Clements R. Markham - First Part of the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas by the Ynca Garcillasso de la Vega

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THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES
OF THE YNCAS.

VOL. 1.

M.DCCC.LXIX.

TRANSLATED ANA EDITED,
With Notes and an Introduction,
BY
CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM.

VOLUME I.

(CONTAINING BOOKS I, II, III, AND IV.)

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.

M.DCCC.LXIX.

THOMAS RICHARDS, 37, GERAT QUEEN STREET.

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T HE first part of the Royal Commentaries of Peru describes the manners and customs of one of the two great civilised communities of the New World, and was written by an author who had known the country from his childhood, and had peculiar qualifications for his task. The writer was not one of those travellers or explorers who set out from Europe in search of adventures in the New World. He had even greater advantages as a describer of a distant and little known land; for he was the son of such an adventurer by a native mother, and thus began to acquire the knowledge which enabled him afterwards to write this invaluable work, in his very cradle. So that his travels over all parts of Peru were not commenced until he had learnt the traditions and customs of his mothers people, and had become intimately acquainted with their language. The young Ynca had a wonderful start of all other contemporary travellers, for he was born, as it were, in the midst of his work, and began to store his material as soon as he could speak.

Our authors father, Garcilasso de la Vega, was a son of Don Alonzo de Hinestrosa de Vargas and his wife Doa Blanca Suarez de Figueroa. His paternal ancestry, the lords of Sierrabrava, descended from that gallant warrior who fought by the side of St. Ferdinand at the capture of Seville from the MoorsGarci Perez de Vargas, in 1348. In an old popular song the famous city is made to say :

The head of his mothers family was her cousin the Duke of Feria, one of the Spanish courtiers who accompanied Philip to England, and the only one who gained an English wife. He married Miss Jane Dormer, daughter of Sir William Dormer by Mary Sydney. The famous poet Garcilasso de la Vega was of the same family, and a first cousin once removed of our authors father.

So that the ancestry of Garcilasso de la Vega the father was sufficiently distinguished and noble, as will be more clearly seen by an examination of the pedigree on the following page. He was born in the city of Badajoz in Estremadura, in the year 1506; and was a tall handsome young man, polished, generous, and well practised in the use of arms when, in 1531, he set out for the New World as a captain of infantry in company with Don Alonzo de Alvarado, who was returning to resume his government of Guatemala. That famous chief, on hearing of the riches of Peru, sailed with a large fleet from Nicaragua, and landed in the bay of Caragues in May 1534. Garcilasso de la Vega accompanied him, and shared all the terrible hardships and sufferings of the subsequent march to Riobamba. After the convention with Almagro, and the dispersion of Alvarados forces, Garcilasso was sent to complete the conquest of the country round the port of Buenaventura. He and his small band of followers forced their way, for many days, through dense uninhabited forests, enduring almost incredible hardships, and finding nothing to repay their labours. He displayed much constancy and perseverance, but, having lost eighty of his men from hunger and fever, he was at last obliged to retreat. He then went to Lima, at the time when Pizarro was closely besieged by the insurgent Indians, and afterwards marched to the relief of Cuzco, which was also surrounded by an Indian army under Manco Ynca.

Then followed the civil war between the conquerors of Peru, and the defeat and death of Almagro. During these troubles Garcilasso de la Vega appears to have settled at Cuzco, where he received a portion of a palace of one of the Yncas as his share of the spoils, besides grants of land in the neighbouring districts. After having reaped the fruits of his warlike exploits, and settled himself as a citizen of Cuzco, this noble cavalier, like many of his comrades, became enamoured of a young Ynca princess. Their connection must have commenced in about the year 1538, when the Pizarro faction in Peru had become all-powerful, through the defeat and death of Almagro. The name of the young Indian was Chimpa Ocllo, and she had been baptised as Doa Isabel, but most of her older relations were still worshippers of the Sun. A contemporary picture of this usta or princess still exists at Cuzcoa delicate looking girl with large gentle eyes and slightly aquiline nose, long black tresses hanging over her shoulders, and a richly ornamented woollen mantle secured in front by a large gold pin. Her fathers name was Hualpa Tupac, brother of the great Ynca Huayna Ccapac, and son of Tupac Ynca Yupanqui. Our author, the Ynca Garcilasso de la Vega, was born in 1540; and during the first years of his life his father was engaged in the civil wars which distracted the early days of the conquest.