Pedro de Cieza de León

“ On the steep sides of one mountain are the snowy wilds and bleak ridges of the Arctic regions, the cold pastures of northern Scotland, the corn fields and groves of central Europe, the orange trees and vineyards of Italy, and the palms and sugar canes of the tropics. But it is in the lovely ravines which lead from the eastern slopes of the Andes to the virgin forests of the interior that nature has been most profusely decked with all the charms that can please the eye, and enriched with overflowing vegetable and mineral wealth. ”

“ The valley is seldom more than three miles in breadth, and is bounded on its eastern side by the snow-capped range of the Andes. To the westward there is a lower range of steep and rocky mountains. Within these narrow limits the vale of Yucay enjoys a delicious climate, and the picturesque farms, with their maize towers surrounded by little thickets of fruit trees, the villages scattered here and there along the banks of the rapid river, the groves of trees, and the lofty mountains rising abruptly from the valley, combine to form a landscape of exceeding beauty. ”

“ Whether it be in these forest-covered valleys, in the stupendous ravines of the Cordillera, on the frozen heights, or amidst the sandy wildernesses of the coast, the scenery is ever on a scale either of sublime grandeur or of exquisite beauty. Rich, indeed, was the prize which the hardy comrades of Cieza de Leon won for the Castilian crown. ”

“ The city of Cuzco is spread out like a map below, with its handsome church towers and domes rising above the other buildings. The great square is seen, crowded with Indian girls sitting under shades before their merchandise, or passing to and fro like a busy hive of bees. Beyond is the long plain, and far in the distance, rising above the lower ranges of mountains, towers Asungato, with its snowy peak standing out in strong relief against the cloudless sky. ”

“ At that time scarcely a year elapsed without seeing an expedition fitted out, to undertake some new discovery or conquest. Seville and Cadiz were crowded with adventurers, all eagerly seeking for a passage to that marvellous land beyond the setting sun. It was, indeed, a time of wild excitement. Every ship that returned from the Indies might, and not a few did, bring tidings of the discovery of new and powerful empires before undreamt of. People of all ages and of every grade in society flocked to the sea ports, and took ship for the Indies ”

“ In truth, as these Indians have no faith, I am not astonished at this.
Owing to these wars, when we discovered the valleys, we found so many human heads at the doors of the chiefs’ houses, that it seemed as if each one had been a butcher’s shop. When one of the chiefs dies, the people mourn for many days, cut off the hair of his wives, kill those who were most beloved, and raise a tomb the size of a small hill, with an opening towards the rising sun. ”

“ Seeing that all these things are hidden from us, we may well say, Blessed be the invention of letters! by virtue of which the memory of events endures for many ages, and their fame flies through the universe. We are not ignorant of what we desire to know when we hold letters in our hands. But in this new world of the Indies, as they knew nothing of letters, we are in a state of blindness concerning many things. Apart from these ruins there are the buildings of the Yncas, and the house where Manco Ynca, the son of Huayna Ccapac, was born. ”

“ Certainly if this land of the Collao had a deep valley like those of Xauxa or Chuquiapu, which would yield maize, it would be one of the richest in all the Indies. When the wind is blowing it is hard work to travel over these plains of the Collao, but when there is no wind, and the sun is shining, it is very pleasant to see the beautiful and well-peopled meadows. But the climate is so cold that there is no maize, nor any kind of tree; and the land is too sterile to yield any of the fruits which grow in other parts. ”

“ I hold that, as the dealings of God are always just, it must be that his divine justice permitted that these people, so far distant from Spain, should suffer so many evils from the Spaniards, for their sins and for those of their ancestors, which must have been many, as they were without faith. Nor do I affirm that all the Christians ill-treated the Indians; for I have seen many temperate and God fearing men treat them well, curing and bleeding them when they were ill, and performing other charitable acts. ”

“ It is surrounded by mountains and is therefore cold, but a beautiful river flows through it, on the banks of which grow wheat, vines, figs, oranges, lemons, and many other plants which have been brought from Spain. In ancient times there were buildings for the chiefs in the meadows and dales of this valley, and many cultivated fields for them and for the temple of the sun. The province of Huamachuco is like that of Caxamarca, and the Indians are of the same race, imitating each other in their religion and sacrifices, as well as in their clothes and head-dress. ”

“ In a few days the pestilence and ear-ache came on in such a manner, that most of the people died, the Spaniards losing their Indians bound to service, so that few or none were left; in addition to which such terror prevailed that the very Spaniards seemed to be fearful and afraid. Many women and boys affirmed that they saw the dead with their own eyes walking again. These people well understand that there is something in man besides the mortal body, though they do not hold that it is a soul, but rather some kind of transfiguration. They also think that all bodies will rise again ”

