[263] Rumi (a stone) and chaca (a bridge) in Quichua.
[264] Yahuar (blood) and Cocha (a lake) in Quichua.
[265] After the conquest of Quito by Huayna Ccapac, the cacique of Carangue was the first to submit to his authority, and, while he lulled the Ynca and his captains into security, he meditated their destruction by a sudden and secret blow. Suspecting nothing, they were encamped in his country, when his Indians made a furious attack upon them in the dead of night, many of the nobles of the guard were killed, and the Ynca himself narrowly escaped with his life. Huayna Ccapac resolved to give these people of Carangue a terrible and memorable lesson. He put every man in the province, who was capable of bearing arms, to death, and ordered their bodies to be thrown into the lake, which to this day is called “the lake of blood.” Garcilasso de la Vega considers that the number stated by Cieza de Leon to have been put to death on this occasion is an exaggeration, and that two thousand would be nearer the truth than twenty thousand. G. de la Vega, i, lib. ix, cap. ii; Velasco, i, p. 18.
[266] Huayna (a youth) and cuna (the plural) in Quichua.
[267] Before the country of Quito was conquered by the Yncas, it was governed by native kings called Scyris. The Ynca Tupac Yupanqui first extended his dominion beyond the frontiers of Quito, and Huayna Ccapac completed the conquest in 1487. Cacha, the last Scyri, was killed in battle, and Paccha, his only daughter, was married to Huayna Ccapac and became the mother of Atahualpa.
[268] The Amazon.
[269] It seems to be generally allowed, even by Velasco, that all the ruins in the kingdom of Quito date from the time of the Yncas, and that none can be referred to the Scyris, or native kings.
[270] It was partly in search of this spice, that Gonzalo Pizarro undertook his famous expedition into Quijos. The dried calyx alone is used as a spice, and its flavour resembles a mixture of cinnamon and cloves. The tree is a species of Lauracea. Herrera describes it as resembling an olive, with large pods. Velasco declares that the cinnamon of his country exceeds that of Ceylon in fragrance and sweetness. Garcilasso de la Vega says that the cinnamon tree of Quijos, a province of Quito, is very tall, with large leaves, and fruit growing in clusters like acorns. He adds that many grow wild in the forests, but that they are not so good as those which the Indians get from trees which they plant and cultivate for their own use, but not for the people of Peru, who care for nothing but their own condiment called uchu (aji, pepper). When I was in the forests of Caravaya, in Southern Peru, I met with trees of great height which my guide called canela (cinnamon). The inner bark had a strong taste of that spice, and the natives use it to scent and flavour their huarapu or fermented juice of the sugar cane. G. de la Vega, ii, lib. iii, cap. 2; Velasco, i, p. 51; Markham’s Travels in Peru and India, p. 264.
[271] The quinua (Chenopodium Quinua L.) is cultivated in the higher parts of the Andes of Quito and Peru, and is probably the hardiest cereal in the world, growing at the greatest elevation above the level of the sea. Velasco mentions two kinds, the white and red. The former is a small white round grain, extensively raised on the cold lofty mountains, and yielding good food; the latter, a very small round red grain, only eaten toasted. Garcilasso de la Vega mentions quinua as having been extensively cultivated by the ancient Peruvians, both for the sake of the grain, and for the leaves, which they use in soup. He sent some seeds of it to Spain in the year 1590, but they did not come up. In Quichua the cultivated plant is called quinua; the green leaves, lliccha; the plant growing wild, azar; a pudding made of quinua grains, pisque; and boiled quinua grains, dried in the sun and ground into a coarse powder for food on a journey, quispiña. At harvest time the stalks are cut and tied up in bundles, and the grain is then beaten out with sticks. It is an insipid and not very nutritious grain.
Ulloa gives the following account of the quinoa. It resembles a lentil in shape, but is much smaller and very white. When boiled it opens, and out of it comes a spiral fibre, which appears like a small worm, but whiter than the husk of the grain. It is an annual plant, being sown every year. The stem is about three or four feet in height, and has a large pointed leaf. The flower is of a deep red, and five or six inches long, and in it are contained the grains or seeds. The quinoa is eaten boiled like rice, and has a very pleasant taste. It is used in external applications, ground and boiled to a proper consistency, and applied to the part affected, from which it soon extracts all corrupt humours occasioned by a contusion. Ulloa’s Voyage, i, p. 290.