Mediterranean Sea, and remained in them for ten years, until 112 years
after the universal deluge. He ordered his daughter Araxa to remain in
Armenia where the ark rested, with her husband and children, to people
that country. Then he, with the rest of his companions, went to
Mesopotamia and settled. There Nembrot was raised up for king, of the
descendants of Cam. This Nembrot, says Berosus, built Babylon 130 years
after the flood. The sons of Sem elected for their king, Jektan, son of
Heber. Those of Japhet chose Fenec for their king, called Assenes by
Moses. There were 300,000 men under him only 310 years after the deluge.
Each king, with his companions, set out to people the part of the world
chosen for them by the patriarch Noah. It is to be noted that, although
Noah divided the parts of the world among his three sons and their
descendants, many of them did not keep to the boundaries. For some of
one lineage settled on the lands of another brother. Nembrot, being of
the line of Cam, remained in the parts of Sem, and many others were
mixed together in the same way.
Thus the three parts of the world were peopled by these and their
descendants, of whom I do not propose to treat in detail, for our plan
is to proceed in our narrative until we come to the inhabitants of the
Atlantic Island, the subject of this history. This was so near Spain
that, according to the common fame, Caliz used to be so close to the
main land in the direction of the port of Santa Maria, that a plank
would serve as a bridge to pass from the island to Spain. So that no one
can doubt that the inhabitants of Spain, Jubal and his descendants,
peopled that land, as well as the inhabitants of Africa which was also
near. Hence it was called the Atlantic Island from having been peopled
by Atlas, the giant and very wise astrologer who first settled
Mauritania now called Barbary, as Godefridus and all the chronicles
teach us. This Atlas was the son of Japhet by the nymph Asia, and
grandson of Noah. For this there is no authority except the above,
corroborated by the divine Plato as I began by explaining, and it will
be necessary to seek his help to give the reader such evidence as merits
belief respecting the inhabitants of this Atlantic Island.
V.
INHABITANTS OF THE ATLANTIC ISLAND.
We have indicated the situation of the Atlantic Island and those who, in
conformity with the general peopling of the world, were probably its
first inhabitants, namely the early Spaniards and the first Mauritanian
vassals of the King Atlas. This wonderful history was almost forgotten
in ancient times, Plato alone having preserved it, as has already been
related in its place, and which should again be consulted for what
remains. Plato, in Critias, says that to Neptune's share came the
Atlantic Island, and that he had ten sons. He divided the whole island
amongst them, which before and in his time was called the empire of the
floating islands, as Volaterranius tells us. It was divided by Neptune
into ten regions or kingdoms. The chief one, called Venus, he gave to
his eldest son named Atlantis, and appointed him sovereign of the whole
island; which consequently took the name of Atlantica, and the sea
Atlantic, a name which it retains to this day. The second son, named
Gadirun, received the part which lies nearest to Spain and which is now
Caliz. To the third son Neptune gave a share. His name was Amferes, the
fourth's Eutoctenes, the seventh's Alusipo, the eighth's Mestores, the
ninth's Azaen, the tenth's Diaprepem. These and their descendants
reigned for many ages, holding the lordships, by the sea, of many other
islands, which could not have been other than Hayti, which we call Santo
Domingo, Cuba and others, also peopled by emigrants from the Atlantic
Island. They also held sway over Africa as far as Egypt, and over Europe
to Tirrenia and Italy.
The lineage of Atlas extended in a grand succession of generations, and
his kingdom was ruled in succession by the firstborns. They possessed
such a copious supply of riches that none of the natives had seen it
all, and that no new comers could realise it. This land abounded in all
that is necessary for sustaining human life, pasture, timber, drugs,
metals, wild beasts and birds, domestic animals including a great number
of elephants, most fragrant perfumes, liquors, flowers, fruits, wine,
and all the vegetables used for food, many dates, and other things for
presents. That island produced all things in great profusion. In ancient
times it was sacred, beautiful, admirable and fertile, as well as of
vast extent. In it were extensive kingdoms, sumptuous temples, palaces
calling forth great admiration, as is seen from the relation of Plato
respecting the metropolis of the island which exceeded Babylon, Troy, or
Rome, with all their rich buildings, curious and well-constructed forts,
and even the seven wonders of the world concerning which the ancients
sing so much. In the chief city of this empire there was a port to which
so many ships and merchants resorted from all parts, that owing to the
vast concourse a great and continual noise caused the residents to be
thunderstruck. The number of these Atlantics ready for war was so great
that in the capital city alone they had an ordinary garrison of 60,000
soldiers, always distributed among farms, each farm measuring 100
furlongs. The rest inhabited the woods and other places, and were
innumerable. They took to war 10,000 two-horse chariots each containing
eight armed men, with six slingers and stone throwers on either side.
