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BooK
V.
Royal
Commentaries.
C
H A
P.
II.
Of the Order they obferved in nzanuring their La:i-ds;
a~d
what Feafl
and Joy they
niade
when
hey tilled the
Grounds of the
Inca, .
and
of
the
Sun.
I
N
cultivating their Lands they obferved this Rule and
~ethod
$
thofe of
the
Sun were preferred in the
fir!l:
place, then thofe belongmg
to
Orp~ans, an~
Widows, and Perfons jmpotent, by reafon of age and
fickne~;
all which rema.1-
ning under the notion of poor, were by order of the
Inc~
provided for, and
th~rr
Lands manured by fpecial Command: To perform wh1cn, there were Deputies
appointed in every Parifh, or Community of
~he
People,
to
take care that thc;>fe
Lands were tilled and dre!fed. Thefe Depuaes were called
LlaEfacamayu,
which
is as much as Monitors of the People; whofe charge
it
was according
to
the Sea–
{ons of the Year, to plow,
~nd
.fowe, and reap,
~nd
gather the fruit, laying it .up
in places which they had built like Barnes to receive them. The fummons which
the People had to this work, was by
fou~d ~f
Tru!llpet, or other loud lnfuu–
rnent, to crave attention; and tben the Cner
pro~launed,
That fuch a day the
wor~
of the poor was
to
be done, and therefore that every one iliould provide
againft that time
to
attend t_hat
f~rvice;
and
t~en wh~re
they weFe
fufi
to be–
gin, and how
to
proceed, either
10
that of their Relations, or Neighbours, was
affigned by the Overfeer.
Every workman that came to labour in the fields of
the Orphans, or Widows, or impotent brought his own Provifions with him;
for that the Poor were obliged
to
no care, their infirmities and , wants excufing
them from oiher troubles, than a patient fufferance of their own evils.
If
the
poor wanted feed to fow their Lands, it was adminifired to them out of the pub–
lick Granaries, of which "'e !ball have occafion to [peak hereafter.
The Lanas of Souldiers, whilll: they were aetually employed in the Wars,
were manured with the fame care and manner as thofe of the poor; their Wives,
during the abfence of their Husbands, being lified into the number ofWidows,
and the Children of thofe who were flain in the Wars were provided for, and
carefully educated, untill the time of their Marriage.
The Lands of the poor being already tilled , in the next place every private
Perfon might attend to his own Farm, and the
firfi:
that had done was to help his
fellows: then the Lands of the
Curaca
were to be ferved, and were the
lall:
in or–
der after thofe of the People; the which was obferved
[o
feverely, that in the
Reign of
Huayna Capac,
a certain
Indian
Over[eet was hanged for tilling the Llnd
of a
Curaca,
who was his Kinfinan, before that
bf
a Widow; and to make the
punifhment more exemplary, the Gallows was fet
up
in
the very Land of the
Cu–
raca.
The feverity of this Law was gr9u11ded on the fame praetice, which was
obferved in the Lands of the
Inca
himfelf;
for.
that the
Inca
always preferred
the Tillage of his Subjeets before his own, it being tneir fore Maxime, that the
Happinefs of the Prince depends on the Profperity of the People,
~
ithout which
they become unable to ferve
him,
either in
t
·mes
of
War
t
Peace.
The laft Land5
to
be tilled were thofe of the King,
to
which, and
to
thofe of
the Sun, the People in general applied themfelves with great alacrity and rejoicing·
they then at that w?rk
appear~d
in their befr Cloth , foll
of
Gold and
ilver plates:
and.feathers.ontheir Heads, m the fame manner as they were dre!fed on their
feftival days. When they
ploug~ed,
wh!ch feemed the more pleafant work,
they
fung the S_onnets made m pra1fe of their
Incas,
with which the time pa!fed fo
eafily,
diat
their Labour feerned a Recreation ,
fo
great was their Devotion to
~
wards
tli&ir
God and their King.