mother’s uncle, that two children of the sun mysteriously appeared
on the banks of lake Titicaca, marched north to Cuzco, and taught
the savage people to sow, reap, and weave: another, that a mighty
personage appeared at Tiahuanaco and divided the land amongst four
kings, one of whom was Manco Ccapac: and a third, that four men and
four women came out of a hole in a rock near Paccari-tampu, of whom
the eldest was Manco Ccapac, the first Ynca. _G. de la Vega_, i, lib.
i, cap. xv-xviii.
Herrera also gives three accounts. The first, obtained from the
Huancas and Aymaras, that there was a great deluge, during which some
people were preserved by hiding in caves on the highest mountains,
after which a, mighty civiliser arose in the Collao. The second, that
the sun, after a long absence, rose out of lake Titicaca{a} in company
with a white man of large stature, who gave men rules to live by. He
eventually spread his mantle on the sea and disappeared. The third
story is the same as Garcilasso’s, about the people coming out of a
hole in the rock. _Herrera_, dec. iii, lib. ix, cap. 1.
Montesinos says that, five hundred years after Noah’s deluge, four
brothers led the first inhabitants to Peru, of whom the youngest
killed his brothers and left the empire to his son Manco Ccapac.
Montesinos then gives a list of one hundred Yncas who succeeded Manco;
the inventions of his own imagination, or at best the results of
affirmative answers from Indians who only half understood him: for, as
Cieza de Leon shrewdly remarks, “these Indians are intelligent, but
they answer _Yes!_ to everything that is asked of them.”{b}
Cieza de Leon, whose testimony I consider to be worth more than that
of all the other chroniclers put together, says that Manco Ccapac was
believed to have been the first Ynca, and that the Indians relate
great marvels respecting him.{c} Indeed, all that Cieza de Leon has
recorded concerning the traditions of the people goes to prove that
they had no idea of their ancestors having had a foreign origin, but,
on the contrary, that they believed them to have sprung from their
native rocks or lakes. Thus the Huancas thought that their first
parents came forth from the fountain of Huarivilca.{d} The Chancas
sought the origin of their race in the lake of Soclo-cocha.{e} The
Aymaras were divided in opinion as to whether their first parents came
out of a fountain, a lake, or a rock, but believed that once there was
a great deluge. In short, “no sense can be learned from these Indians
concerning their origin.”{f} All that we know for certain is, that
they had dwelt for generation after generation in the valleys and on
the mountains where the Spaniards found them in the middle of the
sixteenth century. “A very long period has elapsed,” says our author,
“since these Indians first peopled the Indies.”{g}
The series of Ynca sovereigns according to Garcilasso de la Vega, the
last ten of whom are historical personages, is as follows:--
_Circa_ 1021 Manco Ccapac.
“ 1062 Sinchi Rocca.
“ 1091 Lloque Yupanqui.
“ 1126 Mayta Ccapac.
“ 1156 Ccapac Yupanqui.
“ 1197 Ynca Rocca.
“ 1249 Yahuar-huaccac.
“ 1289 Huira-ccocha.
“ 1340 Pachacutec.
“ 1400 Ynca Yupanqui.
“ 1439 Tupac Ynca Yupanqui.
“ 1475 Huayna Ccapac.
“ 1526 Huascar.
“ 1532 Atahualpa.
“ 1533 Ynca Manco.
“ 1553 Sayri Tupac.
“ 1560 Cusi Titu Yupanqui.
“ 1562 Tupac Amaru (_beheaded_ 1571).
For the signification of these names, see note at page 231.
{a} See p. 372.
{b} See p. 285.
{c} See pp. 136, 329.
{d} See p. 298.
{e} See p. 316.
{f} See p. 363.
{g} See p. 89.
[92] See pages 332, 338, 355, etc.
[93] See note at p. 226.
[94] See note at page 280.
[95] See note at p. 269.
[96] See p. 261.
[97] See p. 337 and note.
[98] The last aggressive enterprise of the Yncas seems to have been
the invasion of the island of Puná, in the gulf of Guayaquil. Cieza de
Leon gives a detailed account of the transactions connected with this
invasion. See chapters xlvii, xlviii, and liv.
[99] The battle-axe was called _champi_, the club, _macana_, and the
spear, _chuqui_. They also had a terrible weapon of copper, in the
shape of a star; a two-handed axe; and bows and arrows, _huachi_.
[100] Cieza do Leon says that “the Yncas were very astute and artful
in turning enemies into friends, without having resort to war” (p.
137).
[101] See page 133 and note, and page 137.
[102] See page 369.
[103] See chapter xcvi.
[104] See chapters xcii and xciii; and notes at pages 322 and 327.
[105] See pages 145 and note, and 167 and note.
[106] See the second note at p. 322.
[107] See page 328 and note.
[108] See pages 153 with note, and 217 and 218 with note.
[109] See pages 149, 150, 361, and 362.
[110] See page 146.
[111] Toleration is the last, as it is the greatest virtue that a
ruler learns. It is a virtue that has yet to be learnt by the nations
of Europe. An eminent divine of the present day (_Spectator_, July
30th, 1864, p. 877) declares that it is well he has not the power to
persecute his theological opponents, for that he would not trust his
will. The brightest European examples of tolerant princes are Marcus
Aurelius and Oliver Cromwell, yet one permitted the persecution of
Christians, and the other hunted down papists and malignants. For
perfect toleration we must look beyond Europe, and contemplate the
policy of the illustrious Akbar in India, and of the Yncas in South
America.
[112] See page 136.
[113] See page 220.
[114] See pages 17, 93, 108, 119, 203, 213, 220, etc.
[115] See note at p. 218.
[116] See page 263.
[117] See chapter cxix.
[118] See page 40.
[119] When Columbus returned from his first voyage, he brought home
several Indians, who were baptised at Barcelona, and one of them died
shortly afterwards. Herrera tells us that this Indian was the first
native of the new world who went to heaven. (Dec. i, lib. ii, cap. 5.)
The countless millions of his countrymen who had died unbaptised, are
of course suffering eternal torments in hell!
[120] This is the part which is now translated, the only one which was
ever published, and, indeed, the only one which is suited to form a
volume for the HAKLUYT SOCIETY. It is a narrative of travel
in the strictest sense, while the other parts would have been purely
historical.
[121] Old Panama was founded in 1520, in 8° 57´ N. latitude and
79° 31´ W. longitude; on the shores of a bay discovered by Tello
de Guzman, one of the companions of Columbus. In 1521 the city was
granted a royal charter by Charles V, with the title of “_Very noble
and very loyal city of Panama_.”
[122] _Inga spectabilis_ Wild: the _paccay_ of Peru; a pod with black
seeds in sweet juicy cotton.
[123] _Chrysophyllum Caimito_ Lin.: or star apple.
[124] Alligator pear, called _palta_ in Peru. (_Persea gratissima
R. P._) The Aztec name _ahuacahuitl_ was corrupted by the Spaniards
into _aguacate_, and by the English West Indians into _avogada_
(_alligator_) pears. It is a most refreshing fruit, eaten with pepper
and salt.
[125] _Panama_ is an Indian word, signifying a place abounding with
fish.
[126] 8° 59´ N.
[127] About a mile outside the present city of Panama there is a hill,
now laid out as a garden with a summer house on the top. This is the
“Cerro de Buccaneros,” whence Morgan, with his ruffians, got the first
view of the rich city of old Panama; and a most magnificent view it
is. Undulating hills clad in bright foliage, green savannahs, the
blue bay with its islands, and the modern city of Panama on a long
promontory almost surrounded by the sea. Far away to the left, rising
out of a dense forest, is the solitary tower which alone remains of
the once flourishing old Panama, the town founded by Pedrarias, and
described above by our author. So complete is the desolation of this
once splendid city, the centre of trade between Peru and Spain, that
it is difficult to reach the site. The way leads through a trackless
forest of tall trees and tangled undergrowth, and over a swampy creek
of deep black mud, which opens on the sea-shore, the port described by
Cieza de Leon. The tall tower of San Geronimo covered with creepers,
with decayed and falling walls rising up around it, out of the dense
jungle, amidst thick brushwood and tall forest trees, alone marks the
site of the old city. When we reached the beach it was low water, and
the wide sands were covered with pelicans, cranes, sandpipers, and
other water fowl, which made the place look still more melancholy and
deserted. Old Panama was one of the richest cities in Spanish America.
It had eight monasteries, two splendid churches and a cathedral, a
fine hospital, two hundred richly furnished houses, near five thousand
houses of a humble kind, a Genoese chamber of commerce, two hundred
warehouses, and delicious gardens and country houses in the environs.
All is now covered by a dense and impervious forest.
The buccaneers marched to the attack of this doomed city under the
command of the notorious Morgan, and, after three weeks of rapine
and murder, left it on February 24th, 1671, with one hundred and
seventy-five laden mules and over six hundred prisoners. The houses
were built of cedar, so that when Morgan set fire to them, the
destruction was complete.
After this fearful calamity the governor of Panama, Don Juan Perez de
Guzman, was recalled and sent prisoner to Lima by order of the Viceroy
of Peru, and in 1673 Don Alonzo Mercado de Villacorta was ordered to
found a new town on the present site, some miles from the ruins of old
Panama.
A paved road led from old Panama to Porto Bello, on the opposite side
of the isthmus.
[128] The prevailing winds along the shores of Peru blow from S.S.E.
to S.W., seldom stronger than a fresh breeze.
[129] 8° 20´ to 8° 40´ N.
[130] 8° 5´ N.
[131] 7° 24´ N.
[132] 3° 48´ N.
[133] 2° 55´ N.
[134] Quite correct.
[135] Near the port of Tumaco.
[136] 0° 38´ N.
[137] 0° 20´ S.
[138] Bajos de Cojimies.
[139] 1° 2´ S.
[140] Or Salango, where good water may be got from a rivulet, and also
very fine timber.
[141] This is quite correct, there is good anchorage, but no fresh
water to be had.
[142] See chapter lii.
[143] The island of Santa Clara is also called the _Isla del Muerto_;
Pizarro landed on it during his first voyage to Tumbez, and his people
found a few pieces of gold there. The man who attends the lighthouse
on the island, recently opened a _huaca_, and found in it a quantity
of gold ornaments, which he sold to the Prussian Consul at Guayaquil.
Mr. Spruce tells me that they are the most interesting and perfect
specimens of Peruvian art he has seen. One of the objects was a small
statue, six to eight inches high, of very creditable sculpture. More
curious still were several thin plates, almost like a lady’s muslin
collar in size and shape, covered with figures. One of them has
perhaps a hundred figures of pelicans (the sacred bird of the people
of Puna). Every figure represents the bird in a different attitude,
and as they have been stamped, not engraved, a separate die must have
been used for each figure.
[144] _Mama_ (Mother) and _cuna_ (the plural particle) in Quichua.
They were Matrons who had charge of the virgins of the Sun.
[145] The town of Tumbez, about two leagues up the river, now consists
of a few huts. Whalers come here for fresh water. It is in 3° 30´ S.
[146] Cape Blanco is high and bold.
[147] Twenty-two leagues.
[148] The island of Lobos de Tierra is two leagues long and two miles
wide, ten miles from the main land.
[149] A bluff about eighty feet high, with a reef running out to a
distance of half a mile on its western side. Pariña Point is the
western extremity of South America.
[150] Nine leagues S.E. ¼ S.
[151] 5° 3´ S.
[152] A long level point terminating in a steep bluff one hundred and
fifty feet high. It is in 5° 55´ S.
[153] These are the islands of Lobos de Afuera, about one hundred feet
high. There are regular soundings in fifty fathoms between them and
the shore.
[154] The road of Malabrigo is a bad anchorage, though somewhat better
than the road of Huanchaco, the port of Truxillo, which is in 8° 6´ S.
[155] There is a small cove with a tolerable landing on the north side
of Guañape hill.
[156] Santa bay, though small, is a tolerable port, and fresh
provisions, vegetables, and water may be procured.
[157] Ferrol bay is an excellent place for a vessel to careen, being
entirely free from the swell of the ocean. There is no fresh water.
[158] The bay of Casma is a snug anchorage.
[159] Guarmay is the best place on the coast for firewood. The river
cannot be depended upon for supplies of water, except during the wet
season.
[160] There are large salt lakes here.
[161] Several islets off the coast.
[162] The high barren island of San Lorenzo, which Cieza de Leon
called the island of Lima, forms the spacious and safe anchorage of
Callao Bay.
[163] 12° 4´ S.
[164] Sangalla, so called also by Alonzo Enriquez de Guzman (p. 149),
Herrera, and others, was no doubt close to the modern Pisco, which is
in latitude 13° 43´ S. If Sangalla is not identical with Pisco, it was
probably on the site of the modern village of Paraccas, a few miles
further south, and about in the latitude given by Cieza de Leon. There
is an island still called Sangallan, off the peninsula of Paraccas,
about two miles and a half long, with a bold cliffy outline.
[165] See chapter lix.
[166] These are the _Ballista_ and _Chincha_ islands: the latter, now
so famous for their guano deposits, supplying all the world with that
rich manure, which forms the chief item in the revenue of modern Peru.
