as they could in providing those matters which were onely necessary for humane life and though these people were endued with no great capacity of invention yet when the Spaniards taught them they learned with great facility and imitated so well the patterns given them that in time they excelled their Masters in their Artificial workmanship and contrivances This ingenuity and aptness to attain Sciences was evidenced by a genius they had in Personating and Acting Comedies which the Jesuits and some Friars and other Religious had composed for them I remember the argument of one to have been the Mystery of Man's
THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF PERU IN TWO PARTS THE FIRST PART Treating of the Original of their Incas or Kings Of their Idolatry Of their Laws and Government both in Peace and War Of the Reigns and Conquests of the Incas With many other Particulars relating to their Empire and Policies before such time as the Spaniards invaded their Countries THE SCOND PART Describing the manner by which that new World was conquered by the Spaniards Also the Civil Wars between the Piçarrists and the Almagrians occasioned by Quarrels arising about the Division of that Land. Of the Rise and Fall of Rebels and other Particulars contained in that History Illustrated with Sculptures Written originally in Spanish By the Inca GARCILASSO DE LA VEGA And rendred into English by Sir PAUL RYCAUT Kt. LONDON Printed by Miles Flesher for Samuel Heyrick at Gray's-Inn-Gate in Holbourn MDCLXXXVIII Sr Paul Rycaut late Consul of Smyrna Fellow of the Royall Societie Let this Book be Printed August 3. 1685. Middleton THE Royal Commentaries OF PERU IN TWO PARTS THE FIRST PART Treating of the Original of their Incas or Kings Of their Idolatry Of their Laws and Government both in Peace and War Of the Reigns and Conquests of the Incas With many other Particulars relating to their Empire and Policies before such time as the Spaniards invaded their Countries THE SECOND PART Describing the manner by which that new World was conquered by the Spaniards Also the Civil Wars between the Piçarrists and the Almagrians occasioned by Quarrels arising about the Division of that Land. Of the Rise and Fall of Rebels and other Particulars contained in that History Written originally in Spanish By the Inca GARCILASSO DE LA VEGA And rendred into English By Sir PAUL RYCAUT Knight LONDON Printed by Miles Flesher for Samuel Heyrick at Gray's-Inn-Gate in Holbourn 1688. Let this Book be Printed August 3. 1685. Middleton THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER THE Authour of this History was one of those whom the Spaniards called Meztizo's that is one born of a Spanish Father and an Indian Mother And though he was a Native of Peru and by the Mother's side inclined to the simple Temperament which is natural to that Countrey yet it seems the Spanish humour was most prevalent in him so that he delighted much to tell us as in divers places that he was the Son of Garçilasso de la Vega one of the first Conquerours of the new World who was by the direct Line descended from that brave Cavalier Garciperez de Vargas from whom came the valiant Gomez Suarez de Figueroa the first Count of Feria his Great-grandfather and Ynigo Lopez de Mendoça from whom the Duke of Infantado was descended who was Brother to his Great-grandmother and to Alonso de Vargas Lord of the Black-mountain his Grand-father from whom came Alonso de Hinestrosa de Vargas Lord of Valde Sevilla who was Father to Garçilasso de la Vega of whom came our Authour Nor less illustrious doth he tell you that he was by the Mother's side who was the Daughter of Inca Huallpa Topac one of the Sons of Topac Inca Yupanqui and of Palla Mama Occlo his lawfull Wife from whom came Huayna Capac Inca the last King of Peru. Wherefore this Authour in all his Writings styles himself Garçilasso Inca because he derived his Pedigree from the Kings of Peru who were called Inca's a name it seems given to none but the Royal Family This History is divided into two Parts The first treats of their Government before the time of the Inca's which was by the Head of their Tribes and Families called Curacas and then it proceeds unto the Original of the Inca's and of their Government and in what manner that salvage People was civilized and instructed in the Laws of Humane Nature and to live in a Political Society by Manco Capac their first King How also the Men were taught by him to plow and cultivate their Lands and exercise some sort of Husbandry and how the Women by his Wife Coya Mama who by their Law was to be his Sister were taught to spin and weave and make their own Garments It is probable that a great part of this History as far as concerns the Original of the Inca's and the foundation of their Laws is fabulous howsoever being as our Authour says delivered by Tradition and commonly believed amongst their People of the better degree it may contain divers Truths mixed with abundance of Fictions and foolish Inventions But this is no more than what hath happened to Nations of more refined understanding for what account can we our selves give of Great Britain before the Romans entred into it Nay What can France or Spain say of the Ancient Inhabitants of their own Countries or of the manner how they came first to be Christians Unless it be that which ignorant men have devised and what the Learned men are now ashamed to believe or say after them And then what wonder is it that such poor Salvages born in a part of the World undiscovered to us untill the year 1484 and of whose Original we have no certain knowledge nor have any light besides fancy and conjecture from whence the Continent of America hath been peopled How then I say can it be expected that these illiterate Creatures should be able to give an account of their Extraction or of Matters which passed in those Ages of which the Learned parts of the World acknowledge their ignorance and confess themselves to be in the dark even as to those Matters which concern their own Histories But because it is in the nature of Mankind to use reflect Acts on their own being and retreat with their Thoughts back to some beginning so these poor Souls derive the Original of their first being from divers Creatures of which they had the greatest opinion and admiration some living near a great Lake which supplied them with store of Fish called that their Parent from whence they emerged and others esteemed the Mighty Mountains of Antis to have been their Parent and to have issued out of those Caverns as from the Womb of a Mother others fansied themselves to be descended from that great Fowl called Cuntur which spreads a very large Wing which pleased some Nations of the Indians that they would look no farther for a Parent than to that Fowl and in token thereof upon days of solemnity and festival carried the Wings thereof fastned to their Armes But then as to their Inca's or Kings whose Original was to be derived from something higher than sublunary Creatures being of better composition than their poor and mean Vassals the Sun was esteemed a fit Parent for those who were come from Divine race so that when they adored the Sun whom they acknowledged for their God they gave honour to their Kings who were descended from him Various have been the opinions amongst Historians concerning the Original of this People of which the most probable as I conceive is that
other poor and disabled People in which good works he passed all the remainder of his days his Reign having continued for thirty Years as is said but the truth is there is so little credit to be given to Reports of this nature where are no Registers or Letters that we know not what to believe in the Case onely this is certain that he dyed full of Honour and Trophies having acquired a great name both in War and Peace and being much beloved and honoured His Death was lamented with sincere grief by all which according to the Custome of the Incas continued for the space of a full Year His Eldest Son Capac Yupanqui born of his Wife Mama Cuca he left his Universal Heir of all besides whom also he left other Sons and Daughters as well such as were legitimate as such as were termed illegitimate CHAP. X. Capac Yupanqui the fifth Monarch reduces many Provinces in the Division of Contisuyu THE Inca Capac Yupanqui the interpretation of whose Name we have already declared amongst the proper Names of his Ancestors after the death of his Father bound his Head with the coloured Wreath in token of his entrance into the possession of his patrimonial Inheritance and having performed the Obsequies of his Father's Interment he immediately took a Journey through all parts of his Dominions making enquiry into the Behaviour and Lives of his Officers and in what manner Justice was administred amongst them In this Progress he passed two years and then returned to Cozco where he commanded that Souldiers should be levied and Provisions made for the following Year intending to extend his Conquests into those parts of Contisuyu which lie Eastward from Cozco where he was informed that there were many and great Provinces and abounding with People For the more easie passage to those parts he ordered another bridge to be made over the great River of Apurimac at that place which is called Huacachaca below Accha which was accordingly performed with all diligence surpassing the former bridge in length and breadth because the River was wider in those parts In this manner the Inca departed from Cozco attended with twenty thousand Men of War and being come to the bridge which was about eight Leagues from the City through a rough and asperous way three Leagues of which are a steep descent to the River though in height it may not be perpendicular above half a League and the ascent on the other side may likewise contain about three Leagues farther Having passed the bridge and this difficult way they entred into the pleasant Countrey of Yanahuara which at that time contained thirty Nations what those People were taken and how numerous we have no certain account onely we are assured that the Inhabitants on that side called Piti so soon as they heard of the approach of the Inca came forth to meet him both Men and Women old and young and with Songs and Musick Acclamations and all things that might testifie their Joy they received him for their King vowing all Obedience and Vassalage to his Person The Inca on the other side received them with a gratious Eye bestowing on them such Vests or Garments as were in the mode and fashion of his Court Of this kind treatment the Piti sent advice to their Neighbours being of the same Nation with them of Yanahuara giving them to understand that the Inca had taken up his aboad amongst them and that they had received him for their Lord and Master according to which example of the Piti the Curacas of divers Nations came likewise in and submitted themselves The Inca received them all with his accustomed goodness and as an evidence of his greater favour he was desirous to shew himself to his People and visit their Countrey which contained about twenty Leagues in length and about fifteen in breadth From this Province of Yanahuara he passed into another called Aymara between which two there is a space of ground wholly desolate and unpeopled of about fifteen Leagues over On the other side of this desart a great number of People were gathered into a body within a certain inclosed ground called Mucansa to stop the passage of the Inca and entrance into their Countrey which contains thirty Leagues in length and fifteen in breadth and is rich in Mines of Gold Silver and Lead and abounds in Cattle and People and consisted of at least eighty Nations before they were reduced to the Obedience of the Inca. At the Foot of this Inclosure the Inca commanded his Army to encamp so as to cut the Enemy off from all supplies who being barbarous and ignorant of War had dispeopled all the Countrey and gathered them into one body not considering that by this means they were cooped up on all sides and hemmed in as it were in a Cage The Inca continued several days in this manner with an unwillingness to attack them inviting them to submission with all fair terms and proposals of Peace and offering no other violence to them than to hinder them from provisions and sustenance that so what Reason and Argument could not effect Famine and Hunger might enforce In this resolute condition the Indians remained for the space of a whole month untill being constrained by the necessities of Famine they sent Messengers to the Inca giving him to understand that they were ready to receive him for their King and adore him as the true Off-spring of the Sun conditionally that he on the Faith and Word of his Divine Progeny promise that so soon as they shall have yielded themselves to him he will conquer and subject under his Imperial Command the neighbouring Province of Umasuyu which being a numerous and warlike People living upon Rapine and Spoil did make frequent incursions to the very doors of their Houses eating up their provisions and pastures and committing many other mischiefs and outrages for which injuries they had often made War upon them which ended in bloud and confusion on the one side and the other and when at length Peace was made and terms of accommodation agreed on they suddenly broke out again into new violences not considering the Faith and Promises they had given Wherefore if he pleased to avenge them of these Enemies and restrain their incursions on them for the future they would yield and acknowledge him for their Prince and Lord. To this Proposal the Inca made answer by one of his Captains That the design of his coming into those parts had no other aim than to relieve the oppressed and reclaim the barbarous Nations from that bestial manner of living whereto they were accustomed and that he might instruct them in the Laws of Reason and Morality which he had received from his Father the Sun but as to the avenging them of their Enemies for the injustice and injuries they had done them it was the Office and Duty of the Inca to perform howsoever it became not them to impose conditions on the Inca who was
World commanding them to use compassion and mercy and to receive the Rebellious Indians unto pardon for which reason the Prince did not onely confer upon them their Lives as a gift but restore them also to their Estates and Dwellings and their Curacas to their Dominion and Government though the crimes they had committed deserved no less than Death conditionally that for the future they behave themselves as good Subjects lest by a second offence they provoke the Sun to avenge the first and cause the Earth to open its bowels and swallow them alive After this Lecture the Curacas with profound humility acknowledged the favour promising all Loyalty Duty and Obedience for the future After this Victory the Inca Viracocha immediately dispatched away three Expresses One of them was sent to the Temple of the Sun to inform him of the good news of this Victory which by his aid and succour they had obtained for though they esteemed the Sun for a God yet in all respects they treated him as a Man and as one who had need of intelligence and information of matters which succeeded besides which they formed other gross conceptions of him as to drink to him and that he might pledge them again on their Festival-days they filled a Golden Cup with Liquour which they set in a part of the Temple which was most open to the Sun-beams and what was exhaled by that heat they judged to be drank up by the Sun they also set meat for him to eat and when any novelty occurred they sent him the advices of it by Messengers and when they were victorious they returned him Thanks for their Successes In pursuance of this ancient custome the Prince Viracocha sent advice to the Sun of this his Victory and commanded the Priests that having recalled those others which for fear were fled away they should join together in offering new Sacrifices with Praises and Thanksgivings to the Sun. Another Messenger he dispatched to the House of the Select Virgins giving them to understand that by means of their Prayers and Intercessions the Sun had bestowed that Favour and Victory upon him A third Messenger whom they call Chasqui he dispeeded to his Father the Inca giving him the particulars of all the late Successes desiring him to continue in the same station where he was untill he should in person present himself before him CHAP. XX. The Prince pursues his Conquest returns to Cozco sees his Father and dispossesses him of his Empire HAving made these dispatches he selected six thousand Souldiers to accompany him in the pursuit of his Enemies the rest of his Army he disbanded giving them licence to return unto their own homes the Body which he reserved was commanded besides other inferiour Officers by two Major-Generals who were his Uncles and with this Force two days after the Battel he marched in the pursuit of his Enemies not with intention to treat them ill but to cure them of their fears assuring them of pardon for their late Offence so that as many as they overtook in case they were wounded he ordered them to be cured and such as were whole and sound he treated them with gentleness and kind usage sending likewise Messengers to the respective Provinces and People to assure them of the pardon and favour of the Inca and that he was coming in person to give them farther testimonies thereof Having by these pre-advices comforted and encouraged the people he marched with great expedition and being come to the Province of Antahuaylla which belongs to the Chancas all the Women and Children assembled together and came forth to meet him