Description of the city of Cuzco and of its wonderful fortress, and
of the customs of its inhabitants.
The city of Cuzco is the principal one of all those where the lords of
this land have their residence; it is so large and so beautiful that it
would be worthy of admiration even in Spain; and it is full of the
palaces of the lords, because no poor people live there, and each lord
builds there his house, and all the caciques[104] do likewise, although
the latter do not dwell there continuously. The greater part of these
houses are of stone, and others have half the facade of stone. There are
many houses of adobe, and they are all arranged in very good order. The
streets are laid out at right angles; they are very straight, and are
paved, and down the middle runs a gutter for water lined with stone. The
chief defect which the streets have is that of being narrow, so that
only one horse and rider can go on one side of the gutter and another
upon the opposite side. This city is located upon the slope of a
mountain, and there are many houses upon the slope and others below on
the plain. The plaza is rectangular, and the greater part of it is flat
and paved with small stones. Around the plaza are four houses of
noblemen, who are the chief men of the city; [the houses] are of stone,
painted and carved, and the best of them is the house of
Guaynacaba,[105] a former chief, and the door of it is of marble
[colored] white and red and of other colors;[106] and there are other
very sightly buildings with flat roofs. There are, in the said city,
many other buildings and grandeurs. Along the two sides [of the city]
pass two rivers which rise a league above Cuzco, and from there down to
the city and for two leagues below it they run over stone flags so that
the water may be pure and clear, and so that, though they may rise, they
may not overflow. They have bridges for those who enter the city. Upon
the hill which, toward the city, is rounded and very steep, there is a
very beautiful fortress of earth and stone. Its large windows which look
over the city make it appear still more beautiful.[107] Within, there
are many dwellings, and a chief tower in the centre, built square, and
having four or five terraces one above another. The rooms inside are
small and the stones of which it is built are very well worked and so
well adjusted to one another that it does not appear that they have any
mortar and they are so smooth that they look like polished slabs with
the joinings in regular order and alternating with one another after the
usage in Spain.[108] There are so many rooms and towers that a person
could not see them all in one day; and many Spaniards who have been in
Lombardy and in other foreign kingdoms say that they have never seen any
other fortress like this one nor a stronger castle. Five thousand
Spaniards might well be within it; nor could it be given a broadside or
be mined, because it is on a rocky mountain. On the side toward the
city, which is a very steep slope, there is no more than one wall;[109]
on the other side, which is less steep, there are three, one above the
other. The most beautiful thing which can be seen in the edifices of
that land are these walls, because they are of stones so large that
anyone who sees them would not say that they had been put in place by
human hands, for they are as large as chunks of mountains and huge
rocks, and they have a height of thirty palms and a length of as many
more, and others have twenty and twenty-five, and others fifteen, but
there is none so small that three carts could carry it. These are not
smooth stones, but rather well joined and matched one with another. The
Spaniards who see them say that neither the bridge of Segovia nor any
other of the edifices which Hercules or the Romans made is so worthy of
being seen as this. The city of Tarragona has some works in its walls
made in this style, but neither so strong nor of such large stones.
These walls twist in such a way that if they are attacked, it is not
possible to do so from directly in front, but only obliquely.[110] These
walls are of the same stone, and between wall and wall there is enough
earth to permit three carts to go along the top at one time. They are
made after the fashion of steps, so that one begins where another leaves
off. The whole fortress was a deposit of arms, clubs, lances, bows,
axes, shields, doublets thickly padded with cotton and other arms of
various sorts, and clothes for the soldiers collected here from all
parts of the land subject to the lords of Cuzco. They had many colors,
blue, yellow, brown and many others for painting, much tin and lead with
other metals, and much silver and some gold, many mantles and quilted
doublets for the warriors. The reason why this fortress contained so
much workmanship was that, when this city was founded it was done by a
lord _orejon_[111] who came from Condisuyo, toward the sea, a great
warrior who conquered this land as far as Bilcas and who, perceiving
that this was the best place to fix his domicile, founded that city
with its fortress. And all the other lords who followed after him made
some improvements in this fortress so that it was ever augmenting in
size. From this fortress are seen around the city many houses a quarter
of a league, half a league and a league away, and in the valley, which
is surrounded by hills, there are more than five thousand houses, many
of them for the pleasure and recreation of former lords and others for
the caciques of all the land who dwell continuously in the city. The
others are storehouses full of mantles, wool, arms, metals, and clothes
and all the things which are grown or made in this land. There are
houses where the tribute is kept which the vassals bring to the
caciques; and there is a house where are kept more than a hundred dried
birds because they make garments of their feathers, which are of many
colors, and there are many houses for this [work]. There are bucklers,
oval shields made of leather, beams for roofing the houses, knives and
other tools, sandals and breast-plates for the warriors in such great
quantity that the mind does not cease to wonder how so great a tribute
of so many kinds of things can have been given. Each dead lord has here
his house and all that was paid to him as tribute during his life, for
no lord who succeeds another [and this is the law among them] can, after
the death of the last one, take possession of his inheritance. Each one
has his service of gold and of silver, and his things and clothes for
himself, and he who follows takes nothing from him. The caciques and
lords maintain their houses of recreation with the corresponding staff
of servants and women who sow their fields with maize and place a little
of it in their sepulchres. They adore the sun and have built many
temples to him, and of all the things which they have, as much of
clothes as of maize and other things, they offer some to the sun, of
which the warriors later avail themselves.