[167] Cape Nasca is a lofty bluff, one thousand and twenty feet
high, in 14° 57´ S.; there is an anchorage called Caballas Roads to
the westward, rocky and shallow, “which should only be known to be
avoided.” The _Beagle_ was at anchor there for twenty-four hours
without being able to effect a landing. I rode along the whole of
this coast in January 1853, a most desolate miserable region. Near
Cape Nasca there are a few huts, called Sta. Anna, used as a bathing
station for the ladies of Nasca, San Xavier, and other coast valleys.
[168] In latitude 15° 11´ S.
[169] In latitude 15° 20´ S. The port of Acari is called San Juan, and
is one of the best on the coast; but wood, water, and provisions are
all brought from a distance.
[170] In latitude 16° 42´ S. The anchorage is much exposed, but
landing is tolerably good. Quilca was the port of Arequipa in Spanish
times, but since 1827 it has given place to Islay, another port a
short distance down the coast.
[171] In lat. 17° 7´ there is a point of that name, a few miles S.E.
of Islay.
[172] This is Coles point, a low sandy spit, running out into the sea,
with a cluster of rocks off it.
[173] Ylo is five miles and a half N.E. of Coles point, in latitude
17° 36´ S. Water is scarce.
[174] This may be Sama hill, the highest and most conspicuous land
near the sea, on this part of the coast.
[175] In latitude 18° 27´ S. Our author is beginning to get a good
deal out in his reckoning.
[176] This is the port of Iquique, in latitude 20° 12´ S.; a place of
considerable trade, from the quantity of saltpetre that is exported.
The anchorage is under a low island correctly described by our author.
[177] The spacious bay of Mexillones is eight miles across, but no
wood nor water can be obtained there.
[178] In latitude 27° 2´ S. A very bad port, with a remarkable island
called Isla Grande to the north.
[179] The point forming Huasco bay is low and rugged, with several
small islands between it and the port. The river is small, and a
heavy surf breaks outside; the water, however, is excellent. There is
another small river of brackish water nearer the port. The port is
in latitude 28° 27´ S. Here our author becomes more correct in his
reckoning.
[180] In latitude 29° 55´ S. The islands he mentions are the Pijaros
Niños islets and rocks.
[181] The point here mentioned is a low rocky spit called Lengua de
Vaca, round which is Tongoy, or, as our author calls it, Atongayo bay.
About twenty-two miles further south is the mouth of the Limari river.
[182] I cannot identify this.
[183] In latitude 32° 50´ S. The bay of Quintero is roomy and
sheltered during southerly winds.
[184] In latitude 33° S.
[185] Coasters sometimes anchor here for a few hours, but there is no
place fit for a vessel of two hundred tons.
[186] In latitude 36° 47´ S.
[187] He must mean the island of Mocha.
[188] In latitude 39° 49´ S.
[189] The above is, on the whole, an excellent account of the coast
from Panama to Valdivia. It agrees, in all essential points, with
Admiral Fitz-Roy’s sailing directions printed in 1851; and Cieza de
Leon deserves great credit for his care and diligence in collecting
what, in those days, must have been very useful information. Indeed,
it is not a little remarkable that, in those early days of the
conquest, the old Spanish pilots should have completed a manual of
sailing directions such as is contained in the preceding chapters, on
a plan very similar to those now issued by the Hydrographic Office.
[190] Or Darien.
[191] Or Atrato.
[192] The events thus briefly alluded to by our author, will be made
more intelligible by a short summary. The main land of the American
continent was first discovered by Columbus during his third voyage in
1498, at Paria, opposite to the island of Trinidad. In 1499 one of his
companions, Alonzo de Ojeda, accompanied by Amerigo Vespucci, touched
the coast somewhere near Sarinam, and coasted along as far as the gulf
of Maracaibo, naming a village at the mouth of that gulf _Venezuela_.
In 1508 Ojeda, who was a brave soldier of great personal strength,
obtained the government of the coast from Cabo de la Vela to the gulf
of Uraba, which was called New Andalusia; and at the same time Diego
Nicueza, a very different sort of person,--a polished courtier and
good musician, was appointed governor of Veragua or Castille del Oro,
a territory extending from the gulf of Uraba to Cape Gracias á Dios.
The two adventurers arrived at Hispaniola at the same time; but Ojeda
set out first on his voyage of discovery, and landed at Carthagena in
1510. Advancing into the country he was surprised and defeated by the
Indians in the bloody battle of Turbaco, losing seventy Spaniards,
among them Juan de la Cosa, Ojeda’s lieutenant. At this time Nicuesa
arrived, and, in spite of former jealousies and quarrels, offered
assistance to Ojeda. The Indians were in their turn defeated, and all
were put to the sword, neither age nor sex being spared.
Ojeda then took leave of Nicuesa, and, sailing to the westward,
selected a spot on the east side of the gulf of Uraba or Darien as a
site for a town. It consisted of about thirty huts surrounded by a
stockade, and was called San Sebastian de Uraba. Here Ojeda was again
defeated by the Indians, and, returning to Hispaniola for assistance,
he died there in extreme poverty. The Spaniards at San Sebastian were
left under the command of Francisco Pizarro, the future conqueror
of Peru; they suffered from famine and disease, and at last Pizarro
embarked them all in two small vessels. Outside the harbour they met
a vessel which proved to be that of the Bachiller Enciso, Ojeda’s
partner, coming with provisions and reinforcements. They all returned
to San Sebastian, but found that the Indians had destroyed the fort,
and Enciso determined to abandon it. One of the crew of Enciso’s
ship, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the future discoverer of the South Sea,
induced his commander to form a settlement on the other side of the
gulf, called Santa Maria la Antigua del Darien. No vestige of it now
remains. The troops, however, soon became discontented, Enciso was
deposed, and Diego Colmenares, who arrived with provisions, was sent
to offer the command to Nicuesa. This commander, after parting from
Ojeda, had suffered most fearful hardships on a desert island, and
Colmenares found him in a state of great misery, in a bay which he had
called _Nombre de Dios_. When he arrived at Darien, the Spaniards had
changed their minds, and refused to receive him, and he was finally
obliged to sail in a wretched boat, and was never heard of again. This
was in March 1511. Vasco Nuñez, a clever and courageous adventurer,
then took command of the Darien settlement, and the Bachiller
Enciso was sent back to Hispaniola. The new commander entered upon
a career of conquest in the neighbourhood of Darien, which ended
in the discovery of the Pacific Ocean on September 25th, 1513. In
1514 Pedrarias de Avila was appointed governor of Darien, an old man
of rank and some reputation, but with no ability, and of a cruel
disposition. He set out with a large expedition, the historian Oviedo,
and the Bachiller Enciso being in his train; and superseded Blasco
Nuñez in the government of Darien in June.
[193] In 1517.
[194] Don Pedro de Heredia was one of the most distinguished among
the discoverers of New Granada, a firm, intrepid, enterprising man,
gifted with the art of securing the confidence and obedience of his
usually lawless followers. He commenced his career as lieutenant under
Garcia de Lerma, the second governor of Santa Martha, and, returning
to Spain with great wealth, he obtained the government of all the
country between the mouth of the river Magdalena and the gulf of
Darien, and set sail again with a hundred men in 1532. He founded the
city of Carthagena in January 1533, and his brother Alonzo de Heredia
established a settlement at Uraba in 1535.
Our author sailed from Spain, in the fleet of Pedro de Heredia, at the
early age of thirteen. The lad seems to have accompanied Alonzo de
Heredia to Uraba, and, with the interesting account of the Indians of
that region which now follows, the personal narrative of his travels
commences.
[195] _Perico ligero_, one of the sloth tribe (_Bradypus didactylus_).
The snout is short, forehead high, eyes black and almost covered with
long black eyelashes, no incisors in the upper jaw, legs ill-formed,
thighs ill-shaped and clumsy, hind legs short and thick, the toes
united, having three long curved claws on the hind and fore feet,
twenty-eight ribs, and very short tail. The whole length of the body
is between four and five feet. The animal is the very picture of
misery, and covered with long shaggy hair like dried grass. Its motion
is very slow, at each step it howls most hideously, and scarcely walks
ten yards in as many hours. It feeds on leaves and buds, and when it
has once gained the top of a tree it will remain there as long as a
leaf is to be procured. _Stevenson_, ii, p. 237.
[196] The Peccary, or South American wild pig.
[197] What Cieza de Leon, and other old writers, called a navel, is a
dorsal gland on the backs of these peccaries, which must be cut out
soon after the animal’s death, or it soon vitiates the whole carcase.
[198] “Manzanillo de playa.” (_Hippomane Mancinella_ Lin.), a
euphorbiaceous plant. In the West Indies it is known as the manshineel
tree.
[199] For an account of the office and duties of a Juez de Residencia,
see a note at page 86 of my translated edition of “Alonzo Enriquez de
Guzman,” printed for the HAKLUYT SOCIETY in 1862.
[200] The _Emys decussata_ of Bell. It is a land tortoise.
[201] Macaws.
[202] The Abibe mountains are a branch of the Andes, extending from
the shores of the gulf of Darien to the village of the cacique Abibe,
whence the range took its name. They are covered with dense forest,
and the only paths are the tortuous beds of mountain torrents, flowing
on one side to the Cauca river, and on the other to the gulf of Darien.
[203] In 1537 Don Pedro de Heredia sent his lieutenant, Don Francisco
Cesar, in search of the wealth of the cacique Dobaybe, which had
been famous ever since the days of Vasco Nuñez. He set out from San
Sebastian de Uraba with a hundred men and some horses, and crossed
the mountains of Abibe, a barrier which had proved insurmountable to
all previous explorers during twenty years. After passing over these
mountains he descended into a valley ruled by the cacique Nutibara,
with a force reduced to sixty-three men. The cacique attacked him with
an array of three thousand Indians, but eventually retreated on the
death of his brother. Nutibara caused the body to be placed on his
own litter, and he was seen by the Spaniards to run by the side on
foot for many miles, mourning his brother’s loss, in the midst of the
retreating host. Cesar found forty thousand ducats worth of gold in
the tombs, in this valley.
During Cesar’s absence, the licentiate Pedro Vadillo, sent by the
Audience of San Domingo to examine into the government of Carthagena,
had arrived there and thrown Heredia into prison. On his return the
faithful lieutenant went first to the prison of his unfortunate
master, and supplied him with funds to conduct his defence, and
then paid his respects to Vadillo. The harsh conduct of Vadillo
was disapproved in Spain, and it was resolved that a lawyer should
be sent out to sit in judgment upon him. The licentiate, who was a
bold and audacious man, determined to attempt some new discovery in
anticipation of the arrival of his judge, in hopes of performing
a service the importance of which might wipe off all former
delinquencies. He, therefore, organized a force of four hundred
Spaniards at San Sebastian de Uraba, and, taking the gallant Cesar as
his lieutenant, set out early in 1538. Cieza de Leon, then nineteen
years of age, accompanied this expedition.
[204] A quintal is about a hundredweight.
[205] This word, as well as the word _huaca_, at the end of the last
chapter, are Quichua: and Cieza de Leon must, I think, have confused
them in his mind, in applying them to the language of the Indians of
the Cauca valley.
[206] The wealth of the cacique Dabaybe is the theme of many old
chroniclers. He seems to have ruled a country near the river Atrato,
where gold ornaments are frequently found at the present day. Vasco
Nuñez de Balboa went in search of the Dabaybe.
[207] The province of Antioquia, in New Granada, including the lower
part of the course of the great river Cauca, is still the least known
part of Spanish South America. Even now the account of this region
given by Cieza de Leon in this and the following chapters, is the
best that has been published. Humboldt was never there, nor is this
country described in such modern books of travels as those of Captain
Cochrane, Mollien, or Holton. Some of these travellers, as well as
General Mosquera in his pamphlet, give accounts of Cartago, Cali, and
other places in the upper part of the valley of the Cauca: but none of
them visited or described the lower part of the course of that river
nor the province of Antioquia. Besides that of Cieza de Leon, I only
know of one account of this province, namely that written in 1809 by
Don José Manuel Restrepo, the colleague of the illustrious Caldas,
which was published in the “_Semanario de la Nueva Granada_,” pp.
194-228.
Restrepo says that the province of Antioquia, one of the richest and
most fertile in New Granada, was entirely unknown to geographers up to
the time when he wrote. No astronomical or other observation had ever
been taken in it, and its rivers and other features were either not
marked at all, or put down in false positions on the maps. The first
map of Antioquia, a copy of which is in the map room of the Royal
Geographical Society, was made by Restrepo in 1807. He triangulated
the whole province, corrected his bearings by sun’s azimuths, took
meridian altitudes of stars for his latitudes, and deeply regretted
that he had no instruments to enable him to get his longitudes by
observing the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites. In the _Semanario_
Restrepo gives a long and detailed geographical description of the
valley of the Cauca.
[208] In latitude 6° 36´ N. according to Restrepo.
[209] It will be as well here to give, in a few lines, the fate of
Vadillo’s expedition. He led his men up the left bank of the Cauca,
suffering terribly from want of proper food, the difficulties of the
road, and the constant attacks of the Indians. At last his gallant
lieutenant Francisco Cesar died. His death filled the soldiers with
consternation, and they clamoured for a retreat to the coast. This,
however, did not at all suit the views of Vadillo, who knew that
imprisonment was awaiting him at Carthagena; and, when the discontent
of his men became formidable, he drew his sword and rushed alone into
the woods, crying out that, let who would go back, he should press on
till he met with better fortune. The men were ashamed and followed
him, and eventually reached Cali. Here at last Vadillo was deserted by
most of his people, he went on nearly alone to Popayan, was sent by
sea to Panama, and thence to Spain for trial. He died in poverty at
Seville, before the termination of his trial. This soldierlike lawyer
thus completed the discovery of the course of the river Cauca. Though
harsh and obstinate, he was a brave commander, and cheerfully shared
all privations with his men.
