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 Rojas134 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.
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 Lima135. 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.
The Indians believe likewise, that even before Con and Pachacamac, there was a great deluge, during which mankind saved themselves in great caves in the high mountains, into which they carried a store of food, shutting up the entries, and carefully filling up all the crevices, to keep out the water. After a long while, they sent out some dogs, who returned to them all wet but not dirtied with mud, from which circumstance they concluded that the waters still remained very high, and they did not venture to leave their caverns till the dogs came back a second time all covered with mud. They allege that great numbers of serpents were engendered by the moisture left in the earth by this deluge, by which their ancestors were much distressed for a long time, till they at length succeeded to extirpate them. From this tradition they appear to have retained some confused notion of the deluge, although they were ignorant of the way in which Noah and seven other persons were saved in the ark to repeople the whole earth. Perhaps their tradition may refer to some partial deluge, like that of Deucalion.
The have a notion that the world is to come to an end; before which there is to be a great drought, when no rain is to fall for several years. On this account, in former times, the caciques used to lay up large magazines of maize to serve them during the long drought. Even yet, the more timid among the Peruvians make a great lamentation when the sun or moon are eclipsed, believing the end of the world to be at hand; as they allege that these luminaries are to be extinguished at the destruction of the world.
The Peruvians worship the Sun and Moon as deities, and swear by these luminaries and by the earth, which they consider as their mother. In their temples they adore certain stones, as representatives of the sun, which they name guacas, a word signifying to weep, which they do on entering into their temples. No person is permitted to approach these guacas except the priests who sacrifice to these idols, who are all clothed in white. When they go up to their idols, they carry certain white cloths in their hands, prostrating themselves and crawling on the earth, and addressing their idols in a language which is not understood by any of the natives. By these priests all the offerings for the idols are received and buried in the temples, as the Indian votaries make gifts of figures in gold or silver of those things for which they address their prayers to the guaca. These priests likewise offer sacrifices of animals and even of men to their gods, searching the hearts and intrails of the victims for certain signs which they wish to find, and repeating their abominable sacrifices until they meet with those signs which they desire; pretending that the idols are not satisfied by the sacrifices till these appear. During all the time that the priests are engaged in sacrificing, they never appear in public, neither have they any intercourse with women, and employ themselves all night in loud cries, invoking the demons near to the places in which the guacas are kept, which are extremely numerous, as most houses have each their own guaca. The priests prepare themselves for having intercourse with the demons by long fasts, after which they tie up their eyes and some even carry their superstition to such excess as to put out their own eyes. The caciques and other great men among the Peruvians never undertake any affair of importance without having first consulted the idols, or demons rather, by means of the priests.
134
Probably the province now called
135
Off the mouth of the river Lurin, in lat. 12° 26' S. is the island of Pachacamac, probably indicating the situation of the ancient province of that name. –E.