History of the Incas Part 2

There is a picture which depicts the outward appearance of the Viceroy Toledo. A tall man with round stooping shoulders, in a suit of black velvet with the green cross of Alcantara embroidered on his cloak. A gloomy sallow face, with aquiline nose, high forehead and piercing black eyes too close together. The face is shaded by a high beaver hat, while one hand holds a sword, and the other rests on a table.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Facsimile (reduced) of the_ COAT OF ARMS OF DON FRANCISCO DE TOLEDO, VICEROY OF PERU, 1569--1581.

_From the Sarmiento MS. 1572, Gottingen University Library.

Reproduced and printed for the Hakluyt Society by Donald Macbeth._]

The work done by your Viceroy is such that the Indians are regenerated, and they call him loudly their protector and guardian, and your Majesty who sent him, they call their father. So widely has the news spread of the benefits he has conferred and is still conferring, that the wild warlike Indians in many contiguous provinces, holding themselves to be secure under his word and safe conduct, have come to see and communicate with him, and have promised obedience spontaneously to your Majesty.

This has happened in the Andes of Xauxa, near Pilcocanti, and among the Manaries and Chunchos to the east of Cuzco. These were sent back to their homes, grateful and attached to your royal service, with the presents he gave them and the memory of their reception.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DON FRANCISCO DE TOLEDO, Viceroy of Peru, A.D. 1569-1581.

After the portrait at Lima, from a sketch by Sir Clements Markham, 1853.]

Among Christians, it is not right to take anything without a good t.i.tle, yet that which your Majesty has to these parts, though more holy and more honourable than that which any other kings in the world have for any of their possessions, has suffered detriment, as I said before, in the consciences of many learned men and others, for want of correct information. The Viceroy proposes to do your Majesty a most signal service in this matter, besides the performance of all the other duties of which he has charge. This is to give a secure and quiet harbour to your royal conscience against the tempests raised even by your own natural subjects, theologians and other literary men, who have expressed serious opinions on the subject, based on incorrect information.

Accordingly, in his general visitation, which he is making personally throughout the kingdom, he has verified from the root and established by a host of witnesses examined with the greatest diligence and care, taken from among the princ.i.p.al old men of the greatest ability and authority in the kingdom, and even those who pretend to have an interest in it from being relations and descendants of the Incas, the terrible, inveterate and horrible tyranny of the Incas, being the tyrants who ruled in these kingdoms of Peru, and the _curacas_ who governed the districts. This will undeceive all those in the world who think that the Incas were legitimate sovereigns, and that the _curacas_ were natural lords of the land. In order that your Majesty may, with the least trouble and the most pleasure, be informed, and the rest, who are of a contrary opinion, be undeceived, I was ordered by the Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo, whom I follow and serve in this general visitation, to take this business in hand, and write a history of the deeds of the twelve Incas of this land, and of the origin of the people, continuing the narrative to the end. This I have done with all the research and diligence that was required, as your Majesty will see in the course of the perusal and by the ratification of witnesses. It will certify to the truth of the worst and most inhuman tyranny of these Incas and of their _curacas_ who are not and never were original lords of the soil, but were placed there by Tupac Inca Yupanqui, [_the greatest, the most atrocious and harmful tyrant of them all_]. The _curacas_ were and still are great tyrants appointed by other great and violent tyrants, as will clearly and certainly appear in the history; so that the tyranny is proved, as well as that the Incas were strangers in Cuzco, and that they had seized the valley of Cuzco, and all the rest of their territory from Quito to Chile by force of arms, making themselves Incas without the consent or election of the natives.

