Concerning the villages beyond Quito as far as the royal palaces of
Tumebamba, and of some customs of the natives.
The distance from the city of Quito to the palaces of Tumebamba is
fifty-three leagues. Soon after leaving the city there is a village
called Pansaleo, the natives of which differ in some things from their
neighbours, especially in the fillets or bands round their heads; for by
these bands the descent of the Indians is known, and the provinces of
which they are natives.[273]
These and all the other natives of the kingdom, over a space of more
than one thousand two hundred leagues, speak the general language of the
Yncas, being that which is used in Cuzco. They generally speak this
language, because such is the order of the Yncas, and it was a law
throughout the kingdom that this language should be used. Fathers were
punished if they neglected to teach it to their sons in their childhood,
yet, notwithstanding that they speak the language of Cuzco, all these
tribes had a language of their own which was spoken by their ancestors.
Thus, those of Pansaleo had a different language from those of Carangue
and Otabalo. The people of Pansaleo are dressed in shirts without
sleeves or collars, with openings at the sides for their arms, and above
for their heads. They also have large mantles of wool or cotton. The
mantles of the chiefs were very fine, and were dyed with many bright
colours. For shoes they used certain _usutas_, made from a root or herb
called _Cabuya_,[274] which forms great leaves, out of which very useful
white fibres are drawn, like hemp. Of these they make their _usutas_, or
sandals, which serve as shoes, and they wear the ends of these fibres as
a covering for their heads. Some of the women wear the very graceful
dress of those of Cuzco, with a long mantle extending from the neck to
the feet, having holes for the arms. Round the waist they fasten a very
broad and graceful belt called _chumpi_, which tightens and secures the
mantle. Over this they wear another fine mantle falling from the
shoulders, and coming down so as to cover the feet, called _lliella_. To
secure their mantles they wear pins of gold and silver, rather broad at
one end, called _topu_. On the head they wear a very graceful band,
which they call _uncha_, and the _usutas_, or sandals, complete their
attire. In short, the dress of the ladies of Cuzco is the most graceful
and rich that has been seen up to this time in all the Indies.[275]
They are very careful in combing out their hair, and wear it very long.
In another place I will treat more fully of this dress of the _Pallas_,
or ladies of Cuzco.
Between this village of Pansaleo and the city of Quito there are some
scattered villages here and there among the hills. To the westward are
the valleys of Uchillo and Langazi, where the land, which is very
fertile, yields many of those products concerning which I wrote in the
chapter on the foundation of Quito. The inhabitants are not hostile to
each other, nor do they eat human flesh, and they are not so wicked as
some of those in the provinces which we have passed. Formerly they
adored many idols, according to their own report, but after they were
conquered by the Kings Yncas, they offered their sacrifices to the sun,
and worshipped it as a god.
Here a road leads to the forests of Yumbo, where the natives are not so
serviceable nor so docile as those of Quito, but, on the contrary, proud
and vicious. They live in a rugged and inaccessible district, which is,
however, very rich by reason of the warmth and fertility. These people
also worship the sun, and resemble their neighbours in their habits and
customs, for, like them, they were subjugated by the great Tupac Ynca
Yupanqui and his son Huayna Ccapac.
Another road leads towards the rising of the sun, where there is a
province called Quijos, inhabited by Indians with the same manners and
customs.
Three leagues beyond Pansaleo are the buildings and village of
Mulahalo,[276] which though now small from the desertion of its
inhabitants, was, in ancient times, a station where there were lodgings
for the Yncas and their captains when they travelled on this road, and
great store of provisions for the troops. On the right hand of the
village of Mulahalo there is a fiery mouth, or volcano, of which the
Indians say that, in former times, it threw out great quantities of
stones and cinders, insomuch that many villages were destroyed by them.
Some pretend that, before the irruption, infernal visions were seen, and
trembling voices heard. What these Indians say of the volcano appears to
be certainly true, for at the time Don Pedro de Alvarado (formerly
governor of the province of Guatemala) entered Peru with his armed force
by way of these provinces of Quito, it rained cinders for several days,
as several Spaniards assert who came with Alvarado. They must have burst
from some fiery mouth, as there are many in these mountains which would
yield much sulphur.
A little beyond Mulahalo are the village and great buildings called
Llacta-cunga, which were as important as those of Quito.[277] The
buildings, though now in ruins, give signs of their former grandeur,
and in some of the walls the niches may be seen where the golden sheep
and other valuable things which they carved, were kept. The building set
apart for the Kings Yncas, and the temple of the sun, where they
performed their sacrifices and superstitions, were especially remarkable
for these precious things. There were also many virgins here, dedicated
to the service of the temple, whom they called _Mama-cuna_. In this
village the Lords Yncas placed a superintendent, who had charge of the
collection of tribute in the neighbouring provinces, and stored it here,
where there were also a great number of _Mitimaes_.[278] The Yncas,
considering that the centre of their dominion was the city of Cuzco,
whence they promulgated laws, and sent forth their captains to war, and
that Quito was six hundred leagues distant, while the road to Chile was
still longer; and considering, also, that all this vast extent of
country was peopled by barbarous, and some of them very warlike tribes,
they adopted the following system in order to keep the empire in greater
security. It was first commenced in the time of King Ynca Yupanqui,
father of the great Tupac Ynca Yupanqui, and grandfather of Huayna
Ccapac.
