Title: Relación de la conquista del Perú. English - An Account of the Conquest of Peru
Author: Sancho, Pedro
Language: English
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 DOCUMENTS AND NARRATIVES
      CONCERNING THE
  DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST
     OF LATIN AMERICA


       PUBLISHED BY
    THE CORTES SOCIETY
         NEW YORK


        NUMBER TWO



    _Edition limited to 250 copies
 of which ten are on Kelmscott paper_

        _This copy is Number_

                 85



              AN ACCOUNT
                OF THE
           CONQUEST OF PERU


              WRITTEN BY
             PEDRO SANCHO

         SECRETARY TO PIZARRO
       AND SCRIVENER TO HIS ARMY


 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH AND ANNOTATED
                  BY
        PHILIP AINSWORTH MEANS


          THE CORTES SOCIETY
               NEW YORK
                 1917



COCKAYNE, BOSTON



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE


The work of Pedro Sancho is one of the most valuable accounts of the
Spanish conquest of Peru that we possess. Nor is its value purely
historical. The "Relación" of Sancho gives much interesting ethnological
information relative to the Inca dominion at the time of its demolition.
Errors Pedro Sancho has in plenty; but the editor has striven to
counteract them by footnotes.

In every instance the translator has preserved Pedro Sancho's spelling
of proper names, calling attention to the modern equivalent on the first
occurrence of each name. In a few instances, where the text was
unusually obscure, close translation has not been adhered to.

The virtues, as well as the shortcomings of this account, are so obvious
that an extended reference to them here is superfluous. It must always
be borne in mind that this document partook of the nature of an
"_apologia pro vita sua_" and that it was directly inspired by Pizarro
himself with the purpose of restoring himself to the Emperor's favor.
Its main purpose was to nullify whatever charges Pizarro's enemies may
have been making to the sovereign. Consequently there are numerous
violations of the truth, all of which are, for us, easy to recognize.

A word as to the previous editions of Pedro Sancho may not be out of
place here. The original manuscript is lost. An Italian translation of
it appears in the "Viaggi" of Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Ramusio,
published in Venice about 1550. The numerous editions of Ramusio's great
work do not need to be listed here. Occasionally the translator has
referred to that of 1563, a copy of which is in his possession. The
edition which has served as a text for the present translation is that
issued and edited by Don Joaquin García Icazbalceta, Mexico, 1849. This
edition, like all of Icazbalceta's work, is painstaking. Professor
Marshall Saville has been good enough to lend me his copy of this
edition, which is very rare, in order that I might have it to work with.
Finally, a small portion of Pedro Sancho's narrative was issued by the
Hakluyt Society of London. The editor, Sir Clements Markham, included it
in the same volume with the reports of Xeres, Miguel de Estete, Hernando
Pizarro. The volume, entitled "Reports on the Discovery of Peru," was
issued by the Hakluyt Society in 1872.

                                                  PHILIP AINSWORTH MEANS
 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
    October 9, 1916



RELATION


Of the events that took place during the conquest and pacification of
these provinces of New Castile, and of the quality of the land, and of
the manner in which the Captain Hernando Pizarro afterward departed to
bear to His Majesty the account of the victory of Caxamalca[1] and of
the capture of the Cacique Atabalipa.[2]



CHAPTER I

    Concerning the great quantity of silver and gold which was brought
    from Cuzco, and of the portion thereof which was sent to H. M. the
    emperor as the royal fifth: How the imprisoned Cacique Atabalipa
    declared himself free of his promise which he had made to the
    Spaniards to fill a house with gold for ransom: And of the treason
    which the said Atabalipa meditated against the Spaniards, for which
    betrayal they made him die.


The Captain Hernando Pizarro had departed with the hundred thousand
pesos of gold and the five thousand marks of silver which were sent to
His Majesty as his royal fifth; after that event, some ten or twelve
days, the two Spaniards who were bringing gold from Cuzco arrived, and
part of the gold was melted at once because it was in very small pieces;
it equalled the sum of[3] ... five hundred-odd plates of gold torn from
some house-walls in Cuzco; and even the smallest plates weighed four or
five pounds apiece; other, larger ones, weighed ten or twelve pounds,
and with plates of this sort all the walls of that temple were covered.
They brought also a seat of very fine gold, worked into the form of a
foot-stool, which weighed eighteen thousand _pesos_.[4] Likewise, they
brought a fountain all of gold and very subtilely worked which was very
fair to see as much for the skill of the work as for the shape which it
had been given; and there were many other pieces such as vases, jars,
and plates which they also brought. All this gold gave a quantity which
came to two millions and a half [_pesos_], which, on being refined to
pure gold, came to one million, three hundred and twenty-odd thousand
pesos, from which was subtracted the fifth of His Majesty, or, two
hundred and seventy-odd thousand pesos. Fifty thousand marks of silver
were found, of which ten thousand were set aside for H. M. One hundred
and seventy thousand pesos and five thousand marks were handed over to
the treasurer of H. M. The remaining hundred thousand pesos and five
marks were taken, as has been said, by Hernando Pizarro to help meet
the expenses which His Caesarian Majesty was encountering in the war
against the Turks, enemies of our Holy Faith, as they say. All that
remained, beyond the royal fifth, was divided among the soldiers and
companions of the Governor. He gave to each one what he conscientiously
thought he justly merited, taking into consideration the trials each man
had passed through and the quality of his person, all of which he did
with the greatest diligence and speed possible in order that they might
set out from that place and go to the city of Xauxa.[5]

And because there were among those soldiers some who were old and more
fit for rest than for fatigues, and who in that war had fought and
served much, he gave them leave to return to Spain. He procured their
good will so that, on returning, these men would give fairer accounts of
the greatness and wealth of that land so that a sufficient number of
people would come thither to populate and advance it. For, in truth,
the land being very large and very full of natives, the Spaniards who
were in it then were all too few for conquering it, holding it and
settling it, and, although they had already done great things in
conquering it, it was owing more to the aid of God who, in every place
and occasion, gave them the victory, than to any strength and means
which they had for succeeding, with that further aid they were confident
He would sustain them in the future.

That melting of the metals completed, the Governor commanded the notary
to draw up a document in which it said that the cacique Atabalipa was
free and absolved from the promise and word which he had given to the
Spaniards, who were to take the house full of gold in ransom for
himself. This document the Governor caused to be proclaimed publicly and
to the sound of trumpets in the plaza of that city of Caxamalca, making
it known, at the same time, to the said Atabalipa by means of an
interpreter, and also he [the Governor] declared in the same
proclamation, that, because it suited the service of H. M. and the
security of the land, he wished to maintain the cacique as a prisoner
with good guard, until more Spaniards should arrive who should give
added security; for, the cacique being free, he being so great a lord
and having so many soldiers who feared and obeyed him, prisoner though
he was, and three hundred leagues [from his capital], he could not well
do less in order to free himself from all suspicion; all the more so
because many times it had been thought almost certain that he had given
orders for warriors to assemble to attack the Spaniards. This, as a
matter of fact, had been ordered by him, and the men were all in
readiness with their captains, and the cacique only delayed the attack
because of the lack of freedom in his own person and in that of his
general Chilichuchima,[6] who was also a prisoner. After some days had
passed, and when the Spaniards were on the point of embarking in order
to return to Spain, and the Governor was making the rest ready for
setting out for Xauxa, God Our Lord, who with his infinite goodness was
guiding affairs toward all that was best for his service, as will be
[seen], having already in this land Spaniards who were to inhabit it and
bring to the knowledge of _the true God_ the natives of the said land so
that Our Lord might always be praised and known by these barbarians and
so that his Holy Faith might be extolled, permitted the discovery and
chastisement of the evil plans which this proud tyrant had in mind as a
return for the many good works and kind treatment which he had always
received from the governor and from each one of the Spaniards of his
company; which recompense, according to his intention, was to have been
of the sort he was wont to give to the caciques and lords of the land,
ordering [his men] to kill without let or cause whatever. For it chanced
that our discharged soldiers [were] returning to Spain, he, seeing that
they were taking with them the gold that had been got from his land,
and mindful of the fact that but a short while ago he had been so great
a lord that he held all those provinces with their riches without
dispute or question, and without considering the just causes for which
they had despoiled him of them, had given orders that certain troops
who, by his command, had been assembled in the land of Quito, should
come, on a certain night at an hour agreed upon, to attack the Spaniards
who were at Caxamalca, assaulting them from five directions as they were
in their quarters, and setting fire wherever possible. Thirty or more
Spanish soldiers were marching outside of Caxamalca, having been to the
city of San Miguel in order to place the gold for H. M. on board ship,
and [the Inca] believed that as they were so few he would be able easily
to kill them before they could join forces with those in Caxamalca[7]
... of which there was much information from many caciques and from
their chiefs themselves, that all, without fear of torments or menaces,
voluntarily confessed this plot: [telling] how fifty thousand men of
Quito and many Caribes[8] came to the land, and that all the confines
contained armed men in great numbers; that, not finding supplies for
them all thus united, he had divided them into three or four divisions,
and that, though scattered in this fashion, there were still so many
that not finding enough to sustain themselves, they had cut down the
still green maize and dried it so that they might not lack for food. All
this having been learned, and being now a public matter to all, and as
it was clear that they were saying in his [the Inca's] army that they
were coming to kill all the Christians, and the governor seeing in how
much peril the government and all the Spaniards were, in order to
furnish a remedy, although it grieved him much, nevertheless, after
seeing the information and process drawn up, assembled the officials of
H. M. and the captains of his company and a Doctor who was then in this
army, and the padre Fray Vicente de Valverde, a religious of the order
of Santo Domingo sent by the Emperor our Lord for the conversion and
instruction of the people of these realms; after there had been much
debate and discussion over the harm and the profit that might follow
upon the continued life or the death of Atabalipa, it was resolved that
justice should be done upon him. And because the officials of H. M.
asked for it and the doctor regarded the information as sufficient, he
was finally taken from the prison in which he was, and, to the sound of
a trumpet, his treason and perfidy were published, and he was borne to
the middle of the plaza of the city and tied to a stake, while the
religious was consoling him and teaching him, by means of an
interpreter, the things of our christian faith, telling him that God
wished him to die for the sins which he had committed in the world, and
that he must repent of them, and that God would pardon him if he did so
and was baptised at once. He, [the Inca] moved by this discourse, asked
for baptism. It was at once given to him by that reverend padre who
aided him so much with his exhortation that although he was sentenced to
be burned alive, he was given a twist of rope around his neck, by means
of which he was throttled instead[9] but when he saw that they were
preparing for his death, he said that he recommended to the governor his
little sons, so that he might take them with him, and with these last
words, and while the Spaniards who stood around him said the creed for
his soul, he was quickly throttled. May God take him to his holy glory,
for he died repentant of his sins with the true faith of a Christian.
After he was thus hung, in fulfilment of the sentence, fire was cast
upon him so that a part of his clothes and flesh was burnt. That night
[because he had died in the late afternoon] his body remained in the
plaza in order that all might learn of his death, and on the next day
the Governor ordered that all the Spaniards should be present at his
interment, and, with the cross and other religious paraphernalia, he
was borne to the church and buried with as much solemnity as if he had
been the chief Spaniard of our camp. Because of this all the principal
lords and caciques who served him received great pleasure, considering
as great the honour which was done them, and knowing that, because he
was a christian, he was not burned alive, and he was interred in church
as if he were a Spaniard.



CHAPTER II

    They choose as lord of the state of Atabalipa his brother
    Atabalipa[10] in whose coronation they observed ceremonies in
    accordance with the usage of the caciques of those provinces. Of the
    vassalage and obedience which Atabalipa and many other caciques
    offered to the Emperor.


This done, the governor commanded the immediate assembling in the chief
plaza of that city of all the caciques and principal lords who were then
living there in company with the dead lord; they were many, and from
distant lands, and his intention was to give them another lord who
should govern them in the name of H. M., for, as they were accustomed to
give always their obedience and tribute to a sole lord, great confusion
would result if it were not thus, for each of them would rise up with
his own lordship, and it would cost much toil to bring them into
friendship with the Spaniards and into the service of H. M. For this and
many other reasons the Governor made them assemble, and finding among
them a son of Gucunacaba[11] called Atabalipa, a brother of Atabalipa to
whom by law the realm belonged, he said to all that now that they saw
how Atabalipa was dead because of the treason he had plotted against him
[the Governor], and because they were all left without a lord who should
govern them and whom they should obey, he wished to give them a lord who
would please them all, and that he [the lord] was Atabalipa who was
there present, to whom that kingdom legitimately belonged as he was the
son of that Gucunacaba whom they had loved so much. He [Atabalipa] was a
young man who would treat them with much love and who had enough
prudence to govern that land. He [the Governor] urged them,
nevertheless, to look well to it that they wished him for a lord, for if
not, they were to name another, and if he were capable, the governor
would give him to them as lord. They replied that since Atabalipa was
dead, they would obey Atabalipa or whomever else he should give them,
and so it was arranged that they should yield obedience another day
according to the accustomed manner. When the next day had come, once
more they all assembled before the door of the governor where was placed
the cacique in his chair and near him all the other lords and chiefs,
each in his proper position. And due ceremonies having been held, each
one came to offer him a white plume as a sign of vassalage and tribute,
which is an ancient custom dating from the time that this land was
conquered by these Cuzcos.[12] This done, they sang and danced, making a
great festivity, in which the new king neither arrayed himself in
clothes of price nor placed the fringe upon the forehead in the manner
in which the dead lord was wont to wear it. And when the governor asked
him why he did so, he replied that it was the custom of his ancestors
when they took possession of the realm to mourn the dead cacique and to
pass three days in fasting, shut up within their house, after which they
used to come forth with much pomp and solemnity and hold great
festivities, for which reason he, too, would like to spend two days in
fasting. The Governor replied that since it was an ancient custom he
might keep it, and that soon he would give him many things which the
Emperor our Lord sent to him, which he would give to him and to all the
lords of those provinces. And at once the cacique was placed for his
fast in a place apart from the assembly of the others, which was a house
that they had built for this purpose since the day that notice was given
by the Governor; it was near the Governor's lodging; on account of it
the said Governor and the other Spaniards were greatly astonished,
seeing how, in so short a time, so large and fine a house had been
built. In it he was shut up and retired without anyone's seeing him or
entering that place save the servants who waited on him and brought him
food, or the Governor when he wished to send him something. When the
fast was over, he came forth richly clad and accompanied by many troops,
caciques and chiefs who guarded him, and all the places where he was to
sit were adorned with costly cushions, and beneath his feet were placed
fine cloths. Seated near him was Calichuchima, the great general of
Atabalipa who conquered this land, as was told in the account of the
affairs at Caxamalca, and near him was also the captain Tice, one of the
chiefs, and on the other side were certain brothers of the lord, while
on both hands were other caciques and captains and governors of
provinces and other lords of great lands, and, in short, no one sat
there who was not of quality. They all ate together on the ground, for
they use no other table, and when they had eaten, the cacique said that
he wished to give his obedience in the name of H. M., as his chiefs had
given it. The Governor told him to do it in the way that seemed best,
and soon he [the cacique] offered him [the governor] a white plume
which had been given to him by his caciques, saying that it was given as
a token of obedience. The Governor embraced him with much love and
received it, saying that he wished to tell him the things which he was
to tell in the name of the Emperor, and it was agreed between the two
that they should meet again for this purpose the following day. When it
had arrived, the Governor presented himself in the assembly dressed as
well as possible in silken clothes and accompanied by the officials of
H. M. and by some noblemen of his company who assisted well-dressed for
the greater solemnity of this ceremony of friendship and peace, and by
his side he stationed the ensign with the royal standard. Then the
Governor began asking each [cacique] in turn his name and that of the
land of which he was the lord, and he ordered that it be taken down by
his secretary and scrivener, and there were as many as fifty caciques
and chiefs. Then, facing all those people, he told them that D. Carlos
our lord of whom they were servants and vassals who were in his
company, had sent him to that land in order to give them understanding
and to preach to them of how a sole Lord Creator of the sky and of the
earth, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three distinct persons in one sole
true God, had created them and given them life and being, and had
brought to bear the fruits of the land whereby they were sustained, and
that to this end he would teach them what they were to do and observe in
order to be saved. And he told them how, by the command of the
all-powerful God, and of his vicars upon earth, because he had gone to
heaven where he now dwells and will be eternally glorified, those lands
were given to the Emperor in order that he might have charge of them,
who had sent him [Pizarro] to instruct them in the christian faith and
place them under his obedience. He added that it was all in writing and
that they should listen to it and fulfil that which he had read to them,
by means of an interpreter, word for word. Then he asked them if they
had understood, and they replied that they had, and that since he had
given them Atabalipa for a lord, they would do all that he commanded
them to do in the name of H. M., holding as supreme lord the Emperor,
then the Governor, then Atabalipa, in order to do as much as he
commanded in his [H. M.'s] name. Then the Governor took in his hands the
royal standard which he raised on high three times, and he told them
that, as vassals of the Caesarian Majesty, they ought to do likewise,
and the cacique took it, and afterwards the captains and the other
chiefs, and each one raised it aloft twice; then they went to embrace
the Governor who received them with great joy through seeing their good
will, and with how much contentment they had heard the affairs of God
and of our religion. The Governor wished that all this be drawn up as
testimony in writing, and when it was over, the caciques and chiefs held
great festivities, so much so that every day there were rejoicings such
as games and feasts, usually held in the house of the Governor.



CHAPTER III

    While leading a new colony of Spaniards to settle in Xauxa, they
    receive news of the death of Guaritico,[13] brother of Atahualpa.
    Afterwards they passed through the land of Guamachucho,[14]
    Adalmach,[15] Guaiglia,[16] Puerto Nevado, and Capo Tombo,[17] and
    they hear that in Tarma many Indian warriors are waiting to attack
    them, on account of which they take Calichuchima prisoner, and then
    proceed intrepidly on their journey to Cachamarca,[18] where they
    find much gold.