Besides this, there are their tyrannical laws and customs. [_It will be understood that your Majesty has a specially true and holy t.i.tle to these kingdoms of Peru, because your Majesty and your most sacred ancestors stopped the sacrifices of innocent men, the eating of human flesh, the accursed sin, the promiscuous concubinage with sisters and mothers, the abominable use of beasts, and their wicked and accursed customs[20].]_ For from each one G.o.d demands an account of his neighbour, and this duty specially appertains to princes, and above all to your Majesty. Only for this may war be made and prosecuted by the right to put a stop to the deeds of tyrants. Even if they had been true and natural lords of the soil, it would be lawful to remove them and introduce a new government, because man may rightly be punished for these sins against nature, though the native community has not been opposed to such practices nor desires to be avenged, as innocent, by the Spaniards. For in this case they have no right to deliver themselves and their children over to death, and they should be forced to observe natural laws, as we are taught by the Archbishop of Florence, Innocent, supported by Fray, Francisco de Victoria in his work on the t.i.tle to the Indies. So that by this t.i.tle alone, without counting many others, your Majesty has the most sufficient and legitimate right to the Indies, better than any other prince in the world has to any lordship whatever.

For, whether more or less concealed or made known, in all the lands that have been discovered in the two seas of your Majesty, north and south, this general breaking of the law of nature has been found.

[Note 20: For a contradiction of these slanders by an impartial witness see Cieza de Leon, ii. p. 78.]

By this same t.i.tle your Majesty may also, without scruple, order the conquest of those islands of the archipelago of "Nombre de Jesus,"

vulgarly but incorrectly called the Solomon Isles, of which I gave notice and personally discovered in the year 1567; although it was for the General Alvaro de Mendana; and many others which are in the same South Sea[21]. I offer myself to your Majesty to discover and settle these islands, which will make known and facilitate all the commercial navigation, with the favour of G.o.d, by shorter routes. I offer much, well do I see it, but I trust in almighty G.o.d with whose favour, I believe I can do what I say in your royal service. The talent which G.o.d has given me leads me to aspire to the accomplishment of these achievements, and does not demand of me a strict account, and I believe that I shall comply with what will be required, for never did I so wish to achieve anything. Your Majesty sees and does not lose what other kings desire and hold by good fortune. This makes me speak so freely of my desire to die in your service in which I have laboured since my childhood, and under what circ.u.mstances others may say.

[Note 21: See my introduction to the _Voyages of Sarmiento_, pp.

xiii--xvii.]

Believing that, in writing this present history, I have not done a less but a greater service than all the rest, I obeyed your Viceroy who made me undertake it. Your Majesty will read it many times because, besides that the reading of it is pleasant, your Majesty will take a great interest in the matters of conscience and of administration of which it treats. I call this the Second Part, because it is to be preceded by the geographical description of all these lands, which will form the First Part. This will result in great clearness for the comprehension of the establishment of governments, bishop.r.i.c.ks, new settlements, and of discoveries, and will obviate the inconveniences formerly caused by the want of such knowledge. Although the First Part ought to precede this one in time, it is not sent to your Majesty because it is not finished, a great part of it being derived from information collected during the general visitation. Suffice that it will be best in quality, though not in time. After this Second Part will be sent a Third Part on the times of the evangel. All this I have to finish by order of the Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo. May your Majesty receive my work with the greatest and most favourable attention, as treating of things that will be of service to G.o.d and to your Majesty and of great profit to my nation; and may our Lord preserve the sacred catholic and royal person of your Majesty, for the repair and increase of the catholic Church of Jesus Christ.

From Cuzco. _The 4th of March_, 1572.

Your catholic royal Majesty from the least va.s.sal of your Majesty The Captain Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Facsimile_ (_reduced_) _of the last page of_ SARMIENTO'S INTRODUCTORY LETTER TO KING PHILIP II, 1572. _From the original MS., Gottingen University Library. Reproduced and printed for the Hakluyt Society by Donald Macbeth._]

I.

DIVISION OF THE HISTORY.

