Chapter IV

PERUVIAN AND CHILEAN HISTORIANS, 1550-1600.

I. _José de Acosta._ II. _Garcilaso de la Vega._ III. _Pedro
Sarmiento de Gamboa; Polo de Ondegardo._ IV. _Cristóbal de
Molina; Cabello de Balboa._ V. _Pedro de Valdivia._ VI. _Alonso
de Góngora Marmolejo._ VII. _Pedro de Mariño de Lovera._

I

[Sidenote: Gasca’s work]

[Sidenote: Antonio de Mendoza & successors]

At the beginning of the second half of the sixteenth century a temporary calm brooded over the affairs of Peru. President Gasca had allayed the factional disturbances, but his administration, if it had produced peace, had nevertheless brought little satisfaction to the contending parties. A new attempt was now made to set up a viceroy. In the meantime the audiencia controlled public affairs, but in 1551 Antonio de Mendoza arrived in Lima as the viceroy of Peru. With the prestige of his long reign in Mexico, he undertook the task of establishing order in the unorganized colony, but he died the following year, leaving the governmental authority again in the hands of the audiencia. In 1555 Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza accepted the vacant office, and a line of more or less distinguished successors continued the viceregal administration to the end of the century.[29]

[Sidenote: State of Lima]

During these decades the Peruvian government acquired its normal and stable character, largely through the legislative activity of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo. Lima gradually increased in population and acquired many of the institutions which later characterized its social life, such as the university, the tribunal of the Crusada, the inquisition, and various monasteries. In the meantime the mines of Upper Peru, particularly those of Potosí, continued to pour out their riches, making Lima the market at which the precious metals were exchanged for imported European wares. The increasing wealth was attended by a more elaborate style of living, by the growth of more formal and refined manners, by the multiplication of religious ceremonies, and by the rapid acquisition of property by the Church. At the same time, as the creoles in the population increased in numbers, they became conspicuous for their ostentation, and, by departing from the severe manners and customs of the Spaniards, added a certain lightness and freedom to social intercourse.

But in spite of the persistent call of these circumstances to practical affairs, a number of persons appeared in the colony during this period, who by their writings indicated that not all the world was absorbed in contemplating the output of the mines, the gains of trade, or in rivalling one another in the display of newly-acquired wealth. Some of these by their office in the Church were expected to stand aloof, and did stand aloof, from the ordinary economic activity of the community; in fact, this period and the half-century following were especially noteworthy for their literary production, both in Peru and in Chile.

[Sidenote: Acosta]

[Sidenote: Acosta with Toledo]

In Peru José de Acosta, Garcilaso de la Vega, and Pedro Sarmiento became especially prominent. These men were better equipped by education than most of the writers who had described the events of the conquest from personal observation. Acosta was a professor of theology in Lima, and the Church expected to have its influence extended by his eloquence as a preacher. His principal work is entitled _Historia natural y moral de las Indias_. The first book deals chiefly with Peruvian affairs, but the fifth, sixth and seventh books refer extensively to conditions and institutions in Mexico. The author was born in Spain in 1540, and his boyhood was passed with his parents in the town of Medina del Campo. He became a Jesuit in 1553 and went to America in 1570. The intervening years had been spent in study, so that when he set out for the Indies he had already acquired a vast amount of knowledge. He landed at Cartagena, went to Nombre de Dios and thence across the Isthmus to Panama. From Panama he proceeded to Peru, and arrived at Callao in 1571. Peru was then under the vigorous rule of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo (1569-1581), who at this time was absent from Lima, engaged in making an inspection of the viceroyalty. Acosta was ordered to join the viceroy’s other assistants, particularly Polo de Ondegardo and Juan Matienzo. He accompanied Toledo, and was a member of the expedition directed against the Chiriguana Indians.

[Sidenote: Offices in Lima]

After his return to Lima he resumed his duties as professor of theology, and retained this post until the middle of 1575, when he became rector of the Colegio Máximo de San Pablo. The next year he was promoted to the office of provincial of the Jesuit province of Peru, succeeding the first provincial, Portillo. Acosta’s term as provincial expired in 1580. He resided for some years at the missionary station of Juli, near Lake Titicaca, and during this period his time was divided between missionary work and writing. The Jesuits had established a college at Juli to facilitate the study of the native languages. Holguín had resided there, and his Quichua grammar is an important contribution to knowledge of that language. Bertonio, also sometime a resident there, performed a similar service by his Aymará dictionary.

[Sidenote: Acosta at Council of Lima]

Acosta removed from Upper Peru to Lima near the end of Toledo’s reign. The viceroy’s administration, through his prolific and generally wise legislative activity, contributed greatly to the orderly establishment of the viceroyalty, but by his unjust condemnation and execution of the Inca he incurred the displeasure of the king, and died in disgrace. Under Martín Enríquez (1581-1586) Toledo’s successor, was held the third ecclesiastical Council of Lima. At the last sitting Acosta delivered what has been characterized as “an elegant and learned oration”; he also wrote the history of the council. At this council he was theological adviser, and was appointed to edit the acts of the council.

A little later Acosta went to Mexico, where after a short sojourn, covering the year 1586, he returned to Spain in 1587 taking with him for publication various manuscripts written by him during the fifteen years of his residence in America. He was in Madrid in 1588, and in this year he began the publication of the work on which his reputation as a writer chiefly rests, his _Historia natural y moral de las Indias_. The complete work under this title was, however, not published until 1590, the date of the Seville edition.[30]

[Sidenote: _Historia natural y moral_]

The first four books treat of the natural history of the Indies. Of these the first and second were written in Latin, while Acosta was in Peru, and were translated into Spanish by him after his return to Spain, where all the rest of the work was written. The fifth, sixth and seventh books contain what the author calls the moral history of the Indies, embracing such subjects as are involved in the organization and development of society.

