Chapter CXXI (3)

Ulloa gives the following account of the quinoa. It resembles a lentil in shape, but is much smaller and very white. When boiled it opens, and out of it comes a spiral fibre, which appears like a small worm, but whiter than the husk of the grain. It is an annual plant, being sown every year. The stem is about three or four feet in height, and has a large pointed leaf. The flower is of a deep red, and five or six inches long, and in it are contained the grains or seeds. The quinoa is eaten boiled like rice, and has a very pleasant taste. It is used in external applications, ground and boiled to a proper consistency, and applied to the part affected, from which it soon extracts all corrupt humours occasioned by a contusion. _Ulloa’s Voyage_, i, p. 290.

[272] Barley is cultivated successfully in Peru, at heights from 7000 to 13,200 feet above the sea. It was introduced by the Spaniards. _Von Tschudi_, p. 177.

[273] The different tribes of the empire of the Yncas were distinguished by their head-dresses, the people of each province wearing one of a distinct colour. This was not a custom introduced by the Yncas, but, being the usage of the different tribes, those sovereigns decreed that it should be continued, in order that the tribes might not be confounded one with another, when serving in the army or at Cuzco. _G. de la Vega_, i, lib. vii, cap. 9.

[274] Some kind of aloe.

[275] All these names of parts of the dress are correct Quichua words. The dress here described by Cieza de Leon is exactly the same as those represented in pictures still preserved at Cuzco, which are almost contemporaneous with the conquest.

[276] “The stone made use of for the house of Huayna Ccapac, mentioned by Cieza de Leon under the name of _Mulahalo_, is a rock of volcanic origin, a burnt and spongy porphyry with basaltic basis. It was probably ejected by the mouth of the volcano of Cotopaxi. As this monument appears to have been constructed in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the materials employed in it prove that it is a mistake to consider as the first eruption of Cotopaxi that which took place in 1533, when Sebastian de Belalcazar made the conquest of the kingdom of Quito.” _Humboldt’s Researches_, i, p. 6.

[277] These are the ruins called Callo, near Latacunga (Llacta-cunga). In Ulloa’s time they served as a house for the Augustine monks at Quito. As Humboldt says that Ulloa’s description of Callo is very inaccurate, it will be preferable to refer to the account given of the ruins by the great Prussian traveller.

The Yncas Tupas Yupanqui and Huayna Ccapac, when they had completed the conquest of Quito, caused magnificent roads to be formed, and _tampus_ (inns), storehouses, and magazines to be built for the reception of the sovereign and his armies. Travellers have called the ruins of these buildings palaces. The most celebrated of these ruins are those near Latacunga, ten leagues south of Quito, and three leagues from the volcano of Cotopaxi. The edifice forms a square, each side of which is thirty-five yards long. Four great outer doors are still distinguishable, and eight apartments, three of which are in good preservation. The walls are nearly five yards and a half high, and a yard thick. The doors are similar to those in the Egyptian temples, and there are eighteen niches in each apartment, distributed with the greatest symmetry. _Humboldt’s Researches_.

[278] Cieza de Leon gives the best account of these _Mitimaes_ or Colonists. Indeed, Garcilasso de la Vega quotes from him. (i, lib. vii, cap. 1; and i, lib. iii, cap. 19.) It is curious that the descendants of _Mitimaes_ on the coast of Peru still retain the tradition concerning the villages in the Andes, whence their ancestors were transported. Thus the Indians of Arequipa are descended from _Mitimaes_ who were sent from a village called Cavanilla, near Puno; those of Moquegua, from _Mitimaes_ who were natives of Acora and Ilave, on the shores of Lake Titicaca; and those of Tacna, from natives of Juli and Pisacoma, near the same lake.

[278] I am doubtful about the etymology of this word, but incline to believe that it is derived from the Quichua word _Mita_ (time or turn), whence come other cognate words. From labourers or soldiers taking their turn at work, it came to mean service generally--hence _Mitta-runa_ (a man required to perform forced service) and _Mitta-chanacuy_ (a law of the Yncas regulating the division of labor).

[280] A fermented liquor made from maize, called _acca_ in the Quichua language, and universally drunk by the Indians, in all parts of Peru.

[281] “_Y como estan sin sentido, algunos toman las mugeres que quieren, y llevadas a alguna casa, usan con ellas sus luxurias, sin tenerlo por cosa fea; porque ni entienden el don que esta debaxo de la verguença, ni miran mucho en la honra, ni tienen mucha cuenta con el mundo._”

[282] This account of the great Ynca road from Quito to Cuzco is quoted at length by Garcilasso de la Vega (i, lib. ix, cap. 13).

Zarate, the Accountant, was equally impressed with the grandeur of this work. He says that “the road was made over the mountains for a distance of five hundred leagues. It was broad and level, rocks were broken up and levelled where it was necessary, and ravines were filled up. When the road was finished it was so level that carts might have passed along it. The difficulty of this road will be understood when it is considered how great the cost and labour has been in levelling two leagues of hilly country in Spain, between Espinar de Segovia and Guadarramar, which has never yet been completely done, although it is the route by which the Kings of Castille continually pass, with their households and their court, every time they go to or come from Andalusia.” Zarate was Comptroller of Accounts for Castille from 1528 to 1543, and in 1544 he went to Peru to hold the same office. He was an educated man and an eye-witness, so that his testimony is valuable. _Historia del Peru_, lib. i, cap. 10.

Velasco, who was a native of Riobamba, near Quito, measured the breadth of the great road of the Yncas, and found it to be about six yards in one place, and seven in another. He says that the parts cut through the living rock were covered with a cement to make the surface smooth, while the loose places were paved with stones and covered with the same cement, in which he observed very small stones, not much larger than grains of sand. To cross ravines the road was raised with great pieces of rock united together by cement; and he adds that this cement was so strong that, where torrents had worked their way through the embankments, the road still spanned the ravines in the form of bridges. _Hist. de Quito_, i, p. 59.

