_How the Incas were free from the abominable sin, and from other evil
customs which have been seen to prevail in the world, among other
princes._
In this kingdom of Peru, the public fame among all the natives is that
the abominable sin was practised in some of the villages of the district
of Pueblo Viejo, as well as in other lands where there were evil people,
as in the rest of the world. I shall record a great virtue in these
Incas; for, being lords with such freedom, and with no one to whom to
give an account, besides being able to take their pleasure with women,
night and day, and enjoy themselves as their fancies dictated, it has
never been alleged, or even hinted, that any of them committed the above
crime. On the contrary, they abhorred those who were guilty of it,
looking upon them as vile wretches for glorying in such filthy conduct.
Not only were they free from such vices in their own persons, but they
would not permit any one who was guilty of such practices to remain in
the royal houses or palaces. I believe, also, and I have heard it
related that, even if it came to their knowledge that any one had
committed an offence of that kind, they punished it with such severity
that it was known to all.
It therefore should not be doubted, but rather believed implicitly, that
this vice was unknown among the Orejones and many other nations. Those
who have written generally of the Indians, condemning them for being
guilty of this sin, should retract what they have said as regards many
nations who are innocent. With the exception of Puerto Viejo, sinners of
this class were unknown throughout Peru, except that, as is the case in
all countries, there may be eight or ten here and there who do evil
secretly. Those who were kept as priests in the temples, with whom it
was rumoured that the lords joined in company on days of festivity, did
not meditate the committing of such sin, but only the offering of
sacrifice to the demon. If the Incas, by chance, had some knowledge of
such proceedings in the temple, they may have ignored them, thinking
that it was enough if they ordered that the Sun and their other gods
should be worshipped in all parts, without considering it necessary to
prohibit other ancient customs and religions, to abandon which would
have been as bad as death itself, to those who were born in their
practice.
We understand that in ancient times, before the Yncas reigned, the
inhabitants of many provinces went about like savages; coming forth to
make war upon each other, and eating their prisoners, as is now the case
in the province of Arma[138] and others in that neighbourhood. But as
soon as the Incas began to reign, being a reasonable people, with good
and holy customs and laws, they not only did not themselves eat such
food, but they exerted their power to put a stop to it among all the
people with whom they came in contact, with many of whom it was much
esteemed. Such was their energy, that in a short time the practice was
forgotten throughout their vast empire, where no such food had been
eaten for many years before the Spaniards came. Those who have now
succeeded the Incas give evidence that they conferred a great benefit by
not imitating their ancestors in eating such food, in the sacrifices of
men and children.
Some have published--among those who hastily write down what they
hear--that the Incas, on their days of festival, killed a thousand or
two thousand children, and a greater number of Indians. This and other
things are proofs that we Spaniards falsely impute crimes to the
Indians, using the stories they recount to us to justify our
ill-treatment of them and the bad usage they have suffered at our hands.
I do not say that they did not sacrifice, and that they did not kill men
and children in such sacrifices; but it was not in the way that has
been asserted, nor were the victims so numerous. They sacrificed animals
from their flocks, but fewer human beings than I thought, as I shall
explain in its place.
I know, from the statements of the aged Orejones, that these Incas were
innocent of any abominable sin, that they did not practise the evil
custom of eating human flesh, nor were they guilty of public vices and
irregularities. On the contrary, they punished such crimes in others. If
God had permitted that one influenced by Christian zeal, and not by
avarice, should have given them complete knowledge of our sacred
religion, they were a people who would have been impressed by it, as we
now see in the good order in which conversion works. But we must leave
what has been done to the judgment of God, who knows all; and in what
may be done hereafter we must beseech Him to give us grace to enable us
in some measure to repay those people to whom we owe so much, and who
had given such slight offence to justify the injury we have done them,
Peru and the rest of the Indies being so many leagues from Spain, and
separated by so vast an ocean.