Cajamarca

“ The first thing to arrest their attention was the enormous number of Indians in the streets, and their silence. Cajamarca, with a normal population of between twelve and thirteen thousand, certainly sheltered twice as many souls that night. And still more people were coming.
On the highroad, the Marquis' party had successively passed file after file of Indians, plodding in the direction of their Sacred City. For Cajamarca may be called the necropolis of the Incas, and one can hardly take a step in its streets or avenues without meeting with some reminder of the splendor of a vanished empire. ”

“ In the valleys drained by the tributaries of the Marañon are situated some of the most prosperous farms and plantations of Peru, though the wealth of this region has never been exploited on a scale of sufficient importance to show what it is capable of producing. Cajamarca, the capital of the Department of the same name, and Chachapoyas, the capital of the Department of Amazonas, are the most important industrial centres of this inter-Andean valley. ”

“ We have seen elsewhere how Pizarro and his followers painfully made their way along the South American coast. On September 24, 1532, they began their march upon Cajamarca, ascending from the hot coastal lands to the cold regions of the Andes. Stories had reached them of great, populous valleys, high up among the clouds which covered the mountains, of people who had gold in such profusion that they regarded it as a commonplace, and made their household utensils of the yellow metal. ”

“ The Indians and gente del pueblo of Cajamarca have nearly as much color of dress as those of Quito, and are even more ragged and abjectly poverty-ridden. Filthy, maimed beggars adorn the façades of churches, and the aboriginals speak a mushy, mouthful, dialect of Quichua, though all know Spanish. None of the Chinese residents have families ”

“ In June, 1532, he founded in the valley of Piura the town of San Miguel, and, after leaving a garrison, he continued his march southward, on 24 Sept., with 110 infantry and 60 cavalry, and on 15 Nov. they entered the beautiful valley of Cajamarca. Next day they met the emperor Atahualpa, whom they made a captive by surprise, and the Peruvian army fled in dismay. ”

“ As in Quito, there remain almost no monuments of pre-Conquest days, for the Incas seem to have built here chiefly of adobe. The most intelligent of Cajamarca’s monks doubted whether there was even a Temple of the Sun or a House of the Virgins to transform into monastery or convent. Not far off the main plaza, however, set cornerwise in the center of a modern block, is the room that was to be filled with gold for Atahuallpa’s ransom, said to be of massive dressed stone, like the palaces of Cuzco. ”

“ As the great procession entered the plaza of Cajamarca and divided into two ranks to allow the royal retinue to pass between, the Inca observed that not a Spaniard was to be seen, and inquired what had become of them. At this moment Father Valverde stepped into the square, with a crucifix in one hand and a Bible in the other, and approaching the Inca, told him that he was there by order of his commander to expound to him the true faith, for which purpose the Spaniards had come to his country. ”

“ The “upper” classes struggle to keep the theoretically white collars and the dandified shoes that mark their caste, and dawdle through life as shopkeepers, lawyers without clients, doctors whose degrees furnish them little but the title, or at any makeshift occupation that will spare them from soiling their tapering fingers with vulgar labor. Opportunity is a rare visitor, yet in a century, perhaps, there has not been born in Cajamarca a boy with the initiative and energy to tramp three days over the western range and stow away for somewhere that he could make a man of himself. ”

“ Among the messengers there came that captain who had already met the Governor on the road. He told the Governor that his lord Atahualpa said that, as the Christians had come armed to his camp, he also would come armed. The Governor replied that he might come as he liked. Atahualpa set out from his camp at noon, and when he came to a place which was about half a quarter of a league from Cajamarca he stopped until late in the afternoon. There he pitched his tents, and formed his men in three divisions. The whole road was full of men, and they had not yet left off marching out of the camp. ”

