The Last Four Incas
Readers of Prescott's charming classic, "The Conquest of Peru,"
will remember that Pizarro, after killing Atahualpa, the Inca who
had tried in vain to avoid his fate by filling a room with vessels
of gold, decided to establish a native prince on the throne of the
Incas to rule in accordance with the dictates of Spain. The young
prince, Manco, a son of the great Inca Huayna Capac, named for the
first Inca, Manco Ccapac, the founder of the dynasty, was selected
as the most acceptable figurehead. He was a young man of ability
and spirit. His induction into office in 1534 with appropriate
ceremonies, the barbaric splendor of which only made the farce the
more pitiful, did little to gratify his natural ambition. As might
have been foreseen, he chafed under restraint, escaped as soon as
possible from his attentive guardians, and raised an army of faithful
Quichuas. There followed the siege of Cuzco, briefly characterized
by Don Alonzo Enriques de Guzman, who took part in it, as "the most
fearful and cruel war in the world." When in 1536 Cuzco was relieved
by Pizarro's comrade, Almagro, and Manco's last chance of regaining
the ancient capital of his ancestors failed, the Inca retreated to
Ollantaytambo. Here, on the banks of the river Urubamba, Manco made a
determined stand, but Ollantaytambo was too easily reached by Pizarro's
mounted cavaliers. The Inca's followers, although aroused to their
utmost endeavors by the presence of the magnificent stone edifices,
fortresses, granaries, palaces, and hanging gardens of their ancestors,
found it necessary to retreat. They fled in a northerly direction and
made good their escape over snowy passes to Uiticos in the fastnesses
of Uilcapampa, a veritable American Switzerland.
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FIGURE
Glaciers Between Cuzco and Uiticos
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The Spaniards who attempted to follow Manco found his position
practically impregnable. The citadel of Uilcapampa, a gigantic
natural fortress defended by Nature in one of her profoundest moods,
was only to be reached by fording dangerous torrents, or crossing
the mountains by narrow defiles which themselves are higher than
the most lofty peaks of Europe. It was hazardous for Hannibal and
Napoleon to bring their armies through the comparatively low passes
of the Alps. Pizarro found it impossible to follow the Inca Manco
over the Pass of Panticalla, itself a snowy wilderness higher than
the summit of Mont Blanc. In no part of the Peruvian Andes are there
so many beautiful snowy peaks. Near by is the sharp, icy pinnacle
of Mt. Veronica (elevation 19,342 ft.). Not far away is another
magnificent snow-capped peak, Mt. Salcantay, 20,565 feet above the
sea. Near Salcantay is the sharp needle of Mt. Soray (19,435 ft.),
while to the west of it are Panta (18,590 ft.) and Soiroccocha (18,197
ft.). On the shoulders of these mountains are unnamed glaciers and
little valleys that have scarcely ever been seen except by some hardy
prospector or inquisitive explorer. These valleys are to be reached
only through passes where the traveler is likely to be waylaid by
violent storms of hail and snow. During the rainy season a large part
of Uilcapampa is absolutely impenetrable. Even in the dry season the
difficulties of transportation are very great. The most sure-footed
mule is sometimes unable to use the trails without assistance from
man. It was an ideal place for the Inca Manco.
The conquistador, Cieza de Leon, who wrote in 1550 a graphic account
of the wars of Peru, says that Manco took with him a "great quantity
of treasure, collected from various parts ... and many loads of
rich clothing of wool, delicate in texture and very beautiful
and showy." The Spaniards were absolutely unable to conceive of
the ruler of a country traveling without rich "treasure." It is
extremely doubtful whether Manco burdened himself with much gold or
silver. Except for ornament there was little use to which he could
have put the precious metals and they would have served only to
arouse the cupidity of his enemies. His people had never been paid
in gold or silver. Their labor was his due, and only such part of it
as was needed to raise their own crops and make their own clothing
was allotted to them; in fact, their lives were in his hands and the
custom and usage of centuries made them faithful followers of their
great chief. That Manco, however, actually did carry off with him
beautiful textiles, and anything else which was useful, may be taken
for granted. In Uiticos, safe from the armed forces of his enemies,
the Inca was also able to enjoy the benefits of a delightful climate,
and was in a well-watered region where corn, potatoes, both white
and sweet, and the fruits of the temperate and sub-tropical regions
easily grow. Using this as a base, he was accustomed to sally forth
against the Spaniards frequently and in unexpected directions. His
raids were usually successful. It was relatively easy for him, with
a handful of followers, to dash out of the mountain fastnesses,
cross the Apurimac River either by swimming or on primitive rafts,
and reach the great road between Cuzco and Lima, the principal highway
of Peru. Officials and merchants whose business led them over this
route found it extremely precarious. Manco cheered his followers by
making them realize that in these raids they were taking sweet revenge
on the Spaniards for what they had done to Peru. It is interesting
to note that Cieza de Leon justifies Manco in his attitude, for the
Spaniards had indeed "seized his inheritance, forcing him to leave
his native land, and to live in banishment."