“ If, therefore, the devil is right in anything, it is because his words are equivocal, and will bear many meanings. With his gift of subtlety, and his great age, which has given him experience in affairs, he speaks to the simple who will hear him; but many of the Gentiles know the deceitfulness of his replies. Thus, many of these Indians hold it to be certain that the devil is false and wicked, and they obey him more from fear than from love. At one time, deceived by the devil himself, at others by their own priest, they submit to his service by permission of Almighty God. ”

“ The religion of the Yncas and their nobles was, as is well known, a worship of the celestial bodies, and especially of the sun; that of the cultivators and shepherds a reverence for every object in nature—for their llamas, for their corn, for their fruits, for hills and streams, and above all for the malquis or mummies of their dead. To all these, sacrifices of the fruits of the earth were made. The more spiritual worship of the men of leisure was combined with complicated ceremonial observances, gorgeous temples, and an influential caste of priests, wise men, and virgins. ”

“ As regards the immortality of the soul, they all understand that man is composed of something more than the mere mortal body. When their chiefs die, deceived by the devil, in common with all the other Indians, they bury women alive with the bodies. Now, however, as some of them understand that it profits nothing to persevere in their ancient evil practices, they will not kill women by burying them with dead bodies, nor are they now so particular in this matter of sepulture. Indeed, they laugh at those who still continue the customs which their ancestors considered of such importance. ”

“ MANY times in this history I have said that, in the greater part of the kingdom of Peru, it is a custom much used and observed by all the Indians to inter, with their dead, all their precious things, and some of the most beautiful and best-beloved of their wives. It appears that this custom was observed in other parts of the Indies, from which it may be inferred that the devil manages to deceive one set of people in the same way as he does another. ”

“ No more picturesque view can charm the eye of the weary traveller than is presented by the immense garden which forms the valley of Xauxa, which is forty square leagues in extent. Its two principal towns are Xauxa and Huancayo, in the centre of the valley is the convent of Ocopa, and the remaining population is scattered in small villages surrounded by trees on either side of the river of Xauxa, which flows through the valley. The mighty Andes bound the river on every side. ”

“ This system of irrigation makes the valleys very green and cheerful, and they are full of the fruit trees both of Spain and of this country. At all times they raise good harvests of maize and wheat, and of everything that they sow. Thus, although I have described Peru as being formed of three desert ridges, yet from them, by the will of God, descend these valleys and rivers, without which no man could live. This is the cause why the natives were so easily conquered; for, if they rebelled, they would all perish of cold and hunger. ”

“ The valley of Patia becomes very narrow at this village, and the Indians live in deep and lofty ravines on the western side. The Spaniards call the place “El pueblo de la Sal.” It is very rich, and has yielded goodly tribute of fine gold to those who have held the encomienda here. The natives, in their arms, dress, and customs, resemble those of the countries we have already passed, except that they do not eat human flesh, and are a little more civilised. They have many very fragrant pine-apples, and they trade with the province of Chapanchita and with other neighbouring districts. ”

“ These Indians are great butchers in the matter of eating human flesh. Near the doors of their houses there are small open spaces where they have their places of sepulture, according to the custom of their country, consisting of very deep vaults, with their openings facing the east. When a chief dies, they place him in one of these vaults with much mourning, putting his arms and clothes, the gold he possessed, and some food, with the body. From this circumstance we conjecture that the Indians certainly gave some credit to the thought that the soul leaves the body. ”

“ The next was, that both ourselves and these Indians draw our origin from our ancestors Adam and Eve, and that the Son of God descended from the heaven to the earth for all men, and, clothed in our humanity, received a cruel death on the cross to redeem us and free us from the power of the devil, which devil had, for so long a time, held these people captive by God’s permission; and that it was right that the world should know in what manner so great a multitude of tribes, as there is in these Indies, was brought into the bosom of the holy mother church by the exertions of Spaniards. ”

“ I was in Cenu, which falls within the province of Carthagena, in the year 1535, when so vast a quantity of burial places were found on a level plain, near a temple raised in honour of the accursed devil, that it was a thing worthy of admiration. Some of them were so ancient, that there were tall trees growing on them, and they got more than a million from these sepulchres, besides what the Indians took, and what was lost in the ground. In other parts great treasure has been, and is every day, found in the tombs. ”