This general history of which I took charge by order of Don Francisco de Toledo, Viceroy of these kingdoms of Peru, will be divided into three Parts. The First will be the natural history of these lands, being a particular description of them. It will contain accounts of the marvellous works of nature, and other things of great profit and interest. I am now finishing it, that it may be sent to your Majesty after this, though it ought to have come before it. The Second and Third Parts treat of the people of these kingdoms and of their deeds in the following order. In the Second Part, which is the present one, the most ancient and first peoplers of this land will be discussed in general, and then, descending to particulars, I shall describe [_the terrible and inveterate tyranny of_] the Ccapac Incas of these kingdoms, down to the end and death of Huascar, the last of the Incas. The Third and Last Part will treat of the times of the Spaniards, and of their notable deeds in the discovery and settlement of this kingdom and others adjoining it, with the captains, governors, and viceroys who have ruled here, down to the present year 1572.

II.

THE ANCIENT DIVISION OF THE LAND.

When historians wish to write, in an orderly way, of the world or some part of it, they generally first describe the situation containing it, which is the land, before they deal with what it contains, which is the population, to avoid the former in the historical part. If this is so in ancient and well known works, it is still more desirable that in treating of new and strange lands, like these, of such vast extent, a task which I have undertaken, the same order should be preserved. This will not only supply interesting information but also, which is more to be desired, it will be useful for navigation and new discoveries, by which G.o.d our Lord may be served, the territories of the crown of Spain extended, and Spaniards enriched and respected. As I have not yet finished the particular description of this land, which will contain everything relating to geography and the works of nature minutely dealt with, in this volume I shall only offer a general summary, following the most ancient authors, to recall the remains of those lands which are now held to be new and previously unknown, and of their inhabitants.

The land, which we read of as having existed in the first and second age of the world, was divided into five parts. The three continents, of which geographers usually write, Asia, Africa, and Europe, are divided by the river Tanais, the river Nile, and the Mediterranean Sea, which Pomponius calls "our" sea. Asia is divided from Europe by the river Tanais[22], now called Silin, and from Africa by the Nile, though Ptolemy divides it by the Red Sea and isthmus of the desert of Arabia Deserta. Africa is divided from Europe by "our" sea, commencing at the strait of Gibraltar and ending with the Lake of Meotis. The other two parts are thus divided. One was called, and still ought to be called, Catigara[23] in the Indian Sea, a very extensive land now distinct from Asia. Ptolemy describes it as being, in his time and in the time of Alexander the Great, joined on to Asia in the direction of Malacca. I shall treat of this in its place, for it contains many and very precious secrets, and an infinity of souls, to whom the King our Lord may announce the holy catholic faith that they may be saved, for this is the object of his Majesty in these new lands of barbarous idolatry. The fifth part is or was called the Atlantic Island, as famous as extensive, and which exceeded all the others, each one by itself, and even some joined together. The inhabitants of it and their description will be treated of, because this is the land, or at least part of it, of these western Indies of Castille.

[Note 22: The Don.]

[Note 23: Marinus of Tyre, quoted by Ptolemy, gave an enormous extension to eastern Asia, and placed the region he called Catigara far to the S.E. of it. Catigara was described by Marinus of Tyre as an emporium and important place of trade. It is not mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.]

III.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ANCIENT ATLANTIC ISLAND.

The cosmographers do not write of this ancient Atlantic Island because there was no memory, when they wrote, of its very rich commercial prosperity in the second, and perhaps in the first age. But from what the divine Plato tells us and from the vestiges we see which agree with what we read, we can not only say where it was and where parts of it were, as seen in our time, but we can describe it almost exactly, its grandeur and position. This is the truth, and the same Plato affirms it as true, in the Timaeus, where he gives its truthful and marvellous history.

We will speak first of its situation, and then of its inhabitants. It is desirable that the reader should give his attention because, although it is very ancient history, it is so new to the ordinary teaching of cosmography that it may cause such surprise as to raise doubts of the story, whence may arise a want of appreciation.

