# The Incas of Peru/Chapter 1

THE INCAS OF PERU
CHAPTER I
THE TELLERS OF THE STORY
Before entering upon a contemplation of the Inca history and civilisation, a story of no ordinary interest, it seems natural to wish for some acquaintance with those who told the story. It is not intended to enter upon a full critical examination of their work. That has been done elsewhere. It will suffice to give a more popular account of the tellers of the story.
Rude and destructive as most of the Spanish conquerors were, and as all are generally supposed to have been, there were some who sympathised with the conquered people, were filled with admiration at their civilisation and the excellent results of their rule, and were capable of making researches and recording their impressions. Nor were these authors confined to the learned professions. First and foremost were the military writers. Some of their works are lost to us, but the narratives of at least four have been preserved.
​Among these Pedro de Cieza de Leon takes the first and most honourable place. Imagine a little boy of fourteen entering upon a soldier's life in the undiscovered wilds of South America, and, without further instruction, becoming the highest authority on Inca history. It seems wonderful, yet it was at the early age of fourteen that Cieza de Leon embarked for the new world. He was born in 1519 at the town of Llerena, in Estremadura, about nineteen leagues east of Badajos, at the foot of the Sierra de San Miguel, a Moorish looking place surrounded by a wall with brick towers, and five great gates. It produced several distinguished men, including Juan de Pozo, the watchmaker who placed the giralda on the tower of Seville Cathedral. At Llerena Pedro de Cieza passed his childhood, but his boyhood was scarce begun when he embarked at Seville; serving under Pedro de Heredia, the founder and first governor of Carthagena, on the Spanish Main. Soon afterwards, in 1538, young Pedro de Cieza joined the expedition of Vadillo up the valley of the Cauca. At an age when most boys are at school, this lad had been sharing all the hardships and perils of seasoned veterans, and even then he was gifted with powers of observation far beyond his years.
The character of our soldier chronicler was destined to be formed in a rough and savage school. It is certainly most remarkable that so fine a character should have been formed amidst ​all the horrors of the Spanish American conquests. Humane, generous, full of noble sympathies, observant and methodical; he was bred amidst scenes of cruelty, pillage, and wanton destruction, which were calculated to produce a far different character. Considering the circumstances in which he was placed from early boyhood, his book is certainly a most extraordinary, as well as a most valuable, result of his military services and researches. He began to write a journal when serving under Robledo in the Cauca valley in 1541. He says: 'As I noted the many great and strange things that are to be seen in the new world of the Indies there came upon me a strong desire to write an account of some of them, as well those which I have seen with my own eyes as those I heard of from persons of good repute.' In another place he says: 'Oftentimes when the other soldiers were sleeping, I was tiring myself in writing. Neither fatigue nor the ruggedness of the country, nor the mountains and rivers, nor intolerable hunger and suffering, have ever been sufficient to obstruct my two duties, namely, writing and following my flag and my captain without fault.'
Cieza de Leon made his way by land to Quito, and then travelled all over Peru collecting information. He finished the first part of his 'Chronicle' in September 1550, when at the age of thirty-two. It is mainly a geographical description of the country, with sailing directions for the coast, and an account of the Inca roads and bridges. In ​the second part he reviewed the system of government of the Incas, with the events of each reign. He spared no pains to obtain the best and most authentic information, and in 1550 he went to Cuzco to confer with one of the surviving Incas. His sympathy with the conquered people, and generous appreciation of their many good qualities, give a special charm to his narrative.
Cieza de Leon stands first in the first rank of authorities on Inca civilisation.
