How many nations of these Indians make war one upon the other, and how
the lords and chiefs oppress the poorer people.
I verily believe that the people in these Indies have been there for
many ages, as is shown by the ancient buildings and the extensive
regions they have peopled; and, although they are all brown and
beardless, and are so much alike, they have such a multitude of
languages that there is almost a new language at every league in all
parts of the country.[535] As so many ages have passed away since these
people came here, they have waged great wars and battles, retaining the
provinces they conquered. Thus, in the district of the town of Arma, in
the government of Popayan, there is a great province called Carrapa,
between which and that of Quinbaya (where the city of Cartago is
founded) there are many people. These people, having for their leader a
chief named Yrrua, entered Carrapa, and, in spite of the natives, made
themselves masters of the greater part of the province.[536] I know
this, because, when we discovered these districts, we saw the villages
burnt just as they were left by the natives of the province of Quinbaya.
It is notorious that they were all killed, in former times, by those who
made themselves masters of the land.
In many parts of the provinces of the government of Popayan the same
things happened. In Peru they talk of nothing else but how some came
from one part, and some from another, and made themselves masters of the
land of their neighbours by wars and battles. The great antiquity of
these people is also shown by the remains of cultivated fields, which
are so numerous.
The Yncas, it is well known, made themselves masters of this kingdom by
force and intrigues. They relate that Manco Ccapac, who founded the city
of Cuzco, had an insignificant origin, and the sovereignty remained in
the hands of his descendants until the time of the dispute between the
sole heir Huascar, and Atahualpa, concerning the government of the
empire, after which the Spaniards arrived, and easily got possession of
the country. From all this it appears that there were wars and
oppressions among these Indians, as well as among all the other nations
of the world; for do we not read that tyrants have made themselves
rulers of great kingdoms and lordships?
When I was in these parts I heard that the chiefs oppressed the people,
and that some of them treated the Indians with great severity; for if
the _Encomenderos_ asked for any service, or desired some forced
service, either from the persons or goods of the Indians, they obliged
the chiefs to supply it. The chiefs then went to the houses of the
poorest people, and ordered them to comply with the demand; and if they
made any excuse, even if it was a just one, not only were they not
listened to, but they were also ill-treated, and their persons or goods
were taken by force. I heard the poor Indians of the King, and others in
the Collao, in the valley of Xauxa, and in many other parts, lamenting
over this oppression, but though they receive an injury they cannot
resent it. If sheep are required, they are not taken from the chiefs but
from the unhappy Indians. Some of them are so much molested that they
hide away for fear of these exactions; and in the coast valleys they are
more oppressed by the chiefs than in the mountains. It is true, however,
that, as there are friars preaching in most of the provinces of this
kingdom, and as some of them understand the language, they hear the
complaints of the Indians, and remedy many of their wrongs. Each day
things get into better order, and the Christians and Indian chiefs have
such fear of the strict justice enforced in these parts by the Audience
and royal Chancelleries, that they dare not lay their hands on the poor,
and there has thus been a great reform in the government.