Huana Capac Was Always
Escorted By A Considerable Body Of Soldiers, Armed With Lances, Halberts,
Maces, And Battle Axes, Made Of Silver Or Copper, And Some Of Them Even Of
Gold.
In their armies, besides these arms, the Peruvians used slings, and
javelins having their points hardened in the fire.
On such parts of their
rivers as furnished materials for the purpose, they built wooden bridges;
and where timber could not be had, they stretched across the stream two
large cables made of a plant named _maguey_, forming a kind of net work
between these of smaller ropes and masts, strong enough to answer the
purpose of a bridge. In this manner they constructed bridges of a
surprizing magnitude; some of them being thirty yards broad and four
hundred yards long[32]. In such places as did not admit of the
construction of bridges, they passed over rivers by means of a cable or
thick rope extended from side to side, on which they hung a large basket,
which was drawn over by means of a smaller rope. All these bridges were
kept in repair by the inhabitants of the districts in which they stood.
The king of Peru was always carried in a species of litter covered over
with plates of gold, and was attended by more than a thousand of the
principal native nobles, who relieved each other in carrying the royal
litter on their shoulders. All these men were counsellors, principal
officers of the household, or favourites of the prince. The caciques or
curacas of the different provinces were likewise carried in litters on the
shoulders of their vassals. The Peruvians were exceedingly submissive to
their sovereigns, insomuch that even the most powerful lord always entered
the presence barefooted, and carrying some present wrapped up in a cloth,
as a mark of homage; and even if one person had occasion to go an hundred
times in one day to speak to the king, the present had to be repeated
every time he went. To look the king in the face was considered as a
criminal disrespect; and if any one should happen to stumble while
carrying the royal litter, so as to make it fall, his head was immediately
cut off. At every half league on the public roads throughout the whole
empire, there were Indians in constant attendance to relieve each other in
carrying dispatches, which they did swifter than our post horses. When any
province or district was subdued, the natives of the place, or at least
all their chiefs and principal people, were immediately removed to other
parts of the empire, and natives from other places which had been long
subjected were sent to occupy the new conquest, by which means the
fidelity and submission of the whole were secured. From every province of
the empire, yearly tributes of the several productions of their respective
countries were sent to the king; and even some sterile districts above
three hundred leagues distant from Cuzco, had to send yearly a number of
lizards as a mark of their submission, having nothing of any value to send.
Huana Capac rebuilt the temple of the sun at Cuzco, and covered over all
the walls and the roof of that structure with plates of gold and silver.
During his reign, one Chimocappa, who was curaca or prince of a large
district in the plain, above a hundred leagues in length, chose to erect
the standard of rebellion; but Huana Capac marched against him in person,
defeated him in battle, and put him to death; after which he commanded
that the Indians of the plain should not be permitted to carry arms. Yet
he allowed the son and successor of Chimocappa to remain in the province
of _Chimo_, in which the city of Truzillo has been since built.
Peru was astonishingly full of those animals called sheep; as Huana Capac
and his predecessors had established laws for their multiplication and
preservation. Every year a certain proportion of these animals belonging
to individuals were set apart as a kind of tythe or offering to the sun,
and these consecrated animals multiplied greatly, no person being allowed
to injure them under pain of sacrilege, except the prince only for his own
use or that of his army. On such occasions, he gave orders for one of
these hunts called _chacos_, formerly mentioned, at some of which twenty
or thirty thousand sheep have been taken at one time. Gold was in great
request among the Peruvians, as the king and all the principal persons of
the empire used it for the construction of vessels for all uses, as
ornaments for their persons, and as offerings to their gods. The king had
everywhere carried along with him a kind of couch or table of gold, of
sixteen carats fine, on which he used to sit, and which was worth 25,000
ducats of standard gold. This was chosen by Don Francisco Pizarro, at the
time of the conquest, in consequence of an agreement, by which he was
authorized to appropriate some single jewel or valuable article to his own
use, besides his regular share of the plunder. When the eldest son of
Huana Capac was born, he ordered a prodigious chain or cable of gold to be
made, so large and heavy that two hundred men were hardly able to lift it.
In remembrance of this circumstance, the infant was named _Huascar_, which
signifies a cable or large rope, as the Peruvians have no word in their
language signifying a chain. To this name of Huascar was added the surname
Inca, belonging to all their kings, just as Augustus was given to all the
Roman emperors. Huana Capac had several large magazines full of gold in
various shapes, such as the figures of men and women, of sheep and animals
of all kinds, and of all the kinds of plants which are found in the
country, all accurately represented. He had also great quantities of
vestments of various kinds, and many slings, in which the fabric was mixed
with gold threads; and many bars of gold and silver made like billets of
fire wood.
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