For the sea they had 200,000 boats with four men in each, making 800,000
men for the sea-service alone. This was quite necessary owing to the
great number of subject nations which had to be governed and kept in
obedience.
The rest which Plato relates on this subject will be discussed in the
sequel, for I now proceed to our principal point, which is to establish
the conclusion that as these people carried their banners and trophies
into Europe and Africa which are not contiguous, they must have overrun
the Indies of Castille and peopled them, being part of the same main
land. They used much policy in their rule. But at the end of many ages,
by divine permission, and perhaps owing to their sins, it happened that
a great and continuous earthquake, with an unceasing deluge, perpetual
by day and night, opened the earth and swallowed up those warlike and
ambitious Atlantic men. The Atlantic Island remained absorbed beneath
that great sea, which from that cause continued to be unnavigable owing
to the mud of the absorbed island in solution, a wonderful thing.
This special flood may be added to the five floods recorded by the
ancients. These are the general one of Moses, the second in Egypt of
which Xenophon makes mention, the third flood in Achaia of Greece in the
time of Ogyges Atticus, described by Isidore as happening in the days of
Jacob, the fourth in Thessaly in the time of Deucalion and Pyrrha, in
the days of Moses according to Isidore, in 782 as given by Juan Annius.
The fifth flood is mentioned by Xenophon as happening in Egypt in the
time of Proteus. The sixth was this which destroyed so great a part of
the Atlantic Island and sufficed so to separate the part that was left
unsubmerged, that all mortals in Asia, Africa and Europe believed that
all were drowned. Thus was lost the intercourse and commerce of the
people of these parts with those of Europe and Africa, in such sort that
all memory of them would have been lost, if it had not been for the
Egyptians, preservers of the most ancient deeds of men and of nature.
The destruction of the Atlantic Island, over at least 1000 leagues of
longitude, was in the time when Aod[25] governed the people of Israel,
1320 years before Christ and 2162 years after the Creation, according to
the Hebrews. I deduce this calculation from what Plato relates of the
conversation between Solon and the Egyptian priest. For, according to
all the chronicles, Solon lived in the time of Tarquinius Priscus the
King of Rome, Josiah being King of Israel at Jerusalem, before Christ
610 years. From this period until the time when the Atlantics had put a
blockade over the Athenians 9000 lunar years had passed which, referred
to solar years, make 869. All added together make the total given above.
Very soon afterwards the deluge must have come, as it is said to have
been in the time of Aod[25] or 748 years after the general deluge of
Noah. This being so it is to be noted that the isle of Caliz, the
Canaries, the Salvages, and Trinidad must have been parts of the
absorbed land.
[Note 25: Ehud.]
It may be assumed that these very numerous nations of Atlantis were
sufficient to people those other lands of the Western Indies of
Castille. Other nations also came to them, and peopled some provinces
after the above destruction. Strabo and Solinus say that Ulysses, after
the fall of Troy, navigated westward to Lusitania, founded Lisbon, and,
after it had been built, desired to try his fortune on the Atlantic
Ocean by the way we now go to the Indies. He disappeared, and it was
never afterwards known what had become of him. This is stated by Pero
Anton Beuter, a noble Valencian historian and, as he mentions, this was
the opinion of Dante Aligheri, the illustrious Florentine poet. Assuming
this to be correct we may follow Ulysses from island to island until he
came to Yucatan and Campeachy, part of the territory of New Spain. For
those of that land have the Grecian bearing and dress of the nation of
Ulysses, they have many Grecian words, and use Grecian letters. Of this
I have myself seen many signs and proofs. Their name for God is "Teos"
which is Greek, and even throughout New Spain they use the word "Teos"
for God. I have also to say that in passing that way, I found that they
anciently preserved an anchor of a ship, venerating it as an idol, and
had a certain genesis in Greek, which should not be dismissed as absurd
at first sight. Indeed there are a sufficient number of indications to
support my conjecture concerning Ulysses. From thence all those
provinces of Mexico, Tabasco, Xalisco, and to the north the Capotecas,
Chiapas, Guatemalas, Honduras, Lasandones, Nicaraguas, Tlaguzgalpas, as
far as Nicoya, Costa Rica, and Veragua.
