An Account of the Conquest of Peru Part 2

CHAPTER XIV

Of the great quant.i.ty 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.ddesses, 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 a.s.sembled 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 n.o.ble 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 a.s.sistance he looked over and considered the circ.u.mstances 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 a.s.signed 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 pa.s.s in the immediate vicinity of the road, and had built their walls to prevent the [possibility of] the horses [crossing] the pa.s.s. [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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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 sh.o.r.e 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps, but could not learn anything else about them. Of Alvarado nothing more is known than that he has already embarked on these sh.o.r.es or has pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.s 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps, 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 s.h.i.+ps, 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 gra.s.s 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 b.u.t.tress 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 a.s.signed places; but [there is plenty of] all the many vegetables and roots with which the people sustained themselves, and also good gra.s.s 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 fas.h.i.+on 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 princ.i.p.al 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 facade 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 n.o.blemen, 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]

pa.s.s 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 fas.h.i.+on of steps, so that one begins where another leaves off. The whole fortress was a deposit of arms, clubs, lances, bows, axes, s.h.i.+elds, 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 workmans.h.i.+p 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 va.s.sals 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 s.h.i.+elds made of leather, beams for roofing the houses, knives and other tools, sandals and breast-plates for the warriors in such great quant.i.ty 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 quant.i.ty 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 gra.s.s which grows in this land is short and spa.r.s.e. 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 sh.o.r.e; 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 sc.r.a.pe the earth, and they sc.r.a.pe 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 was.h.i.+ng 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 princ.i.p.al 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 va.s.sals, and subjected great provinces, and made them his tributaries. He was well obeyed and almost wors.h.i.+pped, 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 G.o.ds. 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 a.s.semble 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.ses 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 friends.h.i.+p and concord with the Christians, and for this reason, in order to preserve him in the lords.h.i.+p, 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.