The numerous editions of this work indicate somewhat the strength of the early demand for information regarding America. Large numbers of persons were solicitous to know about the climate and its fitness for securing human health; the metals, plants, and animals; the rites and ceremonies of the inhabitants; the laws and government; and the wars with the Indians. The nature of the contents of the work suggested the designation of the author as the Pliny of the New World.

After an extensive discussion of the views held by ancient writers, sacred and profane, concerning the geography and the natural phenomena of the Indies, Acosta touches on the project of cutting a canal across the Isthmus. He wrote:

[Sidenote: Acosta on a Panama canal]

“Some have discoursed and propounded to cut through this passage of seven leagues, and to joyne one sea to the other, to make the passage from Peru more commodious and easie, for that those eighteen leagues of land betwixt Nombre de Dios and Panama is more painfull and chargeable than two thousand and three hundred by sea, whereupon some would say it were a means to drowne the land, one sea being lower than another. As in times past we finde it written, that for the same consideration they gave over the enterprise to win the Red Sea with the Nile, in the time of King Sesostris, and since, in the Empire of the Ottomans. But for my part, I hold such discourses and propositions for vaine, although this inconvenient should not happen, the which I will not hold for assured, I believe there is no humane power able to beat and breake downe those strong and impenetrable mountains, which God hath placed betwixt the two seas, and hath made them most hard rockes, to withstand the furie of two seas. And although it were possible to men, yet in my opinion they should feare punishment from heaven in seeking to correct the workes which the Creator by his great providence hath Ordained and disposed in the forming of this universall world.”[31]

[Sidenote: Food products]

Among the food-products described, Acosta makes mention of the potato, saying that “The Indians use another kinde of roote, which they call Papas. These rootes are like the ground nuttes; they are small rootes that cast out many leaves. They gather the Papas, and dry it well in the Sunne, then beating it they make that which they call _Chuñu_, which keeps many daies, and serves for bread. In this realme there is great trafficke of _Chuñu_, the which they carry to the mines of Potosí; they likewise eat of these Papas boyled or roasted. There is one sweete kinde which grows in hot places, whereof they do make certain sauces and minced meats which they call _Locro_.”[32]

In writing of coca, Acosta calls attention to an article, the use of which under the Indian régime was subject to severe restrictions, enforced by a religious sanction, but since then these restrictions have been removed, with many of the evil consequences that were doubtless feared by the paternal government of the Incas:

[Sidenote: Acosta on coca]

“The Indians esteeme it much, and in time of their Kings Yncas it was not lawfull for any of the common people to use this coca without licence from the governor. Their use is to carry it in their mouthes, chawing it and sucking out the juyce, but they swallow it not. They say it gives them great courage, and is very pleasing unto them. Many grave men holde this as a superstition and a mere imagination; for my part, and to speak the truth, I perswade not my selfe that it is an imagination but contrariwise, I thinke it works and gives force and courage to the Indians; for we see the effects which cannot be attributed to imagination, as to go some daies without meat, but only a handfull of coca, and other like effects.”[33]

II

[Sidenote: Garcilaso de la Vega]

[Sidenote: Parents of Garcilaso]

By his ancestry Garcilaso de la Vega was connected with some of the most distinguished families of Spain, the families of Mendoza and Vargas. His father was the son of Alonso de Hinestrosa de Vargas, whose wife was Blanca Suárez de Figueroa, a descendant of that Garcilaso de la Vega on whom the name was originally conferred for his famous duel with the gigantic Moor on the Vega of Granada. This name was adopted by the historian’s father as that of a maternal ancestor. The son of Hinestrosa de Vargas thus became Garcilaso de la Vega. This Garcilaso de la Vega was born in the city of Badajoz in Estremadura in 1506. At the age of twenty-five, in 1531, he went to America as a captain of infantry, at the time of Pedro de Alvarado’s return to resume the government of Guatemala. He became a member of Alvarado’s ill-fated expedition to Quito, that landed at Caraques in March, 1534. After Alvarado’s surrender to Almagro, Garcilaso de la Vega entered the service of Pizarro, and was sent to subdue the natives about the port of Buenaventura. Owing to the difficulties of the march and the loss of a large part of his men he was obliged to abandon the undertaking. He then went to Lima, where he found Pizarro besieged by the Indians. His next service was in the campaign for the relief of Cuzco, that appeared to be in danger of falling into the hands of the insurgent natives.

[Sidenote: Garcilaso the elder]

During the conflict between Pizarro and Almagro that resulted in the death of Almagro, Garcilaso de la Vega was established at Cuzco. Chimpa Ocllo, a young Indian princess, baptized as Doña Isabel, was living at Cuzco at that time. She was a granddaughter of Inca Tupac Yupanqui. Her father was a brother of the distinguished king, Huayna Capac, the twelfth in the line as given by Cieza de León. She was thus a cousin of the unfortunate Atahualpa. In 1540 she gave birth to a child who became the historian, and whose father was Garcilaso de la Vega. The childhood and youth of the younger Garcilaso was spent in Cuzco, the capital from which members of his mother’s family had ruled the famous Indian kingdom. During these early years his father was engaged in the civil wars that afflicted the unhappy country; at first on the side of Pizarro, and later taking part in the rebellion led by Gonzalo Pizarro against the first viceroy of Peru, Blasco Núñez de Vela. One of the earliest recollections of the historian was the triumphal entry of the forces into Cuzco after Gonzalo Pizarro had put down his enemies.

Garcilaso de la Vega, the elder, once more changed his allegiance; he deserted the cause of Gonzalo Pizarro, and fled from Cuzco to Lima. But the party of the viceroy, which he had hoped to join was overthrown, and the viceroy had departed.

