BACKGROUNDS
I
Here lay Lima under a tropical sun, sparkling with treasure, a
wilderness of rich carvings and paintings, whose piles of gold and
silver shone through the thick perfume of exotic blossoms. Long
caravans, loaded with the wealth of the provinces as well as the
produce of sales in the remote interior, filed into Lima, where
countless gold-and silver-smiths were awaiting their arrival. Weavers
of silks, velvets, and brocades, embroiderers, leather and metal
workers, sculptors, artists, makers of glass and porcelain bells--all
the most skilled workmen flocked to the capital of New Andalusia, the
continent’s center, for there they found no lack of rich materials.
Their fancy might fashion uncontrolled, with assurance of eager
purchasers.
In Lima voyages of discovery to the Isles of Solomon were planned. From
Lima pilgrimages were made in search of El Dorado, that luxurious ruler
who bathed himself in sweet-smelling gums and then rolled in gold dust.
There is no more romantic chapter in the history of Peru than these
pilgrimages in search of El Dorado. Southey says they cost Spain more
than all the treasure received from her South American possessions.
In Lima lived the viceroys who ruled all of South America from
Guayaquil to Buenos Aires, “as by the divine right of kings.” The
viceroy was served only by titled Spaniards. He was drawn about by six
horses, with sounding of trumpets, and a personal guard of two hundred
Spaniards, “for the safety of his person and to support the dignity of
his office.” The royal seal, his insignia, rode under a royal flag upon
a horse saddled with black velvet and a gold tissue foot-cloth, and was
received with deep bows. The viceroy was allowed three thousand _pesos_
to go to Callao, five miles away, and sixty thousand ducats a year for
personal expenses.
Greeted with a jewel sent to meet him half-way, the viceroy reaches
the bay of Callao. Throughout Lima, the City of the Kings,--founded
“with God, for God, and in His name,"--the streets are hung with rugs
and tapestry and adorned with green boughs and triumphal arches.
(On the arrival of the Duque de la Plata, in 1682, eighty million
_piasters_ were spent to pave the streets with bars of silver.)
“First comes a host of Indian warriors in feather pomp. The city
militia with pikes and weapons glittering, the stocks of their guns
embossed with gold, the noble guard on horseback, ... university
professors in brilliant gowns, the royal council and officials, the
magistracy in crimson velvet lined with brocade of the same color
... the chamber of accounts, the audience on horses with trappings,
the scepter-carrier, heralds in armor with uncovered heads, the
master of the horse with drawn sword, accompanied by four servants in
livery, pages with the captain of the watch, and lastly, on a throne
of red velvet whose silver staffs are carried by the members of the
corporation, while the _alcaldes_ hold the cords, all in velvet caps
and gowns of incarnation color, rides the viceroy under the royal
banner and a canopy of cloth of gold. Officers of the royal household,
the royal guard in full armor with spear and shield, bring up the rear
on horseback.”
The procession moves between companies of halberdiers in a blaze of
trumpets, bells, and drums, under showers of flowers thrown from carved
balconies.
“When they reach the plaza the whole company faces the cathedral and
is received by the archbishop and by the superiors of the religious
orders; trumpets cease, knights dismount, and the multitude sings a Te
Deum.
“The procession again mounts and accompanies the viceroy to the palace
gates.”
“Five days of bull-fights follow, and prizes are bestowed upon those
who make the most ingenious compositions in praise of the viceroy.
The rector of the university prepares a poetical contest, at which
the viceroy presides, seated upon the rectoral chair, which for this
occasion glitters with the magnificence of an Eastern throne. The
nunneries entertain him with music and present him with curiosities.”
The churches of Lima were hung with velvet and tapestry, with fringes
of gold and silver and plates of gold hung in design, so that the walls
were nowhere to be seen. Spanish and Flemish paintings surrounded
altars of wrought silver. The sacred vessels were of gold, covered
with pearls and precious stones. Santo Domingo, the oldest of the
brotherhood, possessed a set of thirty candelabra of massive silver,
man-high, placed in a double row along the nave of the church. The
cloister contained a famous orange garden with wrought-iron waterways
and life-sized paintings of Dominicus. In its center was a fountain,
whose delicious drip belied its hidden presence under feathery vines.