Moreover Esdras recounts that those nations which went from Persia by
the river Euphrates came to a land never before inhabited by the human
race. Going down this river there was no way but by the Indian Sea to
reach a land where there was no habitation. This could only have been
Catigara, placed in 90° S. by Ptolemy, and according to the navigators
sent by Alexander the Great, 40 days of navigation from Asia. This is
the land which the describers of maps call the unknown land of the
south, whence it is possible to go on settling people as far as the
Strait of Magellan to the west of Catigara, and the Javas, New Guinea,
and the islands of the archipelago of Nombre de Jesus which I, our Lord
permitting, discovered in the South Sea in the year 1568, the
unconquered Felipe II reigning as King of Spain and its dependencies by
the demarcation of 180° of longitude.
It may thus be deduced that New Spain and its provinces were peopled by
the Greeks, those of Catigara by the Jews, and those of the rich and
most powerful kingdoms of Peru and adjacent provinces by the Atlantics
who were descended from the primeval Mesopotamians and Chaldæans,
peoplers of the world.
These, and other points with them, which cannot be discussed with
brevity, are true historical reasons, of a quality worthy of belief,
such as men of reason and letters may adopt respecting the peopling of
these lands. When we come to consider attentively what these barbarians
of Peru relate of their origin and of the tyrannical rule of the Incas
Ccapacs, and the fables and extravagances they recount, the truth may be
distinguished from what is false, and how in some of their fables they
allude to true facts which are admitted and held by us as such.
Therefore the reader should peruse with attention and read the most
strange and racy history of barbarians that has, until now, been read of
any political nation in the world.
VI.
THE FABLE OF THE ORIGIN OF THESE BARBAROUS INDIANS OF PERU, ACCORDING TO
THEIR BLIND OPINIONS.
As these barbarous nations of Indians were always without letters, they
had not the means of preserving the monuments and memorials of their
times, and those of their predecessors with accuracy and method. As the
devil, who is always striving to injure the human race, found these
unfortunates to be easy of belief and timid in obedience, he introduced
many illusions, lies and frauds, giving them to understand that he had
created them from the first, and afterwards, owing to their sins and
evil deeds, he had destroyed them with a flood, again creating them and
giving them food and the way to preserve it. By chance they formerly had
some notice, passed down to them from mouth to mouth, which had reached
them from their ancestors, respecting the truth of what happened in
former times. Mixing this with the stories told them by the devil, and
with other things which they changed, invented, or added, which may
happen in all nations, they made up a pleasing salad, and in some things
worthy of the attention of the curious who are accustomed to consider
and discuss human ideas.
One thing must be noted among many others. It is that the stories which
are here treated as fables, which they are, are held by the natives to
be as true as we hold the articles of our faith, and as such they affirm
and confirm them with unanimity, and swear by them. There are a few,
however, who by the mercy of God are opening their eyes and beginning to
see what is true and what is false respecting those things. But we have
to write down what they say and not what we think about it in this part.
We shall hear what they hold respecting their first age, [_and
afterwards we shall come to the inveterate and cruel tyranny of the Inca
tyrants who oppressed these kingdoms of Peru for so long. All this is
done by order of the most excellent Don Francisco de Toledo, Viceroy of
these kingdoms_]. I have collected the information with much diligence
so that this history can rest on attested proofs from the general
testimony of the whole kingdom, old and young, Incas and tributary
Indians.
The natives of this land affirm that in the beginning, and before this
world was created, there was a being called Viracocha. He created a dark
world without sun, moon or stars. Owing to this creation he was named
Viracocha Pachayachachi, which means "Creator of all things[26]."