[Sidenote: Garcilaso at Cuzco]

Although pardoned by Gonzalo Pizarro, Garcilaso de la Vega went over to the forces of Gasca at the battle of Jaquijaguana in 1548. Between this event and the rebellion of Girón in 1553 he resided at Cuzco, and after the failure of this rebellion he was appointed corregidor and governor of that city and province. As the principal figure in the civil administration of the province, his house became the centre of the social activity of the city. Thus in the turmoil and rebellions and the quieter life that followed, the younger Garcilaso de la Vega, was in a more favourable position than any other historian had occupied for acquiring a correct view of the history and institutions of the two races here in conflict.

[Sidenote: Garcilaso the younger]

A suggestion of the opportunities the young Garcilaso de la Vega enjoyed for acquiring knowledge of the institutions and spirit of his mother’s people is found in his statement that while she lived in Cuzco, her native town, “almost every week some of the male and female relations, who escaped the cruelty and tyranny of Atahualpa, came to visit her. On the occasion of these visits their usual conversation was on the subject of the origin of the Yncas, of their majesty, of the grandeur of their empire, of their greatness, of their mode of government in peace and war, and of the laws which they ordained for the good of their subjects. In short, they omitted nothing relating to the flourishing period of their history in the course of these conversations.”[34]

[Sidenote: Garcilaso in Spain]

As Garcilaso de la Vega advanced toward maturity, he became his father’s agent in superintending his estates and acquired much information about Peru through journeys. After his father’s death he determined to go to Spain. Here he was received with kindness by his father’s relatives, and such generosity by others as might be accorded to one born in America. He entered the army of Philip II as a captain, and took part in the campaign against the Moriscos under Don Juan de Austria. On his retirement from active military service, he became a resident of Córdoba, where he was compelled by his poverty to adopt a very modest style of living. He was not only in debt when he left the army, but under a certain cloud of public disfavour by reason of his father’s connexion with Pizarro’s rebellion. It is quite possible that his consciousness of this prejudice deepened his piety for his native land and the kingly race from which he was descended and persuaded him to set forth their virtues and the nobler qualities of their rule, and not to omit the wrongs they had suffered at the hands of the Spaniards.

[Sidenote: _Los comentarios reales_]

Garcilaso de la Vega’s principal work is _Los comentarios reales_. This was based not only on information acquired during his early life at Cuzco, but also on later contributions made by his former associates in Peru; for as soon as he decided to write this history, he communicated with his old schoolfellows and asked them to help him by sending accounts of the particular conquests which the Incas had made in the provinces of their families. They took up his project and caused to be brought out from the archives the accounts which their relatives possessed, and sent them to him; it was thus, he said, “that I obtained the records of the deeds and conquests of each Inca.”[35]

The first part of _Los comentarios reales del Perú_ was published at Lisbon in 1609, and the second part was first published at Córdoba in 1617. The author died in 1617 and was buried in the cathedral of Córdoba. A second edition was published at Madrid in 1723, and a third edition at the same place in 1829.[36]

[Sidenote: _La Florida del Inca_]

An earlier work by Garcilaso de la Vega, _La Florida del Inca, historia del adelantado Hernando de Soto, gobernador y capitán-general del reino de la Florida, y de otros heroicos caballeros españoles e indios_, was published in Lisbon in 1605. Written in an agreeable style, it was received with great favour, and for it the writer would have been accorded distinction, even if he had not later produced a more important book. Much of the consideration enjoyed by Garcilaso and the popularity of his writings were due to the fact that he revealed to Europeans of his day a hitherto unknown kingdom, and set it before them idealized by the piety and patriotic emotions of an exile.[37]

[Sidenote: Markham on Garcilaso]

[Sidenote: Garcilaso’s accuracy]

Sir Clements R. Markham, in his introduction to the _Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Yncas_, makes this interesting note concerning Garcilaso’s memory and the accuracy of his statements:

“Garcilaso wrote from memory, forty years after he had left Peru, with the aid of letters from correspondents. His main object was to publish a commentary, correcting the errors of Spanish authors who professed to give a history of the Yncas without being acquainted with their language. In doing this, he added much precious information from the storehouse of his own memory, and the more his work is sifted and examined, the more clearly does it appear that he was scrupulously truthful, and that, allowing for the disadvantage under which he laboured, his statements are wonderfully accurate. Perhaps the excellence of the Ynca’s memory is best shown in the topographical details. He gives the conquests of each successive Ynca, mentioning the places through which the conquerors marched in the gradual acquisition of their vast empire. He enumerates three hundred and twenty places in Peru, yet, in describing the marches, he does not make a single mistake, nor give one of these places out of its order, or in the wrong position. When Garcilaso’s routes of each of the conquering Yncas are placed on a map, they present convincing proofs of the remarkable accuracy of the author.”

[Sidenote: Prescott on Garcilaso]

Another phase of Garcilaso’s writing is presented by Prescott (_Conquest of Peru_, I, 469-473), where he affirms that Garcilaso de la Vega “wrote to effect a particular object. He stood forth as counsel for his unfortunate countrymen, pleading the cause of that degraded race before the tribunal of posterity. The exaggerated tone of panegyric consequent on this becomes apparent in every page of the work. He pictures forth a state of society, such as an Utopian philosopher would hardly venture to depict.” His work “is addressed to the imagination more than to sober reason. We are dazzled by the gorgeous spectacle it perpetually exhibits, and delighted by the variety of amusing details and animated gossip sprinkled over its pages. The story of the action is perpetually varied by discussions on topics illustrating its progress, so as to break up the monotony of the narrative, and afford an agreeable relief to the reader. This is true of the first part of his great work. In the second there was no longer room for such discussion. But he has supplied the place by garrulous reminiscences, personal anecdotes, incidental adventures, and a host of trivial details—trivial in the eyes of the pedant—which historians have been too willing to discard as below the dignity of history.”

Referring to the edifices constructed at Cuzco by the Indians under the Incas, Garcilaso de la Vega gives expression to the astonishment which many persons since his day have experienced:

[Sidenote: Ancient buildings at Cuzco]

“The Yncas, kings of Peru, built wonderful edifices, whether fortresses, temples, gardens, palaces, store-houses, roads, or other works. All excited admiration, as may still be seen by their ruins, though these remains give but an inadequate idea of the complete edifice.