At this time he [the Governor] had just finished distributing the gold
and silver which were in that house among the Spaniards of his company,
and Atabalipa gave the gold belonging to the royal fifths to the
treasurer of H. M. who took charge of it in order to carry it to the
city of Xauxa where he [the Governor] intended to found a colony of
Spaniards on account of the reports he had of the good surrounding
provinces and of the many cities which there were about it. To this
end, he had the Spaniards arranged in order and provided with arms and
other things for the journey, and when the time for departure came, he
gave them Indians to carry their gold and burdens. Before setting out,
having heard how few soldiers there were in San Miguel[19] for the
purpose of holding it, he took, from among those Spaniards whom he was
to take with him, ten cavalrymen and a captain, a person of great
cautiousness, whom he ordered to go to that city where he was to
maintain himself until ships should arrive with troops who might guard
it, after which he was to go to Xauxa where he himself was about to
found a village of Spaniards and melt the gold which he bore, promising
that he would give them all the gold that was due them with as much
punctuality as if they were actually present, because his [the
captain's] return [to San Miguel] was very necessary, that being the
first city to be settled and colonized for the Caesarian Majesty as
well as the chief one because in it they would have to wait there to
receive the ships which should come from Spain, to that land.[20]

In this manner they set out with the instructions which the Governor
gave them as to what they were to do in the pacification of the people
of that region. The Governor set out one Monday morning, and on that day
travelled three leagues, sleeping by the shore of a river where the news
reached him that a brother of Atabalipa called Guaritico had been killed
by some captains of Atabalipa at his command. This Guaritico was a very
important person and a friend of the Spaniards, and he had been sent by
the Governor from Caxamalca to repair the bridges and bad spots in the
road. The cacique pretended to feel great heaviness because of his
death, and the Governor himself regretted it because he liked him, and
because he was very useful to the Christians. The next day the Governor
set out from that place, and, by his marches, arrived in the land of
Guamachucho, eighteen leagues from Caxamalca. Having rested there two
days, he set out for Caxamalca[21] nine leagues ahead, and arrived there
in three days, and rested four in order that his troops might have
repose and opportunity to collect supplies for the march to Guaiglia,
twenty leagues from there. Having left this village, he came in three
days to the Puerto de Nevado, and a morning's march brought him within a
day's journey of Guaiglia; and the governor commanded a captain of his,
who was the Marshal D. Diego de Almagro, to go with troops and take a
bridge two leagues from Guaiglia, which bridge was built in a manner
that will soon be related. This captain captured the bridge, which is
near a strong mountain that dominated that land. The Governor did not
delay in arriving at the bridge with the rest of his men, and having
crossed it, he went on, in another morning, which was Sunday, to
Guaiglia. Arrived there, they soon heard mass and afterwards entered
certain good rooms; having rested there eight days, he set forth with
the soldiers, and the next day crossed another bridge of osiers,[22]
which was above the said river which here passes through a very
delectable valley. They journeyed thirty leagues to the point where
captain Hernando Pizarro came when he went to Pachacamac,[23] as will be
seen in the long account which was sent to H. M. of all that was done on
that journey to Pachacamac, from there to the city of Xauxa and back to
Caxamalca, on the occasion on which he took with him the captain
Chilichuchima and other matters which do not concern us here. The
Governor changed his route, and, by forced marches, arrived at the land
of Caxatambo.[24] From there he went on without doing more than to ask
for some Indians who should carry the gold of H. M. and of the soldiers,
and always using great vigilance in learning of the affairs which took
place in the land, and always having both a vanguard and a rear-guard as
had been done up to that time for fear that the captain Chilichuchima
whom he had with him, would hatch some treasonable plot, all the more so
on account of the suspicion he felt owing to the fact that neither in
Caxatambo nor in the eighteen leagues after it had he met with any
warriors, nor were his fears lessened during a halt in a village five
leagues beyond because all the people had fled without leaving a living
soul. When he had arrived there, a Spaniard's Indian servant, who was
from that land of Pambo[25] distant from here some ten leagues, and
twenty from Xauxa, came to him saying that he had heard that troops had
been assembled in Xauxa to kill the Christians who were coming, and that
they had as captains Incorabaliba, Iguaparro, Mortay[26] and another
captain, all four being important men who had many troops with them, and
the servant added that they had placed a part of this force in a village
called Tarma five leagues from Xauxa in order to guard a bad pass that
there was in a mountain and to cut and break it up in such a way that
the Spaniards could not pass by. Informed of this, the governor gave
orders that Chilichuchima should be made a prisoner, because it was held
to be certain that that force had been made ready by his advice and
command, he thinking to flee the Christians and to go to join it. Of
these matters the cacique Atabalipa was unaware, and on this account,
these [Spanish] troops did not permit any Indian to pass by in the
direction of the cacique who might give notice of these affairs. The
reason why these Indians had rebelled and were seeking war with the
Christians was that they saw the land being conquered by the Spaniards,
and they themselves wished to govern it.

The Governor, before setting out from that place, sent a captain with
troops to take a snowy pass three leagues ahead and then to pass the
night in some fields near Pombo,[27] all of which the captain did, and
he passed the pass with much snow, but without encountering any
obstacle. And the Governor crossed it likewise, without any opposition
save for the inconvenience caused by the snow falling upon them. They
all spent the night in that waste without a single hut, and they lacked
for wood and victuals. Having arrived in the land of Pombo, the Governor
provided and commanded that the soldiers should be lodged with the best
order and caution possible, because he had news that the enemy were
increasing every moment, and it was held to be certain that he would
come here to assail the Spaniards, and because of this, the Governor
caused the patrols and sentinels to be increased, always spying upon the
progress of the enemy. After he had waited there another day for certain
envoys whom the cacique Atabalipa had sent to learn what was going on in
Xauxa, one came who told how the warriors were five leagues from Xauxa
on the road from Cuzco and were coming to burn the town so that the
Christians should not find shelter, and that they intended afterward to
return to Cuzco to combine under a captain named Quizquiz who was there
with many troops who had come from Quito by command of Atabalipa for
the security of the land. When this was learned by the Governor, he
caused to be made ready seventy-five light horse, and with twenty peones
who guarded Chilichuchima, and without the impediment of baggage, he set
out for Xauxa, leaving behind the treasurer with the other troops who
were guarding the camp baggage and the gold of H. M., and of the
company. The day on which he set out from Pombo, he travelled some seven
leagues, and he halted in a village called Cacamarca,[28] and here they
found seventy thousand pesos of gold in large pieces, to guard which the
Governor left two Christians from the cavalry in order that when the
rear-guard should arrive, it might be conducted well guarded. Then, in
the morning, he set forth with his men in good array, for he had word
that three leagues from there were four thousand men. And on the march
three or four light horsemen went ahead so that, if they should meet a
spy of the enemy's, they might take him prisoner to prevent his giving
warning of their coming. At the hour of noon, they arrived at that bad
pass of Tarma where warriors were said to be waiting to defend it. The
pass seemed to be so full of difficulties that it would be impossible to
go up it, because there was a bad road of stone down into the gully
where all the riders had to dismount, after which it was necessary to go
up the heights by a slope about a league long, the greater part of which
was steep and difficult forest, all of which was crossed without any
Indians who were said to be armed making an appearance. And in the
afternoon, after the hour of vespers, the Governor and his men arrived
at that village of Tarma where, because it was a bad site and because he
had news that Indians were coming to it to surprise the Christians, he
did not wish to linger longer than was necessary for feeding the horses
and allaying their own hunger and fatigue so as to enable them to go
forth prepared from that place which had no other level spot than the
plaza as it was on a small slope surrounded by mountains for the space
of a league. As it was already night, he made his camp here, being
always on the alert and having the horses saddled. And the men were
without [proper] food and even without any comfort because there was
neither fire-wood nor water, nor had they brought their tents with them
to shelter them, because of which they all nearly died of cold on
account of the fact that it rained much early in the night and then
snowed so that the arms and clothes were drenched. But each one sought
the best remedy he could, and so that evil and troublous night passed to
the dawn when he commanded that all mount their horses so as to arrive
early at Xauxa which was four leagues from there. When two had been
crossed over, the Governor divided the seventy-five soldiers between
three captains, giving fifteen to each, and taking with him the
remaining twenty and the twenty peones who were guarding Chilichuchima.
In this order they journeyed to Porsi a league from Xauxa, having given
each captain orders as to what he was to do, and they all halted in a
small village which they encountered. Then they all marched on in
complete accord, and gave a look at the city. They all halted again on a
slope within a quarter of a league of it.



CHAPTER IV

    They arrive at the city of Xauxa; they leave some soldiers there to
    guard that place, and others go against the army of the enemy with
    which they fight. They win a victory, and return to Xauxa.


The natives all came out along the road in order to look at the
Christians, celebrating much their coming because they thought that,
through it, they would issue forth from the slavery in which that
foreign army [the Incas] held them. [The Spaniards] wished to await a
later hour in the day at this place, but, seeing that no warriors
appeared, they began their journey so as to enter the city. On going
down that little slope, they saw running toward them at great speed an
Indian with a lance erect, and when he came up to them it was found that
he was a servant of the Christians who said that his master had sent
him to inform them that they must hold themselves in readiness because
their enemies were in the city, and that two Christians from the cavalry
had been sent ahead of the rest, and that they had entered the city to
see the buildings there, and while they were inspecting it, they saw
some twenty Indians who came out of certain houses with their lances and
other arms, calling to others to come forth and join with them. The two
Christians, seeing them thus assemble, without heeding their cries and
clamour, attacked them, killed several, and put the others to flight;
the latter soon joined with others who came to their aid, and they
formed a mass of some two hundred which the Spaniards again attacked, in
a narrow street, and broke, forcing them to retreat to the bank of a
great river which passes by that city, and then one of these Spaniards
sent the Indian as I have said, with raised lance as a sign that there
were armed enemies in the city. This having been heard, the Spaniards
set spur to their horses, and, without delay, arrived at the city and
entered it; and when they joined their companions, the latter told them
what had occurred with those Indians. The captains, running in the
direction in which the enemy had retreated, arrived at length at the
bank of the river, which was then very full, and on the other shore, at
a distance of a quarter of a league, they descried the squadrons of
their enemies. Then, having passed the river with no little toil and
danger, they gave chase to them. The Governor remained guarding the city
because it was said that there were enemies hidden within it, as well.
The Indians perceiving that the Christians had crossed the river, they
began to retreat, drawn up in two squadrons. One of the Spanish
captains, with his fifteen light horsemen, spurred ahead toward the
slope of the hill for which they [the Indians] were making so that they
could not retreat thither and fortify themselves. The other two captains
kept right up with them, overtaking them in a field of maize near the
river. There they put them in disorder and routed them, capturing as
many as possible, so that of six hundred [Indians] not more than twenty
or thirty, who took to the mountains before the other captain with his
fifteen men could arrive, saved themselves. Most of the Indians made for
the water, thinking to save themselves in it, but the light horsemen
crossed the river almost by swimming after them, and they did not leave
one alive save some few who had hidden themselves in their flight after
their army was broken in pieces. Then the Spaniards ran through the
country as far as a league below without finding a single Indian. Then,
having returned, they rested themselves and their horses, which were in
great need of it; both because of the long journey of the day before and
on account of their having run those two leagues, they were rather
crippled. When the truth was learned as to what troops those were [with
whom the Spaniards had fought], it was found that the four captains and
the main body were encamped six leagues down the river from Xauxa, and
that, on that very day, they had sent those six hundred men to complete
the burning of the city of Xauxa, having already burned the other half
of it seven or eight days before, and that they had then burned a great
edifice which was in the plaza, as well as many other things before the
eyes of the people of that city, together with many clothes and much
maize, so that the Spaniards should not avail themselves of them. The
citizens were left so hostile to those other Indians that if one of the
latter hid, they showed him to the Christians so that they would kill
him, and they themselves aided in killing them, and they would even have
done so with their own hands if the Christians had permitted it. The
Spanish captains, having studied the place where these enemies were
found as well as the road, along a part of which they journeyed, they
determined not to shut themselves up in Xauxa, but to pass onward and
attack the main body of the army which was four leagues off before it
should receive news of their coming. With this intention, they
commanded the soldiers to make ready, but their proposal did not come to
pass because they found the horses so weary that they held it to be
better council to retire, which they did. Arrived in Xauxa, they
recounted to the Governor all that had happened, with which he was well
pleased, and he received them cheerfully, thanking them all for having
borne themselves so valorously. And he told them that by all means he
intended to attack the camp of the enemy because, although they were
advised of the victory, it was certain that they would be waiting. At
once he ordered his master of the camp to lodge the men and let them
rest during what remained of the day and through the night until
moon-rise, and that then they should make ready to go and attack their
enemies. At that hour fifty light horsemen were in readiness, and at the
sound of the trumpet they presented themselves, armed and with their
horses, at the lodging of the Governor who despatched them very soon
upon their road. Fifteen horsemen remained with him in the city
together with the twenty peones who made the guard all of each night
with the horses saddled, until the captain of that sally returned, which
was in five days. He related to the governor all that had happened from
the time of his departure, telling how, on the night he left Xauxa, he
journeyed some four leagues before dawn, with much eagerness to attack
the enemy's camp before they were warned of his coming; and being now
near [the enemy] at dawn, they saw a great mass of smoke in the place of
their encampment, which seemed to be two leagues further on. And so he
spurred on with his men at a great pace, thinking that the enemy, warned
of his approach, had fled and that the buildings that there were in a
village were burning. And so it was, because they had fled, after having
set fire to that wretched hamlet. Arrived at that place, the Spaniards
followed the footsteps of the warriors through a very broad valley. And
as they overtook them they collided with the enemy who were going more
slowly with many women and children in their rear-guard, and the
Spaniards, leaving these behind them in order to catch up with the men,
ran more than four leagues, and caught up with some of their squadrons.
As some of them [the Indians] saw the Castilians from some distance,
they had time to take shelter on a mountain and save themselves; others,
who were few, were killed, leaving in the power of the Spaniards (who,
because their horses were tired, did not wish to go up the mountain)
many spoils and women and children. And as it was already night, they
returned to sleep in a village which they had left behind. And the
following day these Spaniards determined to follow them as they fled
back to Cuzco so as to take from them certain bridges of net-work and to
prevent their crossing. But, because of lack of pasturage for their
horses, they found themselves obliged to fall back, to the
dissatisfaction of the Governor because they had not at least followed
and taken those bridges so as to prevent the Indians from returning to
Cuzco; it was feared that, being strange people, they would do great
harm to the citizens of those places.



CHAPTER V

    They name new officials in the city of Xauxa in order to establish a
    settlement of Spaniards, and, having had news of the death of
    Atabalipa, with great prudence and much craftiness in order to keep
    themselves in the good graces of the Indians, they discuss the
    appointment of a new lord.


And for this reason, as soon as the baggage and the rear-guard, which he
had left at Pombo, had arrived, he [the Governor] published an edict to
the effect that whereas he was determined to found a settlement of
Spaniards in the name of H. M., all those who wished to settle there
might do so. But there was not one Spaniard who wished to remain, and
they said that so long as there were warriors all about in that land
with arms in their hands the natives of that province would not be at
the service and disposal of the Spaniards and in obedience to H. M. When
this was observed by the Governor, he determined not to lose time then
in that matter, but to go against the enemy in the direction of Cuzco in
order to drive them from that province and rout them from all of it. In
the meanwhile, in order to put in order the affairs of that city, he
founded the village in the name of H. M., and created officials of
justice for it [and for its citizens] who were eighty in number, of whom
forty were light horsemen whom he left there as a garrison, and,
[leaving also] the treasurer, who was to guard the gold of H. M. and to
act in all matters as head and chief in command of the government.[29]
While these things were being done, the cacique Atabalipa came to die,
of his illness; because of this, the Governor and all the other
Spaniards felt great sorrow, because it was certain that he was very
prudent and had much love for the Spaniards. It was given out publicly
that the captain Calichuchima had caused his death because he desired
that the land should remain with the people of Quito and not with either
those of Cuzco or with the Spaniards, and if that cacique ["Atabalipa"]
had lived, he [Calichuchima] would not have been able to succeed in what
he desired to do. At once, the Governor had Calichuchima and Tizas[30]
and a brother of the cacique and other leading chiefs and caciques who
had come from Caxamalca summoned to him; to them he said that they must
know very well that he had given them Atabalipa as a lord and that, now
that he was dead, they ought to think of whom they would like as lord in
order that he might give him to them. There was a great difference of
opinion between them on this subject because Calichuchima wished the son
of Atabalipa and brother of the dead cacique Aticoc[31] as lord, and
others, who were not of the land of Quito, wished the lord to be a
native of Cuzco and proposed a brother of Atabalipa (as lord). The
Governor said to those who wished as lord the brother of Atabalipa that
they should send and have him summoned and that after he had come, if he
found him to be a man of worth, he would appoint him. And with this
reply that meeting came to an end. And the Governor, having called aside
the captain Calichuchima, spoke to him in these words: "You already know
that I loved greatly your lord Atabalipa and that I have always wished
him to leave a son after he died, and that this son should be lord, and
that you, who are already a prudent man, should be his captain until he
had reached the age of governing his dominions, and for this reason I
greatly desire that he should be called soon, because, for love of his
father, I love him much, and you likewise. But at the same time, since
all these caciques who are here are your friends and since you have much
influence with the soldiers of their nation, it would be well that you
send them word by messengers to come in peace, because I do not wish to
be enraged against them and to kill them, as you see I am doing, when I
wish that the affairs of these provinces should be quiet and peaceful."
This captain had a great desire, as has been said, that the son of
Atabalipa should be lord, and knowing this, the Governor slyly spoke
these words to him and gave him this hope, not because he had any
intention of carrying it out,[32] but in order that, in the meanwhile,
that son of Atabalipa might come for this purpose (and) might cause
those caciques who had taken up arms [also] to come to him in peace. It
was likewise agreed that he should say to Aticoc and to the other lords
of the province of Cuzco that he [the Governor] would give them as lord
him whom they wished, because it was necessary that those things which
were for the good of all should thus be governed in the state. He tried
to give to Calichuchima words that [would enable him] to cause the
people who were in Cuzco with arms to lay them down in order that they
might do no harm to the people of the country, and those of Cuzco,
because they were true friends of the Christians, gave them notice of
all that the enemy were trying to do and of all that was going on in the
country, and for this reason and others the Governor said this with
great prudence. Chilichuchima, to whom he told it, showed as much
pleasure at these words as if he had been made lord of the whole world,
and he replied that he would do as he was ordered and that it would
cause him much pleasure if the caciques and soldiers were to come in
peace[33] and that he would despatch messengers to Quito in order that
the son of Atabalipa might come. But he feared that two great captains
who were with him would prevent it, and would not let him come.
Nevertheless he would send such a person of importance with the embassy
that he thought that all would conform with his wish. And soon he added,
"Sir, since you wish me to cause these caciques to come, take off this
chain [which I wear] for, seeing me with it, no one wishes to obey me."
The Governor, in order that he should not suspect that he had feigned
what he had said to him, told him that he was pleased to do so, but on
the condition that he was to put a guard of Christians over him until
after he had caused those soldiers who were at war to come in peace and
until the son of Atabalipa had come.[34] He [Chalcuchima] was satisfied
with this, and so he was released, and the Governor put him under a good
guard, because that captain was the key [the possession of which
ensured] having the land quiet and subjected. This precaution taken, and
the troops who were to go with the Governor toward Cuzco being made
ready, the number of whom was one hundred horsemen and thirty peons, he
[the Governor] ordered a captain to go ahead with seventy horsemen and
some peons in order to rebuild the bridges which had been burned, and
the Governor remained behind while he was giving orders for many matters
touching the welfare of the city and Republic which he was to leave
already well established, and in order to await the reply of the
Christians whom he had sent to the coast in order to examine the ports
and set up crosses in them in case some one should come to reconnoitre
the land.