[283] This captain was a native of Estremadura and a follower of Pizarro. He was distinguished for his valour at the defence of Cuzco, when that city was besieged by the Indians; but seems subsequently to have gone over to the party of Almagro, who left him as his governor of Cuzco, when he marched towards Lima after his return from Chile. He had charge of Gonzalo Pizarro and other prisoners, who broke loose and forced Rojas to accompany them. On arriving at the camp of Pizarro near Lima, the marquis, notwithstanding his desertion, gave Rojas a large estate in Charcas. In the war between Gonzalo Pizarro and Gasca, he went over to the latter and was given command of his artillery. Immediately after the fall of Gonzalo he was sent as treasurer to Charcas, where he died.

[284] These Cavalleros played a very conspicuous part in the conquests and civil wars of Peru. For an account of Alonzo de Alvarado, see my _Life of Enriquez de Guzman_, p. 109 (_note_); of Diego de Alvarado, _Ibid._, p. 124 (_note_).

[285] Garcilasso de la Vega was born, of noble parentage, in the city of Badajos, in Estremadmura. His great-grandfather was Gomez Suarez de Figueroa, the first Count of Feria, by Elvira Lasso de la Vega. This lady was a sister of the famous Marquis of Santillana, the charming poet, and founder of the great family of Mendoza. She was a maternal granddaughter of that Garcilasso who in 1372 received the surname of “de la Vega,” in memory of a famous duel fought with a Moorish giant before the walls of Granada:--

“Garcilasso de la Vega
They the youth thenceforward call,
For his duel in the Vega
Of Granada chanced to fall.”

The lady’s paternal grandfather was Don Diego de Mendoza, the knight who, in the battle of Aljubarrota with the Portuguese in 1385, saved the life of King John I by giving him his horse, when his own was killed under him, a loyal act which is commemorated in an old ballad:--

“Si el cavallo vos han muerto
Subid Rey en mi cavallo.”

The subject of this note was a second cousin twice removed of Garcilasso de la Vega the poet, whose poems were published with those of his friend Boscan in 1544.

So much for Garcilasso’s descent, which was sufficiently noble and distinguished. He was a young man of twenty-five years of age, tall, handsome, polished, generous, and well practised in the use of arms, when in 1531 he set out for the New World as a captain of infantry in company with Alonzo de Alvarado, who was returning to resume his government of Guatemala. That famous chief, on hearing of the riches of Peru, set out with a large fleet from Nicaragua, and landed in the bay of Caragues in March 1534. Garcilasso de la Vega accompanied him, and shared in all the terrible hardships and sufferings of the subsequent march to Riobamba. After the convention with Almagro, and the dispersion of Alvarado’s forces, Garcilasso was sent to complete the conquest of the country round the port of Buenaventura. He and his small band of followers forced their way for many days through dense uninhabited forests, enduring almost incredible hardships, and finding nothing to repay their labours. He displayed much constancy and endurance and persevered during a whole year, but, having lost eighty of his men from hunger and fever, he was at last obliged to retreat. He was nearly drowned in crossing the river Quiximies, and after many other strange adventures and narrow escapes, he reached the Spanish settlement of Puerto Viejo, and went thence to Lima, where Pizarro was closely besieged by the insurgent Indians. He then marched to the relief of Cuzco, and afterwards accompanied Gonzalo Pizarro in his expedition to the Collao and Charcas. On the arrival of Vaca de Castro in Peru, Garcilasso de la Vega joined him, and was wounded in the battle of Chupas. When Gonzalo Pizarro rose in rebellion against the viceroy Blasco Nuñez de Vela, Garcilasso and several other loyal knights fled from Cuzco to Arequipa, and thence up by the deserts of the coast to Lima, in order to share the fortunes of the viceroy. But when they arrived at Lima, that ill-fated and wrong-headed knight was gone, and the whole country was in favour of Gonzalo. The fugitives, therefore, concealed themselves as best they could. Garcilasso was lodged in the house of a friend, and afterwards hid himself in the convent of San Francisco. Through the intercession of friends Gonzalo Pizarro granted him a pardon, but detained him as a prisoner until he escaped to the army of Gasca on the morning of the battle of Xaquixaguana, galloping across the space between the two camps at early dawn, on his good horse _Salinillas_. He afterwards resided at his house in Cuzco until the rebellion of Giron broke out in 1554, when he once more showed his loyalty by escaping in the night, and joining the royal camp. After the fall of Giron, Garcilasso de la Vega was appointed corregidor and governor of Cuzco, where he appears to have devoted himself to the duties of his office, and, amongst other good deeds, restored the aqueduct which brought a supply of water from the lake of Chinchiru for a distance of two leagues, to irrigate the valley of Cuzco. His house was a centre of hospitality and kindness, where the conquerors fought their battles over again in the evenings, while Garcilasso’s wife, the Ynca princess, and her friends dispensed their numerous charities. Both he and his wife were engaged in acts of benevolence, and in collecting subscriptions for charitable purposes during the time that he held office. It is said that in one night they raised 34,500 ducats for a hospital for Indians. When Garcilasso was relieved of his charge, the _Juez de Residencia_, who came to review his administration, honourably acquitted him of the charges which were brought against him, and he retired into private life. He died at Cuzco in the year 1559, after a long illness.