Indeed, why should the church not claim vast riches? One sixth of the
population was in the monasteries, and those who were not of the number
bought the dress of a religious order in which to be buried. The whole
city took part in the sacred feast days, as many in the procession as
looking on: legions of monks and thousands of nuns, priests, orders,
religious societies, and brotherhoods with their standards, holy
pictures, silver crosses, scepters, and biers.
II
But what was happening to the silent people among the mountain-tops
who had stripped the Sun Temples of their offerings to enrich the
adventurers from the Isles of Pearls?
Their irrigating canals had been destroyed, the roads and the whole
system of government broken up, the people killed in chronic fighting
or by hardship in distant campaigns. Ten thousand of the fifteen
thousand in Almagro’s Chilean army had died of cold in the mountains,
or of heat and thirst in the desert. The people were starved, villages
at a time, by the destruction of their crops. Moreover, the villages
were given as fiefs to the Spaniards, who received all the tribute.
Many were exhausted by dragging heavy artillery over the precipitous
mountains. Garcilasso describes the immense beams that crushed the
Indians staggering beneath their weight, who were relieved, only on
account of necessity, at every two hundred paces. When Gonzalo Pizarro
in coat of mail covered with cloth of gold made his triumphal entry as
governor into the City of the Kings, the twenty-two pieces of cannon
which saluted as the procession advanced through the streets, were
carried on the shoulders of six thousand Indians. All these Indians
were well trained in morality and sound doctrine by the clergy of Spain.
And worst of all, deep within the mountains of Peru, hollowed by the
gold and silver which they had removed to enrich a country of whose
existence they would never be aware in any other way, the Indians were
dying, thousands at a time. Skeletons concealed in old mines are now
found, covered with fibers of silver melted by subterranean fires just
beneath the cold desert. Mines now abandoned can be traced by piles of
human bones.
A pair of bright green arms, petitioning, stretched forth from the body
which has disappeared, were discovered in the bottom of an ancient
copper mine. The copper water had filtered through and covered them
with a green sheen. Every finger is tense with supplication, every
fiber as in the moment of death; not an eager tendon or nerve quivering
to the surface failed of preservation. All are petrified in a bronze
of nature’s molding.
Stories are still told that the Spaniards drove ten thousand Indians
at once to work in a Peruvian mine. When their strength was exhausted
or they died from lack of food, the Spaniards drove up ten thousand
more--an extravaganza of destruction matched only by the scale of
nature’s waste. It must be said, however, that cruelty to the Indians
was due not to Spanish law, but to the abuse of it.
“In twenty-five years more than eight million Indians were worked to
death in the mines of Peru.”
“In a century, nine tenths of the people had been destroyed by overwork
and cruelty.”
No wonder Spain was able to equip an Armada!
III
Against such a dark background flamed the lurid Inquisition.
The working out of the _encomienda_, or system of slavery, and the
_mita_, or forced work in the mines, was more horrible than the
tortures going on in Lima only because of the scale on which the
destruction took place. In 1570 the Blessing of the Inquisition
had been conferred upon Peru by Philip II. “At first heresy, then
blasphemy, sorcery, polygamy, insulting servants, opposition to
jurisdiction, were punished by whipping, banishment, prison, and death
by fire. In all cases the goods were confiscated.” The disgrace of an
executed man did not end even with his death. “The sons and daughters
and grandchildren of the male line lost their rights of citizenship.
They might not carry gold, silver, pearls, costly stones, corals, silk,
velvet, or fine cloth. They might not ride on horses, carry weapons, or
use any of the things of which they were unworthy.”
One star-spangled night, a man looking at the sky remarked that the
multitude of stars was superfluous, thus assuming that God had erred in
creation, which was heretical blasphemy. Juan de Arianza appeared in
the auto of 1631 because, when reading the Scriptures, he exclaimed:
“Ea! There is nothing but living and dying!” which sounded ill to those
who heard it. One man bragged that he had a horse that could go sixty
leagues in one day: for that he had two hundred strokes of the lash.