Meanwhile the licentiate Santa Cruz, who had arrived at Carthagena
with orders to arrest Vadillo, sent two officers in chase of him in
1538. It is of one of these officers, named Juan Greciano, that a
story is told at p. 42. Their troops met those of the captain Don
Jorge Robledo, who had advanced down the Cauca from Cali, and joined
them.
The expeditions of Cesar and Vadillo, the first discoverers of the
valley of the Cauca, thus came to an end without a foot of ground
having been permanently conquered. The same fate did not attend the
next invader, Don Jorge Robledo. He had accompanied Belalcazar from
Quito to Popayan, and in 1541 set out from Cali with one hundred and
thirty men, for the conquest of Antioquia. Our young author, on the
breaking up of Vadillo’s expedition, seems to have joined that of
Robledo, whose fortunes he followed for some time; and he witnessed
the conquest of many Indian tribes, and the foundation and settlement
of several Spanish towns in this valley of the Cauca.
[210] The river Cauca is still noted for its gold washings, and
mines. Boritica, the very place alluded to by our author, is also
mentioned by Restrepo as having once yielded great treasure, though
now exhausted. The gold of the Cauca valley is mentioned as one of
the resources of New Granada in a letter to the Committee of Spanish
American Bondholders (_New Granada and its Internal Resources_, p.
27.) In the beginning of the present century, the Viceroyalty of
New Granada yielded 20,505 marcs of gold, worth 2,990,000 dollars,
according to Humboldt. In 1850 the produce of gold in New Granada was
worth £252,407.
[211] _Cui_, according to Velasco, is the smallest kind of rabbit
in the country. From most ancient times the Indians have bred great
quantities of these _Cuis_ or _Ccoys_ (guinea pigs) in their houses.
He describes them as under five or six _dedos_, but very broad and
thick, with round ears, great variety in colour, and very fat delicate
flesh. _Hist. de Quito_, i. p. 89.
[212] The Atrato.
[213] Cieza de Leon calls the Canea, the river of Santa Martha. In
this part of its course it flows between two chains of mountains,
which only leave a space of one hundred or two hundred yards between
them and the river. The stream is full of huge blocks of rock causing
numerous rapids, and impeding navigation.
[214] Probably the _Ceroxylon andicola_.
[215] A _repartimiento_ was a grant of Indians, who were bound to pay
tribute and to render personal service.
[216] Or _Pitajaya_ (_Cereus Pitajaya_, De Cand.), a cactus used for
making fences.
[217] _Vanilla?_
[218] Or _carats_, a small weight used for gold and silver. It was the
twenty-fourth part of a _marc_, so that nineteen _carats_ would mean
nineteen parts of pure gold and five of alloy, in the _marc_.
[219] _Encomiendas_ were estates granted to the Spanish conquerors,
the inhabitants of which were bound to pay tribute and to render
personal service to the holders of the grants. Pizarro was empowered
to grant _encomiendas_ to his followers in 1529, and in 1536 these
grants were extended to two lives; but by the “New Laws,” enacted in
1542, the _encomiendas_ were to pass immediately to the crown after
the death of the actual holders, and a fixed sum was to be settled
as tribute to be paid by the Indians. All forced labour was also
absolutely forbidden. The conquerors were furious at the promulgation
of these humane laws, and, it being considered unsafe to enforce them,
they were revoked in 1545. The president Gasca redistributed the
_encomiendas_ in Peru in 1550, and they were granted for three lives
in 1629. For further information on this subject see my _Travels in
Peru and India_, chap. viii.
[220] _Jatropha Manihot_, Lin., an excellent edible root.
[221] _Psidium Guayava_ Raddi.
[222] _Persea gratissima._ R. P.
[223] That is, “As the Indians themselves have no greed after gold, it
behoves the Spaniards to show them that avarice is not the only motive
which influences the conduct of their conquerors.”
[224] Francisco Hernandez Giron was afterwards famous as the leader of
the final rebellion in Peru. The anger of the Spanish soldiers at a
law prohibiting the use of Indians as beasts of burden enabled him to
assemble a number of discontented spirits at Cuzco in November 1553.
He routed the royal army at Chuquinga, but was finally defeated at
Pucara, and publicly beheaded in the great square of Lima. His head
was hung up in an iron cage, besides those of Gonzalo Pizarro and
Carbajal.
[225] When Vadillo’s expedition came to an end, our young author
transferred his services to Don Jorge Robledo.
Robledo was one of the followers of Sebastian de Belalcazar, the
discoverer of Quito and Popayan, and was detached by him for the
conquest of the Cauca valley. After Robledo had founded the city of
Antioquia in 1541, he determined to go to Spain by way of Carthagena,
and solicit the formation of a separate government for himself, to be
carved out of the grant formerly made to Belalcazar. On arriving at
San Sebastian de Uraba, he was arrested by Don Pedro de Heredia, who
had returned from Spain with renewed titles and privileges, accused
of an attempt to upset his government, and sent to Spain for trial.
In 1546 Robledo returned from Spain with the title of marshal, and,
landing at San Sebastian, marched once more up the valley of the
Cauca. Belalcazar demanded that he should retire from the territory
which he had invaded, and, by forced marches, surprised him on the 1st
of October 1546, and took him prisoner. The unfortunate Robledo was
reviled by his captor as a deserter, traitor, and usurper, and finally
hung, although he entreated to be beheaded as became a knight.
[226] _Muchos tienen con la una mano la vasija con que estan bebiendo,
y con la otra el miembro con que orinan._
[227] The tendency to the partial adoption of the rule of female
succession amongst these Indians is worthy of note. When a chief had
no son, the son of his sister succeeded, to the exclusion of brothers’
sons. It appears that this was the general practice amongst the
Indians of the valley of the Cauca. The Indians of Anzerma (see p.
64), of Arma (see p. 73), and of Carrapa, all adopted it; and Velasco
says that the same custom prevailed in the family of the _Scyris_
or ancient kings of Quito. (_Hist. de Quito_, i, p. 8.) It is well
known that with the Nairs of Malabar the rule of female succession is
absolute, and that the son of a sister succeeds to the exclusion of
the possessor’s son. The heirs apparent in these South American tribes
seem to have had sufficient influence to ensure their own succession,
although the sister’s son came next, even to the exclusion, as Velasco
tells us, of daughters. Friar Jordanus gives us the reason for this
rule amongst the people of Malabar:--“Whatever man may be the father
of their sister they are certain that the offspring is from the womb
of their sister, and is consequently thus truly of their blood.”
Colonel Yule, in a note to his edition of Friar Jordanus (HAKLUYT
SOCIETY’S _volume for 1863_, p. 32), has given a list of all the
people amongst whom this custom of female succession has prevailed.
They are the Nairs of Malabar, the people of Canara, the aborigines of
Hispaniola, the tribes of New Granada, the royal family of Quito, the
negro tribes of the Niger, certain sections of the Malays of Sumatra,
the royal family of Tipura, the Kasias of the Sylhet mountains, the
people of a district in Ceylon adjoining Bintenne, in Madagascar, the
Fiji Islanders, and the Hurons and Natchez Indians of North America.
[228] About half a gallon.
[229] The _estolica_, used by South American Indians, consists of
flattened pieces of wood about a yard long, in the upper end of which
a bone is fixed. A long dart is fastened on the bone, and hurled with
tremendous force and sure aim.
[230] Truly! so long ago that it is the merest waste of time to make
conjectures or surmises as to whence they came. The testimony given
by Cieza de Leon that, even in his time, there was evidence of the
country having once been far more densely peopled, is very interesting.
[231] Half a gallon.
[232] One arroba = 25 lbs.
[233] _Chrysophyllum Caimito_, Linn., or star apple.
[234] Alligator pear. _Persea gratissima R. P._
[235] _Inga spectabilis._
[236] _Psidium Guayava_, Raddi.
[237] Velasco says that the _chucha_, _tututu_, or _guanchaca_, is
a sort of domestic fox, rather larger than a cat, with a very long
tail, generally without hair; it is very cunning, is seldom seen in
the daytime, and carries its young in a bag which opens and shuts on
its belly, within which are the two nipples of its teats. _Hist. de
Quito_, i, p. 92. Probably this is the small opossum of the genus
_Didelphys_.
[238] Velasco describes the _guadaquinaje_ as about the size of a
hare, with no tail, and very good for food. Found in the warm parts of
the province of Popayan. i, p. 89.
[239] The Magdalena.
[240] The Atrato.
[241] _Psidium Guayava_ Raddi.
[242] _Inga spectabilis_ Willd.
[243] _Anona muricata_ Linn.
[244] _Persea gratissima R. P._ In other places he calls it
_Aguacate_. _Palta_ is the Quichua word.
[245] See note at page 72.
[246] The fruit of the passion flower.
[247] The licentiate Pascual de Andagoya came to the Indies in the
train of Pedrarias, governor of Panama, and was appointed governor of
San Juan, including the coast of the Pacific between the gulf of San
Miguel and the river of San Juan, in 1539. He landed at the mouth of
the river Dagua, and marched inland until he came to the town of Cali,
which he claimed as coming within the limits of his jurisdiction. At
this time Belalcazar was in Spain, petitioning for the government
of Popayan. When he received it, with the title of Adelantado, he
came out by way of Panama, landed at Buenaventura, and marched to
Cali. Here the people received him as their governor, and he arrested
Andagoya as an intruder, and sent him prisoner to Spain. Andagoya
was a learned man, and wrote a _Relacion_ of his expedition, which
occupies sixty pages of Navarrete’s work.
[248] Mollien describes Buenaventura as consisting of a dozen huts
inhabited by negroes, a barrack with eleven soldiers, a battery of
three guns, and the residence of the governor built of straw and
bamboo, on an island called Kascakral, covered with grass, brambles,
mud, serpents and toads. _Travels in Colombia_, 1824, p. 299.
[249] Or Jamondi.
[250] See note to page 72.
[251] Grange or farm.
[252] After the fall of Robledo, our author attached his fortunes to
those of Belalcazar.
Sebastian de Belalcazar was born in a village called Belalcazar,
on the borders of Estremadura and Andalucia. He was the child of a
peasant, and one day, having killed the only donkey possessed by
his family because it was slow in getting over a miry road, the
ill-conditioned young rascal run away, fearing to return home, and
reached Seville in 1514. At that time Pedrarias was enlisting men
for his expedition to the isthmus of Darien, and the fugitive took
service as a soldier in one of the ships. He knew not of any other
name by which he was called, save Sebastian, and to it was added the
name of his birthplace. It is said that his father’s name was Moyano.
On one occasion his sagacity saved the governor Pedrarias when he was
nearly lost in the woods near Darien, and from that time his fortune
was made. Pedrarias sent him in the expedition to Nicaragua, where
he assisted in the founding of the city of Leon, and he afterwards
followed Pizarro to Peru. Pizarro appointed him governor of San
Miguel, whence he marched, with a force of one hundred and forty
well-armed soldiers, to the city of Quito in 1533. In 1536 he set
out from Quito, discovered Popayan and Pasto, and the valley of the
Cauca, and reached Bogota in 1538. Thence he descended the Magdalena
and returned to Spain, where, to check the ambition of the Pizarros,
Charles V granted him the government of Popayan, with the title of
adelantado. He went out again by way of Panama, landed at Buenaventura
on the Pacific coast, and marched to Cali, where he seized Andagoya
and established his own authority. Afterwards he was wounded
fighting on the side of the Viceroy Vela against Gonzalo Pizarro at
Añaquito, he treated Robledo with harsh cruelty, and he marched to
the assistance of the President Gasca against Gonzalo Pizarro, on
which occasion he was accompanied by our author. Briceño, a judge,
who had married the widow of Robledo, was sent to examine into the
conduct of Belalcazar, and, urged by his wife, was not very favourably
disposed towards him. Indeed he condemned him to death for the murder
of Robledo. Belalcazar appealed, and set out for Spain with a heavy
heart. He died at Carthagena on his way home in the year 1550.
[253] The Magdalena. By the two branches he means the Magdalena and
the Cauca.
[254] _Manatus Americanus._ They are also called by the Spaniards
_Vaca Marina_, and by the Portuguese _Pegebuey_, and they abound
in the great South American rivers, especially in the Amazon. The
_manatee_ is a sort of porpoise, often eight feet long. See the very
interesting account of it given by Acuña, at page 68 of my translation
of that author. (HAKLUYT SOCIETY’S Vol. for 1859.)
[255] I cannot make out what this can be. It may possibly mean the
grain called _quinoa_ (_Chenopodium Quinoa_), which is cultivated in
the loftier parts of the Andes.
[256] The fruit of the passion-flower.
[257] Literally “Blue river.”
[258] _Paramo_ is the name given, in the Quito provinces, to the
elevated plateaux of the Andes. In Peru they are called _Punas_.