From the words which Plato refers to Solon, the wisest of the seven of Greece, and which Solon had heard with attention from the most learned Egyptian priest in the city called Delta, we learn that this Atlantic Island was larger than Asia and Africa together, and that the eastern end of this immense island was near the strait which we now call of Gibraltar. In front of the mouth of the said strait, the island had a port with a narrow entrance; and Plato says that the island was truly continental. From it there was a pa.s.sage by the sea, which surrounded it, to many other neighbouring islands, and to the main land of Europe and Africa. In this island there were kings of great and admirable power who ruled over that and many adjacent islands as well as the greater part of Europe and Africa, up to the confines of Egypt, of which I shall treat presently. The extent of the island was from the south, where were the highest mountains, to the north. The mountains exceeded in extent any that now exist, as well in their forests, as in height, and in beauty. These are the words of Plato in describing the situation of this most richly endowed and delightful Atlantic Island. It now remains for me to do my duty, which is to explain what has been said more clearly and from it to deduce the situation of the island.

From what Plato says that this island had a port near the mouth of the strait of the pillars of Hercules, that it was larger than Asia and Africa together, and that it extended to the south, I gather three things clearly towards the understanding of all that invites attention.

The first is that the Atlantic Island began less than two leagues from the mouth of the strait, if more it was only a little more. The coast of the island then turned north close to that of Spain, and was joined to the island of Cadiz or Gadiz, or Caliz, as it is now called. I affirm this for two reasons, one by authority and the other by conjectural demonstration. The authority is that Plato in his Critias, telling how Neptune distributed the sovereignty of the island among his ten sons, said that the second son was called in the mother tongue "Gadirum,"

which in Greek we call "Eumelo." To this son he gave the extreme parts of the island near the columns of Hercules, and from his name the place was called Gadiric.u.m which is Caliz. By demonstration we see, and I have seen with my own eyes, more than a league out at sea and in the neighbourhood of the island of Caliz, under the water, the remains of very large edifices of a cement which is almost imperishable[24], an evident sign that this island was once much larger, which corroborates the narrative of Critias in Plato. The second point is that the Atlantic Island was larger than Asia and Africa. From this I deduce its size, which is incredible or at least immense. It would give the island 2300 leagues of longitude, that is from east to west. For Asia has 1500 leagues in a straight line from Malacca which is on its eastern front, to the boundary of Egypt; and Africa has 800 leagues from Egypt to the end of the Atlantic mountains or "Montes Claros" facing the Canary Islands; which together make 2300 leagues of longitude. If the island was larger it would be more in circuit. Round the coast it would have 7100 leagues, for Asia is 5300 and Africa 2700 leagues in circuit, a little more or less, which together makes 7100 leagues, and it is even said that it was more.

[Note 24: Dr Peitschmann quotes from Juan Bautista Suarez de Salazar, _Grandezas y antiguedades de la isla y ciudad de Cadiz_ (Cadiz, 1610)---"That which all those who traverse the sea affirm was that to the south, the water being clear, there is seen beneath it at a distance of a league, ruins of edifices which are good evidence that the ocean has gained upon the land in this part." He refers also to a more recent history of Cadiz and its province by Adolfo de Castro (1858), and to the five first books of the _General Chronicle of Spain_ of Florian de Ocampo, 1552 (lib. ii. cap. II).]

Having considered the measurement of its great size we come to the third point, which is the true position over which this great island extended.