and carrying green branches in their hands went crying O thou undoubted Child of the Sun who art the Lover and Favourer of the Poor have compassion upon us and pardon us The Prince received these people with grace and favour telling them that it was not they but their Fathers and Husbands who were guilty of the crime and that even them also he had pardoned for their actual Rebellion and to assure them hereof and confirm them in this belief he was come in person to pronounce their pardon with his own mouth He ordered likewise that they should give them such provisions as their necessities required treating them with all civility and affection imaginable and that especial care should be taken of the Widows and Orphans of those who were slain in the Battel of Yahuar Pampa In this manner he over-ran all the revolted Provinces constituting his Governours with sufficient Guards over them and made such expedition that in a months time as the Indians report who count their Months by their Moons he finished his march and returned again to his City of Cozco The Indians as well those who were loyal as those who had rebelled were wonderfully surprized with this strange gentleness of the Prince whose Humour and Disposition being sowre and severe promised nothing but Revenge and Destruction to the last drop of his Enemies bloud but finding his Nature otherwise changed they concluded that the command of the Sun had altered his Disposition and reduced him to the natural temper of his Fore-fathers But the truth is that Ambition and thirst of Honour which makes great changes in the minds of Men had so miraculously operated on his rough and hard temper that his Nature seemed entirely to be altered and to have put on that gentle and sweet humour which was Royal and natural to his Family This being done the Inca Viracocha made his entry into Cozco on foot that he might appear more a Souldier than a King he descended thither by the way of Caramenta and in triumphant manner being encompassed by his Souldiers and on each hand supported by his two Uncles that were Major-Generals causing the prisoners to be conducted behind with great joy and loud acclamations he was received into the City The grave Incas aged and stricken in years came forth to meet him and with due reverence having saluted and adored him and acknowledged him for a true Child of the Sun entred amongst the ranks of the Souldiery to partake of the glory of this Triumph adding farther this complement to their Courtship That they wished themselves youthfull again for no other reason than that they might be Souldiers and serve in the Wars under his fortunate and auspicious Conduct His Mother also Coya Mama Chic-ya with her Women and others nearly allied in Bloud to the Prince being attended also with a multitude of Pallas or Ladies went forth with Songs and Dancings to meet and receive him some embraced him others wiped off the sweat from his Brows others swept the dust from his Feet strewing the ways with Flowers and odoriferous Herbs in which joyfull and solemn manner the Prince first visited the Temple of the Sun in which making his entry on his bare Feet according to their usual custome he returned thanks for the Victory which his Father the Sun had given him Then he visited the Select Virgins Wives
whom Hernando de Soto and Pedro de Barco were two adventured to travell from Cassamarca to Cozco which is a Journey of two hundred and thirty Leagues by which they made a discovery of the Riches of that City and other places and to shew their great kindness and civility they carried them over the Countries in Chairs or Sedans giving them the Title of Incas and Children of the Sun in the same manner as they did their own Kings Now had the Spaniards taken the advantage of this credulity of the Indians persuading them that the true God had sent them for their deliverance from the tyrannical Usurpations of the Divel which enslaved them more than all the Cruelties of Atahualpa and had preached the Holy Gospel with that sanctity and good example which the innocence of that Doctrine requires they had certainly made great Progresses in the advancement of Religion But the Spanish Histories report things in a different way of proceedings to which for the truth thereof I refer the Reader lest being an Indian my self I should seem partial in the relation But this truth we may confidently aver that though many were blameable yet the greater number discharged the Office and Duty of good Christians howsoever amongst a people so ignorant and simple as these poor Gentiles one ill man is able to doe more mischief than the endeavours of a hundred good Men are able to repair The Spanish Historians farther say that the Indians gave this Name to the Spaniards because they came over the Sea deriving Viracocha from the composition of two words namely Vira which is vast immense and Cocha which signifies the Sea or Ocean But the Spaniards are much mistaken in this composition for though Cocha is truly the Name for the Sea yet Vira signifies fatness and is no other than the proper Name which that Apparition gave to it self the which I more confidently aver because that Language being natural to me and that which I sucked in and learned with my Mother's Milk I may more reasonably be allowed to be a Judge of the true Idioms of that Tongue rather than Spaniards who are Strangers and Aliens to that Countrey But besides what we have already mentioned there may yet be another reason for it which is that the Indians gave them that Name from the Cannon and Guns they used which they taking to be Lightning and Thunder believed them Gods by whose hands they were used Blas Valera interpreting this word says that it signifies a Deity which comprehends the Will and Power of a God not that the word doth properly signifie so much but that it is a Name which the Indians found out to give to this Apparition which they Worshipped in the second place to the Sun and after that they Adored their Kings and Incas as if they had been Gods. It is disputable whether the Inca Viracocha was more admired for his Victory or for his Dream but certain it is that he was so reverenced for both that they esteemed him for a God and adored him as one expresly sent from the Sun to save his Family and the Divine Off-spring from utter ruine and because that by him the Imperial City the Temple of the Sun and the Convent of the Select Virgins were preserved he was afterwards Worshipped with greater ostentation and honour than any other of his Ancient Progenitors And though this Inca endeavoured to persuade his Subjects to transfer the Honour which they gave to him unto his Uncle the Vision which appeared to him yet so far was this devotion infixed in their minds that they could not be diverted from performing Divine Honours towards him untill at length they compounded for their superstition and agreed to impart and divide their Worship equally between them and whereas they had both the same Name they should Adore them together under the same Title and Notion And for this reason the Inca Viracocha as we shall hereafter mention erected a Temple in Honour and Memory of his Uncle Viracocha in which also his own Fame was celebrated We may believe that the Devil who is a cunning Sophister did appear to the Prince either sleeping or waking in that Figure though the Indians confidently report that the Prince was waking and that this Apparition presented it self to him as he lay reposing himself under the shadow of a Rock We may imagine also that this Enemy of Mankind played this trick to delude the World and confirm the Authority of that Idolatrous superstition which he had already planted in the minds of this people the which seemed the most plausible way that he could proceed for that in regard a foundation was already laid of the Indian Empire and that by the Constitutions of it the Incas were to be the Lawgivers and the Oracles of their Religion and that they were to be believed and esteemed and obeyed for Gods whatsoever contributed to this end and to augment the reputation and sanctity of the Incas was a point gained towards the advancement of this Gentilism of which though there go many Stories yet none is recounted by them with that admiration as this Apparition of Viracocha who coming with the popular character of an Allye to the Sun and Brother to the Incas And having the good fortune to have his Dream confirmed with the success of a Victory carried so much force of belief with it that on all occasions afterwards of their distress they had recourse to his Temple where the Oracle was consulted and directions taken for the management of their affairs This is that imaginary God Viracocha of which some Writers report that the Indians esteemed him for their principal God to whom they were more devoted than to the Sun But this is certainly a mistake and served onely for a piece of flattery to the Spaniards that they might believe they gave them the same Title and Name as they did to their chiefest God but in reality they Adored no God with such devotion as they did the Sun unless it were the Pachacamac which they called the unknown God For as to the Spaniards they gave them at first the Title of Children to the Sun in such manner as they did to the Apparition Viracocha CHAP. XXII The Inca Viracocha gives Order for Building a Temple in Memory of his Uncle who appeared to him in a Vision THE Inca Viracocha that he might the better perpetuate the Memory of his Dream and keep the Honour of it up in the esteem of the people commanded that a Temple should be erected in Honour of his Uncle who appeared to him and placed in the Countrey called Cacha which is about sixteen Leagues distant from the City to the Southward He ordered that the Fabrick and Model of it should as near as could be possible imitate or resemble the place where the Vision presented it self which was like the open Field without covering joining unto which there was to be a little Chapel with the
that slays another like himself must necessarily dye for it and pay the punishment with his own life for which reason the Kings Our Royal Progenitors did ordain that whosoever killed another should pay the price of bloud with his own life Thieves are not upon any terms to be tolerated because they are a generation who would rather live upon prey and robbery than gain riches by honest labour or enjoy their possessions by a lawfull title Adulterers who take away the good reputation and honesty of another Family are disturbers of the common peace and quiet and are as bad as Thieves and Robbers and therefore to be condemned to the Gallows without mercy A truly noble and courageous spirit is best tried by that patience which he shews in the times of adversity Impatience is the character of a poor and degenerate spirit and of one that is ill taught and educated When Subjects are obedient their Kings and Governours ought to treat them with gentleness and clemency but the perverse and obstinate are to be ruled with a severity and rigour moderated by prudence Judges who are corrupted by Gifts clandestinely received from Plaintiff or Defendant are to be esteemed for Thieves and to be punished for such with capital punishment Governours ought to have a special eye unto two things first that they themselves observe and execute the Laws of their Prince and not suffer others to transgress them And next that they seriously consider and contrive all matters which may tend to the good and benefit of their respective Provinces That Indian who knows not how to govern his own Family will be much less capable to rule a Kingdom A Physician or Herbalist who knows the Names but is ignorant of the Virtues and Qualities of Herbs or he who knows few but is ignorant of most is a mere Quack and Mountebank in Physick and deserves not the name and repute of a Physician untill he is skilfull as well in the Noxious as the Salutiferous qualities of Herbs He that would pretend to count the number of the Stars is a Fool and worthy to be derided These are the Sayings and Sentences of the Inca Pachacutec which were conserved in memory by their Knots they having not attained to the more ready way of letters or cyphers Royal Commentaries BOOK VII CHAP. I. Of the Colonies planted by the Incas and of the two different Languages in Peru. IT was a custome amongst the Incas to transplant the people from one Province to another that is from barren Lands and Countries to more fruitfull and pleasant soils whereby both the government was secured from rebellion and the condition of the people advantaged by a happy and profitable exchange In performance of which design the Incas had always a respect to the condition and quality of the people and the temperature of the climate transplanting those who had been born and bred in hot or cold Regions into Countries of the same degree and equal temper of heat and cold Likewise in Provinces where the people multiplied greatly and were become too numerous to be contained within the limits and compass of it then did they subtract from thence such a number as might ease the Province and supply the wants of other places The like was practised in Collao which is a Province of 120 Leagues in length containing several other Nations under its jurisdiction This Countrey being very cold produced neither Mayz which is Indian Wheat nor Uchu which is Red Pepper and yet it abounds with Pulse and all sorts of lesser Grane such as that they call Papa and Quirua which do not grow in hot Countries and is also rich in Flocks and Herds of Cattel From all those cold Provinces they transplanted great numbers of Indians to the Eastward by the Mountains of Anits and to the Westward along the Sea-coast where lyes a vast Countrey containing many large and fruitfull Vallies which produced Mayz and Red Pepper in great abundance and which before the times of the Incas for want of the Art and Knowledge of making Aqueducts and Chanels for watring the Furrows of their Land lay wholly dispeopled and deserted The Incas Kings having well considered the benefit of these improvements did frequently transplant their people from the barren to more commodious and happy soils and for their refreshment in those Plantations furnished them with a quantity of Water sufficient for their Lands making it a Law that they should succour and help one the other and by bartering their commodities one for the other what one wanted was supplied by the other By these means also the Incas secured their own Revenue which was paid them in Mayz or Indian Wheat for as we have said before one third of their Fruits which their Lands produced did belong to the Sun and another third to the Inca. Moreover by this course the Incas were supplied with great quantities of Mayz for maintenance of their Armies in that cold and barren Countrey so that the Collas were able to carry great quantities of Quinua and Chinu and great slices of that which they called Charqui to their Kindred in other Plantations and in exchange and barter for them returned home laden with Mayz and red Pepper and other Fruits which those Countries yielded which commodious way of trade was of great benefit and consolation to the Indians Pedro Cieça de Leon in the 99th Chapter of his Book discoursing of this manner of mutual Commerce saith That in fruitfull Years the Inhabitants of Collao live with contentment and plenty but in dry years they suffer great wants and scarcity of all Provisions The truth is had not the Incan-King prescribed excellent Laws for the government of this People and ordered every thing with a provident and industrious regard certainly these Countries would have laboured under great penury and wants and perhaps have relapsed into the same bestial condition in which they once were before the times of the Incas And thus much I affirm because I know that the Climate under which the Collas inhabited is cold and therefore not so fruitfull as the warmer Regions of more happy Countries And in regard the mountains of Andes did border on all sides of those Colonies it was ordered that all parts should issue forth a certain number of Indians with their Wives and Children who being planted according to the direction of their Caciques in such places as were convenient might improve their Lands and by Industry and Art supply that which was wanting by nature which People were called Mitimaes and were so obedient and observant to their Lords and Captains that to this day they are Drudges to them their principal care and business being to manure and cultivate the Coca Plantations which are so pretious and profitable that though in all Collao they neither sow nor reap Mayz yet neither the Lords who are Natives nor the Common People who are industrious do want sufficient quantities of Mayz Honey and all