[259] Lorenzo de Aldana came to Peru with the Adelantado Pedro de
Alvarado. He was appointed lieutenant-governor of Quito by Pizarro,
and it was then that he founded the town of Pasto. During the
subsequent civil wars he acted a very conspicuous part, especially
in the battle of Chupas, when the younger Almagro was defeated. When
Gonzalo Pizarro determined to send an embassy to Spain to obtain a
confirmation of his authority, Aldana was selected as his envoy in
1546; but he was won over to the side of Gasca at Panama, by the
persuasions of that wily ecclesiastic. He was then sent to cruise off
Callao, and receive all those on board who wished to join the royal
cause; and during the remainder of the struggle he took an active part
against his old commander. Aldana died at Arequipa in 1556, unmarried
and leaving no children. In his will he left all his property to the
Indians whom he had received in _repartimiento_, for the payment of
their tribute in future years. He seems to have been a noble minded
man, and superior to the common run of Spanish _conquistadores_.
Aldana was not the only _conquistador_ whose conscience smote him
on his death bed, when too late, for his treatment of the Indians.
The curious dying confession of Marcio Serra de Lejesama, addressed
to Philip II in 1589, is another instance of these stony-hearted
men being moved at last. (_Calancha_, i, cap. 15. p. 98.). After
telling the simple truth concerning the poor Indians, their former
happy state, and the desolate misery to which the Spaniards had
reduced them, the guilty wretch thus concludes: “I pray to God that
he will pardon me, for I am the last to die of all the conquerors and
discoverers; it is notorious that there are none surviving except I
alone, in all this kingdom nor out of it; and I now do what I can to
relieve my conscience.”
[260] _Prosopis horrida._ Willd.
[261] Bricks of immense size, baked in the sun.
[262] See note at page 143.
[263] _Rumi_ (a stone) and _chaca_ (a bridge) in Quichua.
[264] _Yahuar_ (blood) and _Cocha_ (a lake) in Quichua.
[265] After the conquest of Quito by Huayna Ccapac, the cacique of
Carangue was the first to submit to his authority, and, while he
lulled the Ynca and his captains into security, he meditated their
destruction by a sudden and secret blow. Suspecting nothing, they
were encamped in his country, when his Indians made a furious attack
upon them in the dead of night, many of the nobles of the guard were
killed, and the Ynca himself narrowly escaped with his life. Huayna
Ccapac resolved to give these people of Carangue a terrible and
memorable lesson. He put every man in the province, who was capable
of bearing arms, to death, and ordered their bodies to be thrown into
the lake, which to this day is called “the lake of blood.” Garcilasso
de la Vega considers that the number stated by Cieza de Leon to have
been put to death on this occasion is an exaggeration, and that two
thousand would be nearer the truth than twenty thousand. _G. de la
Vega_, i, lib. ix, cap. ii; _Velasco_, i, p. 18.
[266] _Huayna_ (a youth) and _cuna_ (the plural) in Quichua.
[267] Before the country of Quito was conquered by the Yncas, it was
governed by native kings called _Scyris_. The Ynca Tupac Yupanqui
first extended his dominion beyond the frontiers of Quito, and Huayna
Ccapac completed the conquest in 1487. Cacha, the last Scyri, was
killed in battle, and Paccha, his only daughter, was married to Huayna
Ccapac and became the mother of Atahualpa.
[268] The Amazon.
[269] It seems to be generally allowed, even by Velasco, that all the
ruins in the kingdom of Quito date from the time of the Yncas, and
that none can be referred to the Scyris, or native kings.
[270] It was partly in search of this spice, that Gonzalo Pizarro
undertook his famous expedition into Quijos. The dried calyx alone
is used as a spice, and its flavour resembles a mixture of cinnamon
and cloves. The tree is a species of _Lauracea_. Herrera describes
it as resembling an olive, with large pods. Velasco declares that
the cinnamon of his country exceeds that of Ceylon in fragrance and
sweetness. Garcilasso de la Vega says that the cinnamon tree of
Quijos, a province of Quito, is very tall, with large leaves, and
fruit growing in clusters like acorns. He adds that many grow wild in
the forests, but that they are not so good as those which the Indians
get from trees which they plant and cultivate for their own use,
but not for the people of Peru, who care for nothing but their own
condiment called _uchu_ (_aji_, pepper). When I was in the forests of
Caravaya, in Southern Peru, I met with trees of great height which my
guide called _canela_ (cinnamon). The inner bark had a strong taste
of that spice, and the natives use it to scent and flavour their
_huarapu_ or fermented juice of the sugar cane. _G. de la Vega_, ii,
lib. iii, cap. 2; _Velasco_, i, p. 51; _Markham’s Travels in Peru and
India_, p. 264.
[271] The quinua (_Chenopodium Quinua L._) is cultivated in the higher
parts of the Andes of Quito and Peru, and is probably the hardiest
cereal in the world, growing at the greatest elevation above the level
of the sea. Velasco mentions two kinds, the white and red. The former
is a small white round grain, extensively raised on the cold lofty
mountains, and yielding good food; the latter, a very small round red
grain, only eaten toasted. Garcilasso de la Vega mentions quinua as
having been extensively cultivated by the ancient Peruvians, both for
the sake of the grain, and for the leaves, which they use in soup.
He sent some seeds of it to Spain in the year 1590, but they did not
come up. In Quichua the cultivated plant is called _quinua_; the green
leaves, _lliccha_; the plant growing wild, _azar_; a pudding made of
quinua grains, _pisque_; and boiled quinua grains, dried in the sun
and ground into a coarse powder for food on a journey, _quispiña_.
At harvest time the stalks are cut and tied up in bundles, and the
grain is then beaten out with sticks. It is an insipid and not very
nutritious grain.
Ulloa gives the following account of the quinoa. It resembles a lentil
in shape, but is much smaller and very white. When boiled it opens,
and out of it comes a spiral fibre, which appears like a small worm,
but whiter than the husk of the grain. It is an annual plant, being
sown every year. The stem is about three or four feet in height, and
has a large pointed leaf. The flower is of a deep red, and five or six
inches long, and in it are contained the grains or seeds. The quinoa
is eaten boiled like rice, and has a very pleasant taste. It is used
in external applications, ground and boiled to a proper consistency,
and applied to the part affected, from which it soon extracts all
corrupt humours occasioned by a contusion. _Ulloa’s Voyage_, i, p. 290.
[272] Barley is cultivated successfully in Peru, at heights from 7000
to 13,200 feet above the sea. It was introduced by the Spaniards. _Von
Tschudi_, p. 177.
[273] The different tribes of the empire of the Yncas were
distinguished by their head-dresses, the people of each province
wearing one of a distinct colour. This was not a custom introduced
by the Yncas, but, being the usage of the different tribes, those
sovereigns decreed that it should be continued, in order that the
tribes might not be confounded one with another, when serving in the
army or at Cuzco. _G. de la Vega_, i, lib. vii, cap. 9.
[274] Some kind of aloe.
[275] All these names of parts of the dress are correct Quichua words.
The dress here described by Cieza de Leon is exactly the same as those
represented in pictures still preserved at Cuzco, which are almost
contemporaneous with the conquest.
[276] “The stone made use of for the house of Huayna Ccapac, mentioned
by Cieza de Leon under the name of _Mulahalo_, is a rock of volcanic
origin, a burnt and spongy porphyry with basaltic basis. It was
probably ejected by the mouth of the volcano of Cotopaxi. As this
monument appears to have been constructed in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, the materials employed in it prove that it is a
mistake to consider as the first eruption of Cotopaxi that which took
place in 1533, when Sebastian de Belalcazar made the conquest of the
kingdom of Quito.” _Humboldt’s Researches_, i, p. 6.
[277] These are the ruins called Callo, near Latacunga (Llacta-cunga).
In Ulloa’s time they served as a house for the Augustine monks at
Quito. As Humboldt says that Ulloa’s description of Callo is very
inaccurate, it will be preferable to refer to the account given of the
ruins by the great Prussian traveller.
The Yncas Tupas Yupanqui and Huayna Ccapac, when they had completed
the conquest of Quito, caused magnificent roads to be formed, and
_tampus_ (inns), storehouses, and magazines to be built for the
reception of the sovereign and his armies. Travellers have called
the ruins of these buildings palaces. The most celebrated of these
ruins are those near Latacunga, ten leagues south of Quito, and three
leagues from the volcano of Cotopaxi. The edifice forms a square, each
side of which is thirty-five yards long. Four great outer doors are
still distinguishable, and eight apartments, three of which are in
good preservation. The walls are nearly five yards and a half high,
and a yard thick. The doors are similar to those in the Egyptian
temples, and there are eighteen niches in each apartment, distributed
with the greatest symmetry. _Humboldt’s Researches_.
[278] Cieza de Leon gives the best account of these _Mitimaes_ or
Colonists. Indeed, Garcilasso de la Vega quotes from him. (i, lib.
vii, cap. 1; and i, lib. iii, cap. 19.) It is curious that the
descendants of _Mitimaes_ on the coast of Peru still retain the
tradition concerning the villages in the Andes, whence their ancestors
were transported. Thus the Indians of Arequipa are descended from
_Mitimaes_ who were sent from a village called Cavanilla, near Puno;
those of Moquegua, from _Mitimaes_ who were natives of Acora and
Ilave, on the shores of Lake Titicaca; and those of Tacna, from
natives of Juli and Pisacoma, near the same lake.
[278] I am doubtful about the etymology of this word, but incline
to believe that it is derived from the Quichua word _Mita_ (time or
turn), whence come other cognate words. From labourers or soldiers
taking their turn at work, it came to mean service generally--hence
_Mitta-runa_ (a man required to perform forced service) and
_Mitta-chanacuy_ (a law of the Yncas regulating the division of labor).
[280] A fermented liquor made from maize, called _acca_ in the Quichua
language, and universally drunk by the Indians, in all parts of Peru.
[281] “_Y como estan sin sentido, algunos toman las mugeres que
quieren, y llevadas a alguna casa, usan con ellas sus luxurias, sin
tenerlo por cosa fea; porque ni entienden el don que esta debaxo de la
verguença, ni miran mucho en la honra, ni tienen mucha cuenta con el
mundo._”
[282] This account of the great Ynca road from Quito to Cuzco is
quoted at length by Garcilasso de la Vega (i, lib. ix, cap. 13).
Zarate, the Accountant, was equally impressed with the grandeur of
this work. He says that “the road was made over the mountains for a
distance of five hundred leagues. It was broad and level, rocks were
broken up and levelled where it was necessary, and ravines were filled
up. When the road was finished it was so level that carts might have
passed along it. The difficulty of this road will be understood when
it is considered how great the cost and labour has been in levelling
two leagues of hilly country in Spain, between Espinar de Segovia and
Guadarramar, which has never yet been completely done, although it
is the route by which the Kings of Castille continually pass, with
their households and their court, every time they go to or come from
Andalusia.” Zarate was Comptroller of Accounts for Castille from 1528
to 1543, and in 1544 he went to Peru to hold the same office. He was
an educated man and an eye-witness, so that his testimony is valuable.
_Historia del Peru_, lib. i, cap. 10.
Velasco, who was a native of Riobamba, near Quito, measured the
breadth of the great road of the Yncas, and found it to be about six
yards in one place, and seven in another. He says that the parts cut
through the living rock were covered with a cement to make the surface
smooth, while the loose places were paved with stones and covered with
the same cement, in which he observed very small stones, not much
larger than grains of sand. To cross ravines the road was raised with
great pieces of rock united together by cement; and he adds that this
cement was so strong that, where torrents had worked their way through
the embankments, the road still spanned the ravines in the form of
bridges. _Hist. de Quito_, i, p. 59.
[283] This captain was a native of Estremadura and a follower of
Pizarro. He was distinguished for his valour at the defence of Cuzco,
when that city was besieged by the Indians; but seems subsequently to
have gone over to the party of Almagro, who left him as his governor
of Cuzco, when he marched towards Lima after his return from Chile.
He had charge of Gonzalo Pizarro and other prisoners, who broke loose
and forced Rojas to accompany them. On arriving at the camp of Pizarro
near Lima, the marquis, notwithstanding his desertion, gave Rojas a
large estate in Charcas. In the war between Gonzalo Pizarro and Gasca,
he went over to the latter and was given command of his artillery.
Immediately after the fall of Gonzalo he was sent as treasurer to
Charcas, where he died.
[284] These Cavalleros played a very conspicuous part in the conquests
and civil wars of Peru. For an account of Alonzo de Alvarado, see my
_Life of Enriquez de Guzman_, p. 109 (_note_); of Diego de Alvarado,
_Ibid._, p. 124 (_note_).
[285] Garcilasso de la Vega was born, of noble parentage, in the city
of Badajos, in Estremadmura. His great-grandfather was Gomez Suarez de
Figueroa, the first Count of Feria, by Elvira Lasso de la Vega. This
lady was a sister of the famous Marquis of Santillana, the charming
poet, and founder of the great family of Mendoza. She was a maternal
granddaughter of that Garcilasso who in 1372 received the surname of
“de la Vega,” in memory of a famous duel fought with a Moorish giant
before the walls of Granada:--
“Garcilasso de la Vega
They the youth thenceforward call,
For his duel in the Vega
Of Granada chanced to fall.”
The lady’s paternal grandfather was Don Diego de Mendoza, the knight
who, in the battle of Aljubarrota with the Portuguese in 1385, saved
the life of King John I by giving him his horse, when his own was
killed under him, a loyal act which is commemorated in an old ballad:--
“Si el cavallo vos han muerto
Subid Rey en mi cavallo.”
The subject of this note was a second cousin twice removed of
Garcilasso de la Vega the poet, whose poems were published with those
of his friend Boscan in 1544.
