_Of the third king that reigned in Cuzco, named Lloque Yupanqui._
The Inca Sinchi Rocca being dead in the manner that has been described,
his son, Lloque Yupanqui,[154] was received as lord, having first
performed a fast during the days appointed. As, in his divinations and
omens, he found great reason to hope that the city of Cuzco would
flourish in the future, the new king began to ennoble it with new
edifices. He asked his father-in-law, with all his allies and
confederates, to come and live in the city, where their honour would be
respected and they would receive such a share of the land as they
needed.
The lord or captain of Zañu consented, and the more western part of the
city was assigned to him, which, being on hills and slopes, was named
Anan-Cuzco. The lower part remained for the king, with his house and
retinue. As all were now Orejones, which is as much as to say nobles,
and nearly all had been concerned in the foundation of the new city, the
people who lived in the two parts of the city, called Hanan-Cuzco, and
Hurin-Cuzco, were always held to be illustrious. Some Indians even
wished to have it understood that one Inca had to be of one of these
lineages, and the next of the other. But I do not hold this to be
certain, nor is it what the Orejones relate, and that is what is here
written down. In most parts of the city there were large wards on the
hill-slopes, because the ground was broken up into ravines and hills, as
I explained in the first part of this chronicle.[155]
They do not give any account of notable wars in those times. On the
contrary, they affirm that those of Cuzco, little by little, through the
good policy they employed, succeeded in making friends with many
neighbouring people, and in enlarging the temple of Curi-cancha, both as
regards edifices and riches. For now they sought for gold and silver, of
which much came to the market held in the city; and they shut up women
in the temple, who were not allowed to come forth, as has been explained
in other places.
Reigning in this manner in Cuzco, and passing most of his time there,
Lloque Yupanqui became very old, without having any children by his
wife. The people of the city showed much grief at this, making many
sacrifices and offering up prayers as well in the Curi-cancha, as at
Guanacauri and Tampu-quiru. They say that, through one of those oracles
whence issued vain replies, they heard that the Inca would beget a son
who would succeed in the kingdom. At this they were well satisfied, and,
rejoicing with the hope, they put the old king on his wife the Coya, so
that at the end of some days it was known that she had conceived, and in
due time she gave birth to a son.
Lloque Yupanqui died,[156] leaving orders that the fringe or crown of
the empire should be deposited in the temple of Curi-cancha until his
son was of an age to reign. The name given to the son was Mayta Capac,
and, as governors, they say that the old Inca nominated two of his
brothers, whose names I did not hear.
The Ynca Lloque Yupanqui was mourned for by all the servants of his
household, and in many parts of the city, and, in conformity with their
heathen blindness, they killed many women and boys, in the belief that
they would go to serve the dead lord in heaven, where they held it to be
certain that his soul rested. Considering him to be a saint, the chief
people of the city ordered that his image should be made, to be brought
out at their festivals. Assuredly the preparations they make for the
obsequies of one of these kings are very great. Generally they mourned
in all the provinces, and in many of them the women were shorn, and
their heads bound with cords of reed. At the end of a year they make
greater lamentations and heathen sacrifices than can be imagined. As
regards this, those who were at Cuzco in the year 1550, beheld what took
place in honour of Paullu,[157] when they celebrated the end of his
mourning year. It was such that most of the ladies of the city went to
his house to see the ceremony, and I was myself present. Certainly it
was calculated to excite admiration, and we were given to understand
that it was nothing compared to what used to take place in former days.
Now I will speak of Mayta Capac.