Another soldier-author was Juan de Betanzos. We first hear of his book from Friar Gregorio de Garcia, who wrote his 'Origen de los Indios' in 1607. He announced that he possessed the manuscript of Betanzos, and he made great use of it, copying the first two chapters wholesale. The incomplete manuscript in the Escurial, of which Prescott had a copy, only contains the eighteen first chapters and part of another. It was edited ​and printed in 1880 by Jimenez de la Espada. The complete manuscript which belonged to Garcia has not been found. Juan de Betanzos was probably from Galicia, and came to Peru with Hernando Pizarro. He became a citizen of Cuzco, and married a daughter of the Inca Atahualpa. Betanzos took great pains to learn the Quichua language, and was employed to negotiate with the Incas in Vilcapampa. He was appointed official interpreter to the Audiencia and to successive Viceroys. His principal work, entitled 'Suma y narracion de los Incas,' was composed by order of the Viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, and was finished in 1551, but was not published owing to the Viceroy's death. He also wrote a 'Doctrina,' and two vocabularies which are lost. The date of the death of Betanzos is unknown, but he certainly lived twenty years after he wrote the 'Suma y narracion.' Betanzos was imbued with the spirit of the natives, and he has portrayed native feeling and character as no other Spaniard could have done. He gives an excellent and almost dramatic account of the Chanca war with the Incas, and his versions of the early myths are important. He ranks next to Cieza de Leon as an authority.
Sarmiento, a militant sailor, is the highest authority as regards the historical events of the Inca period, though his work has only quite recently been brought to light. The beautiful manuscript, illustrated with coats of arms, found its way into the library of Gronovius, and was bought for the ​University of Göttingen in 1785. It remained in the university library, unnoticed, for 120 years. But, in August 1906, the learned librarian, Dr. Pietschmann, published the text at Berlin, carefully edited and annotated and with a valuable introduction.
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa was a seaman of some distinction, and was a leader in Mandana's voyage to the Solomon Islands. He accompanied the Viceroy Toledo, and was employed by that statesman to write a history of the Incas. It is without doubt the most authentic and reliable we possess, as regards the course of events. For it was compiled from the carefully attested evidence of the Incas themselves, who were officially examined on oath, so that Sarmiento had the means of obtaining accurate information which no other writer possessed. The chapters were afterwards read over to the forty-two Incas who gave evidence, in their own language, and received their final corrections. The history was finished and sent to Spain in 1572.
Pedro Pizarro, who was a cousin of the conqueror, went to Peru as his page when only fifteen. He eventually retired to Arequipa, where he wrote his 'Relaciones,' finished in 1571. Prescott ​had a copy of the manuscript, but it was not printed until quite recently. There were other writers among the military men, notably Francisco de Chaves, but their work is lost to us.
Among the lawyers the work of Zarate was published in 1555, differing a good deal from the manuscript, and it is not of much value. The writings of the licentiate Polo de Ondegardo are more important. He occupied the post of Corregidor of Cuzco in 1560, and accompanied the Viceroy Toledo on his journey of inspection ten years afterwards. He made researches into the laws and administration of the Incas, but his knowledge of the language was limited. His two 'Relaciones' were written in 1561 and 1570. They have never been printed. Prescott had copies of them. Another 'Report' by Polo is in the National Library at Madrid. It describes the division and tenure of land, and some administrative details. The 'Relacion' of Fernando de Santillan is of about the same value, and was written at the same period. It is mainly devoted to a discussion of the laws and customs relating to the collection of tribute. The licentiate Juan de Matienza was a contemporary of Ondegardo and Santillan, and discussed the ancient institutions with the same objects. His manuscript is in the British Museum. In the following century Juan ​de Solorzano digested the numerous laws in the 'Politica Indiana,' and the prolific legislation of the Viceroy Toledo is embodied in the 'Ordenanzas del Peru,' published at Lima in 1683. All the lawyers who studied the subject express their admiration of the government of the Incas.
The geographers were the local officials who were ordered to draw up topographical reports on their several provinces. Most of these reports were written between 1570 and 1590, and they naturally vary very much in value. The 'Relaciones Geograficas de Indias (Peru)' were published at Madrid in four large volumes, between 1881 and 1897.