[Note 26: Uiracocha (Viracocha) was the Creator. Garcilasso de la
Vega pointed out the mistake of supposing that the word signified "foam
of the sea" (ii. p. 16). He believed it to be a name, the derivation of
which he did not attempt to explain. Blas Valera (i. p. 243) said the
meaning was the "will and power of God"; not that this is the
signification of the word, but by reason of the godlike qualities
attributed to Him who was known by it. Cieza de Leon says that
Tici-Uiracocha was God, Creator of heaven and earth: Acosta that to
Tici-Uiracocha they assigned the chief power and command over all
things; Montesinos that Illa-tici-Uiracocha was the name of the creator
of the world; Molina that Tecsi-Uiracocha was the Creator and
incomprehensible God; the anonymous Jesuit that Uiracocha meant the
great God of "Pirua"; Betanzos that the Creator was Con-Tici-Uiracocha.
According to Montesinos and the anonymous Jesuit _Uira_ or _Vira_ is a
corruption of _Pirua_ meaning a depository. The first meaning of _Cocha_
is a lake, but here it is held to signify profundity, abyss, space. The
"Dweller in Space." _Ticci_ or _Tici_ is base or foundation, hence the
founder. _Illa_ means light. The anonymous Jesuit gives the meaning
"Eternal Light" to _Illa-Ticci_. The word _Con_, given by Betanzos and
Garcia, has no known meaning.
Pachacamac and Pachayachachi are attributes of the deity. _Pacha_ means
time or place, also the universe. _Camac_ is the Ruler, _Yachachi_ the
Teacher. "The Ruler and Teacher of the Universe."
The meaning and significance of the word _Uiracocha_ has been very fully
discussed by Señor Don Leonardo Villar of Cuzco in a paper entitled
_Lexicologia Keshua Uiracocha_ (Lima, 1887).]
And when he had created the world he formed a race of giants of
disproportioned greatness painted and sculptured, to see whether it
would be well to make real men of that size. He then created men in his
likeness as they are now; and they lived in darkness.
Viracocha ordered these people that they should live without
quarrelling, and that they should know and serve him. He gave them a
certain precept which they were to observe on pain of being confounded
if they should break it. They kept this precept for some time, but it is
not mentioned what it was. But as there arose among them the vices of
pride and covetousness, they transgressed the precept of Viracocha
Pachayachachi and falling, through this sin, under his indignation, he
confounded and cursed them. Then some were turned into stones, others
into other things, some were swallowed up by the earth, others by the
sea, and over all there came a general flood which they call _uñu
pachacuti_, which means "water that overturns the land." They say that
it rained 60 days and nights, that it drowned all created things, and
that there alone remained some vestiges of those who were turned into
stones, as a memorial of the event, and as an example to posterity, in
the edifices of Pucara, which are 60 leagues from Cuzco.
Some of the nations, besides the Cuzcos, also say that a few were saved
from this flood to leave descendants for a future age. Each nation has
its special fable which is told by its people, of how their first
ancestors were saved from the waters of the deluge. That the ideas they
had in their blindness may be understood, I will insert only one, told
by the nation of the Cañaris, a land of Quito and Tumibamba, 400 leagues
from Cuzco and more.
They say that in the time of the deluge called _uñu pachacuti_ there was
a mountain named Guasano in the province of Quito and near a town called
Tumipampa. The natives still point it out. Up this mountain went two of
the Cañaris named Ataorupagui and Cusicayo. As the waters increased the
mountain kept rising and keeping above them in such a way that it was
never covered by the waters of the flood. In this way the two Cañaris
escaped. These two, who were brothers, when the waters abated after the
flood, began to sow. One day when they had been at work, on returning to
their hut, they found in it some small loaves of bread, and a jar of
chicha, which is the beverage used in this country in place of wine,
made of boiled maize. They did not know who had brought it, but they
gave thanks to the Creator, eating and drinking of that provision. Next
day the same thing happened. As they marvelled at this mystery, they
were anxious to find out who brought the meals. So one day they hid
themselves, to spy out the bringers of their food. While they were
watching they saw two Cañari women preparing the victuals and putting
them in the accustomed place. When about to depart the men tried to
seize them, but they evaded their would-be captors and escaped. The
Cañaris, seeing the mistake they had made in molesting those who had
done them so much good, became sad and prayed to Viracocha for pardon
for their sins, entreating him to let the women come back and give them
the accustomed meals. The Creator granted their petition. The women came
back and said to the Cañaris--"The Creator has thought it well that we
should return to you, lest you should die of hunger." They brought them
food. Then there was friendship between the women and the Cañari
brothers, and one of the Cañari brothers had connexion with one of the
women. Then, as the elder brother was drowned in a lake which was near,
the survivor married one of the women, and had the other as a concubine.