“The grandest and most superb work that they ordered to be built, to show their power and majesty, was the fortress of Cuzco. Its magnificence would be incredible to those who have not seen it, and even those who have gazed upon it with attention are induced to imagine, and even to believe, that such works must have been completed by enchantment, and that they were made by demons rather than by men. For the multitude of stones, so many and of such size, that are placed on the three circling lines (being more like rocks than stones), excite astonishment and wonder, as to how they could have been cut from the quarries whence they were brought. For these Indians had neither iron nor steel for cutting and working the stones.

“It is an equal wonder how the stones could have been brought from the quarry; for the Indians had neither bullocks nor carts. Besides, no cart could bear the weight of such stones, neither could any bullocks draw them. They were drawn by the force of men’s hands, hauling at stout cables passed round them.”[38]

[Sidenote: Destruction of Inca edifices]

On a later page Garcilaso de la Vega expresses regret that the Spaniards did not preserve the fortress as they found it:

“The Spaniards should have preserved the fortress, and even repaired it at their own cost, that future ages might see how great had been the valour of those who took it, of which it would have been an eternal memorial. But not only have they not maintained it; they have themselves dismantled it to build the private houses they have now in Cuzco. In order to save the cost, delay, and trouble which the Indians expended on preparing dressed stones for building, the Spaniards pulled down all the masonry walls within the circle of the fortress, and there is not a house in the city which has not been partly built with those stones, at least among those that the Spaniards have erected.”[39]

III

[Sidenote: Sarmiento’s career]

A further contribution to the history of the Inca kingdom was made by Pedro Sarmiento, who not only held a high place among the Spanish navigators of the sixteenth century but also merits consideration among the writers of his time. He was born at Alcalá de Henares about 1532. His father was Bartolomé Sarmiento, a native of Pontevedra in Galicia, whose wife was of a Biscayan family named Gamboa. Pedro passed the period of his childhood and youth in his father’s house at Pontevedra, near the little port of Bayona; but at the age of eighteen he entered the military service of Spain, and was a soldier from 1550 to 1555, when he succumbed to the desire to seek adventures and fortune in America. His sojourn in Mexico and Guatemala left no important record in the history of the period. In 1557 he arrived in Peru, then under the rule of Viceroy Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, Marqués de Cañete, who had made his solemn entry into Lima on June 29, 1556.

[Sidenote: Social unrest and sedition]

The rebellions of Gonzalo Pizarro and Girón had been put down, but the spirit of discontent and hostility to the government was manifest in many quarters. The judges of the audiencia were leaders of opposing factions; the corregidores were supporting practically independent military forces, and their unlawful acts imposed intolerable burdens on persons subject to their authority. Everywhere there were smouldering embers of sedition. The viceroy faced this condition of affairs with a grim determination to bring peace to the troubled society. He gathered and held subject to his order the arms and munitions that were scattered among the corregidores. The prominent disturbers of the peace he disarmed and sent into exile. He caused Tomás Vásquez, the lieutenant of Girón, to be executed, and ordered the corregidores to impose the same punishment upon turbulent and dangerous persons within their districts. And to furnish a vent to the restlessness of adventurers, he encouraged the organization of exploring expeditions, of which the most notorious was that of Pedro de Ursúa, that finally fell under the control of the brutal Lope de Aguirre.

[Sidenote: The viceregal court]

[Sidenote: Persecution of Sarmiento]

Another phase of the viceroy’s activity was the setting up of the viceregal establishment, where the vice-queen presided, and introduced much of the ceremonious life of a European Court. At this time the question of the aims and ambitions of the Incarial family began to excite inquiry if not alarm, and the prominence of this subject induced Sarmiento to study seriously the history of the Incas. This subject claimed his attention for a number of years after his arrival in Lima. But during his residence at the capital he was persecuted by the Inquisition. The charges against him were trivial, and for one alleged offence he was condemned to the absurd punishment of hearing mass in the cathedral at Lima, divested of his clothing and holding a candle in his hand. In addition to this penalty, it was ordered that he should be perpetually banished from the Indies. But by appealing to the Pope he was released from the penalty of banishment, and permitted to reside in Cuzco and other parts of Peru until 1567. Still, this senseless persecution was continued until his public services obtained for him the protection of the government.

[Sidenote: _Segunda parte de la historia general_]

During these ten years he made various journeys throughout the country in pursuit of information concerning the Incas. Of the results of these investigations there remains _Segunda parte de la historia general llamada índica_. Other parts, if any others were written, have not come to light. The manuscript of this second part includes a dedication to the king that was written at Cuzco and signed by Sarmiento on March 4, 1572. The work as designed by the author was to consist of three parts. The second, and apparently the only part written, contains the history of the Incas. It treats of the early rulers of Peru and their principal officers, the settlement of Cuzco, the legends concerning the origin of the Incas, the entrance of Manco Capac into the region of Cuzco, the subsequent wars with other tribes, the reigns of Tupac Yupanqui and Huayna Capac, and the civil wars between Huascar and Atahualpa, of which the Spaniards took advantage on their arrival in Peru. Sarmiento fixes the beginning of the Inca dynasty at the year 565, thus making its continuance a little less than a thousand years.[40]

[Sidenote: Continued persecution]

[Sidenote: Sarmiento pursues Drake]

[Sidenote: Voyage to the Strait]

[Sidenote: Thomas Cavendish]