The priests were the most diligent inquirers respecting the native religion, rites and ceremonies. The first priest who came with Pizarro was the Dominican friar, Vicente de Valverde. He wrote a 'Carta Relacion' on the affairs of Peru, and some letters to Charles V, containing original information, but he left the country in 1541, and was there too short a time for his writings to be of much value. The best known clerical author on Peru was the Jesuit Josef de Acosta, who was born at Medina del Campo in 1540, and was in Peru from 1570 to 1586, travelling over all parts of the country. He then went to Mexico, and died at Salamanca in 1600. His great work, 'Historia Natural de las Indias,' in its complete form, was first published at Seville in 1590. Hakluyt and Purchas gave extracts from it, and the whole work was translated into English in 1604 ​by Edward Grimston. It was much used by subsequent writers. The Inca Garcilasso quotes it twenty-seven times, and Prescott nineteen times. Acosta's work will always be valuable, but he was superficial and an indifferent Quichua scholar. He is superseded in several branches of his subject by writers whose works have become known in recent years.
Among these the most important is Cristoval de Molina, priest of the hospital for natives at Cuzco, who wrote a 'Report on the Fables and Rites of the Incas' addressed to the Bishop Artaun, 1570-84. Molina had peculiar opportunities for collecting accurate information. He was a master of the Quichua language, he examined native chiefs and learned men who could remember the Inca Empire in the days of its prosperity, and his position at the hospital at Cuzco gave him an intimate acquaintance with the native character. Molina gives very interesting accounts of the periodical festivals and the religion, and twelve prayers in the original Quichua. Very intimately connected with the work of Molina is that of Miguel Cavello Balboa, who wrote at Quito between 1576 and 1586. In the opening address of Molina to the Bishop he mentions a previous account which he had submitted on the origin, history, and government of the Incas. This account appears to have been procured and appropriated by Balboa, who tells us that his history is based on the learned writings of Cristoval de Molina.
​Miguel Cavello Balboa was a soldier who took orders late in life and went out to Peru in 1566. He settled at Quito and devoted himself to the preparation of his work entitled 'Miscellanea Austral.' He is the only authority who gives any tradition respecting the origin of the coast people; and he supplies an excellent narrative of the war between Huascar and Atahualpa, including the love episode of Quilacu.
The history of the Incas by Friar Martin de Morua is still in manuscript. Morua had studied the Quichua language. His work, finished in 1590, is full of valuable information. A copy of the manuscript was obtained by Dr. Gonzalez de la Rosa from the Loyola archives in 1909.
Some of the Jesuits were engaged in the work of extirpating idolatry. Their reports throw light on the legends and superstitions of the people on and near the coast. These are contained in the very rare work of Arriaga (1621), and in the report of Avila on the legends and myths of Huarochiri. The work of another Jesuit named Luis de Teruel, who wrote an account of his labours for the extirpation of idolatry, is lost, as well as that of Hernando Avendaño, some of whose sermons in Quichua have been preserved. Fray Alonzo Ramos Gavilan, in his 'History of the Church of Copacabana' (1620), throws light on the movements of the mitimaes or colonists in the Collao, and gives some new details respecting the consecrated virgins, the sacrifices, ​and the deities worshipped on the shores of lake Titicaca. The 'Coronica Moralizada,' by Antonio de la Calancha (1638-53), is a voluminous record of the Order of St. Augustine in Peru. There is a good deal that is interesting and important scattered among the stories of martyrdoms and miracles of the Augustine friars. Calancha gives many details respecting the manners and customs of the Indians, and the topography of the country. He is the only writer who has given any account of the religion of the Chimu. He also gives the most accurate version of the Inca calendar. The chronicle of the Franciscans by Diego de Cordova y Salinas, published at Madrid in 1643, is of less value.
Fernando Montesinos, born at Cuenca, was in holy orders and a licentiate in canon law. He appears to have gone to Peru in 1629, in the train of the Viceroy Count of Chinchon. After filling some appointments, he gave himself up entirely to historical researches and mining speculations, travelling over all parts of Peru. In 1639 he came to live at Lima, and he was employed to write an account of the 'Auto de Fé' in that year. He also published a book on the workings of metals. The last date which shows Montesinos to have been in Peru is 1642. After his return to Spain he became cura of a village near Seville, and in 1644 he submitted a memorial to the King asking for some dignity as a reward for his services.