Hostages for the good behaviour of their Parents and Countrey-men divers of whose Provinces being four five and six hundred Leagues from the Court and many of them inhabited by fierce and warlike Nations were ready and inclined upon every small overture to cast off the Yoke of their Servitude and though these Nations of themselves singly were not able to contend with the Power of the Incan Empire yet being united in a League and Confederacy might put it into some danger and difficulty all which was prevented by the residence which these Heirs made at the Court who were there treated with plentifull Entertainment and honoured according to their several Degrees and qualities of all which the Sons rendring to their Parents a true Relation and confirming the same with such presents as the Inca sent to them being Garments of the same quality which the Inca himself wore they esteemed themselves so much obliged thereby that their Servitude seemed a Freedom and Loyalty to be their duty and in case any were so sturdy and stupid as not to be won by such gentle applications and allurements yet then the thoughts of having Children within the power of the Inca were considerations sufficient to take them off from courses ruinous to their own Bloud With these and the like arts of Providence and Industry accompanied with rectitude of Justice the Incan-Empire was supported and secured in such peace that in all the ages which the Incas reigned there was scarce heard the least noise or rumour of Rebellion or Mutiny Joseph de Acosta speaking in the 12th Chap. of his 6th Book concerning this Government saith That such was the Fidelity and loyal Affection which these people bore towards their Princes that there never was mention of any Plot or Treason contrived against their Persons for though with rigour and severity they required Obedience to their Laws yet such was the Rectitude of their Justice and Impartiality in the Execution that none could complain of the least violence or oppression And such order was observed in the subordinate Magistrates who so exactly regarded the most minute Irregularities in their Lives that none could be drunk or steal a bunch of Mayz from his Neighbour without punishment Thus far are the Words of Acostu CHAP. III. Of the Language used at the Court. BLas Valera in the 9th Chapter of his 2d Book treating of the general Language of Peru speaks of the usefulness and facility of that Tongue as is to be found amongst his loose Papers Now as to the common Language spoken by the Natives of Peru the truth is every Province used a peculiar Tongue proper to itself but during the Reign of the Incan-Kings the Language of Cozco was of greatest extent reaching from Quitu to the Kingdoms of Chili and Tumac and which is now in use amongst the Caciques and great Men and such Officers as the Spaniards employ in their Service and Affairs When the Incas subdued any Countrey their first business was to enjoin the Inhabitants to learn the Tongue and Custome of Cozco and to teach them to their Children for better effecting of which they gave them Masters and Teachers to instruct them and for encouragement of such Masters they gave them Lands and Inheritances amongst the Natives that so they and their Children living and growing up with that people might continue a perpetual succession of Masters and Teachers of that people and for their better encouragement the Governours of Provinces did always prefer such Teachers unto Offices before any others for they were happy instruments of Quietness to the Incas and of Peace and mutual Affection to the people The Race and Off-spring of those Teachers who anciently came from Cozco live still dispersed in those Countries which were assigned for Habitations to their Parents who having now lost that Authority which their Ancestours enjoyed are not able to teach the Indians nor compell them to receive their Language Whence it is that many Provinces which were skilfull in the CozcanTongue when the first Spaniards entred into Cassamarca have now wholly lost and forgotten it for the Empire of the Incas being overthrown all their Statutes Laws and Orders perished with them and indeed the Civil Wars which arose between the Spaniards themselves together with the malice of the Devil might all contribute to this confusion and to interrupt the propagation of the Gospel which might have been much advanced had the Apostolical Preachers of it had onely one single Tongue to have learned Whereas now all the Confines and Dependencies about the City of Trugillo and other Provinces belonging to the Jurisdiction of Quitu are not able to speak or understand one word of the common Language of the Collas and Puquinas relapsing again into their Mothers Gibberish know no occasion or need for the Cozcan Dialect which also is at present so corrupted that it seems quite another Speech to what it formerly was and more diversity of Tongues are of late sprung up than were known in the time of Huayna Capac the last Emperour Hence it is that that Concord and reconcilement of Affections which one common Speech had produced in the World was lost so that Men were become perfidious and hatefull to each other having no common tie of Words or Customs to unite and cement them in the bonds of Amity The which inconvenience not being well observed by the Vice-Kings who promiscuously reduced greater and lesser Nations to their Obedience not regarding the use of a common Language whereby the Gospel might have had entrance to them did thereby greatly obstruct the progress of the Christian Faith unless the Preachers had been endued with an universal gift of Tongues and learned all the different Dialects of those People which was impossible without the Miracle of Divine Inspiration Some are of opinion that the Indians ought to have been obliged to learn the Spanish Tongue so as to have taken off that difficult Task from the Priests and imposed it on the Indians but this project would not easily take for if the Indians were so dull and stupid that the Cozcan Language which admits little difference from their own was learned with much difficulty by them how can we expect that they should ever attain to the Castillian Tongue which in every word is strange and withour any affinity with their own Were it not rather more feasible for the Spaniards who are Men of quick Wits and refined Understandings to learn the general Speech of Cozco than to put such poor sottish Wretches who have no help of Letters to the difficult labour of learning the Castillian Tongue and who shall put their Masters to more labour in teaching them one Speech than a quick witted Priest shall have in learning ten Wherefore it were a more expedite way to oblige them to the knowledge of the Cozcan Tongue which differs little from their own and in this Speech preach the Catholick Faith to them In order unto which if the
see one of their own Trees to bear two three and four sorts of Fruit in one year which being a curiosity beyond the scantling of their Understanding they have contented themselves with the admiration of it without farther search into the cause I am of opinion that Olives might be engrafted on those Trees which the Indians call Quishuar for both the Wood and the Leaf is much like an Olive and I remember when I was a Boy that I have often heard the Spaniards say that Olives and Oil did proceed from Trees like them but the truth is that Tree is barren for though it casts out a Leaf like the Olive yet it soon withers and falls for want of Canes we did usually in Cozco make our Darts of that Wood for Canes will not grow in so cold a Countrey as that CHAP. XXIX Of their Garden-Herbs and other Herbs and of the greatness of them OF all the common Herbs and Plants and Roots which are eaten in Spain there was none in Peru that is to say Lettuce Radishes Turnips Garlick Onions Beets Spinage Goards Garden-Carduus Asparagus and the like which grow in Spain onely there was Pursloin and Pennyroyal nor of Seeds had they Pease or Beans or Lentils or Anniseed or Mustard-seed or Carroways or Rice or Lavander nor many other Herbs and Plants nor had they Roses or Gillyflowers of various sorts as we have in Spain nor Jasmines nor other odoriferous Flowers Of all these Herbs and Flowers which we have already named and many others which I cannot now call to mind there are now such great quantities and which do now abound to that degree that they are cumbersome and pernitious to the ground having so spread and rooted themselves in some Vallies that they cannot be eradicated and destroyed by the Art and Industry of Mankind and having so over-run some Vallies that they have rooted out the ancient name and caused them to take that of the prevailing Weed witness that of Rucma which is now called the Valley of good Herbs upon the Coast. In the City of los Reyes the first Spinage and Endive which they sowed grew to that prodigious height that a Man could not reach the top of it with his Hand and so thick that a Horse could not pass through them and all other Herbs grew to the like rankness and largeness at the beginning in like manner Wheat in many parts yields three hundred Bushels for one In the Valley of Huarcu lately peopled by a Colony which the Vice-king Don Hurtado de Mendoça sent thither the like abundance was observable for in the Year 1560. being upon my Voyage into Spain one of the Inhabitants of that Colony called Garci Vazquez who had been a Servant to my Father carried me to his House where at Supper he gave me some Bread and told me that it was of that Corn which had yielded him three hundred for one and so much I tell you said he that you may report it of a truth in Spain which when I seemed to admire Garci Vazquez assured me that I might believe it for that upon the Faith of a Christian he had sowed no more than two Bushels and a half of Wheat and that they had produced 680 Bushels which were heaped in his Granary and that he thought he had lost as much more for want of people to gather it in Once I remember that telling this story to Gonçalo Silvestre of whom we have made mention in our History of Florida and shall have farther occasion to name him when we shall have deduced our matter to his time he confirmed the same and farther assured me that in the Province of Chuquisaâ—a which is near to the River of Pillcumayu and where he hath some Lands that the first Year he sowed Wheat it yielded him four hundred Bushels for one In the Year 1556. when Don Garçia de Mendoça went Governour into Chili and taking the Port of Arica in his way it was told him that in a certain Valley near to that place called Cuçapa there was a Turnip to be seen of that prodigious bigness that five Horses might be tied to the top branches of it and that if he pleased they would carry him to see it Garçia willingly accepted the profer and went thither purposely that he might say he had seen such a sight which when he saw he found the report true for the Turnip was so big that a Man could scarce encompass it with both his Armes and so tender that being brought to Garçia's quarters many people are of it In the valley which is called the Vale of good Herbs there are some Herbs of two Yards and a half long for I keep the measures of some of them and upon that assurance I give this Relation In the Year 1595. and in the Month of May being in the Cathedral Church of Cordova and there discoursing with Don Martin de Contreras and telling him that being now to write these particulars in my History I was a little scrupulous to deliver the truth of the strange increases of Corn and the prodigious growth of Herbs in my Countrey lest to many who had never gone out of their own it should seem incredible or that I took the privilege of a Traveller which is to lye but he desired me not to forbear to give a true account on such considerations leaving to them to believe what they pleased for my part I can testifie that I was an Eye-witness of the great Turnip in the Valley of Cuçapa where I was that day with Don Garçia de Mendoza and upon the Faith of a Gentleman I saw the five Horses tied to the tops of the Turnip and that afterwards I ate some of it with several others and farther I can add that the same day I saw in the Valley of Yca a Melon which weighed an hundred and three pounds weight the truth of which was attested before a publick Notary and in the Valley of Yucay I ate of one Root of Lettuce which weighed seven pounds and an half Many other things of the like kind concerning Corn Fruit and Herbs this Gentleman related to me which I omit to mention that I may not seem tedious to the Reader Acosta in the 19th Chapter of his 4th Book where he treats of the Greens Herbs and Fruits of Peru hath these very Words which I have extracted verbatim I have never heard said he that the Indians ever had Gardens for Herbs onely that they digged some little pieces of ground to sow Herbs Pease Beans and Fitches nor have I learned that ever any kind of these several sorts of Pulse which grow in Europe were found in Peru untill they were first imported by the Spaniards which since have grown and increased in a wonderfull manner for the fertility of those Countries far exceeds the soil of Spain as we have given an example of the Melons which grow in the Valley of Yca in Peru which are not sown every year like
ours but take a root which produces Melons for many Years and are cut and pruned at the Seasons like a Tree which is a thing that never happened in any part of Spain c. Thus far are the Words of Acosta upon whose Authority I adventure with much confidence to report the great fruitfulness of this Countrey and how wonderfully at the beginning the Fruits of Spain thrived and increased to an incredible greatness to which also I shall add another Excellency which Acosta mentions which is that the Melons did all prove good provided that time were given them to ripen which gives a farther indication of the fertility of this Soil And in regard the first Melons which were seen in the parts adjacent to los Reyes gave occasion to a pleasant story which we shall not omit in this place because it is a farther evidence of the ancient simplicity of the Indians which is this A certain Inhabitant of the City of los Reyes who was one of the first Conquerours and a Person of Noble Bloud named Antonio Solar having a Plantation in Pachacamac about four Leagues distant from the City maintained a Spaniard for his Baily to oversee and manure his land who sent two Indians laden with five Melons apiece being ten in all to his Master that he might taste the fruit of his ground and therewith sent a Letter in one of the Baskets telling them that in case they ate any of them that Paper would discover it With this charge they departed and being half a days Journey on their way they sate down to rest and repose themselves during which stay one said to the other Let us taste of this Fruit which we carry to our Master but the other made some scruple saying The Paper will discover all as our Steward told us but the other replied that if they threw the Paper behind the Hedge it could not see them nor arise up in witness against them which contrivance pleased the Companion and the Paper being laid aside they cut the Melon and devoured it For the Indians at first not understanding the Mystery of Letters imagined that Papers were Messengers to whom the Spaniards had declared their minds and spoken those words which were delivered to them and that they were as Spies to tell whatsoever they saw in the way where they travelled and therefore when they fell to their treat they laid the Paper behind a bank that it might not see them As they travelled on their Journey he that carried the five Melons said to him that had the four if we go with this odd number our Master will suspect that we have eaten one and therefore let us eat another to make them equal this witty Counsel pleased well and so by agreement they sate down and ate the other And being now come to their Master they presented him with eight Melons onely who reading the Letter asked them what was become of the other two Mellons for that the Letter specified ten No Sir said they the Steward gave us but eight Why do you lie said Antonio Solar for the Paper speaks of ten Wherewith the poor Fellows became so affrighted and confused that they knew not what to reply but onely to confess the truth saying that with great reason the Spaniards were called Viracocha since they were able to penetrate into such hidden Secrets A Story of the like nature Gomara relates to have happened in the Island of Cuba when it was at first possessed by the Spaniards and indeed it is no wonder that the same ignorance should be common in all parts of the new World for the simplicity of the Indians was such as that whatsoever was new and not seen to them before could never enter into their capacities and onely served to fill them with wonder and admiration for whatsoever they observed to be extraordinary in the Spaniards such as running on Horseback breaking Oxen to the Yoke and ploughing the ground with them making Mills and building Arches for Bridges shooting with Guns and killing at an hundred and two hundred paces and the like were all such miracles to them as could not be effected by other means than some Divine Power and for that reason they called the Spaniards Gods as they did in the evidence which the Paper gave against them CHAP. XXX Of Flax Asparagus Visnagas with which they cleanse Teeth and Anniseeds NOR was there Flax in Peru at first but Donna Catalina de Retes who was a Native of St. Lucar and Mother-in-law to Francis de Villafuerte a noble and religious Lady and one of the first Nuns of the Convent of St. Clare in Cozco expected in the Year 1560. to receive some Flax Seed from Spain to sow in that Countrey together with Looms and Instruments to spin and weave Linen for their Houses but in the Year that I departed from Peru I cannot say that those things were as yet brought but since I came from thence I have heard that considerable quantities of Linen are made there though I cannot avouch how great Spinsters the Spanish Women have been nor how good Huswives my Countrey Women are for I did never see them spin Linen though I have seen them sow and weave Cotton and fine Wool which the Indian Women span with great curiosity though they combed it with their Fingers for want of Cards wherewith to card it and therefore they may be excused if they be not as yet become such excellent Spinsters of Linen as our Spanish Houswives are But to return to our former Discourse relating to the great esteem which the Fruits and Commodities of Spain had gained in the Indies at first when the Spaniards had newly planted themselves in Peru I remember that in the Year 1555. or 56 Garçia de Melo who was then Treasurer for his Majesty in Cozco sent to my Lord Garçilasso de la Vega a present of three Asparagus where he had them or where they grew is not known onely he desired him to accept and eat that curiosity of Spanish Fruit the Asparagus were very fair ones two of which were as big as a middle Finger and the third of a yard long the other was thicker but shorter but all of them so tender that they were easily broken My Father that he might doe the greater honour to this Spanish Plant ordered that the Asparagus should be boiled on a Pan of Coals in his own Chamber in presence of seven or eight Gentlemen who were at Supper with him When the Asparagus were boiled and a sauce for them made with Oil and Vinegar Garçilasso divided the two largest among the Guests at his Table and the third he took wholly to himself desiring them to pardon him for that time if he carved himself the largest portion of the Spanish Fruits In this manner the Asparagus were eaten with great chear and mirth as if the Phenix had been to be divided amongst them and though I served then at the Table yet nothing thereof
