Of the founding of the city called of Our Lady of Peace, who was its
founder, and of the road thence to the town of Plata.
From the village of Tiahuanaco the road leads to Viacha, a distance of
seven leagues, leaving the villages called Cacayavire, Caquinhora,
Mallama, and others on the left hand; but it seems to me of little use
to name them all. In the midst of them is the plain near another village
called Huarina; the place where, in the days that are passed, there was
a battle between Diego Centeno and Gonzalo Pizarro.[504] It was a
memorable event, as I shall show in the proper place, and many captains
and knights of the King’s party fell, fighting under the banner of the
captain Diego Centeno, as well as some of those who were the accomplices
of Gonzalo Pizarro. God was served by the rebel being the victor in this
battle. To reach the city of La Paz, it is necessary to leave the royal
road of the Yncas, and to go to the village of Laxa. The city is a day’s
journey further on, built in the narrow part of a small valley formed by
the mountains. It was founded in the most level part that could be
selected, for the sake of the wood and water, of which there is much in
this small valley, as the climate is warmer than on the plains of the
Collao, which are higher, and where there are none of the things
necessary for a large city. Notwithstanding all this, the citizens have
thought of moving nearer to the great lake of Titicaca, between the
villages of Huaqui and Tiahuanaco. Yet the city has remained in the
valley of Chuquiapu where, in former years, great quantities of gold
were taken out of the rich mines that are there. The Yncas held this
Chuquiapu in great estimation. Near it is the valley of Oyune, where
they say that there is a great treasure hidden in a temple on the summit
of a snowy mountain, but it cannot be found, nor is it known where it
is.
This city of La Paz was founded by the captain Alonzo de Mendoza, in the
name of the Emperor our lord, when the licentiate Pedro de la Gasca was
president of this kingdom, in the year of our redemption 1549.[505] In
the valley formed by the mountains, where the city is built, they raise
a few trees, some maize, and the pulses and garden stuffs of Spain. The
Spaniards are here well supplied with provisions and with fish from the
lake, as well as with plenty of fruit from the warm valleys, where they
also grow a great quantity of wheat, and breed goats, cows, and other
animals. This city has very rugged and difficult approaches, being, as I
have said, amongst the mountains. A small river of excellent water flows
near it.
The distance from this city of La Paz to the town of Plata, which is in
the province of Charcas, is ninety leagues, a little more or less. I
will now return to the royal road which I had left, and I have to say
that it goes from Viacha to Hayohayo, where there were great buildings
for the Yncas. Beyond Hayohayo is Sicasica, to which point the province
of Colloa extends. On both sides of these villages there are several
more. Eleven leagues beyond Sicasica is the village of Caracollo, which
is built in a certain plain near the great province of Paria, which was
highly esteemed by the Yncas. The natives of this province of Paria are
clothed like all the rest, and they wear, as an ornamental head-dress, a
small woollen cap. The chiefs were much reverenced by the Indians, and
there were royal edifices and store-houses of the Yncas, and a temple of
the sun. Here there are a great many lofty tombs where they buried their
dead. The villages of Indians subject to Paria are Caponota and many
others, some near the lake, and some in different parts of the district.
Beyond Paria are the villages of Pocoata, Macha, Coracora, Moromoro, and
near the Andes there are other provinces and great chiefs.