These Buildings Were Named _Tambos_, And The
Neighbouring Indians Were Bound To Furnish Each Of These With Provisions
And Every
Thing else that might be wanted for the royal armies; insomuch
that in each of these _tambos_, in case of
Necessity, clothing and arms
could be had for twenty or thirty thousand men. 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.
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