acquaintance or communication with the Officers of His Majesties Royal Exchequer yet at length by the friendship which I gained with John de Morales a Native of Madrid who was a very honest and intelligent Gentleman I procured some account of the King's Revenue with which he was pleased to oblige me for the better advance of this History which I now write the which was so difficult a work to him that he kept me three months before he could satisfie me therein and at last he delivered me this following account which I have extracted verbatim from his own Paper Your Worship was pleased to desire of me that to serve a particular occasion of yours I would set down in writing the rents and value of all his Majesties Revenue the which is a business so difficult that I cannot summ within any tolerable compass of certainty And indeed though the King hath desired it and commanded it to be given in for the better direction and measures of his Council of the Treasury and ordered all to be put into a Book yet that work is not as yet begun nor do we know when it will be begun much less when it will be ended for there are such vast Rises and Falls such Advances and Abatements that nothing can be delivered with any certainty every thing running in such different chanels as is impossible to reduce them to any coherence of method but in the bulk or lump we may affirm that the Revenue of the King is a prodigious Mass of Wealth and Treasure Thus far are the Words of Morales which we have willingly alledged in confirmation of the truth of what we have said being desirous not to write any thing but that which we can avouch on good ground and authority And for farther proof of this difficulty and how hard a thing it is to sum up the Revenue of this King of Spain now Emperour of the new World I shall produce the Testimony of John Botero a great and an universal Historian who after he had made a calculate of the Revenue of the King of China and of the Rents which Galizia Asturias and Portugal anciently yielded to the Roman Empire with what was the Revenue of the Kings of Navarre France the Emperour Poland England Duke of Lorrain King of Scotland Swedeland and Gothland as also what was the Income of the House of Austria of the King of Narsinga the Neriffe of Egypt and of the Gran Signor yet coming to the Revenue of our King of Spain he is there silent for which I can render no other reason than because this Authour coming to this Account he found himself so plunged and immersed therein that he durst not adventure to fathom the same not having as I imagine numbers sufficient to sum up the Tribute of his many Kingdoms and with them the immense Riches imported from Peru. And in confirmation of the great Treasure with which Peru hath enriched all the World I have this farther Testimony to offer from the most Reverend Father Don Paulo de Laguna who was President of the Council of his Majesty's Exchequer and afterwards President of the Council of the Indies and Vice-king of the New World and in the Year 1603. was elected Bishop of Cordova this great Person discoursing one day with his Confessour and others concerning the immense Riches of Peru did confidently affirm that from one Mountain onely of Peru there had been transported into Spain untill the Year 1602. two hundred Millions of Pieces of Eight which had been registred and that at least one hundred Millions more had been imported without Register And I can farther add said he that twenty five Millions in Gold and Silver have been brought into Spain by one Fleet in my time The Standers-by hearing this answered We could never believe it my Lord but that we receive it from so authentick an Authour as your Lordship What I say replied the Bishop I know for a certain truth and moreover I assure you that all the Kings of Spain joined together from King Pelayo to these times have not been Masters of so much Money as King Philip the 2d hath been After which testimony from so great a person we shall not need to add or require farther proofs for what we have alledged But such as look on the Riches of Peru with more than a common Eye are of opinion that they have rather been hurtfull than good or beneficial to Mankind for that Riches have been the cause of Vice and not of Vertue having inclined the Nature of Men to Pride and Ambition to Gluttony and Luxury for enjoying an affluence of Fortune they have given themselves up to Sloth and Effeminacy becoming neither fit for Government in the times of Peace nor yet for Hardship and Labour in the times of War employing their whole thoughts and time in contriving new Dishes and Liquours to please their Appetite and fantastical Fashions for their Clothing in which they are arrived to that height of extravagance that they scarce know what to wear and are come to that undecency of Dress that their Habit is more correspondent to Women than to Men. And as the Rents of the Rich have been raised to maintain the Lusts and riotous Living of great Persons so have the Poor been oppressed and reduced to Rags and Famine to support the Pride and Luxury of their Landlords And the truth is the Poor are become much more poor than formerly for the quantity of Money being increased which is all accumulated into the Coffers of the Rich hath enhansed the price of Provisions and Commodities to that degree that the Poor starve by the abundance of the Rich and though the Rich have a plenty of Money and may out of their great stores enlarge their Charities towards the Poor yet their Alms do not answer the price of Provisions which the plenty of Money hath raised in the World so in short they conclude that the Riches of the new World not having increased the Provisions necessary for the support of humane Life but rather served to make them dear and Men effeminate having enfeebled them in their Bodies and Understandings and debauched them in their Habits and Customs of living the generality of Mankind is become much worse and less contented and having been formidable and dreaded in ancient times by all the World are now rendred mean and effeminate by the corruption of their Riches Now as to these two Opinions I leave every one free to follow that which seems best to him For I being a party and biassed by affection to my own Countrey dare neither pretend to favour that which applauds the grandeur and glory which Peru hath brought to Spain nor yet oppose the other lest I should seem partial and too affectionate to my own Cause And so we shall proceed and take the thread of our History passing by divine favour through the beginning middle and end of this famous Triumvirate We say then that
accordingly hath sent his Captains and Souldiers to execute his Commands as he did for the Conquest of those great Islands and Countries which are adjoining to Mexico and having subjected them by force of Arms hath reduced them to the acknowledgment of the true Religion of Jesus Christ for the same God hath commanded that so it should be For which reason the Emperour Charles the 5th hath chosen for his Ambassadour and Lieutenant Don Francisco de Piçarro who is here present that so the Kingdoms of your Highness may receive all the benefits of Religion and that a firm Peace and Alliance may be concluded and established between His Majesty and Your Highness on condition that your Highness and all your Kingdom become Tributaries that is paying a Tribute to the Emperour Thou maist become his Subject and delivering up your Kingdom and all the Administration and Government thereof Thou shalt doe as other Kings and Lords have already done and have the same quarter and conditions with them This is the first point Now as to the second When this Peace and Alliance is established and that thou hast submitted either voluntarily or by constraint then thou art to yield true and faithfull Obedience to the Pope who is the High-Priest and thou art to receive and believe the Faith of Jesus Christ our God. Thou art also to reject and totally to abandon the abominable Superstition of Idols which being done we shall then make known to you the Sanctity and Truth of our Law and the Falsity of yours the invention and contrivance of which proceeded from the Devil All which O King if Thou wilt believe me Thou oughtest to receive with readiness and good-will being a matter of great importance to thy self and to thy people for if thou shouldst deny and refuse to obey Thou wilt be prosecuted with the Fire and Sword of War untill we have constrained thee by force of Arms to renounce thy Religion for willingly or unwillingly Thou must receive our Catholick Faith and with surrender of thy Kingdom pay a Tribute to our Emperour but in case thou shouldst contend and make resistence with an obstinate mind be assured that God will deliver thee up as he did anciently Pharaoh who with his whole Army perished in the red Sea and so shalt Thou and all thy Indians perish and be destroyed by our Arms. CHAP. XXIII Of the Difficulty there was to interpret the sense and meaning of this Speech of Friar Vicente de Valverde UPon this Speech Blas Valera makes some Reflexions in order to the better understanding of his History saying that the Historians which treat of these matters make mention of this Speech of the Friar but howsoever with some variety for some leave out the first part and others the second and some have abbreviated it in their Relations But howsoever Blas Valera saith that John de Oliva and Christopher de Medina who were Priests and skilfull in the Indian Language and several other Writers have specified this Speech at large in both parts as spoken by Friar Vincent and they all agree that it was a most tart and rude Speech without any mixture of sweetness or allurement whatsoever and that the Interpretation thereof was much worse as we shall see hereafter and these Authours do much more approve the Speech which Hernando de Soto and Piçarro made to Atahualpa being more gentle and modest than the sharp and ill-natured Speech of Friar Vincent And now as to the Interpretation which was made to King Atahualpa of these Words we may believe it was very impersect and corrupt for this Philip the Indian who was all the Interpreter they had was a Native of the Island of Puna and born of common and bloekish Parents and was scarce arrived to the age of twenty two years and was not onely ill learned in the Spanish but also in the general Tongue spoken by the Incas at Cozco which is different from that used in Tumpiz for as we have said at the beginning the Language of Cozco is more refined in respect of all other Indians whose Language is barbarous and corrupt And moreover this Interpreter had learned his Spanish of himself without Rule and some Words onely which he had gotten up amongst the Souldiers and lewd People such as zounds and dammee and the like and besides he was but a Servant to the Spaniards and learned onely to speak like the Negroes and though he had been baptised yet he was ignorant of all the Principles of Religion having neither knowledge of Christ our Lord nor of the Apostles Creed This was all the Education and Learning which our first Interpreter had in Peru and accordingly the Translations he made out of Spanish were all imperfect and of a contrary sense not that he made his mistakes voluntarily from malice but from ignorance speaking like a Parrot things that he did not understand as for example when he was to declare and explain the nature of the Trinity as that God was three and yet one he would say God was three and one that is four the which appears by their Quipus which is their Knots used in the Countrey of Cassamarca where these Affairs passed and indeed he was much to blame if we consider that in the Peruvian Language they have no words to express the Trinity the Holy Ghost Faith Grace the Church the Sacraments and other Words of the like Mysteries for which reason the Spaniards who study that Language in our times and endeavour to express their mystical Notions are forced to coin new words most accommodated to the reason of this people and to the manner of Expressions of the most intelligent Indians who having understood something of the Spanish Language and Learning have of themselves framed new Words to supply the defects of their Speech whereby the Preachers are now able to express any thing in conformity to the understanding of their Auditory We have upon divers occasions given several Instances of the Barrenness and Defects of the Peruvian Language and therefore we ought not to lay the sole blame on our first Interpreter for even in these our Days which are twenty nine Years since that time there are almost as many gross mistakes made by our present Interpreters as were by Philippillio who never conversed with the Spaniards in other Language than his own In short I say that I never knew an Indian who spake good Spanish but two Youths onely who were my School-fellows and from their childhood went to School and learned to reade and write Spanish One of which was called Carlos the Son of Paullu Inca besides these two I have observed so little curiosity in the Indians to learn the Spanish Tongue that I never knew any of them who addicted himself to the study either of writing or reading thereof and never exercised any other means than what came by mere converse and common discourse nor were the Spaniards on the other side more studious in learning the
for that fifth part which appertained to the King on account of the Ransome of Atahualpa the which Gold and Silver were as the first Fruits and as an earnest of that Treasure and Riches which they have already and are yet to carry from my Countrey to His Majesty The Silver as Augustin Carate reports was carried in pieces of massy Plate a Relation of which he gives in these Words They agreed said he to send Hernando Piçarro to give a Narrative to His Majesty of their prosperous Successes which had occurred untill that time but whereas as yet they could not make a just computation of what share His Majesty was to receive out of the Collections already made they took from their Heaps the value of two hundred thousand Pieces of Eight in Gold and twenty thousand Marks in Silver for which they chose the most fair and weighty Pieces of Plate for the better show and appearance in Spain All which were weighed out and the Jars Pans Figures of Men and Women and Sheep were all cast into the Scale to make up the full weight and value already mentioned With this Prize Hernando Piçarro embarked to the great grief of Atabaliba who had a great kindness for him and entertained such confidence in him that he freely communicated all his thoughts to him wherefore at his departure he said to him And do you go Captain I am troubled for it at my very heart for when you are gone I am sure that fat Fellow and that blind Rascal will soon make an end of me meaning Almagro who as we said before was blind of one Eye and Alonso Requelme His Majesty's Treasurer whom he had observed to murmur and quarrell about him on the occasion before related And so indeed it happened for no sooner was Hernando departed than that immediately they contrived his Death by means of their Interpreter Philipillio who was an Indian c. And Gomara confirms what we shall more at large hereafter relate That Hernando Piçarro carried the fifth part of what appertained to His Majesty on account of the Ransome of Atahualpa and he farther adds these Words The Truth of what passed is this Hernando Piçarro carried no more with him from Cassamarca than what is before mentioned but soon after his departure followed the Death of Atabaliba and then a Dividend was made of his Ransome untill which time his Execution was rather deferred than his Life granted or Freedom intended Afterwards sixty of these Adventurers returned into Spain having made a Division of their Spoils which amounted to forty or fifty thousand Pieces of Eight a Man besides the fifth which appertained to His Majesty These Persons departed after Hernando Piçarro and overtook him at Nombre de Dios where they embarked and returned altogether in company to Spain Thus we see how all Authours agree together in the same Relation of this matter Soon after the Departure of Hernando Piçarro Hernando de Soto and Pedro del Barco returned from Cozco giving a Report of the Riches which they had seen in that City as also in the Temples of the Sun and in the Palaces of the late Kings in the Fortress and in the Sanctuaries and private Cells