Manco's success in securing such a place of refuge, and in using
it as a base from which he could frequently annoy his enemies, led
many of the Orejones of Cuzco to follow him. The Inca chiefs were
called Orejones, "big ears," by the Spaniards because the lobes of
their ears had been enlarged artificially to receive the great gold
earrings which they were fond of wearing. Three years after Manco's
retirement to the wilds of Uilcapampa there was born in Cuzco in the
year 1539, Garcilasso Inca de la Vega, the son of an Inca princess
and one of the conquistadores. As a small child Garcilasso heard
of the activities of his royal relative. He left Peru as a boy and
spent the rest of his life in Spain. After forty years in Europe
he wrote, partly from memory, his "Royal Commentaries," an account
of the country of his Indian ancestors. Of the Inca Manco, of whom
he must frequently have heard uncomplimentary reports as a child,
he speaks apologetically. He says: "In the time of Manco Inca,
several robberies were committed on the road by his subjects; but
still they had that respect for the Spanish Merchants that they let
them go free and never pillaged them of their wares and merchandise,
which were in no manner useful to them; howsoever they robbed the
Indians of their cattle [llamas and alpacas], bred in the countrey
.... The Inca lived in the Mountains, which afforded no tame Cattel;
and only produced Tigers and Lions and Serpents of twenty-five and
thirty feet long, with other venomous insects." (I am quoting from Sir
Paul Rycaut's translation, published in London in 1688.) Garcilasso
says Manco's soldiers took only "such food as they found in the hands
of the Indians; which the Inca did usually call his own," saying,
"That he who was Master of that whole Empire might lawfully challenge
such a proportion thereof as was convenient to supply his necessary
and natural support"--a reasonable apology; and yet personally I doubt
whether Manco spared the Spanish merchants and failed to pillage them
of their "wares and merchandise." As will be seen later, we found
in Manco's palace some metal articles of European origin which might
very well have been taken by Manco's raiders. Furthermore, it should
be remembered that Garcilasso, although often quoted by Prescott,
left Peru when he was sixteen years old and that his ideas were
largely colored by his long life in Spain and his natural desire to
extol the virtues of his mother's people, a brown race despised by
the white Europeans for whom he wrote.
The methods of warfare and the weapons used by Manco and his followers
at this time are thus described by Guzman. He says the Indians had no
defensive arms such as helmets, shields, and armor, but used "lances,
arrows, dubs, axes, halberds, darts, and slings, and another weapon
which they call ayllas (the bolas), consisting of three round stones
sewn up in leather, and each fastened to a cord a cubit long. They
throw these at the horses, and thus bind their legs together; and
sometimes they will fasten a man's arms to his sides in the same
way. These Indians are so expert in the use of this weapon that they
will bring down a deer with it in the chase. Their principal weapon,
however, is the sling .... With it, they will hurl a huge stone with
such force that it will kill a horse; in truth, the effect is little
less great than that of an arquebus; and I have seen a stone, thus
hurled from a sling, break a sword in two pieces which was held in
a man's hand at a distance of thirty paces."
Manco's raids finally became so annoying that Pizarro sent a small
force from Cuzco under Captain Villadiego to attack the Inca. Captain
Villadiego found it impossible to use horses, although he realized
that cavalry was the "important arm against these Indians." Confident
in his strength and in the efficacy of his firearms, and anxious
to enjoy the spoils of a successful raid against a chief reported
to be traveling surrounded by his family "and with rich treasure,"
he pressed eagerly on, up through a lofty valley toward a defile in
the mountains, probably the Pass of Panticalla. Here, fatigued and
exhausted by their difficult march and suffering from the effects
of the altitude (16,000 ft.), his men found themselves ambushed by
the Inca, who with a small party, "little more than eighty Indians,"
"attacked the Christians, who numbered twenty-eight or thirty, and
killed Captain Villadiego and all his men except two or three." To any
one who has clambered over the passes of the Cordillera Uilcapampa
it is not surprising that this military expedition was a failure or
that the Inca, warned by keen-sighted Indians posted on appropriate
vantage points, could have succeeded in defeating a small force of
weary soldiers armed with the heavy blunderbuss of the seventeenth
century. In a rocky pass, protected by huge boulders, and surrounded
by quantities of natural ammunition for their slings, it must have
been relatively simple for eighty Quichuas, who could "hurl a huge
stone with such force that it would kill a horse," to have literally
stoned to death Captain Villadiego's little company before they could
have prepared their clumsy weapons for firing.
