The remaining part of his history is not so creditable, for he seems to have committed great atrocities in his Conchucos war. The statements of Cieza de Leon are quoted by G. de la Vega (ii, lib. ii, cap. 28), who corroborates the account given by the former, of the cruelties perpetrated by Chaves:—a shameful return for the kindness and forbearance he had himself experienced at the hands of the Indians. He was with Pizarro when the assassins came to murder him. Pizarro called to Chaves to close the door, in order that he and his friends might have time to arm. Instead of obeying, Chaves went out to parley with the intruders, and met them coming up the stairs. He had scarcely asked them their business before he was stabbed to death, and his body hurled down the steps. The assassins then completed their bloody work by the murder of the conqueror of Peru.
[412] Nor, if he would speak out, was our young author without sympathy for the Indians, and their sufferings.
[413] Also called the lake of Chinchaycocha. Near its southern shore the famous cavalry action was fought in 1823 between the Spaniards and Patriots, known as the battle of Junin, in which the gallant old general Miller distinguished himself. The lake is thirty-six miles long in a north-west and south-east direction, with an average breadth of about six miles, and 12,940 feet above the level of the sea. The plain or basin in which it lies, is forty-five miles long and from six to twelve broad, with a gravelly soil producing a short grass. A great number of large and beautiful water-fowl, including the scarlet flamingo and several varieties of snipe, frequent the banks of the lake, which are overgrown by reeds. As the lake loses by various outlets much more water than it receives from its tributary sources, it is evident that it must be fed by subterraneous springs. The Indians entertain a superstitious belief that this lake is haunted by huge fish-like animals, who at certain hours of the night leave their watery abode to prowl about the adjacent pasture lands, where they commit great havoc among the cattle. Von Tschudi, Herndon.
[414] The lake of Bombon or Chinchay-cocha is drained by the river of Xauxa, which flows into the Mantaro, one of the sources of the Ucayali, a principal affluent of the Amazon. The other rivers mentioned above, namely the Vilcas, Abancay, Apurimac, and Yucay, are also tributaries of the Ucayali. The erroneous surmise of Cieza de Leon and his informants, who would carry off all these streams into the Paraguay, is by no means surprising when we remember that maps were published in England not twenty years ago, which conveyed the waters of the Beni right across the line of drainage of the great river Purus, and poured them into the Ucuyali! The mistake of Cieza de Leon possibly arose from his having observed that the Xauxa flows south while in the mountains, and that all other tributaries of the Amazon flow north. The Xauxa does not change its direction until it enters the tropical forests, far beyond the ken of the early conquerors.
[415] No more picturesque view can charm the eye of the weary traveller than is presented by the immense garden which forms the valley of Xauxa, which is forty square leagues in extent. Its two principal towns are Xauxa and Huancayo, in the centre of the valley is the convent of Ocopa, and the remaining population is scattered in small villages surrounded by trees on either side of the river of Xauxa, which flows through the valley. The mighty Andes bound the river on every side.
[416] The Huancas were conquered by Ccapac Yupanqui, the brother and general of the Ynca Pachatutec; and at that time they are said to have numbered thirty thousand souls in the valley of Xauxa. Garcilasso informs us that, before they were subjugated by the Yncas, they worshipped the figure of a dog, and feasted on the flesh of dogs. He surmises that they adored the dog-idol because they were so fond of roast dog. G. de la Vega, i, lib. vi, cap. 10. Huancar (“a drum” in Quichua,) is probably a name given to this nation by the Yncas.
[417] “The temple of Guarivilca, in the valley of Xauxa, was consecrated to the god Ticeviracocha, chief divinity of the Huancas, whose singular worship reminds one of the mythology of the northern countries of Europe. Notwithstanding the most scrupulous investigations, it has been impossible to find any vestiges of the ruins of this temple.” Antiq. Per.
[418] Schinus Molle Lin.
[419] Vincente de Valverde, a Dominican friar, accompanied Pizarro to Peru, and we first hear of him as addressing an intolerably prolix theological discourse to the Ynca Atahualpa, when he came to visit the Spanish camp at Caxamarca. The treacherous friar completed his evil work by calling out to Pizarro and his bloodhounds to attack their guest. Valverde continued to torment the ill-fated Ynca with his theology while in prison, until the poor captive’s sufferings were consummated by his murder on August 29th, 1533. We next find him tormenting the unfortunate general Challcuchina, whom Pizarro burnt alive, disturbing his last moments by officious importunities. He performed mass at the humiliating coronation of Ynca Manco, who received the llautu from the hands of Pizarro. Valverde was soon afterwards confirmed as bishop of Cuzco by the Pope in 1538. He returned to Spain, but came out to Peru again in the following year (1539), and wrote a curious letter to Charles V, still preserved in the archives of Simancas, in which he describes the ruin and devastation caused by the Spaniards in the once flourishing capital of the Yncas. Bishop Valverde protested against the execution of Almagro; and also endeavoured to save Pizarro’s secretary, who was put to death at Lima by the assassins of his master. The assassins allowed the bishop to depart in a vessel from Callao, which touched at the island of Puna, where he was killed by the Indians in 1541.
Valverde was the first bishop of Cuzco, from 1538 to 1541. He was succeeded by friar Juan Solano (1545-62), since whose time twenty-six bishops have filled that episcopal chair.