Montesinos wrote 'Ophir de España, Memorias Historiales y Politicas del Peru.' The long list of ​Kings of Peru given by Montesinos did not originate with him, but was due to earlier writers long before his time. He, however, collected some interesting traditions, but his absurd contention that Peru was peopled by Armenians under the leadership of Noah's great-grandson Ophir destroys all confidence in his statements.
The work of Montesinos was found by Muñoz in the convent of San José at Seville. Muñoz got possession of the manuscripts, and Ternaux Compans obtained a copy, of which he published a French translation in 1840. The manuscripts were brought to Madrid, and Jimenez de la Espada published the second book, containing the long list of Peruvian Kings, in 1882.
By far the greatest of the clerical authors who wrote on Inca civilisation had the advantage of being a mestizo. Blas Valera was the son of Lius de Valera, a soldier of the conquest, by a Peruvian lady of the court of Atahualpa, and was born at Chachapoyas in about 1540. He was brought up at Caxamarca, and afterwards at Truxillo, until his twentieth year. At Truxillo he learnt Latin, while Quichua was his native tongue. He took orders at the age of twenty-eight, and became a Jesuit. In 1571 he was sent to Cuzco as a catechist, and was there for at least ten years. He then went to Juli and La Paz, and later was at Quito and in the northern parts of Peru. In about 1594 he embarked at Callao for Cadiz. He was in that city when it was taken ​by the English under the Earl of Essex in 1596. But the Jesuits were allowed to depart with their papers. Blas Valera died soon afterwards.
Blas Valera had qualifications and advantages possessed by no other writer. The Inca Garcilasso knew Quichua, but he was a child, and only twenty when he went to Spain. It was after an interval of forty years that he thought of writing about his native country. Blas Valera, like Garcilasso, was half a Peruvian, and Quichua was his native language. But unlike Garcilasso, instead of going to Spain when he was twenty, he worked for Peru and its people for thirty years, devoting himself to a study of the history, literature, and ancient customs of his countrymen, receiving their records and legends from the older Amautas and Quipucamayocs who could remember the Inca rule, and their lists of kings. His perfect mastery of the language enabled him to do this with a thoroughness which no Spaniard could approach.
Blas Valera brought his writings with him to Spain, doubtless with a view to publication. He had written a 'Historia del Peru' in Latin which, after his death, was given to the Inca Garcilasso, who made very extensive use of it. According to the bibliographers, Antonio and Leon Pinelo, another work by Blas Valera was 'De los Indies del Peru, sus costumbres y pacificacion.' It was lost. But in 1879 Jimenez de la Espada found a most valuable manuscript on the same subject ​without the name of the author. He published it under the name of the 'Anonymous Jesuit.' Dr. Gonzalez de la Rosa has brought forward arguments, which appear to be quite conclusive, and which are given in another place, that the anonymous Jesuit was no other than Blas Valera. Another work of the learned mestizo, also lost, was entitled 'Vocabulario Historico del Peru.' It was brought from Cadiz to the college of La Paz in 1604, by the Procurador of the Jesuits, named Diego Torres Vasquez. It was this work that contained the long lists of kings. This is clear from the statement of Father Anello Oliva in his history of distinguished men of the Company of Jesus, written in 1631. Oliva had seen the 'Vocabulario Historico del Peru,' and learnt from it the great antiquity of the Peruvian kingdom. Montesinos no doubt copied his list from the 'Vocabulario,' which was then at La Paz. The premature death of Blas Valera, and the disposal of his valuable manuscripts, is the most deplorable loss that the history of Inca civilisation has sustained.
The work of a more recent author has come to light through the diligence of Jimenez de la Espada. This is the history of the New World by Father Bernabe Cobos, in four large volumes. ​It is a valuable addition to our authorities on ancient Peru, and is more especially valuable for its chapters containing full accounts of the minerals, medicinal plants and edible vegetables, and of the fauna of Peru.