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FIGURE
The Urubamba Canyon
A reason for the safety of the Incas in Uilcapampa.
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The fugitives returned to Cuzco and reported their misfortune. The
importance of the reverse will be better appreciated if one remembers
that the size of the force with which Pizarro conquered Peru was less
than two hundred, only a few times larger than Captain Villadiego's
company which had been wiped out by Manco. Its significance is
further increased by the fact that the contemporary Spanish writers,
with all their tendency to exaggerate, placed Manco's force at only
"a little more than eighty Indians." Probably there were not even
that many. The wonder is that the Inca's army was not reported as
being several thousand.
Francisco Pizarro himself now hastily set out with a body of soldiers
determined to punish this young Inca who had inflicted such a blow on
the prestige of Spanish arms, "but this attempt also failed," for the
Inca had withdrawn across the rivers and mountains of Uilcapampa to
Uiticos, where, according to Cieza de Leon, he cheered his followers
with the sight of the heads of his enemies. Unfortunately for accuracy,
the custom of displaying on the ends of pikes the heads of one's
enemies was European and not Peruvian. To be sure, the savage Indians
of some of the Amazonian jungles do sometimes decapitate their enemies,
remove the bones of the skull, dry the shrunken scalp and face,
and wear the trophy as a mark of prowess just as the North American
Indians did the scalps of their enemies. Such customs had no place
among the peace-loving Inca agriculturists of central Peru. There were
no Spaniards living with Manco at that time to report any such outrage
on the bodies of Captain Villadiego's unfortunate men. Probably the
conquistadores supposed that Manco did what the Spaniards would have
done under similar circumstances.
Following the failure of Francisco Pizarro to penetrate to Uiticos,
his brother, Gonzalo, "undertook the pursuit of the Inca and occupied
some of his passes and bridges," but was unsuccessful in penetrating
the mountain labyrinth. Being less foolhardy than Captain Villadiego,
he did not come into actual conflict with Manco. Unable to subdue
the young Inca or prevent his raids on travelers from Cuzco to Lima,
Francisco Pizarro, "with the assent of the royal officers who were
with him," established the city of Ayacucho at a convenient point
on the road, so as to make it secure for travelers. Nevertheless,
according to Montesinos, Manco caused the good people of Ayacucho quite
a little trouble. Finally, Francisco Pizarro, "having taken one of
Manco's wives prisoner with other Indians, stripped and flogged her,
and then shot her to death with arrows."
Accounts of what happened in Uiticos under the rule of Manco are
not very satisfactory. Father Calancha, who published in 1639 his
"Coronica Moralizada," or "pious account of the missionary activities
of the Augustinians" in Peru, says that the Inca Manco was obeyed
by all the Indians who lived in a region extending "for two hundred
leagues and more toward the east and toward the south, where there
were innumerable Indians in various provinces." With customary monastic
zeal and proper religious fervor, Father Calancha accuses the Inca of
compelling the baptized Indians who fled to him from the Spaniards to
abandon their new faith, torturing those who would no longer worship
the old Inca "idols." This story need not be taken too literally,
although undoubtedly the escaped Indians acted as though they had
never been baptized.
Besides Indians fleeing from harsh masters, there came to Uilcapampa,
in 1542, Gomez Perez, Diego Mendez, and half a dozen other Spanish
fugitives, adherents of Almagro, "rascals," says Calancha, "worthy
of Manco's favor." Obliged by the civil wars of the conquistadores
to flee from the Pizarros, they were glad enough to find a welcome
in Uiticos. To while away the time they played games and taught
the Inca checkers and chess, as well as bowling-on-the-green and
quoits. Montesinos says they also taught him to ride horseback
and shoot an arquebus. They took their games very seriously and
occasionally violent disputes arose, one of which, as we shall see,
was to have fatal consequences. They were kept informed by Manco of
what was going on in the viceroyalty. Although "encompassed within
craggy and lofty mountains," the Inca was thoroughly cognizant of
all those "revolutions" which might be of benefit to him.
Perhaps the most exciting news that reached Uiticos in 1544 was in
regard to the arrival of the first Spanish viceroy. He brought the
New Laws, a result of the efforts of the good Bishop Las Casas to
alleviate the sufferings of the Indians. The New Laws provided, among
other things, that all the officers of the crown were to renounce
their repartimientos or holdings of Indian serfs, and that compulsory
personal service was to be entirely abolished. Repartimientos given
to the conquerors were not to pass to their heirs, but were to revert
to the king. In other words, the New Laws gave evidence that the
Spanish crown wished to be kind to the Indians and did not approve
of the Pizarros. This was good news for Manco and highly pleasing
to the refugees. They persuaded the Inca to write a letter to the
new viceroy, asking permission to appear before him and offer his
services to the king. The Spanish refugees told the Inca that by
this means he might some day recover his empire, "or at least the
best part of it." Their object in persuading the Inca to send such
a message to the viceroy becomes apparent when we learn that they
"also wrote as from themselves desiring a pardon for what was past"
and permission to return to Spanish dominions.
