129 / 1060
BooK
IV.
Royal
CommentarieJ'.
and durin
their
Vifits,
not to loofe time, or be idle,
the~
fpucl .and worked
as
the difcogurfed;
th~ir1
Spindles were made of Canes,. as we m
Spam
have. them
?f
Iro~
the were crooked, but not hollow at the pomt,
a~
ours are : .with. their
thre~d th~y
made a kind of Filleting, which they
~ou~d
m upon
th~ir Spmdle~,
twifiing
it
with che fingers
?f
their
l~ft
hand ; their D1fiaff they earned m their
left han4, and not at their girdle; beuig a?out
a
quarter of a
yard
long, and held
between
t
vo of their Fingers, and then with
b~tn
hands
~ey form~d
the finends
of their thread, and cleared it
o~
foulnefs, but did not. wet it at their mouths, be–
caufe inmy time
they
f
pun nothing there befides W o?l and Cottons; nor do they
make any great riddance of their work, becaufe their lnftruments and Tools are
bad, as we have already declared.
CH A
. P~
XIV.
· '
How the Women made their
Vifits;
how they
wor~ed;
and
that
common Whores were permitted amongfl them.
W
Hen any Woman, that was not a
Pa/lit,
though !he.were
~he
Wife of a
Curaca,
who is a Lord that hath command over
his
Sub1etl:s, came to
make a Vifit to a
Palla,
who was a Lady of the Blond Royal;
fo
foon as the
full:
Salutations and Complements were ended, fhe prefently asked whether !he had
any Work for her, or Service
to
command her; for
fue
carrying not her Work
with her, did feem to intimate, that !he pretended not to
fo
much familiarity as
to come onely for Converfe, but as an inferiour, to demand wherein fhe might
be
efreerned ufofull in her ervice. The
Pa/la,
to make a courteous remm to this
humble proffer, would ufually give her fome of the fame work which fhe, or one
of her Daughters was then working; for to have put any thing elfe into her hand,
which her Maids
\\:ere
doiQg, would have equalled her VHitant with them, which
in
this manner \\ as a Complement, and a courteous preferring her to fome degree
of equality with her felf and her Daughters.
Such was the courcefie and obliging
carriage of one to the other ; for it was the defign and fafhion in that fiate, for
the Superiours to carry themfelves with an affable and winning behaviour
to·
wards their inferiours, and for them with all Modefl:y and Obfervance to honour
and refpeet: their fuperiour Magi.firates and Rulers; which was the common pra–
ctice ofall, even from the
Inca,
who was King,
to
the meanefi Peafant, or Shep–
herd, whom
th~y
called
L!amamichec.
The
Spanifh
Women, which came afterwards to live at
Co-<:.,~o,
imitated this cu–
fl:ome, after the manner of the
Indian
Women, carrying always their Work
·ch
them, whenfoever they came to make their VHits; and this fafhion was in ufe
amongO: them to their great commendation, untill fuch time as
Francifco Hernan–
de~
began his Civil War, which as it introduced nothing but Tyranny and Cru–
elty,
fo
it abolifhed this laudable Cl.lfiome, and difcoumenanced all vertuous and
innocent
~rachces.
I forgot to mention the great ore they. had
in
mending their
C!othes, m ca[e they were broken by any accident, as
corn
by a Nail, or burnt
with a coal of fire,
for
then they prefemly derned
it
up again with their needle
made of a Thorn, and with threa? of the fame colour ; and bringing it again
to
the Loom, they
fo
neatly wove m the Thread, that it could not be feen where
the r.ent was made; and
in
this matter they thought they had more wit than the
Spamards,
and would laugh at the patches they laid on their Clothe . The truth
is, the Web
w
1ich the
Jndians
wove, was different to the fabrick of Cloth which–
the
Spaniard;
made, _and would
n~t
bear the fame fort ofmending.
It is alfo ob–
fervable, that
~he
Fire-hearths which the
Indians
ufed to drefs their meat
in
were
a kind of Ovens, made of
clay,
bigger or lefs, according to the Wealch or'Efiate
.. _
Q
of