14 / 1060
The
T anOator to the
eader.
eruer, being,
aJ
our A utlour
fays,
de/h;ered
by
Tradition, and
com~on~
be-
·
lieved among,fl their People
of
the..
h~tter
degree
,
tt
~ay
:ontatn
clivers
'Lruths mixed
with
abundance of Filltons andfoo!tjh lnvent1ons.
But
thi s
is
no more than what hath
happened
t o Nat i ons
of
more refned underj}an–
d.mg;for
what
account can
we
or1r
{elves
give
of
Gr at
~ntam
before the
Romans
entred into
1t
?
Nay,
U'JJat can
France
or
Spam
fay
of
tbe
An–
cient fnha!Jttants
of
their
own
Countrtes,
or_ of
~he
manner, how
they
~ame
firfl to
be
Chriflians? Vnlefs
it
be that whtch 1g_noraJJt men htrve
devifed.
and what the Learned men are
noiv
ajhamed to believe or
.fay
after them:'
And
then,
what
wonder
u
it
that
fuch poor Salvages, lorn
in
a
pa~·t
of
the
World undifcovered to
UJ,
untiO the year
I
484;
and
of uhofa
Original
w
have no
certain
knowledge
;
nor have
any
light
befides
fancy
and con;ecfure,
from whence the Cons:nent of
Amenca
hath 6een peopled:
How then
,
I
fay,
can
zt be expe fed
that
theft
illtterate Creatures
jhou~d
6e able
to
gl've an account
of
their E xtratbon, or of Matters which paffed in
tbofe
Ages;
of
rvhich
the
L earned parts
of
the
Worlcl
acknowledge
thetr
ignorance
, andconfefs themfalves to be in the dark
even
as to
tho.fe/Ylatters
whi.chconcern
their
own
Hiflories?
But
becaufe
it
is
in the nature
of
Mankind
to ufe
reflell
AEls
OfJ
their
own
being,
and
retreat
with
their
Th(Jughts back to Jome /Jeginning : fa
thefe poor Souls derive the Original of their firfl 6eing from cltvers Crea–
tures , of which t hey had t he greatejl opinion and
admiration :
fame
living
near
a great Lake which fupplied them with
flore
of Ftjh, ca!lul that their
Parent
,
from
whence
they
emerged: and others efteemed the Mighty
Mountains of
Antis
to
have
been
their Parent, and to ha·ve iffeed out
of thcfe Caverns ,
a.J
from the Wom/;
of
a Mother; others faefted them-
/elves
to /;e defcend d from that great Fowl called
Cuntur ,
which
fpread
a 'Very
lar$,e Wing , which
plea[e£1 fame
Nations
of
the
Indians,
that they
would
look no fart
her
for a
Pa
rent
than
to that
owl,
an~
in
token
thereof, upon days of folemnity
and fe/itval, carried the f/Vmgs
thereof
faf!ntd to
their
Armes.
But
then,
a.s
to
their
Inca's
or Kings, whofe
0-
ng,inal
waJ
to
be
derived
from
fometling
higher th
n
fablun
ry
Creatures,
being of
better
compojition
than their
poor
ancl
mean
Vaffals ,
the
un
lVaJ'
ej}eemed a
ft
Parent for thofe who were come from
Divme
race: Jo that
when
they adored
the
Sun,
whom
they
acknowledged
for
t
hetr
Goel,
the';
g,a·ve
honour
to their
Kmg,s
who were clefcended from
}nm.
Variow
have
been the
opinions
among/I
H1florians
-concerning the
Original
of
this
Peo–
ple
;
of
which
the
mofl probaUe,
tJJ
I
concetve,
is, that they
proceeded
_
from
t~1e
Race o( the Northern
T'~rtar,
whom they refemble in the jh
apeand azr
of
their features
,
and m
tfetr
barbarous way
of
ltving,;
I.mtthen_ we
~/Jufl fa~fie ,
cu Jome Geographers do,
that
the Weft fide
of
A–
merica
ts Continent with
Tartary ,
or at le
rfl
d1Sjoyned
from thence
/;y
fame narrow flrait; of which I am well perfuaded we have
no
ertam
Knowledge.
But
to et thefe Matters pajJ, and confider the Condition in whi h the
pamar s
found the lnhalntants of
ru ,
when they
fir.ftcame mowr
fl
them, ·
they were,
I
Jay ,
~
naked People , fimple and credulow, beliei.1
g
ei.·ery
,
thmg that the
Spa~1a_rds
told andpromifed them:
!o which they
a
ere
m–
duc~d
out of an opinion that the
paniard
were
V1racocha's
or tie OfT-
j)rmg of the Sun , whom they adored for God, a11d in whom they believed,
according to the L ight of Nature, that there could
be
no fa!/ity or jh dow
of untruth. Wherefore they were /trange(j {urprized
ivhdfl in a peace-
ab'4