Gomez Perez, who seems to have been the active leader of the little
group, was selected to be the bearer of the letters from the Inca and
the refugees. Attended by a dozen Indians whom the Inca instructed
to act as his servants and bodyguard, he left Uilcapampa, presented
his letters to the viceroy, and gave him "a large relation of the
State and Condition of the Inca, and of his true and real designs
to doe him service." "The Vice-king joyfully received the news,
and granted a full and ample pardon of all crimes, as desired. And
as to the Inca, he made many kind expressions of love and respect,
truly considering that the Interest of the Inca might be advantageous
to him, both in War and Peace. And with this satisfactory answer
Gomez Perez returned both to the Inca and to his companions." The
refugees were delighted with the news and got ready to return to king
and country. Their departure from Uiticos was prevented by a tragic
accident, thus described by Garcilasso.
"The Inca, to humour the Spaniards and entertain himself with them,
had given directions for making a bowling-green; where playing one day
with Gomez Perez, he came to have some quarrel and difference with this
Perez about the measure of a Cast, which often happened between them;
for this Perez, being a person of a hot and fiery brain, without any
judgment or understanding, would take the least occasion in the world
to contend with and provoke the Inca .... Being no longer able to
endure his rudeness, the Inca punched him on the breast, and bid him
to consider with whom he talked. Perez, not considering in his heat
and passion either his own safety or the safety of his Companions,
lifted up his hand, and with the bowl struck the Inca so violently on
the head, that he knocked him down. [He died three days later.] The
Indians hereupon, being enraged by the death of their Prince, joined
together against Gomez and the Spaniards, who fled into a house,
and with their Swords in their hands defended the door; the Indians
set fire to the house, which being too hot for them, they sallied out
into the Marketplace, where the Indians assaulted them and shot them
with their Arrows until they had killed every man of them; and then
afterwards, out of mere rage and fury they designed either to eat
them raw as their custome was, or to burn them and cast their ashes
into the river, that no sign or appearance might remain of them; but
at length, after some consultation, they agreed to cast their bodies
into the open fields, to be devoured by vulters and birds of the air,
which they supposed to be the highest indignity and dishonour that
they could show to their Corps." Garcilasso concludes: "I informed
myself very perfectly from those chiefs and nobles who were present
and eye-witnesses of the unparalleled piece of madness of that rash
and hair-brained fool; and heard them tell this story to my mother
and parents with tears in their eyes." There are many versions of
the tragedy. [4] They all agree that a Spaniard murdered the Inca.
Thus, in 1545, the reign of an attractive and vigorous personality
was brought to an abrupt close. Manco left three young sons, Sayri
Tupac, Titu Cusi, and Tupac Amaru. Sayri Tupac, although he had not
yet reached his majority, became Inca in his father's stead, and with
the aid of regents reigned for ten years without disturbing his Spanish
neighbors or being annoyed by them, unless the reference in Montesinos
to a proposed burning of bridges near Abancay, under date of 1555,
is correct. By a curious lapse Montesinos ascribes this attempt to
the Inca Manco, who had been dead for ten years. In 1555 there came
to Lima a new viceroy, who decided that it would be safer if young
Sayri Tupac were within reach instead of living in the inaccessible
wilds of Uilcapampa. The viceroy wisely undertook to accomplish this
difficult matter through the Princess Beatrix Coya, an aunt of the
Inca, who was living in Cuzco. She took kindly to the suggestion and
dispatched to Uiticos a messenger, of the blood royal, attended by
Indian servants. The journey was a dangerous one; bridges were down
and the treacherous trails were well-nigh impassable. Sayri Tupac's
regents permitted the messenger to enter Uilcapampa and deliver the
viceroy's invitation, but were not inclined to believe that it was
quite so attractive as appeared on the surface, even though brought
to them by a kinsman. Accordingly, they kept the visitor as a hostage
and sent a messenger of their own to Cuzco to see if any foul play
could be discovered, and also to request that one John Sierra, a more
trusted cousin, be sent to treat in this matter. All this took time.
