Which touches upon the provinces in this great and beautiful valley, up
to the city of Cali.
From the city of Popayan this valley begins to spread out like a level
plain between the chains of mountains, and is twelve leagues broad, more
or less. In some parts it is narrower, and in others broader, and the
river which flows through it becomes so narrow that neither boat, nor
_balsa_, nor anything else can pass, by reason of the fury of the
stream, and of the stones which come down in it. Boats are upset and go
to the bottom, and thus many Spaniards and Indians have been drowned and
much merchandise lost, for the rapidity of the stream is such that they
have no time to get on land.
All this valley, from the city of Cali to these rapids, was formerly
very populous, and covered with very large and beautiful villages, the
houses being close together and of great size. These villages of Indians
have wasted away and been destroyed by time and war; for, when the
Captain Don Sebastian de Belalcazar, who was the first captain to
discover and conquer this valley, made his entry, the Indians were bent
on war, and fought with the Spaniards many times to defend their land,
and escape from slavery. Owing to these wars, and to the famine which
arose on account of the seeds not having been sown, nearly all the
Indians died. There was another reason which led to their rapid
extermination. The Captain Belalcazar founded, in the midst of the
Indian villages in this plain, the city of Cali, which he afterwards
rebuilt on its present site. The natives were so determined not to hold
any friendship with the Spaniards (believing their yoke to be heavy)
that they would neither sow nor cultivate the land; and from this cause
there was such scarcity that the greater part of the inhabitants died.
When the Spaniards abandoned the first site, the hill tribes came down
in great numbers, and, falling upon the unfortunates who were sick and
dying of hunger, soon killed and ate all those who survived. These are
the reasons why the people of this valley are so reduced that scarcely
any are left. On one side of the river, towards the east, is the
Cordillera of the Andes, and on the other side there is a larger and
more beautiful valley called Neyva, through which flows the other branch
of the great river of Santa Martha.[239]
In the skirts of the mountains there are many villages of Indians of
different nations and customs, who are very barbarous, and who all eat
human flesh, which they hold to be very delicious. On the highest parts
of the mountains there are some small valleys which form the province of
Buga. The natives of these valleys are brave warriors; and they watched
the Spaniards who came to their country, and killed Cristoval de Ayala,
without any fear.
When he, of whom I have spoken, was killed, his goods were sold in the
market at excessive prices. A sow was sold for 1600 _pesos_, together
with a small pig. Sucking pigs went for 500 _pesos_, and a Peruvian
sheep (llama) for 280 _pesos_. I saw these sums paid to one Andres
Gomez, now a citizen of Cartago, by Pedro Romero of Anzerma. The 1600
_pesos_ for the sow and the pig were paid by the Adelantado Don
Sebastian de Belalcazar, out of the goods of the Marshal Don Jorge
Robledo. I even saw that very sow eaten at a banquet which was given on
the day we arrived at the city of Cali with Vadillo. Juan Pacheco, a
conqueror who is now in Spain, bought a pig for 220 _pesos_, and knives
were sold for 15 _pesos_. I heard Jeronimo Luis Texelo say that, when he
went on the expedition with the Captain Miguel Muñoz, which is known as
that of La Vieja, he bought a shoemaker’s knife for 30 _pesos_, and
shoes went for 8 _pesos_ of gold. A sheet of paper was sold in Cali for
30 _pesos_. I might relate other facts of this kind to the glory of the
Spaniards, as showing how cheap they held money, for if they required
anything they thought nothing of it. They bought pigs in the sow’s
belly, before they were born, for 100 _pesos_ and more.
I would now request the judicious reader to reflect on and wonder at
what countries were discovered and settled between the year 1526 and the
present year 1547: and, thinking upon this, he will see how great are
the deserts of the discoverers and conquerors who have laboured so
greatly in this work; and what reason his Majesty has to give thanks to
those who passed through those labours, and served loyally without
butchering the Indians. Those, however, who have been butchers are
deserving of punishment, in my opinion. When this province was
discovered they bought a horse for 3000 or 4000 _pesos_, and even now
there are those who have not yet paid their old debts, and who, covered
with wounds received in the service, are shut up in prison until they
can pay the debts demanded by their creditors.