where the Devil entertained Discourses with their Wizards Priests and others his Votaries all which places being esteemed sacred were adorned with Gold and Silver the like report was also brought by the other four Discoverers The Spaniards being highly pleased with this News were impatient untill they could take possession of these Treasures which that they might hasten with the more convenience and security they speedily determined the Death of Atahualpa to prevent the insurrections of the People that with the more ease and with the least opposition they might seize the Gold and Silver which was lodged in the Imperial City and in other parts Both the aforesaid Authours agree in all the material circumstances relating to the Death of Atahualpa wherefore we shall repeat the very Words of Lopez de Gomara specified in the 119th Chapter of his Book the Title of which is as followeth CHAP. XXXVI Of the Death of Atahualpa and how he was arraigned by Justice and upon the false Information and Testimony which was given against him THE Death of Atabaliba was forwarded by a means the least expected for Philipilio the Interpreter falling in love with one of the Wives of Atabaliba whom he intended to marry after he was dead raised a report that Atabaliba had secretly and under hand given order to raise Men whereby to overcome the Christians and free himself So soon as this report came to be spread and noised amongst the Spaniards their Jealousie created a Belief so that some cried out to have him killed for security of their own Lives and of those Kingdoms others were of opinion that they should not imbrue their Hands in the Bloud of so great a Prince though never so faulty but rather that they should send him to the Emperour This certainly had been the best course but the other prevailed by means as some report of that party which came with Almagro for they conceiving that no share of the Spoil would appertain unto them during the Life of Atabaliba and untill the conditions were complied with which according to Agreement were made for his ransome and Piçarro being also of opinion that his Death would free the Spaniards of much trouble and render the Conquest and Possession of the Countrey much more easie a resolution was taken by general consent to put him to Death In order to which that things might appear with a better face of Justice an Endictment was brought against him for the Murther of his Brother Huascar King of those Countries and for designing to raise War against the Spaniards though this last was a false and malitious suggestion of Philipillio who brought the Indians for Witnesses making them to say what he pleased and in regard the Spaniards understood not the Language whereby to cross examine the Witnesses all that Philipillio alledged passed for current and good Testimony howsoever Atabaliba stifly denied it saying That such an Accusation could have no ground of Reason in it considering that he remained under such Guards and Chains that it was impossible for him to make an escape wherefore he persisted in his Denial threatning Philipillio and desiring the Spaniards to give no credence to his Words After Sentence of Death was passed upon him he complained much of Francisco Piçarro for that having promised him his Life upon payment of the Ransome agreed he afterwards faltered with him and put him to Death Wherefore he earnestly intreated him rather to transport him into Spain than to imbrue his Hands in the Bloud of a Person who had never offended him but rather enriched him and done him good As they carried him to Execution those who attended to comfort him advised him to desire Baptism before he dyed for that without that they threatned to burn him alive Whereupon being
is in the month of November which is Summer in that Climate when the Snows were not so deep nor the Colds so intense yet many Indians and some Spaniards were frozen to Death and those that escaped had perished with Hunger had they not been sustained by the Flesh of those Horses which were found dead in the way where having been frozen ever since the time that Almagro passed that way the flesh thereof was as fresh and good after five Months as if they had been killed that very day The Difficulties of this Journey being overcome which were greater than we are able to express they were received by their General with all imaginable Joy and Contentment and better was their wellcome when it was known that Herrada brought with him His Majesty's Commission which invested Almagro in the Government and Jurisdiction of an hundred Leagues of Land exempt and distinct from the Territories of Marquiss Piçarro This Commission was brought by Hernando Piçarro when he last returned from Spain unto Peru the which he sent from los Reyes to Herrada by the Post◠knowing that he was then upon his departure for Chili This particular is related by Gomara in the 135th Chapter of his Book the which Words we have extracted verbatim in this manner Almagro being employed in his Wars in Chili John de Herrada came to him with a Commission for his Government which was brought from Spain by Hernando Piçarro which though it cost him his Life yet he more rejoiced and triumphed than with all the Gold and Silver he had gained for he was more ambitious of Honour than covetous of Riches Hereupon he entred into consultation of the course he was to steer whether to remain in Chili or return to Cozco after some debate thereupon the latter was resolved namely to return unto Cozco to take possession thereof since the Government of that place fell to his Fortune It had been better for him if he had followed the Advice and Request of those who persuaded him to remain in Chili or in the Charcas which is a very rich and fruitfull Countrey and from thence to have sent and known the Will and Pleasure of Francisco Piçarro and his Assistants at Cozco before he attempted a matter which proved a breach of their Association The Persons who persuaded him to return were chiefly Gomez and Diego de Alvarado and Rodrigo Orgonnos his familiar and intimate Friend In fine Almagro resolved to return to Cozco and assume the Government thereof by force in case the Piçarros should not easily render and resign the same Thus far are the Words of Gomara The Motives which incited Almagro and his Captains to return unto Peru were not the bare Command and Jurisdiction over a hundred Leagues of Land for they possessed that and much more already in Chili where the People received and treated them with excesses of Kindness and Service and where their Dominions increased and were daily enlarged with new Conquests over Countries that abounded with Gold and other Riches but the ambition of being Prince over the Imperial City of Cozco over-balanced all other considerations and was that Bone of Dissention thrown in by the Devil between those two Governours from whence arose the Civil Wars which interrupted the propagation of the Gospel and occasioned the Death of many Christians and was the Cause that an innumerable company of others dyed without the Sacrament of Baptism but the passion which Almagro and his Companions had for the Imperial City transported them with a desire to return into Peru not by the way they came for the Difficulty thereof and their Sufferings were still fresh in their memory but taking their passage over a Sandy Desart in which they endured extremity of Heat with want of Water the Sufferings were as great as when they sustained the contraries of Snow Frost and craggy Mountains as we shall hereafter more particularly relate and in the mean time we cannot but take notice of the different manner that these Historians Carate and Gomara relate this Expedition of Almagro into Chili for they say that he returned by the same way and that he made several Lether Bottels or Jacks to carry Water which was much wanting in those dry Desarts in which there is a plain mistake for where there is abundance of Snow there can be no want of Water But these Authours confound the going with the return of Almagro which were two different ways subject to contrary inconveniencies And farther they say that the Gold which Paullu presented to Almagro in Chili was forced from the Indians of Charcas by Saavedra as they were carrying it for a Present to their King for that ever since the beginning of the War between the two Brothers Huascar and Atahualpa they had conserved their Gold and had stopped all intercourse and correspondences by that way Upon all which matter that ancient Conquerour of whom we have made mention in the former part taking notice in his Marginal Notes on the History of Gomara of the confused Relation of these passages in a kind of anger makes the Exceptions following to the Chapter 135. In the Relation which this Authour gives of Cozco and Chile there are many things that might be added and many things omitted for in writing his History he seems to have taken his information from such as were as ignorant of matters as himself the which appears in this particular passage the truth of which is this Almagro as is evident did not return from Chile by the way that he went thither which was by a passage over that Mountain on which they endured extremity of hunger and cold and by that entrance into Copayapu which is the first Valley of Chile on that side where fell so much Snow that many Indians Spaniards and Horses were frozen to death and many of those who escaped lost their Toes and Fingers benumbed by the Frost but by another way as we shall hereafter declare Five Months after which Ruy-dias and John de Herrada who were left in Peru for Agents to Almagro passed that way with their people and in like manner endured much extremity both by hunger and cold for the passage is long and of at least five or six days continuance with hard travel during which time they wanted Provisions very much because the Indians which carried them were frozen to death And yet they passed at a better season than did Almagro the Snows not being so deep nor the cold so intense howsoever they suffered much and many died Their chief relief and remedy against Hunger they received from the Flesh of those Horses which being frozen were conserved from corruption But Almagro as is said returned not by this way of the Mountain by which he came but by the Plains which run along by the Sea-coast where the Countrey is desart and uninhabited from Atacama which is the most remote people of Peru untill you come to Copayapu which is eighty Leagues distant from
the Victory which the Cannarian had gained for had it been a Spaniard the Dishonour had been much less but to be overcome by one of their own Indian Vassals was an Affront and Disgrace which could portend nothing but ill fortune and being a People naturally superstitious and terrified with the apprehension of such Omens they never afterwards attempted any thing of Moment during the remainder of the Siege nor did any thing remarkable succeed unless the unfortunate Death of that worthy John Piçarro as we shall hereafter relate So often as I call to mind these Miracles and several others which God was pleased to work in favour of the Christians both at the Siege of Cozco and of los Reyes as we shall see hereafter I cannot but wonder that the Historians should be so silent therein especially since they were so clear and evident to all the World having in my youth heard them reported both by Indians and Spaniards with great admiration in memory of which after the Siege they dedicated unto our Lady that Gallery wherein the Spaniards were quartered and where now the Cathedral Church is built called by the Name of St. Mary of the Assumption and Advocation and the City it self they dedicated to St. James of Spain to both which Saints Anniversary Days of Feasts are appointed in thankfull remembrance for the gratious Benefits received the which Festivals begin in the morning with a solemn Procession and Sermon and then High Mass is celebrated and lastly the Day is concluded with the Sport of Bulls and other Recreations In the Porch of this Church which leads to the Market-place the Picture of St. James is painted mounted on a White Horse with his Buckler on his Arme and a Serpentine Sword in his Hand with many Indians dead and wounded under his Feet which Picture when the Indians beheld they said that a Viracocha like this was he that destroyed us in the Market-place In the Year 1560 when I departed from Cozco to go into Spain the Picture was then fresh the Insurrection of the Inca began in the Year 1535. and ended in 1536. and I was born in the Year 1539. so that I might well be acquainted both with Indians and Spaniards who had been actually in those Wars and Witnesses of those Apparitions which we have declared and I my self for five Years together have always been present at the Sports and Pastimes of those Festivals for which Reasons from plain demonstration I cannot but wonder why Historians have been silent in these particulars unless it be that they would attribute unto the valour of the Spaniards all the Honour of those Days without making due return of thankfull acknowledgment unto God for the Victories so miraculously obtained Many days after I had wrote this Chapter turning over the Leaves of the Book of Acosta I met with some thing to this purpose in confirmation of the Miracles which our Lord Jesus Christ and his Mother the Virgin Mary Queen of the Angels had wrought in the New World in favour of our holy Faith and Religion which when I had read and found my own Reports confirmed by his Authority I cannot express the Joy I conceived by this happy concurrence For since the Delivery of truth is my chief Aim and Design I cannot but be greatly delighted when I find my Relations confirmed either in part or in whole by the Authority of other Historians for I hate the Character of being either a Flatterer or a fabulous Writer which to avoid I have thought fit to produce the Words of Acosta in the 27th Chapter of his 7th Book which are as followeth When the Spaniards were besieged in the City of Cozco and so closely pressed and straitned that without the Assistence of Heaven it was impossible for them to escape I have heard from very credible Persons that the Indians threw Fire on the Roof of that House where the Spaniards were lodged and where now the Cathedral Church is built and though the Covering of the House was a sort of Thatch which they call Chicho or rather Ychu and that the Fire was made with a rasimy kind of burning Wood yet it took no hold on that combustible matter for our Lady appearing from above kept a constant Guard over that place and immediately extinguished the Fire all which the Indians visibly saw and remained with astonishment All the Relations and Histories which are wrote on this Subject report for a certain truth that in divers Battels which the Spaniards fought in New Spain and in Peru the Indians plainly discovered in the Air a Cavalier mounted on a white Horse with a Sword in his Hand fighting for the Spaniards whence it is that in all parts of the West-Indies great Devotion and Honour is paid to that glorious Apostle St. James and at other times in several difficult Encounters the Image of our Lady hath presented it self from which Christians have received inexpressible Benefits and were all these Apparitions and Wonders of Heaven particularly described they would swell a Volume too large for this History c. Thus far are the Words of Acosta who reports that almost fourty years after these matters were transacted he made a Voyage into Peru where he received Information of all these particulars And having said thus much we will return again to our Spaniards who remaining under such propitious circumstances of the Divine Providence were enabled to become the Masters of an hundred New Worlds CHAP. XXVI The Spaniards gain the Fortress with the Death of the worthy John Piçarro IN the 5th Chapter of the 8th Book of the first part we there mentioned the Loyalty which the Natives of the Cannaris bore towards their Kings the Incas and we then promised to declare how that on occasion of the great Love and Friendship which one of that Nation professed towards the Spaniards all the others withdrew their Obedience and renounced their Allegiance to the Incas In the 37th Chapter of the 9th Book of the first part we described the great Loyalty of that People towards their Princes we are now to give an account of the reason for which the same was afterwards denied The Cause was this When the Indians after the Victory observed the many Favours and Honours which the Spaniards bestowed on the Person of the Cannarian who fought the duel they became so entirely affectionated and devoted to the Spaniards that they denied all farther Service and Duty to their own Inca and from that time became Spies Informers and Betrayers of the other Indians and in the very civil Wars which the Spaniards had one with the other even to the time of Francisco Hernandes Giron the Cannarians which lived in Cozco under the Command of this Don Francisco the Cannarian and were then very numerous served for Spies and Informers against the Indians and in all the civil Wars which the Spaniards waged one against the other to that very War of Hernandez Giron the Cannarians who
