History of the Incas. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa

handed down and learnt by heart. There were many descendants of each of these ayllus living near Cuzco in 1572, and the leading members were examined on oath; so that Sarmiento had opportunities of obtaining accurate information which no other writer possessed. For the correct versions of the early traditions, and for historical facts and the chronological order of events, Sarmiento is the best authority.

      But no one can supersede the honest and impartial old soldier, Pedro de Cieza de Leon, as regards the charm of his style and the confidence to be placed in his opinions; nor the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega as regards his reminiscences and his fascinating love for his people. Molina and Yamqui Pachacuti give much fuller details respecting the ceremonial festivals and religious beliefs. Polo de Ondegardo and Santillana supply much fuller and more reliable information respecting the laws and administration of the Incas. It is in the historical narrative and the correct order of events that Sarmiento, owing to his exceptional means of collecting accurate information, excels all other writers.

      There is one serious blemish. Sarmiento's book was written, not only or mainly to supply interesting information, but with an object. Bishop Las Casas had made Europe ring with the cruelties of the Spaniards in the Indies, and with the injustice and iniquity of their conquests. Don Francisco de Toledo used this narrative for the purpose of making a feeble reply to the good bishop. Under his instructions Sarmiento stated the Viceroy's argument, which was that the King of Spain was the rightful sovereign of Peru because the Incas had usurped their power by conquest and had been guilty of acts of cruelty. Hence the constant repetition of such phrases as "cruel tyranny" and "usurping tyrant"; and the numerous interpolations of the Viceroy himself are so obvious that I have put them in italics within brackets. He goes back as far as the first Inca to make out the usurpation, and he is always harping on illegitimacy. If we go back as far as Sancho IV the title of Philip II to Spain was voided by the grossest usurpation, while we need only go back to Henry II to see how Philip's title was vitiated by illegitimacy. As for cruelty, it would be a strange plea from the sovereign by whose orders the Netherlands were devastated, the Moors of Granada almost annihilated, and under whose rule the Inquisition was in full swing. It is the old story of preaching without practice, as Dr. Newman once observed in quoting what James I said to George Heriot:

      "O Geordie, jingling Geordie, it was grand to hear Baby Charles laying down the guilt of dissimulation, and Steenie lecturing on the turpitude of incontinence."

      It is right to say that Philip never seems to have endorsed the argument

       of his Viceroy, while his father prohibited the circulation of a book by

       Dr. Sepulveda which contained a similar argument; nor was the work of

       Sarmiento published.

      Barring this blemish, the history of the Incas, written by order of the Viceroy Toledo, is a most valuable addition to the authorities who have given us authentic accounts of Andean civilization; for we may have every confidence in the care and accuracy of Sarmiento as regards his collection and statement of historical facts, provided that we always keep in mind the bias, and the orders he was under, to seek support for the Viceroy's untenable argument.

      I have given all I have been able to find respecting the life of Sarmiento in the introduction to my edition of the voyages of that celebrated navigator.

      But the administration of the Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo, from 1569 to 1581, forms a landmark in the history of Peru, and seems to call for some notice in this place. He found the country in an unsettled state, with the administrative system entirely out of gear. Though no longer young he entered upon the gigantic task of establishing an orderly government, and resolved to visit personally every part of the vast territory under his rule. This stupendous undertaking occupied him for five years. He was accompanied by ecclesiastics, by men well versed in the language of the Incas and in their administrative policy, and by his secretary and aide-de-camp. These were the Bishop of Popayan, Augustin de la Coruña, the Augustine friars Juan Vivero and Francisco del Corral, the Jesuit and well-known author, Joseph de Acosta, the Inquisitor Pedro Ordoñez Flores, his brother, the Viceroy's chaplain and confessor, the learned lawyer Juan Matienzo, whose work is frequently quoted by Solorzano[7], the licentiate Polo de Ondegardo, who had been some years in the country and had acquired an intimate knowledge of the laws of the Incas, the secretary Alvaro Ruiz de Navamuel, and as aide-de-camp his young nephew, Geronimo de Figueroa, son of his brother Juan, the Ambassador at Rome[8].

      [Note 7: In his Politica Indiana. There are two manuscripts of Juan Matienzo de Peralta at the British Museum, Govierno del Peru and Relacion del libro intitulado Govierno del Peru, apparently one work in two parts. Add. MSS. 5469, in Gayangos Catalogue, vol. II. p. 470.]

      [Note 8: Some sons took the father's surname, others that of the mother. The Viceroy had the name of his father, Francisco Alvarez de Toledo, the third Count of Oropesa, while his brother Juan had the surname of Figueroa, being that of his mother.]

      Toledo was endowed with indefatigable zeal for the public service, great energy, and extraordinary powers of application. He took the opinions of others, weighed them carefully, and considered long before he adopted any course. But he was narrow-minded and obstinate, and when he had once determined on a measure nothing could alter him. His ability is undoubted, and his appointment, at this particular juncture, is a proof of Philip's sagacity.

      The Viceroy's intercourse with Polo de Ondegardo informed him respecting the administrative system of the Incas, so admirably adapted to the genius of the people, and he had the wisdom to see that there was much to learn from it. His policy was to collect the people, who, to a great extent, were scattered over the country and hiding from the Spaniards, in villages placed near the centres of their cultivated or pasture lands. He fixed the numbers in each village at 400 to 500, with a priest and Alcalde. He also ordered the boundaries of all the parishes to be settled. Spanish Corregidors were to take the places of the Tucuyricoc or governors of Inca times, and each village had an elected Alcalde approved by the Corregidor. Under him there were to be two overseers, a Pichca pachaca over 500, and a Pachaca as assistant. Another important measure was the settlement of the tribute. The name "tribute" was unfortunate. The system was that of the Incas, and the same which prevailed throughout the east. The government was the landlord, and the so-called "tribute" was rent. The Incas took two-thirds for the state and for religion, and set apart one-third for the cultivators. Toledo did much the same, assessing, according to the nature of the soil, the crops, and other local circumstances. For the formation of villages and the assessment of the tribute he promulgated a whole code of ordinances, many of them intended to prevent local oppression in various forms.

      The Viceroy next took up the questions of the position of yana-cunas or domestic servants, and of forced service. Both these institutions existed in Incarial times. All that was needed were moderate laws for the protection of servants and conscripts, and the enforcement of such laws. Toledo allowed a seventh of the adult male population in each village to be made liable for service in mines or factories, fixed the distance they could be taken from their homes, and made rules for their proper treatment. It is true that the mita, as it was called, was afterwards an instrument of cruel oppression, that rules were disregarded, and that it depopulated the country. But this was not the fault of Toledo.

      The Viceroy gave much attention to the mining industry, promoted the introduction of the use of mercury in the extraction of silver, and founded the town of Huancavelica near the quick-silver mine. His personality pervaded every department of the state, and his tasas or ordinances fill a large volume. He was a prolific legislator and a great statesman.

      His worst mistake was the policy he adopted with regard to the family of the Incas. He desired to establish the position of the King of Spain without a rival. He, therefore, sought to malign the preceding dynasty, persecuted the descendants of the Incas, and committed one act of cruel injustice.

      When Atahualpa put his half-brother Huascar, the last reigning Inca, to death, there remained three surviving sons of their father the great Inca Huayna Ccapac, named Manco, Paullu, and Titu Atauchi, and several daughters. After his occupation of Cuzco, Pizarro acknowledged Manco Inca as the legitimate successor of his brother Huascar, and he was publicly crowned, receiving all