LXI.
THE CHIRIHUANAS COME TO MAKE WAR IN PERU AGAINST THOSE CONQUERED BY THE INCAS.
While Huayna Ccapac was occupied with this war of the Cayambis, the Chirihuanas, who form a nation of the forests, naked and eaters of human flesh, for which they have a public slaughter house, uniting, and, coming forth from their dense forests, entered the territory of Charcas, which had been conquered by the Incas of Peru. They attacked the fortress of Cuzco-tuyo, where the Inca had a large frontier garrison to defend the country against them. Their assault being sudden they entered the fortress, massacred the garrison, and committed great havock, robberies and murders among the surrounding inhabitants.
The news reached Huayna Ccapac at Quito, and he received it with much heaviness. He sent a captain, named Yasca, to Cuzco to collect troops, and with them to march against the Chirihuanas. This captain set out for Cuzco, taking with him the huaca "Cataquilla[118]" of Caxamarca and Huamachuco, and "Curichaculla" of the Chachapoyas; and the huacas "Tomayrica and Chinchay-cocha," with many people, the attendants of the huacas. He arrived at Cuzco where he was very well received by the Governors, Apu Hilaquito and Auqui Tupac Inca. Having collected his troops he left Cuzco for Charcas. On the road he enlisted many men of the Collao. With these he came up with the Chirihuanas and made cruel war upon them. He captured some to send to Huayna Ccapac at Quito, that the Inca might see what these strange men were like. The captain Yasca rebuilt the fortress and, placing in it the necessary garrison, he returned to Cuzco, dismissed his men, and each one returned to his own land.
[Note 118: It was the policy of the Incas that the idols and huacas of conquered nations should be sent to Cuzco and deposited there. Catiquilla was an idol of the Caxamarca and Huamachuco people. Arriaga calls it Apu-cati-quilla. Apu the great or chief, catic follower, quilla the moon. Apu-cati-quilla appears to have been a moon god. The other huacas are local deities, all sent to Cuzco. Catiquilla had been kept as an oracle in the village of Tauca in Conchucos (Calancha, p. 471). Cati-quilla would mean "following moon." (See also Extirpation de la idolatria del Peru, Joseph de Arriaga. Lima, 1627.)]