An Account of the Conquest of Peru

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH AND ANNOTATED
BY
PHILIP AINSWORTH MEANS

THE CORTES SOCIETY
NEW YORK
1917

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COCKAYNE, BOSTON

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The work of Pedro Sancho is one of the most valuable accounts of the Spanish conquest of Peru that we possess. Nor is its value purely historical. The "Relación" of Sancho gives much interesting ethnological information relative to the Inca dominion at the time of its demolition. Errors Pedro Sancho has in plenty; but the editor has striven to counteract them by footnotes.

In every instance the translator has preserved Pedro Sancho's spelling of proper names, calling attention to the modern equivalent on the first occurrence of each name. In a few instances, where the text was unusually obscure, close translation has not been adhered to.

The virtues, as well as the shortcomings of this account, are so obvious that an extended reference to them here is superfluous. It must always be borne in mind that this document partook of the nature of an "apologia pro vita sua" and that it was directly inspired by Pizarro himself with the purpose of restoring himself to the Emperor's favor. Its main purpose was to nullify whatever charges Pizarro's enemies may have been making to the sovereign. Consequently there are numerous violations of the truth, all of which are, for us, easy to recognize.

A word as to the previous editions of Pedro Sancho may not be out of place here. The original manuscript is lost. An Italian translation of it appears in the "Viaggi" of Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Ramusio, published in Venice about 1550. The numerous editions of Ramusio's great work do not need to be listed here. Occasionally the translator has referred to that of 1563, a copy of which is in his possession. The edition which has served as a text for the present translation is that issued and edited by Don Joaquin García Icazbalceta, Mexico, 1849. This edition, like all of Icazbalceta's work, is painstaking. Professor Marshall Saville has been good enough to lend me his copy of this edition, which is very rare, in order that I might have it to work with. Finally, a small portion of Pedro Sancho's narrative was issued by the Hakluyt Society of London. The editor, Sir Clements Markham, included it in the same volume with the reports of Xeres, Miguel de Estete, Hernando Pizarro. The volume, entitled "Reports on the Discovery of Peru," was issued by the Hakluyt Society in 1872.

PHILIP AINSWORTH MEANS

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Of the events that took place during the conquest and pacification of these provinces of New Castile, and of the quality of the land, and of the manner in which the Captain Hernando Pizarro afterward departed to bear to His Majesty the account of the victory of Caxamalca[1] and of the capture of the Cacique Atabalipa.[2]

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The Captain Hernando Pizarro had departed with the hundred thousand pesos of gold and the five thousand marks of silver which were sent to His Majesty as his royal fifth; after that event, some ten or twelve days, the two Spaniards who were bringing gold from Cuzco arrived, and part of the gold was melted at once because it was in very small pieces; it equalled the sum of[3] ... five hundred-odd plates of gold torn from some house-walls in Cuzco; and even the smallest plates weighed four or five pounds apiece; other, larger ones, weighed ten or twelve pounds, and with plates of this sort all the walls of that temple were covered. They brought also a seat of very fine gold, worked into the form of a foot-stool, which weighed eighteen thousand pesos.[4] Likewise, they brought a fountain all of gold and very subtilely worked which was very fair to see as much for the skill of the work as for the shape which it had been given; and there were many other pieces such as vases, jars, and plates which they also brought. All this gold gave a quantity which came to two millions and a half [pesos], which, on being refined to pure gold, came to one million, three hundred and twenty-odd thousand pesos, from which was subtracted the fifth of His Majesty, or, two hundred and seventy-odd thousand pesos. Fifty thousand marks of silver were found, of which ten thousand were set aside for H. M. One hundred and seventy thousand pesos and five thousand marks were handed over to the treasurer of H. M. The remaining hundred thousand pesos and five marks were taken, as has been said, by Hernando Pizarro to help meet the expenses which His Caesarian Majesty was encountering in the war against the Turks, enemies of our Holy Faith, as they say. All that remained, beyond the royal fifth, was divided among the soldiers and companions of the Governor. He gave to each one what he conscientiously thought he justly merited, taking into consideration the trials each man had passed through and the quality of his person, all of which he did with the greatest diligence and speed possible in order that they might set out from that place and go to the city of Xauxa.[5]

And because there were among those soldiers some who were old and more fit for rest than for fatigues, and who in that war had fought and served much, he gave them leave to return to Spain. He procured their good will so that, on returning, these men would give fairer accounts of the greatness and wealth of that land so that a sufficient number of people would come thither to populate and advance it. 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.

That melting of the metals completed, the Governor commanded the notary to draw up a document in which it said that the cacique Atabalipa was free and absolved from the promise and word which he had given to the Spaniards, who were to take the house full of gold in ransom for himself. This document the Governor caused to be proclaimed publicly and to the sound of trumpets in the plaza of that city of Caxamalca, making it known, at the same time, to the said Atabalipa by means of an interpreter, and also he [the Governor] declared in the same proclamation, that, because it suited the service of H. M. and the security of the land, he wished to maintain the cacique as a prisoner with good guard, until more Spaniards should arrive who should give added security; for, the cacique being free, he being so great a lord and having so many soldiers who feared and obeyed him, prisoner though he was, and three hundred leagues [from his capital], he could not well do less in order to free himself from all suspicion; all the more so because many times it had been thought almost certain that he had given orders for warriors to assemble to attack the Spaniards. This, as a matter of fact, had been ordered by him, and the men were all in readiness with their captains, and the cacique only delayed the attack because of the lack of freedom in his own person and in that of his general Chilichuchima,[6] who was also a prisoner. After some days had passed, and when the Spaniards were on the point of embarking in order to return to Spain, and the Governor was making the rest ready for setting out for Xauxa, God Our Lord, who with his infinite goodness was guiding affairs toward all that was best for his service, as will be [seen], having already in this land Spaniards who were to inhabit it and bring to the knowledge of the true God the natives of the said land so that Our Lord might always be praised and known by these barbarians and so that his Holy Faith might be extolled, permitted the discovery and chastisement of the evil plans which this proud tyrant had in mind as a return for the many good works and kind treatment which he had always received from the governor and from each one of the Spaniards of his company; which recompense, according to his intention, was to have been of the sort he was wont to give to the caciques and lords of the land, ordering [his men] to kill without let or cause whatever. For it chanced that our discharged soldiers [were] returning to Spain, he, seeing that they were taking with them the gold that had been got from his land, and mindful of the fact that but a short while ago he had been so great a lord that he held all those provinces with their riches without dispute or question, and without considering the just causes for which they had despoiled him of them, had given orders that certain troops who, by his command, had been assembled in the land of Quito, should come, on a certain night at an hour agreed upon, to attack the Spaniards who were at Caxamalca, assaulting them from five directions as they were in their quarters, and setting fire wherever possible. Thirty or more Spanish soldiers were marching outside of Caxamalca, having been to the city of San Miguel in order to place the gold for H. M. on board ship, and [the Inca] believed that as they were so few he would be able easily to kill them before they could join forces with those in Caxamalca[7] ... of which there was much information from many caciques and from their chiefs themselves, that all, without fear of torments or menaces, voluntarily confessed this plot: [telling] how fifty thousand men of Quito and many Caribes[8] came to the land, and that all the confines contained armed men in great numbers; that, not finding supplies for them all thus united, he had divided them into three or four divisions, and that, though scattered in this fashion, there were still so many that not finding enough to sustain themselves, they had cut down the still green maize and dried it so that they might not lack for food. All this having been learned, and being now a public matter to all, and as it was clear that they were saying in his [the Inca's] army that they were coming to kill all the Christians, and the governor seeing in how much peril the government and all the Spaniards were, in order to furnish a remedy, although it grieved him much, nevertheless, after seeing the information and process drawn up, assembled the officials of H. M. and the captains of his company and a Doctor who was then in this army, and the padre Fray Vicente de Valverde, a religious of the order of Santo Domingo sent by the Emperor our Lord for the conversion and instruction of the people of these realms; after there had been much debate and discussion over the harm and the profit that might follow upon the continued life or the death of Atabalipa, it was resolved that justice should be done upon him. And because the officials of H. M. asked for it and the doctor regarded the information as sufficient, he was finally taken from the prison in which he was, and, to the sound of a trumpet, his treason and perfidy were published, and he was borne to the middle of the plaza of the city and tied to a stake, while the religious was consoling him and teaching him, by means of an interpreter, the things of our christian faith, telling him that God wished him to die for the sins which he had committed in the world, and that he must repent of them, and that God would pardon him if he did so and was baptised at once. He, [the Inca] moved by this discourse, asked for baptism. It was at once given to him by that reverend padre who aided him so much with his exhortation that although he was sentenced to be burned alive, he was given a twist of rope around his neck, by means of which he was throttled instead[9] but when he saw that they were preparing for his death, he said that he recommended to the governor his little sons, so that he might take them with him, and with these last words, and while the Spaniards who stood around him said the creed for his soul, he was quickly throttled. May God take him to his holy glory, for he died repentant of his sins with the true faith of a Christian. After he was thus hung, in fulfilment of the sentence, fire was cast upon him so that a part of his clothes and flesh was burnt. That night [because he had died in the late afternoon] his body remained in the plaza in order that all might learn of his death, and on the next day the Governor ordered that all the Spaniards should be present at his interment, and, with the cross and other religious paraphernalia, he was borne to the church and buried with as much solemnity as if he had been the chief Spaniard of our camp. Because of this all the principal lords and caciques who served him received great pleasure, considering as great the honour which was done them, and knowing that, because he was a christian, he was not burned alive, and he was interred in church as if he were a Spaniard.

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This done, the governor commanded the immediate assembling in the chief plaza of that city of all the caciques and principal lords who were then living there in company with the dead lord; they were many, and from distant lands, and his intention was to give them another lord who should govern them in the name of H. M., for, as they were accustomed to give always their obedience and tribute to a sole lord, great confusion would result if it were not thus, for each of them would rise up with his own lordship, and it would cost much toil to bring them into friendship with the Spaniards and into the service of H. M. For this and many other reasons the Governor made them assemble, and finding among them a son of Gucunacaba[11] called Atabalipa, a brother of Atabalipa to whom by law the realm belonged, he said to all that now that they saw how Atabalipa was dead because of the treason he had plotted against him [the Governor], and because they were all left without a lord who should govern them and whom they should obey, he wished to give them a lord who would please them all, and that he [the lord] was Atabalipa who was there present, to whom that kingdom legitimately belonged as he was the son of that Gucunacaba whom they had loved so much. He [Atabalipa] was a young man who would treat them with much love and who had enough prudence to govern that land. He [the Governor] urged them, nevertheless, to look well to it that they wished him for a lord, for if not, they were to name another, and if he were capable, the governor would give him to them as lord. They replied that since Atabalipa was dead, they would obey Atabalipa or whomever else he should give them, and so it was arranged that they should yield obedience another day according to the accustomed manner. When the next day had come, once more they all assembled before the door of the governor where was placed the cacique in his chair and near him all the other lords and chiefs, each in his proper position. And due ceremonies having been held, each one came to offer him a white plume as a sign of vassalage and tribute, which is an ancient custom dating from the time that this land was conquered by these Cuzcos.[12] This done, they sang and danced, making a great festivity, in which the new king neither arrayed himself in clothes of price nor placed the fringe upon the forehead in the manner in which the dead lord was wont to wear it. And when the governor asked him why he did so, he replied that it was the custom of his ancestors when they took possession of the realm to mourn the dead cacique and to pass three days in fasting, shut up within their house, after which they used to come forth with much pomp and solemnity and hold great festivities, for which reason he, too, would like to spend two days in fasting. The Governor replied that since it was an ancient custom he might keep it, and that soon he would give him many things which the Emperor our Lord sent to him, which he would give to him and to all the lords of those provinces. And at once the cacique was placed for his fast in a place apart from the assembly of the others, which was a house that they had built for this purpose since the day that notice was given by the Governor; it was near the Governor's lodging; on account of it the said Governor and the other Spaniards were greatly astonished, seeing how, in so short a time, so large and fine a house had been built. In it he was shut up and retired without anyone's seeing him or entering that place save the servants who waited on him and brought him food, or the Governor when he wished to send him something. When the fast was over, he came forth richly clad and accompanied by many troops, caciques and chiefs who guarded him, and all the places where he was to sit were adorned with costly cushions, and beneath his feet were placed fine cloths. Seated near him was Calichuchima, the great general of Atabalipa who conquered this land, as was told in the account of the affairs at Caxamalca, and near him was also the captain Tice, one of the chiefs, and on the other side were certain brothers of the lord, while on both hands were other caciques and captains and governors of provinces and other lords of great lands, and, in short, no one sat there who was not of quality. They all ate together on the ground, for they use no other table, and when they had eaten, the cacique said that he wished to give his obedience in the name of H. M., as his chiefs had given it. The Governor told him to do it in the way that seemed best, and soon he [the cacique] offered him [the governor] a white plume which had been given to him by his caciques, saying that it was given as a token of obedience. The Governor embraced him with much love and received it, saying that he wished to tell him the things which he was to tell in the name of the Emperor, and it was agreed between the two that they should meet again for this purpose the following day. When it had arrived, the Governor presented himself in the assembly dressed as well as possible in silken clothes and accompanied by the officials of H. M. and by some noblemen of his company who assisted well-dressed for the greater solemnity of this ceremony of friendship and peace, and by his side he stationed the ensign with the royal standard. Then the Governor began asking each [cacique] in turn his name and that of the land of which he was the lord, and he ordered that it be taken down by his secretary and scrivener, and there were as many as fifty caciques and chiefs. Then, facing all those people, he told them that D. Carlos our lord of whom they were servants and vassals who were in his company, had sent him to that land in order to give them understanding and to preach to them of how a sole Lord Creator of the sky and of the earth, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three distinct persons in one sole true God, had created them and given them life and being, and had brought to bear the fruits of the land whereby they were sustained, and that to this end he would teach them what they were to do and observe in order to be saved. And he told them how, by the command of the all-powerful God, and of his vicars upon earth, because he had gone to heaven where he now dwells and will be eternally glorified, those lands were given to the Emperor in order that he might have charge of them, who had sent him [Pizarro] to instruct them in the christian faith and place them under his obedience. He added that it was all in writing and that they should listen to it and fulfil that which he had read to them, by means of an interpreter, word for word. Then he asked them if they had understood, and they replied that they had, and that since he had given them Atabalipa for a lord, they would do all that he commanded them to do in the name of H. M., holding as supreme lord the Emperor, then the Governor, then Atabalipa, in order to do as much as he commanded in his [H. M.'s] name. Then the Governor took in his hands the royal standard which he raised on high three times, and he told them that, as vassals of the Caesarian Majesty, they ought to do likewise, and the cacique took it, and afterwards the captains and the other chiefs, and each one raised it aloft twice; then they went to embrace the Governor who received them with great joy through seeing their good will, and with how much contentment they had heard the affairs of God and of our religion. The Governor wished that all this be drawn up as testimony in writing, and when it was over, the caciques and chiefs held great festivities, so much so that every day there were rejoicings such as games and feasts, usually held in the house of the Governor.