CHAPTER VI

    Description of the bridges which the natives are wont to make in
    order to cross the rivers; and of the toilsome journey which the
    Spaniards had, in going to Cuzco, and of the arrival at Panarai and
    Tarcos.


This captain departed with those who were to follow him on Thursday, and
the Governor with the rest of the troops, and Chilichuchima with his
guard left the following Monday. In the morning they were all ready with
their arms and other necessary things; the journey they were to make
being long, they were to leave all the baggage in Xauxa, it not being
convenient to carry it with them on that journey. The Governor journeyed
two days down the valley along the bank of the Xauxa River, which was
very delectable and peopled in many places, and on the third day he
arrived at a bridge of net-work which is over the said river and which
the Indian soldiers had burned after they crossed over, but already the
captain who had gone ahead had made the natives rebuild it. And in the
places where they build these bridges of net-work, where the rivers are
swollen, this inland country far from the sea being densely populated,
and because almost none of the Indians knows how to swim, because of
which even though the rivers are small and might be forded, they
nevertheless throw out these bridges, and after this fashion; If the two
banks of the river are stony, they raise upon them large walls of stone,
and then they place four [ropes of] pliable reeds two palms or a little
less in thickness, and between them, after the fashion of wattle-work,
they weave green osiers two fingers thick and well intertwined, in such
a way that some are not left more slack than others, and all are well
tied. And upon these they place branches crosswise in such a way that
the water is not seen, and in this way they make the floor of the
bridge. And in the same manner they weave a balustrade of these same
osiers along the side of the bridge so that no one may fall into the
water, of which, in truth, there is no danger, although to one who is
not used to it, the matter of crossing appears a thing of danger
because, the span being long, the bridge bends when one goes over it, so
that one goes continually downward until the middle is reached, and from
there he keeps going up until he has finished crossing to the other
bank, and when the bridge is being crossed, it trembles very much, so
that it goes to the head of him who is not accustomed to it. Ordinarily
they make two bridges close together, so that, as they say, the lords
may cross by one and the common people by another. They keep guards over
them, and the lords of all the land keep them there continuously in
order that if someone should steal gold or silver or anything else from
him or from some other lord of the land, he would not be able to cross.
And those who guard these bridges have their houses nearby, and they
always have in their hands osiers and wattles and cords in order to mend
the bridges if they are injured or even to rebuild them if need were.
The guards who were in charge of this bridge when the Indians who burned
it passed over, hid the materials which they had for mending it, for
otherwise the Indians would have burned them also, and for this reason
they rebuilt it in so short a space of time in order that the Spaniards
might cross over. The Spanish cavalry and the Governor crossed by one of
these bridges, although, on account of its being new and not well made,
they had much trouble because the captain who had gone ahead with
seventy cavalrymen had made many holes in it so that it was half
destroyed. Still, the horses got over without endangering themselves,
although nearly all stumbled because the bridge moved and trembled so,
but, as I have said, the bridge was made in such a way that even though
they were thrown upon their knees, they could not fall into the water.
As soon as all were over, the Governor encamped in some groves near
which ran some streams of beautiful clear water. Later they proceeded
on their journey two leagues along the shore of that river through a
narrow valley on both sides of which were very high mountains, and in
some places, this valley through which the river passes has so little
space that there is not more than a stone's throw from the foot of the
mountain to the river, and in other places, because of the slope of the
mountain, there is but little more. Two leagues of this valley having
been travelled, they came to another bridge, a small one over another
river, over which the troops passed on foot while the horses forded, as
much on account of the bridge being in bad order as on account of the
fact that the water was low at that time. Having crossed the river, he
[the Governor] began to climb a very steep and long mountain all made of
steps of very small stones.[35] Here the horses toiled so much that,
when they had finished going up, the greater part of them had lost their
shoes and worn down the hoofs of all four feet. That mountain, which
lasted for more than half a league, having been overcome, and having
journeyed for a bit in the evening along a slope, the Governor with his
men arrived at a village which the hostile Indians had sacked and
burned, on account of which neither people nor maize was found in it,
nor any other food, and the water was very far off because the Indians
had broken the aqueducts which came to the city, which was a great evil
and of much inconvenience for the Spaniards who, because they had found
the road hard, toilsome and long on that day, needed good lodging. The
next day the Governor set out from there and went to sleep in another
village which, although it was very large and fine and full of houses,
had as little food in it as the last one; and this village is called
Panarai. The Governor wondered greatly with his men at finding here
neither food nor anything else, because this place belonged to one of
the lords who had been with Atabalipa and with the dead lord in the
company of the Christians, and he had come in their company as far as
Xauxa, [where] he said he wished to go ahead in order to prepare in this
land his victuals and other things necessary for the Spaniards. And when
they found here neither him nor his people, it was held to be certain
that the country-side had revolted. And not having had any letter from
the captain who had gone ahead with the seventy horsemen, save which let
them know that he was going right after the hostile Indians, it was
feared that the foe had taken some step whereby he was prevented from
sending any messenger. The Spaniards sought so much, that they found
some maize and ewes, ... and the next day, early, they set out and
arrived at a village called Tarcos, where they met the cacique of the
district and some men who told them of the day on which had passed that
way some Christians who were going to fight with the enemy who had
established their camp in a neighboring settlement. All received this
news with great pleasure, and they found a good reception in that
place, because the cacique had brought to the plaza a large quantity of
maize, fire-wood, ewes, and other things of which the Spaniards had
great need.



CHAPTER VII

    While proceeding on their journey they have news sent by the forty
    Spanish horsemen of the state of the Indian army with which the
    latter had fought victoriously.


On the next day, which was Saturday, All Saints' day, the friar who was
with this company said mass in the morning, according to the custom of
saying it on such a day, and later all set out and journeyed until they
arrived at a full river three leagues beyond, always descending from the
mountains by a rough and long slope. This river, likewise, had a
net-work bridge which, being broken, made it necessary to ford the
stream, and afterwards a very large mountain was ascended which, looked
at from below, seemed impossible of ascent by the very birds of the air,
and still more so by men on horseback toiling over the ground. But the
climb was made less arduous for them by the fact that the road went up
in spirals, and not straight. The greater part, however, was made of
large steps of stone which greatly fatigued the horses and wore down and
injured their hoofs, even though they were led by the bridle. In this
manner a long league was surmounted, and another was traversed by a more
easy road along a declivity, and in the afternoon the Governor with the
Spaniards arrived at a small village of which a part was burned, and in
the other part, which had remained whole, the Spaniards settled. And in
the evening two Indian couriers, sent by the captain who was ahead,
arrived. They brought news, in letters to the Governor, that the captain
had arrived with all speed at the land of Parcos[36] which he had left
behind him, having had news that the [Indian] captains were thereabout
with all the hostile forces; [but] he did not encounter them, and it was
held to be certain that they had withdrawn to Bilcas,[37] and through so
much of the road as he traversed until coming to [a place] within five
leagues of Bilcas, where he spent the night, he marched secretly in
order not to be forestalled by certain spies who were placed a league
from Bilcas. And having news that the enemy were in a town without
having warning of his coming, the captain was delighted, and, having
gone down the rather difficult slope where that place was, at dawn he
entered [the town where some warriors were lodged with few
precautions].[38] The Spanish cavalry began to attack them in the plazas
until so many had been killed or had fled that no one remained; because
there were a few Indian soldiers who had retired to a mountain on one
side of the road who, as soon as the day became bright and they saw the
Spaniards, assembled in squadrons, and came against them crying out
_Ingres_,[39] which name they hold to be very insulting, being that of a
contemned people who live in the hot lands of the sea-coast, and because
that province was cold and the Spaniards wore clothes over their flesh,
[the Indians] called them Ingres and threatened them with slavery as
they were few, not more than forty, and defying them by saying that they
would come down to where they were. The captain, although he knew that
that was a bad place for fighting on horseback, of which position the
Spaniards could little avail themselves there, nevertheless, in order
that the enemy should not think that he would not fight from lack of
spirit, took with him thirty horsemen, leaving the rest to guard the
town, and went down through a cleft[40] in the mountain by a very
painful slope. The enemy boldly awaited them and in the shock of battle
they killed one horse and wounded two others, but finally, all being
dispersed, some fled in one direction and others in another over the
mountain [by] a very rough road where the horses could neither follow
them nor injure them. At this juncture, an [Indian] captain who had fled
from the village, and who knew that they had killed one horse and
wounded two, said "Come, let us turn back and fight with these men
until not one is left alive, for there are but a few of them!" and at
once all returned with more spirit and greater impetuosity than before,
and in this way a sharper battle than the first was fought. At the end,
the Indians fled and the horsemen followed them in all directions as
long as they could. In these two encounters more than six hundred men
were left dead, and it is believed also that Maila, one of their
captains, died, and the Indians affirmed it also, and they, on their
part, when they killed a horse, cut off his head and put it on a lance
which they bore before them like a standard. [The Spanish captain]
likewise informed [his men] that he intended to rest there for three
days out of consideration for the wounded Christians and horses, and
that later they would set out to take, first of all, a bridge of
net-work which was near there, so that the fugitive enemies should not
cross it and go to join with Quizquiz[41] in Cuzco and with the garrison
of troops he had there, which was said to be waiting for the Spaniards
in a bad pass near Cuzco. But, although they found it to be more than
bad, they hoped in God who, in whatever place that battle might be
fought, even in a land all rough and stony, would not permit the Indians
to be able to defend themselves any where, no matter how difficult and
toilsome it might be, nor to attack the Spaniards in any bad pass. And,
having set out from here and having crossed the bridge three leagues
from Cuzco [the captain declared] that he would there await the Governor
as he had informed him by swift messenger Indians of what had occurred.



CHAPTER VIII

    After having suffered various inconveniences, and having passed the
    cities of Bilcas and of Andabailla,[42] and before arriving at
    Airamba,[43] they have letters from the Spaniards in which they ask
    for the aid of thirty cavaliers.


Having received this letter, the Governor and all the Spaniards who were
with him were filled with infinite content over the victory which the
captain had obtained, and at once he sent it, together with another, to
the city of Xauxa, to the treasurer and to the Spaniards who had
remained there in order that they might share in the gladness over the
victory of the captain. And likewise he sent despatches to the captain
and the Spaniards who were with him congratulating them much on the
victory they had won, and begging them and counseling them to be
governed in these matters more by prudence than by confidence in their
own strength, and commanding, at all events, that, having passed the
last bridge, they should await him [the Governor] there so that they
might then enter the city of Cuzco all together. This done, the Governor
set out the following day and went by a rough and tiring road through
rocky mountains and over ascents and descents of stone steps from which
all believed they could only bring their horses with difficulty,
considering the road already traversed and that still to be traversed.
They slept that night in a village on the other side of the river, which
here, as elsewhere, had a bridge of net-work. The horses crossed through
the water and the footsoldiers and the servants of the Spaniards by the
bridge. On the next day they had a good road beside the river where they
encountered many wild animals, deer and antelope; and that day they
arrived at nightfall at some rooms in the vicinity of Bilcas where the
captain who was going ahead had made halt in order to travel by night
and so enter Bilcas without being found out, as he did enter it, and
here was received another letter from him in which he said that he had
left Bilcas two days before, and had come to a river four leagues ahead
which he had forded because the bridge had been burned, and here he had
understood that the captain Narabaliba was fleeing with some twenty
Indians and that he had met two thousand Indians whom the captain of
Cuzco had sent to him as aid who, as soon as they knew of the rout at
Bilcas, turned around and fled with him, endeavouring to join with the
scattered remnants of those who were fleeing, in order to await them
[the Spaniards] in a village called Andabailla,[44] and [the Spanish
captain said] that he was resolved not to stay his course until he
should encounter them. These announcements being understood by the
Governor, he first thought of sending aid to the captain, but later he
did not do so because he considered that if there were to be a battle at
all it would have occurred already and the aid would not arrive in
time, and he determined furthermore not to linger a single day until he
should catch up with him, and in this way he set out for Bilcas which he
entered very early the following day, and on that day he did not wish to
go further. This city of Bilcas[45] is placed on a high mountain and is
a large town and the head of a province. It has a beautiful and fine
fortress; there are many well built houses of stone, and it is half-way
by road from Xauxa to Cuzco. And on the next day the Governor encamped
on the other side of the river, four leagues from Bilcas, and although
the day's march was short, it was nevertheless toilsome because it was
entirely a descent almost all composed of stone steps, and the troops
waded the river with much fatigue because it was very full, and he set
up his camp on the other bank among some groves. Scarcely had the
Governor arrived here, when he received a letter from the captain who
was reconnoitring in which the latter informed him that the enemy had
gone on five leagues and were in waiting on the slope of a mountain in
a land called Curamba,[46] and that there were many warriors there, and
that they had made many preparations and had arranged great quantities
of stones so that the Spaniards would not be able to go up. The
Governor, when he understood this, although the captain did not ask him
for aid, believed that it was necessary now, and he at once ordered the
Marshal D. Diego de Almagro to get ready with thirty light horsemen,
well equipped as to arms and horses, and he did not wish him to take a
single peon with him, because he ordered him [Almagro] not to delay for
anything until he should come up with the captain who was ahead with the
others. And when he [Almagro] had set out, the Governor likewise
started, on the following day, with ten horsemen and the twenty peons
who were guarding Chilichuchima, and he quickened his pace so much that
day that of two days' marches he made one. And just as he was about to
arrive at the village called Andabailla, where he was to sleep, an
Indian came to him on the run to say that on a certain slope of the
mountain, which he pointed out with his finger, there had been
discovered hostile troops of war, on which account, the Governor, armed
as he was and on horseback, went with the Spaniards he had with him to
take the summit of that slope, and he examined the whole of it without
finding the warriors of whom the Indian had spoken, because they were
troops native to the land who were fleeing from the Indians of Quito
because the latter did them very great harm. The Governor and company
having arrived at that village of Andabailla, they supped and spent the
night there. On the next day, they arrived at the village of Airamba
from where the captain had written that he was with the armed troops
waiting for them upon the road.[47]



CHAPTER IX

    Having arrived at a village, they find much silver in plates
    twenty-feet long. Proceeding on their journey, they receive letters
    from the Spaniards relating the brisk and adverse struggle they had
    had against the army of the Indians.


