[24] No place of that name is now found in our best maps. The principal town of the district of Chachapoyas has the same name, otherwise called St Juan de la Frontera.--E.
Sixty leagues farther to the south, in the district of Guanuco, Vaco de Castro established a colony which he ordered to be called Leon, as he came from the city of that name in Spain. The country of Guanuco is fertile and abounds in provisions; and valuable mines are believed to exist on that side which is occupied by a warlike and powerful inca in a province of the Andes, as shall be mentioned hereafter[25]. There is no other place in the mountains farther south which has been as yet settled by the Christians, till we come to the province of Guamanga, in which is a small town named San Juan de la Vittoria[26], which is sixty leagues from Leon. In San Juan there are very few Spaniards, but their number is expected to increase, if the neighbouring inca can be induced to submit to peace; as he at present occupies the best lands belonging to that city, in which there are many mines, and which produces the herb called coca in great abundance, formerly mentioned as of great value. The town of Guamanga is about eighty leagues from the city of Cuzco; the road between being exceedingly difficult, as it goes over high and precipitous mountains, and through very dangerous passes.
[25] Not far to the south of San Leon de Guanuco, in the mountains of Lauricocha, there are considerable silver mines.--E.
[26] No such place is now found on our maps in the province of Guamanga; but the ruins of a town named Vittoria are marked in the district of Calca, about fifty miles north-west from the city of Cuzco. Perhaps the Vittoria of the text is the town now called Guamanga.--E.
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the kings of Peru resided in the city of Cuzco, whence they governed the whole of this great country of which I have endeavoured to give some account, and which will be more particularly treated of in the sequel of this history. This city served as the common centre for all the chiefs or caciques of this vast kingdom, to which they resorted from all quarters, to pay their tributes to the king, and to obtain justice in case of disputes among each other. At that time Cuzco was the only place in all Peru that had the least resemblance to a city. It had even a strong fortress, built of such enormous dressed stones, that it was very wonderful to conceive in what manner the Indians had been able to transport such vast masses of stone without the aid of any animals of draught. In fact some of these are so large that they would have required ten yokes of oxen to have dragged them along on a fit carriage. The houses which are now inhabited by the Spaniards are the same which were formerly occupied by the Indians; some of which houses have been merely repaired and others enlarged by their present possessors. This city was formerly divided into four quarters, corresponding to the four cardinal points; and by orders of the Incas, or sovereigns of Peru, all those natives who came to the capital were obliged to lodge in the particular quarter which was towards the direction of the province from whence they came, under severe penalties. The south quarter of the city was named Colla-sugo, from the province of Collao which lay to the south. The northern quarter was named Chinca-sugo, from the large and renowned province of Chinca[27] in that direction. The eastern and western quarters were respectively named Ande-sugo and Conde-sugo. The country about Cuzco is extremely fertile, and abounds in all kinds of provisions, and the climate is so healthy that the inhabitants are seldom if ever sick. Around the city there are many rich mines, whence all the gold which has been hitherto sent into Spain was procured. These indeed have been nearly abandoned since the discovery of the rich silver mines of Potosi; both because much greater profit may be made from these other mines of silver, and because the working of these are far less dangerous both to the Indians and Spaniards who are there employed.
[27] Probably the country of the people now called Chunchos, who are implacable enemies to the Spaniards.--E.
From the city of Cuzco to that of La Plata in the province of Charcas, the distance is more than a hundred and fifty leagues, between which two places there is a large flat province named Collao, above fifty leagues long; the principal part of which, named Chiquito, belongs to his majesty. Seeing so large an extent of country unoccupied by the Spaniards, the licentiate De la Gasca sent some people there in 1545 to commence an establishment. The city of La Plata is situated in the coldest part of all the mountainous region of Peru, and has very few inhabitants, but these are extremely rich, and spend the greatest part of the year in the mines of Porco, and in those of Potosi since their discovery. Towards the left hand or the east from La Plata, a new province was explored by Diego de Rojas and Philip Gutierez, by the order of Vaca de Castro, which was named Rojas[28] from one of these captains. It is said to be fertile and abounding in provisions, but they have not found so much riches there as was expected. Captain Domingo de Ytala and his companions came by that way into Peru in 1549, having remounted the Rio Plata from the Atlantic Ocean.
[28] Probably the province now called Chicas on the eastern side of the Andes, occupying the head of the river Chirivionas which joins the Paraguay or Rio Plata.--E.
Such is the state and situation of all that has been hitherto discovered of this vast country of Peru, which is chiefly known along the coast of the South Sea, and has not been much explored in its inland parts, on account of the vast quantity of lofty and rude mountains, by which it is everywhere pervaded, and which are extremely difficult to pass; because of their height and precipitous nature, the excessive cold which prevails among them, and the scarcity of food. Yet the industry and courage of the Spaniards would have overcome all these obstacles, if there were any hope of finding a rich country beyond.
As the Peruvians were ignorant of writing they knew nothing respecting the history of the creation and deluge or of their own origin. They had however some tradition among them, which had been altered from age to age according to the fancies of the reciters. They said that there came anciently from the north, a man who had no bones or joints, and who was able to shorten or lengthen the way before him as he thought fit, and to elevate or depress the mountains at his pleasure. By this man the ancient Indians were created; and as those of the plain had given him some cause of displeasure, he rendered their country sterile and sandy as it now is, and commanded that it should never rain in that district; yet sent them the rivers and torrents which run through it, that they might have wherewithal to quench their thirst. This person, named Con, who they allege was son of the sun and moon, they esteemed and adored as a god, pretending that he had given the herbs and wild fruits as food for the people whom he had created. After him came another man from the south, named Pachacamac, or the creator, who was likewise the son of the sun and moon, but more powerful than Con, who disappeared on his arrival, leaving the men whom he had created without chiefs or laws, and Pachacamac transformed them all into various animals, as birds, cats, bears, lions, and the like, giving origin in this manner to all the beasts and birds which are now found in the country. After this Pachacamac created the present race of Indians, teaching them the art of labouring the ground for the cultivation of plants of various kinds for food. Pachacamac is considered as a god, and all the principal persons among the Peruvians are desirous of being buried in the province named from him Pachacamac, as he resided there, which is about four leagues from the city of Lima[29]. They pretended that their god Pachacamac continued several ages among them, even to the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, since when he has disappeared. Hence we may presume that he was some demon by whom they were miserably abused and misled, and who filled their minds with so many extravagant absurd fables.