So much for Garcilasso’s descent, which was sufficiently noble and
distinguished. He was a young man of twenty-five years of age, tall,
handsome, polished, generous, and well practised in the use of arms,
when in 1531 he set out for the New World as a captain of infantry
in company with Alonzo de Alvarado, who was returning to resume his
government of Guatemala. That famous chief, on hearing of the riches
of Peru, set out with a large fleet from Nicaragua, and landed in
the bay of Caragues in March 1534. Garcilasso de la Vega accompanied
him, and shared in all the terrible hardships and sufferings of the
subsequent march to Riobamba. After the convention with Almagro, and
the dispersion of Alvarado’s forces, Garcilasso was sent to complete
the conquest of the country round the port of Buenaventura. He and
his small band of followers forced their way for many days through
dense uninhabited forests, enduring almost incredible hardships, and
finding nothing to repay their labours. He displayed much constancy
and endurance and persevered during a whole year, but, having lost
eighty of his men from hunger and fever, he was at last obliged to
retreat. He was nearly drowned in crossing the river Quiximies, and
after many other strange adventures and narrow escapes, he reached the
Spanish settlement of Puerto Viejo, and went thence to Lima, where
Pizarro was closely besieged by the insurgent Indians. He then marched
to the relief of Cuzco, and afterwards accompanied Gonzalo Pizarro in
his expedition to the Collao and Charcas. On the arrival of Vaca de
Castro in Peru, Garcilasso de la Vega joined him, and was wounded in
the battle of Chupas. When Gonzalo Pizarro rose in rebellion against
the viceroy Blasco Nuñez de Vela, Garcilasso and several other loyal
knights fled from Cuzco to Arequipa, and thence up by the deserts of
the coast to Lima, in order to share the fortunes of the viceroy. But
when they arrived at Lima, that ill-fated and wrong-headed knight was
gone, and the whole country was in favour of Gonzalo. The fugitives,
therefore, concealed themselves as best they could. Garcilasso was
lodged in the house of a friend, and afterwards hid himself in the
convent of San Francisco. Through the intercession of friends Gonzalo
Pizarro granted him a pardon, but detained him as a prisoner until
he escaped to the army of Gasca on the morning of the battle of
Xaquixaguana, galloping across the space between the two camps at
early dawn, on his good horse _Salinillas_. He afterwards resided at
his house in Cuzco until the rebellion of Giron broke out in 1554,
when he once more showed his loyalty by escaping in the night, and
joining the royal camp. After the fall of Giron, Garcilasso de la Vega
was appointed corregidor and governor of Cuzco, where he appears to
have devoted himself to the duties of his office, and, amongst other
good deeds, restored the aqueduct which brought a supply of water from
the lake of Chinchiru for a distance of two leagues, to irrigate the
valley of Cuzco. His house was a centre of hospitality and kindness,
where the conquerors fought their battles over again in the evenings,
while Garcilasso’s wife, the Ynca princess, and her friends dispensed
their numerous charities. Both he and his wife were engaged in acts of
benevolence, and in collecting subscriptions for charitable purposes
during the time that he held office. It is said that in one night they
raised 34,500 ducats for a hospital for Indians. When Garcilasso was
relieved of his charge, the _Juez de Residencia_, who came to review
his administration, honourably acquitted him of the charges which were
brought against him, and he retired into private life. He died at
Cuzco in the year 1559, after a long illness.
Garcilasso de la Vega was married to a ñusta or Ynca princess, who
was baptised under the name of Isabella in 1539. She was a daughter
of Hualpa Tupac, a younger brother of the great Ynca Huayna Ccapac.
By this lady he had a son, the well known historian, who was born at
Cuzco in 1540. After his father’s death the young Garcilasso Ynca de
la Vega, who had received his early education at a school in Cuzco,
went to Spain. This was in 1560, when he was just twenty years of
age. He fought against the rebel Moriscos under the banner of Don
John of Austria, and afterwards settling at Cordova, devoted himself
to literary pursuits. He wrote a history of the conquest of Florida,
and the two parts of his _Commentarios Reales_ were published in 1609
and 1616. An excellent second edition appeared at Madrid in 1722. His
memory was well stored with the recollections of his youth, when he
had learnt the history of the Yncas from his mother’s relations, and
of the conquest from his father’s old companions in arms. He also
quotes largely from Cieza de Leon, Gomara, Zarate, Fernandez, and
Acosta, as well as from the manuscript of the missionary Blas Valera,
a most important work which was destroyed when Lord Essex sacked the
city of Cadiz. No man, therefore, could be better qualified to write
a history of the early civilisation of the Yncas, and of the conquest
of Peru by the Spaniards. He has been invaluable to me in explaining
and illustrating the text of Cieza de Leon; and in gratitude I have
therefore devoted a long note to an account of his father. The Ynca
Garcilasso died in 1616 at the advanced age of seventy-six, and was
buried at Cordova.
[286] Juan de Saavedra was a native of Seville. He afterwards
accompanied Almagro in his expedition into Chile, and, when Hernando
Pizarro was in his commander’s power, he persuaded the old marshal not
to put his enemy to death. In the battle of Chupas he fought against
the younger Almagro. When Gonzalo Pizarro and his unscrupulous old
lieutenant Carbajal entered Lima and wreaked vengeance on those who
had opposed them, Juan de Saavedra, with two other knights, were hung
under circumstances of great barbarity.
[287] A _castellano_, in those days, was worth about £2:12 of our
money; so that Alvarado was bought off by Pizarro for the sum of
£260,000.
[288] Ulloa describes the ruins at Hatun-cañari as the largest
and best built in the province of Quito. In the rear the building
terminates in a high thick wall on the slope of a mountain. In the
centre there is an oval tower containing two chambers. The walls are
full of niches with stone pegs in them. The outer walls are very
thick, with ramparts round the inner sides.
[289] Literally “Foam of the lake.” It was the name of one of the
Yncas.
[290] The first Quichua grammar was composed by Father Santo Tomas,
and printed at Valladolid in 1560, with a vocabulary as an appendix.
This friar, a Dominican, was the first doctor who graduated in the
University of Lima.
[291] Velasco says there were few traces left of the buildings at
Tumebamba in his time. This was the favourite residence of the Ynca
Huayna Ccapac.
[292] Garcilasso de la Vega quotes this statement from Cieza de Leon
(i, lib. viii, cap. 5).
[293] I can testify to the truth of this statement, having carefully
examined a thatch roof at Azangaro in Peru, which undoubtedly dates
from the time of the Yncas. It is over the ancient circular building
in that town, known as the _Sondor-huasi_. The outside coating
consists of a layer of grass (_Stypa Ychu_: Kunth) two feet thick,
placed in very regular rows, and most carefully finished, so as to
present a smooth surface to the weather. Next there is a thick layer
of the same grass placed horizontally and netted together with reeds,
and finally an inner perpendicular layer:--the whole thatch being five
feet thick, and finished with most admirable neatness. It has been
said that the colossal and highly finished masonry of the Yncas, such
as that of the palace at Tumebamba, formed a barbaric contrast with
the poor thatched roof, but the _Sondor-huasi_ proves that the roofs
made by the Peruvians rivalled the walls in the exquisite art and
neatness of their finish. See my _Travels in Peru and India_, p. 194.
[294] The Cañaris wore their hair long, and rolled it up in a knot on
the top of their heads. On the knot of hair they fastened a wooden
hoop, from which hung a fringe of various colours. The commoner sort,
in place of this hoop, wore a small calabash over their hair, and
hence the whole tribe was nicknamed by the other Indians _Mathe-uma_
(_Mathe_ in Quichua is a calabash, and _Uma_, head). _G. de la Vega_,
i, lib. viii, cap. 4.
[295] Prickly pears.
[296] This name is not given by Velasco.
[297] The turkey buzzard, a carrion bird which acts as a scavenger in
the streets of South American towns.
[298] The word used in Mexico.
[299] The _chaquiras_ were very minute beads, which were so skilfully
worked that the best silversmiths in Seville asked Garcilasso how they
were made. He took some to Spain with him, where they were looked upon
as great curiosities. _G. de la Vega_, i, lib. viii, cap. 5.
[300] The _quipus_, or system of recording events by means of knots.
[301] See also _Garcilasso de la Vega_, i, lib. ix, p. 311; and
_Acosta_, lib. iv, cap. 14, p. 233. Acosta says that emeralds were
found most abundantly in New Granada, and in Peru, near Manta and
Puerto Viejo. The country round Manta, he adds, is called Esmeraldas,
from the reported abundance of emeralds in it.
According to Ulloa the emerald mines of Manta, which were known to
the Indians, were never discovered by the Spaniards. The skill of the
Indians in working these precious stones is very remarkable. They are
found in the tombs of the Indians of Manta and Atacames: and are, in
beauty, size, and hardness, superior to those of New Granada. They
were worked by the Indians into spherical, cylindrical, conical, and
other shapes, and it is difficult to explain how this could have been
done without a knowledge of steel or iron. They also pierced the
emeralds with a skill equal to that of modern jewellers. _Ulloa’s
Voyage_, i, lib. vi, cap. 11.
Velasco says that an emerald was among the insignia of the _Scyris_
or kings of Quito, and that the Indians of Manta worshipped a great
emerald under the name of _Umiña_. _Historia del Quito_, i, p. 29.
There are also some interesting remarks on the emeralds of Manta in
_Bollaert’s Antiquarian and other Researches in New Granada, Ecuador,
Peru_, etc., p. 84.
[302] Inhabitants of the mountains inland.
[303] Pedro de Puelles, a native of Seville, was left as governor of
Quito when Gonzalo Pizarro went on his famous expedition to the land
of cinnamon in 1539. He was appointed to the command of the cavalry of
Vaca de Castro’s army, served in the battle of Chupas when the younger
Almagro was defeated, and was afterwards sent as governor to Huanuco.
He was confirmed in this command by Blasco Nuñez de Vela, the viceroy;
but he went over to the party of Gonzalo Pizarro, and commanded his
cavalry at the battle of Añaquito, when the viceroy was killed. After
the battle he urged Gonzalo to assume the title of king, believing
that no terms could possibly be obtained from Charles V, and that they
were committed too far to hope for forgiveness. Gonzalo left Puelles
in Quito as his governor, and he afterwards seems to have intended to
desert his old master and hand over his troops to the president Gasca,
on condition of full pardon. But he was surrounded by greater traitors
than himself, and one Rodrigo de Salazar headed a conspiracy of five,
who murdered Puelles in his own house, and led his troops to join
Gasca, in order to get all the credit for their loyalty.
[304] The Quichua word for _chicha_ or fermented liquor.
[305] This account of the tradition concerning giants at Point Santa
Elene, is the fullest that is given by any of the old writers, and it
is quoted as such by Garcilasso de la Vega (i, lib. ix, cap. 9).
Zarate’s version of the tradition differs but slightly from that of
Cieza de Leon. He adds that little credit was given to the story
until 1543, when a native of Truxillo, named Juan de Holmos, caused
excavations to be made, and found huge ribs and other bones, and
enormous teeth. From that time the native tradition was believed.
(_Historia del Peru_, lib. i, cap. iv.) Acosta also mentions the
bones of giants of huge greatness, found about Manta. (_Acosta_,
lib. i, cap. 19.) Mr. Ranking, a fantastic theorist, who published
his _Researches on the Conquest of Peru and Mexico by the Mongols,
accompanied with Elephants_, in 1827, founds his theory on this
tradition of giants having landed at Point Sta. Elena. (p. 51.)
It appears that fossil bones of huge mammals have been found on this
part of the coast, where pieces of cliff are constantly breaking away,
and they doubtless gave rise to this story about giants. Mr. Spruce
tells me that a French naturalist took a quantity of these fossils
home with him not long since. Ulloa calls these fossils the bones
of giants, and Humboldt thinks they belonged to cetaceous animals.
Stevenson says he saw a grinder which weighed more than three pounds,
with enamel spotted like female tortoise shell, in the possession of
Don Jose Merino of Guayaquil. (_Travels_, ii, p. 235.)
[306] In the second edition of Cieza de Leon the chapters are
incorrectly numbered. Two chapters are numbered liv, and chapters liii
and lv are omitted altogether. Two chapters are also numbered lix. It
is necessary to retain the incorrect numbering, because all modern
writers have quoted from the second edition.
[307] Ynca nobles, so called by the Spaniards from the large gold
ornaments worn in their ears.
[308] Pedro de Candia was a Greek, and one of the heroic thirteen
who crossed the line drawn on the sand by Pizarro, at the island of
Gallo. He was a very tall stout man. When the ship arrived at Tumbez,
in Peru, there was some hesitation as to landing amongst a hostile
people, and Pedro de Candia volunteered to go first. Putting on a
coat of mail reaching to the knees, with a sword by his side and a
cross in his hand, he walked towards the town with an air as if he
had been lord of the whole province. The Indians were astonished at
his appearance, and, to find out what manner of man he was, they let
loose a lion and a tiger upon him, but the animals crouched at his
feet. Pedro de Candia gave the Indians to understand that the virtue
of the cross he held in his hand had been the cause of this miracle.
