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.)]
LXII.
WHAT HUAYNA CCAPAC DID AFTER THE SAID WARS.
As soon as Huayna Ccapac had despatched the captain against the Chirihuanas, he set out from Tumipampa to organize the nations he had conquered, including Quito, Pasto, and Huancavilcas. He came to the river called Ancas-mayu, between Pasto and Quito, where he set up his boundary pillars at the limit of the country he had conquered. As a token of grandeur and as a memorial he placed certain golden staves in the pillars. He then followed the course of the river in search of the sea, seeking for people to conquer, for he had information that in that direction the country was well peopled.
On this road the army of the Inca was in great peril, suffering from scarcity of water, for the troops had to cross extensive tracts of sand. One day, at dawn, the Inca army found itself surrounded by an immense crowd of people, not knowing who they were. In fear of the unknown enemy, the troops began to retreat towards the Inca. Just as they were preparing for flight a boy came to Huayna Ccapac, and said: "My Lord! fear not, those are the people for whom we are in search. Let us attack them." This appeared to the Inca to be good advice and he ordered an impetuous attack to be made, promising that whatever any man took should be his. The orejones delivered such an assault on those who surrounded them that, in a short time, the circle was broken. The enemy was routed, and the fugitives made for their habitations, which were on the sea coast towards Coaques, where the Incas captured an immense quantity of rich spoils, emeralds, turquoises, and great store of very fine mollo, a substance formed in sea shells, more valued amongst them than gold or silver.
Here the Inca received a message from the Sinchi or Curaca of the island of Puna with a rich present, inviting him to come to his island to receive his service. Huayna Ccapac did so. Thence he went to Huancavilca, where he joined the reserves who had been left there. News came to him that a great pestilence was raging at Cuzco of which the governors Apu Hilaquito his uncle, and Auqui Tupac Inca his brother had died, also his sister Mama Cuca, and many other relations. To establish order among the conquered nations, the Inca went to Quito, intending to proceed from thence to Cuzco to rest.
On reaching Quito the Inca was taken ill with a fever, though others say it was small-pox or measles. He felt the disease to be mortal and sent for the orejones his relations, who asked him to name his successor. His reply was that his son Ninan Cuyoche was to succeed, if the augury of the calpa gave signs that such succession would be auspicious, if not his son Huascar was to succeed.
Orders were given to proceed with the ceremony of the calpa, and Cusi Tupac Yupanqui, named by the Inca to be chief steward of the Sun, came to perform it. By the first calpa it was found that the succession of Ninan Cuyoche would not be auspicious. Then they opened another lamb and took out the lungs, examining certain veins. The result was that the signs respecting Huascar were also inauspicious. Returning to the Inca, that he might name some one else, they found that he was dead. While the orejones stood in suspense about the succession, Cusi Tupac Yupanqui said: "Take care of the body, for I go to Tumipampa to give the fringe to Ninan Cuyoche." But when he arrived at Tumipampa he found that Ninan Cuyoche was also dead of the small-pox pestilence[119].
[Note 119: Ninan Cuyoche is said by Cobos to have been legitimate, a son of the first wife Cusi Rimay Huaco, who is said by Sarmiento and others not to have borne a male heir.]