On the other side of the Cordillera is the other valley which I have
already mentioned, where the town of Neyva was founded. Towards the west
there are still more villages and Indians in the mountains, but I have
already given the reason why those in the plains nearly all died. The
villages of the mountains extend to the shores of the South Sea, and
stretch away far to the south. Their houses, like those I described in
Tatabe, are built on trees like granaries; they are large, and contain
many inhabitants. The land of these Indians is very fertile and
prolific, and well supplied with swine and tapirs, and other game, such
as turkeys, parrots, pheasants, and abundance of fish. The rivers are
not poor in gold, indeed we can affirm that they are very rich in that
metal. Near these villages flows the great river of Darien,[240] very
famous on account of the city which was founded near it. All these
Indians also eat human flesh. Some of them use bows and arrows, and
others staves, clubs, darts, and long lances. Towards the north of Cali
there is another province, bordering on that of Anzerma, the natives of
which are called Chancos. They are so big that they look like small
giants, with broad shoulders, robust frames, and great strength. Their
faces are large and heads narrow; for in this province, in that of
Quinbaya, and in other parts of the Indies, when a baby is born, they
force the head into the shape they may choose; thus some grow up without
an occiput, others with a raised forehead, and others with a very long
head. This is done when the child is just born, by means of certain
small boards fastened with ligatures. The women are treated in the same
way. The Chancos, both men and women, go naked and barefooted, with only
a cloth between the legs, made, not of cotton, but of bark, taken from a
tree and made very fine and soft, about a yard long, and two _palmos_
broad. They fight with great lances and darts; and occasionally they
leave their province to wage war with their neighbours of Anzerma. When
the Marshal Robledo entered Cartago for the last time (which he ought
not to have done), that he might be received as the lieutenant of the
Judge Miguel Diaz Armendariz, certain Spaniards were sent to guard the
road between Anzerma and the city of Cali. These men encountered certain
of these Chancos, who had come down to kill a Christian who was going to
take some goats to Cali, and one or two of the Indians were killed. The
Spaniards were astonished at their great size.
In the hills and valleys which sweep down from the Cordillera to the
westward, there are many Indian villages, extending to the vicinity of
the city of Cali, and bordering on the district of the Barbacoas. The
natives have their villages scattered over the hills, the houses being
grouped in tens and fifteens, sometimes more, sometimes less. They call
these Indians Gorrones, because, when the city of Cali was founded in
the valley, they called the fish _gorron_, and these Indians came in
laden with them, calling out, “_gorron! gorron!_” Not knowing their
correct name, the Spaniards named them after the fish they carried,
_Gorrones_: just in the same way as they named the Indians of Anzerma
after the salt, which in their language is _anzer_. The houses of these
Indians are large and round, and roofed with straw. They have few fruit
trees, but plenty of gold of four or five _quilates_, though little of
the finer sort. Some rivers of fresh water flow near their villages.
Near the doors of their houses they keep, from motives of pride, many
feet of the Indians whom they have killed, and many hands. They preserve
the insides, that they may lose nothing, and hang them up in rows like
sausages in great quantities, and the heads and entire quarters are also
kept. When we came to these villages with the Licentiate Juan de
Vadillo, a negro belonging to Juan de Cespedes, seeing these bowels, and
thinking they were really sausages, would have eaten them if they had
not been hard and dry from time and smoke. Outside the houses they have
many heads placed in rows, entire legs, arms, and other parts of bodies,
in such abundance as to be hardly credible. If I had not myself seen
what I write, and did not know that there are now many people in Spain
who have also seen it, I would not venture to state that these men are
such butchers of other men for the sole purpose of eating them; but we
know for certain that these Gorrones are great butchers in the matter of
eating human flesh. They have no idols, nor did I see any house of
worship, but it is publicly known that some of them converse with the
devil. Neither priests nor friars have gone amongst them, as they have
in Peru and other parts of the Indies, for fear of being killed.
These Indians are separated from the valley of the great river by a
distance of two or three leagues, but they go down to fish in the great
river and in the lagoons, returning with great store of fish. They are
of middling stature, and fit for little work. I only saw the men wearing
cloths, but the women are dressed in large cotton mantles. Their dead
are wrapped in many of these mantles, which are about three yards long
and two broad, and fastened by cords. Between the mantles they put
golden ornaments, and then bury the bodies in deep tombs. This province
is within the jurisdiction of the city of Cali. In the ravine of the
river there is a village, which is not very large, owing to the wars
which have destroyed the population. Near it there is a great lake
formed by the overflow of the river, but which is drained when the river
is low. In this lake the Indians kill a vast quantity of very savoury
fish, which they give to travellers, and with which they trade in the
cities of Cartago and Cali, and in other parts. Besides the quantity
they thus dispose of, or eat themselves, they have great deposits for
sale to the Indians of the mountains, and great jars of grease taken
from the fish. When we were engaged in exploring with the licentiate
Juan de Vadillo, we arrived at this village very short of food, and
found some fish. Afterwards, when we came to found the town of Anzerma
with captain Robledo, we found enough fish here to load two ships.
This province of the Gorrones is very fertile, and yields plenty of
maize and other things. There are many deer, _guadaquinajes_, other wild
beasts, and birds in the woods. But the great valley of Cali, once so
fertile, is now a desert of grassy land, yielding no profit to any but
the deer and other animals who graze in it, for the Christians are not
in sufficient numbers to occupy such extensive tracts.