A narrative has been recently brought to light by Don Carlos Romero, in the Revista Historica, of Lima, written by a Dominican monk named Reginaldo de Lizarraga, in about 1605. It is entitled 'Descripcion de las Indias,' and consists of two parts, one geographical and the other chiefly biographical. Lizarraga travelled all over the country, from Quito to the most southern part of Chile. Finally, he became Bishop of Asuncion in Paraguay, where he died in about 1612. The geographical descriptions of Lizarraga are sketchy and unequal to those of Cieza de Leon, and he is very unsympathetic when referring to the Incas, or to the unfortunate Indians. His work is mainly occupied with brief notices of prelates and viceroys, devoting more space to the proceedings of the Viceroy Toledo. There are only two statements of interest in his work. One is that a wall was built on the pass of Vilcañota, to divide the territory of the Incas from that of the Collas. In another he gives what is clearly the correct story about Mancio Serra de Leguisamo having gambled away the great image of the sun in one night. These statements will be referred to in their places.
​Blas Valera and the Inca Garcilasso are the two mestizo authors. The latter is so important a personage that a separate essay is devoted to his biography.
Gomara and Herrera were never in the country, and writers living after the end of the seventeenth century have no claim to be looked upon as original authorities.
There were two pure-blooded Indians whose writings are of very great value. The first was a chief living near the borders of Collahua, south of Cuzco, calling himself Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua, who wrote his account of the antiquities of Peru in about 1620. I found the manuscript in the National Library at Madrid, and the Hakluyt Society published my translation in 1873. The Spanish text was afterwards edited and published by Jimenez de la Espada. It gives the traditions of the Incas, as they were handed down by the grandchildren of those who were living at the time of the Spanish conquest to their grandchildren. They are entitled to a certain authority, and Salcamayhua gives three Quichua prayers to the Supreme Being which are of extraordinary interest.
The work of the second Indian author is quite a recent discovery. It was found by Dr. Pietschmann, the librarian of the University of Göttingen, in the Royal Library at Copenhagen in 1908. The title is 'Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno,' de Don Felipe Huaman Poma de Ayala; a very thick quarto of 1179 pages, with numerous clever ​pen-and-ink sketches, almost one for every page. There is a particular account of the author's ancestry, for not only did he descend from Yarrovilca, Lord of Huanuco, but his mother was a daughter of the great Inca Tupac Yupanqui. His father saved the life of a Spaniard named Ayala at the battle of Huarina, and ever afterwards adopted that name after his own. His son, the author, did the same. The work opens with a letter from the father, Martin Huaman Mallqui de Ayala, to Philip II, recommending his son's book to the royal notice. The author himself, Huaman Poma de Ayala, was chief of Lucanas.
The work commences with a history of the creation, the deluge, down to St. Peter's presentation of the keys to the Pope, about fifty-six pages, with excellent pen-and-ink sketches to illustrate the events. Then follow notices of the earliest traditions about Peruvian history, and the arrival of St. Bartholomew. The portraits of the twelve Incas are each accompanied by a page of description. The great value of the portraits consists in the excellent drawings of dresses and weapons. Portraits of the Ccoyas or Queens follow, and then those of fifteen famous captains. About sixty pages are devoted to the ordinances and laws, with a picture of the Inca surrounded by his councillors. Each month of the calendar is given, illustrated by pictures in which the exact shapes of agricultural implements are shown, among other things. Then ​come details of the Huacas or idols, divination, fasts, interments, and very graphic representations of the punishments for various offences. There is a chapter on the Virgins of the Sun with an illustration, and several Quichua harvest, hunting, dancing, and love songs. Huaman Poma next describes the palaces, and gives an account of the occupations of the people at various ages.
