An Account of the Conquest of Peru Part 5

[90] Properly Colla-suyu and c.u.n.ti-suyu, i.e. the Southern province and the Western province of Ttahuan-tin-suyu.

[91] Jauja (or Xauxa) was the predecessor of la Ciudad de los Reyes. A letter to Charles V, dated July 20, 1534, describes it thus: "Esta Cibdad es la mexor y mayor quen la Tierra se ha vista, e aun en _Indias_; e decimos a Vuestra Magestad ques tan hermosa e de tan buenos edyficios quen _Espana_ seria muy de ver; tiene las calles por mucho concierto empedradas de guixas pequenas; todas las mas de las casas son de senores prenc.i.p.ales fechas de canteria; esta en una ladera de un cerro, en el qual sobrel pueblo esta una fortaleza muy bien obrada de canteria tan de ver, que por espanoles que an andado Reinos extranos, dizen no aber visto otro edyficio igual al della; ..." Cf. Cabildos, III, pp. 4-5.

[92] The Italian is: "_Il quale tuttavia piu veniua ponendo amore a gli Spagnuoli._"--Note by Icazbalceta.

[93] Huanuco.

[94] Pachacamac.

[95] Prescott places the total at 500 of which 230 were cavalry. Cf.

Prescott, Bk. III, Cap. 9.

[96] It seems to me that, even in the days of the Chimu and the Inca, the poorer people must have lived in this sort of hut-like houses, and that only the great dwelt in the "palaces" whose ruins are so remarkable. Such a state of things would explain the apparent impossibility of a large population existing in the dwellings we now see. Cf. Hodge, 1897.

[97] This montana is to-day the richest and most valuable part of Peru.

[98] According to Garcila.s.so, Lib. II, Cap. 11, the Peruvian empire was divided into four parts, Cuzco being considered the centre. They called the northern part Chinchasuya, the southern Coyasuya, the western c.u.n.tisuya, and the eastern Antisuyu.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[99] Lake t.i.ticaca contains several islands, notably t.i.ticaca and Coati.

[100] An obscure pa.s.sage translated merely in most general terms.

[101] _Agras_ I take to mean fields from its similarity to the Latin word, _ager_.

[102] Llamas.

[103] At this point Ramusio gives a fanciful view of the city of Cuzco, which has no real interest whatever.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[104] _Cacique_ is really a West Indies word. The early Spanish writers are wont to apply it to any sort of native official. Here, no doubt, the correct term would be the Quichua word _Curaca_. Officials thus designated under the Inca dominion were the hereditary chiefs of formerly independent tribes and territories--roughly a.n.a.logous to the mediatized princes of Europe. Though made va.s.sals of the Inca, the _curacas_ were often continued in the command of their former subjects and were intrusted with the governorship of provinces over which they were formerly sovereigns. The _curacas_ ranked immediately below the Inca caste, and ruled what was known as a _hunu_. Sometimes a _curaca_ was made an Inca-by-privilege as a reward of services.

[105] Huayna Capac.

[106] The marble was really granite. No marble was used by the Incas.

[107] This reference to windows is important. At the outset we must remind ourselves that Sancho may have confused _windows_ and _niches_.

It is entirely possible, however, that windows may formerly have been present in those walls of Sacsahuaman. As is well known, windows and niches were distinguishing features of Inca architecture during the later period of that dynasty. Sites like p.i.s.sac, Limatambo, Yucay, Quente, Vilcabamba (alias Machu Pichu, a post-conquest site in part), and Huaman-marca in the Amaybamba Valley all present one or both of these features, and all present unmistakable signs of recent construction, say from the reign of Viracocha (circa 1425-50) onward.

The importance of this mention of windows (or niches) lies in this: It gives strong evidence in support of my belief that the walls of Sacsahuaman which are toward Cuzco were of Inca construction. Garcila.s.so (II, pp. 305 ff.) attempts to give the credit for the whole of Sacsahuaman to Inca Yupanqui, and ignores the fact that the cyclopean walls on the north side of the hill undoubtedly date, as do "the seats of the Inca" close at hand, from the days of Tiahuanaco. When we see the statement made that the fortress of Sacsahuaman was of Inca construction we must remember that really only the southern walls and a few buildings behind them were built under the Incas.