Here were found two dead horses,[48] from which it was suspected that
some misfortune had befallen the captain. But, having entered the
village, they learned, from a letter that arrived before they retired
for the night, that the captain had here encountered some warriors, and
that, in order to gain the mountain, he had gone up a slope where he had
found assembled a great quantity of stone, a sign which showed that they
[the Indians] wished to guard [the pass], and that they were gone in
search of [other] Indians because they had warning that [the Spaniards]
were not far off and that the two horses had died of so many changes
from heat to cold. He [the captain] wrote nothing of the aid which the
Governor had sent to him, because of which it was thought that it had
not yet arrived. The next day the Governor set out from there, and slept
[the next night] by a river whose bridge had been burned by the enemy,
so that it was necessary to ford it, with great fatigue on account of
the fact that the current was very swift and the bottom very stony. On
the next day, they encamped at a town in the houses of which was found
much silver in large slabs twenty feet long, one broad, and one or two
fingers thick. And the Indians who were there related that those slabs
belonged to a great cacique and that one of the lords of Cuzco had won
them and had carried them off thus in plates, together with those of
which the conquered cacique had built a house.[49] The next day, the
Governor set out in order to cross the last bridge, which was almost
three leagues from there. Before he arrived at that river, a messenger
came with a letter from the captain in which he informed him that he had
arrived at the last bridge with great speed in order that the enemy
should not have opportunity to burn it; but that, at the time of his
arrival there, they had finished burning it, and as it was already late,
he did not wish to cross the river that same day, but had gone to camp
in a village which was nearby. The next day, he [the captain] had passed
through the water, which came to the breasts of the horses, and had
proceeded straight along the road to Cuzco which was twelve leagues from
there; and as, on the way, he was informed that, on a neighbouring
mountain [where] forts had been built, all the enemies were hoping that
the next day Quizquiz would come to their aid with reënforcements from
the troops which he had in Cuzco, for this reason he [the captain] had
spurred ahead with all speed together with fifty horsemen,[50] for ten
had been left guarding the baggage and certain gold which had been
found in the rout of Bilcas. And one Saturday, at noon, they had begun
to go up on horseback a slope which lasted well over a league, and,
being wearied by the sharp ascent and by the mid-day heat, which was
very great, they stopped awhile and gave to the horses some maize which
they had because the natives of a village nearby had brought it to them.
Then, proceeding on their journey, the captain, who rode a cross-bow
shot ahead, saw the enemy on the summit of the mountain, which they
entirely covered, and [he saw] that three or four thousand were coming
down in order to pass the point where they [the Spaniards] were. Because
of this, although he called to the Spaniards to put themselves in
battle-array, he could not hope to join them, because the Indians were
already very near and were coming with great rapidity. But with those
who were in readiness, he advanced to give battle [to the Indians], and
the Spaniards who kept coming up mounted the slope of the mountain, some
on one hand, others on the other. They dashed among those of the enemy
who were foremost without waiting for the beginning of the fight, save
for defending themselves against the stones which were hurled upon them,
until they mounted to the summit of the mountain, in which deed they
thought they saw a certain victory to be accomplished. The horses were
so tired that they could not get breath in order to attack with
impetuosity such a multitude of enemies, nor did the latter cease to
inconvenience and harass them continually with the lances stones and
arrows which they hurled at them, so they fatigued all to such an extent
that the riders could hardly keep their horses at the trot or even at
the pace. The Indians, perceiving the weariness of the horses, began to
charge with greater fury, and five Christians, whose horses could not go
up to the summit of the slope, were charged so furiously by so many of
the throng that to two of them it was impossible to alight, and they
were killed upon their horses. The others fought on foot very
valorously, but at length, not being seen by any companions who could
bring them aid, they remained prisoners, and only one was killed without
being able to lay hand upon his sword or to defend himself, the cause of
which was that a good soldier was left dead beside him, the tail of his
horse having been seized which prevented his going ahead with the rest.
They [the Indians] opened the heads of all by means of their battle-axes
and clubs; they wounded eighteen horses and six Christians; but none of
the wounds were dangerous save those of one horse which died of them. It
pleased God Our Lord that the Spaniards should gain a plain which was
near that mountain, and the Indians collected on a hill nearby. The
captain commanded half of his men to take the bridles off their horses
and let them drink in a rivulet that ran there, and then to do the same
for the other half, which was done without being hindered by the
enemies. Then, the captain said to all: "Gentlemen, let us withdraw from
here step by step down this declivity in such a way that the enemy may
think that we are fleeing from them, in order that they may come in
search of us below, for, if we can attract them to this plain, we will
attack them all of a sudden in such a manner that I hope not one of them
will escape from our hands. Our horses are already somewhat tired, and
if we put the enemy to flight, we shall end by gaining the summit of the
mountain." And thus it was that some of the Indians, thinking that the
Spaniards were retreating, came down below, throwing stones at them,
with their slings, and shooting arrows.[51] When this was seen by the
Christians, [they knew] that now was their time, [and] they turned their
horses' heads, and before the Indians could gather together on the
mountain where they were before, some twenty of them were killed. When
this was seen by the others, and when they perceived that there was
little safety in the place where they were, they left that mountain and
retired to another one which was higher. The captain, with his men,
finished climbing the mountain, and there, because it was already night,
he camped with his soldiers. The Indians also camped two cross-bow shots
away, in such a manner that in either camp could be heard the voices in
the other. The captain caused the wounds to be cared for and posted
patrols and sentinels for the night, and he ordered that all the horses
were to remain saddled and bridled until the following day, on which he
was to fight with the Indians. And he tried to cheer his men up and
renew their valor, saying: "that by all means it was necessary to attack
the enemy the following morning without delaying an instant, because he
had news that the captain Quizquiz was coming with great reënforcements,
and by no means should they wait until he joined forces with them." All
showed as much spirits and confidence as if they already had the victory
in their hands, and again the captain comforted them, saying: "he held
the day just passed through to be more perilous than that which awaited
them on the morrow, and that God Our Lord who had delivered them from
danger in the past would grant them victory in the future, and that they
should look to it whether, on the day before, when their horses were so
weary, they had attacked their enemies with disadvantage and had routed
them and driven them from their fortresses, even though their own number
did not exceed fifty, and that of the enemy eight thousand; ought they
not, then, to hope for victory when they were fresh and rested?" With
these and other spirited conversations, that night was passed, and the
Indians were in their own camp, uttering cries and saying: "Wait,
Christians, until dawn, when you are all to die, and we shall take away
from you just as many horses as you have!"[52] and they added insulting
words in their language having determined to enter into combat with the
Christians as soon as it should dawn, believing them and their horses to
be weary on account of the toil of the day before and because they saw
them to be so few in numbers and because they knew that many of the
horses were wounded. In this manner the same thought prevailed on the
one side and on the other, but the Indians firmly believed that the
Christians would not escape from them.[53]



CHAPTER X

    News comes of the victory won by the Spaniards, even to their
    putting the Indian army to flight. They command that a chain be
    placed about the neck of Chilichuchima, holding him to be a traitor.
    They cross the Rimac[54] and all reunite once more at
    Sachisagagna,[55] where they burn Chilichuchima.


This news reached the Governor near the last river, as I have said, and
he, without showing any change in his countenance, communicated it to
the ten horsemen and twenty peons whom he had with him, consoling them
all with good words which he spoke to them, although they were greatly
disturbed in their minds, for they thought that if a small number of
Indians, relatively to the number anticipated, had maltreated the
Christians in such a manner in the first action, they would bring upon
them still greater war on the following day when their horses were
wounded and when the aid of thirty horsemen, which had been sent to
them, had not yet arrived among the Spaniards. But all showed that they
knew how to place their hopes in God, and they arrived at the river
which they crossed in _balsas_, swimming the horses, because the bridge
was burned down. And the river being very full, they delayed in crossing
it the rest of that day and the next one until the hour of siesta when
the Governor, smiling [determined] to set out without waiting for the
Indian allies to cross.[56] [Just then] a Christian was seen coming, and
when all saw him from afar, they judged that the captain with the
horsemen had been routed and that this man was bringing the news in his
flight. But when he had arrived in the presence of the Governor, he gave
great consolation to the minds of all with the news that he brought,
relating that God Our Lord, who never abandons his faithful servants
even in the direst extremities, ordained that while the captain with
the others [of his company] was passing that night cautiously and
encouraging his men for the combat on the morrow, the Marshal arrived
with the reënforcements of thirty horsemen which had been sent, and
these, together with the ten others whom they had left behind, made
forty altogether, and when all perceived this, the first group felt as
much pleasure as if they had resuscitated that day [just lived through],
holding it to be certain that the victory would be theirs on the
following day. When day had come, which was Sunday, they all mounted at
dawn, and, disposed in a wing formation in order to present a better
front, they attacked the rear of the Indians who, during the night, had
determined to attack the Christians, but who, in the morning, seeing so
many soldiers, thought that some aid must have come to them during the
night, on account of which, not having the courage to put on a bold
front, and seeing that the Spaniards were coming up the slope in pursuit
of them, turned their backs and retired from mountain to mountain. The
Spaniards did not follow them because the land was rough, and besides, a
mist arose which was so thick that they could not see one another, and
yet withal, on the slope of a hill, they killed many of the enemy. At
this juncture, a thousand Indians in a squadron commanded by Quizquiz
arrived in aid of the Indians who, seeing the Christians on horseback
and so warlike, judged it time to withdraw to the mountain.[57] At the
same time, the Christians assembled in their [the Indians'] fort, whence
the captain had sent this messenger to the Governor to tell him that he
would await him there until he should arrive. When this news was heard
by the Governor, he rejoiced greatly over the victory which God Our Lord
had given him when he least expected it, and without delaying an instant
he ordered that all should go forward with the dunnage and the remaining
Indians, because, jointly with this news, he had received warning that
in the retreat of this hostile force of soldiers, four thousand men had
split off from the rest, and that therefore he should proceed
cautiously, and should also be very sure that Chilichuchima was
arranging and commanding all this and was giving advice to the enemy as
to what they were to do, and that, on this account, he should bear
himself with caution. When the Governor had finished his day's march, he
had chains put upon Chilichuchima and said to him: "Well you know how I
have always borne myself toward you and how I have always tried [to be
generous with you], making you the captain who should rule all this land
until the son of Atabalipa should come from Quito in order to be made
lord [of it], and although I have had many causes for putting you to
death, I have not wished to do so, believing always that you would mend
your ways. Likewise, I have asked you many times to urge these hostile
Indians, with whom you have influence and friendliness, to calm
themselves and lay down their arms, since, although they had done much
harm and had killed Guaritico[58] who came from Xauxa at my command, I
would pardon them all. But in spite of all these admonitions of mine you
have wished to persist in your evil attitude and intentions, thinking
that the advice which you gave to the hostile captains was powerful
enough to make your wicked design succeed. But now you can see how, with
the aid of our God, we have always routed them, and that it will always
be so in the future, and you may be very sure that they will not be able
to escape nor to return to Quito whence they came, nor will you ever
again see Cuzco[59] because as soon as I have arrived at the place where
this captain is with my soldiers, I shall cause you to be burned alive
because you have known how to keep so ill the friendship which, in the
name of Caesar,[60] my lord, I have agreed upon with you. Have no doubt
that this will be done unless you urge these Indian friends of yours to
lay down their arms and come in peace, as I have asked you to do many
times before." To all these reasonings Chilichuchima listened
attentively without returning a word. But always firm in his obstinacy,
he [at length] replied: "that those captains had not done as he had
ordered them to do because they did not wish to obey him, and, for that
reason he had not remained to make them understand that they must come
in peace," and with such words he excused himself from what was
attributed to him. But the Governor, who already knew of certain of his
dealings, left him with his evil thoughts and did not return to speak to
him upon the matter. Then, having crossed the river in the afternoon,
the Governor went forward with those soldiers and arrived by night in a
village called Rimac[61] a league from that river. And there the Marshal
arrived, with four horsemen, to wait for him, and after they had talked
together, they set out the next day for the camp of the Spaniards where
they arrived in the afternoon, the captain and many others having come
out to meet them, and all rejoiced greatly at seeing themselves all
together again. The Governor gave each one thanks, according to his
merits, for the valour they had shown, and all set out together in the
evening and arrived two leagues further on at a village called
Sachisagagna.[62] The captains informed the Governor all that had
happened, just as I have related it. When they were all lodged in this
village, the captain and the Marshal urged the Governor to do justice on
Chilichuchima, because he ought to know that Chilichuchima advised the
enemy of all that the Christians did, and that he it was who had made
the Indians come out of the mountains of Bilcas, exhorting them to come
and fight with the Christians who were few and who, with their horses,
could not climb those mountains save step by step and on foot, and
giving them, at the same time, a thousand other counsels as to where
they were to wait and what they were to do, like a man who had seen
those places and who knew the skill of the Christians with whom he had
lived so long a time. Informed of all these things, the Governor gave
orders that he was to be burned alive in the middle of the plaza, and
so it was done, for his chiefs and most familiar friends were those who
were quickest in setting fire to him.[63] The religious[64] tried to
persuade him to become a Christian, saying to him that those who were
baptized and who believed with true faith in our saviour Jesus Christ
went to glory in paradise and that those who did not believe in him went
to hell and its tortures. He made him understand this by means of an
interpreter. But he [Chilichuchima] did not wish to be a Christian,
saying that he did not know what sort of thing this law was, and he
began to invoke Paccamaca[65] and captain Quizquiz that they might come
to his aid. This Paccamaca the Indians have as their God and they offer
him much gold and silver, and it is a well-known thing that the demon is
in that idol and speaks with those who come to ask him something.[66]
And of this matter I have spoken at length in the relation which was
sent to H. M. from Caxamalca. In this way this captain paid for the
cruelties which he committed in the conquests of Atabalipa, and for the
evils which he plotted to the hurt of the Spaniards and in disservice of
H. M. All the people of the country rejoiced infinitely at his death,
because he was very much abhorred by all who knew what a cruel man he
was.[67]



CHAPTER XI

    A son of the cacique Guainacaba[68] visits them; they agree upon
    friendship with him, and he tells them of the movements of the army
    of hostile Indians with which they have some encounters before
    entering Cuzco, where they establish as lord the son of
    Guainacaba.[69]


Here the Spaniards rested that night, having set good guards, because
they were given to understand that Quizquiz was close by with all his
men. And on the following morning, came to visit the Governor a son of
Guainacaba and a brother of the dead cacique Atabalipa,[70] and the
greatest and most important lord who was then in that land; and he had
ever been a fugitive so that those of Quito might not kill him. This man
said to the Governor that he would aid him to the extent of his power in
order to drive from that land all those of Quito, who were his enemies
and who hated him and did not wish to be the subjects of a foreign
people. This man was the man to whom, by law, came all that province and
whom all the caciques of it wished for their lord. When he came to see
the Governor, he came through the mountains, avoiding the roads for fear
of those of Quito, and the Governor received him with great gladness and
replied to him: "Much does what you say please me, as does also finding
you with so good a desire to expel these men of Quito, and you must know
that I have come from Xauxa for no other purpose than to prevent them
from doing you harm and free you from slavery to them, and you can
believe that I have not come for my own benefit because I was in Xauxa,
sure of having war with them and I had an excuse for not making this
long and difficult journey. But knowing the injuries they were doing to
you, I wanted to come to rectify and undo them, as the Emperor my lord
commanded me to do. And so, you may be sure that I will do in your favor
all that seems suitable for me to do. And I will do the same to
liberate from this tyranny the people of Cuzco." The Governor made him
all these promises in order to please him so that he might continue to
give news of how affairs were going, and that cacique remained
marvellously satisfied, as did also those who had come with him. And he
[Manco] replied: "Henceforth I shall give you exact information
concerning all that they of Quito do in order that they may not
inconvenience you." And in this manner he took leave of the Governor,
saying: "I am going to fish because I know that tomorrow the Christians
do not eat flesh, and I shall encounter this messenger who tells me that
Quizquiz is going with his men to burn Cuzco and that he is now near at
hand, and I have wished to warn you of it in order that you may fix upon
a remedy." The Governor at once placed all the soldiers upon the alert,
and, although it was already noon, when he knew the needs of the
situation, he did not wish to delay even to eat, but journeyed with all
the Spaniards straight toward Cuzco, which was four leagues from that
place, with the intention of establishing his camp near the city so as
to enter it early the next day. And when he had travelled two leagues,
he saw rise up in the distance a great smoke, and when he asked some
Indians the cause of it, they told him that a squadron of the men of
Quizquiz had come down a mountain and set fire [word missing]. Two
captains went ahead with some forty horsemen to see if they could catch
up with this squadron, which speedily joined with the men of Quizquiz
and the other captains who were on a slope a league in front of Cuzco
waiting for the Christians in a pass close to the road. Seen by the
captains and Spaniards, they [the Indians] could not avoid an encounter
with them, although the Governor had them made to understand that they
[the Spaniards] would wait for the rest to join them, which they would
have done, were it not for the fact that the Indians incited each other
with much spirit to encounter them. And before they [the Spaniards]
could be attacked, they fell upon them on the skirt of a hill, and in a
short time they routed them, forcing them to flee to the mountain and
killing two hundred of them. Another squad of cavalry crossed over
another slope of the mountain where were two or three thousand Indians
who, not having the pluck to wait for them, threw down their lances in
order to be able to run the better, and fled headlong. And after those
first two squads broke and fled, they [the Spaniards] made them flee to
the heights; and [at the same time] two Spanish light horsemen saw
certain Indians return down the slope, and they set themselves to
skirmish with them. They perceived that they were in great danger, but
they were helped, and the horse of one of them was killed, from which
the Indians derived so much encouragement that they wounded four or five
horses and a Christian, and they made them retreat as far as the plain.
The Indians who, until then, had not seen the Christians retire, thought
that they were doing it in order to attract them to the plain and there
attack them as they had done at Bilcas, and they said so among
themselves and were cautious, not wishing to go down and follow them. By
this time the Governor had arrived with the [rest of] the Spaniards and,
as it was already late, they set up their camp on a plain, and the
Indians maintained themselves an arquebuse-shot away on a slope until
mid-night, yelling, and the Spaniards spent all that night with their
horses saddled and bridled. And the next day, at the first ray of dawn,
the Governor arranged the troops, horse and foot, and he took the road
to Cuzco, with good understanding and caution, believing that the enemy
would come to attack him on the road, but none of them appeared. In this
way the Governor and his troops entered that great city of Cuzco without
any other resistance or battle on Friday, at the hour of high mass, on
the fifteenth day of the month of November of the year of the birth of
our Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ MDXXXIII. The Governor caused all
the Christians to lodge in the dwellings around the plaza of the city,
and he ordered that all should come forth with their horses to the plaza
and sleep in their tents, until it could be seen whether the enemy were
coming to attack them. This order was continued and observed for a
month. On another day, the Governor created as lord that son of
Guainacaba, for he was young, prudent and alive and the most important
of all those who were there at that time, and was the one to whom that
lordship came by law. And he did it so soon in order that the lords and
caciques should not go away to their own lands which were divers
provinces, and some very far away, and so that the natives should not
join those of Quito, but should have a separate lord of their own whom
they might reverence and obey and not organize themselves into bands. So
he commanded all the caciques to obey him [Manco] as their lord and to
do all that he should order them to do.[71]



CHAPTER XII

    The new cacique[72] goes with an army to drive Quizquiz from the
    state of Quito. He has some encounters with the Indians, and,
    because of the roughness of the roads, they return, and they later
    go thither again with a company of Spaniards, and before they set
    out, the cacique pays his obedience to the emperor.