In 1558 the viceroy, becoming impatient, dispatched from Lima Friar
Melchior and one John Betanzos, who had married the daughter of the
unfortunate Inca Atahualpa and pretended to be very learned in his
wife's language. Montesinos says he was a "great linguist." They
started off quite confidently for Uiticos, taking with them several
pieces of velvet and damask, and two cups of gilded silver as
presents. Anxious to secure the honor of being the first to reach the
Inca, they traveled as fast as they could to the Chuquichaca bridge,
"the key to the valley of Uiticos." Here they were detained by the
soldiers of the regents. A day or so later John Sierra, the Inca's
cousin from Cuzco, arrived at the bridge and was allowed to proceed,
while the friar and Betanzos were still detained. John Sierra was
welcomed by the Inca and his nobles, and did his best to encourage
Sayri Tupac to accept the viceroy's offer. Finally John Betanzos and
the friar were also sent for and admitted to the presence of the Inca,
with the presents which the viceroy had sent. Sayri Tupac's first
idea was to remain free and independent as he had hitherto done,
so he requested the ambassadors to depart immediately with their
silver gilt cups. They were sent back by one of the western routes
across the Apurimac. A few days later, however, after John Sierra
had told him some interesting stories of life in Cuzco, the Inca
decided to reconsider the matter. His regents had a long debate,
observed the flying of birds and the nature of the weather, but
according to Garcilasso "made no inquiries of the devil." The omens
were favorable and the regents finally decided to allow the Inca to
accept the invitation of the viceroy.
Sayri Tupac, anxious to see something of the world, went directly
to Lima, traveling in a litter made of rich materials, carried by
relays chosen from the three hundred Indians who attended him. He
was kindly received by the viceroy, and then went to Cuzco, where
he lodged in his aunt's house. Here his relatives went to welcome
him. "I, myself," says Garcilasso, "went in the name of my Father. I
found him then playing a certain game used amongst the Indians .... I
kissed his hands, and delivered my Message; he commanded me to sit
down, and presently they brought two gilded cups of that Liquor,
made of Mayz [chicha] which scarce contained four ounces of Drink;
he took them both, and with his own Hand he gave one of them to me;
he drank, and I pledged him, which as we have said, is the custom of
Civility amongst them. This Ceremony being past, he asked me, Why I
did not meet him at Uillcapampa. I answered him, 'Inca, as I am but a
Youngman, the Governours make no account of me, to place me in such
Ceremonies as these!' 'How,' replied the Inca, 'I would rather have
seen you than all the Friers and Fathers in Town.' As I was going
away I made him a submissive bow and reverence, after the manner of
the Indians, who are of his Alliance and Kindred, at which he was so
much pleased, that he embraced me heartily, and with much affection,
as appeared by his Countenance."
Sayri Tupac now received the sacred Red Fringe of Inca sovereignty,
was married to a princess of the blood royal, joined her in baptism,
and took up his abode in the beautiful valley of Yucay, a day's
journey northeast of Cuzco, and never returned to Uiticos. His only
daughter finally married a certain Captain Garcia, of whom more
anon. Sayri Tupac died in 1560, leaving two brothers; the older,
Titu Cusi Yupanqui, illegitimate, and the younger, Tupac Amaru,
his rightful successor, an inexperienced youth.
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FIGURE
Yucay, Last Home of Sayri Tupac
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The throne of Uiticos was seized by Titu Cusi. The new Inca seems to
have been suspicious of the untimely death of Sayri Tupac, and to have
felt that the Spaniards were capable of more foul play. So with his
half-brother he stayed quietly in Uilcapampa. Their first visitor,
so far as we know, was Diego Rodriguez de Figueroa, who wrote an
interesting account of Uiticos and says he gave the Inca a pair of
scissors. He was unsuccessful in his efforts to get Titu Cusi to go
to Cuzco. In time there came an Augustinian missionary, Friar Marcos
Garcia, who, six years after the death of Sayri Tupac, entered the
rough country of Uilcapampa, "a land of moderate wealth, large rivers,
and the usual rains," whose "forested mountains," says Father Calancha,
"are magnificent." Friar Marcos had a hard journey. The bridges were
down, the roads had been destroyed, and the passes blocked up. The few
Indians who did occasionally appear in Cuzco from Uilcapampa said the
friar could not get there "unless he should be able to change himself
into a bird." However, with that courage and pertinacity which have
marked so many missionary enterprises, Friar Marcos finally overcame
all difficulties and reached Uiticos.
The missionary chronicler says that Titu Cusi was far from glad
to see him and received him angrily. It worried him to find that a
Spaniard had succeeded in penetrating his retreat. Besides, the Inca
was annoyed to have any one preach against his "idolatries." Titu
Cusi's own story, as written down by Friar Marcos, does not agree
with Calancha's. Anyhow, Friar Marcos built a little church in a place
called Puquiura, where many of the Inca's people were then living. "He
planted crosses in the fields and on the mountains, these being the
best things to frighten off devils." He "suffered many insults at
the hands of the chiefs and principal followers of the Inca. Some
of them did it to please the Devil, others to flatter the Inca, and
many because they disliked his sermons, in which he scolded them for
their vices and abominated among his converts the possession of four
or six wives. So they punished him in the matter of food, and forced
him to send to Cuzco for victuals. The Convent sent him hard-tack,
which was for him a most delicious banquet."