The Indians, believing that he must be a child of the sun, showed
him the temple and palace of Tumbez, and so he returned to the ship,
which sailed back to Panama. He accompanied Pizarro to Spain and
was rewarded by Charles V. This Greek captain fought by the side of
Pizarro during the conquest of Peru, and when it was completed, he
led an expedition into the forests of Moxos, east of Cuzco, but was
obliged to return. After the murder of Pizarro he joined the younger
Almagro, and superintended the casting of cannon for him at Cuzco; but
afterwards entered into correspondence with the royal army under Vaca
de Castro, and at the battle of Chupas he purposely pointed the guns
at such an angle as to send the balls over the heads of the enemy.
Young Almagro, observing this treachery, ran him through the body, and
he fell dead.
Garcilasso de la Vega says that he was at school with Pedro de
Candia’s son, at Cuzco, who inherited his father’s stature; for being
only twelve years old he had a body large enough for one twice his age.
[309] The large island at the mouth of the river of Guayaquil.
[310] G. de la Vega, in relating these events, copies largely from
Cieza de Leon (i, lib. ix, caps. 1, 2, and 3).
[311] Macaws.
[312] _Sarsa_, a bramble, and _parilla_, a vine.
[313] _Smilax officinalis H. B. K._ The root of sarsaparilla was
brought to Europe in about 1530. The stem is twining, shrubby, and
prickly. Acosta says that the water on the island of Puna, flowing
past the sarsaparilla roots, has healing virtues (lib. iii, cap.
17). There is a great trade in sarsaparilla down all the Peruvian
tributaries of the Amazon.
[314] This is the officer who afterwards deserted Gonzalo Pizarro, and
was the first to sail down the Amazon.
[315] A Quichua word.
[316] Inns.
[317] More correctly _Paca-muru_.
[318] Loxa afterwards became famous for its forests of Chinchona
trees yielding Peruvian bark; the healing virtues of which were not
made known to the Spaniards until fifty years after the time of Cieza
de Leon. M. Jussieu tells us that the first fever cured by means of
Chinchona bark was that of a Jesuit at Malacotas, some leagues south
of Loxa, in the year 1600. The countess of Chinchon, wife of the
viceroy of Peru, was cured of a fever by a dose of Loxa bark, in the
year 1638.
[319] He explored the course of the Marañon as far as the _pongo_ or
rapid of Manseriche, in 1548.
[320] Now better known as Piura.
[321] Inhabitants of the warm valleys on the coast.
[322] Nearly all travellers, from Cieza de Leon downwards, who have
been on the west coast of South America, have had something to say
concerning the rainless region of Peru: but “the natural reasons
for these things,” for which our author asks, are given in the most
agreeable form in Captain Maury’s charming book. “Though the Peruvian
shores are on the verge of the great South Sea boiler, yet it never
rains there. The reason is plain. The south-east trade winds in the
Atlantic ocean strike the water on the coast of Africa. They blow
obliquely across the ocean until they reach the coast of Brazil. By
this time they are heavily laden with vapour, which they continue
to bear along across the continent, depositing it as they go, and
supplying with it the sources of the Rio de la Plata and the southern
tributaries of the Amazon. Finally they reach the snow capped Andes,
and here is wrung from them the last particle of moisture that the
very low temperature can extract. Reaching the summit of that range,
they now tumble down as cool and dry winds on the Pacific slopes
beyond. Meeting with no evaporating surface, and with no temperature
_colder_ than that to which they are subjected on the mountain tops,
they reach the ocean before they again become charged with fresh
vapour, and before, therefore, they have any which the Peruvian
climate can extract. The last they had to spare was deposited as snow
on the tops of the Cordilleras, to feed mountain streams under the
heat of the sun, and irrigate the valleys on the western slopes.”
_Physical Geography of the Sea_, para. 195. See also Acosta’s way
of accounting for the absence of rain on the Peruvian coast, in his
_Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias_, A.D. 1608,
lib. iii, cap. 23.
[323] Zarate thus describes this coast road of the Yncas. “Through
all the valleys of the coast which are refreshed by rivers and trees
(which are generally about a league in breadth) they made a road
almost forty feet broad, with very thick embankments on either side.
After leaving the valleys the same road was continued over the sandy
deserts, posts being driven in and fastened by cords, so that the
traveller might not lose his way, neither turning to one side nor to
the other. The road, like that in the Sierra, is five hundred leagues
long. Although the posts in the desert are now broken in many parts,
because the Spaniards, both in time of war and peace, used them for
lighting fires, yet the embankments in the valleys are still for the
most part entire.” _Historia del Peru_, lib. i, cap. x. _Garcilasso
de la Vega_, in his account of the Ynca roads, merely copies from
_Zarate_ and _Cieza de Leon_ (i, lib. ix, cap. 13). See also _Gomara_
(cap. 194).
[324] Fray Domingo de Santo Tomas was the author of the first Quichua
grammar, which was printed at Valladolid in 1560 with a vocabulary.
[325] Juan de la Torre was one of the famous thirteen who crossed the
line which Pizarro drew on the sandy shore of the isle of Gallo, and
resolved to face any hardships rather than abandon the enterprise.
He afterwards became a staunch adherent of Pizarro’s younger brother
Gonzalo, to whom he deserted, when serving under the ill-fated Blasco
Nuñez de Vela, and he carried his ferocious enmity to the viceroy
so far as to insult the dead body, and, pulling the hairs out of
the beard, to stick them in his hat band. He married the daughter
of an Indian chief in the province of Puerto Viejo, and gained so
much influence among the followers of his father-in-law that they
revealed to him a tomb containing, as Cieza de Leon says, more than
fifty thousand dollars worth of gold and emeralds. Thus enriched,
he meditated a retreat to Spain, where he might enjoy his wealth,
but the fear of punishment for his treason to the viceroy, and other
considerations, deterred him. He first proposed to Vela Nuñez, the
viceroy’s brother, that they should seize a ship and escape from
Peru; and, afterwards, hearing a false report that Gonzalo Pizarro
had been appointed governor by the king, he changed his mind in the
hope of receiving great favours from his old commander. But Vela Nuñez
knew of his earlier project to desert, so, mindful of the adage that
“dead men tell no tales,” La Torre invented such a story against the
viceroy’s brother as induced Gonzalo to cut off his head. The villain
was appointed captain of arquebusiers in the army of Gonzalo Pizarro,
and acted a conspicuous and cruel part in the subsequent war down to
the final overthrow of Gonzalo by Pedro de la Gasca in 1548. Then at
last he received a reward more in accordance with his deserts. After
hiding for four months in an Indian’s hut near Cuzco, he was at last
accidentally found out by a Spaniard, and met the fate which he so
richly deserved. He was hung by order of La Gasca.
[326] _Supay_ is the Quichua word for the evil spirit in which the
ancient Peruvians believed.
[327] Paullu was a son of the great Ynca Huayna Ccapac. He escaped
from his half-brother Atahualpa, when many of the royal family were
killed by that usurper, and, soon after the arrival of the Spaniards,
was baptized under the name of Christoval. He accompanied Almagro in
his expedition to Chile, and his services on that occasion were of the
utmost importance to the Spaniards. While in Chile he received tidings
from his brother Manco of his resolution to rise in arms and expel the
invaders; but Paullu deemed it most prudent to dissimulate until the
expedition, in which he was serving, returned to Peru. He afterwards
lived for many years at Cuzco, in the palace built by Manco Ccapac,
the founder of his house, on a hill called the Colcampata. The ruins
of this edifice are still very perfect. After the death of his brother
Manco, Paullu was looked upon by the Indians as their legitimate Ynca.
His son, named Carlos, was a schoolfellow of the historian Garcilasso
de la Vega, and afterwards married a Spanish lady whose parents were
settled at Cuzco; and his grandson Don Melchior Carlos Ynca went to
Spain in 1602, and became a knight of Santiago.
[328] Unfit for translation.
[329] The Collao is the great plateau of the Andes, including the
basin of lake Titicaca, between two chains, the maritime cordillera,
and the eastern range, out of which rise the lofty peaks of Illimani
and Yllampu (Sorata).
[330] The obsequies of the Yncas at Cuzco were celebrated with great
pomp. The bodies were embalmed with such extraordinary skill that they
appeared to be alive, and were seated on thrones within the great
temple of the sun. The bowels were deposited in golden vases, and
preserved in a temple at Tampu (twelve miles from the capital); just
as the Emperors of Austria have their bodies buried in one church at
Vienna, their hearts kept in silver pots in another, and their bowels
deposited in St. Stephen’s. The corregidor Polo de Ondegardo found
five bodies of Yncas at Cuzco, three of men and two of women, said to
have been those of the Ynca Huira-ccocha, with hair white as snow, of
the great Tupac Ynca Yupanqui, of Huayna Ccapac, of Huira-ccocha’s
queen Mama Runtu, and of Ccoya Mama Ocllo, the mother of Huayna
Ccapac. These bodies were so well preserved that all the hair,
eyebrows, and even eyelashes remained intact. They were dressed in
royal robes, with the _llautu_, or royal fringe round their foreheads.
They seem to have excited much curiosity, were conveyed by order of
the viceroy Marquis of Cañete to Lima, and finally buried in the
courtyard of the hospital of San Andres in that city.
The chiefs were buried in tombs of stone masonry on the mountain
heights round Cuzco. A very peculiar kind of maize is often found in
the tombs, now little cultivated, called _Zea rostrata_. The bodies,
which are in a squatting posture with the knees forced up to the head,
are found enveloped in many folds of cloth, over which is placed a
mat of reeds, secured by a strong net. The covering next the body is
generally of fine cotton; round the neck there is almost invariably a
small household god, called _Conopa_ in Quichua, made of clay, stone,
silver, or gold; and a piece of copper, gold, or silver is often
found in the mouth. The hair is, in most instances, well preserved,
but the skin is withered up. None of the thousands of bodies that
have been examined, show any signs of having been embalmed. It seems
clear that this operation was only resorted to in the case of the
Yncas themselves. _G. de la Vega_; _Rivero_, _Antiq. Per._; _Personal
Observation_.
[331] Fray Geronimo Loayza was appointed bishop of Lima in 1540, and
was the first archbishop from 1548 to 1575. When Gonzalo Pizarro
rebelled, he sent the archbishop as his envoy to Spain, but, meeting
La Gasca at Panama on his way, that prelate returned with him, and
accompanied him throughout the campaign, which ended in the overthrow
of Gonzalo Pizarro in 1548. This Friar Loayza was a cruel fanatic.
The inquisition was not introduced into Peru until 1569, but the
archbishop had previously held three _autos de fé_ at Lima on his
own account, at one of which, John Millar, a Fleming, was burnt as
a Lutheran heretic. The first _auto de fé_ held by the inquisition
at Lima took place in 1573, two years before the death of Loayza,
when a Frenchman was burnt as a heretic. Loayza presided over two
provincial councils, one in 1552 and the other in 1567. There have
been twenty-two archbishops of Lima since the death of Loayza. The
present one, Dr. Don Sebastian de Goyeneche, who succeeded in 1860,
is probably the oldest bishop in Christendom, having been consecrated
bishop of Arequipa in 1817, and is also one of the richest men in
South America. He is now seventy-nine years of age.
[332] The nation of the Chinchas, and others on the coast, buried
their dead on the surface of the ground, covered with a light coat of
sand, so that the place is only indicated by a very slight inequality.
_Rivero_, p. 199.
[333] Now corrupted into Luna-huana; near the rich sugar estates of
Cañete, between Lima and Pisco.
[334] _Huaca_ is a word of many significations in Quichua (_e.g._,
idol, temple, sacred place, tomb, figures of men, animals, etc.,
hill), but its most ordinary meaning is a tomb. Cieza de Leon
probably calls it a “mournful name,” partly from its being the word
for a tomb, and partly from his having confused it with the nearly
similar word _huaccani_, “I mourn.” The mummy or dead body was called
_malqui_. There were holes in the tombs, leading from the exterior
sides to the vases placed round the bodies, through which the Indians
poured liquor, on the days when festivals were held in honour of the
_malquis_. _Rivero._
[335] This chapter is unfit for translation.
[336] The children were weaned at two years of age, when their heads
were shaved, and they received a name. On these occasions all the
relations assembled, and one was selected as godfather, who cut off
the first lock of hair with an instrument made of stone. Each relation
followed, according to his age or rank, and cut off a few hairs. The
name was then given, and the relations presented gifts, such as cloth,
llamas, arms, or drinking vessels. Then followed singing, dancing, and
drinking until nightfall, and these festivities were continued for
three or four days. _G. de la Vega_, lib. iv, cap. 11; _Rivero_, p.
177.
[337] _Urco_ is a word denoting masculine gender, in Quichua, when
applied to animals, and _china_ is female. For mankind the words
denoting gender are _ccari_ (male) and _huarmi_ (female).
[338] Garcilasso de la Vega says that, as they had no domestic fowls
in Peru before the Spanish conquest, so there was no word for them,
and that _hualpa_ was not originally the name for a fowl, but a
corruption of _Atahualpa_, the name of the usurping Ynca. It seems,
however, that domestic fowls were the first things that the Spaniards
introduced into Peru; and the Indians, finding some resemblance
between the crowing of the cocks and the sound of _Atahualpa_,
gave them that name, which was afterwards corrupted into _hualpa_.
Garcilasso adds, “I confess that many of my schoolfellows at Cuzco,
the sons of Spaniards by Indian mothers, and myself amongst them,
imitated this sound in the streets, together with the little Indians.”