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At this time he [the Governor] had just finished distributing the gold and silver which were in that house among the Spaniards of his company, and Atabalipa gave the gold belonging to the royal fifths to the treasurer of H. M. who took charge of it in order to carry it to the city of Xauxa where he [the Governor] intended to found a colony of Spaniards on account of the reports he had of the good surrounding provinces and of the many cities which there were about it. To this end, he had the Spaniards arranged in order and provided with arms and other things for the journey, and when the time for departure came, he gave them Indians to carry their gold and burdens. Before setting out, having heard how few soldiers there were in San Miguel[19] for the purpose of holding it, he took, from among those Spaniards whom he was to take with him, ten cavalrymen and a captain, a person of great cautiousness, whom he ordered to go to that city where he was to maintain himself until ships should arrive with troops who might guard it, after which he was to go to Xauxa where he himself was about to found a village of Spaniards and melt the gold which he bore, promising that he would give them all the gold that was due them with as much punctuality as if they were actually present, because his [the captain's] return [to San Miguel] was very necessary, that being the first city to be settled and colonized for the Caesarian Majesty as well as the chief one because in it they would have to wait there to receive the ships which should come from Spain, to that land.[20]

In this manner they set out with the instructions which the Governor gave them as to what they were to do in the pacification of the people of that region. The Governor set out one Monday morning, and on that day travelled three leagues, sleeping by the shore of a river where the news reached him that a brother of Atabalipa called Guaritico had been killed by some captains of Atabalipa at his command. This Guaritico was a very important person and a friend of the Spaniards, and he had been sent by the Governor from Caxamalca to repair the bridges and bad spots in the road. The cacique pretended to feel great heaviness because of his death, and the Governor himself regretted it because he liked him, and because he was very useful to the Christians. The next day the Governor set out from that place, and, by his marches, arrived in the land of Guamachucho, eighteen leagues from Caxamalca. Having rested there two days, he set out for Caxamalca[21] nine leagues ahead, and arrived there in three days, and rested four in order that his troops might have repose and opportunity to collect supplies for the march to Guaiglia, twenty leagues from there. Having left this village, he came in three days to the Puerto de Nevado, and a morning's march brought him within a day's journey of Guaiglia; and the governor commanded a captain of his, who was the Marshal D. Diego de Almagro, to go with troops and take a bridge two leagues from Guaiglia, which bridge was built in a manner that will soon be related. This captain captured the bridge, which is near a strong mountain that dominated that land. The Governor did not delay in arriving at the bridge with the rest of his men, and having crossed it, he went on, in another morning, which was Sunday, to Guaiglia. Arrived there, they soon heard mass and afterwards entered certain good rooms; having rested there eight days, he set forth with the soldiers, and the next day crossed another bridge of osiers,[22] which was above the said river which here passes through a very delectable valley. They journeyed thirty leagues to the point where captain Hernando Pizarro came when he went to Pachacamac,[23] as will be seen in the long account which was sent to H. M. of all that was done on that journey to Pachacamac, from there to the city of Xauxa and back to Caxamalca, on the occasion on which he took with him the captain Chilichuchima and other matters which do not concern us here. The Governor changed his route, and, by forced marches, arrived at the land of Caxatambo.[24] From there he went on without doing more than to ask for some Indians who should carry the gold of H. M. and of the soldiers, and always using great vigilance in learning of the affairs which took place in the land, and always having both a vanguard and a rear-guard as had been done up to that time for fear that the captain Chilichuchima whom he had with him, would hatch some treasonable plot, all the more so on account of the suspicion he felt owing to the fact that neither in Caxatambo nor in the eighteen leagues after it had he met with any warriors, nor were his fears lessened during a halt in a village five leagues beyond because all the people had fled without leaving a living soul. When he had arrived there, a Spaniard's Indian servant, who was from that land of Pambo[25] distant from here some ten leagues, and twenty from Xauxa, came to him saying that he had heard that troops had been assembled in Xauxa to kill the Christians who were coming, and that they had as captains Incorabaliba, Iguaparro, Mortay[26] and another captain, all four being important men who had many troops with them, and the servant added that they had placed a part of this force in a village called Tarma five leagues from Xauxa in order to guard a bad pass that there was in a mountain and to cut and break it up in such a way that the Spaniards could not pass by. Informed of this, the governor gave orders that Chilichuchima should be made a prisoner, because it was held to be certain that that force had been made ready by his advice and command, he thinking to flee the Christians and to go to join it. Of these matters the cacique Atabalipa was unaware, and on this account, these [Spanish] troops did not permit any Indian to pass by in the direction of the cacique who might give notice of these affairs. The reason why these Indians had rebelled and were seeking war with the Christians was that they saw the land being conquered by the Spaniards, and they themselves wished to govern it.

The Governor, before setting out from that place, sent a captain with troops to take a snowy pass three leagues ahead and then to pass the night in some fields near Pombo,[27] all of which the captain did, and he passed the pass with much snow, but without encountering any obstacle. And the Governor crossed it likewise, without any opposition save for the inconvenience caused by the snow falling upon them. They all spent the night in that waste without a single hut, and they lacked for wood and victuals. Having arrived in the land of Pombo, the Governor provided and commanded that the soldiers should be lodged with the best order and caution possible, because he had news that the enemy were increasing every moment, and it was held to be certain that he would come here to assail the Spaniards, and because of this, the Governor caused the patrols and sentinels to be increased, always spying upon the progress of the enemy. After he had waited there another day for certain envoys whom the cacique Atabalipa had sent to learn what was going on in Xauxa, one came who told how the warriors were five leagues from Xauxa on the road from Cuzco and were coming to burn the town so that the Christians should not find shelter, and that they intended afterward to return to Cuzco to combine under a captain named Quizquiz who was there with many troops who had come from Quito by command of Atabalipa for the security of the land. When this was learned by the Governor, he caused to be made ready seventy-five light horse, and with twenty peones who guarded Chilichuchima, and without the impediment of baggage, he set out for Xauxa, leaving behind the treasurer with the other troops who were guarding the camp baggage and the gold of H. M., and of the company. The day on which he set out from Pombo, he travelled some seven leagues, and he halted in a village called Cacamarca,[28] and here they found seventy thousand pesos of gold in large pieces, to guard which the Governor left two Christians from the cavalry in order that when the rear-guard should arrive, it might be conducted well guarded. Then, in the morning, he set forth with his men in good array, for he had word that three leagues from there were four thousand men. And on the march three or four light horsemen went ahead so that, if they should meet a spy of the enemy's, they might take him prisoner to prevent his giving warning of their coming. At the hour of noon, they arrived at that bad pass of Tarma where warriors were said to be waiting to defend it. The pass seemed to be so full of difficulties that it would be impossible to go up it, because there was a bad road of stone down into the gully where all the riders had to dismount, after which it was necessary to go up the heights by a slope about a league long, the greater part of which was steep and difficult forest, all of which was crossed without any Indians who were said to be armed making an appearance. And in the afternoon, after the hour of vespers, the Governor and his men arrived at that village of Tarma where, because it was a bad site and because he had news that Indians were coming to it to surprise the Christians, he did not wish to linger longer than was necessary for feeding the horses and allaying their own hunger and fatigue so as to enable them to go forth prepared from that place which had no other level spot than the plaza as it was on a small slope surrounded by mountains for the space of a league. As it was already night, he made his camp here, being always on the alert and having the horses saddled. And the men were without [proper] food and even without any comfort because there was neither fire-wood nor water, nor had they brought their tents with them to shelter them, because of which they all nearly died of cold on account of the fact that it rained much early in the night and then snowed so that the arms and clothes were drenched. But each one sought the best remedy he could, and so that evil and troublous night passed to the dawn when he commanded that all mount their horses so as to arrive early at Xauxa which was four leagues from there. When two had been crossed over, the Governor divided the seventy-five soldiers between three captains, giving fifteen to each, and taking with him the remaining twenty and the twenty peones who were guarding Chilichuchima. In this order they journeyed to Porsi a league from Xauxa, having given each captain orders as to what he was to do, and they all halted in a small village which they encountered. Then they all marched on in complete accord, and gave a look at the city. They all halted again on a slope within a quarter of a league of it.