In 1573 the Inquisition renewed its persecution of Sarmiento; it considered trivial charges brought against him; and finally reaffirmed its former sentence of banishment. The execution of this sentence was not then practicable, for Sarmiento was at that time engaged in a campaign against the Chiriguanos, eastward of the Andes, and after his return the civil authorities persuaded the inquisitors that the sentence should be revoked. But two years later they considered other equally trivial charges, and this time he was found guilty, imprisoned and sentenced again to be banished. At this time the viceroy, Francisco de Toledo (1569-1591), interfered, ordered that Sarmiento should be released, held him in the service of the government, and took him under his special protection. In 1579, when Drake appeared in Peruvian waters, Sarmiento led an expedition in pursuit of him, but failed to overtake him. On his return, he received the viceroy’s orders to proceed to the Strait of Magellan, in order to intercept Drake there on his voyage back to England. At the same time he was under orders to fortify the strait so as to prevent the passage of explorers or pirates who might undertake to follow Drake. Other navigators had entered the strait before Sarmiento—Magellan in 1520, Loaysa and Cano in 1526, Alcazava in 1535, and Drake in 1578; but Sarmiento’s account of his voyage virtually superseded all reports made by previous explorers. It, moreover, persuaded the king of Spain to fit out an extensive fleet for the purpose of transporting a considerable body of colonists, men with their families, to the inhospitable shores of the strait. Sarmiento was appointed to be the governor of the colony, but the command of the fleet was entrusted to the incompetent Diego Flores de Valdés, and his incompetence rather than the storms encountered caused the ruin of the enterprise. Sarmiento’s narratives of his voyages, translated into English by Markham, have been issued as a volume of the Hakluyt Society’s publications. This collection consists of five documents. The first is called _Voyage to the Strait of Magellan_, and gives an account of Sarmiento’s passage through the strait, with such accuracy of detail as to elicit the commendation of later navigators and surveyors. The second document was written in Río de Janeiro in 1583. It refers to the passage through the strait, the voyage to Spain, the preparation of the fleet under Flores de Valdés, and gives some account of what happened to the fleet. The third document enumerates the ships and their officers, while the fourth is a narrative of the equipment of the fleet, the disasters it encountered, the disgraceful conduct of the officers, the settlements in the strait, and the captivity of Sarmiento. The last document gives some account of the tragic fate of the settlers, who waited in vain for the return of ships with provisions, and who distributed themselves along the shore, in order to support themselves with shell-fish picked up on the beach; but the supply was inadequate, and one after another they died of starvation and exposure. The appearance of the ships of Thomas Cavendish was the last hope of the survivors, and when these ships sailed away, taking only one man as a guide the remnant of the colony went speedily to its tragic end.

[Sidenote: Spaniards reported to Atahualpa]

I quote Sarmiento’s account of the manner in which Atahualpa was informed of the arrival of the Spaniards:

“Atahualpa was at Huamachuco celebrating great festivals for his victories, and he wished to proceed to Cuzco and assume the fringe[41] in the House of the Sun, where all former Incas had received it. When he was about to set out there came to him two Tallanas Indians, sent by the Curacas—local governors under the Incas—of Payta and Túmbez, to report to him that there had arrived by sea, which they call ‘cocha,’ a people with different clothing and with beards, and that they brought animals like large sheep. The chief of them was believed to be Viracocha, which means the god of these people, and he brought with him many Viracochas, which is as much as to say ‘gods.’ They said this of the Governor Don Francisco Pizarro, who had arrived with one hundred and eighty men and some horses which they called sheep.

“When this became known to Atahualpa he rejoiced greatly, believing it to be the Viracocha coming as he had promised when he departed, and as is recounted in the beginning of this history. Atahualpa gave thanks that he should have come in his time, and he sent back the messengers with thanks to the Curacas for sending the news, and ordering them to keep him informed of what might happen. He resolved not to go to Cuzco until he had seen what this arrival was, and what the Viracochas intended to do.”[42]

[Sidenote: Incas in Conflict]

[Sidenote: Pizarro sends for Huascar]

In a subsequent chapter Sarmiento refers to Pizarro’s project to inquire into the dispute between Huascar and Atahualpa: “Don Francisco Pizarro knew of the disputes there had been between Atahualpa and Huascar, and that Huascar was a prisoner in the hands of the captains of Atahualpa, and he urged Atahualpa to have his brother brought as quickly as possible. Huascar was being brought to Caxamarca by Atahualpa’s order, as has already been said. Chalco Chima, obeying this order, set out with Huascar and the captains and relations who had escaped the butchery of Cusi Yupanqui. Atahualpa asked Don Francisco Pizarro why he wanted to see his brother. Pizarro replied that he had been informed that Huascar was the elder and principal lord of that land, and for that reason he wished to see him, and he desired that he should come. Atahualpa feared that if Huascar came alive, the Governor Don Francisco Pizarro would be informed of what had taken place, that Huascar would be made lord, and that he would lose his state. Being sagacious, he agreed to comply with Pizarro’s demand, but sent off a messenger to the captain who was bringing Huascar with an order to kill him and all the prisoners. The messenger started and found Huascar at Atamarca, near Yana-mayu. He gave his message to the captain of the guard who was bringing Huascar as a prisoner.

[Sidenote: Fate of Huascar]

“Directly the captain heard the order of Atahualpa he complied with it. He killed Huascar, cut the body up and threw it into the river Yana-mayu. He also killed the rest of the brothers, relations, and captains who were with him as prisoners, in the year 1533.”[43]

[Sidenote: Polo de Ondegardo]

A noted contemporary of Sarmiento, the Licenciado Polo de Ondegardo, also became interested in the history of Peru and the ancient institutions of the country, and, at the suggestion of the viceroy, wrote two accounts, or “relaciones,” on the revenues and tributes, or, in general, the financial administration of the Inca kingdom.

The time and place of Ondegardo’s birth are not known. It has been ascertained, however, that he was in Peru during the period of the civil wars. By Gasca he was appointed governor of Charcas, and he held for a number of years a similar office at Cuzco, to which he was appointed by the Marqués de Cañete as viceroy. Under Francisco de Toledo, Ondegardo was a confidential adviser of the viceroy, and assisted him in drawing up the ordinances for completing the organization of the viceroyalty.