Another had said he knew an herb which made wives invisible before
their husbands: he received five years’ imprisonment. A young priest
said he had seen the little Saviour in his dreams: his punishment was
two hundred lashes and five years’ work in the galleys. Another, who
wished to found a new sect, had called the Indians the children of
Israel and had declared that priests should marry, that there should
be no confessional, and that the Bishop of Lima ought to be Pope.
He thought the Bible ought to be translated into the language of
the people and that he was holy as Gabriel and patient as Job. This
unfortunate was burned alive; the proceedings of the suit against him
filled three thousand pages.
Throughout the seventeenth century Peru was filled with mystic
impostors, like the far-famed Angela Carranza, most of whom were dealt
with by _autos de fe_. The use of coca was considered a part of this
sorcery and was punished severely.
The confession of a real or an accused crime was drawn out by torture
and compelled by a repetition of the torture. From the final judgment
there was no appeal. All was enacted under seal of deepest secrecy.
The torture chamber was somewhat removed, so that the screams of the
victims could not be heard in the street.
Three kinds of torture were used in Lima. There was the compound
pulley. A man’s hands were bound to his back, and he was raised by a
pulley to the ceiling by his hands; heavy iron weights were attached
to his feet. Sometimes, instead of this, the victim was strapped on a
table, an iron collar about his neck, and stretched in both directions
without risk of choking; but every bone in his body was dislocated. The
second method was smothering. The man’s hands and feet were tied above
a bench, and on his upper arms, thighs, and calves, lacing machines
were adjusted. Then a funnel was put in his mouth and water was slowly
poured in. The third method was the worst of all. The feet were made
fast, the soles were covered with fat, then live coals were brought
gradually nearer and nearer--a process of roasting. When the pain was
keenest, a board was shoved between coals and feet, and the sinner was
asked if he would now confess his crime.
By a bull of Paul III torture could not last over an hour. After that
the victim usually had convulsions or lost his mind. A doctor came,
whenever such was the case, to authorize further torture.
Thumbscrews were still used in 1813.
Dr. Lea says punishments in Lima were inflicted with greater rigor
than in Spain. If it were lashing, the penitents, without distinction
as to sex, were marched in procession through the streets, naked from
the waist up, with inscriptions denoting their offenses, while the
executioner plied the lash. The mob stoned them as an act of especial
piety.
The Inquisition had command of the press. The tribunal of Inquisitors,
judging all, were judged by none and wielded absolute power. The
Holy Tribunal did not wish to shed blood, so the accused were either
strangled or burned. The death-warrant began with the words _Christi
nomine invocato_, and officials of the law were asked to treat the
condemned with pity and moderation.
The _auto de fe_, the Act of Faith, was intended as a demonstration
of authority, a representation of the day of judgment, and it was the
highest exhibition of piety.
Following is a description of an _auto de fe_ in Lima, on the sixteenth
of November, 1625, quoted from Middendorf.
A procession went at daybreak on horseback through the city, with
trumpets, fifes, and drums, to announce the execution. A platform was
built on the plaza, forty ells high, and a stadium was erected for
eight thousand people. “Between eight and nine in the morning the
sinners were called for. A cross covered with black crape belonging
to the cathedral was carried before them by four priests, all singing
_miserere_ in a wailing tone. Each penitent walked between two soldiers
and other honorable persons. Silver boxes at the rear contained the
judgments.
“The viceroy came out of his palace accompanied by a guard of honor,
musketeers, and two trumpeters. Doctors, lawyers, and university
professors preceded the monks and the priests, standard bearers in
coats of mail with clubs, the captain of the watch, and judges, the
oldest of whom walked by the viceroy, cavalry, generals, and pages.
The Inquisitors had hats on top of their caps, worn only at that time,
decorated with the insignia of the Pope’s legates. The militia had
formed in line, and at the appearance of the black and gold banner
of the Inquisition they lowered their flags in salute. An altar was
raised, a chair for the viceroy and the high officials.
“The eldest one rose and addressed the viceroy. ‘Your Excellency
swears and promises upon his faith and word as a true Catholic Viceroy
appointed by His Catholic Highness, to defend with all his might the
Catholic faith, which the Holy Apostolic Church in Rome recognizes,
to further its well being and growth, to follow up the heretics and
dissenters and enemies, to give necessary help and aid to the Holy
Tribunal of the Inquisition and its servants, so that the heretics
and disturbers of our Christian religion shall be taken and punished
according to the law of the Holy Church, without your Excellency
making any exception in favor of anybody no matter what his station in
life be.’