Garcilasso de la Vega was married to a ñusta or Ynca princess, who was baptised under the name of Isabella in 1539. She was a daughter of Hualpa Tupac, a younger brother of the great Ynca Huayna Ccapac. By this lady he had a son, the well known historian, who was born at Cuzco in 1540. After his father’s death the young Garcilasso Ynca de la Vega, who had received his early education at a school in Cuzco, went to Spain. This was in 1560, when he was just twenty years of age. He fought against the rebel Moriscos under the banner of Don John of Austria, and afterwards settling at Cordova, devoted himself to literary pursuits. He wrote a history of the conquest of Florida, and the two parts of his _Commentarios Reales_ were published in 1609 and 1616. An excellent second edition appeared at Madrid in 1722. His memory was well stored with the recollections of his youth, when he had learnt the history of the Yncas from his mother’s relations, and of the conquest from his father’s old companions in arms. He also quotes largely from Cieza de Leon, Gomara, Zarate, Fernandez, and Acosta, as well as from the manuscript of the missionary Blas Valera, a most important work which was destroyed when Lord Essex sacked the city of Cadiz. No man, therefore, could be better qualified to write a history of the early civilisation of the Yncas, and of the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards. He has been invaluable to me in explaining and illustrating the text of Cieza de Leon; and in gratitude I have therefore devoted a long note to an account of his father. The Ynca Garcilasso died in 1616 at the advanced age of seventy-six, and was buried at Cordova.

[286] Juan de Saavedra was a native of Seville. He afterwards accompanied Almagro in his expedition into Chile, and, when Hernando Pizarro was in his commander’s power, he persuaded the old marshal not to put his enemy to death. In the battle of Chupas he fought against the younger Almagro. When Gonzalo Pizarro and his unscrupulous old lieutenant Carbajal entered Lima and wreaked vengeance on those who had opposed them, Juan de Saavedra, with two other knights, were hung under circumstances of great barbarity.

[287] A _castellano_, in those days, was worth about £2:12 of our money; so that Alvarado was bought off by Pizarro for the sum of £260,000.

[288] Ulloa describes the ruins at Hatun-cañari as the largest and best built in the province of Quito. In the rear the building terminates in a high thick wall on the slope of a mountain. In the centre there is an oval tower containing two chambers. The walls are full of niches with stone pegs in them. The outer walls are very thick, with ramparts round the inner sides.

[289] Literally “Foam of the lake.” It was the name of one of the Yncas.

[290] The first Quichua grammar was composed by Father Santo Tomas, and printed at Valladolid in 1560, with a vocabulary as an appendix. This friar, a Dominican, was the first doctor who graduated in the University of Lima.

[291] Velasco says there were few traces left of the buildings at Tumebamba in his time. This was the favourite residence of the Ynca Huayna Ccapac.

[292] Garcilasso de la Vega quotes this statement from Cieza de Leon (i, lib. viii, cap. 5).

[293] I can testify to the truth of this statement, having carefully examined a thatch roof at Azangaro in Peru, which undoubtedly dates from the time of the Yncas. It is over the ancient circular building in that town, known as the _Sondor-huasi_. The outside coating consists of a layer of grass (_Stypa Ychu_: Kunth) two feet thick, placed in very regular rows, and most carefully finished, so as to present a smooth surface to the weather. Next there is a thick layer of the same grass placed horizontally and netted together with reeds, and finally an inner perpendicular layer:--the whole thatch being five feet thick, and finished with most admirable neatness. It has been said that the colossal and highly finished masonry of the Yncas, such as that of the palace at Tumebamba, formed a barbaric contrast with the poor thatched roof, but the _Sondor-huasi_ proves that the roofs made by the Peruvians rivalled the walls in the exquisite art and neatness of their finish. See my _Travels in Peru and India_, p. 194.

[294] The Cañaris wore their hair long, and rolled it up in a knot on the top of their heads. On the knot of hair they fastened a wooden hoop, from which hung a fringe of various colours. The commoner sort, in place of this hoop, wore a small calabash over their hair, and hence the whole tribe was nicknamed by the other Indians _Mathe-uma_ (_Mathe_ in Quichua is a calabash, and _Uma_, head). _G. de la Vega_, i, lib. viii, cap. 4.

[295] Prickly pears.

[296] This name is not given by Velasco.

[297] The turkey buzzard, a carrion bird which acts as a scavenger in the streets of South American towns.

[298] The word used in Mexico.

[299] The _chaquiras_ were very minute beads, which were so skilfully worked that the best silversmiths in Seville asked Garcilasso how they were made. He took some to Spain with him, where they were looked upon as great curiosities. _G. de la Vega_, i, lib. viii, cap. 5.

[300] The _quipus_, or system of recording events by means of knots.

[301] See also _Garcilasso de la Vega_, i, lib. ix, p. 311; and _Acosta_, lib. iv, cap. 14, p. 233. Acosta says that emeralds were found most abundantly in New Granada, and in Peru, near Manta and Puerto Viejo. The country round Manta, he adds, is called Esmeraldas, from the reported abundance of emeralds in it.

According to Ulloa the emerald mines of Manta, which were known to the Indians, were never discovered by the Spaniards. The skill of the Indians in working these precious stones is very remarkable. They are found in the tombs of the Indians of Manta and Atacames: and are, in beauty, size, and hardness, superior to those of New Granada. They were worked by the Indians into spherical, cylindrical, conical, and other shapes, and it is difficult to explain how this could have been done without a knowledge of steel or iron. They also pierced the emeralds with a skill equal to that of modern jewellers. _Ulloa’s Voyage_, i, lib. vi, cap. 11.

Velasco says that an emerald was among the insignia of the _Scyris_ or kings of Quito, and that the Indians of Manta worshipped a great emerald under the name of _Umiña_. _Historia del Quito_, i, p. 29. There are also some interesting remarks on the emeralds of Manta in _Bollaert’s Antiquarian and other Researches in New Granada, Ecuador, Peru_, etc., p. 84.

[302] Inhabitants of the mountains inland.