Within a year or so another Augustinian missionary, Friar Diego
Ortiz, left Cuzco alone for Uilcapampa. He suffered much on the
road, but finally reached the retreat of the Inca and entered his
presence in company with Friar Marcos. "Although the Inca was not
too happy to see a new preacher, he was willing to grant him an
entrance because the Inca ... thought Friar Diego would not vex
him nor take the trouble to reprove him. So the Inca gave him a
license. They selected the town of Huarancalla, which was populous
and well located in the midst of a number of other little towns and
villages. There was a distance of two or three days journey from one
Convent to the other. Leaving Friar Marcos in Puquiura, Friar Diego
went to his new establishment and in a short time built a church,
a house for himself, and a hospital,--all poor buildings made in a
short time." He also started a school for children, and became very
popular as he went about healing and teaching. He had an easier time
than Friar Marcos, who, with less tact and no skill as a physician,
was located nearer the center of the Inca cult.
The principal shrine of the Inca is described by Father Calancha as
follows: "Close to Vitcos [or Uiticos] in a village called Chuquipalpa,
is a House of the Sun, and in it a white rock over a spring of water
where the Devil appears as a visible manifestation and was worshipped
by those idolators. This was the principal mochadero of those forested
mountains. The word 'mochadero' [5] is the common name which the
Indians apply to their places of worship. In other words it is the
only place where they practice the sacred ceremony of kissing. The
origin of this, the principal part of their ceremonial, is that very
practice which Job abominates when he solemnly clears himself of all
offences before God and says to Him: 'Lord, all these punishments and
even greater burdens would I have deserved had I done that which the
blind Gentiles do when the sun rises resplendent or the moon shines
clear and they exult in their hearts and extend their hands toward
the sun and throw kisses to it,' an act of very grave iniquity which
is equivalent to denying the true God."
Thus does the ecclesiastical chronicler refer to the practice in
Peru of that particular form of worship of the heavenly bodies
which was also widely spread in the East, in Arabia, and Palestine
and was inveighed against by Mohammed as well as the ancient Hebrew
prophets. Apparently this ceremony "of the most profound resignation
and reverence" was practiced in Chuquipalpa, close to Uiticos, in
the reign of the Inca Titu Cusi.
Calancha goes on to say: "In this white stone of the aforesaid
House of the Sun, which is called Yurac Rumi [meaning, in Quichua,
a white rock], there attends a Devil who is Captain of a legion. He
and his legionaries show great kindness to the Indian idolators, but
great terrors to the Catholics. They abuse with hideous cruelties the
baptized ones who now no longer worship them with kisses, and many
of the Indians have died from the horrible frights these devils have
given them."
One day, when the Inca and his mother and their principal chiefs and
counselors were away from Uiticos on a visit to some of their outlying
estates, Friar Marcos and Friar Diego decided to make a spectacular
attack on this particular Devil, who was at the great "white rock
over a spring of water." The two monks summoned all their converts
to gather at Puquiura, in the church or the neighboring plaza, and
asked each to bring a stick of firewood in order that they might burn
up this Devil who had tormented them. "An innumerable multitude" came
together on the day appointed. The converted Indians were most anxious
to get even with this Devil who had slain their friends and inflicted
wounds on themselves; the doubters were curious to see the result;
the Inca priests were there to see their god defeat the Christians';
while, as may readily be imagined, the rest of the population came
to see the excitement. Starting out from Pucyura they marched to "the
Temple of the Sun, in the village of Chuquipalpa, close to Uiticos."
Arrived at the sacred palisade, the monks raised the standard of
the cross, recited their orisons, surrounded the spring, the white
rock and the Temple of the Sun, and piled high the firewood. Then,
having exorcised the locality, they called the Devil by all the vile
names they could think of, to show their lack of respect, and finally
commanded him never to return to this vicinity. Calling on Christ and
the Virgin, they applied fire to the wood. "The poor Devil then fled
roaring in a fury, and making the mountains to tremble."
