Of the province of Picara, and of the chiefs of it.
Leaving Pozo, and travelling to the eastward, the great and very
populous province of Picara is reached. The names of the principal
chiefs of this province, when we discovered it, were Picara,
Chusquruqua, Sanguitama, Chambiriqua, Ancora, Aupirimi, and others.
Their language and customs resemble those of Paucura. This province
extends to certain mountains which give rise to rivers of very limpid
and sweet water. The rivers are said to be rich in gold. The country is
broken up into rugged mountains, like that which we had already passed;
but it is so populous that all the hills and valleys are under
cultivation, in so much that the sight of so many crops causes pleasure
and contentment. In all parts there are plantations of fruit trees. The
people have few houses, because they have been burnt in their wars. The
province contained more than ten or twelve thousand Indians capable of
bearing arms when we first entered it; and they go naked, for neither
they nor their women wear more than a small cloth between the legs; and
in all other matters, whether of eating, drinking, or marrying, they
have the same customs as those whom we had already seen.
Thus, when the chiefs die, their bodies are placed in large and deep
tombs, accompanied by many live women, and adorned by all they possessed
of most value when living, according to the general custom of the other
Indians of these parts. At the entrances of the houses of the caciques
there are small platforms surrounded by stout canes, on the tops of
which are stuck the heads of their enemies; and this is a horrid thing
to see, as there are many of them, looking fierce with long hair, and
their faces painted in such sort as to appear like those of devils. In
the lower part of the canes there are holes through which the wind can
pass, and when it blows, there is a noise which sounds like the music of
devils. Nor is human flesh distasteful to these Indians, any more than
to those of Pozo, for when we first entered their country with the
captain Don Jorge Robledo, more than four thousand of these natives of
Picara marched with us, and killed and ate as many as three hundred
hostile Indians. They affirm that, on the other side of the mountains to
the eastward of this province, which are the Cordilleras of the Andes,
there is a great, rich, and populous valley called Arbi. I do not know
whether it has been discovered, nor did I hear more than this rumour
concerning it. The Indians of Picara have great stakes, as sharp as if
they were of iron, made of a black palm wood, which they fix in holes
along the roads, and subtilely cover with straw and grass. When they are
at war with the Spaniards they fix so many of these stakes that it is
very troublesome to get through the country, and many soldiers have been
staked in the legs and feet. Some of these Indians have bows and arrows,
but they are not dexterous in their use, and do little harm with them.
They have slings with which they throw stones with great force. The men
are of middle height, the women the same, and some of them good looking.
Leaving this province, in the direction of the city of Cartago, we next
came to the province of Carrapa, which is not very distant, and is rich
and populous.