THE arms used by these Indians are darts, lances, slings, and blow-pipes. They are great lovers of noise, and when they go to war they take drums, flutes, and other instruments. They are deceitful and word breakers, nor will they keep the peace they have promised. Of the war they waged with the Spaniards I will treat in its proper place. Very great is the dominion that the devil, enemy of the human race, is allowed by God to have over this people, by reason of their sins, and often is he visibly amongst them. On the above-mentioned platform they have many cords fastened in the manner of a net, each forty brazas long, and we made use of these ropes for sandals. On the top of the platform they fastened the Indians whom they took in war by the shoulders, and cut out their hearts, which they offered to their gods or to the devil, in whose honour they made these sacrifices. Presently, without any long delay, they eat those whom they had thus killed. I saw no house of worship, but in the houses of the chiefs there were chambers well covered with mats and much ornamented. I saw one of these chapels in Paucora, as will be mentioned further on. In the furthest end of it there was a recess containing many clay vessels for incense, in which they burnt certain small herbs instead of incense. I saw these plants in the land of a lord of this province named Yayo, and they were so small as hardly to rise above the ground; some had a very black, and others a white flower; their smell resembled that of verbena. These, with other resins, they burnt before their idols. After they have performed these and other superstitious rites, the devil comes. They relate that he appears in the form of an Indian, with very bright eyes, and gives replies to the priests or ministers, to questions they ask him, concerning what they wish to know. Up to this time there are no clergymen or friars in any of these provinces, for the Indians are so evil disposed, and such butchers, that many of them have eaten the knights who possessed encomiendas[219] amongst them; yet, when they go to the Spanish settlements, they put aside their Gentile customs and vanities, and conform to our religion, receiving the water of baptism. And, God permitting, some chiefs of the provinces of this government have turned Christians, and abhor the devil, eschewing their former evil works.
The people of this province of Arma are of middle height, and all dark coloured, insomuch that in colour all the Indian men and women of these parts (where there is such a multitude of people as scarcely to be numbered, and so wide an extent of country) appear as if they were all children of one father and mother. The women of these Indians are the ugliest and dirtiest that I have seen in all these parts. Both men and women go naked, except that, to conceal their shame, they put a bit of cloth in front, a palmo broad, and a palmo and a half long, with which they cover themselves in front; for the rest they go quite naked. Some of the women go shorn, as do their husbands.
The fruits and other provisions they have are maize and yucas,[220] besides many other nourishing roots, some guayavas,[221] paltas,[222] and palms of the Pixiuares. The chiefs marry those women they most fancy, keeping one of them as the principal wife. The other Indians marry daughters and sisters of their neighbours without any order, and few find their wives to be virgins. The chiefs may have many wives, other men have one, two, or three, according to their means. When they die, the chiefs are buried in their houses, or on the heights of the mountains with the usual ceremonies and mourning. The sons succeed their fathers in the chieftainship, and in their houses and lands. Failing a son, the heir is the son of the sister, and not of the brother. Further on I will relate the reason of this custom of the nephew who is son of the sister, and not he who is son of the brother, inheriting, in the greater part of these provinces, according to what I have heard from many of the natives. The Indians are so fond of eating human flesh, that they have been seen to take women on the point of bringing forth, quickly open their bellies with knives of stone or cane, and take out the child; then, having made a great fire, they toast and eat it, together with the mother, and all is done with such rapidity that it is a thing to marvel at. For these sins, and for others that these Indians commit, Divine Providence has ordained that, though they are so widely separated from our region of Spain as to make it appear almost impossible to go from the one place to the other, yet that roads and ways over the mighty ocean should be opened to these lands, where only ten or fifteen Christians together conquer and subdue one thousand to ten thousand of these Indians. I do not believe, however, that this arises from our merits, for we are indeed great sinners; but because God chooses to punish these people by our means, and therefore permits these events to happen as they do.
But to return to our narrative: these Indians have no belief, so far as I can make out, nor do they understand more of God’s will than the devil tells them. The command which the chiefs have over their people extends no further than that the Indians build the houses for the chiefs, till their fields, give them as many of their women as they want, and wash gold out of the rivers for them, with which they trade with their neighbours. The chiefs select their captains in the wars, and accompany them in battle. In all things these Indians show little constancy. They are ashamed of nothing, nor do they know what virtue is, while in malice they are very cunning one against the other.
Beyond this province, to the eastward, are the mountains which are called Andes, broken up into rugged peaks. On the other side the Indians say there is a beautiful valley through which a river flows, and where (according to the stories of these natives of Arma) there are great riches and many Indians. In all these parts the women bring forth without the assistance of midwives, and after bringing forth they go to wash in a river, doing the same to their offspring, nor do they suffer any evil consequence from so doing; and fifty of these women suffer less pain in bringing forth than one of our nation.
CHAPTER XX.
Of the province of Paucura, and of the manners and customs of the natives.
BEYOND the great province of Arma there is another, called Paucura, which contained five or six thousand Indians when we first entered it with the Captain Jorge Robledo. The language of the Indians in this province differs from that of Arma. The customs of the people are the same, except that these are a better disposed race, and that the women wear a small mantle to cover a certain part of their bodies, and the men do the same. This province is very fertile for the growth of maize and other products. They are not so rich in gold as those in their rear, nor are their houses so large, nor is the country so rough. A river flows through the province, but it has few tributary streams. Close to the house of the principal chief, whose name was Pimana, there was a wooden idol, the size of a tall man. Its face was turned towards the rising sun, and its arms were spread out. Every Tuesday the Indians sacrificed to the devil in this province of Paucura, and the same was done in that of Arma, according to what the Indians told us; but I was unable to learn whether the victims were their own countrymen, or prisoners taken in war. Among the houses of the chiefs they have stout canes planted in a circle so as to form a cage, from which those who are put in cannot possibly escape. The captives taken in war are put into this cage and very well fed, and when they are fat, they are taken out on days of festivity, killed with great cruelty, and eaten. I saw several of these cages, or prisons, in the province of Arma. It is worthy of note, that when they wish to kill any of these unfortunates, with the intention of eating them, they make them kneel down and bow their heads, and then give them a blow on the back of the neck with such effect that they never speak again. I have seen what I describe, and the victim never speaks, even to ask for mercy; nay, some even laugh when they are killed, which is a very marvellous thing, but it proceeds more from bestiality than from courage. The heads of those who are eaten are stuck on the points of the canes. Passing this province, we reached a lofty plain, which is well peopled and covered with large houses. This district is called Pozo, and the people speak the same language, and have the same customs as those of Arma.
CHAPTER XXI.
Of the Indians of Pozo, and how valiant they are, and how dreaded by the neighbouring tribes.