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The natives all came out along the road in order to look at the Christians, celebrating much their coming because they thought that, through it, they would issue forth from the slavery in which that foreign army [the Incas] held them. [The Spaniards] wished to await a later hour in the day at this place, but, seeing that no warriors appeared, they began their journey so as to enter the city. On going down that little slope, they saw running toward them at great speed an Indian with a lance erect, and when he came up to them it was found that he was a servant of the Christians who said that his master had sent him to inform them that they must hold themselves in readiness because their enemies were in the city, and that two Christians from the cavalry had been sent ahead of the rest, and that they had entered the city to see the buildings there, and while they were inspecting it, they saw some twenty Indians who came out of certain houses with their lances and other arms, calling to others to come forth and join with them. The two Christians, seeing them thus assemble, without heeding their cries and clamour, attacked them, killed several, and put the others to flight; the latter soon joined with others who came to their aid, and they formed a mass of some two hundred which the Spaniards again attacked, in a narrow street, and broke, forcing them to retreat to the bank of a great river which passes by that city, and then one of these Spaniards sent the Indian as I have said, with raised lance as a sign that there were armed enemies in the city. This having been heard, the Spaniards set spur to their horses, and, without delay, arrived at the city and entered it; and when they joined their companions, the latter told them what had occurred with those Indians. The captains, running in the direction in which the enemy had retreated, arrived at length at the bank of the river, which was then very full, and on the other shore, at a distance of a quarter of a league, they descried the squadrons of their enemies. Then, having passed the river with no little toil and danger, they gave chase to them. The Governor remained guarding the city because it was said that there were enemies hidden within it, as well. The Indians perceiving that the Christians had crossed the river, they began to retreat, drawn up in two squadrons. One of the Spanish captains, with his fifteen light horsemen, spurred ahead toward the slope of the hill for which they [the Indians] were making so that they could not retreat thither and fortify themselves. The other two captains kept right up with them, overtaking them in a field of maize near the river. There they put them in disorder and routed them, capturing as many as possible, so that of six hundred [Indians] not more than twenty or thirty, who took to the mountains before the other captain with his fifteen men could arrive, saved themselves. 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. Then, having returned, they rested themselves and their horses, which were in great need of it; both because of the long journey of the day before and on account of their having run those two leagues, they were rather crippled. When the truth was learned as to what troops those were [with whom the Spaniards had fought], it was found that the four captains and the main body were encamped six leagues down the river from Xauxa, and that, on that very day, they had sent those six hundred men to complete the burning of the city of Xauxa, having already burned the other half of it seven or eight days before, and that they had then burned a great edifice which was in the plaza, as well as many other things before the eyes of the people of that city, together with many clothes and much maize, so that the Spaniards should not avail themselves of them. 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. 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 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. Arrived in Xauxa, they recounted to the Governor all that had happened, with which he was well pleased, and he received them cheerfully, thanking them all for having borne themselves so valorously. And he told them that by all means he intended to attack the camp of the enemy because, although they were advised of the victory, it was certain that they would be waiting. At once he ordered his master of the camp to lodge the men and let them rest during what remained of the day and through the night until moon-rise, and that then they should make ready to go and attack their enemies. At that hour fifty light horsemen were in readiness, and at the sound of the trumpet they presented themselves, armed and with their horses, at the lodging of the Governor who despatched them very soon upon their road. Fifteen horsemen remained with him in the city together with the twenty peones who made the guard all of each night with the horses saddled, until the captain of that sally returned, which was in five days. He related to the governor all that had happened from the time of his departure, telling how, on the night he left Xauxa, he journeyed some four leagues before dawn, with much eagerness to attack the enemy's camp before they were warned of his coming; and being now near [the enemy] at dawn, they saw a great mass of smoke in the place of their encampment, which seemed to be two leagues further on. And so he spurred on with his men at a great pace, thinking that the enemy, warned of his approach, had fled and that the buildings that there were in a village were burning. And so it was, because they had fled, after having set fire to that wretched hamlet. Arrived at that place, the Spaniards followed the footsteps of the warriors through a very broad valley. And as they overtook 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; others, who were few, were killed, leaving in the power of the Spaniards (who, because their horses were tired, did not wish to go up the mountain) many spoils and women and children. And as it was already night, they returned to sleep in a village which they had left behind. And the following day these Spaniards determined to follow them as they fled back to Cuzco so as to take from them certain bridges of net-work and to prevent their crossing. But, because of lack of pasturage for their horses, they found themselves obliged to fall back, to the dissatisfaction of the Governor because they had not at least followed and taken those bridges so as to prevent the Indians from returning to Cuzco; it was feared that, being strange people, they would do great harm to the citizens of those places.

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And for this reason, as soon as the baggage and the rear-guard, which he had left at Pombo, had arrived, he [the Governor] published an edict to the effect that whereas he was determined to found a settlement of Spaniards in the name of H. M., all those who wished to settle there might do so. But there was not one Spaniard who wished to remain, and they said that so long as there were warriors all about in that land with arms in their hands the natives of that province would not be at the service and disposal of the Spaniards and in obedience to H. M. When this was observed by the Governor, he determined not to lose time then in that matter, but to go against the enemy in the direction of Cuzco in order to drive them from that province and rout them from all of it. In the meanwhile, in order to put in order the affairs of that city, he founded the village in the name of H. M., and created officials of justice for it [and for its citizens] who were eighty in number, of whom forty were light horsemen whom he left there as a garrison, and, [leaving also] the treasurer, who was to guard the gold of H. M. and to act in all matters as head and chief in command of the government.[29] While these things were being done, the cacique Atabalipa came to die, of his illness; because of this, the Governor and all the other Spaniards felt great sorrow, because it was certain that he was very prudent and had much love for the Spaniards. It was given out publicly that the captain Calichuchima had caused his death because he desired that the land should remain with the people of Quito and not with either those of Cuzco or with the Spaniards, and if that cacique ["Atabalipa"] had lived, he [Calichuchima] would not have been able to succeed in what he desired to do. At once, the Governor had Calichuchima and Tizas[30] and a brother of the cacique and other leading chiefs and caciques who had come from Caxamalca summoned to him; to them he said that they must know very well that he had given them Atabalipa as a lord and that, now that he was dead, they ought to think of whom they would like as lord in order that he might give him to them. 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 of worth, he would appoint him. And with this reply that meeting came to an end. And the Governor, having called aside the captain Calichuchima, spoke to him in these words: "You already know that I loved greatly your lord Atabalipa and that I have always wished him to leave a son after he died, and that this son should be lord, and that you, who are already a prudent man, should be his captain until he had reached the age of governing his dominions, and for this reason I greatly desire that he should be called soon, because, for love of his father, I love him much, and you likewise. But at the same time, since all these caciques who are here are your friends and since you have much influence with the soldiers of their nation, it would be well that you send them word by messengers to come in peace, because I do not wish to be enraged against them and to kill them, as you see I am doing, when I wish that the affairs of these provinces should be quiet and peaceful." This captain had a great desire, as has been said, that the son of Atabalipa should be lord, and knowing this, the Governor slyly spoke these words to him and gave him this hope, not because he had any intention of carrying it out,[32] but in order that, in the meanwhile, that son of Atabalipa might come for this purpose (and) might cause those caciques who had taken up arms [also] to come to him in peace. It was likewise agreed that he should say to Aticoc and to the other lords of the province of Cuzco that he [the Governor] would give them as lord him whom they wished, because it was necessary that those things which were for the good of all should thus be governed in the state. He tried to give to Calichuchima words that [would enable him] to cause the people who were in Cuzco with arms to lay them down in order that they might do no harm to the people of the country, and those of Cuzco, because they were true friends of the Christians, gave them notice of all that the enemy were trying to do and of all that was going on in the country, and for this reason and others the Governor said this with great prudence. Chilichuchima, to whom he told it, showed as much pleasure at these words as if he had been made lord of the whole world, and he replied that he would do as he was ordered and that it would cause him much pleasure if the caciques and soldiers were to come in peace[33] and that he would despatch messengers to Quito in order that the son of Atabalipa might come. But he feared that two great captains who were with him would prevent it, and would not let him come. Nevertheless he would send such a person of importance with the embassy that he thought that all would conform with his wish. And soon he added, "Sir, since you wish me to cause these caciques to come, take off this chain [which I wear] for, seeing me with it, no one wishes to obey me." The Governor, in order that he should not suspect that he had feigned what he had said to him, told him that he was pleased to do so, but on the condition that he was to put a guard of Christians over him until after he had caused those soldiers who were at war to come in peace and until the son of Atabalipa had come.[34] He [Chalcuchima] was satisfied with this, and so he was released, and the Governor put him under a good guard, because that captain was the key [the possession of which ensured] having the land quiet and subjected. This precaution taken, and the troops who were to go with the Governor toward Cuzco being made ready, the number of whom was one hundred horsemen and thirty peons, he [the Governor] ordered a captain to go ahead with seventy horsemen and some peons in order to rebuild the bridges which had been burned, and the Governor remained behind while he was giving orders for many matters touching the welfare of the city and Republic which he was to leave already well established, and in order to await the reply of the Christians whom he had sent to the coast in order to examine the ports and set up crosses in them in case some one should come to reconnoitre the land.

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This captain departed with those who were to follow him on Thursday, and the Governor with the rest of the troops, and Chilichuchima with his guard left the following Monday. In the morning they were all ready with their arms and other necessary things; the journey they were to make being long, they were to leave all the baggage in Xauxa, it not being convenient to carry it with them on that journey. The Governor journeyed two days down the valley along the bank of the Xauxa River, which was very delectable and peopled in many places, and on the third day he arrived at a bridge of net-work which is over the said river and which the Indian soldiers had burned after they crossed over, but already the captain who had gone ahead had made the natives rebuild it. And in the places where they build these bridges of net-work, where the rivers are swollen, this inland country far from the sea being densely populated, and because almost none of the Indians knows how to swim, because of which even though the rivers are small and might be forded, they nevertheless throw out these bridges, and after this fashion; 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. And in the same manner they weave a balustrade of these same osiers along the side of the bridge so that no one may fall into the water, of which, in truth, there is no danger, although to one who is not used to it, the matter of crossing appears a thing of danger because, the span being long, the bridge bends when one goes over it, so that one goes continually downward until the middle is reached, and from there he keeps going up until he has finished crossing to the other bank, and when the bridge is being crossed, it trembles very much, so that it goes to the head of him who is not accustomed to it. 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 if they are injured or even to rebuild them if need were. The guards who were in charge of this bridge when the Indians who burned it passed over, hid the materials which they had for mending it, for otherwise the Indians would have burned them also, and for this reason they rebuilt it in so short a space of time in order that the Spaniards might cross over. The Spanish cavalry and the Governor crossed by one of these bridges, although, on account of its being new and not well made, they had much trouble because the captain who had gone ahead with seventy cavalrymen had made many holes in it so that it was half destroyed. Still, the horses got over without endangering themselves, although nearly all stumbled because the bridge moved and trembled so, but, as I have said, the bridge was made in such a way that even though they were thrown upon their knees, they could not fall into the water. As soon as all were over, the Governor encamped in some groves near which ran some streams of beautiful clear water. Later they proceeded on their journey two leagues along the shore of that river through a narrow valley on both sides of which were very high mountains, and in some places, this valley through which the river passes has so little space that there is not more than a stone's throw from the foot of the mountain to the river, and in other places, because of the slope of the mountain, there is but little more. 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. That mountain, which lasted for more than half a league, having been overcome, and having journeyed for a bit in the evening along a slope, the Governor with his men arrived at a village which the hostile Indians had sacked and burned, on account of which neither people nor maize was found in it, nor any other food, and the water was very far off because the Indians had broken the aqueducts which came to the city, which was a great evil and of much inconvenience for the Spaniards who, because they had found the road hard, toilsome and long on that day, needed good lodging. The next day the Governor set out from there and went to sleep in another village which, although it was very large and fine and full of houses, had as little food in it as the last one; and this village is called Panarai. The Governor wondered greatly with his men at finding here neither food nor anything else, because this place belonged to one of the lords who had been with Atabalipa and with the dead lord in the company of the Christians, and he had come in their company as far as Xauxa, [where] he said he wished to go ahead in order to prepare in this land his victuals and other things necessary for the Spaniards. And when they found here neither him nor his people, it was held to be certain that the country-side had revolted. And not having had any letter from the captain who had gone ahead with the seventy horsemen, save which let them know that he was going right after the hostile Indians, it was feared that the foe had taken some step whereby he was prevented from sending any messenger. The Spaniards sought so much, that they found some maize and ewes, ... and the next day, early, they set out and arrived at a village called Tarcos, where they met the cacique of the district and some men who told them of the day on which had passed that way some Christians who were going to fight with the enemy who had established their camp in a neighboring settlement. All received this news with great pleasure, and they found a good reception in that place, because the cacique had brought to the plaza a large quantity of maize, fire-wood, ewes, and other things of which the Spaniards had great need.

