Pedro Sancho

“ It is a very high and rugged land of mountains and many rivers; there are no forests save some trees in places where there is always a thick mist. It is very cold because there is a snow-capped mountain range which extends from Caxamalca to Xauxa and on which there is snow all the year through. The people who live there are much more advanced than the others, because they are very polished and warlike and of good dispositions. They are very rich in gold and silver because they get it from many places in the mountains. ”

“ Along the two sides [of the city] pass two rivers which rise a league above Cuzco, and from there down to the city and for two leagues below it they run over stone flags so that the water may be pure and clear, and so that, though they may rise, they may not overflow. They have bridges for those who [155] enter the city. Upon the hill which, toward the city, is rounded and very steep, there is a very beautiful fortress of earth and stone. Its large windows which look over the city make it appear still more beautiful. ”

“ At night, when they return to their houses in the village, they enter by a gate where the overseers are who have the gold in their charge, and from each person they receive the gold that he has got. There are other mines beyond these, and there are still others scattered about through the land which are like wells a man's height in depth, so that the worker can just throw the earth from below on top of the ground. And when they dig them so deep that they cannot throw the earth out on top, they leave them and make new wells. ”

“ Having gone out from the city with the lieutenant, the Spaniards saw that the Indians of Quito had crossed the little river with their squadrons in which there might be some six thousand of them, and, seeing the Spaniards, they turned and crossed to the other bank. Then, the treasurer and the Spaniards perceiving that if they did not attack the Indians that day, the following night the latter would come to sack and set fire to the city, so that there would be greater trouble if night was awaited, he [the treasurer] determined to cross the river and fight with the enemy. ”

“ Each dead lord has here his house and all that was paid to him as tribute during his life, for no lord who succeeds another [and this is the law among them] can, after the death of the last one, take possession of his inheritance. Each one has his service of gold and of silver, and his things and clothes for himself, and he who follows takes nothing from him. ”

“ First of all, the treasurer arranged that all the gold of H. M. and of the men which was in the city should be placed in a large house, and he set a guard of the feeblest and sickest Spaniards, ordering that the rest should be prepared to fight; and he ordered ten light horsemen to go out to see how large a number of the enemy had crossed the river in order to take the mountain, and he himself, with the rest of the soldiers, waited on the [122] plaza in case the greater number of the enemy should come by way of the plain. The Spanish scouts attacked the Indians who had crossed the bridge ”

“ The Indians say that in the province is a large lake of fresh water which, in its centre, has two islands. [99] In order to learn the state of this land and its government, the Governor sent two Christians to bring him a long report of it; they set out in the beginning of December. The region of Condisuyo, toward the sea from Cuzco is a small and delectable land, although it is all of forests and stones, and the inland region is so likewise. Through it [the Antisuyu] run all the rivers which do not flow into the western sea. ”

“ Most of the Indians made for the water, thinking to save themselves in it, but the light horsemen crossed the river almost by swimming after them, and they did not leave one alive save some few who had hidden themselves in their flight after their army was broken in pieces. Then the Spaniards ran through the country as far as a league below without finding a single Indian. ”

“ There are many houses of adobe, and they are all arranged in very good order. The streets are laid out at right angles; they are very straight, and are paved, and down the middle runs a gutter for water lined with stone. The chief defect which the streets have is that of being [154] narrow, so that only one horse and rider can go on one side of the gutter and another upon the opposite side. This city is located upon the slope of a mountain, and there are many houses upon the slope and others below on the plain. ”

“ Ordinarily they make two bridges close together, so that, as they say, the lords may cross by one and the common people by another. They keep guards over them, and the lords of all the land keep them there continuously in order that if someone should steal gold or silver or anything else from him or from some other lord of the land, he would not be able to cross. And those who guard these bridges have their houses nearby, and they always have in their hands osiers and wattles and cords in order to mend the bridges [62] if they are injured or even to rebuild them if need were. ”

“ If the two banks of the river are stony, they raise upon them large walls of stone, and then they place four [ropes of] pliable reeds two palms or a little less in thickness, and between them, after the fashion of wattle-work, they weave green osiers two fingers thick and well intertwined, in such a way that some are not left more slack than others, and all are well tied. And upon these they place branches crosswise in such a way that the water is not seen, and in this way they make the floor of the bridge. ”

“ After Almagro went to Chile, the Villac Umu (High Priest) urged his brother Manco to rise in revolt against the Spaniards, who were divided among themselves. On April 18, 1536, Manco revolted at Yucay. He laid siege to Cuzco with a very large force and attacked the small Spanish garrison mercilessly, setting fire to the roofs of houses by means of arrows tipped with blazing tow and otherwise harassing them. The Inca and his forces were, for a time, successful. They captured the great fortress of Sacsahuaman, which was, however, retaken by Juan Pizarro and Gonzalo Pizarro. ”

“ All or most of the people on these slopes of the mountains live on high hills and mountains; their houses are of stone and earth; there are many dwellings in each [150] village. Along the road each league or two or nearer, are found the dwellings built for the purpose of allowing the lords to rest when they were out visiting and inspecting their land; and every twenty leagues there are important cities, heads of provinces, to which the smaller cities brought their tribute of maize, clothes and other things. ”

“ There are so many rooms and towers that a person could not see them all in one day; and many Spaniards who have been in Lombardy and in other foreign kingdoms say that they have never seen any other fortress like this one nor a stronger castle. Five thousand Spaniards might well be within it; nor could it be given a broadside or be mined, because it is on a rocky [156] mountain. On the side toward the city, which is a very steep slope, there is no more than one wall ”