“ Having reached the royal road, and come to a place called Bombon, I met a captain of Atahualpa with five thousand armed Indians whom Atahualpa had sent on pretence of conquering a rebel chief; but, as it afterward appeared, they were assembled to kill the Christians. Here we found five hundred thousand pesos of gold that they were taking to Cajamarca. This captain told me that the captain-general remained in Jauja, that he knew of our approach, and was much afraid. ”

“ Indians, some of whom are peaceable and friendly, others who might have been so had they not been badly treated by whites of various nationalities, others still who have never seen the white man and do not wish to. Three of these Departments border on Ecuador, the most western, Amazonas, with Cajamarca on the west, La Libertad south, and San Martín east. The last Department, more than twice the size of Amazonas, has Loreto on the east and south. It is traversed by the Central Cordillera and by the Huallaga River, navigable to the important port of Yurimaguas, but for steamers not much farther. ”

“ The popular route from the Pacific Coast to the forests of Loreto is by the Ucayali River to its confluence with the Marañon, and thence along the great waterway down to Iquitos; though a very interesting journey may be made by the northern route, through Cajamarca, Chachapoyas and Moyobamba to the port of Yurimaguas on the Huallaga River. Along both routes the luxuriance of the Montaña is seen in all its glory; the forest is aglow with the brilliant hues of a thousand birds and butterflies ”

“ A railway connects the seaport of Pacasmayo with the sugar lands and rice fields of the interior, extending fifty miles to Guadalupe and Yonan, on the road to Cajamarca. The province of Pacasmayo, which adjoins that of Trujillo, has about five thousand acres under cultivation in sugar-cane, and its rice harvest yields one hundred thousand sacks annually. The valleys of Santa Catalina and Moche are connected with Trujillo by a branch of the main railway from Salaverry, which extends from Trujillo to Laredo, Galindo, and Menocucho, passing through plantations of sugar, rice, and other products. ”

“ GENEALOGY OF FRANCISCO PIZARRO, CONQUEROR OF PERU.
While the Inca’s couriers were collecting the royal treasure from the temples and palaces of Tahuantinsuyo and despatching it from the four quarters of the empire to Cajamarca, the imprisoned monarch continued to live in the Spanish quarters, free to go about in the apartments that had been reserved for his use, and treated with the respect due to his rank, though always under strict surveillance. He was allowed the society of his wives, and could receive visits from his nobles who came daily to bring presents and to offer condolence. ”

“ It was famine that assailed Pizarro and his followers, and insufficient support. Also he, like Cortes, had to contend with the jealousies and double-dealing of the Spanish Governor of the Indies. As for Peru, its coast was barren, as it is to-day, and only after surmounting the dreadful [47] fastness of the Andes, amid the inclement climate of a region twelve to fifteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, was the Inca Empire reached and subdued. Here lay Cuzco, the Mecca of Peru, and Cajamarca, a more northern capital. ”

“ The judicial power of the government is administered by a Supreme Court, established in Lima, and nine superior courts, which are installed in Lima, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Huaraz, Trujillo, Piura, and Iquitos ”

“ They are the sacred players of the quenia, the flute which is made of human bones. Their song is sadder than a De Profundis, and Maria-Teresa shivers, her beseeching eye exploring in vain every corner of the great bare room which is the antechamber of her tomb.
Monstrous, Cyclopean masses of stone, hexagonal in shape and placed one upon the other without mortar, held in place by their mighty weight alone, form the walls of the House of the Serpent. She knows where she is, for the mammaconas have told her. There are two Houses of the Serpent, one at Cajamarca, the other at Cuzco. ”

“ A serious impediment to the construction is the narrow gorge through the mountains, impracticable even for a pedestrian; yet the difficulty will soon be overcome. After ten miles on the desert the road passes near sugar plantations and haciendas. The region of coal deposits follows, extending through 56the mountain range and up the two lateral valleys beyond, the north in the direction of Cajamarca, the south, the Huailas Valley, to Recuay. The passage of the sombre gorge will be along the side of splendid cliffs with a foaming stream below, a continuous spectacle of superb grandeur. ”