[303] Pedro de Puelles, a native of Seville, was left as governor of Quito when Gonzalo Pizarro went on his famous expedition to the land of cinnamon in 1539. He was appointed to the command of the cavalry of Vaca de Castro’s army, served in the battle of Chupas when the younger Almagro was defeated, and was afterwards sent as governor to Huanuco. He was confirmed in this command by Blasco Nuñez de Vela, the viceroy; but he went over to the party of Gonzalo Pizarro, and commanded his cavalry at the battle of Añaquito, when the viceroy was killed. After the battle he urged Gonzalo to assume the title of king, believing that no terms could possibly be obtained from Charles V, and that they were committed too far to hope for forgiveness. Gonzalo left Puelles in Quito as his governor, and he afterwards seems to have intended to desert his old master and hand over his troops to the president Gasca, on condition of full pardon. But he was surrounded by greater traitors than himself, and one Rodrigo de Salazar headed a conspiracy of five, who murdered Puelles in his own house, and led his troops to join Gasca, in order to get all the credit for their loyalty.

[304] The Quichua word for _chicha_ or fermented liquor.

[305] This account of the tradition concerning giants at Point Santa Elene, is the fullest that is given by any of the old writers, and it is quoted as such by Garcilasso de la Vega (i, lib. ix, cap. 9).

Zarate’s version of the tradition differs but slightly from that of Cieza de Leon. He adds that little credit was given to the story until 1543, when a native of Truxillo, named Juan de Holmos, caused excavations to be made, and found huge ribs and other bones, and enormous teeth. From that time the native tradition was believed. (_Historia del Peru_, lib. i, cap. iv.) Acosta also mentions the bones of giants of huge greatness, found about Manta. (_Acosta_, lib. i, cap. 19.) Mr. Ranking, a fantastic theorist, who published his _Researches on the Conquest of Peru and Mexico by the Mongols, accompanied with Elephants_, in 1827, founds his theory on this tradition of giants having landed at Point Sta. Elena. (p. 51.)

It appears that fossil bones of huge mammals have been found on this part of the coast, where pieces of cliff are constantly breaking away, and they doubtless gave rise to this story about giants. Mr. Spruce tells me that a French naturalist took a quantity of these fossils home with him not long since. Ulloa calls these fossils the bones of giants, and Humboldt thinks they belonged to cetaceous animals. Stevenson says he saw a grinder which weighed more than three pounds, with enamel spotted like female tortoise shell, in the possession of Don Jose Merino of Guayaquil. (_Travels_, ii, p. 235.)

[306] In the second edition of Cieza de Leon the chapters are incorrectly numbered. Two chapters are numbered liv, and chapters liii and lv are omitted altogether. Two chapters are also numbered lix. It is necessary to retain the incorrect numbering, because all modern writers have quoted from the second edition.

[307] Ynca nobles, so called by the Spaniards from the large gold ornaments worn in their ears.

[308] Pedro de Candia was a Greek, and one of the heroic thirteen who crossed the line drawn on the sand by Pizarro, at the island of Gallo. He was a very tall stout man. When the ship arrived at Tumbez, in Peru, there was some hesitation as to landing amongst a hostile people, and Pedro de Candia volunteered to go first. Putting on a coat of mail reaching to the knees, with a sword by his side and a cross in his hand, he walked towards the town with an air as if he had been lord of the whole province. The Indians were astonished at his appearance, and, to find out what manner of man he was, they let loose a lion and a tiger upon him, but the animals crouched at his feet. Pedro de Candia gave the Indians to understand that the virtue of the cross he held in his hand had been the cause of this miracle. The Indians, believing that he must be a child of the sun, showed him the temple and palace of Tumbez, and so he returned to the ship, which sailed back to Panama. He accompanied Pizarro to Spain and was rewarded by Charles V. This Greek captain fought by the side of Pizarro during the conquest of Peru, and when it was completed, he led an expedition into the forests of Moxos, east of Cuzco, but was obliged to return. After the murder of Pizarro he joined the younger Almagro, and superintended the casting of cannon for him at Cuzco; but afterwards entered into correspondence with the royal army under Vaca de Castro, and at the battle of Chupas he purposely pointed the guns at such an angle as to send the balls over the heads of the enemy. Young Almagro, observing this treachery, ran him through the body, and he fell dead.

Garcilasso de la Vega says that he was at school with Pedro de Candia’s son, at Cuzco, who inherited his father’s stature; for being only twelve years old he had a body large enough for one twice his age.

[309] The large island at the mouth of the river of Guayaquil.

[310] G. de la Vega, in relating these events, copies largely from Cieza de Leon (i, lib. ix, caps. 1, 2, and 3).

[311] Macaws.

[312] _Sarsa_, a bramble, and _parilla_, a vine.

[313] _Smilax officinalis H. B. K._ The root of sarsaparilla was brought to Europe in about 1530. The stem is twining, shrubby, and prickly. Acosta says that the water on the island of Puna, flowing past the sarsaparilla roots, has healing virtues (lib. iii, cap. 17). There is a great trade in sarsaparilla down all the Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon.

[314] This is the officer who afterwards deserted Gonzalo Pizarro, and was the first to sail down the Amazon.

[315] A Quichua word.

[316] Inns.

[317] More correctly _Paca-muru_.

[318] Loxa afterwards became famous for its forests of Chinchona trees yielding Peruvian bark; the healing virtues of which were not made known to the Spaniards until fifty years after the time of Cieza de Leon. M. Jussieu tells us that the first fever cured by means of Chinchona bark was that of a Jesuit at Malacotas, some leagues south of Loxa, in the year 1600. The countess of Chinchon, wife of the viceroy of Peru, was cured of a fever by a dose of Loxa bark, in the year 1638.

[319] He explored the course of the Marañon as far as the _pongo_ or rapid of Manseriche, in 1548.

[320] Now better known as Piura.