“ But, although they found it to be more than bad, they hoped in God who, in whatever place that battle might be fought, even in a land all rough and stony, would not permit the Indians to be able to defend themselves any where, no matter how difficult and toilsome it might be, nor to attack the Spaniards in any bad pass. And, having set out from here and having crossed the bridge three leagues from Cuzco [the captain declared] that he would there await the Governor as he had informed him by swift messenger Indians of what had occurred. ”

“ Then the Governor wrote and sent couriers to the city of Xauxa, giving to all his congratulations and thanking them for the valor they had shown, and especially his lieutenant, asking him to give him information of all that took place in the future. And in the meanwhile, the Governor hastened matters for setting out thence, leaving affairs provided for in the city, founding a colony, [128] and peopling plentifully the said city. He caused all the gold which had been collected to be melted, which was in small pieces, an operation quickly performed by Indians skilled in the process. ”

“ The people who get out the gold here are as many as fifty, [119] counting men and women, and these are all of this land, [165] and from one cacique come twenty, from another fifty, from another thirty, and from others more or less according to the number that they have, and they take out gold for the chief lord, and they have taken such precautions in the matter that in nowise can any of what is taken out be stolen, because they have placed guards around the mines so that none of those who take out the gold can get away without being seen. ”

“ All those who understand mines and the getting of gold, being informed of the manner in which it is got in this land, say that all the [167] [country is full of mines] , and that if the Spaniards gave implements and skill [in using them] to the Indians so that it might be got out, much gold would be taken from the earth, and it is believed that when this time has arrived, a year will not go by in which a million of gold is not got. ”

“ This is the state of the affairs of war and of other matters in this land: and of the quality of it I shall speak briefly because a relation of it was sent from Caxamalca. [145] This land, from Tumbez to Chincha has [a width of some] ten leagues, in some places more, in others less; it is a broad, flat, sandy land in which no grass or herbs grow and where it rains but little; it is [in places] fertile in maize and fruits because the people sow and irrigate their farms with water from the rivers that come down from the mountains. ”

“ There was a great difference of opinion between them on this subject because Calichuchima wished the son of Atabalipa and brother of the dead cacique Aticoc [31] as lord, and others, who were not of the land of Quito, wished the lord to be a native of Cuzco and proposed a brother of Atabalipa (as lord) . The Governor said to those who wished as lord the brother of Atabalipa that they should send and have him summoned and that after he had come, if he found him to be a man [54] of worth, he would appoint him. ”

“ The Spanish captains, having studied the place where these enemies were found as well as the road, along a part of which they journeyed, they determined not to shut themselves up in Xauxa, but to pass onward and attack the main body of the army which was four leagues off before it should receive news of [46] their coming. With this intention, they commanded the soldiers to make ready, but their proposal did not come to pass because they found the horses so weary that they held it to be better council to retire, which they did. ”

“ The two Christians who were sent to see the province of the Collao were forty days upon their journey, and, as soon as they had returned to Cuzco where the governor was, they gave him news and a report of all that they had seen and learned, which is set forth below. The land of the Collao is far off and a long way from the sea, so much so that the natives who inhabit it, have no knowledge of it. ”

“ The mountainous region being the chief part of the country, and being so narrow, as well as being torn by the wars that have been there, settlements of Christians cannot be made there, for it is a very remote region. From the city of Xauxa along the Cuzco road, the country keeps getting more shut in by mountains and the distance from the sea is greater. ”

“ Later, however, the custom of having idols sprang up. As their attributes were the same, there can be but little doubt that Pachacamac and Viracocha were the same deity. Pachacamac's chief shrine was on the coast, at Pachacamac. Inca Pachacutec conquered Cuismancu, lord of Pachacamac, about 1410, and built a Sun Temple there. The chief temple to Viracocha was at Cacha south of Cuzco, and it was probably erected by the Inca Viracocha to celebrate his defeat of the Chanca confederacy. ”

“ Two leagues of this valley having been travelled, they came to another bridge, a small one over another river, over which the troops passed on foot while the horses forded, as much on account of the bridge being in bad order as on account of the fact that the water was low at that time. Having crossed the river, he [the Governor] began to climb a very steep and long mountain all made of steps of very small stones. [35] Here the horses toiled so much that, when they had finished going up, the greater part of them had lost their shoes and worn down the hoofs of all four feet. ”

“ The Indians, perceiving the weariness of the horses, began to charge with greater fury, and five Christians, whose horses could not go up to the summit of the slope, were charged so furiously by so many of the throng that to two of them it was impossible to alight, and they were killed upon their horses. ”

“ Arrived at that place, the Spaniards followed the footsteps of the warriors through a very broad valley. And as they overtook [48] them they collided with the enemy who were going more slowly with many women and children in their rear-guard, and the Spaniards, leaving these behind them in order to catch up with the men, ran more than four leagues, and caught up with some of their squadrons. As some of them [the Indians] saw the Castilians from some distance, they had time to take shelter on a mountain and save themselves ”

“ For, in truth, the land being very large and very full of natives, the Spaniards who were in it then were all too few for conquering it, holding it and settling it, and, although they had already done great things in conquering it, it was owing more to the aid of God who, in every place and occasion, gave them the victory, than to any strength and means which they had for succeeding, with that further aid they were confident He would sustain them in the future. ”

“ The citizens were left so hostile to those other Indians that if one of the latter hid, they showed him to the Christians so that they would kill him, and they themselves aided in killing them, and they would even have done so with their own hands if the Christians had permitted it. ”