183 / 1060
BooK
V.
Royal
Commentaries.
Of the
word
Viracocha,
and
why
they
caUed
the
Spaniards
by
that Name.
B
UT
to return now to
tbe
Prince,
to whom
they gave the
Name of
Piracochd;
by reafon that the Vifion which appeared to
him
in
a
Dream, fo called himfel£
And in regard this Phantafm was defcribed by
th~
Prince to appear .with
a
lon_g
Beard and Garments trailing on the ground, whKh was
a
much different habit
to
the'
fafuion of the
Indians,
who naturally have
little Hair
in tl)eir Faces, and
by cull:oine wear Coats not
reac~
farther charr their knees ;
f?
foon
as
they
had
a fight of the
firfi:
Spaniards
that mvaded
!eru,
~nd
obferved
the~
long Bea_rds and
Garments which clothed
all
parts of therr Bodies; and that their
full:
Achoo
was
to
take and kill
Atahualpa,
their Tyrant King, who not long before had murthe–
red
Huafcar,
the lawfull Heir and
Su~cefiOur,
and defiroyed
al~ ~hofe
of the Royal
Bloud, which might endanger his Title
~o
the <;iovernment, without.
any
~egard
to Age or Sex, with many other Cruelues, which we !hall recount m their due
~lace.
When,
I
fay,
they obferved that .the
Spani11rds
revenge~
the Bloud
~f
their
InctU,
and purufhed the enormous Cnmes, they called
to
mmd the Appari–
tion
Yiracocha,
and comparing the puniiliment which he executed on
the
ChanctU
for
their rebellion, widi the Jufiice which the
Spaniards
performed on
Atahualpa
fa
revenge of the Murthers he committed on the Royal Family, they prefentty
concluded, that the God
Viracocha
was the Parent of the
Spaniard.r,
for
which rea–
fon they received and welcomed them to their Councrey, and worfhipped and
adored them with the Name. of
Vtracocha;
an9 hence it was, that
th~
Conquefl;
of
Peru
became
fo
eafie, that
fix
Spaniards
onely, of whom
Hernando de Soto,
and
Pedro de Barco
wet.e two, adventured to travell from
Cajfamarcit!O
Co~co,
which
is
a
Journey of two hundred and thirty Leagues, by which they made
a
difcovery of
.the Riches
of
that
City~
and other places; and to iliew their great kindnefs
and
civility
they carried them over the Countries
in
Chairs, or Sedans; giving them
the Title of
IncM,
and Children of the Sun,
in
the fame manner, as they did their
own Kings. Now had the
Spaniards
taken the advantage of this credulity of the
Indians,
perfuading them, that the true God had fenc them,
for
their deliverance
:from the tyrannical Ufurpations of the Divel, which enfiaved them more
than
all
the Cruelties of
Atahualpa;
and had preached the Holy Gofpel with that faneti–
ty
and good ·example, which the innocence of that Do&lne requires, they
had
certainly made great Progreffes
in
the advancement of Religion. But the
Spanifh
Hill:ories report things
in a
different way of proceedings, to hich,
for
the
truth
thereof,
I
refer the Reader lefi being an
Indian
my
felf,
I
1hould feem partial
io
the rebtion : But this truth we may confidently aver> that though many were
blameable, yet the greater number difcharged the Office and
Duty
of goo·d Chri·
fiians; howfoever amongfi a people
fo
ignorant af!d fimple,
as
thefe poor Gentiles;
one ill man is able , to doe more mifcliief, than the endeavours of a hundred
good Men are able to repair.
·
The
Spanifh_
Hifiorians farther
fay,
that the
Indian_s
gave this Name to the
Spani–
ards,
becaufe they
~ame
over the Sea, deriving
Viracocha
from the compofition
of
two
words,namely,
Vira,
which is vafl:, immenfe, and
Cocha,
which fignifies the Sea or
Oce.an.But
the ·spaniards
are_much
mifiake~
in this compofition, for
though
Co–
cha
is truly the Name for the Sea, yet
Pira·
figni.fies fatnefs; and is no other than
the proper Name which that Apparition gave
to
it felf; the which
I
more conli-:
demly aver, becaufe that Language being natural
to
me and that which
I
fucked
.
in
and learned with my Mother's
Milk, I
may more rea'fonably be allowed to be
a
Judge of
~he
true Idioms of that Tongue, rather than
Spaniard!,
who are Stran–
gers
and
Aliens to that Coumrey. But befides what we have already mentioned,
there qlay
yet
be another reafon for
it,
which
is,
that the
Indians
gave therp that
•
Name
;
,