better Scholars in reading and Writing and be more expert in all sorts of musical Instruments than the Spaniards had they onely the advantage of being taught nor would they prove ill Scholars in the Latin Tongue And moreover they are not more ignorant in our Books than we are in the knowledge of theirs for though we have now lived amongst them and have had Conversation with them for seventy Years yet have not attained to the knowledge of their Knots nor the nature of their Accounts when they in a short time have attained to the knowledge of our Letters and Ciphers which are evidences of their Ingenuity and good capacity And as to their Memory they generally exceed the Spaniards having by their Knots and Joints of their Fingers figured several Common places out of which they do extract particulars in their due Order for the help and benefit of the Memory And what is more strange the same Knots serve for divers Passages and Arguments of History and giving them onely the Subject they will run on with a History as currently as a Reader can his Book which is an Art unto which no Spaniard as yet hath been able to attain nor know in what manner it is performed and are all good Arguments of the acute Judgment and great Memory of the Indians As to their Art in Military Affairs take all things in their due Circumstances the People of Peru are more expert than those of Europe for shew me the most brave and famous Captains of Spain or France on Foot without Horses without Armour without Lance Sword Pistol or other Fire-arms let them appear in their Shirts without Cloths with a Sling instead of a Girdle and their Heads covered with a Cap of Feathers or Garland of Flowers instead of a Head-piece or Steel Bergandine let them march with their bare Feet over Briers or Thorns let their Diet be Herbs and Roots of the Field carrying a piece of a Mat in their Left hands instead of a Buckler and in this manner let them enter the Field to blunt the Edges of Swords and Halbards and Pikes with three Forks and let them stand the Stone-slings the poisoned Arrows and the skilfull Archer which will hit the Eye or the Heart or anything if in this naked and simple condition they become Conquerours I will then say that they deserve the Fame and Reputation of valiant Captains above the Indians but in regard it is impossible to put the Europeans in this state and condition or to persuade them to the use of such Arms Customs or Habit so humanely speaking they will never make trial or essay to gain Victories with such tools or instruments And on the contrary were the Indians armed as are the Europeans trained up with the same Military Discipline and instructed in the Art of War both by Sea and Land they would be more invincible than the Turks Of the Truth hereof Experience is the best proof for whensoever the Spaniards and Indians were equal in their Arms the Spaniards were slain in great numbers as for Example in Puno of Mexico and long before that in other places for the truth is when the Spaniards have been laden and encumbred with their Arms and the Indians free and light the Spaniards have been often defeated in open Battel as in Quitu in Chachapuaya in Chaquisaca in Tucma in Cunti in Sausa in Parcus in Chili and other parts Wherefore in comparing the Valour and Prowess of the Spaniards with that of the Indians both of Mexico and Peru there can be no measure or trial made by the Success or Conquests by reason of the great inequality in their Arms and above all the Invention of Fire-arms was more terrible to them than all the rest and seems something more than what is humane or natural and in reality the Victories which have been obtained in most parts of the new World and especially in Peru were wonderfull Effects of Divine Providence and rather to be attributed to the Power of God in favour of the Gospel than to the Valour of the Spaniards But though we may compare the Europeans and the Asitiaticks together in the point of Arms yet we cannot admit of any Comparison between the Spaniards and the Indians as to the Art of War in which no doubt but the Spaniards have much the advantage But to let pass this point and compare Indians with Indians there is no doubt but the Incas and the People of Peru were much the better Souldiers of which they have given us sufficient Testimonies by the many Conquests they made over the many Countries they reduced to their Obedience and enjoyed nor were they signalized for their Valour of late Years onely as some People vainly imagine but for above five or six hundred Years past amongst which many Kings of them have been very powerfull namely Manco Capac Inca Roca Viracocha Inca Pachacutec and those descended from that Line to the great Huayna Capac who was Emperour besides many other Captains of the same Bloud of whom we have treated at large in other places Thus far are the Words of Blas Valera after which short digression let us return again to our Spaniards CHAP. XXXI Of the differences which arose between the Almagro's and the Piçarro's and of the Imprisonment of Hernando Piçarro SO soon as Almagro and Piçarro saw that the Inca had disbanded his Army and was fled and had left unto them free possession of the Empire they began then openly to discover their Passions and turn their Arms each against the other one affected to rule and govern absolutely alone and the other prepared to prevent and disappoint him of the Possession of that supreme Power which neither admits a Superiour nor a Rival Thus Almagro required Hernando Piçarro to surrender the City to him and leave him in free possession thereof pretending that it was the Part and Division which belonged to him and not to his Brother as not being comprehended within the two hundred Leagues of Land belonging to the Marquis which were to be measured and set out from the Equinoctial Southward along the Sea-coast according to the Capes and Points and Bays running by the Sea-shore but certainly Land was never measured in that manner or by other Lines than by the High-ways Howsoever the party of Almagro insisted on this point and would understand no other Measures than by the Sea-coast which if Piçarro had granted and condescended unto though His Majesty should have enlarged his Jurisdiction an hundred Leagues farther yet his Dominion would not have reached so far as los Reyes much less could it have extended unto Cozco Howsoever these groundless Reasons and Fancies had so far possessed the Mind of Almagro and his Party that they would suffer no Contradiction or hearken to any Arguments to the contrary but violently resolved to abandon the Kingdom of Chili and return to Peru and Cozco from whence afterwards so many Ruines and Mischiefs did ensue To
presuming that such Foundlings are honestly and lawfully begotten do own them capable of being admitted into Ecclesiastical Orders and to the Degrees of a Prelate And whereas Gomara alledges that common report made him the Son of a Priest it is very false and a calumny raised by malitious and virulent tongues which having nothing whereby to obscure and disgrace the lustre and glory of his Actions have cast this blemish on his Birth without any colour or appearance of truth Those Sons whose Fathers are not known are ennobled by their own Merits and Vertue especially being of that lustre as were the great Actions of this General and Governour Don Diego de Almagro which have legitimated his Birth and added Nobility to his Family To what end do Sons boast of the Atchievements of their Ancestours who blemish and obscure their great Actions by their own Vices for Nobility is the Parent of Virtue and is supported by it So that we may truly say that Almagro was the Son of Noble Parents for so his Actions declare him and so great Exploits have always made the Princes of this World rich and powerfull the truth of which hath been proved at large by what hath preceded In fine therefore as we have said this great Hero was strangled in Prison which was sufficient to have made an end of him but to affect the minds of those who saw him with greater compassion and sorrow his Body was brought forth into the Market-place and his Throat cut there he had passed the Age of seventy five years and his Health was so broken and infirm that had they not hastned his Death he could not have lived much longer It is said that his Enemies to shew their great abhorrence and detestation of him had killed him twice The Executioner in privilege of his Office and as his Fees stripped him of his Cloaths and would also have taken his Shirt had it been suffered And in this condition he lay exposed in the Market-place the greatest part of the day neither friend or enemy daring to dispose otherwise of his Corpse for his friends who were vanquished and in custody could not doe it and his enemies though touched with some sense of grief and compassion durst not adventure upon an Action which might administer occasion of publick scandal Whence we may see the falseness of this World and how ill it rewards the worthy Actions of deserving Men. At length towards the Evening a poor Negro who had been the Slave of the deceased came and brought a course Sheet which was his own or which he had begged and with the help of some Indians who had been the Servants of Almagro they wrapped the Body therein and carried it to be enterred in the Church of the Merceds where the Friars according to their accustomary Acts of Charity buried it with many Tears in a Chapel which is under the High Altar Thus ended that Great Don Diego de Almagro who hath left nothing more Memorable of his Life than his great Actions and of his Death than grief and lamentations for it the which as it was a fore-runner of the like fate of the Marquis Piçarro so the manner of his Death was agreeable thereunto and may therewith be compared in all the circumstances thereof as will appear by that which follows that so these two Companions who had an equal share in the Conquest and Government of this great and rich Empire of Peru may also be equalized in the manner of their Deaths CHAP. XL. Who those Captains were that were employed on the New Conquests the Arrival of Hernando Piçarro in Spain and his long Imprisonment there SO soon as Hernando Piçarro had taken Almagro Prisoner he immediately employed many of his Captains in new Conquests both that thereby he might free himself from their importunities who were in expectation of great and mighty rewards for their services and might also secure his own Person from suspicion and jealousies which his Enemies were contriving and plotting against him Pedro de Valdivia was sent Commander in Chief with a considerable Force to the Conquest of Chili which was begun but left imperfect by Almagro the success of which with his prosperous and unhappy fortune we have formerly declared in the Life of Inca Yupanqui the tenth King of Peru. Francisco de Villagra with whom I was acquainted went in company with him as did also Alonso de Montroy Captain Francisco de Olmos with whom went Garçilasso de la Vega was sent to the Bay of St. Matthew Of whose Conquest and Successes Gomara speaks in the 143d Chapter as follows Gomez de Alvarado was employed in the Conquest of the Province of Guanucu Francisco de Chaves was sent to suppress the Conchucos who much infelted the Inhabitants about Trugillo and in their Army carried an Idol to which they sacrificed the spoils of their Enemies and the bloud of Christians Pera de Vergara marched against the Bracamoros which is a Countrey that to the Northward joins to the Countrey of Quitu Perez de Vergara went to the Chachapoyas and Alonso de Mercadillo to Mullubamba but Pedro de Candia went to the Highlands of Collao into which by reason of the difficulty and badness of the Countrey he could make no great progress and besides his people fell into a Mutiny who were for the most part friends of Almagro as was also Mesa Captain of the Artillery to Piçarro For which reason Fernando went to them and having accused Mesa of Mutiny and with Scandalous Words against the Piçarros and with a Plot to have set Almagro at liberty in case he had been carried to the Marquis at los Reyes all which having been proved against him he put him to Death The three hundred Men which belonged to Pedro de Candia he gave to Perançures and sent him forward to the Conquest of that Countrey In this manner all the Spaniards were employed and in a very short time enlarged their Conquest at least three hundred Leagues in length from East to West though with the death and loss of Multitudes of people Fernando and Gonçalo Piçarro subdued the Collao which is a Countrey wherein Gold so much abounds that they Wainscoat the in-sides of their Chapels and Chambers with Plates of Gold and therein is a sort of Sheep which have some resemblance of a Camel and something of a Deer Thus far Gomara who farther on in the same Chapter adds Fernando Piçarro saith he returned to Cozco where he met with Francisco Piçarro whom he had not seen since the Imprisonment of Almagro After they had entertained discourse for several Days concerning the matters lately past and what was farther to be done in order to the Government It was determined that Fernando should go into Spain to render a true information unto the Emperour of all matters which had passed and to carry with him the Fifths of all which belonged to his Majesty with an account of the Revenue as it was lately
game Some days passing that the Marquis paid not the Money the Winner took the confidence to ask him for it and being afterwards troubled with the importunity the Marquis forbad him to ask any more for that he was resolved never to pay him To which Palomares replied If your Lordship be resolved never to pay me what made you quarrel and be so angry the other day when you lost The Marquis was so well pleased with the Answer that he gave order he should be immediately paid He would play at al Games and with all sorts of Persons and when he knew any one to be necessitous and wanting he would invite him to play with him with intention and purpose to lose to him thinking it a more noble and generous way to relieve a person in want than by direct Alms which to a haughty Spaniard is a kind of an affront but when he gains by advantage of play he not onely rejoyces in the gain but triumphs in the Honour of being a better Gamester than the Marquis and to receive his Money rather as a due than given as a favour When he bowled with such persons as these he would either cast short or beyond that the other might win And when he plaid at Cards at which his Game was commonly Primera he would often vye with his worst Cards and if he had the fortune to have Flush or Primera he would shuffle up his Cards and not shew them seeming to be angry or displeased at his ill luck by such ways as these he gained himself so much good-will and affection as were due to his Worthy and Heroick Merits Gomara treating of the Death of this Prince nay more than a Prince for in reality I know no title upon Earth sufficient to express the Grandure and Merits of this Hero saith that which follows in the Chapter 145. He was the Bastard Son of Gonzalo Piçarro Captain in Navarre was born at Truxillo and laid in the Church Porch he sucked a Sow for several days till another Nurse was provided for him Afterwards his Father acknowledged him and employed him in keeping Hogs so that he was never educated in any learning One day it happened that the Flies did so bite the Hogs that they all ran away and were lost upon which he durst not return home again for fear but attended some Travellers to Sevil from whence he embarked himself for the Indies and being arrived at St. Domingo he went with Alonso de Hojeda to Urana and with Vasco Nunnez de Balboa to discover the Sea of Sur and thence with Pedrarias to Panama at length he discovered and conquered that Countrey which they call Peru c. which are the very Words of this Authour Upon which one might make if it were lawfull many reflexions both in reference to him who wrote it as well as to him who related it for if the things had been true yet it had not been convenient or decent to report such mean and low things of a Gentleman whose Triumphs and great Actions he had wrote with such wonder and applause much less was it fit to mention them seeing that they were doubtfull and admitted onely of a probability I would know of him who gave this relation how he came to the knowledge of such particulars which related to the Birth of a poor child that was exposed in the Porch of a Church and was suckled by a Beast for want of a better Nurse When things of this nature happen to the Sons of great Kings and Princes it is difficult to learn the particular circumstances thereof how much less of a poor boy thrown at a Church door And then to say after he was acknowledged by his Father that he was sent to keep Swine must be a piece of envy and malice and nothing else for 't is not probable that such a principal person as Gonzalo Piçarro Captain of his Majesty's Troops in Navarre should send his Son after he had acknowledged him to keep Swine Nor is it probable that the Flies should take the Hogs in such manner as to make them stray where they could never more be found and therefore that he durst not return home for fear To confute which I have particularly enquired of some Paisants or Countrey people whose business it was to breed up Hogs whether the Fly doth bite them at any time in such manner as to cause them to stray abroad and they have generally assured me that such a thing cannot be But Envy in Countries where parties and factions prevail doth often raise reports of this nature to eclipse the glory of Worthy Men for finding they are not able to deny or darken the lustre of their mighty Actions which are manifest and apparent to all the World as were those of the Marquis Don Francisco Piçarro they feign and invent some mean passages relating to their Birth and Education which being obscure are not easily refuted The truth of all is this The Marquis Don Francisco Piçarro who was Conquerour and Governour of that great Empire called Peru was the Natural Son of his Father and Mother and acknowledged by them at the instant of his Birth Afterwards his Father Captain Gonzalo Piçarro Married her who was Mother to our Marquis and one by extraction of an ancient Family of Christians unto a certain Countrey Farmer of good repute called Goodman such a one of Alcantara by whom he had a Son named Francisco Martin de Alcantara whom Gomara saith was the half Brother to the Marquis Piçarro and was killed with the Marquis as we have before declared Wherefore I conclude that though such reports as these should have something of probable truth in them yet they ought not to be related to the prejudice of such a Prince whose fame may be equalized with those of highest renown And since we are not able to extoll his praises to that degree which they deserve we must refer the defect of our Expressions to be supplied by his own Acts and Conquests which speak themselves And so we shall pass forward in our History CHAP. X. Don Diego de Almagro Administers an Oath of Allegiance to all Officers causing them to swear Fealty to him as Governour of Peru and sends his Warrants into divers parts of the Kingdom which are opposed and resisted THE Marquis being thus slain as before related caused chiefly by the over-confidence of Francisco de Chaves for had he shut the doors as he was ordered the Marquis and such as were with him might have had time to have armed themselves whilst the Assassinates were employed in breaking open the doors and perhaps in that manner they might have prevailed over their Enemies For if the Marquis and his Brother and two Pages were able without their defensive Arms to kill four of those Russians as some Authours report besides those who were wounded by them what may we imagine they would have done had they been in a readiness and well appointed And had