[Sidenote: Prescott on Ondegardo]

Prescott, who had copies of Ondegardo’s narratives, affirms that while he gives his conclusions with an air of modesty, it is evident that he feels conscious of having derived his information through the most authentic channels. He rejects the fabulous with disdain; decides on the probability of such facts as he relates, and candidly exposes deficiency of evidence. Far from displaying the simple enthusiasm of the well-meaning but credulous missionary, he proceeds with the cool and cautious step of a lawyer, accustomed to the conflict of testimony and the uncertainty of oral tradition. This circumspect manner of proceeding and the temperate character of his judgments entitle Ondegardo to much higher consideration as an authority than most of his countrymen who have treated of Indian antiquities. But his part in the intellectual life of Peru was not limited to his inquiries into Indian antiquities; his considerable contribution to Toledo’s extensive legislation entitles him to a place among the writers on law and government, although no formal political treatise by him has appeared in print.

These papers remained long in manuscript, but a translation of one of them was printed in the Hakluyt Society’s volume of narratives of the rites and laws of the Incas. The following brief extract is from Ondegardo’s account of the origin of the Inca kingdom:

[Sidenote: Ondegardo quoted]

“It is enough to understand that these Yncas at first extended their conquests by violence and war. There was no general opposition to their advance, for each province merely defended its land without aid from any other, so that the only difficulty encountered by the Yncas was in the annexation of the districts forming Cuzco. Afterwards the conquered people joined them, so that they always had a vastly superior force as well as more cunning in the art of war.”[44]

A little farther on in his report, Ondegardo describes the organization of the districts within the limits of the Inca’s jurisdiction:

“As soon as the Yncas had made themselves lords of a province, they caused the natives, who had previously been widely scattered, to live in communities, with an officer over ten, another over every hundred, another over every thousand, another over every ten thousand, and an Ynca governor over all, who reported upon the administration every year, recording the births and the deaths that had occurred among men and flocks, the yield of the crops, and all other details, with great minuteness. They left Cuzco every year, and returned in February to make their report, before the festival of Kaymi began, bringing with them the tribute of the whole empire. This system was advantageous and good, and it was most important in maintaining the authority of the Yncas. Every governor, how great lord soever he might be, entered Cuzco with a burden on his back. This was a ceremony that was never dispensed with, as it gave great authority to the Yncas.”[45]

IV

[Sidenote: Romero’s _Colección_]

[Sidenote: The Molina muddle]

In the first volume of the _Colección de libros y documentos referentes a la historia del Perú_, Carlos A. Romero has caused to be published the _Relación de las fabulas y ritos de los incas_ by Cristóbal de Molina, one of the two writers of that name who flourished in the sixteenth century. The author of this _Relación_ is known as Cristóbal de Molina of Cuzco; the other as Cristóbal de Molina, the almagrist, or Molina of Santiago. Their similar professions and similar intellectual interests and the little knowledge of them that had come to light made discrimination between them difficult, and caused the writings of both to be thought of as the work of one person. The first suggestion that this name applied to two persons, contemporaries in the south-western part of South America, was made by the Chilean bibliographer Tomás Thayer Ojeda in 1913 in the _Revista chilena de historia y geografía_. The distinct individuality of the two persons has been clearly set forth by Carlos A. Romero in an essay prefixed to the _Relación_ already referred to. Little light has been thrown on the origin of Cristóbal de Molina of Cuzco. Romero has, however, ventured the opinion that he was a mestizo born in Cuzco, where he spent the greater part of his life, and that his father was Francisco de Molina, who, having made extensive journeys about the country, finally settled in Lima and there took ecclesiastical orders between 1545 and 1550. His thorough knowledge of the Quichua language is referred to as supporting the suggestion that this was the language of his mother. He became a priest of the parish of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios del Hospital de los Naturales in Cuzco, and for his preaching to the Indians he received an annual salary of one hundred and fifty pesos, under a grant by Viceroy Toledo.[46]

[Sidenote: Indian ways]

By a decree issued at Badajoz, September 23, 1580, the king ordered the viceroy to collect information concerning the usage and customs of the Indians before the Spanish conquest. Under this order a considerable body of data was gathered, and on the basis of this Molina wrote his _Relación_, but the date of the composition cannot be established; it must, however, have been late in 1572 or subsequent to that year, since certain events of 1572 are mentioned in the document itself.

[Sidenote: Rites and Laws of the Incas]

It was first published by the Hakluyt Society in 1873, translated from the manuscript into English by Sir Clements R. Markham, under the title of _The Fables and Laws of the Yncas_. It was printed for the first time in Spanish in 1913, in the fifth volume of the _Revista chilena de historia y geografía_ preceded by a biography, not of the author, but of Cristóbal de Molina of Santiago. The edition of 1916, by Romero, was printed from a copy in the National Library at Lima, which was made from the manuscript in the National Library at Madrid (E. 13, 135). The other works mentioned as written by Cristóbal de Molina of Cuzco have disappeared.[47]

[Sidenote: Molina on the flood]

Molina’s rather slight publication presents certain traditions and customs that prevailed among the Indians of the Inca kingdom. The following is one of several versions of the tradition of a deluge:

“They say that a month before the flood came their sheep displayed much sadness, eating no food in the day-time, and watching the stars at night. At last the shepherd, who had charge of them, asked what troubled them, and they said that the conjunction of the stars showed that the world would be destroyed by water. When he heard this, the shepherd consulted with his six children, and they agreed to collect all the food and sheep they could, and go to the top of a very high mountain, called Ancasmarca. They say that as the water rose, the high hill grew higher, so that it was never covered by the flood, and when the waters subsided, the hill grew smaller. Thus the six children of that shepherd returned to people the province.”[48]

A hint of marriage customs is contained in this paragraph from the same source:

[Sidenote: Molina on marriage]

“When the Ynca gave women as wives, they were received because it was the command of the Ynca. The man went to the house of the girl’s father not to say that the Ynca had given her, but that he desired to serve for her, and so the relations of the girl were assembled, and their consent was obtained. The youth remained in the house of his father and mother-in-law for a space of four or five days, and carried the fuel and straw for them. Thus the agreement was made, and he took the girl for his wife; and because the Ynca had given her, it was considered that she was taken until death, and she was received on this understanding, and never deserted.”