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On the next day, which was Saturday, All Saints' day, the friar who was with this company said mass in the morning, according to the custom of saying it on such a day, and later all set out and journeyed until they arrived at a full river three leagues beyond, always descending from the mountains by a rough and long slope. This river, likewise, had a net-work bridge which, being broken, made it necessary to ford the stream, and afterwards a very large mountain was ascended which, looked at from below, seemed impossible of ascent by the very birds of the air, and still more so by men on horseback toiling over the ground. But the climb was made less arduous for them by the fact that the road went up in spirals, and not straight. The greater part, however, was made of large steps of stone which greatly fatigued the horses and wore down and injured their hoofs, even though they were led by the bridle. In this manner a long league was surmounted, and another was traversed by a more easy road along a declivity, and in the afternoon the Governor with the Spaniards arrived at a small village of which a part was burned, and in the other part, which had remained whole, the Spaniards settled. And in the evening two Indian couriers, sent by the captain who was ahead, arrived. They brought news, in letters to the Governor, that the captain had arrived with all speed at the land of Parcos[36] which he had left behind him, having had news that the [Indian] captains were thereabout with all the hostile forces; [but] he did not encounter them, and it was held to be certain that they had withdrawn to Bilcas,[37] and through so much of the road as he traversed until coming to [a place] within five leagues of Bilcas, where he spent the night, he marched secretly in order not to be forestalled by certain spies who were placed a league from Bilcas. And having news that the enemy were in a town without having warning of his coming, the captain was delighted, and, having gone down the rather difficult slope where that place was, at dawn he entered [the town where some warriors were lodged with few precautions].[38] The Spanish cavalry began to attack them in the plazas until so many had been killed or had fled that no one remained; because there were a few Indian soldiers who had retired to a mountain on one side of the road who, as soon as the day became bright and they saw the Spaniards, assembled in squadrons, and came against them crying out Ingres,[39] which name they hold to be very insulting, being that of a contemned people who live in the hot lands of the sea-coast, and because that province was cold and the Spaniards wore clothes over their flesh, [the Indians] called them Ingres and threatened them with slavery as they were few, not more than forty, and defying them by saying that they would come down to where they were. The captain, although he knew that that was a bad place for fighting on horseback, of which position the Spaniards could little avail themselves there, nevertheless, in order that the enemy should not think that he would not fight from lack of spirit, took with him thirty horsemen, leaving the rest to guard the town, and went down through a cleft[40] in the mountain by a very painful slope. The enemy boldly awaited them and in the shock of battle they killed one horse and wounded two others, but finally, all being dispersed, some fled in one direction and others in another over the mountain [by] a very rough road where the horses could neither follow them nor injure them. At this juncture, an [Indian] captain who had fled from the village, and who knew that they had killed one horse and wounded two, said "Come, let us turn back and fight with these men until not one is left alive, for there are but a few of them!" and at once all returned with more spirit and greater impetuosity than before, and in this way a sharper battle than the first was fought. At the end, the Indians fled and the horsemen followed them in all directions as long as they could. In these two encounters more than six hundred men were left dead, and it is believed also that Maila, one of their captains, died, and the Indians affirmed it also, and they, on their part, when they killed a horse, cut off his head and put it on a lance which they bore before them like a standard. [The Spanish captain] likewise informed [his men] that he intended to rest there for three days out of consideration for the wounded Christians and horses, and that later they would set out to take, first of all, a bridge of net-work which was near there, so that the fugitive enemies should not cross it and go to join with Quizquiz[41] in Cuzco and with the garrison of troops he had there, which was said to be waiting for the Spaniards in a bad pass near Cuzco. 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.

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Having received this letter, the Governor and all the Spaniards who were with him were filled with infinite content over the victory which the captain had obtained, and at once he sent it, together with another, to the city of Xauxa, to the treasurer and to the Spaniards who had remained there in order that they might share in the gladness over the victory of the captain. And likewise he sent despatches to the captain and the Spaniards who were with him congratulating them much on the victory they had won, and begging them and counseling them to be governed in these matters more by prudence than by confidence in their own strength, and commanding, at all events, that, having passed the last bridge, they should await him [the Governor] there so that they might then enter the city of Cuzco all together. This done, the Governor set out the following day and went by a rough and tiring road through rocky mountains and over ascents and descents of stone steps from which all believed they could only bring their horses with difficulty, considering the road already traversed and that still to be traversed. They slept that night in a village on the other side of the river, which here, as elsewhere, had a bridge of net-work. The horses crossed through the water and the footsoldiers and the servants of the Spaniards by the bridge. On the next day they had a good road beside the river where they encountered many wild animals, deer and antelope; and that day they arrived at nightfall at some rooms in the vicinity of Bilcas where the captain who was going ahead had made halt in order to travel by night and so enter Bilcas without being found out, as he did enter it, and here was received another letter from him in which he said that he had left Bilcas two days before, and had come to a river four leagues ahead which he had forded because the bridge had been burned, and here he had understood that the captain Narabaliba was fleeing with some twenty Indians and that he had met two thousand Indians whom the captain of Cuzco had sent to him as aid who, as soon as they knew of the rout at Bilcas, turned around and fled with him, endeavouring to join with the scattered remnants of those who were fleeing, in order to await them [the Spaniards] in a village called Andabailla,[44] and [the Spanish captain said] that he was resolved not to stay his course until he should encounter them. These announcements being understood by the Governor, he first thought of sending aid to the captain, but later he did not do so because he considered that if there were to be a battle at all it would have occurred already and the aid would not arrive in time, and he determined furthermore not to linger a single day until he should catch up with him, and in this way he set out for Bilcas which he entered very early the following day, and on that day he did not wish to go further. This city of Bilcas[45] is placed on a high mountain and is a large town and the head of a province. It has a beautiful and fine fortress; there are many well built houses of stone, and it is half-way by road from Xauxa to Cuzco. And on the next day the Governor encamped on the other side of the river, four leagues from Bilcas, and although the day's march was short, it was nevertheless toilsome because it was entirely a descent almost all composed of stone steps, and the troops waded the river with much fatigue because it was very full, and he set up his camp on the other bank among some groves. Scarcely had the Governor arrived here, when he received a letter from the captain who was reconnoitring in which the latter informed him that the enemy had gone on five leagues and were in waiting on the slope of a mountain in a land called Curamba,[46] and that there were many warriors there, and that they had made many preparations and had arranged great quantities of stones so that the Spaniards would not be able to go up. The Governor, when he understood this, although the captain did not ask him for aid, believed that it was necessary now, and he at once ordered the Marshal D. Diego de Almagro to get ready with thirty light horsemen, well equipped as to arms and horses, and he did not wish him to take a single peon with him, because he ordered him [Almagro] not to delay for anything until he should come up with the captain who was ahead with the others. And when he [Almagro] had set out, the Governor likewise started, on the following day, with ten horsemen and the twenty peons who were guarding Chilichuchima, and he quickened his pace so much that day that of two days' marches he made one. And just as he was about to arrive at the village called Andabailla, where he was to sleep, an Indian came to him on the run to say that on a certain slope of the mountain, which he pointed out with his finger, there had been discovered hostile troops of war, on which account, the Governor, armed as he was and on horseback, went with the Spaniards he had with him to take the summit of that slope, and he examined the whole of it without finding the warriors of whom the Indian had spoken, because they were troops native to the land who were fleeing from the Indians of Quito because the latter did them very great harm. The Governor and company having arrived at that village of Andabailla, they supped and spent the night there. On the next day, they arrived at the village of Airamba from where the captain had written that he was with the armed troops waiting for them upon the road.[47]

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Here were found two dead horses,[48] from which it was suspected that some misfortune had befallen the captain. But, having entered the village, they learned, from a letter that arrived before they retired for the night, that the captain had here encountered some warriors, and that, in order to gain the mountain, he had gone up a slope where he had found assembled a great quantity of stone, a sign which showed that they [the Indians] wished to guard [the pass], and that they were gone in search of [other] Indians because they had warning that [the Spaniards] were not far off and that the two horses had died of so many changes from heat to cold. He [the captain] wrote nothing of the aid which the Governor had sent to him, because of which it was thought that it had not yet arrived. The next day the Governor set out from there, and slept [the next night] by a river whose bridge had been burned by the enemy, so that it was necessary to ford it, with great fatigue on account of the fact that the current was very swift and the bottom very stony. On the next day, they encamped at a town in the houses of which was found much silver in large slabs twenty feet long, one broad, and one or two fingers thick. And the Indians who were there related that those slabs belonged to a great cacique and that one of the lords of Cuzco had won them and had carried them off thus in plates, together with those of which the conquered cacique had built a house.[49] The next day, the Governor set out in order to cross the last bridge, which was almost three leagues from there. Before he arrived at that river, a messenger came with a letter from the captain in which he informed him that he had arrived at the last bridge with great speed in order that the enemy should not have opportunity to burn it; but that, at the time of his arrival there, they had finished burning it, and as it was already late, he did not wish to cross the river that same day, but had gone to camp in a village which was nearby. The next day, he [the captain] had passed through the water, which came to the breasts of the horses, and had proceeded straight along the road to Cuzco which was twelve leagues from there; and as, on the way, he was informed that, on a neighbouring mountain [where] forts had been built, all the enemies were hoping that the next day Quizquiz would come to their aid with reënforcements from the troops which he had in Cuzco, for this reason he [the captain] had spurred ahead with all speed together with fifty horsemen,[50] for ten had been left guarding the baggage and certain gold which had been found in the rout of Bilcas. And one Saturday, at noon, they had begun to go up on horseback a slope which lasted well over a league, and, being wearied by the sharp ascent and by the mid-day heat, which was very great, they stopped awhile and gave to the horses some maize which they had because the natives of a village nearby had brought it to them. Then, proceeding on their journey, the captain, who rode a cross-bow shot ahead, saw the enemy on the summit of the mountain, which they entirely covered, and [he saw] that three or four thousand were coming down in order to pass the point where they [the Spaniards] were. Because of this, although he called to the Spaniards to put themselves in battle-array, he could not hope to join them, because the Indians were already very near and were coming with great rapidity. But with those who were in readiness, he advanced to give battle [to the Indians], and the Spaniards who kept coming up mounted the slope of the mountain, some on one hand, others on the other. They dashed among those of the enemy who were foremost without waiting for the beginning of the fight, save for defending themselves against the stones which were hurled upon them, until they mounted to the summit of the mountain, in which deed they thought they saw a certain victory to be accomplished. The horses were so tired that they could not get breath in order to attack with impetuosity such a multitude of enemies, nor did the latter cease to inconvenience and harass them continually with the lances stones and arrows which they hurled at them, so they fatigued all to such an extent that the riders could hardly keep their horses at the trot or even at the pace. 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. The others fought on foot very valorously, but at length, not being seen by any companions who could bring them aid, they remained prisoners, and only one was killed without being able to lay hand upon his sword or to defend himself, the cause of which was that a good soldier was left dead beside him, the tail of his horse having been seized which prevented his going ahead with the rest. They [the Indians] opened the heads of all by means of their battle-axes and clubs; they wounded eighteen horses and six Christians; but none of the wounds were dangerous save those of one horse which died of them. It pleased God Our Lord that the Spaniards should gain a plain which was near that mountain, and the Indians collected on a hill nearby. The captain commanded half of his men to take the bridles off their horses and let them drink in a rivulet that ran there, and then to do the same for the other half, which was done without being hindered by the enemies. Then, the captain said to all: "Gentlemen, let us withdraw from here step by step down this declivity in such a way that the enemy may think that we are fleeing from them, in order that they may come in search of us below, for, if we can attract them to this plain, we will attack them all of a sudden in such a manner that I hope not one of them will escape from our hands. Our horses are already somewhat tired, and if we put the enemy to flight, we shall end by gaining the summit of the mountain." And thus it was that some of the Indians, thinking that the Spaniards were retreating, came down below, throwing stones at them, with their slings, and shooting arrows.[51] When this was seen by the Christians, [they knew] that now was their time, [and] they turned their horses' heads, and before the Indians could gather together on the mountain where they were before, some twenty of them were killed. When this was seen by the others, and when they perceived that there was little safety in the place where they were, they left that mountain and retired to another one which was higher. The captain, with his men, finished climbing the mountain, and there, because it was already night, he camped with his soldiers. The Indians also camped two cross-bow shots away, in such a manner that in either camp could be heard the voices in the other. The captain caused the wounds to be cared for and posted patrols and sentinels for the night, and he ordered that all the horses were to remain saddled and bridled until the following day, on which he was to fight with the Indians. And he tried to cheer his men up and renew their valor, saying: "that by all means it was necessary to attack the enemy the following morning without delaying an instant, because he had news that the captain Quizquiz was coming with great reënforcements, and by no means should they wait until he joined forces with them." All showed as much spirits and confidence as if they already had the victory in their hands, and again the captain comforted them, saying: "he held the day just passed through to be more perilous than that which awaited them on the morrow, and that God Our Lord who had delivered them from danger in the past would grant them victory in the future, and that they should look to it whether, on the day before, when their horses were so weary, they had attacked their enemies with disadvantage and had routed them and driven them from their fortresses, even though their own number did not exceed fifty, and that of the enemy eight thousand; ought they not, then, to hope for victory when they were fresh and rested?" With these and other spirited conversations, that night was passed, and the Indians were in their own camp, uttering cries and saying: "Wait, Christians, until dawn, when you are all to die, and we shall take away from you just as many horses as you have!"[52] and they added insulting words in their language having determined to enter into combat with the Christians as soon as it should dawn, believing them and their horses to be weary on account of the toil of the day before and because they saw them to be so few in numbers and because they knew that many of the horses were wounded. In this manner the same thought prevailed on the one side and on the other, but the Indians firmly believed that the Christians would not escape from them.[53]