many Debates that new Laws and Constitutions ought to be established with peculiar reference and respect to the Governments of Mexico and Peru. The person who most warmly and earnestly insisted on this point was a certain Friar called Bartholomew de las Casas who some years past being a Secular Priest had travelled over the Islands of Barlovento and had been at Mexico and in the parts adjacent and having taken a religious Habit on him he proposed divers matters which he alledged were for the good of the Indians and tended to the propagation of the Catholick Faith and increase of the Royal Revenue but what effect and success his Councils had Francis Lopez de Gomara Chaplain to his Imperial Majesty relates in Chapter 152 and the same is confirmed by Carate Accountant-General of the Royal Exchequer in the first Chapter of his fifth Book The same is also related by a new Historian called Diego Fernando a Citizen of Palencia who recites the many disturbances which the new Laws and Constitutions caused both in Mexico and Peru this Authour begins his History from those Revolutions and differs very little from the substance of those particulars mentioned by the two others Wherefore we shall repeat singly what each Authour writes for considering the aversion I naturally have to all relations of fatal and dolefull passages I unwillingly recount any thing of that nature but being forced thereunto for declaration of the Truth and for continuation of the History I judge it convenient to fortifie my discourses with the testimony of the three foregoing Authours that so I may not seem of my own head to have framed matters which have produced sad and evil consequences to the whole Empire and which have proved ruinous to the several parties and factions of those Countries And left in the Quotation of these Authours or citing them by Notes in the Margent I should be taxed of mistakes or of having added any thing of my own I have rather chosen to follow my former method by repetition of their words verbatim in those particulars which contain matter of reflexion or blame on any person though in other things my discourses shall not be confined to their very words but rather serve for a Comment enlarging on many passages and adding to what they have omitted all which shall be performed with great respect to truth founded on the testimony of those who having been Eye-witnesses and Actors in those Revolutions have delivered undoubted Narratives thereof unto me without partiality or prejudice to any Wherefore now to proceed after this preamble we say That when the Vice-king Blasco Nunnez Vela arrived in Peru I was then about four years of Age and afterwards in my riper years I was acquainted with several of those who are named in this following History In the first place therefore we will relate the many troubles which the new Constitutions caused in Mexico and the good effects which in the end were produced by the prudent and wise management of the Judge who was employed to put them in execution After which we will return to Peru and relate the many misfortunes slaughters and other miseries which attended them caused by the severity rigour and imprudence of that Vice-king who was Commissionated to execute those Laws and govern that Empire And though the History of Mexico is foreign to our discourse yet I have thought fit to compare the successes of one and of the other Kingdom which had various and almost contrary effects arising notwithstanding on the same causes That so Kings and Princes may by the examples and precedents of History learn and observe how dangerous it is to establish Laws which are rigorous and cause them to be executed by severe Judges who for want of moderation incline the Subjects and Vassals to a detestation of their Government whereby they lose that respect duty and allegiance which is due thereunto And indeed all Histories both Divine and Humane hath from all antiquity averred the truth hereof and the experience of these Modern times have given us to understand that never was any Rebellion commenced against Kings who were gentle and kind to their Subjects but when cruelty tyranny and oppression by taxes and heavy impositions prevailed then all things ran to misery and confusion CHAP. XX. Of the New Laws and Constitutions made in the Court of Spain for the better Government of the two Empires Mexico and Peru. WE must understand that in the year 1539 a certain Friar called Bartholomew de las Casas came from New Spain to Madrid where the Court resided at that time shewing himself in all his Sermons and familiar Discourses extremely zealous for the good of the Indians and a great Favourer and Protectour of them In evidence of which he propounded many things and maintained them to be very reasonable and which in themselves outwardly appeared holy and good yet in the execution thereof they proved rigorous cruel and difficult to be put into practice The proposals notwithstanding of this Friar were offered and laid before the Supreme Council of the Indies where they were ill approved and rejected by the prudence and understanding of Don Garcia de Loaysa the good Cardinal of Seville who was made of that Council in regard that for several years he had been Governour of the Indies and had more knowledge and experience of the affairs of those parts than any of those who had been Conquerours and Inhabitants thereof Wherefore dissenting from the opinion of the Friar his Proposals were not entertained but suspended untill the year 1542 when the Emperour Charles the Fifth returned into Spain after a long Journey he had made through France Flanders and Germany His Majesty who was endued with great zeal and devotion for propagation of the Christian Faith was easily persuaded to hearken to the gentle propositions of the Friar which he insinuated under the specious colour of Conscience and with the guise of Religion offered several new Laws and Constitutions to be enacted and put in force for the greater good and benefit of the Indians After his Imperial Majesty had duly heard and considered all that the Frier had to offer he assembled his great Council to which he farther added several grave and learned persons both Prelates and Lawyers and having laid before them the particular Laws and new Establishments they were approved and passed by the major part of the Assembly notwithstanding many being of a different opinion dissented from the Majority and declared their Votes to the contrary amongst which were the Cardinal aforementioned President of the Council the Bishop of Lugo Don John Suarez de Carvajal with whom I was once acquainted Francisco de los Covos Secretary to his Majesty Don Sabastian Ramirez Bishop of Cuenca and President of Valladolid who formerly had been President in St. Domingo and Mexico Don Garcia Manrique Count of Osorno and President of Ordenes who as Gomara saith had for a long time been Super-Intendent over the
from thence all the Horses and Mules they could seise which were now usefull in their flight Francisco de Carvajal on the other side pursued the Victory not to kill Spaniards with Clubs which two Negroes carried as Palentino reports Chapter the eightieth and says that he killed above a hundred which certainly had been a very cruel action but it is good neither to flatter men with praise who do not deserve it nor yet to calumniate or accuse wherein men are not guilty the truth is Carvajal killed none after the Battel but remained satisfied with his Victory which he had obtained solely by his own good management and industry as was manifest and might be attributed to his great skill and experience in martial affairs and therefore he might well triumph and glory that he himself had killed a hundred men in that Battel since the whole success of that day was effected by his extraordinary conduct Lopez de Gomara Chap. 183 reflects on the words of Francisco de Carvajal and descants farther upon them and says that he boasted of the satisfaction and pleasure he had in killing a hundred men amongst which one was a Friar who said Mass but if this report be not true we may then lay the cruelty at the door of this Authour and not of this great Souldier who onely gloried in his Victory c. Thus far Gomara Francisco de Carvajal having atchieved so much honour and glory caressed and dealt kindly with his Enemies for the next day after the Battel being informed that several principal men of note belonging to Centeno and professed Servants to his Majesty were wounded and lay concealed in the Tents of some of his Souldiers who out of friendship took care for their cure he with all diligence made search after them which all people imagined at first was with design to kill them at length he found eight of them one was Martin de Arbieto a Biscayner a person of noble descent and valiant of whom we have formerly made mention and whom we shall have occasion to name hereafter another was a Gentleman of Salamanca called John de St. Miguel another was a Gentleman born at Cafra named Francisco Maraver I knew them all three and the other five also but I have forgot their names all which Carvajal finding very much wounded he spoke particularly to every one of them and told them that he was troubled to see them in that condition and desired them to take care of their recovery to which if he could contribute he desired them freely to command it of him assuring them that the would be as carefull of them as of his own Brothers and that when they were cured he would readily grant them their freedom and liberty to depart but if they would resolve to stay with him he would make it his business to serve them all the days of his life Moreover he caused Proclamation to be made thorough the whole Camp That what Souldiers soever belonging to Centeno which lay wounded should freely discover themselves and demand help for their cure which should be administred to them and money if they wanted it and he promised to take the same care of them as he did of his Lord the Governour This policy Carvajal used to allure the hearts of the Souldiers to his Party for he was not ignorant that benefits and caresses are more prevalent than rigour and cruelties the which he exercised towards his declared enemies standing in defiance but was more gentle and complemental with such as he perceived inclinable to his Party CHAP. XXII Gonçalo Piçarro issues out Orders to bury the Dead He dispatches Officers into divers parts The flight of Diego Centeno and what happened to the conquered Party SO soon as Gonçalo Piçarro returned to his Tent he found my Father there and desired him to lend him his Horse Salinillas untill his own were cured of the slight wound which Gonçalo Silvestre had given him which being granted he mounted thereon and taking a turn round the Field he gave order to bury the dead and to take care of such as were wounded which he found for the most part stripped of their Clothes by the Indians who without regard to Friend or Foe made all prize which came within their power the common Souldiers were all buried together promiscuously in ten or twelve great Pits which were made for that purpose but the Bodies of Noblemen and Persons of Quality were carried to the Village of Huarina which was near thereunto and for which reason this Fight was called the Battel of Huarina and there they interred them in a small Church built by the Indians themselves in which they were taught the Articles of the Christian Faith when things were in peace and when the time was proper for it and there those Bodies rested for the space of four years untill the troubles being at an end and the Empire flourishing in peace those Bodies were taken up and carried to the great Church of a City which the Spaniards had lately founded and called it the City of Peace where they were re-buried with much Solemnity Masses and Sacrifices which continued for many days The Gentlemen of Peru did generally contribute to the expence hereof in regard they were all related to the dead either by Kindred or by Friendship Gonçalo Piçarro having buried the dead and taken care of the wounded dispatched away Officers into divers parts to provide necessaries which were wanting Dionysio de Bovadilla was sent to the City of Plate to bring what Silver he could get for payment of the Souldiers Diego de Carvajal surnamed the Gallant was dispatched to the City of Arequepa on the same errand and Captain John de la Torre was sent to Cozco all three were attended with thirty Musquetiers apiece who had commission to press what men they met and bring them to the place where Piçarro lay encamped But now to return to Diego Centeno of whom we have for some time been silent He was sick as Authours write of him having been six times let bloud too in the distemper of a Pleurisie and therefore was not actually present in the Fight but was carried about in a Chair from whence seeing the slaughter of his men and the loss of the day he left his seat and mounted on his Horse which was led near to him and being overcome with the fear of death and the desire of life which is natural to all men he fled away not staying for the Bishop or any other but onely with the company of one Priest called Father Biscayner he took his way over the Desarts and Mountains leaving the high way the better to elude the devices and strategems of Carvajal and came at length to the City of Los Reyes so that neither Carvajal nor any of his own side knew what was become of him that he seemed to be vanished like an Apparition or carried away by some strange Enchantment And though he was informed that