[Sidenote: Cabello de Balboa]

Under the title of _Histoire du Pérou_ M. Ternaux-Compans published at Paris in 1840 a translation of a part of the writings of Cabello de Balboa. The author had been a soldier before he became an ecclesiastic. He went from Spain to America in 1566. For a certain period he lived in Bogotá, but later went to Quito, where in 1576, under the protection of Pedro de la Peña, the bishop, he began the composition of his _Miscelánea austral_, which, according to a statement at the end of the work, he completed on July the ninth, 1586. Balboa, like many other chroniclers of his time, thought it desirable to begin his narrative with the creation of the world, and in the first two of the three parts into which it is divided he makes no mention of America whatsoever. In the third part he deals with the history of Peru, but at the same time makes frequent reference to events that have no relation to the history of America.

V

[Sidenote: Frontier of Chile]

The development in the southern part of the continent was slower than in Peru. In Chile at the beginning of the half-century in question, a number of garrisoned posts had been established on the southern frontier, where the inhabitants lived in the presence of the hostile Araucanians. Some of these posts grew into towns, but the residents, whether soldiers or civilians, had always before them the spectre of an Indian War; and it was this war that furnished the epic theme of their earliest literature. After the establishment of Valdivia and his colonists in Chile, that country formed a new province, a new centre of local government, within the viceroyalty that had Lima as its capital. The European advance towards the south encountered the stout resistance of the Araucanians, and the experience gained in this conflict appears to have furnished a motive for writing, and awakened a desire to transmit to posterity accounts of the events they had observed and of enterprises in which they had participated.

[Sidenote: Portrait of Valdivia]

[Sidenote: Valdivia as a writer]

Pedro de Valdivia is not thought of as a writer, yet his letters deserve recognition, whether regarded as stories of great adventure or as sources of the early history of Chile. Warriors are less often given to writing than priests, but when they undertake the task their productions sometimes have a quality not attained by the literary efforts of ecclesiastics. Valdivia wrote as a warrior might be expected to write: he discussed his tasks of military organization, the extreme want he had to face in effecting his settlement and domination in Chile, his labours in the service of the king, and the exasperating conduct of his enemies. His superior spirit as a man appears in the clearness of his language, in his lack of pretension, in his energy, and in an unwearying consciousness of his own high purpose. In writing he evidently set down the word that came first to his mind, that seemed to him to be the word for the idea, and made little or no effort to polish his phrases after the manner of the schools. His _Cartas_, therefore, constitute a work that, of its kind, as Medina has observed, has not been surpassed in Chile.[49]

VI

Two other writers of this southern province were Marmolejo and Lovera. They had little literary training, and were apparently not moved by ambition for literary distinction, but simply by the thought that they ought to communicate to their countrymen their first-hand knowledge of strange natural phenomena and unfamiliar social movements, as well as their experience as soldiers.

[Sidenote: Góngora Marmolejo]

[Sidenote: Marmolejo’s _Historia_]

Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo’s _Historia del reino de Chile_ is an important early narrative of Chilean warfare and adventure. The author went from Peru in a body of auxiliaries, taken by Pedro de Valdivia for service in his campaign for the conquest of Chile, where, for a period of forty years, after 1547, he accumulated honours, but saw his wealth gradually decrease. Then, under the affliction of poverty and disappointment, he undertook to set down and leave to posterity an account of the events, in which he had had part, and of the actors who had been his companions. Halted in the performance of this task by discouragement and the fear of criticism, he nevertheless worked on to the last sentence, which announced the fact that his work was completed in the city of Santiago, in the kingdom of Chile, on the 16th of December, 1575. During the brief period of his life that remained after this date, little is known of him, except that he was charged by Rodrigo de Quiroga, noted for his superstition, fanaticism, and intolerance, to traverse the country occupied by the Indians, and to find out and punish severely those guilty of the crime of witchcraft. But as Quiroga appointed Pedro de Lisperguer to the same office on January 23, 1576, it is inferred that Marmolejo’s incumbency was short.

But Marmolejo’s fears of the critics were not realized. They have found his narrative animated, without the digressions that appealed to the taste of his time, free from tiresome repetitions and never departing from the course of events to picture imaginary customs of the Indians. In spite of distance and time he makes one turn back and live with a remote generation, causing one to experience the impressions the scenes narrated must have made on the eye-witness. His style partakes somewhat of the rudeness of the primitive conquistadores, but is always fresh and spontaneous.[50]

Among the motives that induced Marmolejo to write, according to his own statement, were his sense of the large number of happenings in Chile that should be recorded and that the only written account of them was found in Ercilla’s _Araucana_, “not so full as would be necessary in order to treat properly of all of the affairs of the kingdom.”[51]

[Sidenote: Barros Arana on Marmolejo]

Without denying the directness and vividness of Marmolejo’s narrative Barros Arana points out the technical defects of the composition, the absence of literary art in the presentation of facts, and the lack of due emphasis on the most notable incidents. Marmolejo wrote almost exclusively of events of which he had personal knowledge, whence his chronicle is confined almost entirely to military affairs. He gave little information of any other class of events and left his chronology defective. Writing a personal narrative, he was not careful to fix adequately his dates, thus obliging future historians to have recourse to other sources of knowledge, if they would make a complete history of the period covered by the author’s experience.[52]

[Sidenote: _Historiadores de Chile_]