The names of the Yncas, and those of their wives, have a meaning
in the Quichua language; with the exception, however, of _Manco_,
_Mayta_, and _Rocca_, which seem to have been borrowed from some other
source. _Ccapac_ means “rich, grand, illustrious.” _Sinchi_ signifies
“strong.” _Lloque_ is “left-handed.” _Yupanqui_ is “virtuous.” It is
the second person singular, future, indicative of _Yupani_, and means
literally, “you will count,” that is--“he who bears this title will
count as one who is excellent for his virtue, clemency, and piety.”
_Yahuar-huaccac_ signifies “weeping tears:” it was the name of an
Ynca whose reign was unfortunate. _Huira-ccocha_ means “foam of a
lake,” and Garcilasso gives the legend from which the name is said
to have originated. _Pacha-cutec_ means “overturning the world,” a
name given to one of the Yncas who was a great reformer. _Tupac_ is
anything royal, resplendent, honourable. _Huayna_ means a “youth,” a
name given to the great Ynca Huayna Ccapac, possibly from his youthful
appearance. _Huascar_ is a “chain,” from the golden chain which was
made to celebrate his birth. _Cusi_ is “joy.” _Titu_ is “liberal,
magnanimous.” _Sayri_, a “tobacco plant.” _Amaru_, a “serpent,” etc.
[339] Twins, called _chuchu_, and children born feet first, called
_chacpa_, were offered up to the _huacas_, in some districts.
_Rivero_, p. 173.
[340] _Aji_ or _uchu_, a Chile pepper with a very peculiar flavour
(_Capsicum frutescens_, Lin.), is the favourite condiment of the
Peruvian Indians, sometimes eaten green, and sometimes dried and
pounded. The consumption of _aji_ is greater than that of salt; for
with two-thirds of the dishes, more of the former than of the latter
is used. The _aji_ pepper was introduced into India by Mrs. Clements
Markham in 1861.
[341] Before the death of Huayna Ccapac, fearful comets appeared
in the air, one of them very large and of a green colour, and a
thunder-bolt fell on the house of the Ynca. The _amautas_ or learned
men prognosticated that these awful signs were the forerunners, not
only of the death of Huayna Ccapac, but of the destruction of the
empire. _G. de la Vega_, i, lib. ix, cap. 15.
[342] Or mountainous region.
[343] _Zea Mais_ Lin.: called _sara_ in Quichua.
[344] _Jatropha Manihot_ Lin.: called _asipa_ or _rumu_ in Quichua.
The yuca is still the edible root most used in the coast valleys of
Peru. It grows to a great size, and is excellent when roasted.
[345] _Batatas edulis_, Chois.: called _apichu_ in Quichua, and
_cumar_ in the Quito dialect. Dr. Seemann has pointed out to me the
curious and interesting fact that _kumara_ is also the word for sweet
potatoe in Tahiti, the Fiji Islands, and New Zealand.
[346] The _pepino_ (a _cucurbitacea_) is grown in great abundance in
the fields. The plant is only a foot and a half high, and it creeps on
the ground. The fruit is from four to five inches long, cylindrical,
and somewhat pointed at both ends. The husk is of a yellowish green
colour, with long rose coloured stripes. The edible part is solid,
juicy, and well flavoured, but very indigestible. _Tschudi_, p. 192.
[347] _Psidium guayava_ Raddi.
[348] _Inga spectabilis_ Willd.
[349] _Persea gratissima_ R. P. See note at p. 16.
[350] The _guanavana_ is called sour sop in the West Indies (_Anona
muricata_ Lin.), where Cieza de Leon must have seen it. It has long
been naturalized in India, as well as the _A. squamosa_ (custard
apple) and _A. reticulata_ (sweet sop), and on occasions of famine
these fruits have literally proved the staff of life to the natives in
some parts of the country. (Drury’s _Useful Plants of India_, p. 41.)
But the fruit which Cieza de Leon here mistakes for the _guanavana_ or
sour sop is, no doubt, the delicious _chirimoya_ (_Anona cherimolia_
Mill.) Von Tschudi says of it: “It would certainly be difficult to
name any fruit possessing a more exquisite flavour. The fruit is of
a roundish form, somewhat pyramidal or heart-shaped, the broad base
uniting with the stem. Externally it is green, covered with small
knobs and scales. The skin is rather thick and tough. Internally the
fruit is snow-white and juicy, and provided with a number of black
seeds. The taste is incomparable. Both the fruit and flowers of the
_chirimoya_ emit a fine fragrance. The tree which bears this finest of
all fruits is from fifteen to twenty feet high.” Mrs. Clements Markham
introduced the cultivation of this delicious fruit into Southern India
in 1861.
[351] _Chrysophillum Caimito_ Lin., or star apple.
[352] The name for the ordinary Peruvian dog, in Quichua, is _allco_
(_Canis Ingæ_).
[353] The _algaroba_ or _guaranga_ (_Prosopis horrida_, Willd). A tree
the bean of which furnishes food for mules, donkeys, and goats.
[354] The _dulces_ or preserves of Peru are still the most delicious
in the world, especially those made at Cuzco. No confectionary in
London or Paris can be compared with them.
[355] The vineyards of the Peruvian coast valleys have become famous
for the delicious grape spirits called _italia_ and _pisco_. In 1860
the valleys of Yca and Pisco alone yielded seventy thousand _botijas_
or jars of spirits, and ten thousand barrels of excellent wine.
[356] Next to the wonderful roads, these irrigating channels are the
most convincing proofs of the advanced civilisation of the Yncas. Once
nearly all the coast valleys were supplied with them, and thousands of
acres were reclaimed from the desert; but, owing to the barbarism or
neglect of the Spaniards, they nearly all went to ruin very soon after
the conquest. In one valley alone, that of Nasca (or, more properly,
_Nanasca_, “pain”), the irrigating works of the Yncas are still in
working order, and from them an idea may be formed of the extent and
grandeur of the public works of the Yncas throughout the coast region
of Peru.
The valley of Nasca descends from the Andes by an easy and gradual
slope, widening as it descends, and is hemmed in by lofty mountains on
either side. It is covered with cultivation, consisting of vineyards,
cotton plantations, fields of _aji_, maize, wheat, pumpkins, melons,
and other vegetables, and fruit gardens. In 1853 I examined the
irrigation channels of this valley very carefully. All that nature
has supplied, in the way of water, is a small water course, which
is frequently dry for six years together; and, at the best, only a
little streamlet trickles down during the month of February. The
engineering skill displayed by the Yncas, in remedying this defect,
is astonishing. Deep trenches were cut along the whole length of the
valley, and so far into the mountains that the present inhabitants
have no knowledge of the place where they commence. High up the valley
the main trenches or _puquios_ are some four feet in height, with
the floor, sides, and roof lined with stones. Lower down they are
separated into smaller _puquios_, which ramify in every direction over
the valley, and supply all the estates with delicious water throughout
the year, feeding the little streams which irrigate the fields. The
larger _puquios_ are several feet below the surface, and at intervals
of about two hundred yards there are man-holes, called _ojos_, by
which workmen can get down into the channels, and clear away any
obstructions.
Further on Cieza de Leon describes other works of irrigation in the
valley of Yca, on the same magnificent scale, which, even when he
wrote, had already been destroyed by the barbarian Spaniards.
The subterranean channels were called _huirca_ in Quichua, and those
flowing along on the surface _rarca_. In all parts of the _Sierra_
of Peru the remains of irrigating channels are met with, which
the Spaniards destroyed and neglected, and thus allowed the once
fertile fields to return to their natural sterility. The principal
remains of works of irrigation, in the _Sierra_, are to be found at
Caxamarca and at Cerro Pasco. Garcilasso de la Vega relates how the
Ynca Huira-ccocha caused an aqueduct to be constructed, twelve feet
in depth, and more than one hundred and twenty leagues in length.
Another aqueduct was made in the province of Condesuyos (Cunti-suyu),
which was more than fifty-five leagues long. The Ynca historian
justly exclaims: “These are works worthy of the grandeur of such
princes. They are equal to the finest works of the kind in the world,
considering the enormous rocks which were cut through to form them,
without iron or steel tools. When a deep ravine crossed the intended
course of the aqueduct, it was led round to the head. The channels
were cut out of the living rock in many places, the outer side being
formed of a stone wall of large six-sided slabs, fitting exactly into
each other, and banked up with earth.”
[357] There is a fox (_Canis Azaræ_, Pr. Max.) which abounds in the
coast valleys, where it preys on the lambs.
[358] _Prosopis horrida_, Willd. This tree grows to a large size. The
wood is very hard, the leaf small, and the branches bear an abundance
of clusters of pods, which form excellent food for mules and cattle,
and for immense herds of goats.
[359] “Formerly the valley of Chacama was called the granary of Peru,
and, until the great earthquake of 1687, the wheat produced its seed
two hundred fold. This valley alone harvested two hundred thousand
bushels of this grain.” _Stevenson_, ii, p. 124-5.
[360] “The valleys of Chimu, Chacama, and Viru, may be considered
as one, being separated from each other only by the branches of the
Chacama river. United they are about twenty-eight leagues long and
eleven broad. Their soil, irrigated by the waters of the river, is
very fertile.” _Stevenson_, ii, p. 124.
[361] The ruins in the valley of Chimu or Truxillo are a league
and a half from the port of Huanchaco. It is not known when they
were built, but in the time of Pachacutec, the ninth Ynca (about
A.D. 1340 to 1400), a powerful chief reigned in this
valley, called Chimu-Canchu. After a long war with the Ynca’s son
Yupanqui, the Chimu consented to worship the sun, and to abandon his
own idols, consisting of figures of fish and other animals.
The ruins of the Chimu’s city cover a space of three quarters of
a league, exclusive of the great squares. These squares, seven or
eight in number, vary from two hundred to two hundred and seventy
yards in length, and from one hundred to one hundred and sixty in
breadth. They are on the north side of the large edifices or palaces.
The walls surrounding the palaces are of great solidity, formed of
_adobes_ (bricks baked in the sun) ten or twelve yards long and five
or six broad in the lower part of the wall, but gradually diminishing
until they terminate in a breadth of one yard at the top. Each palace
was completely surrounded by an exterior wall. One of them, built
of stone and _adobes_, is fifty yards high, five yards broad at the
bottom, and gradually tapering to one at the top. In the first palace
there is an interior court, in which are chambers built of stone, and
plastered within. The lintels of the doorways consist of a single
stone about two yards long. Some of the walls are adorned with panels
and tasteful patterns, and ornaments sculptured on the _adobes_. There
is also a large reservoir, which was formerly supplied with water, by
subterranean aqueducts, from the river Moche, about two miles to the
north-east. The second palace is one hundred and twenty-five yards
east of the first. It contains several courts and chambers, with
narrow lanes between them. At one of the extremities is the _huaca_ of
_Misa_, surrounded by a low wall. This _huaca_ is traversed by small
passages about a yard wide, and it also contains some large chambers,
containing cloths, mummies, pieces of gold and silver, tools, and
a stone idol. Besides these palaces there are the ruins of a great
number of smaller houses, forming an extensive city. _Rivero Antiq.
Per._
In 1566 one Garcia Gutierrez de Toledo paid 85,547 _castellanos de
oro_ (£222,422) as the fifth or royal share of the treasure found by
him in the _huacas_ of the grand Chimu; and in 1592 the royal fifth
of further treasure discovered in these tombs amounted to 47,020
_castellanos_ (£122,252). The value of the whole was £1,724,220 of
our money. This will give some idea of the wealth concealed in these
burial places. There is a tradition that there were two priceless
treasures in the form of fishes of gold, known as the great and little
_peje_, in one of the _huacas_.
The curiosities that have been found in the _Chimu_ ruins are very
interesting:--such as mummies in strange postures, one in an attitude
as if about to drink, with a monkey on his shoulder, whispering into
his ear.
[362] The city of Truxillo stands on a sandy plain, in lat. 8° 6´ 3” S.
[363] See note at p. 72.
[364] The distance is one hundred and eight leagues by the road.
[365] The river of Santa is about eighteen hundred yards across at
the mouth, and its current, during the rainy season, sometimes flows
at the rate of seven miles an hour. In 1795 a rope bridge was thrown
across it, about a league from the mouth, but it was destroyed by a
sudden rise of the water in 1806. _Stevenson._
[366] Guarmay is a small Indian village, famous for its _chicha_,
which is remarkably strong.
[367] These are the ruins of a fortress defended by the Chimu against
the army of the Yncas, the outer walls being three hundred yards long
by two hundred. The interior is divided into small houses, separated
by lanes. It is partly covered with a kind of plaster, on which
Proctor saw the uncouth coloured representations of birds and beasts
mentioned in the text. The ruined fortress stands at the extremity of
a plain, close to the foot of some rugged mountains, about a league
from the sea. _Paz Soldan_: _Proctor_, p. 175.
[368] _La Barranca._ The river is approached by a precipitous descent
down a high bank of large pebbles and earth. The breadth of the
channel is about a quarter of a mile, and, during the rains in the
Andes, it is completely full, running furiously, and carrying along
with it trees and even rocks, which render it impassable. In the dry
season it merely consists of three separate torrents about as deep as
the saddle, but unsafe.
[369] The city of Lima is about two miles long and a mile and a
half broad. Its circumference is about ten miles, but many gardens,
orchards, and fields of alfalfa are included within the walls. The
best and fullest account of Lima is contained in a work called
_Estadistica de Lima_, by Don Manuel A. Fuentes.
[370] Each side of the grand square of Lima is five hundred and ten
feet long. It contains the cathedral and palace.