“The viceroy replied: ‘I swear it and promise by my faith and word.’
“‘If your Excellency does so, as we expect from your piety and
Christianity you will, the Lord God will bless all the works undertaken
by your Excellency in His holy service and will give you health and
long life as this kingdom and the service of His Majesty needs.’
“A mass was read for the viceroy, and a priest extolled from the
chancel the glory which comes to religion through the sacrifice of
heretics. After the sermon, all pledged themselves to tell any act
contrary to religion which they knew of, and not to give protection to
any heretic who was under the ban of the church.
“The denunciation was read as soon as the culprit was named, led up out
of his secret cell and put into a cage from which he had to hear his
final judgment. He was dressed in the San Benito, in itself a lasting
shame. It reached to the knees of the sinner and had his portrait
painted upon it surrounded by flames, devils, and dragons. On his head
he wore a bag-like, high and pointed cap, on which were devils’ faces
in flames. Gags were ready in case blasphemers should break out against
the judges.”
The burning is said to have taken place where the bull-ring now is.
IV
In 1746 the city of Lima,--the gorgeous City of the Kings,--at the
climax of its luxury, was utterly destroyed. Seventy-four churches,
fourteen monasteries with their paintings, lamps of gold, vessels of
silver, precious stones, tapestries, and mirrors, their beautiful
fountains, arches, cloisters, and stairways in rare designs, were
laid waste. The building material was as rich as the work upon it;
as a contemporary traveler expressed it: “If it did not exceed in
beauty, it at least equaled anything in the world.” In four minutes
there was complete desolation. Out of the whole city only twenty
buildings remained standing. Bridges broke, palaces fell, the sick in
the hospitals were buried alive; nuns in their cloisters, monks in
their cells, were suffocated in clouds of sulphurous dust. Churches
collapsed, crushing those who were praying within. Even the Holy
Inquisition was obliged to suspend torture for the time being.
The earth was like an animal shaking the dust from its back. It swept
forward in great waves; walls were reeds on its shores, bending to the
tempest. Between the waves, clouds of poisonous dust rose from the
chasms.
Clocks stopped. Bells in the towers clashed with limp bell ropes,
till towers following in turn stifled the din under smoking débris.
Everything was reversed; that which stood still was set in violent
motion, and moving things were brought to rest. Shrieks for help and
agonized prayers mingled, until they, too, ceased.
The sea retreated half a league from Callao, gathered strength from
unknown, hidden places, and with a cosmic roar rushed over the entire
city, engulfing it and carrying all the ships of the harbor across its
walls and towers to be stranded in inland gardens. All of its five
thousand inhabitants perished in the deluge, and there was nothing
left to give the least idea of what Callao had been.
“To be preserved from its fury could only be attributed to a particular
and extraordinary help of Providence.” Yet thousands in Lima who had
escaped destruction or death from fright died of fevers which came
after. Those who remained were occupied with burying the dead in
trenches. Famine as well as fever followed, for the grain magazines
of Callao had been buried under water, ovens had fallen in, aqueducts
bringing water for turning the mills had been destroyed.
Nor was this all. Loath to give up its fiendish hold, not yet glutted
with destruction, the underground fury visited the helpless ruins it
had created with five hundred and sixty-eight earthquakes during the
next year!
Processions of priests barefoot, with crowns of thorns on their heads,
cords about their necks, and heavy chains on their ankles, taught the
people that the destruction was of God, the roaring of the subterranean
powers a warning against luxury. The prior of one society went about
covered with ashes; a heavy bridle cut his mouth, iron nails fastened
his eyelids, his back was bare. “This is the punishment that God in
heaven executes,” said a lay brother, walking behind him, as he let
fall an iron lash so heavily that the blood spurted.
The bones of Santo Toribio and Santa Rosa were carried about; the
viceroy and great persons followed in mourning, with ropes about their
necks. Distinguished ladies, barefoot, their hair shaved, walked in
coarse clothes. The dense stillness was broken by a monk’s voice: “Holy
God, Holy God, be merciful to us.”