It took remarkable courage on the part of the two lone monks thus
to desecrate the chief shrine of the people among whom they were
dwelling. It is almost incredible that in this remote valley,
separated from their friends and far from the protecting hand
of the Spanish viceroy, they should have dared to commit such an
insult to the religion of their hosts. Of course, as soon as the
Inca Titu Cusi heard of it, he was greatly annoyed. His mother was
furious. They returned immediately to Pucyura. The chiefs wished to
"slay the monks and tear them into small pieces," and undoubtedly
would have done so had it not been for the regard in which Friar
Diego was held. His skill in curing disease had so endeared him to
the Indians that even the Inca himself dared not punish him for the
attack on the Temple of the Sun. Friar Marcos, however, who probably
originated the plan, and had done little to gain the good will of the
Indians, did not fare so well. Calancha says he was stoned out of
the province and the Inca threatened to kill him if he ever should
return. Friar Diego, particularly beloved by those Indians who came
from the fever-stricken jungles in the lower valleys, was allowed to
remain, and finally became a trusted friend and adviser of Titu Cusi.
One day a Spaniard named Romero, an adventurous prospector for gold,
was found penetrating the mountain valleys, and succeeded in getting
permission from the Inca to see what minerals were there. He was too
successful. Both gold and silver were found among the hills and he
showed enthusiastic delight at his good fortune. The Inca, fearing
that his reports might encourage others to enter Uilcapampa, put the
unfortunate prospector to death, notwithstanding the protestations
of Friar Diego. Foreigners were not wanted in Uilcapampa.
In the year 1570, ten years after the accession of Titu Cusi
to the Inca throne in Uiticos, a new Spanish viceroy came to
Cuzco. Unfortunately for the Incas, Don Francisco de Toledo, an
indefatigable soldier and administrator, was excessively bigoted,
narrow-minded, cruel, and pitiless. Furthermore, Philip II and his
Council of the Indies had decided that it would be worth while to make
every effort to get the Inca out of Uiticos. For thirty-five years
the Spanish conquerors had occupied Cuzco and the major portion of
Peru without having been able to secure the submission of the Indians
who lived in the province of Uilcapampa. It would be a great feather
in the cap of Toledo if he could induce Titu Cusi to come and live
where he would always be accessible to Spanish authority.
During the ensuing rainy season, after an unusually lively party,
the Inca got soaked, had a chill, and was laid low. In the meantime
the viceroy had picked out a Cuzco soldier, one Tilano de Anaya, who
was well liked by the Inca, to try to persuade Titu Cusi to come to
Cuzco. Tilano was instructed to go by way of Ollantaytambo and the
Chuquichaca bridge. Luck was against him. Titu Cusi's illness was
very serious. Friar Diego, his physician, had prescribed the usual
remedies. Unfortunately, all the monk's skill was unavailing and his
royal patient died. The "remedies" were held by Titu Cusi's mother
and her counselors to be responsible. The poor friar had to suffer
the penalty of death "for having caused the death of the Inca."
The third son of Manco, Tupac Amaru, brought up as a playfellow of
the Virgins of the Sun in the Temple near Uiticos, and now happily
married, was selected to rule the little kingdom. His brows were
decked with the Scarlet Fringe of Sovereignty, but, thanks to the
jealous fear of his powerful illegitimate brother, his training had
not been that of a soldier. He was destined to have a brief, unhappy
existence. When the young Inca's counselors heard that a messenger
was coming from the viceroy, seven warriors were sent to meet him on
the road. Tilano was preparing to spend the night at the Chuquichaca
bridge when he was attacked and killed.
The viceroy heard of the murder of his ambassador at the same time
that he learned of the martyrdom of Friar Diego. A blow had been
struck at the very heart of Spanish domination; if the representatives
of the Vice-Regent of Heaven and the messengers of the viceroy of
Philip II were not inviolable, then who was safe? On Palm Sunday the
energetic Toledo, surrounded by his council, determined to make war
on the unfortunate young Tupac Amaru and give a reward to the soldier
who would effect his capture. The council was of the opinion that
"many Insurrections might be raised in that Empire by this young
Heir." "Moreover it was alledged," says Garcilasso .... "That by the
Imprisonment of the Inca, all that Treasure might be discovered, which
appertained to former kings, together with that Chain of Gold, which
Huayna Capac commanded to be made for himself to wear on the great
and solemn days of their Festival"! Furthermore, the "Chain of Gold
with the remaining Treasure belong'd to his Catholic Majesty by right
of Conquest"! Excuses were not wanting. The Incas must be exterminated.
The expedition was divided into two parts. One company was sent by way
of Limatambo to Curahuasi, to head off the Inca in case he should cross
the Apurimac and try to escape by one of the routes which had formerly
been used by his father, Manco, in his marauding expeditions. The other
company, under General Martin Hurtado and Captain Garcia, marched from
Cuzco by way of Yucay and Ollantaytambo. They were more fortunate
than Captain Villadiego whose force, thirty-five years before, had
been met and destroyed at the pass of Panticalla. That was in the
days of the active Inca Manco. Now there was no force defending this
important pass. They descended the Lucumayo to its junction with the
Urubamba and came to the bridge of Chuquichaca.