As soon as a province was conquered, ten or twelve thousand men were
ordered to go there with their wives, but they were always sent to a
country where the climate resembled that from which they came. If they
were natives of a cold province, they were sent to a cold one; and if
they came from a warm province, they went to a warm one. These people
were called _Mitimaes_,[278] which means Indians who have come from one
country and gone to another. They received grants of land on which to
work, and sites on which to build their houses. The Yncas decreed that
these _Mitimaes_ should always obey the orders of the governors and
captains who were placed over them, so that if the natives rebelled, the
_Mitimaes_, who owed obedience to their captains, would punish them and
force them into the service of the Yncas; consequently, if there was any
disturbance among the _Mitimaes_ themselves, they were attacked by the
natives. By this policy these Lords Yncas kept their empire safe and
free from rebellion; and the provinces were well supplied with
provisions, for most of the inhabitants of each were natives of some
other country. They also adopted another plan, in order that they might
not be detested by the natives. They never deprived the native caciques
of their inheritance, and if any one of them was so guilty as to merit
deprivation, the vacant office was given to his sons or brothers, and
all men were ordered to obey them. In my book of the Yncas I treat more
fully of this system of _Mitimaes_ than I am able to do here. To return
to what I was saying, these Indians, called _Mitimaes_, in the station
of Llacta-cunga, were ordered to obey the officer appointed by the Ynca.
Around the buildings were the farms and villages of the chiefs and
officers, which were well supplied with provisions.
When the last battle was fought in Peru (which was in the valley of
Xaquixaguana, where Gonzalo Pizarro was put to death) we set out from
the government of Popayan with the Adelantado Don Sebastian de
Belalcazar, and little less than two hundred Spaniards, to take the side
of his Majesty against the tyrants, and some of us arrived at this
village, for we did not all march along the same road, lest there should
be difficulty in obtaining food and other necessaries. In one direction
there were plenty of rabbits, in another pigs, in another fowls, and so
on with sheep and lambs; and thus all were provided for.
The natives of this village all go about dressed in shirts and mantles,
each one as richly and gallantly adorned as his means will allow. The
women also go dressed in the same way as those of Mulahalo, and they
speak almost the same language. All their houses are of stone, roofed
with straw, some being large, and others small, according to the rank
and wealth of the occupants. The captains and lords have many women, but
there is one principal and legitimate wife, through whom the lordship is
inherited. They worship the sun, and when the chiefs die, they make
large tombs in the mountains and plains, where they bury his gold and
silver jewels, arms, clothes, and live women (not the ugliest) with the
body, together with plenty of provisions. This custom of thus burying
the dead is adopted throughout the greater part of the Indies by advice
of the devil, who gives the people to understand that they will thus be
well provided for when they arrive in the new country. They make great
lamentations over their dead, and the women who are not killed, with all
the servants, are shorn of their hair, and remain for many days in
constant mourning. After weeping through all the day and night in which
the death took place, they still continue to weep for a whole year.
These Indians eat early in the morning, and they eat on the ground
without troubling themselves much about cloths or napkins. After they
have eaten their maize, with meat or fish, they pass all the rest of the
day in drinking _chicha_,[280] or wine made from maize, always holding
the cup in their hands. They are very careful and orderly in their
festive songs, the men and women holding hands, and going round to the
sound of a drum. They recount former events in their songs and ditties,
but they always go on drinking until they are very drunk. [_Here follow
sentences unfit for translation._][281]
They believe in the immortality of the soul, and know that there has
been a Creator of all things in the world, so that in contemplating the
grandeur of the heavens, the movements of the sun and moon, and other
marvels, they understand that there was a Creator of them all, but,
blinded and deceived by the devil, they think that the same devil has
power over all things. Some, however, seeing his villainy, and that he
never tells the truth, abhor him, and they obey him more from fear than
because they believe in his divinity. They hold the sun in great
reverence, and believe it to be a god. The priests are much esteemed by
the people.
I shall conclude this chapter by saying that these people of
Llacta-cunga use lances of palm wood, darts, and slings for fighting.
The women are very amorous, and some of them are beautiful. There are
still many _Mitimaes_ here, descended from those who came here when the
Yncas ruled over these provinces.