“ The natives are well-mannered, peaceful, and amongst themselves they have some good customs, so as to pass through this life without care. They think little of honour, and are not ambitious of having any, but they are hospitable to Christians who pass through their province, and give them good food, without doing them any evil turn, even when the traveller is solitary. For these and other things the Spaniards praise the Indians of Caxamarca. They are very ingenious in forming irrigating channels, building houses, cultivating the land, breeding stock, and in working gold and silver. ”

“ At first the city was called the new town of Puerto Viejo, and it is situated in the most convenient and best part of the province, not very far from the South Sea. In many districts belonging to this city of Puerto Viejo, they make deep holes for the burial of their dead, which look more like wells than tombs. When they wish to inter a body, they clear out all the loose earth. A large number of Indians then assemble, dancing, singing, and mourning, not forgetting to drink, and beating drums. ”

“ What they call winter on the coast is nothing more than the season when clouds arise, which look as if they were charged with plenty of rain, but nothing comes of it save a drizzle so light that it barely damps the ground. ”

“ There is a strong position in the village, which they garrison in time of war. They go naked and barefooted, and the women wear small mantles, and are good looking—some of them beautiful. Further on is the district of Sopia, and between these two places there flows a river rich in gold, where the Spaniards have established some farms. The people of the last named district also go naked. The houses are like those of other Indians, and within them there are great sepulchres where they bury their dead. They have no idols nor house of worship that we saw. ”

“ In this land of Peru there are three desert ranges where men can in no wise exist. One of these comprises the montaña (forests) of the Andes, full of dense wildernesses, where men cannot, nor ever have lived. The second is the mountainous region, extending the whole length of the Cordillera of the Andes, which is intensely cold, and its summits are covered with eternal snow, so that, in no way, can people live in this region, owing to the snow and the cold, and also because there are no provisions, all things being destroyed by the snow and by the wind, which never ceases to blow. ”

“ The custom of these Indians, in ordering magnificent and lofty tombs to be made, adorned with tiles and vaulted roofs, and in burying with the dead all his goods, his wives, great store of victuals, and no small quantity of chicha (or wine used by them) , with their arms and ornaments, leads us to believe that they had some knowledge of the immortality of the soul, and of there being more in man than his mortal body. ”

“ Thus, with darts and wands, the game begins, which ends in the wounding of many, and the death of some. They twist their hair into great wheels, and thus they wear it when they go to war. They have been a fierce and encroaching people, until justice was executed upon the old chiefs. When they assembled for their feasts and games in an open space, all the Indians gathered together, and two of them made a noise with drums. ”

“ THE city of San Francisco del Quito is in the northern province of the kingdom of Peru. This province is nearly sixty leagues long from east to west, and twenty-five or thirty broad. The city is built amongst ancient buildings, which the Yncas, in the days of their power, had ordered to be raised in these parts. They were the work of the illustrious and powerful Huayna Ccapac, and of the great Tupac, his father, and the natives called these royal and noble buildings Quito, whence the city took its name. [267] The climate is healthy, and more cold than warm. ”

“ In the district of Quito, not very far from Tumebamba, there is a province called Chumbo, but before reaching it there are other villages of various sizes, inhabited by Indians wearing clothes, with good-looking women. There are royal buildings in the villages, as in those we have passed, and the people obeyed the Lords Yncas, and used the general language which was ordered to be talked in all parts. The natives have the same customs as their neighbours, and the same religion, worshipping the sun and other gods, and believing in the immortality of the soul. ”

“ IT is known to all the world how the Spaniards, aided by God, have prosperously gained and made themselves masters of this new world, which is called the Indies. These Indies include so many and such great kingdoms and provinces, that it causes wonder even to think of them; and their discovery and conquest have been successful, as all who live in this age well know. I have sometimes thought that, when one people and nation succeeds another, as time rolls on the first is forgotten ”

“ But, as I have already said, the civil wars of the Spaniards have been like a great pestilence, both to the Indians and to their flocks.
The natives call these sheep llamas, and the males urcos. Some are white, others black, and others grey. Some of them are as large as small donkeys, with long legs, broad bellies, and a neck of the length and shape of that of a camel. Their heads are large, like those of Spanish sheep. The flesh of these animals is very good when it is fat, and the lambs are better and more savoury than those of Spain. ”

“ And, God permitting, some chiefs of the provinces of this government have turned Christians, and abhor the devil, eschewing their former evil works.
The people of this province of Arma are of middle height, and all dark coloured, insomuch that in colour all the Indian men and women of these parts (where there is such a multitude of people as scarcely to be numbered, and so wide an extent of country) appear as if they were all children of one father and mother. The women of these Indians are the ugliest and dirtiest that I have seen in all these parts. ”