as well Spaniards as Indians who were inwardly affected with such passionate expressions Upon Notice of this Sentence the Friers of the City of Cozco flocked to the Prison to instruct the Prince in the Christian Doctrine and to perswade him to be Baptized after the example of his Brother Don Diego Sayri Tupac and his Uncle Atahualpa The Prince readily accepted of the offer to be Baptized and told them that he was glad to obtain the benefit of the Christian Ordinances upon the Testimony and Authority of his Grand-father Huayna Capac who declared That the Law which the Christians taught them was better than their own and being by Baptisme received into the Church of Christ he would be called Philip after the name as he said of his Inca and King Don Philip of Spain But this Function was performed with as much Sadness and Sorrow as that of his Brother 's was celebrated with Joy and Triumph as before declared Though this Sentence against the Prince was published every where and that all we have said and much more appeared which we for brevity sake omit which might perswade the World that the same would be executed yet the Spaniards of the City as well Seculars as Religious were of Opinion that the Vice-King would not proceed to an Act so unhumane and barbarous as to kill a poor Prince deposed and dis-inherited of his Empire which could never be pleasing and acceptable to King Philip whose Clemency would rather have ordered his Transportation into Spain than passed this Condemnation of him to death which he had never deserved But the Vice-King it seems was of another Opinion as we shall see presently in the following Chapter CHAP. XIX The Sentence is executed upon the Prince The endeavours used to prevent it The Vice-King refuses to hearken thereunto With what Courage the Inca received the stroak of Death THE Vice-King resolving to execute his Sentence which he believed to be for the Safety and Security of the Empire caused a Scaffold to be raised in the chief place of the City This was so new and strange a resolution to all People that the Gentlemen Friers and other grave Persons were so concerned for it that they met together and drew up a Petition to the Vice-King representing to him the Barbarity of the Fact which would be scandalous to the World and disapproved by his Majesty That it would be much better to send him into Spain for tho' Banishment be a lingering Torment yet it is a token of Clemency much rather than the Sentence of a speedy Death a Petition being drawn up to this effect with design to be delivered with all the supplication and intercession in behalf of the Prince the Vice-King who had his spyes abroad and by them was informed of the Petition which was preparing with the Subscription of many hands thereunto resolving not to be troubled with such Importunities gave Order to have the Gates of the Court shut and no Man suffered to come to him upon pain of Death And then immediately he issued out a Warrant to have the Inca brought forth and his Head cut off without farther delay that so the disturbance of the Town might be appeased by a speedy execution whereas by giving time a Combustion might be raised and the Prince rescued out of his hands Accordingly the poor Prince was brought out of the Prison and mounted on a Mule with his hands tyed and a Halter about his Neck with a Cryer before him publishing and declaring that he was a Rebel and a Traytor against the Crown of his Catholick Majesty The Prince not understanding the Spanish Language asked of one of the Friers who went with him what it was that the Cryer said And when it was told him that he proclaimed him an Auca which was a Traytor against the King his Lord which when he heard he caused the Cryer to be called to him and desired him to forbear to publish such horrible Lyes which he knew to be so for that he never committed any act of Treason nor ever had it in his Imaginations as the World very well knew But says he tell them that they kill me without other cause than only that the Vice-King will have it so and I call God the Pachacamac of all to witness that what I say is nothing but the Truth After which the Officers of Justice proceeded forward to the place of Execution As they were entering into the Chief Place they were met by great numbers of women of all Ages amongst which were several of the Blood Royal with the wives and daughters of the Caciques who lived in places adjacent to the City all which cryed out with loud Exclamations and cryes accompanied with a flood of Tears saying Wherefore Inca do they carry thee to have thy Head cut off What Crimes what Treasons hast thou committed to deserve this usage Desire the Executioner to put us to Death together with thee who are thine by Blood and Nature and should be much more contented and happy to accompany thee into the other World than to live here Slaves and Servants to the Will and Lust of thy Murderers The noise and outcry was so great that it was feared lest some insurrection and out-rage should ensue amongst such a Multitude of People then gathered together which was so great that with those who filled the two Places and the Streets leading thereunto and who were in Balconies and looking out at Windows they could not be counted for less than 300 thousand Souls This combustion caused the Officers to hasten their way unto the Scaffold where being come the Prince walked up the Stairs with the Friers who assisted at his Death and followed by the Executioner with his Faulchion or broad Sword drawn in his hand And now the Indians seeing their Prince just upon the brink of Death lamented with such groans and out-cries as rent the Air and filled the place with such noise that nothing else could be heard Wherefore the Priests who were discoursing with the Prince desired him that he would command the People to be silent whereupon the Inca lifting up his right Arm with the Palm of his hand open pointed it towards the place from whence the noise came and then loured it by little and little until he came to rest it on his right thigh Which when the Indians observed their Murmur calmed and so great a silence ensued as if there had not been one Soul alive within the whole City The Spaniards and the Vice-King who was then at a Window observing these several passages wondred much to see the obedience which the Indians in all their passion shewed to their dying Inca who received the stroke of death with that undaunted Courage as the Incas and Indian Nobles did usually shew when they fell into the hands of their Enemies and were unhumanely butchered and cruelly treated by them as may appear in our History of Florida and other Wars which were carried on
all the other Nations we have before mentioned as guilty of this sin Their Marriages were contracted on condition that the Parents and Friends of the Bridegroom should first enjoy the Bride before the Husband Those which they took in the War they flea'd and filling their Skins with Ashes they hanged them up at the Gates of their Temples in signal of Victory or in the publick places where they danced To this people the Inca sent his accustomary Summons requiring them either to submit themselves to his Empire or prepare to defend themselves by Arms But this people of Manta had a long time since been well assured that their force was not sufficient to resist the power of the Inca though they had been able to have made an Alliance with the neighbouring Nations for considering that they were a brutish sort of people without Government Union or Law there was no possibility of reducing them within any terms of confederacy and therefore they all with much facility submitted themselves to Huayna Capac The Inca received them very gratiously treating them with kindness and rewards and having placed Officers and Governours over them and Instructours to teach them their Religion Laws and Customs he proceeded afterwards in his Conquest to another great Province called Caranque In the parts adjacent there were many other Nations all brutish living without Law Religion or Government The Conquest of them was performed without any difficulty for they never attempted to defend themselves and if they had it would have been to little purpose being all of them though united together an unequal match for the power of the Inca. In the subjection and disposal of these people the same rules and methods were used as with the former over whom Governours and Instructours were sent to preside that they might rule and teach them Proceeding forward in these Conquests they came at length to other Provinces more barbarous and sottish than any as yet inhabiting along that Coast for the Men and Women cut and slashed their faces with sharp flints and moulded their Childrens heads into a deformed shape different to what nature had given them For so soon as their Infants were born they clapt a smooth Plate upon their foreheads and another on the hinder parts of the head the which was straitned every day harder and harder untill they came to the Age of four or five years by which time the head was grown broad on each side and consequently the forehead low and the face contracted in the length And to make themselves yet more deformed they cut off the hair behind and on the crown of the head leaving onely locks on each side nor were these locks of hair combed or pleated but frisled and frowsed to make their countenances yet more monstrous and deformed their food was for the most part Fish for Fishery was their chief employment likewise they are Herbs and Roots and such wild Fruits as the Woods produced they went naked and worshipped the Gods which their Neighbours adored These Nations were called Apichiqui Pichunsi Sava Pecllansimiqui Pampahuaci and the like These people being reduced the Inca proceeded to another Nation called Saramissu and then to another named Passau which is situated directly under the Equinoctial line and these were yet more barbarous than the rest for they owned no Gods nor did the thoughts of a God ever enter into their consideration for they were not associated in any political communion nor had they Houses but lived in hollow Trees which are very capacious in those Mountains they had no propriety in Wives nor Children but mixed together as they casually met and used Sodomy in an open manner they knew not how to cultivate the Land or doe any other thing which is conducing to humane life Their Bodies were naked without any habit their Lips they cut and slashed both within and without their Faces they painted in four quarters with divers colours one part was yellow another blew another red and another black changing the colours as they thought fit They never combed their heads but suffered their hairs to grow long and matted being full of straw or dust or any thing that fell upon them in short they were worse than beasts In the year 1560 when I went for Spain I remember I saw some of these people at a place where we touched to take fresh water and remained there for three or four days and there these people came out to us in their Boats made of Rushes to trade with us and sell us their great Fish which they struck with their Fisgigs which they performed with such dexterity that the Spaniards took great pleasure to see them and would bargain for them before they struck them their price was made for Bisket and Flesh for they had no value for Silver their Privities they covered with leaves or barks of Trees not for the shame they had of them in the way of common modesty but out of respect to the Spaniards in short they were salvage and barbarous above imagination It is said when Huayna Capac observed the barrenness of those Countries being nothing but Mountains and the bestiality of that nasty people which was so stupid that he despaired of ever reducing them to a tolerable Oeconomy that then he should say to his people Come and let us return again for these deserve not the Honour of our Dominion At which words the whole Army faced about and returned leaving the people of Passau in their ancient filthiness and brutality CHAP. IX Of the Giants which were in that Countrey and the destruction of them BEfore we conclude our History relating to the affairs of this Countrey we cannot omit one notable particular which the Natives by tradition from their Forefathers have received telling us of certain Giants which came to that Countrey by Sea and landed at that Point or Cape which the Spaniards call St. Helen's because they first discovered it upon that day and though the Spanish Writers mention Giants yet there is none who treats of them so much at large as Pedro de Cieça doth who took his information from the people of that Countrey where these Giants resided we shall make use of his Relation and rehearse his words verbatim as he sets them down for though Joseph Acosta and the Accountant-General Augustine de Carate touch those particulars yet none describe them so much at large as Pedro de Cieça whose Words are these in the 52d Chapter of his Book Seeing that there are many reports of Giants in Peru which according to common fame landed at the Cape of St. Helen which lyes near to Puerto Viejo I have thought fit to declare my opinion in the case without regard to the variety of common report which often magnifies things above the truth The Natives of this Countrey having received it by tradition from their Fathers tell us that many Ages past there was a sort of Men of an extraordinary size which arrived
at that Countrey in great Junks they were so large that a Man of our ordinary stature reached but to their knees and that their bodies being proportionable thereunto as we may measure the body of Hercules by his foot were strange monsters to behold their Heads were great covered with long hair hanging to their shoulders their Eyes were as big as Saucers they had no Beards some of them were cloathed with the Skins of Beasts others were naked and without other covering than long hair which nature had given them They brought no Women with them but being arrived at this Point they landed and seated themselves in the manner of people under Government of which there remain some Ruines to this day But in regard they found no water they set themselves to make Wells which they digged out of the hard living Rock so that they may continue for many Ages and which speak the great and mighty strength of those robustious Men and being very deep they yield a most sweet and pleasant water very cool and wholsome to drink These great Giants or over-grown Men having seated themselves and provided Cisterns for their Drink the next thing was to make a sufficient provision for their Victuals for they had already almost consumed the whole Countrey for one of these great Men was able to eat as much as fifty of those ordinary people that were Natives of the place so that food beginning to want they supplied themselves from the great quantities of Fish which they took from the Sea which yielded to them in great abundance They lived with great abhorrence and in ill correspondence with the people of the Countrey for their Women they could not use without killing them and the Natives for that and other causes as much detested them but being weaker than they the Indians durst not attempt or assault them though they often entertained Consultations in what manner to take advantages upon them Some years being passed since these Giants resided in those parts and having no Women fit for them with whom to couple for propagation of their race their numbers began to diminish and wanting the natural use of Women by the motion and instigation of the Devil they burned in Lust one towards the other and used Sodomy publickly in the face of God and the Sun without shame or respect one to the other The which abomination being detestable in the sight of God as the Natives report it pleased his Divine and pure Majesty to punish this unnatural Sin with a Judgment extraordinary and agreeable to the enormity of it For being one day all together conjoined in this detestable Act there issued a dreadfull Fire from Heaven with great noise and thunder and immediately an Angel proceeded from this flame with a glittering and flaming Sword with which at one blow he killed them all and then the Fire consumed them leaving no more than their bones and skulls which it pleased God to suffer as reliques to remain for an everlasting Memorial of this Judgment Thus much is the Relation of the Giants the which we have ground to believe because the bones of Men are found there of an incredible bigness and I have heard Spaniards say that they have seen the piece of one hollow Tooth to weigh above half a pound of the Butcher's weight and that they had seen one of the Shank-bones of an incredible length and bigness besides which evidences their Wells and Cisterns are clear testimonies of the places of their habitation But as to the parts from whence they came I am not able to render any account In the year 1550 being in the City de los Reyes when Dos Antonio de Mendoça was Vice-king and Governour of New Spain there were certain bones of Men digged up which were of Giants or Men of an extraordinary proportion and I have heard also that at Mexico there were bones digged out of a Sepulchre which for being of an extraordinary size might be the bones of Giants By which testimony of so many persons it plainly appears that there were Giants and those bones might be the reliques of those mighty Men of which we have already spoken At this Cape of St. Helena which as I have said is upon the Coast of Peru and bordering near to Puerto Viejo there is one thing very considerable and that is a Mine or Spring of Tar of such excellent quality and which issues in that plenty as may serve to Tar a whole Fleet of Ships Thus far are the Words of Pedro de Cieça which we have faithfully transcribed out of his History to shew the Tradition which the Indians have of these Giants and the Spring of Tar which issues out about that place which is a matter also very observable CHAP. X. Of the Words which Huayna Capac uttered relating to the Sun. THE King Huayna Capac as we have said commanded his Army to return from the Province called Passau the which he made his extreme and frontier Countrey to the Northward which having done he returned again to Cozco visiting his Provinces in the way doing them all the favours he was able and administring Justice to those which did demand it of him Returning at length to Cozco after this long Journey of some years he arrived there about the time that the principal Feast of the Sun was to be celebrated called Raymi And the Indians tell us a story that upon one day of the nine that this Festival continued the Inca took a liberty to fix his eyes upon the Sun which was a freedom yet unknown and esteemed a prophanation so to doe or to behold the circle wherein he moved on which object whilst for sometime he continued his sight the High Priest who was one of his Uncles and stood next to him said Inca what is it you doe know you not that this is not lawfull Hereat the King withdrew his Eyes for awhile but presently after lifting them up again fixed them upon the Sun which the High Priest observing reproved him for it and told him Sir consider what it is you doe for you not onely doe an action which is unlawfull in it self but you give ill example and scandal to all your Court and the people of your Dominions who are here present to perform that venerable adoration which they owe to your Father as their sole and supreme Lord. Hereupon Huayna Capac turning to the High Priest told him that he would ask him two Questions which he required him to make answer unto I being said he your King and universal Lord is there any of you so bold as to command me for your pleasure to arise from my seat and take a Journey to those parts whereunto you shall direct me How replied the High Priest can any person be so impudent and daring Is there any Curaca said the Inca the most rich and powerfull of all my Subjects who will adventure to disobey my Commands in case I should dispeed him post from hence