[371] This is the hill of San Cristobal, a rocky height rising
abruptly from the plain, on the opposite side of the river Rimac, near
the bull-ring. There is still a cross planted on its summit.
[372] One does not always hear such praise from those who have visited
the City of the Kings; but at least the feelings of the editor of
this work agree with those of the author. Some of the happiest days
in the editor’s life were passed on the banks of the Rimac; and he,
therefore, will not criticize the enthusiastic and, as some will
think, exaggerated praise of Cieza de Leon.
[373] The city of Lima was founded by Pizarro on the 6th of January,
1535. As it was the day of Epiphany, Lima received the title of
_Ciudad de los Reyes_ (City of the Kings).
[374] Great numbers of bodies have been dug up at the foot of the
temple of Pachacamac, the extreme dryness of the climate having
preserved the long hair on the skulls, and even the skin. There are as
many as one hundred and four Pachacamac skulls in European museums,
which have been carefully examined. “They exhibit a vertically
flattened occiput, a narrow and receding forehead, the glabella being
slightly prominent. The acrocephalic or sugar-loaf form predominates.
The range of skulls from Pachacamac varies from the globular or oval
type, with a slightly depressed coronal suture, which Tschudi terms
the ‘Chincha’ skulls, to the pyramidal brachycephalic cranium, with
a high and vertical occiput, ordinarily termed the ‘Inca cranium.’”
C. C. Blake, Esq., _On the Cranial Characters of the Peruvian Races_.
_Transactions of the Ethnological Society._ Vol. ii. New Series, p.
227. Cieza de Leon states, in the text, that only chiefs and pilgrims
were allowed to be buried near the temple of Pachacamac; and, if
this was really the case, it would be natural to expect that the
fact would be corroborated, to some extent, by an examination of the
skulls. Accordingly I am informed by Mr. Carter Blake, that Mr. Clift
and others have spoken of Pachacamac as being the depository of more
than one type of skull, which may be the remains of pilgrims from
various localities. Mr. Clift mentions bodies at Pachacamac with heads
depressed like those of the people near lake Titicaca, and others with
heads properly formed.
[375] The ruins of Pachacamac are about twenty miles south of Lima,
on the sea-coast. The temple was on the summit of a hill about four
hundred feet above the sea, and half a mile from the beach. The
view from the platform, where the temple once stood, is exceedingly
striking. Half the horizon is occupied by the ocean, and the other
half is divided into two widely different scenes. One is an arid
desert, with no object on which the eye can rest save the ruined city;
the other is a lovely valley, covered with fields of maize and sugar
cane, and dotted with houses half hidden by the encircling fruit
gardens. The little town of Lurin stands in its centre. A narrow
stream separates this enchanting valley from the dreary expanse of
sand, while the glorious Andes bound the inland view.
The upper part of the temple hill is artificially formed of huge
_adobes_ or bricks baked in the sun, rising in three broad terraces,
the walls of which are thirty-two feet high. Towards the sea the
terraces are supported by buttresses of ordinary sized sun-dried
bricks, and the red paint, with which the walls were originally
coated, may still be seen in several places. The temple stood on a
level platform on the top, facing the sea. The door is said to have
been of gold plates, richly inlaid with coral and precious stones,
but the interior was rendered filthy by the sacrifices. Garcilasso
says that the Yunca Indians had idols in the form of fish and other
animals, and that they sacrificed animals, and even the blood of men
and women; but that these idols were destroyed by the Yncas.
At the foot of the temple hill are the remains of houses for pilgrims;
and it is here that the numerous skulls are found, with long flowing
hair, which are to be met with in European museums. Further on are
the ruins of an extensive city. The streets are very narrow, and
the principal houses or palaces generally consist of halls of grand
proportions, with a number of small apartments at each end: all now
choked with sand. The foundations are frequently of stone.
It is said by some old writers that this temple was erected for
the worship of Pachacamac--the Supreme Being, the “Creator of the
world”--by an ancient race, long before the time of the Yncas, and
of whom the Yunca Indians were degenerate descendants. Its great
antiquity is proved by the fact that, when Hernando Pizarro first
arrived at it, a considerable portion of the city was already in ruins.
[376] The plain of Chilca is a broad sandy waste, with a thin line
of vegetation running from the Andes to the sea. The village is a
collection of cane flat-roofed houses, with a handsome church. It is
about two miles from the beach, where there is an abrupt headland
called Chilca Point. There are none of the maize fields described by
Cieza de Leon, and the land is no longer manured with sardine heads,
but there are several palm and fig trees, and holes where crops of
reeds, for making matting to cover the house tops, are raised. A
little scanty herbage grows on the sand hills, where mules and donkeys
graze. The inhabitants of Chilca are all pure Indians, and they
allow no whites to reside in their village. They employ themselves
in plaiting straw for hats and cigar cases of great beauty. In the
time of the Yncas this valley was very populous, as is clear from the
numerous ruins in various directions; but Spanish occupation has acted
as a blight on every corner of this once happy land.
[377] Here Cieza de Leon shows his strong prejudice against Almagro.
It is well known that Pizarro formed a plot to seize him after the
interview at Mala, and that he was warned of the meditated treachery
by the voice of an old comrade, who sang a couplet in the verandah--
“Tiempo es de andar, Cavallero!
Tiempo es de andar de aqui.”
[378] The valley of Mala is six miles from that of Chilca. It is
covered with rich vegetation--bananas, figs, oranges, fields of maize,
vines, and willow trees, and is well supplied with water by a large
river. In the southern part there are extensive pastures, where some
of the bulls are bred for the Lima bull fights.
[379] This is the rich modern valley of Cañeta, containing six very
extensive and flourishing sugar estates, and two villages.
[380] What other right had our author’s countrymen? or does he mean
more than meets the eye, in writing this sentence. Cieza de Leon was
evidently impressed with the excellence of the government of the
Yncas, and deplores, in almost every chapter, the destruction and ruin
brought upon the country by the Spaniards. Is this a covert thrust at
the justice of the Spanish conquest?
[381] The ruins of this great edifice, half fortress half palace, are
still to be seen on an elevated point of land overhanging the sea, on
the south side of the river of Cañete. I examined these ruins very
carefully in 1853. They are divided into two parts. Those furthest
from the sea consist of nine chambers. Entering from a breach in
the wall, I passed along a gallery broad enough for two men to walk
abreast, with a parapet five feet high on one side, and a wall sixteen
feet high on the other. The parapet is on the edge of a hill partly
faced with _adobes_. At the end of about twenty yards the gallery
turns at right angles into the centre of the building. Here there is
a doorway about ten feet high, three feet across at the base, and
narrowing as it ascends, with a lintel of willow beams. It leads into
a spacious hall, and, on the opposite side, there is a deep recess
corresponding with the door. The walls are sixteen feet high, built
of moderate sized _adobes_, formerly plastered over, and, as Cieza de
Leon tells us, painted with figures. At the sides of the hall there
are small chambers with recesses in the walls, communicating with each
other by passages in the rear. There is a distance of two hundred
yards, strewn with ruined walls, between this portion of the ruins and
that overhanging the sea. The latter is entered by a doorway, which
leads into a large square hall, nearly a hundred feet each way. The
sides towards the north and west are smooth, but the eastern wall is
pierced by fifteen small recesses. On the south side two doorways lead
by passages into smaller chambers, also with recesses in the walls. In
the upper part of the walls of the great hall the holes, for the beams
which supported the roof, are distinctly visible. The walls throughout
are three to four feet thick. The doorways, from the lintel to the
ground, are eight feet high. On the whole, this is one of the best
preserved ruins in the land of the Yncas. The portions of the fortress
which were built of stone, were barbarously destroyed by order of the
Spanish viceroy Count of Moncloa, and the materials were used for
building the castles at Callao.
[382] From the great gate of the hacienda of Laran, in the valley
of Chincha, a broad road leads towards the Andes. This road formed
the division between the governments of Pizarro and Almagro on the
sea-coast, and the question as to whether Cuzco was on the north or
south side of the imaginary line continued east from Laran, was the
cause of a quarrel which ended in the defeat and death of Almagro.
Laran now belongs to the hospitable Don Antonio Prada, marquis of the
towers of Oran.
[383] Another great public work of the Yncas, now utterly destroyed.
[384] The valley of Yca forms a delightful contrast to the surrounding
deserts. The traveller, leaving the sandy waste behind him, finds
himself riding through vineyards and cotton plantations, with hedges
of fig trees, jessamine and roses on either hand. Yca is a large
town about two leagues from the foot of the Andes, in the middle of
a fertile and beautiful valley; but it has suffered fearfully from
earthquakes. The river is crossed by a bridge of ropes and willow
branches, and during January and February it dashes impetuously down
the valley, but it is dry for the rest of the year, and, as Cieza de
Leon says, the people dig holes in its bed, to get water. There are
some very extensive woods of _guaranga_ or _algaroba trees_ (_Prosopis
horrida_) in the valley of Yca, generally on the skirts of the deserts.
[385] He includes the rich valleys of Palpa, San Xavier, and Nasca
under the same name.
[386] I carefully examined these ruined edifices when I was at Nasca.
They are built in terraces up the sides of the mountains, which hem
in the valley on the south. The houses contained spacious halls,
with niches in the walls. About forty feet higher up the mountain,
and immediately overhanging the ruined palaces, there was a fortress
with a semicircular wall in front, and a high _adobe_ breastwork in
the rear. Its only approach was by a steep ramp leading up from the
edifices below. The walls of the buildings are all of stone.
[387] I know of only one modern traveller who has visited and
described the coast valleys of Acari, Ocoña, and Camana; namely,
that noble old warrior General Miller, who led his patriot troops
from Quilca to Pisco in 1823, a most difficult march over trackless
deserts, and through a country then in possession of the Spaniards.
The Camana valley, which in its upper part is called Majes, has a
considerable river; and contains olive yards, vineyards, and sugar
plantations. It is in 15° 57´ S. The yellow _aji_ or capsicum of
Camana is also famous, and guano has been used as manure in its
cultivation from time immemorial.
[388] Quilca was the port of Arequipa until the year 1827, when it was
supplanted by its present successful rival Islay, some leagues further
down the coast.
[389] This account of the use of guano by the ancient Peruvians is
exceedingly curious. Garcilasso de la Vega also describes the use made
by them of the deposits of guano on the coast. He says: “On the shores
of the sea, from below Arequipa to Tarapaca, which is more than two
hundred leagues of coast, they use no other manure than that of sea
birds, which abound in all the coasts of Peru, and go in such great
flocks that it would be incredible to one who had not seen them. They
breed on certain uninhabited islands which are on that coast; and the
manure which they deposit is in such quantities that it would almost
seem incredible. In the time of the kings, who were Yncas, such care
was taken to guard these birds in the breeding season, that it was not
lawful for any one to land on the isles, on pain of death, that the
birds might not be frightened, nor driven from their nests. Neither
was it lawful to kill them at any time, either on the island or
elsewhere, also on pain of death. Each island was, by the Yncas, set
apart for the use of a particular province, and the guano was fairly
divided, each village receiving a due portion” (ii, lib. v, cap. iii).
See also _Antiguedades Peruanas_, p. 77.
Frezier mentions that, when he was on the coast in 1713, guano was
brought from Iquique, and other ports along the coast, and landed at
Arica and Ylo, for the _aji_ and other crops. Frezier’s _South Sea_,
p. 152.
[390] The desert of Atacama.
[391] The original site was in the rear of the little village of Cayma.
[392] The splendid volcano of Misti rises immediately in the rear of
the city of Arequipa, in a perfect cone capped with snow, to a height
of 18,000 feet above the level of the sea, or, according to Pentland,
20,300 feet.
[393] The most terrible earthquakes at Arequipa, took place as
follows:--
January 2, 1582
February 18, 1600
November 23, 1604
December 9, 1609
1613
May 20, 1666
April 23, 1668
October 21, 1687
August 22, 1715
May 13, 1784
1812
July 10, 1821
October 9, 1831
June 3, 1848. Between 10
P.M. and 2 A.M. there were forty
terrific shocks.
[394] After the armies of Ynca Pachacutec, under the command of his
brother, the able general Ccapac Yupanqui, had conquered the Huanca
nation, that commander invaded the province of Caxamarca in about
1380 A.D. The natives replied to the usual Yncarial
summons, by saying that they had no need for new gods or new laws
beyond those which they had received from their ancestors. The
Yncarial troops were victorious in the open ground, but the natives of
Caxamarca then retreated into their fortified strongholds, and made
continual forays. Thus the war lasted for four months, but the Ynca
general lost no opportunity of ingratiating himself with the enemy,
setting the prisoners at liberty, curing the wounded, and sending
messages of peace and amity to the hostile chiefs. At last the people
of Caxamarca began to reflect that they might meet a harder fate
than that of submitting to rulers who, while they were able to kill,
treated their prisoners with so much kindness. The chiefs sent in
their submission, and were confirmed in their privileges, while the
province of Caxamarca became an integral part of the empire of the
Yncas. The general Ccapac Yupanqui was accompanied in this campaign by
his youthful nephew the Ynca Yupanqui, who afterwards succeeded his
father Pachacutec as tenth Ynca of Peru.
It was by this enlightened policy of conciliation, accompanied by
vigorous movements in the field, that most of the conquests of the
Yncas were effected. _G. de la Vega_, i, lib. vi, cap. xv.