As soon as this was done, he [the Governor] gave orders to the new
cacique to assemble many warriors in order to go and vanquish Quizquiz
and drive from the land those of Quito, and he [the Governor] said to
the Inca that it was not regular that, when he was lord, another should
remain in his land against his will, and [the Governor] said many other
words to him upon this subject in the presence of all in order that they
might see the favor which he did him [Manco] and the fondness which he
showed him, and this not for the sake of advantages that might result
from it, but for his own [Manco's] sake.[73] The cacique had great
pleasure in receiving this order, and in the space of four days he
assembled more than five thousand Indians, all in readiness with their
arms, and the Governor sent with them a captain of his own and fifty
cavalrymen; he himself remained guarding the city with the rest of the
troops. When ten days had gone by, the captain returned and related to
the Governor what had happened, saying that at nightfall he had arrived
with his troops at the camp of Quizquiz five leagues from there, because
he had gone by a roundabout road through which the cacique guided
him.[74] But, before arriving at enemy's camp, he encountered two
hundred Indians posted in a hollow, and because the land was rough he
was not able to take their fort away from them and to overpower them so
that they could not give notice of his coming, which they did do. But,
although this company [of Indians] was in a strong place, it was not so
bold as to wait for his attack and it withdrew to the other side of a
bridge to cross which was impossible [for the Spaniards] because, from a
mountain which dominated it, to which the Indians had retired, they
hurled so many stones that no one was permitted to cross, and, because
the land was the roughest and most inaccessible that had been seen, they
[the Spaniards] turned back. [The captain] said that two hundred Indians
had been killed, and that the cacique was much pleased at what [the
captain] had done, and, on their return to the city had guided them
through another and shorter road on which, in many places, the captain
found great quantities of stones piled up for defense against the
Christians, and he found, among other passes, one so bad and difficult
that he, with all his troops, suffered great trials and could not follow
it further. At that place it became apparent that the cacique had true,
and not feigned, friendship for the Governor and Christians, for he led
them out of that road from which not one Spaniard could have escaped
[alone]. [The captain] said that after he left the city, he did not go
over as much as a cross-bow shot of flat land, and that all the country
was mountainous, stony and very difficult to traverse and [he added]
that if it had not been for the fact that it was the first time that the
cacique was travelling with him and might impute it to fear, he would
have turned back. The Governor would have liked him to follow the enemy
until he drove them from the place where they were, but when he heard
the nature of the place, he remained content with what had been done.
The cacique said that he had sent his soldiers after the enemy, and that
he thought they would do them some damage; and accordingly within four
days news came that they had killed a thousand Indians. The Governor
once more charged the cacique to cause more warriors to be assembled,
and he himself wished to send with them some of his cavalry in order
that they might not desist until they had driven the enemy from the
land. When he returned from [the first] trip, the cacique went to fast
in a house which was on a mountain, a dwelling which his father had
built in another day; there he stayed three days, after which he came to
the plaza where the men of that land gave him obedience according to
their usage, recognizing him as their lord and offering him the white
plume, just as they had to the cacique Atabalipa in Caxamalcha. When
this was done, he caused all the caciques and lords who were there to
assemble, and, having spoken to them concerning the harm that the men of
Quito were doing in his land and about the good that would result to all
if a stop were put to it, he commanded them to call and prepare warriors
who should go against those of Quito and drive them from the place in
which they had posted themselves. This the captains did at once, and
they so managed to raise troops that, in the period of eight days, ten
thousand warriors were in that city, all, picked men, and the Governor
caused to be prepared fifty light horsemen with a captain in order that
they might set out on the last day of the feast of the Nativity. The
Governor, before that journey was made, wishing to re-affirm peace and
friendship with that cacique and his people, when mass had been said on
Christmas day by the religious,[75] went out to the plaza with many of
the soldiers of his company, and into the presence of the cacique and of
the lords of the land and of the warriors who were seated along with his
Spaniards, the cacique on a stool and his men on the ground around him.
The Governor made them an address, as he was wont to do on such
occasions, and by me, his secretary and the scrivener of the army, was
read the demand and requirement which H. M. had sent, and its contents
were declared to them by an interpreter; all understood it and replied
[in a friendly manner]. It was required of them that they should be and
should call themselves vassals of H. M., and the Governor received
[their obedience] with the same ceremony as was used the other time,
namely, of twice raising the royal standard, and in testimony [of the
friendship] the Governor embraced them to the sound of trumpets,
observing other solemnities which I do not write in order to avoid
prolixity. This done, the cacique stood up and, in a vase of gold, gave
drink to the Governor and the Spaniards with his own hands, and then all
went off to eat, it being already evening.



CHAPTER XIII

    They suspect that the cacique wishes to rebel. It turns out to be
    unfounded. Many Spaniards go with him and twenty thousand Indians
    against Quizquiz, and of what happens to them they give news in a
    letter to the Governor.


And when the Spanish captain with the Indians and the cacique were about
to depart within two days in order to go against the enemy ...[76] the
Governor was informed by some Spaniards, some Indian friends and some
allied natives of the country that among some of the cacique's chief
men, it was being talked of that they should join with the warriors of
Quito, and they [the informers] accused him of other things. Because of
this, there arose some suspicion, and, in order to make sure as to
whether the friendship of the cacique for the Christians who loved him
so was faithful and true, wishing to know truth of the matter, [the
Governor] caused the cacique and some of his chief men to be called, on
the next day, to his room. And he told them what was being said about
them; after investigation had been made and torture had been given to
some Indians, it came out that the cacique and the chiefs were without
any blame, and it was certified that, neither by word nor deed, had they
done anything to the hurt of the Spaniards, but that two chiefs had said
that because their ancestors had never been subject to anyone neither
they nor the cacique ought to submit themselves [to the Spaniards]. But
notwithstanding this, by what was known then and afterwards, it was
believed that the Indians always loved the Spaniards and that their
friendship with them was not feigned.[77] The troops did not set out on
their journey because the rigor of winter [was at its height] and it
rained a great deal every day, so it was determined to allow the height
of the rainy season go by, principally because of the fact that many
bridges had been ill-treated and broken, to mend which was essential.
When the season in which the rains ceased arrived, the Governor had the
fifty cavalrymen, the cacique the men he had and make ready. All of
these, with the captain whom he gave them, put themselves on the march
for Xauxa by way of the city of Bilcas,[78] where, it was understood,
the enemy were because the roads were cut up by the many winter rains
and the rivers were swollen; although there was no bridge over many of
them, the Spaniards crossed on their horses with great trouble, and one
of them was drowned. Arrived by [long] marches at the river which is
four leagues from Bilcas, it was learned that the enemy had gone on to
Xauxa. And the river being swollen and furious, and the bridge burned,
it was necessary for them to stop and build it anew, for, without it, it
would have been impossible to cross the river, either in those boats
which are called _balsas_ or by swimming or in any other way. Twenty
days the camp was here in order to mend the bridge, for the officers
[maestros] had much to do, because the water was high and kept breaking
down the osier ropes which were put in place. And if the cacique had not
had so great a number of men to build the bridge and to cross over by it
and pull over the ropes of osiers, it would not have been possible to
build it. But having twenty-four thousand warriors, and by crossing [the
stream] again and again to attempt [to set in place the ropes] making
use of cords and _balsas_, at last they succeeded in placing the osier
ropes and when they had been passed across [the river], the bridge was
built in a very short space of time. [It was] so good and well built
that another like it is not to be found in that land, for it is three
hundred and seventy-odd feet long, and broad enough to allow two horses
to cross at once without any risk. Then, having crossed that bridge and
having arrived at Bilcas, the Spaniards found quarters in the city, from
which they sent to the Governor a report on how affairs were
progressing. Here the camp stopped for some days, resting, in order
that they might have news of the place in which the enemy were, of which
they learned no more than that they had set out for Xauxa, and that they
were thinking of attacking the Spaniards who had remained there as
garrison. When he learned this, the captain at once set out with the
Spaniards to aid [the garrison], taking with him a brother of the
cacique and four thousand warriors. The cacique returned to Cuzco, and
the captain sent the governor a letter which his lieutenant wrote from
Xauxa in great haste, and which was of the following tenor: "When your
excellency drove the enemy from Cuzco, they rallied and came to Xauxa,
and before they arrived, it was learned by our men that they were coming
in great force, because, from all the places of the region, they were
drawing as many men as they could, as much for warriors as to carry the
supplies and baggage; when this was learned by the treasurer Alfonso [in
Xauxa], he sent four light horsemen to a bridge which is twelve leagues
from the city of Xauxa where the enemy were on the other side, in a very
important province. When they had returned, the treasurer used his best
efforts, as much in guarding the city and in treating well the caciques
who were there with him as in informing himself stealthily of all the
doings of the enemy. And the greatest suspicions which he had were of
the Indians who were in the town and in the region and who were very
numerous, because almost all were in agreement with the enemy to come
and attack the Spaniards on four sides. With this agreement, the Indians
of Quito crossed [the bridge before mentioned] with the intention that a
captain with five hundred of their men should come from the direction of
a [certain] mountain and cross a river which is a quarter of a league
from the city and place himself on the highest part of the mountain
[near Xauxa] in order to assault the city on the day agreed upon between
them. The captain Quizquiz and Incurabaliba,[79] who were their chief
leaders, were to come by the plains with a greater force of warriors.
This was speedily learned from an Indian to whom torture was given. The
captain who was to cross the river and attack the city from the mountain
travelled rapidly and arrived a day before the rest of the warriors. And
one morning at dawn news came to the city of how many enemies had
crossed the bridge, from which was born a great disaffection among the
natives of Xauxa who [formerly] served the Christians loyally, from
which it was supposed that the whole land had risen in arms, as has been
said. First of all, the treasurer arranged that all the gold of H. M.
and of the men which was in the city should be placed in a large house,
and he set a guard of the feeblest and sickest Spaniards, ordering that
the rest should be prepared to fight; and he ordered ten light horsemen
to go out to see how large a number of the enemy had crossed the river
in order to take the mountain, and he himself, with the rest of the
soldiers, waited on the plaza in case the greater number of the enemy
should come by way of the plain. The Spanish scouts attacked the Indians
who had crossed the bridge; they retired, and the Spaniards had to cross
the bridge after them some peon cross-bowmen whom the treasurer had sent
them, so that the Indians turned and fled with great loss. The great
blow of the others, who came by the plain, did not take place at the
time agreed upon with the others for assaulting the city, and in waiting
for it, they lost time. That night and the [following] day the city was
vigilant, and the soldiers were always armed and their horses saddled,
all being together in the plaza, thinking that on the following night
the Indians would come to attack the city and burn it, as it was said
that they intended to do. When [the first] two quarters of the night
were passed, seeing that the enemy did not appear, the treasurer took
with him a light-armed horseman and went to see in what place the enemy
had camped and how many of them had approached the city, [for the
Indians who gave news of all this did not know where they were, and
likewise because the enemy took roads of which no one could give
information], with the result that at daybreak the treasurer found
himself four leagues from the city, and, having seen the place where the
Indians were and the nature of the site, he returned to the city at
which he arrived a little after noon. When it was seen by the hostile
Indians that the Spaniards had discovered them, they were in great fear,
and got up from that site and went towards the city, and in the night
they came and took up a position a quarter of a league from the city
beside a small river which entered the large one. When this was known by
the Spaniards, they spent that night with the greatest caution, and on
the following day, after hearing mass, the treasurer took twenty light
horse and twenty peons with two thousand friendly Indians, leaving as
many more Spanish cavalry and some foot soldiers in the city with the
understanding that they were to give a signal whenever the enemy should
attack them so that the other [Spaniards] might come to aid them. Having
gone out from the city with the lieutenant, the Spaniards saw that the
Indians of Quito had crossed the little river with their squadrons in
which there might be some six thousand of them, and, seeing the
Spaniards, they turned and crossed to the other bank. Then, the
treasurer and the Spaniards perceiving that if they did not attack the
Indians that day, the following night the latter would come to sack and
set fire to the city, so that there would be greater trouble if night
was awaited, he [the treasurer] determined to cross the river and fight
with the enemy. A sharp skirmish was held [on the other side], as much
with cross-bows and arrows as with stones, and the treasurer, who was
going in advance of the rest down the stream, received a stone on the
crown of his head which threw him from his horse into the midst of the
river, and, stunned, he was borne along quite a distance, so that he
would have been drowned had not some Spanish cross-bowmen who were
there helped him and pulled him from the water with much trouble. [The
Indians] also gave his horse [a blow] in the leg which broke it, and he
died soon. From this the Spaniards drew great animosity, and they
hastened to cross the river. Seeing their determination the Indians
withdrew, fleeing to a mountain where some hundred of them died. The
horsemen followed them through the mountains more than a league and a
half, and [finally], because they withdrew to the strongest position of
the mountain, where the horses could not go up, [the Spaniards] went
back to the city. And, soon perceiving that the Indians did not venture
forth from that fortress [the Spaniards] determined to return once more
against them, and twenty Spaniards with more than three thousand Indian
friends attacked them on that mountain where they were fortified and
killed many, driving them from that fortress and pursuing them more than
three leagues, killing many neighboring caciques who were in their
favor. With this victory the Indian friends were as much pleased as if
they alone had won it. The Indians of Quito re-assembled once more in a
place called Tarma five leagues from Xauxa, whence, likewise, they were
driven because they did much harm in the neighboring lands."



CHAPTER XIV

    Of the great quantity of gold and silver which they caused to be
    smelted from the figures of gold which the Indians adored. Of the
    foundation of the city of Cuzco where a settlement of Spaniards was
    established, and of the order which was set up there.


When this good news was learned by the Governor, he had it published at
once, and because of it the Spaniards were filled with content and gave
infinite thanks to God for having shown himself favorable in everything
to this enterprise. Then the Governor wrote and sent couriers to the
city of Xauxa, giving to all his congratulations and thanking them for
the valor they had shown, and especially his lieutenant, asking him to
give him information of all that took place in the future. And in the
meanwhile, the Governor hastened matters for setting out thence, leaving
affairs provided for in the city, founding a colony, and peopling
plentifully the said city. He caused all the gold which had been
collected to be melted, which was in small pieces, an operation quickly
performed by Indians skilled in the process. And when the sum total was
weighed, it was found to contain five hundred and eighty thousand, two
hundred-odd pesos of good gold. The fifth for H. M. was taken out, and
it was one hundred and sixteen thousand, and seventy-odd pesos of good
gold. And the same smelting was performed for the silver, which was
found to contain two hundred and fifteen thousand marks, a little more
or less, and of them one hundred and seventy thousand or so were fine
silver in vessels and plates, pure and good, and the rest was not so
because it was in plates and pieces mixed with other metals from which,
according, the silver was extracted. And from all this, likewise, was
taken the fifth of H. M. Truly it was a thing worthy to be seen, this
house where the melting took place, all full of so much gold in plates
of eight and ten pounds each, and in vessels, and vases and pieces of
various forms with which the lords of that land were served, and among
other very sightly things were four sheep[80] in fine gold and very
large, and ten or twelve figures of women of the size of the women of
that land, all of fine gold and as beautiful and well-made as if they
were alive. These they held in as much veneration as if they had been
the rulers of all the world, and alive [as well], and they dressed them
in beautiful and very fine clothing, and they adored them as Goddesses,
and gave them food and talked with them as if they were women of
flesh.[81] These went to form a part of the fifth of H. M. There were,
besides, other odd silver objects of like form. The seeing of great
vases and pieces of burnished silver was certainly a matter for great
satisfaction. The Governor divided and distributed all this treasure
among all the Spaniards who were at Cuzco and those who remained in the
city of Xauxa, giving to each one as much good silver, and as much
impure, together with as much gold [as he deserved], and to each man who
had a horse he gave according to the man's merit and that of the horse
and in accordance with the services he had done; and to the peons he did
the same according to what was posted up to his credit in the book of
distributions, which was kept [for this purpose]. All this was completed
within eight days, and at the end of as many more, the Governor set out
from here, leaving the city settled in the manner which has been told.
In the month of March, 1534, the Governor ordered that the greater part
of the Spaniards he had with him should be assembled in this city, and
he made an act of foundation and settlement of the town, saying that he
placed it and founded it in his own authority[82] and he took possession
of it in the middle of the plaza. And as a sign of the foundation and of
the commencement of building and founding the colony, he held certain
ceremonies in accordance with the act which was drawn up, which I, the
scrivener, read in a loud voice in the presence of all. And the name of
the city was agreed upon, "the very noble and great city of Cuzco." And,
continuing the settlement, he appointed the site[83] for the church
which was to be built, its boundaries, limits, and jurisdiction, and
immediately afterward he proclaimed that all who might come to settle
here would be received as citizens, and many came in the next three
years.[84] From among them all they chose the persons most fitted for
undertaking the charge of governing public affairs, and he [the
Governor] appointed his lieutenant, alcaldes and ordinary regidores and
other public officials, all of whom he chose in the name of H. M. and he
gave them the powers to exercise their offices. This done, the Governor,
with the consent and advice of the religious whom he had with him and of
H. M.'s paymaster who was then with him, with whose assistance he looked
over and considered the circumstances of the citizens until as many [had
been chosen] as H. M. had arranged should take part in the
_repartimiento_ of the natives; in the meanwhile a certain number of
them [Indians] was assigned to all the Spaniards who were to remain, in
order that they might instruct them in the things of our holy catholic
faith. And there set aside and given to the service of H. M. twelve
thousand-odd married Indians in the province of the Collao in the middle
thereof, near the mines, in order that they might take out gold for H.
M. from which, it is understood, there will be great profits,
considering the great wealth of the mines which are there, of which
matters lengthy mention is made in the book of the foundation of this
colony and in the register of the deposit which was made by the
neighbouring Indians. And the approving, confirming or amending of these
arrangements was left to the will of H. M. according as should seem best
to suit his royal service.