[108] That is, the joints do not come above one another, but are alternated, as in brick-work.

[109] There are really six walls on the south and three on the north.

Cf. Garcila.s.so, II, 305.

[110] This is a poor attempt to describe the entrant and re-entrant angles that make the cyclopean walls so remarkable from a military point of view. See the plan by Squier and Davis, Garcila.s.so, II, p. 305.

[111] Orejon, lit. "large-ear"; i.e. a member of the Inca clan privileged to distend his ears by means of ear-plugs. This myth of the founding of Cuzco by a man from the sea is not found elsewhere.

[112] Llamas.

[113] t.i.ticaca.

[114] Cobo describes the Temple of the Sun on t.i.ticaca and that of the Moon on Coati as being, together, the third most important sanctuary in the Inca dominion. The other two, of course, were the temples in Cuzco and Pachacamac. For a detailed description of the temples in Lake t.i.ticaca see Cobo, IV, pp. 54-63 and Bandelier, 1910. The structures at that point are all of late-Inca construction and seem to have been built after the Inca conceived the idea of making himself out to be the "Son of the Sun." They were perhaps built with a view to lending colour to the myth.

[115] Correctly, Chuqui-apu.

[116] The original _una seriola_ is a word whose meaning I have not been able to find. It is found again a little below. The method the Indians had for washing the earth and getting the gold can be seen in Oviedo, Historia General de las Indias, Parte I, lib. 6, Cap. 8.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[117] Huayna Capac.

[118] A braza is six feet.

[119] It says this in the original, but it is an error, for it will be seen that the number must have been much greater.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[120] As the text of this pa.s.sage is obscure I give it here: _...

profundos como de la altura de un hombre, en cuanto pueda el de abajo dar la tierra al de arriba; y cuando los cavan tanto que ya el de arriba no puede alcanzarla, lo dejan asi, y se van a hacer otros pozos ..._

[121] Here is another rather obscure pa.s.sage: "_... pero e pui ricche ... sono le prime che non hanno caricho da lauar la terra & per rispetto del freddo & delle mine que vi e non lo cauano. &c._" Oviedo (Hist.

General, Parte I, lib. 6, Cap. 8); Acosta (Hist. nat. y mor. de las Ind., lib. 4, Cap. 4); y Garcila.s.so (Com. Real., Parte I, lib. 8, Cap.

24) distinguish three sorts of gold mines. In the first cla.s.s are counted those which produce pure gold in rather large grains, so that they can be collected without further operations. These are, perhaps, the sort that the secretary Sancho says are the richest, although he has not spoken of them before. In the second cla.s.s are included those which produce gold in dust or in very small grains mixed with earth which it is necessary to remove by means of washing, and these are those which Sancho mentions. The third cla.s.s of mines, which this man does not mention, are those which yield gold mingled with stones and other metals, just as silver is commonly found. These mines, although at times very rich, failed to be worked because of the expenses which labour caused.--Note by Icazbalceta.

[122] Huayna Capac.

[123] The text says _vino_--"came." I think, however, that it must be a misprint for _vivo_--"lived."

[124] This means, of course, Manco Inca.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CONSULTED IN THE COURSE OF THIS TRANSLATION OF PEDRO SANCHO

ACOSTA, JOSEPH DE: 1880. The Natural and Moral History of the Indies.

Edited by Sir Clements Markham for the Hakluyt Society. London.

APPLETON'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY: 1888. Edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. New York. 6 vols.

BANDELIER, AD. F.: 1910. t.i.ticaca and Koati. New York.

BEUCHAT, HENRI: 1912. Manuel d'archeologie americaine. Paris.

BINGHAM, HIRAM: 1912. Vitcos, the last Inca Capital.

American Antiquarian Society. Worcester.