Of the river of Apurimac, of the valley of Xaquixaguana, of the causeway
which passes over it, and of what else there is to relate until the city
of Cuzco is reached.
Further on is the river of Apurimac, which is the largest of those which
are crossed between this place and Caxamarca. It is eight leagues from
that of Abancay, and the road is much broken up by mountains and
declivities, so that those who made it must have had much labour in
breaking up the rocks, and levelling the ground, especially where it
descends towards the river. Here the road is so rugged and dangerous,
that some horses, laden with gold and silver, have fallen in and been
lost without any possibility of saving them. There are two enormous
stone pillars, to which the bridge is secured. When I returned to the
City of the Kings, after we had defeated Gonzalo Pizarro, some of our
soldiers crossed the river without a bridge, which had been destroyed,
each man in a sack fastened to a rope passing from the pillar on one
side of the river to that on the other, more than fifty of us.[444] It
is no small terror that is caused by seeing what men pass through in
these Indies. After crossing this river the place is presently seen
where the buildings of the Yncas were, and where they had an oracle. The
devil, according to the Indians, replied from out of the trunk of a
tree, near which they buried gold, and offered up sacrifices.
From this river of Apurimac the road leads to the buildings of
Limatambo,[445] and crossing the mountains of Vilcaconga (which is the
place where the Adelantado Don Diego de Almagro, with some Spaniards,
fought a battle with the Indians before he entered Cuzco) the valley of
Xaquixaguana is reached, which is a plain situated between the chains of
mountains. It is not very broad, nor long. At the beginning of it, is
the place where Gonzalo Pizarro was defeated, and close by he and his
captains were tried by order of the licentiate Don Pedro de la Gasca,
president for his Majesty. In this valley there were very rich and
sumptuous edifices, where the nobles of Cuzco retired to enjoy their
ease and pleasure. Here, also, was the place where the governor Don
Francisco Pizarro ordered Challcuchima, the captain-general of
Atahualpa, to be burnt. The distance from this valley to the city of
Cuzco is five leagues along the grand royal road. The water of a river
which rises near this valley forms a large and deep morass, and it would
be very difficult to cross it, if the Yncas had not caused a broad and
strong causeway to be made, with walls on either side so strong as to
last for a long time. In former times this valley was very populous,
and was covered with crops, in fields which were so numerous that it was
a sight worth seeing. These fields were divided from each other by broad
walls, with the crops of maize and roots sown between them, and thus
they rose up the sides of the mountains.[446] Many of these crops are of
wheat, which grows well.[447] There are also large flocks belonging to
the Spaniards who are citizens of the ancient city of Cuzco, which is
built between certain hills in the manner and fashion that I shall
declare in the following chapter.