Marmolejo’s narrative, in printed form, occupies two hundred and twelve pages of the _Colección de historiadores de Chile_, and deals with the events of Chilean history during the forty years prior to 1575. No single extract is likely to reveal much of the author’s quality, particularly when the paragraph quoted is translated into a language as far removed as English is from the original Spanish; yet some features of the author’s simple and familiar manner may be discovered even in a translation. The following paragraph on Alderete’s appointment as Valdivia’s successor may serve as an illustration:

[Sidenote: Marmolejo on Alderete]

“Jerónimo de Alderete having arrived in Spain to negotiate with his Majesty in the name of Pedro de Valdivia, it became necessary for him to go to England, since the emperor, Charles V, had renounced his authority in all his kingdoms in favour of his Serene Highness, Prince Philip, his son, and retired into a monastery of monks; he was not concerning himself with affairs under any circumstances; whence Alderete had to go to England to see the king, who on account of having married the queen of England was in that country. Having arrived there, and the king, having been informed of his coming, after a few days conferred the government of Chile upon Valdivia for life, and furthermore provided that the person whom he might nominate should succeed him. With this order Alderete left England; on entering France he was overtaken by a messenger, sent by Eraso, secretary to the king, who informed him that by letters the king had learned that Valdivia was dead, and it appeared to Alderete that he ought to return and take up his negotiations.... Having received this news, Alderete returned to London, where the king was; on account of the good mediators whom he had, and by the good opinion which the king held of him, the king showed him the favour of giving him the government of Chile, as Valdivia had had it, and also conferred upon him the order of Santiago and the title of adelantado. Having received these favours, he left Spain for Chile. After he reached Panama, which is, and has been, the cemetery of Christians, he fell very seriously ill with a fever, and died.”[53]

VII

[Sidenote: Pedro Mariño Lovera]

[Sidenote: Lovera and Escobar]

Another Chilean soldier who turned to literary work after a stormy life in the army was Pedro Mariño de Lovera. His _Crónica del reino de Chile_ was the product of his later years. He was born in Pontevedra, in Galicia, where his father, Herrán Rodríguez de Lovera, was a life member of the municipal council. Having served for a period in the army, he yielded to the desire for a voyage to the Indies, which he undertook in 1545. From Nombre de Dios he determined to return to Spain, but at Havana he met Pedro de la Gasca, then on his outward voyage to assume the presidency of Peru. The result of this interview was the sending of Lovera with an important charge to Antonio de Mendoza, the viceroy of Mexico. This service was performed so satisfactorily that when Mendoza was transferred to the viceroyalty of Peru, in 1551, Lovera accompanied him to Lima. Here he appears to have intended to establish himself, but his restless spirit urged him on to Chile, then presenting, in the Araucanian wars, abundant opportunities for adventure. After his sojourn in Chile, he returned to Lima. He was in Lima in 1594, and it was in this later period that he gathered up his notes and wrote his chronicle of Chile.

[Sidenote: Lovera’s credulity]

In the Jesuit Bartolomé de Escobar Lovera found a person who was able to supplement his work where his literary deficiencies were most evident. In some places Escobar wrote in his own name, or in the first person. While smoothing the rough places in the soldier’s composition, he added as adornments of style references to Biblical history and to the history of the Greeks and the Romans. The simple credulity of Lovera, moreover, led him to accept as miracles many events presented in tales by imposters or by persons of exaggerated faith. Santiago mounted on a white horse and fighting for the Spaniards on the plains of Chile, as one of the stock visions, had naturally to be introduced; perhaps also the view of the Virgin taking up a handful of dust from the ground and throwing it into the faces of the Indians to blind them during the combat. But there were certain rare inventions that also found place in Lovera’s pages, as when to the members of the war council of the Indians there appeared ‘una gran señora’ placed in mid-air, who reprimanded them for their crimes, infidelity, and blindness. The view of this figure caused them to hang their heads in silence for half an hour, and then “to depart each for his own house.”[54] These and other miraculous episodes of the book are ascribed in large measure to the influence of the pious Escobar. The latest personal note in the _Crónica_ relating to Lovera is found in his vivid account of the earthquake of December 16, 1575, which follows:

[Sidenote: On the earthquake of 1575]

[Sidenote: The tidal wave]

“At the end of the year 1575, while the city of Valdivia was enjoying the greatest prosperity it had ever known, and the inhabitants were living in peace and happiness, our Lord did not wish that this state of comfort should remain to them, adding new misfortunes to those of the past. It happened then on Friday, the sixteenth of December, at four o’clock in the afternoon, entirely without warning of such a disaster, that the earth began to tremble, with a great rumbling noise, the earthquake continuing and always increasing, without interruption causing great damage, demolishing roofs and walls, with such fright of the people, that they were terrified and beside themselves at seeing an event so extraordinary. It is not possible to paint or describe the manner of the furious tempest, which seemed to be the end of the world. Its onrush was such that it gave no opportunity to many persons to leave their houses, and, therefore, they perished buried alive, the wreckage of the buildings falling upon them. It was an event to make one’s hair stand on end, and make men grow pale to see the earth in such convulsions and moving with such fury that not only edifices fell, but persons also were unable to stand, and some lay down in order to clutch the ground. After this, while the earth continued to quake for the space of a quarter of an hour, there was seen in the great river, where ships were accustomed to ride in safety, a very remarkable happening, which was that in a certain place in the river the water was divided, one part of it running towards the sea, and the other part up the river, revealing the bottom at that place in such a way that the stones might be seen as Don Pedro de Lovera saw them, from whom I got this account, and who affirms that he saw it with his own eyes. After this the sea left its limits and bounds, running with as great velocity upon the land as the swiftest river in the world. And so great was the fury and force of the water that it extended three leagues inland, where it left a great quantity of fishes dead, among which there were kinds never before seen in this kingdom.”[55]