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This news reached the Governor near the last river, as I have said, and he, without showing any change in his countenance, communicated it to the ten horsemen and twenty peons whom he had with him, consoling them all with good words which he spoke to them, although they were greatly disturbed in their minds, for they thought that if a small number of Indians, relatively to the number anticipated, had maltreated the Christians in such a manner in the first action, they would bring upon them still greater war on the following day when their horses were wounded and when the aid of thirty horsemen, which had been sent to them, had not yet arrived among the Spaniards. But all showed that they knew how to place their hopes in God, and they arrived at the river which they crossed in balsas, swimming the horses, because the bridge was burned down. And the river being very full, they delayed in crossing it the rest of that day and the next one until the hour of siesta when the Governor, smiling [determined] to set out without waiting for the Indian allies to cross.[56] [Just then] a Christian was seen coming, and when all saw him from afar, they judged that the captain with the horsemen had been routed and that this man was bringing the news in his flight. But when he had arrived in the presence of the Governor, he gave great consolation to the minds of all with the news that he brought, relating that God Our Lord, who never abandons his faithful servants even in the direst extremities, ordained that while the captain with the others [of his company] was passing that night cautiously and encouraging his men for the combat on the morrow, the Marshal arrived with the reënforcements of thirty horsemen which had been sent, and these, together with the ten others whom they had left behind, made forty altogether, and when all perceived this, the first group felt as much pleasure as if they had resuscitated that day [just lived through], holding it to be certain that the victory would be theirs on the following day. When day had come, which was Sunday, they all mounted at dawn, and, disposed in a wing formation in order to present a better front, they attacked the rear of the Indians who, during the night, had determined to attack the Christians, but who, in the morning, seeing so many soldiers, thought that some aid must have come to them during the night, on account of which, not having the courage to put on a bold front, and seeing that the Spaniards were coming up the slope in pursuit of them, turned their backs and retired from mountain to mountain. The Spaniards did not follow them because the land was rough, and besides, a mist arose which was so thick that they could not see one another, and yet withal, on the slope of a hill, they killed many of the enemy. At this juncture, a thousand Indians in a squadron commanded by Quizquiz arrived in aid of the Indians who, seeing the Christians on horseback and so warlike, judged it time to withdraw to the mountain.[57] At the same time, the Christians assembled in their [the Indians'] fort, whence the captain had sent this messenger to the Governor to tell him that he would await him there until he should arrive. When this news was heard by the Governor, he rejoiced greatly over the victory which God Our Lord had given him when he least expected it, and without delaying an instant he ordered that all should go forward with the dunnage and the remaining Indians, because, jointly with this news, he had received warning that in the retreat of this hostile force of soldiers, four thousand men had split off from the rest, and that therefore he should proceed cautiously, and should also be very sure that Chilichuchima was arranging and commanding all this and was giving advice to the enemy as to what they were to do, and that, on this account, he should bear himself with caution. When the Governor had finished his day's march, he had chains put upon Chilichuchima and said to him: "Well you know how I have always borne myself toward you and how I have always tried [to be generous with you], making you the captain who should rule all this land until the son of Atabalipa should come from Quito in order to be made lord [of it], and although I have had many causes for putting you to death, I have not wished to do so, believing always that you would mend your ways. Likewise, I have asked you many times to urge these hostile Indians, with whom you have influence and friendliness, to calm themselves and lay down their arms, since, although they had done much harm and had killed Guaritico[58] who came from Xauxa at my command, I would pardon them all. But in spite of all these admonitions of mine you have wished to persist in your evil attitude and intentions, thinking that the advice which you gave to the hostile captains was powerful enough to make your wicked design succeed. But now you can see how, with the aid of our God, we have always routed them, and that it will always be so in the future, and you may be very sure that they will not be able to escape nor to return to Quito whence they came, nor will you ever again see Cuzco[59] because as soon as I have arrived at the place where this captain is with my soldiers, I shall cause you to be burned alive because you have known how to keep so ill the friendship which, in the name of Caesar,[60] my lord, I have agreed upon with you. Have no doubt that this will be done unless you urge these Indian friends of yours to lay down their arms and come in peace, as I have asked you to do many times before." To all these reasonings Chilichuchima listened attentively without returning a word. But always firm in his obstinacy, he [at length] replied: "that those captains had not done as he had ordered them to do because they did not wish to obey him, and, for that reason he had not remained to make them understand that they must come in peace," and with such words he excused himself from what was attributed to him. But the Governor, who already knew of certain of his dealings, left him with his evil thoughts and did not return to speak to him upon the matter. Then, having crossed the river in the afternoon, the Governor went forward with those soldiers and arrived by night in a village called Rimac[61] a league from that river. And there the Marshal arrived, with four horsemen, to wait for him, and after they had talked together, they set out the next day for the camp of the Spaniards where they arrived in the afternoon, the captain and many others having come out to meet them, and all rejoiced greatly at seeing themselves all together again. The Governor gave each one thanks, according to his merits, for the valour they had shown, and all set out together in the evening and arrived two leagues further on at a village called Sachisagagna.[62] The captains informed the Governor all that had happened, just as I have related it. When they were all lodged in this village, the captain and the Marshal urged the Governor to do justice on Chilichuchima, because he ought to know that Chilichuchima advised the enemy of all that the Christians did, and that he it was who had made the Indians come out of the mountains of Bilcas, exhorting them to come and fight with the Christians who were few and who, with their horses, could not climb those mountains save step by step and on foot, and giving them, at the same time, a thousand other counsels as to where they were to wait and what they were to do, like a man who had seen those places and who knew the skill of the Christians with whom he had lived so long a time. Informed of all these things, the Governor gave orders that he was to be burned alive in the middle of the plaza, and so it was done, for his chiefs and most familiar friends were those who were quickest in setting fire to him.[63] The religious[64] tried to persuade him to become a Christian, saying to him that those who were baptized and who believed with true faith in our saviour Jesus Christ went to glory in paradise and that those who did not believe in him went to hell and its tortures. He made him understand this by means of an interpreter. But he [Chilichuchima] did not wish to be a Christian, saying that he did not know what sort of thing this law was, and he began to invoke Paccamaca[65] and captain Quizquiz that they might come to his aid. This Paccamaca the Indians have as their God and they offer him much gold and silver, and it is a well-known thing that the demon is in that idol and speaks with those who come to ask him something.[66] And of this matter I have spoken at length in the relation which was sent to H. M. from Caxamalca. In this way this captain paid for the cruelties which he committed in the conquests of Atabalipa, and for the evils which he plotted to the hurt of the Spaniards and in disservice of H. M. All the people of the country rejoiced infinitely at his death, because he was very much abhorred by all who knew what a cruel man he was.[67]

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Here the Spaniards rested that night, having set good guards, because they were given to understand that Quizquiz was close by with all his men. And on the following morning, came to visit the Governor a son of Guainacaba and a brother of the dead cacique Atabalipa,[70] and the greatest and most important lord who was then in that land; and he had ever been a fugitive so that those of Quito might not kill him. This man said to the Governor that he would aid him to the extent of his power in order to drive from that land all those of Quito, who were his enemies and who hated him and did not wish to be the subjects of a foreign people. This man was the man to whom, by law, came all that province and whom all the caciques of it wished for their lord. When he came to see the Governor, he came through the mountains, avoiding the roads for fear of those of Quito, and the Governor received him with great gladness and replied to him: "Much does what you say please me, as does also finding you with so good a desire to expel these men of Quito, and you must know that I have come from Xauxa for no other purpose than to prevent them from doing you harm and free you from slavery to them, and you can believe that I have not come for my own benefit because I was in Xauxa, sure of having war with them and I had an excuse for not making this long and difficult journey. But knowing the injuries they were doing to you, I wanted to come to rectify and undo them, as the Emperor my lord commanded me to do. And so, you may be sure that I will do in your favor all that seems suitable for me to do. And I will do the same to liberate from this tyranny the people of Cuzco." The Governor made him all these promises in order to please him so that he might continue to give news of how affairs were going, and that cacique remained marvellously satisfied, as did also those who had come with him. And he [Manco] replied: "Henceforth I shall give you exact information concerning all that they of Quito do in order that they may not inconvenience you." And in this manner he took leave of the Governor, saying: "I am going to fish because I know that tomorrow the Christians do not eat flesh, and I shall encounter this messenger who tells me that Quizquiz is going with his men to burn Cuzco and that he is now near at hand, and I have wished to warn you of it in order that you may fix upon a remedy." The Governor at once placed all the soldiers upon the alert, and, although it was already noon, when he knew the needs of the situation, he did not wish to delay even to eat, but journeyed with all the Spaniards straight toward Cuzco, which was four leagues from that place, with the intention of establishing his camp near the city so as to enter it early the next day. And when he had travelled two leagues, he saw rise up in the distance a great smoke, and when he asked some Indians the cause of it, they told him that a squadron of the men of Quizquiz had come down a mountain and set fire [word missing]. Two captains went ahead with some forty horsemen to see if they could catch up with this squadron, which speedily joined with the men of Quizquiz and the other captains who were on a slope a league in front of Cuzco waiting for the Christians in a pass close to the road. Seen by the captains and Spaniards, they [the Indians] could not avoid an encounter with them, although the Governor had them made to understand that they [the Spaniards] would wait for the rest to join them, which they would have done, were it not for the fact that the Indians incited each other with much spirit to encounter them. And before they [the Spaniards] could be attacked, they fell upon them on the skirt of a hill, and in a short time they routed them, forcing them to flee to the mountain and killing two hundred of them. Another squad of cavalry crossed over another slope of the mountain where were two or three thousand Indians who, not having the pluck to wait for them, threw down their lances in order to be able to run the better, and fled headlong. And after those first two squads broke and fled, they [the Spaniards] made them flee to the heights; and [at the same time] two Spanish light horsemen saw certain Indians return down the slope, and they set themselves to skirmish with them. They perceived that they were in great danger, but they were helped, and the horse of one of them was killed, from which the Indians derived so much encouragement that they wounded four or five horses and a Christian, and they made them retreat as far as the plain. The Indians who, until then, had not seen the Christians retire, thought that they were doing it in order to attract them to the plain and there attack them as they had done at Bilcas, and they said so among themselves and were cautious, not wishing to go down and follow them. By this time the Governor had arrived with the [rest of] the Spaniards and, as it was already late, they set up their camp on a plain, and the Indians maintained themselves an arquebuse-shot away on a slope until mid-night, yelling, and the Spaniards spent all that night with their horses saddled and bridled. And the next day, at the first ray of dawn, the Governor arranged the troops, horse and foot, and he took the road to Cuzco, with good understanding and caution, believing that the enemy would come to attack him on the road, but none of them appeared. In this way the Governor and his troops entered that great city of Cuzco without any other resistance or battle on Friday, at the hour of high mass, on the fifteenth day of the month of November of the year of the birth of our Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ MDXXXIII. The Governor caused all the Christians to lodge in the dwellings around the plaza of the city, and he ordered that all should come forth with their horses to the plaza and sleep in their tents, until it could be seen whether the enemy were coming to attack them. This order was continued and observed for a month. On another day, the Governor created as lord that son of Guainacaba, for he was young, prudent and alive and the most important of all those who were there at that time, and was the one to whom that lordship came by law. And he did it so soon in order that the lords and caciques should not go away to their own lands which were divers provinces, and some very far away, and so that the natives should not join those of Quito, but should have a separate lord of their own whom they might reverence and obey and not organize themselves into bands. So he commanded all the caciques to obey him [Manco] as their lord and to do all that he should order them to do.[71]