CHAPTER XV

    The Governor sets out with the cacique for Xauxa, and they receive
    news of the army of Quito, and of certain ships which some Spaniards
    who went to the city of San Miguel saw on those coasts.


When these things were done, the Governor set out for Xauxa, taking the
cacique with him, and the citizens remained guarding the city
[according] to orders which the Governor left them so that they might
govern themselves until he should command something else. Journeying by
forced marches, on the day of Easter, he found himself on the Bilcas
river, where he learned from letters and notices from Xauxa, that the
warriors of Quito, after they were routed and driven from their last
positions by the captain from Cuzco, had withdrawn and fortified
themselves forty leagues from Xauxa on the Caxamalcha road in a bad
pass in the immediate vicinity of the road, and had built their walls to
prevent the [possibility of] the horses [crossing] the pass. [These
walls had] some very narrow gates in them, and a street by which to
mount a high boulder where the captain and the warriors lived and which
had no other entrance than this one by way of this fort that they had
built with these very narrow doors; [and the Governor learned] that they
were planning to await aid here, because it was known that the son of
Atabalipa was coming with many warriors. This news the Governor
communicated to the cacique who at once sent off couriers to the city of
Cuzco in order to cause warriors to come who should not exceed two
thousand in number, but who were to be the best there were in all that
province, because the Governor told him that it would be better were
they few and good than if they were many and unserviceable, because the
many would destroy the food in the land through which they were to pass
without necessity or profit. At the same time the Governor wrote to the
lieutenant and corregidor of Cuzco that he should aid the captains of
the cacique and see to it that the warriors came soon. On the second day
after Easter, the Governor set out from this place, and, by forced
marches, arrived in Xauxa, where he learned the whole of what had passed
there in his absence, and especially what those of Quito had done, and,
in particular, they told him that after the enemy was put to flight from
the environs of Xauxa, they had retired twenty or thirty leagues from
there into the mountains, and that, according to the captain who went
out against them with the brother of the cacique and four thousand men,
they arrived within sight of them [the Indians], and that, after a rest
of a few days, they went to attack them and routed them and drove them
from that place with much trouble and great danger. When they [the
Spanish force] had returned to Xauxa, the Marshal Don Diego de Almagro
who, when the captain and Spaniards came from Cuzco, had come with them
by order of the Governor to inspect the Indians round about in order to
see and know the state of things in that city and among its citizens,
went out to visit the caciques and lords of the region of Chincha[85]
and Pachacama, and the others who had their lands and lived on the
sea-coast.

In this state the Governor found affairs when arrived at Xauxa, and,
having rested from the long journey without arranging anything in the
first few days, he waited for the Indians[86] [for whom he had sent] in
order to go and drive the enemy from the fort which they had made and
finish with them, when there came to him one of two Spanish messengers
who had gone to the city of San Miguel to see how things were going
there, and who spoke to him in this way: "My lord, when I had set out
from here by order of the Marshal, I set myself to journey with all
speed along the plains and the shore of the sea, not without trouble,
because many of the caciques who are along that road were in revolt.
But some who were friendly provided us with whatever we needed, and they
informed us that some ships had been seen along the sea-coast, which I
myself saw one day, and, considering that I was sent to the city of San
Miguel to find out whether the ships of the Adelantado Alvarado or of
other people had arrived, I went [rapidly] along the coast for nine days
and nights, sometimes in sight of them, believing that they would take
port and that I would thus learn who they were. But even with all this
speed and trouble I could not do what I wished, on which account I made
up my mind to continue my journey to the city of San Miguel, and, having
crossed to the other side of the large river, I was informed by the
Indians of the country that Christians were coming along that road, and
I, thinking that without doubt it would prove to be the troops of the
Adelantado Alvarado, my companion and I went on our guard in order not
to encounter them _impromptu_.[87] And when they arrived at Motupe, I
learned that they were near that place [where I was], and I waited for
the night. At dawn I sent my companion to speak with them, and to see
what people they were, and I gave him certain tokens by which he could
inform me, and finally, I learned that they were soldiers who were
coming to the conquest of these kingdoms. Because of this, I went to
them and spoke at length, telling them the errand I was on, and they, in
return, informed me that they had come to the city of San Miguel in
certain ships from Panama and were two hundred and fifty in number. When
they had arrived at San Miguel, the captain who was in that city with
two hundred men, seventy of them cavalry, had gone away to the provinces
of Quito in order to conquer them, and they, some thirty persons with
their horses, knowing the conquests which were being made in Cuzco, and
the lack of men there was there, did not wish to go with the captain to
those provinces of Quito and so were coming to Xauxa. And we gave them
news of all that had happened here and of the war which we had had with
the Indians of Quito. And in order to bring more quickly the news of
what had happened there I returned from that place without going to the
city of San Miguel, knowing for certain that the captain would have
departed with his men and would already be near Cossibamba.[88] Turning
back on my road, I met, on Easter, the Marshal D. Diego de Almagro near
Cena[89] which is where the road to Caxamalca branches off, and to him I
related how things were going and how some suspected that the captain
who was going to Quito was not going with good intentions. As soon as
the Marshal heard this, he set off in order to catch up with the captain
who was taking these soldiers on the march to Quito, in order to detain
him until together they could arrange the necessary provisions for this
war. This, then, sir, is what has happened to me on this journey, during
which I tried to get information about those ships, but could not learn
anything else about them. Of Alvarado nothing more is known than that he
has already embarked on these shores or has passed further on, as
letters inform me."



CHAPTER XVI

    They build a church in the city of Xauxa, and send some three
    thousand Indians with some Spaniards against the hostile Indians.
    They have news of the arrival of many Spaniards and horses, on which
    account they send soldiers to the province of Quito. A Relation of
    the quality and people of the land from Tumbez to Chincha, and of
    the province of Collao and Condisuyo.[90]


The Governor received this messenger, read the letters which he brought,
and asked him many other things, and, in order to arrange all that
seemed suitable in this business, he called all the officials of H. M.
After they had discussed the journey of that captain to Quito and how
the Marshal would already have reasoned with him, according to the
report brought by that messenger, permission was given [to the Governor]
that he should send one of his lieutenants with sufficient powers for
the task in hand. And when his letters to the city of San Miguel and to
the Marshal, in which he told them what was to be done, were written, he
sent off with them three Christians, in order that the letters might go
more quickly and safely, ordering the men to hasten with all speed upon
the road and keep advising him of what they learned. After this had been
arranged, he [Pizarro] chose the place in which the church was to be
erected in that city of Xauxa. This task he commanded to be done by the
caciques of the district, and it was built with its great doors of
stone.[91] In the meanwhile, there arrived the four thousand Indian
warriors whom the cacique had called from Cuzco, and the Governor caused
to be made ready fifty Spanish cavalrymen and thirty peons to go [with
the Indians] in order to drive the enemy from the pass where they were,
and they set out with the cacique and his soldiers, who loved the
Spaniards better every day.[92] The Governor ordered the captain of
these Spaniards to pursue the enemy as far as Guanaco[93] and as far
beyond as he believed necessary, and that he should keep him informed
continually, by letters and messengers of what went on. After this, the
Governor received news of the ships on the feast of the Holy Ghost, and
at the same time, he received a letter from San Miguel which two
Spaniards brought him, and he learned how the ships, because of bad
weather, had remained seventy leagues from Paccacama[94] without being
able to go further, and how the Adelantado de Alvarado had gone up to
Puerto Viejo three months before with four hundred men [on foot] and one
hundred and fifty cavalry[95] and with them he entered the interior in
the direction of Quito, believing that he would arrive there at the same
time that the Marshal Don Diego de Almagro would enter those provinces
from the other side. As a result of all this information concerning the
justice and government of the city of S. Miguel and of other places, the
Governor entered upon the control of it [himself]. And, in order to
mend matters, with the consent of the officials, he sent his messengers
in a brigantine by sea, and with them he sent orders to the Marshal
that, in the name of H. M., he should lend him [Pizarro] aid, and should
conquer, pacify and settle those provinces of Quito with the troops he
had with him and with those who were in readiness in the city of San
Miguel. At the same time, he arranged other matters in this connection,
so that Alvarado should do no harm in the land, and because H. M. so
desired that it should be, and likewise he determined that, on the
arrival of the ships, he would send a report to H. M. of all that had
taken place on that venture up to that very hour, so that he [H. M.]
might be informed of all and might provide in every instance what he
held to be the best for his royal service. This is the state of the
affairs of war and of other matters in this land: and of the quality of
it I shall speak briefly because a relation of it was sent from
Caxamalca. This land, from Tumbez to Chincha has [a width of some] ten
leagues, in some places more, in others less; it is a broad, flat, sandy
land in which no grass or herbs grow and where it rains but little; it
is [in places] fertile in maize and fruits because the people sow and
irrigate their farms with water from the rivers that come down from the
mountains. The houses which the laborers use are made of rushes and
branches, because, when it does not rain, it is very hot, and few of the
houses have roofs.[96] They are a wretched folk, and many of them are
blind on account of the great amount of sand that there is. They are
poor in gold and silver, and what they have is because those who live in
the sierra exchange it for goods. All the land beside the sea is of this
description as far as Chincha, and even fifty leagues beyond there. They
dress in cotton [bambaso] and eat maize both cooked and raw, and
half-raw meat. At the end of the plains which are called Ingres are some
very high mountains which extend from the city of San Miguel as far as
Xauxa, and which may well be one hundred and fifty leagues long, but
have little breadth. It is a very high and rugged land of mountains and
many rivers; there are no forests save some trees in places where there
is always a thick mist. It is very cold because there is a snow-capped
mountain range which extends from Caxamalca to Xauxa and on which there
is snow all the year through. The people who live there are much more
advanced than the others, because they are very polished and warlike and
of good dispositions. They are very rich in gold and silver because they
get it from many places in the mountains. None of the lords who have
governed these provinces have ever been able to make any use of these
coast-people, as they are such a wretched and poor folk, as I have said,
that they are fit to be used for nothing else than to carry fish and
fruits [up into the highlands], for as soon as they come into the
mountainous regions, their own land being very hot, they sicken for the
most part; and the same thing happens to those who inhabit the
mountains if they go down into the hot country. Those who dwell on the
other side of the land, beyond the summits of the mountains, are like
savages who have no houses nor any maize save a little; they have very
great forests and maintain themselves almost entirely on the fruit of
the trees; they have no domicile, nor fixed settlements that are known;
there are very great rivers, and the land is so useless that it paid all
its tribute to the lords in parrot feathers.[97]

The mountainous region being the chief part of the country, and being so
narrow, as well as being torn by the wars that have been there,
settlements of Christians cannot be made there, for it is a very remote
region. From the city of Xauxa along the Cuzco road, the country keeps
getting more shut in by mountains and the distance from the sea is
greater. And those who have been lords of Cuzco, their own dwelling
being in Cuzco, called the rest of the land, in the direction of Quito,
Cancasuetio, and the land beyond [Cuzco], called Callao, Collasuyo,
and, in the direction of the sea, Condisuyo, and the interior
Candasuyo;[98] and in this way they gave names to these four provinces,
disposed like a cross, which contained their empire. In the Collao they
know not of the sea, and it is a flat land to judge from what has been
seen of it, and it is large and cold, and there are in it many rivers
from which gold is got. The Indians say that in the province is a large
lake of fresh water which, in its centre, has two islands.[99] In order
to learn the state of this land and its government, the Governor sent
two Christians to bring him a long report of it; they set out in the
beginning of December. The region of Condisuyo, toward the sea from
Cuzco is a small and delectable land, although it is all of forests and
stones, and the inland region is so likewise. Through it [the Antisuyu]
run all the rivers which do not flow into the western sea. It is a land
of many trees and mountains and is very thinly populated. This sierra
runs from Tumbes as far as Xauxa, and from Xauxa as far as the city of
Cuzco. It is stony and rough; if there were not roads made by hand it
would not be possible to travel on foot, still less on horseback, and
for the roads there are many houses full of materials for repairing the
pavement, and in this matter the lords had so much firmness that there
was nothing to do but keep it in order.[100] All the mountain
fields[101] are made in the guise of stairways of stone, and the rest of
the road has no great width because of some mountains that hem it in on
both sides, and on one side they had made a buttress of stone so that
one day it should not slide down [the mountain], and there are,
likewise, other places, in which the road has a breadth of four or five
human bodies, all made and paved with stone. One of the greatest works
the conquerors saw in this land was these roads. All or most of the
people on these slopes of the mountains live on high hills and
mountains; their houses are of stone and earth; there are many dwellings
in each village. Along the road each league or two or nearer, are found
the dwellings built for the purpose of allowing the lords to rest when
they were out visiting and inspecting their land; and every twenty
leagues there are important cities, heads of provinces, to which the
smaller cities brought their tribute of maize, clothes and other things.
All these large cities have storehouses full of the things which are in
the land, and, because it is very cold but little maize is harvested
except in specially assigned places; but [there is plenty of] all the
many vegetables and roots with which the people sustained themselves,
and also good grass like that of Spain. There are also wild turnips
which are bitter. There is a sufficiency of herds of sheep[102] which go
about in flocks with their shepherds who keep them away from the sown
fields, and they have a certain part of [each] province set apart for
them to winter in. The people, as I have said, are very polished and
intelligent, and go always clad and shod; they eat maize both cooked and
raw, and drink much chicha, which is a beverage made from maize after
the fashion of beer. The people are very tractable and very obedient and
yet warlike. They have many arms of diverse sorts, as has been told in
the relation of the imprisonment of Atabalipa which was sent from
Caxamalca, as was said above.[103]



CHAPTER XVII

    Description of the city of Cuzco and of its wonderful fortress, and
    of the customs of its inhabitants.


The city of Cuzco is the principal one of all those where the lords of
this land have their residence; it is so large and so beautiful that it
would be worthy of admiration even in Spain; and it is full of the
palaces of the lords, because no poor people live there, and each lord
builds there his house, and all the caciques[104] do likewise, although
the latter do not dwell there continuously. The greater part of these
houses are of stone, and others have half the façade of stone. There are
many houses of adobe, and they are all arranged in very good order. The
streets are laid out at right angles; they are very straight, and are
paved, and down the middle runs a gutter for water lined with stone. The
chief defect which the streets have is that of being narrow, so that
only one horse and rider can go on one side of the gutter and another
upon the opposite side. This city is located upon the slope of a
mountain, and there are many houses upon the slope and others below on
the plain. The plaza is rectangular, and the greater part of it is flat
and paved with small stones. Around the plaza are four houses of
noblemen, who are the chief men of the city; [the houses] are of stone,
painted and carved, and the best of them is the house of
Guaynacaba,[105] a former chief, and the door of it is of marble
[colored] white and red and of other colors;[106] and there are other
very sightly buildings with flat roofs. There are, in the said city,
many other buildings and grandeurs. Along the two sides [of the city]
pass two rivers which rise a league above Cuzco, and from there down to
the city and for two leagues below it they run over stone flags so that
the water may be pure and clear, and so that, though they may rise, they
may not overflow. They have bridges for those who enter the city. Upon
the hill which, toward the city, is rounded and very steep, there is a
very beautiful fortress of earth and stone. Its large windows which look
over the city make it appear still more beautiful.[107] Within, there
are many dwellings, and a chief tower in the centre, built square, and
having four or five terraces one above another. The rooms inside are
small and the stones of which it is built are very well worked and so
well adjusted to one another that it does not appear that they have any
mortar and they are so smooth that they look like polished slabs with
the joinings in regular order and alternating with one another after the
usage in Spain.[108] There are so many rooms and towers that a person
could not see them all in one day; and many Spaniards who have been in
Lombardy and in other foreign kingdoms say that they have never seen any
other fortress like this one nor a stronger castle. Five thousand
Spaniards might well be within it; nor could it be given a broadside or
be mined, because it is on a rocky mountain. On the side toward the
city, which is a very steep slope, there is no more than one wall;[109]
on the other side, which is less steep, there are three, one above the
other. The most beautiful thing which can be seen in the edifices of
that land are these walls, because they are of stones so large that
anyone who sees them would not say that they had been put in place by
human hands, for they are as large as chunks of mountains and huge
rocks, and they have a height of thirty palms and a length of as many
more, and others have twenty and twenty-five, and others fifteen, but
there is none so small that three carts could carry it. These are not
smooth stones, but rather well joined and matched one with another. The
Spaniards who see them say that neither the bridge of Segovia nor any
other of the edifices which Hercules or the Romans made is so worthy of
being seen as this. The city of Tarragona has some works in its walls
made in this style, but neither so strong nor of such large stones.
These walls twist in such a way that if they are attacked, it is not
possible to do so from directly in front, but only obliquely.[110] These
walls are of the same stone, and between wall and wall there is enough
earth to permit three carts to go along the top at one time. They are
made after the fashion of steps, so that one begins where another leaves
off. The whole fortress was a deposit of arms, clubs, lances, bows,
axes, shields, doublets thickly padded with cotton and other arms of
various sorts, and clothes for the soldiers collected here from all
parts of the land subject to the lords of Cuzco. They had many colors,
blue, yellow, brown and many others for painting, much tin and lead with
other metals, and much silver and some gold, many mantles and quilted
doublets for the warriors. The reason why this fortress contained so
much workmanship was that, when this city was founded it was done by a
lord _orejon_[111] who came from Condisuyo, toward the sea, a great
warrior who conquered this land as far as Bilcas and who, perceiving
that this was the best place to fix his domicile, founded that city
with its fortress. And all the other lords who followed after him made
some improvements in this fortress so that it was ever augmenting in
size. From this fortress are seen around the city many houses a quarter
of a league, half a league and a league away, and in the valley, which
is surrounded by hills, there are more than five thousand houses, many
of them for the pleasure and recreation of former lords and others for
the caciques of all the land who dwell continuously in the city. The
others are storehouses full of mantles, wool, arms, metals, and clothes
and all the things which are grown or made in this land. There are
houses where the tribute is kept which the vassals bring to the
caciques; and there is a house where are kept more than a hundred dried
birds because they make garments of their feathers, which are of many
colors, and there are many houses for this [work]. There are bucklers,
oval shields made of leather, beams for roofing the houses, knives and
other tools, sandals and breast-plates for the warriors in such great
quantity that the mind does not cease to wonder how so great a tribute
of so many kinds of things can have been given. Each dead lord has here
his house and all that was paid to him as tribute during his life, for
no lord who succeeds another [and this is the law among them] can, after
the death of the last one, take possession of his inheritance. Each one
has his service of gold and of silver, and his things and clothes for
himself, and he who follows takes nothing from him. The caciques and
lords maintain their houses of recreation with the corresponding staff
of servants and women who sow their fields with maize and place a little
of it in their sepulchres. They adore the sun and have built many
temples to him, and of all the things which they have, as much of
clothes as of maize and other things, they offer some to the sun, of
which the warriors later avail themselves.