[321] Inhabitants of the warm valleys on the coast.

[322] Nearly all travellers, from Cieza de Leon downwards, who have been on the west coast of South America, have had something to say concerning the rainless region of Peru: but “the natural reasons for these things,” for which our author asks, are given in the most agreeable form in Captain Maury’s charming book. “Though the Peruvian shores are on the verge of the great South Sea boiler, yet it never rains there. The reason is plain. The south-east trade winds in the Atlantic ocean strike the water on the coast of Africa. They blow obliquely across the ocean until they reach the coast of Brazil. By this time they are heavily laden with vapour, which they continue to bear along across the continent, depositing it as they go, and supplying with it the sources of the Rio de la Plata and the southern tributaries of the Amazon. Finally they reach the snow capped Andes, and here is wrung from them the last particle of moisture that the very low temperature can extract. Reaching the summit of that range, they now tumble down as cool and dry winds on the Pacific slopes beyond. Meeting with no evaporating surface, and with no temperature _colder_ than that to which they are subjected on the mountain tops, they reach the ocean before they again become charged with fresh vapour, and before, therefore, they have any which the Peruvian climate can extract. The last they had to spare was deposited as snow on the tops of the Cordilleras, to feed mountain streams under the heat of the sun, and irrigate the valleys on the western slopes.” _Physical Geography of the Sea_, para. 195. See also Acosta’s way of accounting for the absence of rain on the Peruvian coast, in his _Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias_, A.D. 1608, lib. iii, cap. 23.

[323] Zarate thus describes this coast road of the Yncas. “Through all the valleys of the coast which are refreshed by rivers and trees (which are generally about a league in breadth) they made a road almost forty feet broad, with very thick embankments on either side. After leaving the valleys the same road was continued over the sandy deserts, posts being driven in and fastened by cords, so that the traveller might not lose his way, neither turning to one side nor to the other. The road, like that in the Sierra, is five hundred leagues long. Although the posts in the desert are now broken in many parts, because the Spaniards, both in time of war and peace, used them for lighting fires, yet the embankments in the valleys are still for the most part entire.” _Historia del Peru_, lib. i, cap. x. _Garcilasso de la Vega_, in his account of the Ynca roads, merely copies from _Zarate_ and _Cieza de Leon_ (i, lib. ix, cap. 13). See also _Gomara_ (cap. 194).

[324] Fray Domingo de Santo Tomas was the author of the first Quichua grammar, which was printed at Valladolid in 1560 with a vocabulary.

[325] Juan de la Torre was one of the famous thirteen who crossed the line which Pizarro drew on the sandy shore of the isle of Gallo, and resolved to face any hardships rather than abandon the enterprise. He afterwards became a staunch adherent of Pizarro’s younger brother Gonzalo, to whom he deserted, when serving under the ill-fated Blasco Nuñez de Vela, and he carried his ferocious enmity to the viceroy so far as to insult the dead body, and, pulling the hairs out of the beard, to stick them in his hat band. He married the daughter of an Indian chief in the province of Puerto Viejo, and gained so much influence among the followers of his father-in-law that they revealed to him a tomb containing, as Cieza de Leon says, more than fifty thousand dollars worth of gold and emeralds. Thus enriched, he meditated a retreat to Spain, where he might enjoy his wealth, but the fear of punishment for his treason to the viceroy, and other considerations, deterred him. He first proposed to Vela Nuñez, the viceroy’s brother, that they should seize a ship and escape from Peru; and, afterwards, hearing a false report that Gonzalo Pizarro had been appointed governor by the king, he changed his mind in the hope of receiving great favours from his old commander. But Vela Nuñez knew of his earlier project to desert, so, mindful of the adage that “dead men tell no tales,” La Torre invented such a story against the viceroy’s brother as induced Gonzalo to cut off his head. The villain was appointed captain of arquebusiers in the army of Gonzalo Pizarro, and acted a conspicuous and cruel part in the subsequent war down to the final overthrow of Gonzalo by Pedro de la Gasca in 1548. Then at last he received a reward more in accordance with his deserts. After hiding for four months in an Indian’s hut near Cuzco, he was at last accidentally found out by a Spaniard, and met the fate which he so richly deserved. He was hung by order of La Gasca.

[326] _Supay_ is the Quichua word for the evil spirit in which the ancient Peruvians believed.

[327] Paullu was a son of the great Ynca Huayna Ccapac. He escaped from his half-brother Atahualpa, when many of the royal family were killed by that usurper, and, soon after the arrival of the Spaniards, was baptized under the name of Christoval. He accompanied Almagro in his expedition to Chile, and his services on that occasion were of the utmost importance to the Spaniards. While in Chile he received tidings from his brother Manco of his resolution to rise in arms and expel the invaders; but Paullu deemed it most prudent to dissimulate until the expedition, in which he was serving, returned to Peru. He afterwards lived for many years at Cuzco, in the palace built by Manco Ccapac, the founder of his house, on a hill called the Colcampata. The ruins of this edifice are still very perfect. After the death of his brother Manco, Paullu was looked upon by the Indians as their legitimate Ynca. His son, named Carlos, was a schoolfellow of the historian Garcilasso de la Vega, and afterwards married a Spanish lady whose parents were settled at Cuzco; and his grandson Don Melchior Carlos Ynca went to Spain in 1602, and became a knight of Santiago.

[328] Unfit for translation.

[329] The Collao is the great plateau of the Andes, including the basin of lake Titicaca, between two chains, the maritime cordillera, and the eastern range, out of which rise the lofty peaks of Illimani and Yllampu (Sorata).

