The travels of Pedro de Cieza de Léon; part 2

by Pedro de Cieza de León

[69] One of the generals of Atahualpa.

[70] Another of Atahualpa’s generals.

[71] Zarate and Garcilasso de la Vega give the names of Hernando de Soto, and Pedro del Barco of Lobon, as those of the first Spaniards who were sent by Pizarro to Cuzco. Pedro Pizarro, who was at Caxamarca at the time, says that only two were sent, Martin Bueno and Pedro Martin de Moguer.

They left Caxamarca on February 15th, 1533, and remained one week at Cuzco. Xeres says that three men were sent. The truth seems to have been that three soldiers named Pedro Moguer, Francisco de Zarate, and Martin Bueno were first sent; but that they behaved with so much imprudence and insolence at Cuzco as to endanger their own lives and the success of their mission. Pizarro, therefore, ordered two officers of distinction, Hernando de Soto and Pedro del Barco, to follow the three soldiers to Cuzco.—See G. de la Vega, Part II lib. i, cap. 31; Herrera, Dec. v. lib. i, cap. 1; Zarate, II, cap. vi; Gomara, cap. cxiv; Xeres, p. 72.

[72] Matrons in charge of virgins of the Sun. The word seems to be used here, and elsewhere, for all females connected with the temples.

[73] Uira means “grease”, and Ccocha, “a lake”. The word for the sea is Mama-ccocha. Montesinos says that Uira, in the word Uiracocha, was a corruption of Pirua, meaning all things united together. Pirua literally means a “granary”. Garcilasso de la Vega pointed out that Uira-ccocha would mean a “Sea of grease”, not “Foam of the Sea”: the genitive always being placed first. Ccochap-uira would be “Foam of the sea”.

But the Ynca Garcilasso, though he points out the errors of other writers, does not explain the meaning of the word himself. He simply infers that it is a proper name, the original meaning of which is lost; and adds that Blas Valera says that it signified “the will and power of God”, not because that is the etymology of the component words, but because of the God-like qualities ascribed to Uira-ccocha.

[74] In the beginning of 1550.

[75] Balboa says that four brothers and four sisters came out of Pacarec Tampu or Tampu Toco, named Manco Capac, Ayar Cacha, Ayar Auca, and Ayar Uchi; the women being Mama Guaca, Mama Cora, Mama Ocllo, Mama Arahua. Montesinos gives the names as—Ayar Manco Tupac, Ayar Uchu Tupac, Aya Sauca Tupac, and Ayar Cachi Tupac, and the women Mama Cora, Hipa Huacum, Mama Huacum, Pilco Huacum. Garcilasso de la Vega also says that there were four brothers and four sisters, namely, Manco Capac, Ayar Cachi, Ayar Uchu, Ayar Sauca, but he only gives the name of one of the women, Mama Ocllo, wife of Manco Capac. Juan de Betanzos gives the names in pairs, in the order in which they came out of the mysterious cave, namely, Ayarcache and Mamaguaco, Ayaroche and Cora, Ayarauca and Raguaocllo, Ayarmango and Mama Ocllo.

Fray Martin de Morua, in his Historia del Origen y Genealogia de los Incas, a work written in 1590, but still inedited, gives the following names of those who came out of Tambo Toco or Pacaric Tombo. The eldest, Guanacauri; the second, Cuzco Huanca; the third, Mango Capac; and the fourth, Tupa Ayar Cache. Of the women, the first was Tupa Uaco; the second, Mama Coya: the third, Curi Ocllo; and the fourth, Ipa Huaco. Before reaching Cuzco they stopped at a place then called Apitay, and now Guanacauri. The third sister, Curi Ocllo, who was considered most intelligent by the rest, was then sent forward to seek for the best situation for a settlement. Coming to the site of Cuzco, then inhabited by Lares, Poques, and Huallas, a low and poor race, before she arrived there she met one of the Poques. She killed him with a weapon called raucana; cut out his lungs; and, with them in her mouth, all bloody, she entered the settlements. The people were frightened at the sight of her, thinking that she fed on men, and they left their houses and fled. Seeing that the place seemed good for a settlement, and that the people were tame, she returned to her brothers and sisters, and brought them all there except the eldest. He preferred to stay at Apitay, where he died, and in memory of him they call that place and hill Guanacauri. The rest were received without opposition, and they named the second brother to be the chief of the town, for which reason the place was called Cuzco, for before its name was Acamama. He died in the Curicancha, and was succeeded by the third brother, named the great Manco Capac.