CHAPTER XVIII

    Of the province of the Collao and of the qualities and customs of
    its people, and of the rich gold mines that are found there.


The two Christians who were sent to see the province of the Collao were
forty days upon their journey, and, as soon as they had returned to
Cuzco where the governor was, they gave him news and a report of all
that they had seen and learned, which is set forth below. The land of
the Collao is far off and a long way from the sea, so much so that the
natives who inhabit it, have no knowledge of it. The sierra is very high
and rather broad, and with all this, it is excessively cold. There are
in the region no groves or woods, nor is there any wood for burning, and
what little there is in use there comes from trade, in exchange for
merchandise, with those who live near the sea and are called Ingres,
and also with those who live below near the rivers, for these people
have fire-wood and they exchange it for sheep[112] and other animals and
vegetables, since, for the most part, the land is sterile, and all the
people live on roots, herbs, maize and sometimes flesh, not because
there is not, in that province of the Collao, a good quantity of sheep,
but because the people are so much the subjects of the lord to whom they
are bound to give obedience that, without his licence or that of the
chief or governor who, by his command, is in the country, they do not
kill one [llama], nor do even the lords and caciques dare to kill any
without such permission. The land is well populated because wars have
not destroyed it as they have other provinces. The villages are of
ordinary size and their houses are small, with walls of stone and adobe
mixed and covered with roofs of straw. The grass which grows in this
land is short and sparse. There are some rivers, although of small
volume. In the middle of the province there is a great lake, in length
almost one hundred leagues, and the most thickly peopled land is around
its shore; in the middle of the lake there are two islets, and on one of
them is a mosque and house of the sun which is held in great veneration,
and to it they come to make their offerings and sacrifices on a great
stone on the island which they call Tichicasa[113] which either because
the devil hides himself there and speaks to them or because of an
ancient custom, or on account of some other cause that has never been
made clear, all the people of that province hold in great esteem, and
they offer there gold, silver and other things. There are more than six
hundred Indians serving in this place, and more than a thousand women
who make chicha in order to throw it upon that stone Tichicasa.[114] The
rich mines of that province of the Collao are beyond this lake [in a
region] called Chuchiabo.[115] The mines are in the gorge [caja-chiusa]
of a river, about half-way up the sides. They are made like caves, by
whose mouths they enter to scrape the earth, and they scrape it with
the horns of deer and they carry it outside in certain hides sewn into
the form of sacks or of wine-skins of sheep-hide. The manner in which
they wash it is that they take from the river a [jet?][116] of water,
and on the bank they set up certain very smooth flag-stones on which
they throw the water, after which they draw off by a duct the water of
the [jet?] which has just fallen down [upon the gold-earth?], and the
water carries off the earth little by little so that the gold is left
upon the flag-stones themselves, and in this manner they collect it. The
mines go far into the earth, one ten brazas, another twenty, and the
greatest mine, which is called Guarnacabo[117] goes into the earth some
forty brazas.[118] They have no light, nor are they broader than is
necessary for one person to enter crouching down, and until the man who
is in the mine comes out, no other can go in. The people who get out the
gold here are as many as fifty,[119] counting men and women, and these
are all of this land, and from one cacique come twenty, from another
fifty, from another thirty, and from others more or less according to
the number that they have, and they take out gold for the chief lord,
and they have taken such precautions in the matter that in nowise can
any of what is taken out be stolen, because they have placed guards
around the mines so that none of those who take out the gold can get
away without being seen. At night, when they return to their houses in
the village, they enter by a gate where the overseers are who have the
gold in their charge, and from each person they receive the gold that he
has got. There are other mines beyond these, and there are still others
scattered about through the land which are like wells a man's height in
depth, so that the worker can just throw the earth from below on top of
the ground. And when they dig them so deep that they cannot throw the
earth out on top, they leave them and make new wells.[120] But the
richest mines, and the ones from which the most gold is got, are the
first, which do not have the inconvenience of washing the earth, and,
because of the cold, they do not work those mines more than four months
of the year, [and then only] from the hour of noon to nearly
sunset.[121] The people are very mild, and so accustomed to serve, that
all that has to be done in the land they do themselves, and so it is, in
the roads and in the houses which the chief lord commands them to build,
and they continually offer themselves for work and for carrying the
burdens of the warriors when the lord goes to some place [in the
region]. The Spaniards took from those mines a load of earth and carried
it to Cuzco without doing anything else. It was washed by the hand of
the Governor after the Spaniards had sworn that they had not placed the
gold in it or done anything to it save take it from the mine as the
Indians did who washed it, and from it three pesos of gold was got. All
those who understand mines and the getting of gold, being informed of
the manner in which it is got in this land, say that all the [country
is full of mines], and that if the Spaniards gave implements and skill
[in using them] to the Indians so that it might be got out, much gold
would be taken from the earth, and it is believed that when this time
has arrived, a year will not go by in which a million of gold is not
got. The people of this province, as well men as women, are very filthy,
and they have large hands, and the province is very large.



CHAPTER XIX

    Of the great veneration in which the Indians held Guarnacaba[122]
    when he lived[123] and of that in which they hold him now, after
    death. And how, through the disunion of the Indians, the Spaniards
    entered Cuzco, and of the fidelity of the new cacique
    Guarnacaba[124] to the Christians.


The city of Cuzco is the head and principal province of all the others,
and from here to the beach of San Mateo and, in the other direction, to
beyond the province of Collao, which is entirely a land of arrow-using
savages, all is subject to one single lord who was Atabalipa, and,
before him, to the other by-gone lords, and at present the lord of all
is this son of Guarnacaba. This Guarnacaba, who was so renowned and
feared, and is so even to this day, although he is dead, was very much
beloved by his vassals, and subjected great provinces, and made them
his tributaries. He was well obeyed and almost worshipped, and his body
is in the city of Cuzco, quite whole, enveloped in rich cloths and
lacking only the tip of the nose. There are other images of plaster of
clay which have only the hair and nails which were cut off in life and
the clothes that were worn, and these images are as much venerated by
those people as if they were their gods. Frequently they take the [body]
out into the plaza with music and dancing, and they always stay close to
it, day and night, driving away the flies. When some important lords
come to see the cacique, they go first to salute these figures, and they
then go to the cacique and hold, with him, so many ceremonies that it
would be a great prolixity to describe them. So many people assemble at
these feasts, which are held in that plaza, that their number exceeds
one hundred thousand souls. It turned out to be fortunate that they [the
Spaniards] had made that son of Guarnacaba lord, because all the
caciques and lords of the land and of remote provinces came to serve
him and, out of respect for him, to yield obedience to the Emperor. The
conquerors passed through great trials, because all the land is the most
mountainous and roughest that can be traversed on horseback, and it may
be believed that, had it not been for the discord which existed between
the people of Quito and those of Cuzco and its neighbourhood, the
Spaniards would never have entered Cuzco, nor would there have been
enough of them to get beyond Xauxa, and in order to enter they would
have had to go in a force of five hundred, and, to maintain themselves,
they would have needed many more, because the land is so large and so
rough that there are mountains and passes that ten men could defend
against ten thousand. And the Governor never thought of being able to go
with less than five hundred Christians to conquer, pacify, and make a
tributary of it. But as he learned of the great disunion that existed
between the people of that land [Cuzco] and those of Quito, it was
proposed that he should go with the few Christians that he had to
deliver them from subjection and servitude, and to put a stop to the
mischief and wrongs that those of Quito were doing in that land, and Our
Lord saw fit to favor him [in it]. Nor would the Governor ever have
ventured to make so long and toilsome a journey in this great
undertaking had it not been for the great confidence which he had in all
the Spaniards of his company through having tried them out and having
learned that they were dextrous and skilled in so many conquests and
accustomed to these lands and to the toils of war. All of this they
showed themselves to be in this journey through rains and snows, in
swimming across many rivers, in crossing great mountain chains and in
sleeping many nights in the open air without water to drink and without
anything on which to feed, and always, day and night, having to be armed
and on guard, in going, at the end of the war, to reduce many caciques
and lands which had rebelled, and in going from Xauxa to Cuzco, on which
journey they suffered, with their governor, so many trials and on which
they so often placed their lives in peril in rivers and mountains where
many horses were killed by falling headlong. This son of Guarnacaba has
much friendship and concord with the Christians, and for this reason, in
order to preserve him in the lordship, the Spaniards put themselves to
infinite pains and likewise bore themselves in all these undertakings so
valorously, and suffered so much, just as other Spaniards have been able
to do in the service of the Emperor, that, as a result, the very
Spaniards who have found themselves in this undertaking, marvel at what
they have done when once more they set themselves to think upon it, and
they do not know how they come to be alive as they have been able to
suffer so many trials and such prolonged hunger. But they hold that all
[their troubles] were put to a good use, and they would again offer
themselves, were it necessary, to enter upon the greatest wearinesses
for the conversion of those people and the exaltation of our holy
catholic faith. Of the greatness and situation of the aforesaid land, I
omit to speak, and it only remains to give thanks and praises to Our
Lord because, so obviously, he has wished to guide with his hand the
affairs of H. M. and of these kingdoms which, by his divine providence,
have been illumined and directed upon the true road of salvation. May he
bend his infinite goodness so that henceforth the [kingdoms] may go from
good to better by the intercession of his blessed Mother, the advocate
of all our steps who directs them to a good end.

This relation was finished in the city of Xauxa on the 15th day of the
month of July, 1534. And I, Pero Sancho, Scrivener general of these
kingdoms of New Castile and secretary of the governor Francisco Pizarro,
by his order and that of the officials of H. M. wrote it just as things
happened, and when it was finished I read it in the presence of the
governor and of the officials of H. M., and, as it was all true, they
said governor and officials of H. M. sign it with their hand.

                   FRANCISCO PIZARRO
          ALVARO RIQUELME.   ANTONIO NAVARRO.
                   GARCIA DE SALCEDO

 _By order of the Governor and Officials._      SANCHO



NOTES



NOTES


[1] The modern Cajamarca; called by the Indians Casamarca.

[2] Properly Atahualpa.

[3] Thus the original. Something is lacking to complete the sense.--Note
by Icazbalceta.

[4] The _peso_ is about an ounce.

[5] Jauja.

[6] Properly Challcuchima or Calicuchima. This remarkable Indian general
was a son of Epiclachima, younger brother of Cacha, last Caran Scyri of
Quito. Cacha was conquered by Huayna Capac about 1487, and Calicuchima
entered the service of Atahualpa who was his kinsman through Paccha his
cousin, Huayna Capac's wife. (Velasco.)

[7] Something lacking in the text.

[8] _Caribes_, in Spanish, sometimes means the Carib people; here,
simply savages.

[9] In the text of Ramusio, _Se gli diede una storta col mangano al
collo_.

[10] This name is, of course, an error.

[11] Gucunacaba is Huayna Capac. He left three legitimate sons beside
Huascar, viz., Manco, Paullu, and Titu Atauchi. I do not know which of
them was Sancho's "Atabalipa" number two. See Sarmiento, 1907, p. xvii.

[12] Cuzcos = Incas.

[13] Probably Huascar.

[14] Huamachuco.

[15] Andamarca.

[16] Huaylas.

[17] Cajatambo.

[18] Icazbalceta suggests that this place is Cajamarquilla. I do not
agree with this opinion, because Cajamarquilla had long been in ruins
when the Spaniards arrived. (Cf. Hodge, 1897, pp. 304 ff.) It was
probably Chacamarca, (see below).

[19] San Miguel de Piura.

[20] San Miguel was founded first at another site which, on being found
to be unhealthy, was deserted; San Miguel was soon refounded at Piura.
(Cf. Prescott, Bk. III, Cap. III, Moses, 1914, vol. I, p. 99.) It is
possible that the "captain" mentioned here was no other than Sebastian
de Belalcazar or Benalcazar who later conquered Quito. (Cf. Moses, 1914,
I, p. 106.)

[21] This is obviously a mistake.

[22] Descriptions of Inca bridges will be found at:

    Garcilasso, 1859, I, pp. 253 ff., 260.
    Cieza de Leon, 1864, pp. 314-315.
    Joyce, 1912, pp. 142-143.
    Beuchat, 1912, pp. 608, 650.
    Pinkerton, 1808-1814, XIV, p. 530. (Picture.)

[23] Pachacamac has often been described. See especially Uhle, 1903; and
Estete, 1872; and Markham, 1912, pp. 232 ff.

[24] Cajatambo.

[25] Pambo = Pombo = Pumpu.

[26] It is impossible to tell what the correct names of these personages
may have been.

[27] Pombo = Pambo = Pumpu.

[28] Chacamarca. See Raimondi's map, 1875.

[29] The Spanish here is very prolix. I have given an approximate and
shorter phraseology.

[30] This may be the "Tice" mentioned in Section II, under another name.
But all Sancho's proper names are in great confusion.

[31] It is barely possible that "Aticoc" may be an attempt at Titu
Atauchi.

[32] The candor or barefacedness with which the secretary, Sancho,
confesses and even applauds the bad faith of Pizarro in various places
in this narrative, which he wrote by order of Pizarro, is worthy of
admiration.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[33] The original: _che haurebbe dato rame che i Capitani etc., soldati
fossero venuti alla pase_. The significance of the word _rame_ is
obscure; as at times it means _money_, whence comes the vulgar phrase
_questo sa di rame_, in order to indicate that a thing is dear, it
appeared to me that I might adopt the interpretation which I give,
although I am not satisfied with it.--Note by Icazbalceta. The present
translator has translated the Spanish as given by Icazbalceta.

[34] The original; _veduto_ appears to me an error for
_venuto_.--Icazbalceta.

[35] Inca "roads" were designed for foot traffic, and steps were the
means used for going up slopes.

[36] Parcostambo.

[37] Vilcas.

[38] All within the parentheses is a reconstruction of the evident sense
rather than a translation.

[39] Cf. Bandelier, 1910, p. 61.

[40] _Serrata_ means either _espesura_ [thicket] or _angostura_ [cleft].

[41] Quizquiz, like Chalicuchima, had been a general of Atahualpa before
the coming of the Spaniards. He fought long against the invaders, but at
length his unavailing efforts caused him to be murdered by his own
followers. See Garcilasso, II, p. 509; Sarmiento, 171-173; Cieza de
Leon, Chr., Pt. II, pp. 164 and 227; Markham, 1912, pp. 247-251.

[42] Andahuaylas.

[43] Curamba.

[44] Andahuaylas.

[45] Vilcas.

[46] Curamba is the correct form for Airamba (given above).

[47] Vilcas, sometimes called Vilcashuaman, was a part of the territory
controlled by the Chanca before they were made subjects to Cuzco. The
conquest of the Chanca may have begun in the time of Rocca, but it had
its culmination in that of Viracocha. Tupac Yupanqui built numerous
temples and palaces there, and the region round about Vilcas was
traversed by important roads or trails. It is a place that is mentioned
by nearly all the early writers. Cf. Garcilasso, I, pp. 324-326, II, p.
58; Cieza de Leon, I, 312-315, II, 150-154; Joyce, 1912, p. 107;
Markham, 1912, p. 178.

[48] Sancho is vague in his use of the words _caballo_ and _ligero
caballo_. The latter means "light horse" or "light-armed cavalry." But
he uses the word _caballo_ when he means _caballero_. In the present
instance he really means _caballo_.

[49] The veracity of this story is certainly open to question.

[50] Here the text says _caballos_, although it is plain that
_caballeros_ is the word intended.

[51] See Squier, 1877, p. 177; Cieza, Tr. p. 355; Velasco, 1840, p. 22;
Joyce, 1912, pp. 210-212.

[52] This speech can hardly be regarded as verbatim, of course.

[53] Sancho's imagination was drawn upon throughout this section.

[54] Limatambo (correctly, Rimactampu).

[55] Xaquixaguana or Sacsahuana.

[56] The text has: "_y que riendo el Gobernador partirse sin aguardar a
que pasaran los indios amigos, ..._"

[57] _tuvieron tiempo de retraerse al monte_ really means, "they had
time to withdraw to the mountain," but the obvious sense is better
preserved in the translation I have given.