[330] The obsequies of the Yncas at Cuzco were celebrated with great pomp. The bodies were embalmed with such extraordinary skill that they appeared to be alive, and were seated on thrones within the great temple of the sun. The bowels were deposited in golden vases, and preserved in a temple at Tampu (twelve miles from the capital); just as the Emperors of Austria have their bodies buried in one church at Vienna, their hearts kept in silver pots in another, and their bowels deposited in St. Stephen’s. The corregidor Polo de Ondegardo found five bodies of Yncas at Cuzco, three of men and two of women, said to have been those of the Ynca Huira-ccocha, with hair white as snow, of the great Tupac Ynca Yupanqui, of Huayna Ccapac, of Huira-ccocha’s queen Mama Runtu, and of Ccoya Mama Ocllo, the mother of Huayna Ccapac. These bodies were so well preserved that all the hair, eyebrows, and even eyelashes remained intact. They were dressed in royal robes, with the _llautu_, or royal fringe round their foreheads. They seem to have excited much curiosity, were conveyed by order of the viceroy Marquis of Cañete to Lima, and finally buried in the courtyard of the hospital of San Andres in that city.

The chiefs were buried in tombs of stone masonry on the mountain heights round Cuzco. A very peculiar kind of maize is often found in the tombs, now little cultivated, called _Zea rostrata_. The bodies, which are in a squatting posture with the knees forced up to the head, are found enveloped in many folds of cloth, over which is placed a mat of reeds, secured by a strong net. The covering next the body is generally of fine cotton; round the neck there is almost invariably a small household god, called _Conopa_ in Quichua, made of clay, stone, silver, or gold; and a piece of copper, gold, or silver is often found in the mouth. The hair is, in most instances, well preserved, but the skin is withered up. None of the thousands of bodies that have been examined, show any signs of having been embalmed. It seems clear that this operation was only resorted to in the case of the Yncas themselves. _G. de la Vega_; _Rivero_, _Antiq. Per._; _Personal Observation_.

[331] Fray Geronimo Loayza was appointed bishop of Lima in 1540, and was the first archbishop from 1548 to 1575. When Gonzalo Pizarro rebelled, he sent the archbishop as his envoy to Spain, but, meeting La Gasca at Panama on his way, that prelate returned with him, and accompanied him throughout the campaign, which ended in the overthrow of Gonzalo Pizarro in 1548. This Friar Loayza was a cruel fanatic. The inquisition was not introduced into Peru until 1569, but the archbishop had previously held three _autos de fé_ at Lima on his own account, at one of which, John Millar, a Fleming, was burnt as a Lutheran heretic. The first _auto de fé_ held by the inquisition at Lima took place in 1573, two years before the death of Loayza, when a Frenchman was burnt as a heretic. Loayza presided over two provincial councils, one in 1552 and the other in 1567. There have been twenty-two archbishops of Lima since the death of Loayza. The present one, Dr. Don Sebastian de Goyeneche, who succeeded in 1860, is probably the oldest bishop in Christendom, having been consecrated bishop of Arequipa in 1817, and is also one of the richest men in South America. He is now seventy-nine years of age.

[332] The nation of the Chinchas, and others on the coast, buried their dead on the surface of the ground, covered with a light coat of sand, so that the place is only indicated by a very slight inequality. _Rivero_, p. 199.

[333] Now corrupted into Luna-huana; near the rich sugar estates of Cañete, between Lima and Pisco.

[334] _Huaca_ is a word of many significations in Quichua (_e.g._, idol, temple, sacred place, tomb, figures of men, animals, etc., hill), but its most ordinary meaning is a tomb. Cieza de Leon probably calls it a “mournful name,” partly from its being the word for a tomb, and partly from his having confused it with the nearly similar word _huaccani_, “I mourn.” The mummy or dead body was called _malqui_. There were holes in the tombs, leading from the exterior sides to the vases placed round the bodies, through which the Indians poured liquor, on the days when festivals were held in honour of the _malquis_. _Rivero._

[335] This chapter is unfit for translation.

[336] The children were weaned at two years of age, when their heads were shaved, and they received a name. On these occasions all the relations assembled, and one was selected as godfather, who cut off the first lock of hair with an instrument made of stone. Each relation followed, according to his age or rank, and cut off a few hairs. The name was then given, and the relations presented gifts, such as cloth, llamas, arms, or drinking vessels. Then followed singing, dancing, and drinking until nightfall, and these festivities were continued for three or four days. _G. de la Vega_, lib. iv, cap. 11; _Rivero_, p. 177.

[337] _Urco_ is a word denoting masculine gender, in Quichua, when applied to animals, and _china_ is female. For mankind the words denoting gender are _ccari_ (male) and _huarmi_ (female).

[338] Garcilasso de la Vega says that, as they had no domestic fowls in Peru before the Spanish conquest, so there was no word for them, and that _hualpa_ was not originally the name for a fowl, but a corruption of _Atahualpa_, the name of the usurping Ynca. It seems, however, that domestic fowls were the first things that the Spaniards introduced into Peru; and the Indians, finding some resemblance between the crowing of the cocks and the sound of _Atahualpa_, gave them that name, which was afterwards corrupted into _hualpa_. Garcilasso adds, “I confess that many of my schoolfellows at Cuzco, the sons of Spaniards by Indian mothers, and myself amongst them, imitated this sound in the streets, together with the little Indians.”

The names of the Yncas, and those of their wives, have a meaning in the Quichua language; with the exception, however, of _Manco_, _Mayta_, and _Rocca_, which seem to have been borrowed from some other source. _Ccapac_ means “rich, grand, illustrious.” _Sinchi_ signifies “strong.” _Lloque_ is “left-handed.” _Yupanqui_ is “virtuous.” It is the second person singular, future, indicative of _Yupani_, and means literally, “you will count,” that is--“he who bears this title will count as one who is excellent for his virtue, clemency, and piety.” _Yahuar-huaccac_ signifies “weeping tears:” it was the name of an Ynca whose reign was unfortunate. _Huira-ccocha_ means “foam of a lake,” and Garcilasso gives the legend from which the name is said to have originated. _Pacha-cutec_ means “overturning the world,” a name given to one of the Yncas who was a great reformer. _Tupac_ is anything royal, resplendent, honourable. _Huayna_ means a “youth,” a name given to the great Ynca Huayna Ccapac, possibly from his youthful appearance. _Huascar_ is a “chain,” from the golden chain which was made to celebrate his birth. _Cusi_ is “joy.” _Titu_ is “liberal, magnanimous.” _Sayri_, a “tobacco plant.” _Amaru_, a “serpent,” etc.

