_How Francisco de Carbajal arrived at the city of the Kings with a
great desire to return to Spain, and how the Viceroy embarked at
Panama for Peru._
Francisco de Carbajal, desiring to leave the kingdom, had obtained the
consent of the Governor Vaca de Castro and of the municipality of Cuzco,
and, with the help they gave him, he set out from that city with all the
money he could collect, wishing to return to Spain and obtain some rest.
Antonio de Altamirano and Lope de Mendoza and many others would have
lost nothing by his departure[7]. But it was already decreed by God, for
our very great sins, that this man should become a cruel scourge, as the
narrative will presently give you to understand. Leaving the city of
Cuzco, Carbajal travelled until he reached the city of the Kings, and
dismounted at the house of the Treasurer Antonio Riquelme. The Treasurer
feared that he had come to kill him by order of Vaca de Castro, by
reason of the enmity between them; so next day, by all the cunning ways
he could think of, he sought how to get rid of such a guest. But
Francisco Carbajal was very tiresome and, seeing what the Treasurer
wanted, he continued to lodge in his house. At the end of some days
after his arrival at the city of the Kings, he gave the letters he
brought from Vaca de Castro to the members of the municipality, touching
his voyage to Spain. The letters represented the advantages the kingdom
would derive from his departure, because his Majesty, through him, would
be well informed of the affairs of Peru, and of the injury that would
be done to the conquerors, if the new laws were enforced in their
entirety. Vaca de Castro wrote in the same way, and requested that
Carbajal should be empowered to negotiate in Spain, in the interests of
Peru. The members of the municipality, having read the letter of Vaca de
Castro, and heard what Francis Carbajal had to say, gave an evasive
answer. As the Governor, by his letter, announced that he would shortly
arrive at the city of the Kings, they told Carbajal that he should wait
until Vaca de Castro came, as he would give orders as Governor for the
King. They gave this answer at an official meeting in the municipal
building. Carbajal thought that he was looked upon by them as an
unimportant person to whom they could give a frivolous answer. He came
out of the building with a feeling of having been insulted; while those
within were laughing, and making a joke of it. For they thought that
when Vaca de Castro did come to the city of the Kings the country would
already be under the new Viceroy, who would not molest them for not
having cared to send Carbajal to Spain[8].
At this time the Viceroy Blasco Nuñez Vela was very anxious to leave
Tierra Firme and, embarking on the South Sea, to navigate in haste to
the coast of Peru. He desired to establish the court of justice in the
city of the Kings with as little delay as possible, considering that it
would be easy to enforce the ordinances. He was very angry, and was with
difficulty induced to listen, if any one expressed a different opinion.
Leaving the Judges at Panama, and taking with him the royal seal, he
embarked at the city of Panama on the 10th of February of the same year,
and arrived at the port of Tumbez in nine days. This was the quickest
voyage that had ever been made. From Tumbez he wrote his letters to the
city of San Francisco del Quito, to Puerto Viejo, and to Guayaquil, to
announce his arrival in the kingdom and the duty with which he was
charged by order of the Emperor our Lord. He added that his desire was
to do good to all, and to administer justice; that for this he had come,
and that when he arrived at the city of the Kings he would establish a
royal court of justice and chancellory where those would receive justice
who sought for it. He concluded with the announcement that, although he
sent to tell them this, he also came with certain ordinances for the new
government and respecting the treatment of the Indians which might
appear heavy and causes for anger. Hitherto justice had been
administered as between friends. They murmured at the announcement of
the Viceroy, and when the news of his arrival reached them, they were
not a little annoyed, so that the Viceroy’s name was abhorred by most,
while all, from fear of the new rules, thought of no other thing than to
extort as much gold as possible from the Indians and their chiefs.