By them he had ten sons who formed two lineages of five each, and
increasing in numbers they called one Hanansaya which is the same as to
say the upper party, and the other Hurinsaya, or the lower party. From
these all the Cañaris that now exist are descended[27].
[Note 27: The same story of the origin of the Cañaris is told by
Molina, p. 8. But the mountain is called Huaca-yuan; and instead of
women the beings who brought the food were macaws. Molina tells another
story received from the people of Ancas-mayu. Both seem to have been
obtained by asking leading questions about a deluge.]
In the same way the other nations have fables of how some of their
people were saved from whom they trace their origin and descent. But the
Incas and most of those of Cuzco, those among them who are believed to
know most, do not say that anyone escaped from the flood, but that
Viracocha began to create men afresh, as will be related further on. One
thing is believed among all the nations of these parts, for they all
speak generally and as well known of the general flood which they call
_uñu pachacuti_. From this we may clearly understand that if, in these
parts they have a tradition of the great flood, this great mass of the
floating islands which they afterwards called the Atlanticas, and now
the Indies of Castille or America must have begun to receive a
population immediately after the flood, although, by their account, the
details are different from those which the true Scriptures teach us.
This must have been done by divine Providence, through the first people
coming over the land of the Atlantic Island, which was joined to this,
as has been already said. For as the natives, though barbarous, give
reasons for their very ancient settlement, by recording the flood, there
is no necessity for setting aside the Scriptures by quoting authorities
to establish this origin. We now come to those who relate the events of
the second age after the flood, which is the subject of the next
chapter.
VII.
FABLE OF THE SECOND AGE, AND CREATION OF THE BARBAROUS INDIANS ACCORDING
TO THEIR ACCOUNT.
It is related that everything was destroyed in the flood called _uñu
pachacuti_[28]. It must now be known that Viracocha Pachayachachi, when
he destroyed that land as has been already recounted, preserved three
men, one of them named Taguapaca, that they might serve and help him in
the creation of new people who had to be made in the second age after
the deluge, which was done in this manner. The flood being passed and
the land dry, Viracocha determined to people it a second time, and, to
make it more perfect, he decided upon creating luminaries to give it
light. With this object he went, with his servants, to a great lake in
the Collao, in which there is an island called Titicaca, the meaning
being "the rock of lead," of which we shall treat in the first part.
Viracocha went to this island, and presently ordered that the sun, moon,
and stars should come forth, and be set in the heavens to give light to
the world, and it was so. They say that the moon was created brighter
than the sun, which made the sun jealous at the time when they rose into
the sky. So the sun threw over the moon's face a handful of ashes, which
gave it the shaded colour it now presents. This frontier lake of
Chucuito, in the territory of the Collao, is 57 leagues to the south of
Cuzco. Viracocha gave various orders to his servants, but Taguapaca
disobeyed the commands of Viracocha. So Viracocha was enraged against
Taguapaca, and ordered the other two servants to take him, tie him hands
and feet, and launch him in a _balsa_ on the lake. This was done.
Taguapaca was blaspheming against Viracocha for the way he was treated,
and threatening that he would return and take vengeance, when he was
carried by the water down the drain of the same lake, and was not seen
again for a long time. This done, Viracocha made a sacred idol in that
place, as a place for worship and as a sign of what he had there
created[29].
[Note 28: _Uñu pachacuti_ would mean the world (_pacha_) overturned
(_cuti_) by water (_uñu_). Probably a word coined by the priests, after
putting leading questions about a universal deluge.]