[339] Twins, called _chuchu_, and children born feet first, called _chacpa_, were offered up to the _huacas_, in some districts. _Rivero_, p. 173.

[340] _Aji_ or _uchu_, a Chile pepper with a very peculiar flavour (_Capsicum frutescens_, Lin.), is the favourite condiment of the Peruvian Indians, sometimes eaten green, and sometimes dried and pounded. The consumption of _aji_ is greater than that of salt; for with two-thirds of the dishes, more of the former than of the latter is used. The _aji_ pepper was introduced into India by Mrs. Clements Markham in 1861.

[341] Before the death of Huayna Ccapac, fearful comets appeared in the air, one of them very large and of a green colour, and a thunder-bolt fell on the house of the Ynca. The _amautas_ or learned men prognosticated that these awful signs were the forerunners, not only of the death of Huayna Ccapac, but of the destruction of the empire. _G. de la Vega_, i, lib. ix, cap. 15.

[342] Or mountainous region.

[343] _Zea Mais_ Lin.: called _sara_ in Quichua.

[344] _Jatropha Manihot_ Lin.: called _asipa_ or _rumu_ in Quichua. The yuca is still the edible root most used in the coast valleys of Peru. It grows to a great size, and is excellent when roasted.

[345] _Batatas edulis_, Chois.: called _apichu_ in Quichua, and _cumar_ in the Quito dialect. Dr. Seemann has pointed out to me the curious and interesting fact that _kumara_ is also the word for sweet potatoe in Tahiti, the Fiji Islands, and New Zealand.

[346] The _pepino_ (a _cucurbitacea_) is grown in great abundance in the fields. The plant is only a foot and a half high, and it creeps on the ground. The fruit is from four to five inches long, cylindrical, and somewhat pointed at both ends. The husk is of a yellowish green colour, with long rose coloured stripes. The edible part is solid, juicy, and well flavoured, but very indigestible. _Tschudi_, p. 192.

[347] _Psidium guayava_ Raddi.

[348] _Inga spectabilis_ Willd.

[349] _Persea gratissima_ R. P. See note at p. 16.

[350] The _guanavana_ is called sour sop in the West Indies (_Anona muricata_ Lin.), where Cieza de Leon must have seen it. It has long been naturalized in India, as well as the _A. squamosa_ (custard apple) and _A. reticulata_ (sweet sop), and on occasions of famine these fruits have literally proved the staff of life to the natives in some parts of the country. (Drury’s _Useful Plants of India_, p. 41.)

But the fruit which Cieza de Leon here mistakes for the _guanavana_ or sour sop is, no doubt, the delicious _chirimoya_ (_Anona cherimolia_ Mill.) Von Tschudi says of it: “It would certainly be difficult to name any fruit possessing a more exquisite flavour. The fruit is of a roundish form, somewhat pyramidal or heart-shaped, the broad base uniting with the stem. Externally it is green, covered with small knobs and scales. The skin is rather thick and tough. Internally the fruit is snow-white and juicy, and provided with a number of black seeds. The taste is incomparable. Both the fruit and flowers of the _chirimoya_ emit a fine fragrance. The tree which bears this finest of all fruits is from fifteen to twenty feet high.” Mrs. Clements Markham introduced the cultivation of this delicious fruit into Southern India in 1861.

[351] _Chrysophillum Caimito_ Lin., or star apple.

[352] The name for the ordinary Peruvian dog, in Quichua, is _allco_ (_Canis Ingæ_).

[353] The _algaroba_ or _guaranga_ (_Prosopis horrida_, Willd). A tree the bean of which furnishes food for mules, donkeys, and goats.

[354] The _dulces_ or preserves of Peru are still the most delicious in the world, especially those made at Cuzco. No confectionary in London or Paris can be compared with them.

[355] The vineyards of the Peruvian coast valleys have become famous for the delicious grape spirits called _italia_ and _pisco_. In 1860 the valleys of Yca and Pisco alone yielded seventy thousand _botijas_ or jars of spirits, and ten thousand barrels of excellent wine.

[356] Next to the wonderful roads, these irrigating channels are the most convincing proofs of the advanced civilisation of the Yncas. Once nearly all the coast valleys were supplied with them, and thousands of acres were reclaimed from the desert; but, owing to the barbarism or neglect of the Spaniards, they nearly all went to ruin very soon after the conquest. In one valley alone, that of Nasca (or, more properly, _Nanasca_, “pain”), the irrigating works of the Yncas are still in working order, and from them an idea may be formed of the extent and grandeur of the public works of the Yncas throughout the coast region of Peru.

The valley of Nasca descends from the Andes by an easy and gradual slope, widening as it descends, and is hemmed in by lofty mountains on either side. It is covered with cultivation, consisting of vineyards, cotton plantations, fields of _aji_, maize, wheat, pumpkins, melons, and other vegetables, and fruit gardens. In 1853 I examined the irrigation channels of this valley very carefully. All that nature has supplied, in the way of water, is a small water course, which is frequently dry for six years together; and, at the best, only a little streamlet trickles down during the month of February. The engineering skill displayed by the Yncas, in remedying this defect, is astonishing. Deep trenches were cut along the whole length of the valley, and so far into the mountains that the present inhabitants have no knowledge of the place where they commence. High up the valley the main trenches or _puquios_ are some four feet in height, with the floor, sides, and roof lined with stones. Lower down they are separated into smaller _puquios_, which ramify in every direction over the valley, and supply all the estates with delicious water throughout the year, feeding the little streams which irrigate the fields. The larger _puquios_ are several feet below the surface, and at intervals of about two hundred yards there are man-holes, called _ojos_, by which workmen can get down into the channels, and clear away any obstructions.