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As soon as this was done, he [the Governor] gave orders to the new cacique to assemble many warriors in order to go and vanquish Quizquiz and drive from the land those of Quito, and he [the Governor] said to the Inca that it was not regular that, when he was lord, another should remain in his land against his will, and [the Governor] said many other words to him upon this subject in the presence of all in order that they might see the favor which he did him [Manco] and the fondness which he showed him, and this not for the sake of advantages that might result from it, but for his own [Manco's] sake.[73] The cacique had great pleasure in receiving this order, and in the space of four days he assembled more than five thousand Indians, all in readiness with their arms, and the Governor sent with them a captain of his own and fifty cavalrymen; he himself remained guarding the city with the rest of the troops. When ten days had gone by, the captain returned and related to the Governor what had happened, saying that at nightfall he had arrived with his troops at the camp of Quizquiz five leagues from there, because he had gone by a roundabout road through which the cacique guided him.[74] But, before arriving at enemy's camp, he encountered two hundred Indians posted in a hollow, and because the land was rough he was not able to take their fort away from them and to overpower them so that they could not give notice of his coming, which they did do. But, although this company [of Indians] was in a strong place, it was not so bold as to wait for his attack and it withdrew to the other side of a bridge to cross which was impossible [for the Spaniards] because, from a mountain which dominated it, to which the Indians had retired, they hurled so many stones that no one was permitted to cross, and, because the land was the roughest and most inaccessible that had been seen, they [the Spaniards] turned back. [The captain] said that two hundred Indians had been killed, and that the cacique was much pleased at what [the captain] had done, and, on their return to the city had guided them through another and shorter road on which, in many places, the captain found great quantities of stones piled up for defense against the Christians, and he found, among other passes, one so bad and difficult that he, with all his troops, suffered great trials and could not follow it further. At that place it became apparent that the cacique had true, and not feigned, friendship for the Governor and Christians, for he led them out of that road from which not one Spaniard could have escaped [alone]. [The captain] said that after he left the city, he did not go over as much as a cross-bow shot of flat land, and that all the country was mountainous, stony and very difficult to traverse and [he added] that if it had not been for the fact that it was the first time that the cacique was travelling with him and might impute it to fear, he would have turned back. The Governor would have liked him to follow the enemy until he drove them from the place where they were, but when he heard the nature of the place, he remained content with what had been done. The cacique said that he had sent his soldiers after the enemy, and that he thought they would do them some damage; and accordingly within four days news came that they had killed a thousand Indians. The Governor once more charged the cacique to cause more warriors to be assembled, and he himself wished to send with them some of his cavalry in order that they might not desist until they had driven the enemy from the land. When he returned from [the first] trip, the cacique went to fast in a house which was on a mountain, a dwelling which his father had built in another day; there he stayed three days, after which he came to the plaza where the men of that land gave him obedience according to their usage, recognizing him as their lord and offering him the white plume, just as they had to the cacique Atabalipa in Caxamalcha. When this was done, he caused all the caciques and lords who were there to assemble, and, having spoken to them concerning the harm that the men of Quito were doing in his land and about the good that would result to all if a stop were put to it, he commanded them to call and prepare warriors who should go against those of Quito and drive them from the place in which they had posted themselves. This the captains did at once, and they so managed to raise troops that, in the period of eight days, ten thousand warriors were in that city, all, picked men, and the Governor caused to be prepared fifty light horsemen with a captain in order that they might set out on the last day of the feast of the Nativity. The Governor, before that journey was made, wishing to re-affirm peace and friendship with that cacique and his people, when mass had been said on Christmas day by the religious,[75] went out to the plaza with many of the soldiers of his company, and into the presence of the cacique and of the lords of the land and of the warriors who were seated along with his Spaniards, the cacique on a stool and his men on the ground around him. The Governor made them an address, as he was wont to do on such occasions, and by me, his secretary and the scrivener of the army, was read the demand and requirement which H. M. had sent, and its contents were declared to them by an interpreter; all understood it and replied [in a friendly manner]. It was required of them that they should be and should call themselves vassals of H. M., and the Governor received [their obedience] with the same ceremony as was used the other time, namely, of twice raising the royal standard, and in testimony [of the friendship] the Governor embraced them to the sound of trumpets, observing other solemnities which I do not write in order to avoid prolixity. This done, the cacique stood up and, in a vase of gold, gave drink to the Governor and the Spaniards with his own hands, and then all went off to eat, it being already evening.

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And when the Spanish captain with the Indians and the cacique were about to depart within two days in order to go against the enemy ...[76] the Governor was informed by some Spaniards, some Indian friends and some allied natives of the country that among some of the cacique's chief men, it was being talked of that they should join with the warriors of Quito, and they [the informers] accused him of other things. Because of this, there arose some suspicion, and, in order to make sure as to whether the friendship of the cacique for the Christians who loved him so was faithful and true, wishing to know truth of the matter, [the Governor] caused the cacique and some of his chief men to be called, on the next day, to his room. And he told them what was being said about them; after investigation had been made and torture had been given to some Indians, it came out that the cacique and the chiefs were without any blame, and it was certified that, neither by word nor deed, had they done anything to the hurt of the Spaniards, but that two chiefs had said that because their ancestors had never been subject to anyone neither they nor the cacique ought to submit themselves [to the Spaniards]. But notwithstanding this, by what was known then and afterwards, it was believed that the Indians always loved the Spaniards and that their friendship with them was not feigned.[77] The troops did not set out on their journey because the rigor of winter [was at its height] and it rained a great deal every day, so it was determined to allow the height of the rainy season go by, principally because of the fact that many bridges had been ill-treated and broken, to mend which was essential. When the season in which the rains ceased arrived, the Governor had the fifty cavalrymen, the cacique the men he had and make ready. All of these, with the captain whom he gave them, put themselves on the march for Xauxa by way of the city of Bilcas,[78] where, it was understood, the enemy were because the roads were cut up by the many winter rains and the rivers were swollen; although there was no bridge over many of them, the Spaniards crossed on their horses with great trouble, and one of them was drowned. Arrived by [long] marches at the river which is four leagues from Bilcas, it was learned that the enemy had gone on to Xauxa. And the river being swollen and furious, and the bridge burned, it was necessary for them to stop and build it anew, for, without it, it would have been impossible to cross the river, either in those boats which are called balsas or by swimming or in any other way. Twenty days the camp was here in order to mend the bridge, for the officers [maestros] had much to do, because the water was high and kept breaking down the osier ropes which were put in place. And if the cacique had not had so great a number of men to build the bridge and to cross over by it and pull over the ropes of osiers, it would not have been possible to build it. But having twenty-four thousand warriors, and by crossing [the stream] again and again to attempt [to set in place the ropes] making use of cords and balsas, at last they succeeded in placing the osier ropes and when they had been passed across [the river], the bridge was built in a very short space of time. [It was] so good and well built that another like it is not to be found in that land, for it is three hundred and seventy-odd feet long, and broad enough to allow two horses to cross at once without any risk. Then, having crossed that bridge and having arrived at Bilcas, the Spaniards found quarters in the city, from which they sent to the Governor a report on how affairs were progressing. Here the camp stopped for some days, resting, in order that they might have news of the place in which the enemy were, of which they learned no more than that they had set out for Xauxa, and that they were thinking of attacking the Spaniards who had remained there as garrison. When he learned this, the captain at once set out with the Spaniards to aid [the garrison], taking with him a brother of the cacique and four thousand warriors. The cacique returned to Cuzco, and the captain sent the governor a letter which his lieutenant wrote from Xauxa in great haste, and which was of the following tenor: "When your excellency drove the enemy from Cuzco, they rallied and came to Xauxa, and before they arrived, it was learned by our men that they were coming in great force, because, from all the places of the region, they were drawing as many men as they could, as much for warriors as to carry the supplies and baggage; when this was learned by the treasurer Alfonso [in Xauxa], he sent four light horsemen to a bridge which is twelve leagues from the city of Xauxa where the enemy were on the other side, in a very important province. When they had returned, the treasurer used his best efforts, as much in guarding the city and in treating well the caciques who were there with him as in informing himself stealthily of all the doings of the enemy. And the greatest suspicions which he had were of the Indians who were in the town and in the region and who were very numerous, because almost all were in agreement with the enemy to come and attack the Spaniards on four sides. With this agreement, the Indians of Quito crossed [the bridge before mentioned] with the intention that a captain with five hundred of their men should come from the direction of a [certain] mountain and cross a river which is a quarter of a league from the city and place himself on the highest part of the mountain [near Xauxa] in order to assault the city on the day agreed upon between them. The captain Quizquiz and Incurabaliba,[79] who were their chief leaders, were to come by the plains with a greater force of warriors. This was speedily learned from an Indian to whom torture was given. The captain who was to cross the river and attack the city from the mountain travelled rapidly and arrived a day before the rest of the warriors. And one morning at dawn news came to the city of how many enemies had crossed the bridge, from which was born a great disaffection among the natives of Xauxa who [formerly] served the Christians loyally, from which it was supposed that the whole land had risen in arms, as has been said. 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 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; they retired, and the Spaniards had to cross the bridge after them some peon cross-bowmen whom the treasurer had sent them, so that the Indians turned and fled with great loss. The great blow of the others, who came by the plain, did not take place at the time agreed upon with the others for assaulting the city, and in waiting for it, they lost time. That night and the [following] day the city was vigilant, and the soldiers were always armed and their horses saddled, all being together in the plaza, thinking that on the following night the Indians would come to attack the city and burn it, as it was said that they intended to do. When [the first] two quarters of the night were passed, seeing that the enemy did not appear, the treasurer took with him a light-armed horseman and went to see in what place the enemy had camped and how many of them had approached the city, [for the Indians who gave news of all this did not know where they were, and likewise because the enemy took roads of which no one could give information], with the result that at daybreak the treasurer found himself four leagues from the city, and, having seen the place where the Indians were and the nature of the site, he returned to the city at which he arrived a little after noon. When it was seen by the hostile Indians that the Spaniards had discovered them, they were in great fear, and got up from that site and went towards the city, and in the night they came and took up a position a quarter of a league from the city beside a small river which entered the large one. When this was known by the Spaniards, they spent that night with the greatest caution, and on the following day, after hearing mass, the treasurer took twenty light horse and twenty peons with two thousand friendly Indians, leaving as many more Spanish cavalry and some foot soldiers in the city with the understanding that they were to give a signal whenever the enemy should attack them so that the other [Spaniards] might come to aid them. 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. A sharp skirmish was held [on the other side], as much with cross-bows and arrows as with stones, and the treasurer, who was going in advance of the rest down the stream, received a stone on the crown of his head which threw him from his horse into the midst of the river, and, stunned, he was borne along quite a distance, so that he would have been drowned had not some Spanish cross-bowmen who were there helped him and pulled him from the water with much trouble. [The Indians] also gave his horse [a blow] in the leg which broke it, and he died soon. From this the Spaniards drew great animosity, and they hastened to cross the river. Seeing their determination the Indians withdrew, fleeing to a mountain where some hundred of them died. The horsemen followed them through the mountains more than a league and a half, and [finally], because they withdrew to the strongest position of the mountain, where the horses could not go up, [the Spaniards] went back to the city. And, soon perceiving that the Indians did not venture forth from that fortress [the Spaniards] determined to return once more against them, and twenty Spaniards with more than three thousand Indian friends attacked them on that mountain where they were fortified and killed many, driving them from that fortress and pursuing them more than three leagues, killing many neighboring caciques who were in their favor. With this victory the Indian friends were as much pleased as if they alone had won it. The Indians of Quito re-assembled once more in a place called Tarma five leagues from Xauxa, whence, likewise, they were driven because they did much harm in the neighboring lands."

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When this good news was learned by the Governor, he had it published at once, and because of it the Spaniards were filled with content and gave infinite thanks to God for having shown himself favorable in everything to this enterprise. 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, 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. And when the sum total was weighed, it was found to contain five hundred and eighty thousand, two hundred-odd pesos of good gold. The fifth for H. M. was taken out, and it was one hundred and sixteen thousand, and seventy-odd pesos of good gold. And the same smelting was performed for the silver, which was found to contain two hundred and fifteen thousand marks, a little more or less, and of them one hundred and seventy thousand or so were fine silver in vessels and plates, pure and good, and the rest was not so because it was in plates and pieces mixed with other metals from which, according, the silver was extracted. And from all this, likewise, was taken the fifth of H. M. Truly it was a thing worthy to be seen, this house where the melting took place, all full of so much gold in plates of eight and ten pounds each, and in vessels, and vases and pieces of various forms with which the lords of that land were served, and among other very sightly things were four sheep[80] in fine gold and very large, and ten or twelve figures of women of the size of the women of that land, all of fine gold and as beautiful and well-made as if they were alive. These they held in as much veneration as if they had been the rulers of all the world, and alive [as well], and they dressed them in beautiful and very fine clothing, and they adored them as Goddesses, and gave them food and talked with them as if they were women of flesh.[81] These went to form a part of the fifth of H. M. There were, besides, other odd silver objects of like form. The seeing of great vases and pieces of burnished silver was certainly a matter for great satisfaction. The Governor divided and distributed all this treasure among all the Spaniards who were at Cuzco and those who remained in the city of Xauxa, giving to each one as much good silver, and as much impure, together with as much gold [as he deserved], and to each man who had a horse he gave according to the man's merit and that of the horse and in accordance with the services he had done; and to the peons he did the same according to what was posted up to his credit in the book of distributions, which was kept [for this purpose]. All this was completed within eight days, and at the end of as many more, the Governor set out from here, leaving the city settled in the manner which has been told. In the month of March, 1534, the Governor ordered that the greater part of the Spaniards he had with him should be assembled in this city, and he made an act of foundation and settlement of the town, saying that he placed it and founded it in his own authority[82] and he took possession of it in the middle of the plaza. And as a sign of the foundation and of the commencement of building and founding the colony, he held certain ceremonies in accordance with the act which was drawn up, which I, the scrivener, read in a loud voice in the presence of all. And the name of the city was agreed upon, "the very noble and great city of Cuzco." And, continuing the settlement, he appointed the site[83] for the church which was to be built, its boundaries, limits, and jurisdiction, and immediately afterward he proclaimed that all who might come to settle here would be received as citizens, and many came in the next three years.[84] From among them all they chose the persons most fitted for undertaking the charge of governing public affairs, and he [the Governor] appointed his lieutenant, alcaldes and ordinary regidores and other public officials, all of whom he chose in the name of H. M. and he gave them the powers to exercise their offices. This done, the Governor, with the consent and advice of the religious whom he had with him and of H. M.'s paymaster who was then with him, with whose assistance he looked over and considered the circumstances of the citizens until as many [had been chosen] as H. M. had arranged should take part in the repartimiento of the natives; in the meanwhile a certain number of them [Indians] was assigned to all the Spaniards who were to remain, in order that they might instruct them in the things of our holy catholic faith. And there set aside and given to the service of H. M. twelve thousand-odd married Indians in the province of the Collao in the middle thereof, near the mines, in order that they might take out gold for H. M. from which, it is understood, there will be great profits, considering the great wealth of the mines which are there, of which matters lengthy mention is made in the book of the foundation of this colony and in the register of the deposit which was made by the neighbouring Indians. And the approving, confirming or amending of these arrangements was left to the will of H. M. according as should seem best to suit his royal service.