The narrow suspension bridge, built of native fibers, sagged deeply
in the middle and swayed so threateningly over the gorge of the
Urubamba that only one man could pass it at a time. The rapid river
was too deep to be forded. There were no canoes. It would have been
a difficult matter to have constructed rafts, for most of the trees
that grow here are of hard wood and do not float. On the other side
of the Urubamba was young Tupac Amaru, surrounded by his councilors,
chiefs, and soldiers. The first hostile forces which in Pizarro's
time had endeavored to fight their way into Uilcapampa had never
been allowed by Manco to get as far as this. His youngest son,
Tupac Amaru, had had no experience in these matters. The chiefs and
nobles had failed to defend the pass; and they now failed to destroy
the Chuquichaca bridge, apparently relying on their ability to take
care of one Spanish soldier at a time and prevent the Spaniards from
crossing the narrow, swaying structure. General Hurtado was not taking
any such chances. He had brought with him one or two light mountain
field pieces, with which the raw troops of the Inca were little
acquainted. The sides of the valley at this point rise steeply from
the river and the reverberations caused by gun fire would be fairly
terrifying to those who had never heard anything like it before. A
few volleys from the guns and the arquebuses, and the Indians fled
pellmell in every direction, leaving the bridge undefended.
Captain Garcia, who had married the daughter of Sayri Tupac, was
sent in pursuit of the Inca. His men found the road "narrow in the
ascent, with forest on the right, and on the left a ravine of great
depth." It was only a footpath, barely wide enough for two men to
pass. Garcia, with customary Spanish bravery, marched at the head
of his company. Suddenly out of the thick forest an Inca chieftain
named Hualpa, endeavoring to protect the flight of Tupac Amaru,
sprang on Garcia, held him so that he could not get at his sword and
endeavored to hurl him over the cliff. The captain's life was saved
by a faithful Indian servant who was following immediately behind him,
carrying his sword. Drawing it from the scabbard "with much dexterity
and animation," the Indian killed Hualpa and saved his master's life.
Garcia fought several battles, took some forts and succeeded in
capturing many prisoners. From them it was learned that the Inca had
"gone inland toward the valley of Simaponte; and that he was flying to
the country of the Mañaries Indians, a warlike tribe and his friends,
where balsas and canoes were posted to save him and enable him to
escape." Nothing daunted by the dangers of the jungle nor the rapids of
the river, Garcia finally managed to construct five rafts, on which he
put some of his soldiers. Accompanying them himself, he descended the
rapids, escaping death many times by swimming, and finally arrived
at a place called Momori, only to find that the Inca, learning of
their approach, had gone farther into the woods. Garcia followed
hard after, although he and his men were by this time barefooted and
suffering from want of food. They finally captured the Inca. Garcilasso
says that Tupac Amaru, "considering that he had not People to make
resistance, and that he was not conscious to himself of any Crime,
or disturbance he had done or raised, suffered himself to be taken;
choosing rather to entrust himself in the hands of the Spaniards,
than to perish in those Mountains with Famine, or be drowned in those
great Rivers .... The Spaniards in this manner seizing on the Inca,
and on all the Indian Men and Women, who were in Company with him,
amongst which was his Wife, two Sons, and a Daughter, returned
with them in Triumph to Cuzco; to which place the Vice-King went,
so soon as he was informed of the imprisonment of the poor Prince." A
mock trial was held. The captured chiefs were tortured to death with
fiendish brutality. Tupac Amaru's wife was mangled before his eyes. His
own head was cut off and placed on a pole in the Cuzco Plaza. His
little boys did not long survive. So perished the last of the Incas,
descendants of the wisest Indian rulers America has ever seen.
Brief Summary of the Last Four Incas
1534. The Inca Manco ascends the throne of his fathers.
1536. Manco flees from Cuzco to Uiticos and Uilcapampa.
1542. Promulgation of the "New Laws."
1545. Murder of Manco and accession of his son Sayri Tupac.
1555. Sayri Tupac goes to Cuzco and Yucay.
1560. Death of Sayri Tupac. His half brother Titu Cusi becomes Inca.
1566. Friar Marcos reaches Uiticos. Settles in Puquiura.
1566. Friar Diego joins him.
1568-9 (?). They burn the House of the Sun at Yurac Rumi in
Chuquipalpa.
1571. Titu Cusi dies. Friar Diego suffers martyrdom. Tupac Amaru
becomes Inca.
1572. Expedition of General Martin Hurtado and Captain Garcia de
Loyola. Execution of Tupac Amaru.