Further on Cieza de Leon describes other works of irrigation in the valley of Yca, on the same magnificent scale, which, even when he wrote, had already been destroyed by the barbarian Spaniards.

The subterranean channels were called _huirca_ in Quichua, and those flowing along on the surface _rarca_. In all parts of the _Sierra_ of Peru the remains of irrigating channels are met with, which the Spaniards destroyed and neglected, and thus allowed the once fertile fields to return to their natural sterility. The principal remains of works of irrigation, in the _Sierra_, are to be found at Caxamarca and at Cerro Pasco. Garcilasso de la Vega relates how the Ynca Huira-ccocha caused an aqueduct to be constructed, twelve feet in depth, and more than one hundred and twenty leagues in length. Another aqueduct was made in the province of Condesuyos (Cunti-suyu), which was more than fifty-five leagues long. The Ynca historian justly exclaims: “These are works worthy of the grandeur of such princes. They are equal to the finest works of the kind in the world, considering the enormous rocks which were cut through to form them, without iron or steel tools. When a deep ravine crossed the intended course of the aqueduct, it was led round to the head. The channels were cut out of the living rock in many places, the outer side being formed of a stone wall of large six-sided slabs, fitting exactly into each other, and banked up with earth.”

[357] There is a fox (_Canis Azaræ_, Pr. Max.) which abounds in the coast valleys, where it preys on the lambs.

[358] _Prosopis horrida_, Willd. This tree grows to a large size. The wood is very hard, the leaf small, and the branches bear an abundance of clusters of pods, which form excellent food for mules and cattle, and for immense herds of goats.

[359] “Formerly the valley of Chacama was called the granary of Peru, and, until the great earthquake of 1687, the wheat produced its seed two hundred fold. This valley alone harvested two hundred thousand bushels of this grain.” _Stevenson_, ii, p. 124-5.

[360] “The valleys of Chimu, Chacama, and Viru, may be considered as one, being separated from each other only by the branches of the Chacama river. United they are about twenty-eight leagues long and eleven broad. Their soil, irrigated by the waters of the river, is very fertile.” _Stevenson_, ii, p. 124.

[361] The ruins in the valley of Chimu or Truxillo are a league and a half from the port of Huanchaco. It is not known when they were built, but in the time of Pachacutec, the ninth Ynca (about A.D. 1340 to 1400), a powerful chief reigned in this valley, called Chimu-Canchu. After a long war with the Ynca’s son Yupanqui, the Chimu consented to worship the sun, and to abandon his own idols, consisting of figures of fish and other animals.

The ruins of the Chimu’s city cover a space of three quarters of a league, exclusive of the great squares. These squares, seven or eight in number, vary from two hundred to two hundred and seventy yards in length, and from one hundred to one hundred and sixty in breadth. They are on the north side of the large edifices or palaces. The walls surrounding the palaces are of great solidity, formed of _adobes_ (bricks baked in the sun) ten or twelve yards long and five or six broad in the lower part of the wall, but gradually diminishing until they terminate in a breadth of one yard at the top. Each palace was completely surrounded by an exterior wall. One of them, built of stone and _adobes_, is fifty yards high, five yards broad at the bottom, and gradually tapering to one at the top. In the first palace there is an interior court, in which are chambers built of stone, and plastered within. The lintels of the doorways consist of a single stone about two yards long. Some of the walls are adorned with panels and tasteful patterns, and ornaments sculptured on the _adobes_. There is also a large reservoir, which was formerly supplied with water, by subterranean aqueducts, from the river Moche, about two miles to the north-east. The second palace is one hundred and twenty-five yards east of the first. It contains several courts and chambers, with narrow lanes between them. At one of the extremities is the _huaca_ of _Misa_, surrounded by a low wall. This _huaca_ is traversed by small passages about a yard wide, and it also contains some large chambers, containing cloths, mummies, pieces of gold and silver, tools, and a stone idol. Besides these palaces there are the ruins of a great number of smaller houses, forming an extensive city. _Rivero Antiq. Per._

In 1566 one Garcia Gutierrez de Toledo paid 85,547 _castellanos de oro_ (£222,422) as the fifth or royal share of the treasure found by him in the _huacas_ of the grand Chimu; and in 1592 the royal fifth of further treasure discovered in these tombs amounted to 47,020 _castellanos_ (£122,252). The value of the whole was £1,724,220 of our money. This will give some idea of the wealth concealed in these burial places. There is a tradition that there were two priceless treasures in the form of fishes of gold, known as the great and little _peje_, in one of the _huacas_.

The curiosities that have been found in the _Chimu_ ruins are very interesting:--such as mummies in strange postures, one in an attitude as if about to drink, with a monkey on his shoulder, whispering into his ear.

[362] The city of Truxillo stands on a sandy plain, in lat. 8° 6´ 3” S.

[363] See note at p. 72.

[364] The distance is one hundred and eight leagues by the road.

[365] The river of Santa is about eighteen hundred yards across at the mouth, and its current, during the rainy season, sometimes flows at the rate of seven miles an hour. In 1795 a rope bridge was thrown across it, about a league from the mouth, but it was destroyed by a sudden rise of the water in 1806. _Stevenson._

[366] Guarmay is a small Indian village, famous for its _chicha_, which is remarkably strong.