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When these things were done, the Governor set out for Xauxa, taking the cacique with him, and the citizens remained guarding the city [according] to orders which the Governor left them so that they might govern themselves until he should command something else. Journeying by forced marches, on the day of Easter, he found himself on the Bilcas river, where he learned from letters and notices from Xauxa, that the warriors of Quito, after they were routed and driven from their last positions by the captain from Cuzco, had withdrawn and fortified themselves forty leagues from Xauxa on the Caxamalcha road in a bad pass in the immediate vicinity of the road, and had built their walls to prevent the [possibility of] the horses [crossing] the pass. [These walls had] some very narrow gates in them, and a street by which to mount a high boulder where the captain and the warriors lived and which had no other entrance than this one by way of this fort that they had built with these very narrow doors; [and the Governor learned] that they were planning to await aid here, because it was known that the son of Atabalipa was coming with many warriors. This news the Governor communicated to the cacique who at once sent off couriers to the city of Cuzco in order to cause warriors to come who should not exceed two thousand in number, but who were to be the best there were in all that province, because the Governor told him that it would be better were they few and good than if they were many and unserviceable, because the many would destroy the food in the land through which they were to pass without necessity or profit. At the same time the Governor wrote to the lieutenant and corregidor of Cuzco that he should aid the captains of the cacique and see to it that the warriors came soon. On the second day after Easter, the Governor set out from this place, and, by forced marches, arrived in Xauxa, where he learned the whole of what had passed there in his absence, and especially what those of Quito had done, and, in particular, they told him that after the enemy was put to flight from the environs of Xauxa, they had retired twenty or thirty leagues from there into the mountains, and that, according to the captain who went out against them with the brother of the cacique and four thousand men, they arrived within sight of them [the Indians], and that, after a rest of a few days, they went to attack them and routed them and drove them from that place with much trouble and great danger. When they [the Spanish force] had returned to Xauxa, the Marshal Don Diego de Almagro who, when the captain and Spaniards came from Cuzco, had come with them by order of the Governor to inspect the Indians round about in order to see and know the state of things in that city and among its citizens, went out to visit the caciques and lords of the region of Chincha[85] and Pachacama, and the others who had their lands and lived on the sea-coast.

In this state the Governor found affairs when arrived at Xauxa, and, having rested from the long journey without arranging anything in the first few days, he waited for the Indians[86] [for whom he had sent] in order to go and drive the enemy from the fort which they had made and finish with them, when there came to him one of two Spanish messengers who had gone to the city of San Miguel to see how things were going there, and who spoke to him in this way: "My lord, when I had set out from here by order of the Marshal, I set myself to journey with all speed along the plains and the shore of the sea, not without trouble, because many of the caciques who are along that road were in revolt. But some who were friendly provided us with whatever we needed, and they informed us that some ships had been seen along the sea-coast, which I myself saw one day, and, considering that I was sent to the city of San Miguel to find out whether the ships of the Adelantado Alvarado or of other people had arrived, I went [rapidly] along the coast for nine days and nights, sometimes in sight of them, believing that they would take port and that I would thus learn who they were. But even with all this speed and trouble I could not do what I wished, on which account I made up my mind to continue my journey to the city of San Miguel, and, having crossed to the other side of the large river, I was informed by the Indians of the country that Christians were coming along that road, and I, thinking that without doubt it would prove to be the troops of the Adelantado Alvarado, my companion and I went on our guard in order not to encounter them impromptu.[87] And when they arrived at Motupe, I learned that they were near that place [where I was], and I waited for the night. At dawn I sent my companion to speak with them, and to see what people they were, and I gave him certain tokens by which he could inform me, and finally, I learned that they were soldiers who were coming to the conquest of these kingdoms. Because of this, I went to them and spoke at length, telling them the errand I was on, and they, in return, informed me that they had come to the city of San Miguel in certain ships from Panama and were two hundred and fifty in number. When they had arrived at San Miguel, the captain who was in that city with two hundred men, seventy of them cavalry, had gone away to the provinces of Quito in order to conquer them, and they, some thirty persons with their horses, knowing the conquests which were being made in Cuzco, and the lack of men there was there, did not wish to go with the captain to those provinces of Quito and so were coming to Xauxa. And we gave them news of all that had happened here and of the war which we had had with the Indians of Quito. And in order to bring more quickly the news of what had happened there I returned from that place without going to the city of San Miguel, knowing for certain that the captain would have departed with his men and would already be near Cossibamba.[88] Turning back on my road, I met, on Easter, the Marshal D. Diego de Almagro near Cena[89] which is where the road to Caxamalca branches off, and to him I related how things were going and how some suspected that the captain who was going to Quito was not going with good intentions. As soon as the Marshal heard this, he set off in order to catch up with the captain who was taking these soldiers on the march to Quito, in order to detain him until together they could arrange the necessary provisions for this war. This, then, sir, is what has happened to me on this journey, during which I tried to get information about those ships, but could not learn anything else about them. Of Alvarado nothing more is known than that he has already embarked on these shores or has passed further on, as letters inform me."

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The Governor received this messenger, read the letters which he brought, and asked him many other things, and, in order to arrange all that seemed suitable in this business, he called all the officials of H. M. After they had discussed the journey of that captain to Quito and how the Marshal would already have reasoned with him, according to the report brought by that messenger, permission was given [to the Governor] that he should send one of his lieutenants with sufficient powers for the task in hand. And when his letters to the city of San Miguel and to the Marshal, in which he told them what was to be done, were written, he sent off with them three Christians, in order that the letters might go more quickly and safely, ordering the men to hasten with all speed upon the road and keep advising him of what they learned. After this had been arranged, he [Pizarro] chose the place in which the church was to be erected in that city of Xauxa. This task he commanded to be done by the caciques of the district, and it was built with its great doors of stone.[91] In the meanwhile, there arrived the four thousand Indian warriors whom the cacique had called from Cuzco, and the Governor caused to be made ready fifty Spanish cavalrymen and thirty peons to go [with the Indians] in order to drive the enemy from the pass where they were, and they set out with the cacique and his soldiers, who loved the Spaniards better every day.[92] The Governor ordered the captain of these Spaniards to pursue the enemy as far as Guanaco[93] and as far beyond as he believed necessary, and that he should keep him informed continually, by letters and messengers of what went on. After this, the Governor received news of the ships on the feast of the Holy Ghost, and at the same time, he received a letter from San Miguel which two Spaniards brought him, and he learned how the ships, because of bad weather, had remained seventy leagues from Paccacama[94] without being able to go further, and how the Adelantado de Alvarado had gone up to Puerto Viejo three months before with four hundred men [on foot] and one hundred and fifty cavalry[95] and with them he entered the interior in the direction of Quito, believing that he would arrive there at the same time that the Marshal Don Diego de Almagro would enter those provinces from the other side. As a result of all this information concerning the justice and government of the city of S. Miguel and of other places, the Governor entered upon the control of it [himself]. And, in order to mend matters, with the consent of the officials, he sent his messengers in a brigantine by sea, and with them he sent orders to the Marshal that, in the name of H. M., he should lend him [Pizarro] aid, and should conquer, pacify and settle those provinces of Quito with the troops he had with him and with those who were in readiness in the city of San Miguel. At the same time, he arranged other matters in this connection, so that Alvarado should do no harm in the land, and because H. M. so desired that it should be, and likewise he determined that, on the arrival of the ships, he would send a report to H. M. of all that had taken place on that venture up to that very hour, so that he [H. M.] might be informed of all and might provide in every instance what he held to be the best for his royal service. 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. 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. The houses which the laborers use are made of rushes and branches, because, when it does not rain, it is very hot, and few of the houses have roofs.[96] They are a wretched folk, and many of them are blind on account of the great amount of sand that there is. They are poor in gold and silver, and what they have is because those who live in the sierra exchange it for goods. All the land beside the sea is of this description as far as Chincha, and even fifty leagues beyond there. They dress in cotton [bambaso] and eat maize both cooked and raw, and half-raw meat. At the end of the plains which are called Ingres are some very high mountains which extend from the city of San Miguel as far as Xauxa, and which may well be one hundred and fifty leagues long, but have little breadth. 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. None of the lords who have governed these provinces have ever been able to make any use of these coast-people, as they are such a wretched and poor folk, as I have said, that they are fit to be used for nothing else than to carry fish and fruits [up into the highlands], for as soon as they come into the mountainous regions, their own land being very hot, they sicken for the most part; and the same thing happens to those who inhabit the mountains if they go down into the hot country. Those who dwell on the other side of the land, beyond the summits of the mountains, are like savages who have no houses nor any maize save a little; they have very great forests and maintain themselves almost entirely on the fruit of the trees; they have no domicile, nor fixed settlements that are known; there are very great rivers, and the land is so useless that it paid all its tribute to the lords in parrot feathers.[97]

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. And those who have been lords of Cuzco, their own dwelling being in Cuzco, called the rest of the land, in the direction of Quito, Cancasuetio, and the land beyond [Cuzco], called Callao, Collasuyo, and, in the direction of the sea, Condisuyo, and the interior Candasuyo;[98] and in this way they gave names to these four provinces, disposed like a cross, which contained their empire. In the Collao they know not of the sea, and it is a flat land to judge from what has been seen of it, and it is large and cold, and there are in it many rivers from which gold is got. 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. It is a land of many trees and mountains and is very thinly populated. This sierra runs from Tumbes as far as Xauxa, and from Xauxa as far as the city of Cuzco. It is stony and rough; if there were not roads made by hand it would not be possible to travel on foot, still less on horseback, and for the roads there are many houses full of materials for repairing the pavement, and in this matter the lords had so much firmness that there was nothing to do but keep it in order.[100] All the mountain fields[101] are made in the guise of stairways of stone, and the rest of the road has no great width because of some mountains that hem it in on both sides, and on one side they had made a buttress of stone so that one day it should not slide down [the mountain], and there are, likewise, other places, in which the road has a breadth of four or five human bodies, all made and paved with stone. One of the greatest works the conquerors saw in this land was these roads. 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 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. All these large cities have storehouses full of the things which are in the land, and, because it is very cold but little maize is harvested except in specially assigned places; but [there is plenty of] all the many vegetables and roots with which the people sustained themselves, and also good grass like that of Spain. There are also wild turnips which are bitter. There is a sufficiency of herds of sheep[102] which go about in flocks with their shepherds who keep them away from the sown fields, and they have a certain part of [each] province set apart for them to winter in. The people, as I have said, are very polished and intelligent, and go always clad and shod; they eat maize both cooked and raw, and drink much chicha, which is a beverage made from maize after the fashion of beer. The people are very tractable and very obedient and yet warlike. They have many arms of diverse sorts, as has been told in the relation of the imprisonment of Atabalipa which was sent from Caxamalca, as was said above.[103]