Plato says that the position of the island extended to the south; opposite to the north. From this we should understand that, the front conterminous with Spain from the strait of Gibraltar to Cadiz thence extended westward, making a curve along the coast of Barbary or Africa, but very close to it, between west and south, which is what sailors call south-west. For if it was opposite to north, which is between east and north, called north-east, it must necessarily have its direction in the said south-west, west-south-west, or south-south-west. It would include and incorporate the Canary Islands which, according to this calculation, would be part of it, and from thence the land trended south-west. As regards the south, it would extend rather more to the south and south-south-west, finally following the route by which we go when we sail from Spain to the Indies, forming a continent or main land with these western Indies of Castille, joining on to them by the parts stretching south-west, and west-south-west, a little more or less from the Canaries. Thus there was sea on one side and on the other of this land, that is on the north and south, and the Indies united with it, and they were all one. The proof of this is that if the Atlantic Island had 2300 leagues of longitude, and the distance of Cadiz to the mouth of the river Maranon or Orellana and Trinidad, on the coast of Brazil, is, not more than 1000, 900, or 1100 leagues, being the part where this land joined to America, it clearly appears that, to complete the complement of 2300 leagues, we have to include in the computation all the rest of the land from the mouth of the Maranon and Brazil to the South Sea, which is what they now call America. Following this course it would come to Coquimbo. Counting what is still wanting, this would be much less than 2300 leagues. Measuring the circ.u.mference, the island was more than 7100 leagues round, because that is about the circ.u.mference of Asia and Africa by their coasts. If this land is joined to the other, which in fact it was in conformity with the description, it would have a much greater circuit, for even now these parts of the western Indies, measured by compa.s.s, and lat.i.tude, have more than 7100 leagues.

From all this it may be inferred that the Indies of Castille formed a continent with the Atlantic Island, and consequently that the same Atlantic Island, which extended from Cadiz over the sea we traverse to the Indies, and which all cosmographers call the Atlantic Ocean because the Atlantic Island was in it, over which we now navigate, was land in ancient times. Finally we shall relate the sequel, first giving an account of the sphere at that time and of the inhabitants.

IV.

FIRST INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD AND PRINc.i.p.aLLY OF THE ATLANTIC ISLAND.

Having described the four parts of the world, for of Catigara, which is the fifth, we shall not speak except in its place which the ancients a.s.signed to it, it will be right to come to the races which peopled them. All of which I have to treat has to be personal and heathen history. The chief value and perfection of history consists in its accuracy, thoroughly sifting each event, verifying the times and periods of what happened so that no doubt may remain of what pa.s.sed. It is in this way that I desire to write the truth in so far as my ability enables me to do so respecting a thing so ancient as the first peopling of these new lands. I wish, for the better ill.u.s.tration of the present history, to precede it with the foundations that cannot be denied, counting the time in conformity with the chronology of the Hebrews in the days before our Saviour Jesus Christ, and the times after his most holy nativity according to the counting used by our mother the holy church, not making account of the calculations of Chaldean or Egyptian interpreters.

Thus, pa.s.sing over the first age from Adam to the Deluge, which covers 1656 years, we will begin from the second age, which is that of the patriarch Noah, second universal father of mortals. The divine scriptures show us that eight persons were saved from the flood, in the ark. Noah and his wife Terra or Vesta, named from the first fire lighted by crystal for the first sacrifice as Berosus would have; and his three sons to wit, Cam and his wife Cataflua, Sem and his wife Prusia or Persia, j.a.phet and his wife Fun a, as we read in the register of the chronicles. The names of some of these people remain, and to this day we can see clearly whence they were derived, as the Hebrews from Heber, the a.s.syrians from Amur, but most of them have been so changed that human intelligence is insufficient to investigate by this way. Besides the three sons, Noah had others after the flood.

The descendants of these men having multiplied and become very numerous, Noah divided the world among his first sons that they might people it, and then embarked on the Euxine Sea as we gather from Xenophon. The giant Noah then navigated along the Mediterranean Sea, as Filon says and Annius repeats, dividing the whole land among his sons. He gave it in charge to Sem to people Asia from the Nile to the eastern Indies, with some of the sons he got after the flood. To Cam he gave Africa from the Rinocoruras to the straits of Gibraltar with some more of the sons.

Europe was chosen for j.a.phet to people with the rest of the sons begotten after the flood, who were all the sons of Tuscan, whence descend the Tadescos, Alemanes, and the nations adjacent to them.