[58] Possibly this means Huascar, whom Atahualpa had caused to be put to
death.

[59] In Spanish they always say "el Cuzco." I believe that the reason
for this is that "Cuzco" comes from a Quichua word meaning "navel." If
this is so, "el Cuzco" has the significance of "the Navel" (of the
World). In English, of course, we use the word simply as a place-name.

[60] The official designation of the Emperor was: S. C. C. M., or
Sagrada Cesarea Catolica Majestad.

[61] The modern village of Limatambo. When I was there the fine walls so
often spoken of were in a bad condition from neglect on the part of the
natives. Yet, in spite of the refuse piled around them and the throngs
of pigs all about, one could see that the masonry was of the finest
Cyclopean type. Cf. Squier, 1877, p. 535; Markham, 1912, pp. 286 and
319; Cieza, Tr., p. 320; Sarmiento, pp. 119 and 209. Garcilasso tells us
that it was founded by Manco Capac and that it was the place where
Viracocha waited for the Chanca. Garcilasso, I, p. 80, and II, p. 52.

[62] Now called Zurite. It was the site of a palace of Viracocha, who
added it to his realm once more by a victory (won by Pachacutec) over
the Chanca. Cf. Sarmiento, p. 85; Garcilasso, I, p. 53; Cieza, Chr., p.
128; The "Finca de los Andenes" is doubtless the site of the palace.

[63] The truth of this statement is very questionable.

[64] Valverde.

[65] Pachacamac.

[66] In the days before the Incas the Creator-God (under the names of
Pachacamac, Viracocha, Irma, etc.) was worshipped without idols. He was
conceived as being superior to all other gods and as being invisible.
To judge from all accounts, his cult, at this stage, was an advanced
type of religion. Later, however, the custom of having idols sprang up.
As their attributes were the same, there can be but little doubt that
Pachacamac and Viracocha were the same deity. Pachacamac's chief shrine
was on the coast, at Pachacamac. Inca Pachacutec conquered Cuismancu,
lord of Pachacamac, about 1410, and built a Sun Temple there. The chief
temple to Viracocha was at Cacha south of Cuzco, and it was probably
erected by the Inca Viracocha to celebrate his defeat of the Chanca
confederacy. Both these temples (under Inca influence) had idols. Cf.
Blas Valera, 1879, pp. 137-140; Sarmiento, pp. 28-29; Garcilasso, II,
pp. 69, 185-193, 428, 460; Cieza, Tr., pp. 161-163, 251-254; Cobo, 1892,
III, pp. 320-323; Uhle, 1903; Markham, 1912, pp. 41, 97, 181, 233-234;
Joyce, 1912, pp. 150-152; Beuchat, 1912, pp. 615-616.

[67] Another obvious fabrication.

[68] Huayna Capac, ruled ca. 1500-1525.

[69] This was Manco Inca, a son of Huayna Capac by his third wife. Manco
died in 1544, leaving a grand-daughter, Coya Beatriz, who married Don
Martin Garcia Loyola. Their daughter, Lorenza, became Marquesa de
Oropesa.--Note by Sir C. R. M. Cf. Garcilasso, II, pp. 352 and 526.

[70] A half-brother only.

[71] The story of Manco Inca is one of the most pathetic in South
American history. Although our author describes some of the events in
the young Inca's life, I will give a brief résumé of it here.

Manco was "crowned" with the _borla_ or fringe on March 24, 1534, at
Cuzco. To please him, Almagro the elder killed his two brothers (who
might have become his rivals) in order to get Manco on his side in the
quarrel which he had with the Pizarros as to which ought to control
Cuzco. After Almagro went to Chile, the _Villac Umu_ (High Priest) urged
his brother Manco to rise in revolt against the Spaniards, who were
divided among themselves. On April 18, 1536, Manco revolted at Yucay. He
laid siege to Cuzco with a very large force and attacked the small
Spanish garrison mercilessly, setting fire to the roofs of houses by
means of arrows tipped with blazing tow and otherwise harassing them.
The Inca and his forces were, for a time, successful. They captured the
great fortress of Sacsahuaman, which was, however, retaken by Juan
Pizarro and Gonzalo Pizarro. Disheartened by this, the Inca retired to
the fortress of Ollantaytampu, where he successfully combatted the
attempts of Hernando Pizarro to capture him. Later, Manco was forced by
Orgoñez to withdraw to the mountainous region of Vilcapampa. The last
Inca capital was set up at Viticos, and there Manco held his court for
several years. He often raided the Spanish travellers between Cuzco and
Lima. His court became a place of refuge for all Spaniards who fell out
with their fellows. One of these refugees, Gomez Perez, either killed
Manco himself in a brawl over a game of quoits or helped to kill him as
the result of a plot. The Inca, at all events, was murdered by Spaniards
whom he had befriended. That was in 1544. In 1911 Professor Hiram
Bingham visited Vitcos the situation of which is clearly shown on the
map, dated 1907, that accompanies Sir Clements Markham's translation of
Sarmiento and Ocampo (Hakluyt, 2d Series, no. XXII, p. 203). Professor
Bingham's description of the site is adequate, and, I think, unique.

At about the same time as the siege of Cuzco, another Inca force, led by
Titu Yupanqui, marched on the newly founded Spanish capital (the Ciudad
de los Reyes or Lima). It was driven off by the Marques Francisco
Pizarro.

A brother of Manco, Paullu, was christened under the name of Don
Cristoval Paullu. He lived in the Colcampata palace (which had been the
great Pachacutec's), and the small church of San Cristoval was built
near at hand for his use. He died about 1550, being survived by Sayri
Tupac, Cusi Titu Yupanqui, and two other children of Manco (who all
lived on at Viticos) and by his own sons Carlos and Felipe. It was on
the occasion of a particular request made by the Viceroy, Don Andres
Hurtado de Mendoza, Marqués de Cañete, that Sayri Tupac's aunt, Princess
Beatriz, successfully urged him to come and live in Cuzco. Sayri Tupac
died in 1560. Cf. Cieza, Tr., pp. 304-307; Garcilasso, II, pp. 104-105,
526; Titu Cusi Yupanqui, apud Cieza's "War of Quito," pp. 164-166;
Montesinos, 1906, I, pp. 88-93; Cobo, 1892, III, pp. 203-210; Markham,
1892, pp. 93-96; Markham, 1912, pp. 254-259; Appleton's Cyclopaedia,
1888, IV, pp. 186 and 682; Cabildos de Lima, I, pp. 1 ff.; Bingham,
1912, entire.

[72] Manco Inca.

[73] Contrast this version with that given by Prescott in Book III,
Chapter 10. It is hardly necessary to say that Prescott's is the correct
one.

[74] Here, it is not difficult to read between the lines and see what
sort of treatment Manco got.

[75] Vicente de Valverde.

[76] An involved and unimportant clause here.

[77] This is all for the benefit of the Emperor, whose policy it was to
deal fairly by his new subjects.

[78] Vilcas.

[79] I do not know who is meant by this name.

[80] Llamas.

[81] Possibly these figures were the embalmed bodies of the coyacuna or
"queens" which, according to Garcilasso, were placed in Curicancha--the
Sun Temple.

[82] _en su mismo ser_.

[83] _Casa_ really means house.

[84] "Che vi corcorsero assai in tre anni," says the original, which can
only be translated as I have done it above. But when the secretary wrote
his relation, no such three years had gone by since the foundation of
Cuzco, but only four months, so it is necessary to suppose that the
Italian translator did not understand his original well, _or_ that it is
an interpolation made later on.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[85] The civilized inhabitants of the Chilca region came originally from
the interior, probably from the Yauyos region. This event occurred,
presumably, somewhere about 800-900 of our era, for, by the time the
Incas were founding Cuzco (ca. 1100), they found themselves strong
enough to make raids into the interior. Joyce points out that these
raids may have occurred even earlier, at a time when the Tiahuanacu
empire still flourished. At any rate, there was an important contact
with the interior cultures at an early date. The Chincha also were
constantly at war with the Chimu, Chuquimancu and Cuismancu who each
ruled large and civilized coast states. The Chincha were conquered by
the Inca either in the reign of Pachacutec or in that of Tupac Yupanqui
(more probably the former) somewhere about 1450. According to Estete,
their ruler (under Inca tutelage) in the time of the Conquest was
Tamviambea. The cultural development of the Chincha was, artistically
speaking, not so high as that of the Chimu. It was, however, in pre-Inca
times, relatively complex. They practised trephining successfully (an
art derived from their Yauyu ancestors), and they also frequently
indulged in the anterio-posterior type of cranial deformation. Their
general physical condition was good. They numbered about 25,000. Cf.
Cieza, Tr., p. 228; Garcilasso, II, pp. 146-149; Joyce, 1912, pp. 95,
187; Markham, 1912, pp. 237-239; Tello, 1912; Hrdlicka, 1914, pp. 22-24;
Lafone-Quevedo, 1912, p. 115.

[86] This may have been the chief Taurichumbi mentioned by Estete. Cf.
Markham, 1912, p. 239.

[87] This was before Alvarado and Pizarro met and came to an agreement.

[88] Possibly Riobamba, Tumebamba, or some other place in the "Kingdom"
of Quito.

[89] Probably Saña.

[90] Properly Colla-suyu and Cunti-suyu, i.e. the Southern province and
the Western province of Ttahuan-tin-suyu.

[91] Jauja (or Xauxa) was the predecessor of la Ciudad de los Reyes. A
letter to Charles V, dated July 20, 1534, describes it thus: "Esta
Cibdad es la mexor y mayor quen la Tierra se ha vista, e aun en
_Indias_; e decimos a Vuestra Magestad ques tan hermosa e de tan buenos
edyficios quen _España_ seria muy de ver; tiene las calles por mucho
concierto empedradas de guixas pequenas; todas las mas de las casas son
de señores prencipales fechas de canteria; esta en una ladera de un
cerro, en el qual sobrel pueblo esta una fortaleza muy bien obrada de
canteria tan de ver, que por españoles que an andado Reinos extranos,
dizen no aber visto otro edyficio igual al della; ..." Cf. Cabildos,
III, pp. 4-5.

[92] The Italian is: "_Il quale tuttavia piu veniua ponendo amore a gli
Spagnuoli._"--Note by Icazbalceta.

[93] Huanuco.

[94] Pachacamac.

[95] Prescott places the total at 500 of which 230 were cavalry. Cf.
Prescott, Bk. III, Cap. 9.

[96] It seems to me that, even in the days of the Chimu and the Inca,
the poorer people must have lived in this sort of hut-like houses, and
that only the great dwelt in the "palaces" whose ruins are so
remarkable. Such a state of things would explain the apparent
impossibility of a large population existing in the dwellings we now
see. Cf. Hodge, 1897.

[97] This montaña is to-day the richest and most valuable part of Peru.

[98] According to Garcilasso, Lib. II, Cap. 11, the Peruvian empire was
divided into four parts, Cuzco being considered the centre. They called
the northern part Chinchasuya, the southern Coyasuya, the western
Cuntisuya, and the eastern Antisuyu.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[99] Lake Titicaca contains several islands, notably Titicaca and Coati.

[100] An obscure passage translated merely in most general terms.

[101] _Agras_ I take to mean fields from its similarity to the Latin
word, _ager_.

[102] Llamas.

[103] At this point Ramusio gives a fanciful view of the city of Cuzco,
which has no real interest whatever.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[104] _Cacique_ is really a West Indies word. The early Spanish writers
are wont to apply it to any sort of native official. Here, no doubt, the
correct term would be the Quichua word _Curaca_. Officials thus
designated under the Inca dominion were the hereditary chiefs of
formerly independent tribes and territories--roughly analogous to the
mediatized princes of Europe. Though made vassals of the Inca, the
_curacas_ were often continued in the command of their former subjects
and were intrusted with the governorship of provinces over which they
were formerly sovereigns. The _curacas_ ranked immediately below the
Inca caste, and ruled what was known as a _hunu_. Sometimes a _curaca_
was made an Inca-by-privilege as a reward of services.

[105] Huayna Capac.

[106] The marble was really granite. No marble was used by the Incas.

[107] This reference to windows is important. At the outset we must
remind ourselves that Sancho may have confused _windows_ and _niches_.
It is entirely possible, however, that windows may formerly have been
present in those walls of Sacsahuaman. As is well known, windows and
niches were distinguishing features of Inca architecture during the
later period of that dynasty. Sites like Pissac, Limatambo, Yucay,
Quente, Vilcabamba (alias Machu Pichu, a post-conquest site in part),
and Huaman-marca in the Amaybamba Valley all present one or both of
these features, and all present unmistakable signs of recent
construction, say from the reign of Viracocha (circa 1425-50) onward.
The importance of this mention of windows (or niches) lies in this: It
gives strong evidence in support of my belief that the walls of
Sacsahuaman which are toward Cuzco were of Inca construction. Garcilasso
(II, pp. 305 ff.) attempts to give the credit for the whole of
Sacsahuaman to Inca Yupanqui, and ignores the fact that the cyclopean
walls on the north side of the hill undoubtedly date, as do "the seats
of the Inca" close at hand, from the days of Tiahuanaco. When we see the
statement made that the fortress of Sacsahuaman was of Inca construction
we must remember that really only the southern walls and a few buildings
behind them were built under the Incas.

[108] That is, the joints do not come above one another, but are
alternated, as in brick-work.

[109] There are really six walls on the south and three on the north.
Cf. Garcilasso, II, 305.

[110] This is a poor attempt to describe the entrant and re-entrant
angles that make the cyclopean walls so remarkable from a military point
of view. See the plan by Squier and Davis, Garcilasso, II, p. 305.

[111] Orejon, lit. "large-ear"; i.e. a member of the Inca clan
privileged to distend his ears by means of ear-plugs. This myth of the
founding of Cuzco by a man from the sea is not found elsewhere.

[112] Llamas.

[113] Titicaca.

[114] Cobo describes the Temple of the Sun on Titicaca and that of the
Moon on Coati as being, together, the third most important sanctuary in
the Inca dominion. The other two, of course, were the temples in Cuzco
and Pachacamac. For a detailed description of the temples in Lake
Titicaca see Cobo, IV, pp. 54-63 and Bandelier, 1910. The structures at
that point are all of late-Inca construction and seem to have been built
after the Inca conceived the idea of making himself out to be the "Son
of the Sun." They were perhaps built with a view to lending colour to
the myth.

[115] Correctly, Chuqui-apu.

[116] The original _una seriola_ is a word whose meaning I have not been
able to find. It is found again a little below. The method the Indians
had for washing the earth and getting the gold can be seen in Oviedo,
Historia General de las Indias, Parte I, lib. 6, Cap. 8.--Note by
Icazbalceta.

[117] Huayna Capac.

[118] A braza is six feet.

[119] It says this in the original, but it is an error, for it will be
seen that the number must have been much greater.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[120] As the text of this passage is obscure I give it here: _...
profundos como de la altura de un hombre, en cuanto pueda el de abajo
dar la tierra al de arriba; y cuando los cavan tanto que ya el de arriba
no puede alcanzarla, lo dejan asi, y se van a hacer otros pozos ..._

[121] Here is another rather obscure passage: "_... pero e pui ricche
... sono le prime che non hanno caricho da lauar la terra & per rispetto
del freddo & delle mine que vi e non lo cauano. &c._" Oviedo (Hist.
General, Parte I, lib. 6, Cap. 8); Acosta (Hist. nat. y mor. de las
Ind., lib. 4, Cap. 4); y Garcilasso (Com. Real., Parte I, lib. 8, Cap.
24) distinguish three sorts of gold mines. In the first class are
counted those which produce pure gold in rather large grains, so that
they can be collected without further operations. These are, perhaps,
the sort that the secretary Sancho says are the richest, although he has
not spoken of them before. In the second class are included those which
produce gold in dust or in very small grains mixed with earth which it
is necessary to remove by means of washing, and these are those which
Sancho mentions. The third class of mines, which this man does not
mention, are those which yield gold mingled with stones and other
metals, just as silver is commonly found. These mines, although at times
very rich, failed to be worked because of the expenses which labour
caused.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[122] Huayna Capac.

[123] The text says _vino_--"came." I think, however, that it must be a
misprint for _vivo_--"lived."

[124] This means, of course, Manco Inca.



BIBLIOGRAPHY



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CONSULTED IN THE COURSE OF THIS TRANSLATION OF
PEDRO SANCHO


 ACOSTA, JOSEPH DE:
 1880.  The Natural and Moral History of the Indies.
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 APPLETON'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY:
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 BANDELIER, AD. F.:
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 BEUCHAT, HENRI:
 1912.  Manuel d'archeologie americaine. Paris.

 BINGHAM, HIRAM:
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           Edited by Marcos Jimenez de la Espada. Seville. 4 vols.

 ESTETE, MIGUEL DE:
 1872.  Report ...
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 1869-71.  Royal Commentaries of the Yncas.
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 1897.  Bandelier's researches in Peru and Bolivia.
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Transcriber's Note:

    Variant spellings of proper names in the main body of the text, as
    noted in the Preface, have been retained. Minor typographical errors
    have been corrected without note, whilst significant amendments have
    been listed below:

      p. 7, 'Miguel de Astete' amended to _Miguel de Estete_;
      p. 170, 'as it they were' amended to _as if they were_;
      p. 179, 'Quitu' amended to _Quito_;
      p. 179, 'His three left three' amended to _He left three_;
      p. 180, 'Cajarmaquilla' amended to _Cajamarquilla_;
      p. 183, 'Atalhualpa' amended to _Atahualpa_;
      p. 190, 'Cabildo' amended to _Cabildos_;
      p. 192, 'The curacus ranked' amended to _The curacas ranked_.





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