“ Some of the hills around seem at first sight like artificial fortifications, but when we approach closer there is not the slightest indication of Cajamarquilla having ever been a fort or place of defence. To all appearance the spot, at the time of the Spaniards first coming to Peru, was inhabited by the Quichua Indians, who afterwards either abandoned voluntarily their peaceful abodes through dread of their pursuers, or were driven thence by violence. ”

“ Soon after the Indian revolt, which terminated with the death of Lempira, the governor determined to establish a settlement in the district of Comayagua, and with that view despatched Cáceres to find a suitable location midway between the two oceans. A spot was selected in the centre of a fertile valley, distant about twenty-six leagues from either sea, and connected by a good road with an Indian village, whence a navigable river flowed northward toward 294 Puerto de Caballos. ”

“ Those of Caitomarca came to the river side, whence they hurled many stones from their slings at the Inca’s camp, and began to utter cries and great shouts. For it is a strange custom with these people, when they fight with each other, how little they allow their mouths to rest. ”

“ Arrival at Cauich. "With them I went to the last pueblo of this province through that part called Cauich, where I found Captain Don Juan del Castillo, placed there by the Governor, in charge, not only of the soldiers, but also of their arms, ammunition, and supplies; and he showed himself singularly kind to us. On the second day, having reached the said town, we found an Indian named Juan Ake, a native of the pueblo of Hoppelchen, who made many trips in the forests to trade with the heathen Indians. ”

“ On our trip to the river’s mouth we passed many in their slender cayucas, some tied by a vine to the bank patiently fishing, others on their way to or from market with craft well loaded with bananas on the way up, but light coming back, holding gay converse with each other across the dark and sullen stream. Here and there through breaks in the foliage we see a native house, or a cluster of huts, not many however, for the jungle is too thick and the land too low here for the Indians who prefer the bluffs and occasional broad savannas of the upper waters. ”

“ Suddenly my men who were employed in cooking informed me that a cayuco was passing near the distant southern shore. I attentively looked in that direction, and just as the cayuco passed in front of the waterfall, I distinctly saw its black silhouette with two men standing erect thrown into bold relief against the white background. Soon after the cayuco vanished into one of the coves in that vicinity, the position of which we impressed upon our memories. This was our first sight of human beings, but the Indians on their part had not noticed us. ”

“ He was then young, and with much labor climbed to the naked summit of the Sierra, from which, at a height of ten or twelve thousand feet, he looked over an immense plain extending to Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico, and saw at a great distance a large city, spread over a great space, and with turrets white and glittering in the sun. The traditionary account of the Indians of Chajal is, that no white man has ever reached the city ”

“ The road to the ruins of Cajamarquilla is excessively fatiguing, rough, and rocky: nothing but climbing over rocky hills, upon which close to the very edge of the precipice is a faint Indian track, or crossing torrents, where the horse sinks to his crupper in the water, so that only a practised horseman can save himself from a thorough soaking. ”

“ At all events, the belief at the village of Chajul is general, and a curiosity is aroused that burns to be satisfied. We had a craving desire to reach the mysterious city. No man if ever so willing to peril his life, could undertake the enterprise, with any hope of success, without hovering for one or two years on the borders of the country [7] studying the language and character of the adjoining Indians, and making acquaintance with some of the natives. Five hundred men could probably march directly to the city, and the invasion would be more justifiable than any made by Spaniards ”

“ The natives at once despise and fear the great cayman. I once spent a month at Caiçara, a small village of semi-civilised Indians, about twenty miles to the west of Ega. My entertainer, the only white in the place, and one of my best and most constant friends, Senhor Innocencio Alves Faria, one day proposed a half-day's fishing with net in the lake,—the expanded bed of the small river on which the village is situated. We set out in an open boat with six Indians and two of Innocencio's children. ”