Then comes the conquest. The author gives pictures of Atahualpa, of Pizarro and Almagro, and of his own relations being roasted alive by Pizarro. There are a series of portraits of the eight first Viceroys, and of the later native chiefs in Spanish dress. Next a long series of pictures of cities in Peru, nearly all imaginary, and lists of post-houses, or tambos, on the various roads. But by far the most remarkable feature of this chronicle is an open and fearless attack on the cruel tyranny of the Spanish rule. The combined writer and artist spares neither priest nor corregidor. We see people being flogged, beaten with clubs, and hung up by the heels. There is a woman stripped naked and flogged because her tribute was two eggs short, shameful treatment of girls is depicted, inhuman flogging of children, forced marriages, and priests gambling with corregidors.
The author travelled all over Peru in some capacity, interceding for, and trying to protect, the unfortunate people. He was writing during thirty years, from 1583 to 1613. He concludes with ​an anticipation of the treatment of his book by the Christians of the world. 'Some,' he thinks, 'will weep, others will laugh, others will curse, others will commend him to God, others from rage will want to destroy the book. A few will want to have it in their hands.'
It is addressed to King Philip II, and the author had the temerity to take it down to Lima for transmission to Spain. He hoped to be appointed Protector of the Indians. We do not know what became of him. How the book, with all those damning illustrations, escaped destruction, and how it was ever allowed to be sent home, is a mystery! One would give much to know the fate of the author, so full of compassion for his ill-fated countrymen, diligent as a collector of information of all kinds, proud of his ancestry, a gifted artist, full of sympathy, fearless in the exposure of injustice and cruelty. Huaman Poma was a hero of whom any country might be proud. A vein of humour runs through his sketches. Their escape from destruction is little short of miraculous. At length this most important work is in good and sympathetic hands, and will be given to the world. It is, without exception, the most remarkable as well as the most interesting production of native genius that has come down to our time.
We have seen that the story of the Incas has been told by priests, soldiers, lawyers, by mestizos and by pure-blooded Indians. Seeing the same acts ​and events from different points of view, hearing them from various people, biased by prejudices which tend to obscure the truth, some desirous of securing accuracy, others thinking more of proving their case, some transparently honest, others less so in varied degrees,—it is evident that discrimination is called for after careful study. The following essays are the results of such study by one who has devoted many years of research to a most interesting and fascinating story.
* ↑ See the Narrative and Critical History of America (New York and Boston, 1889), vol. ii. chap. iv. p. 259.
* ↑ The first part is quoted thirty times, oftener than any other authority, by the Inca Garcilasso. He copies long and important passages. The first part was published in 1554. Prescott quotes Cieza oftener than any other authority except Garcilasso: Garcilasso 89, Cieza 45 times. The second part has a curious history. The MS. narrative, which Prescott referred to as 'Sarmiento,' is in reality the second part of the Chronicle of Cieza de Leon. It was addressed to Juan Sarmiento, then President of the Council of the Indies, and Prescott assumed that he was the author. The MS. was preserved in the Escurial, and a copy was sent to Prescott. The text was printed by Dr. Gonzalez de la Rosa in 1873, and by Jimenez de la Espada at Madrid in 1880. English editions of the first part in 1864, and the second part in 1883, were translated and edited by Sir Clements Markham for the Hakluyt Society.
* ↑ It was translated into English by Sir Clements Markham for the Hakluyt Society in 1907.
* ↑ For an account of the adventurous life of Sarmiento see the introduction to his voyages by Sir Clements Markham (Hakluyt Society, 1895).
* ↑ In the Coleccion de documentos ineditos para la Historia de España, v. 201-388.
* ↑ Edited and printed by Jimenez de la Espada in 1879.
* ↑ The original Spanish text of Balboa is unknown. We only have a French translation, by Ternaux Compans, published in 1840.
* ↑ The memorial is in the British Museum.
* ↑ See his life, which forms the subject of another chapter, p. 260.
* ↑ Historia del Peru y Varones Insignes en santidad de la Compania de Jesus por el Padre Anello Oliva de la misma compania. Published by Señor Varela, at Lima.
* ↑ Printed at Seville in 1900 by the Sociedad de Bibliofilos Andaluces and edited by Don Marcos Jimenez de la Espada.
* ↑ Revista Historica (Lima, 1907), tom. ii. trimestres iii. and iv.