[After a cut in Marcoy, i. 219. Cf. Squier’s Peru, p. 449.—Ed.]
As years rolled on, the Inca began to think more and more of the land of his birth. The memory of his boyish days, of the long evening chats with his Inca relations, came back to him in his old age. He was as proud of his maternal descent from the mighty potentates of Peru as of the old Castilian connection on his father’s side. It would seem that the appearance of several books on the subject of his native land finally induced him to undertake a work in which, while recording its own reminiscences and the information he might collect, he could also comment on the statements of other authors. Hence the title of Commentaries which he gave to his work. Besides the fragments of the writings of Blas Valera, which enrich the pages of Garcilasso, the Inca quotes from Acosta, from Gomara, from Zarate, and from the First Part of Cieza de Leon.[1263] He was fortunate in getting possession of the chapters of Blas Valera rescued from the sack of Cadiz. He also wrote to all his surviving schoolfellows for assistance, and received many traditions and detailed replies on other subjects from them. Thus Alcobasa forwarded an account of the ruins at Tiahuanacu, and another friend sent him the measurements of the great fortress at Cuzco.
The Inca Garcilasso de la Vega is, without doubt, the first authority on the civilization of his ancestors; but it is necessary to consider his qualifications and the exact value of his evidence. He had lived in Peru until his twentieth year; Quichua was his native language, and he had constantly heard the traditions of the Incas related and discussed by his mother’s relations. But when he began to write he had been separated from these associations for upwards of thirty years. He received materials from Peru, enabling him to compose a connected historical narrative, which is not, however, very reliable. The true value of his work is derived from his own reminiscences, aroused by reading the books which are the subjects of his Commentary, and from his correspondence with friends in Peru. His memory was excellent, as is often proved when he corrects the mistakes of Acosta and others with diffidence, and is invariably right. He was not credulous, having regard to the age in which he lived; nor was he inclined to give the rein to his imagination. More than once we find him rejecting the fanciful etymologies of the authors whose works he criticises. His narratives of the battles and conquests of the early Incas often become tedious, and of this he is himself aware. He therefore intersperses them with more interesting chapters on the religious ceremonies, the domestic habits and customs, of the people, and on their advances in poetry, astronomy, music, medicine, and the arts. He often inserts an anecdote from the storehouse of his memory, or some personal reminiscence called forth by the subject on which he happens to be writing. His statements frequently receive undesigned corroboration from authors whose works he never saw. Thus his curious account of the water sacrifices, not mentioned by any other published authority, is verified by the full description of the same rite in the manuscript of Molina. On the other hand, the long absence of the Inca from his native country entailed upon him grave disadvantages. His boyish recollections, though deeply interesting, could not, from the nature of the case, provide him with critical knowledge. Hence the mistakes in his work are serious and of frequent occurrence. Dr. Villar has pointed out his total misconception of the Supreme Being of the Peruvians, and of the significance of the word “Uira-cocha.”[1264] But, with all its shortcomings,[1265] the work of the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega must ever be the main source of our knowledge, and without his pious labors the story of the Incas would lose more than half its interest.
The first part of his Commentarios Reales, which alone concerns the present subject, was published at Lisbon in 1607.[1266] The author died at Cordova at the age of seventy-six, and was buried in the cathedral in 1616. He lived just long enough to accomplish his most cherished wish, and to complete the work at which he had steadily and lovingly labored for so many years.
Another Indian author wrote an account of the antiquities of Peru, at a time when the grandchildren of those who witnessed the conquest by the Spaniards were living. Unlike Garcilasso, this author never left the land of his birth, but he was not of Inca lineage. Don Juan de Santacruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua was a native of the Collao, and descended from a family of local chiefs. His work is entitled Relacion de Antigüedades deste Reyno del Peru. It long remained in manuscript in the National Library at Madrid, until it was edited by Don Márcos Jiménez de la Espada in 1879. It had previously been translated into English and edited for the Hakluyt Society.[1267] Salcamayhua gives the traditions of Inca history as they were handed down to the third generation after the conquest. Intimately acquainted with the language, and in a position to converse with the oldest recipients of native lore, he is able to record much that is untold elsewhere, and to confirm a great deal that is related by former authors. He has also preserved two prayers in Quichua, attributed to Manco Ccapac, the first Inca, and some others, which add to the number given by Molina. He also corroborates the important statement of Molina, that the great gold plate in the temple at Cuzco was intended to represent the Supreme Being, and not the sun. Salcamayhua is certainly a valuable addition to the authorities on Peruvian history.
Note.—The title-page of the fifth decade Herrera, showing the Inca portraits, is given above. Cf. the plate in Stevens’s English translation of Herrera, vol. iv., London, 1740, 2d edition.—Ed.
While so many soldiers and priests and lawyers did their best to preserve a knowledge of Inca civilization, the Spanish government itself was not idle. The kings of Spain and their official advisers showed an anxiety to prevent the destruction of monuments and to collect historical and topographical information which is worthy of all praise. In 1585, orders were given to all the local authorities in Spanish America to transmit such information, and a circular, containing a series of interrogatories, was issued for their guidance. The result of this measure was, that a great number of Relaciones descriptivas were received in Spain, and stored up in the archives of the Indies. Herrera had these reports before him when he was writing his history, but it is certain that he did not make use of half the material they contain.[1268] Another very curious and valuable source of information consists of the reports on the origin of Inca sovereignty, which were prepared by order of the Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo, and forwarded to the council of the Indies. They consist of twenty documents, forming a large volume, and preceded by an introductory letter. The viceroy’s object was to establish the fact that the Incas had originally been usurpers, in forcibly acquiring authority over the different provinces of the empire, and dispossessing the native chiefs. His inference was, that, as usurpers, they were rightfully dethroned by the Spaniards. He failed to see that such an argument was equally fatal to a Spanish claim, based on anything but the sword. Nevertheless, the traditions collected with this object, not only from the Incas at Cuzco, but also from the chiefs of several provinces, are very important and interesting.[1269]