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The city of Cuzco is the principal one of all those where the lords of this land have their residence; it is so large and so beautiful that it would be worthy of admiration even in Spain; and it is full of the palaces of the lords, because no poor people live there, and each lord builds there his house, and all the caciques[104] do likewise, although the latter do not dwell there continuously. The greater part of these houses are of stone, and others have half the façade of stone. 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 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. The plaza is rectangular, and the greater part of it is flat and paved with small stones. Around the plaza are four houses of noblemen, who are the chief men of the city; [the houses] are of stone, painted and carved, and the best of them is the house of Guaynacaba,[105] a former chief, and the door of it is of marble [colored] white and red and of other colors;[106] and there are other very sightly buildings with flat roofs. There are, in the said city, many other buildings and grandeurs. 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 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.[107] Within, there are many dwellings, and a chief tower in the centre, built square, and having four or five terraces one above another. The rooms inside are small and the stones of which it is built are very well worked and so well adjusted to one another that it does not appear that they have any mortar and they are so smooth that they look like polished slabs with the joinings in regular order and alternating with one another after the usage in Spain.[108] 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 mountain. On the side toward the city, which is a very steep slope, there is no more than one wall;[109] on the other side, which is less steep, there are three, one above the other. The most beautiful thing which can be seen in the edifices of that land are these walls, because they are of stones so large that anyone who sees them would not say that they had been put in place by human hands, for they are as large as chunks of mountains and huge rocks, and they have a height of thirty palms and a length of as many more, and others have twenty and twenty-five, and others fifteen, but there is none so small that three carts could carry it. These are not smooth stones, but rather well joined and matched one with another. The Spaniards who see them say that neither the bridge of Segovia nor any other of the edifices which Hercules or the Romans made is so worthy of being seen as this. The city of Tarragona has some works in its walls made in this style, but neither so strong nor of such large stones. These walls twist in such a way that if they are attacked, it is not possible to do so from directly in front, but only obliquely.[110] These walls are of the same stone, and between wall and wall there is enough earth to permit three carts to go along the top at one time. They are made after the fashion of steps, so that one begins where another leaves off. The whole fortress was a deposit of arms, clubs, lances, bows, axes, shields, doublets thickly padded with cotton and other arms of various sorts, and clothes for the soldiers collected here from all parts of the land subject to the lords of Cuzco. They had many colors, blue, yellow, brown and many others for painting, much tin and lead with other metals, and much silver and some gold, many mantles and quilted doublets for the warriors. The reason why this fortress contained so much workmanship was that, when this city was founded it was done by a lord orejon[111] who came from Condisuyo, toward the sea, a great warrior who conquered this land as far as Bilcas and who, perceiving that this was the best place to fix his domicile, founded that city with its fortress. And all the other lords who followed after him made some improvements in this fortress so that it was ever augmenting in size. From this fortress are seen around the city many houses a quarter of a league, half a league and a league away, and in the valley, which is surrounded by hills, there are more than five thousand houses, many of them for the pleasure and recreation of former lords and others for the caciques of all the land who dwell continuously in the city. The others are storehouses full of mantles, wool, arms, metals, and clothes and all the things which are grown or made in this land. There are houses where the tribute is kept which the vassals bring to the caciques; and there is a house where are kept more than a hundred dried birds because they make garments of their feathers, which are of many colors, and there are many houses for this [work]. There are bucklers, oval shields made of leather, beams for roofing the houses, knives and other tools, sandals and breast-plates for the warriors in such great quantity that the mind does not cease to wonder how so great a tribute of so many kinds of things can have been given. 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. The caciques and lords maintain their houses of recreation with the corresponding staff of servants and women who sow their fields with maize and place a little of it in their sepulchres. They adore the sun and have built many temples to him, and of all the things which they have, as much of clothes as of maize and other things, they offer some to the sun, of which the warriors later avail themselves.

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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 sierra is very high and rather broad, and with all this, it is excessively cold. There are in the region no groves or woods, nor is there any wood for burning, and what little there is in use there comes from trade, in exchange for merchandise, with those who live near the sea and are called Ingres, and also with those who live below near the rivers, for these people have fire-wood and they exchange it for sheep[112] and other animals and vegetables, since, for the most part, the land is sterile, and all the people live on roots, herbs, maize and sometimes flesh, not because there is not, in that province of the Collao, a good quantity of sheep, but because the people are so much the subjects of the lord to whom they are bound to give obedience that, without his licence or that of the chief or governor who, by his command, is in the country, they do not kill one [llama], nor do even the lords and caciques dare to kill any without such permission. The land is well populated because wars have not destroyed it as they have other provinces. The villages are of ordinary size and their houses are small, with walls of stone and adobe mixed and covered with roofs of straw. The grass which grows in this land is short and sparse. There are some rivers, although of small volume. In the middle of the province there is a great lake, in length almost one hundred leagues, and the most thickly peopled land is around its shore; in the middle of the lake there are two islets, and on one of them is a mosque and house of the sun which is held in great veneration, and to it they come to make their offerings and sacrifices on a great stone on the island which they call Tichicasa[113] which either because the devil hides himself there and speaks to them or because of an ancient custom, or on account of some other cause that has never been made clear, all the people of that province hold in great esteem, and they offer there gold, silver and other things. There are more than six hundred Indians serving in this place, and more than a thousand women who make chicha in order to throw it upon that stone Tichicasa.[114] The rich mines of that province of the Collao are beyond this lake [in a region] called Chuchiabo.[115] The mines are in the gorge [caja-chiusa] of a river, about half-way up the sides. They are made like caves, by whose mouths they enter to scrape the earth, and they scrape it with the horns of deer and they carry it outside in certain hides sewn into the form of sacks or of wine-skins of sheep-hide. The manner in which they wash it is that they take from the river a [jet?][116] of water, and on the bank they set up certain very smooth flag-stones on which they throw the water, after which they draw off by a duct the water of the [jet?] which has just fallen down [upon the gold-earth?], and the water carries off the earth little by little so that the gold is left upon the flag-stones themselves, and in this manner they collect it. The mines go far into the earth, one ten brazas, another twenty, and the greatest mine, which is called Guarnacabo[117] goes into the earth some forty brazas.[118] They have no light, nor are they broader than is necessary for one person to enter crouching down, and until the man who is in the mine comes out, no other can go in. 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, 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. 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.[120] But the richest mines, and the ones from which the most gold is got, are the first, which do not have the inconvenience of washing the earth, and, because of the cold, they do not work those mines more than four months of the year, [and then only] from the hour of noon to nearly sunset.[121] The people are very mild, and so accustomed to serve, that all that has to be done in the land they do themselves, and so it is, in the roads and in the houses which the chief lord commands them to build, and they continually offer themselves for work and for carrying the burdens of the warriors when the lord goes to some place [in the region]. The Spaniards took from those mines a load of earth and carried it to Cuzco without doing anything else. It was washed by the hand of the Governor after the Spaniards had sworn that they had not placed the gold in it or done anything to it save take it from the mine as the Indians did who washed it, and from it three pesos of gold was got. 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 [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. The people of this province, as well men as women, are very filthy, and they have large hands, and the province is very large.

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The city of Cuzco is the head and principal province of all the others, and from here to the beach of San Mateo and, in the other direction, to beyond the province of Collao, which is entirely a land of arrow-using savages, all is subject to one single lord who was Atabalipa, and, before him, to the other by-gone lords, and at present the lord of all is this son of Guarnacaba. This Guarnacaba, who was so renowned and feared, and is so even to this day, although he is dead, was very much beloved by his vassals, and subjected great provinces, and made them his tributaries. He was well obeyed and almost worshipped, and his body is in the city of Cuzco, quite whole, enveloped in rich cloths and lacking only the tip of the nose. There are other images of plaster of clay which have only the hair and nails which were cut off in life and the clothes that were worn, and these images are as much venerated by those people as if they were their gods. Frequently they take the [body] out into the plaza with music and dancing, and they always stay close to it, day and night, driving away the flies. When some important lords come to see the cacique, they go first to salute these figures, and they then go to the cacique and hold, with him, so many ceremonies that it would be a great prolixity to describe them. So many people assemble at these feasts, which are held in that plaza, that their number exceeds one hundred thousand souls. It turned out to be fortunate that they [the Spaniards] had made that son of Guarnacaba lord, because all the caciques and lords of the land and of remote provinces came to serve him and, out of respect for him, to yield obedience to the Emperor. The conquerors passed through great trials, because all the land is the most mountainous and roughest that can be traversed on horseback, and it may be believed that, had it not been for the discord which existed between the people of Quito and those of Cuzco and its neighbourhood, the Spaniards would never have entered Cuzco, nor would there have been enough of them to get beyond Xauxa, and in order to enter they would have had to go in a force of five hundred, and, to maintain themselves, they would have needed many more, because the land is so large and so rough that there are mountains and passes that ten men could defend against ten thousand. And the Governor never thought of being able to go with less than five hundred Christians to conquer, pacify, and make a tributary of it. But as he learned of the great disunion that existed between the people of that land [Cuzco] and those of Quito, it was proposed that he should go with the few Christians that he had to deliver them from subjection and servitude, and to put a stop to the mischief and wrongs that those of Quito were doing in that land, and Our Lord saw fit to favor him [in it]. Nor would the Governor ever have ventured to make so long and toilsome a journey in this great undertaking had it not been for the great confidence which he had in all the Spaniards of his company through having tried them out and having learned that they were dextrous and skilled in so many conquests and accustomed to these lands and to the toils of war. All of this they showed themselves to be in this journey through rains and snows, in swimming across many rivers, in crossing great mountain chains and in sleeping many nights in the open air without water to drink and without anything on which to feed, and always, day and night, having to be armed and on guard, in going, at the end of the war, to reduce many caciques and lands which had rebelled, and in going from Xauxa to Cuzco, on which journey they suffered, with their governor, so many trials and on which they so often placed their lives in peril in rivers and mountains where many horses were killed by falling headlong. This son of Guarnacaba has much friendship and concord with the Christians, and for this reason, in order to preserve him in the lordship, the Spaniards put themselves to infinite pains and likewise bore themselves in all these undertakings so valorously, and suffered so much, just as other Spaniards have been able to do in the service of the Emperor, that, as a result, the very Spaniards who have found themselves in this undertaking, marvel at what they have done when once more they set themselves to think upon it, and they do not know how they come to be alive as they have been able to suffer so many trials and such prolonged hunger. But they hold that all [their troubles] were put to a good use, and they would again offer themselves, were it necessary, to enter upon the greatest wearinesses for the conversion of those people and the exaltation of our holy catholic faith. Of the greatness and situation of the aforesaid land, I omit to speak, and it only remains to give thanks and praises to Our Lord because, so obviously, he has wished to guide with his hand the affairs of H. M. and of these kingdoms which, by his divine providence, have been illumined and directed upon the true road of salvation. May he bend his infinite goodness so that henceforth the [kingdoms] may go from good to better by the intercession of his blessed Mother, the advocate of all our steps who directs them to a good end.

This relation was finished in the city of Xauxa on the 15th day of the month of July, 1534. And I, Pero Sancho, Scrivener general of these kingdoms of New Castile and secretary of the governor Francisco Pizarro, by his order and that of the officials of H. M. wrote it just as things happened, and when it was finished I read it in the presence of the governor and of the officials of H. M., and, as it was all true, they said governor and officials of H. M. sign it with their hand.

Francisco Pizarro
Alvaro Riquelme.Antonio Navarro.
Garcia de Salcedo

By order of the Governor and Officials.Sancho

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Appleton's Encyclopaedia of American Biography:

Bandelier, Ad. F.:

Beuchat, Henri:

Bingham, Hiram:

Blas Valera:

Cabildos de Lima:

Cieza de Leon, Pedro de:

Cieza de Leon, Pedro de:

Cieza de Leon, Pedro de:

Cobo, Bernabe:

Estete, Miguel de:

Garcilasso de la Vega el Ynca:

Hodge, F. W.:

Hrdlicka, Ales:

Icazbalceta, Joaquin García:

Jimenez de la Espada, Marcos:

Joyce, T. A.:

Lafone-Quevedo, Samuel A.:

Markham, Sir Clements:

Markham, Sir Clements:

Montesinos, Fernando:

Moses, Bernard:

Oviedo y Valdes, Gonzolo Fernandez de:

Pinkerton, John:

Prescott, William Hickling:

Raimondi, A.:

Ramusio, Giambattista:

Sancho, Pedro:

Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro:

Squier, E. George:

Tello, Julio C.:

Trueba y Cosio, Telesforo.:

Uhle, Max:

Velasco, Juan de:

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