368 / 1060
Royal
Commentaries.
. BooK
IX
1
ho was Heir. Amongfi: divers other particulars of Greamefs, in an extraor–
dinary part infl:ituted for celebration of thi Fefiival, one\ as a Chain of Gold
of that wonderfull bignefs,
as
made it
famous
by repo
t
through the \:\rhole
orld, and yet was never feen by Foreigners, ' hofe Avarice was as !hong
as
their curiofity to fee a iece of fuch magnificence ; the deGgn \ ·
bich
the
Inca
had
to
make
it
was this:
In
the Countrie
of
Peru
every
rovince or
ation
had
Dances properly belonging to the·
r
ountrey, different from others, by
which
they were <lifting ifhed one from the other, as much as by the Drefs upon
their Head ; and thefe Dances were always cor'lftant, and the fame, without
any change or alteration of new Modes. The
InctU
had a fort of Dance which
was
grave and decent, without jumping, or capring, as others ufed. Their
Cufio. e was
for
the Men
to
dance without admitting the Women into the
ing,
and
co clafi
hand one with the other, reaching them out to the fore–
mofi, untill all were entred in, and chained as it \: ere one to the other, fo
that fometimes two or three hundred Men were concerned in the
Dance
according
to
the number of thofe prefent at the Fefiival; the which they
be~
gan at fome di!l:ance from the King, before
~·
horn
they prefented
it.
Their
manner was
to
begin all at the fame time, and
to
make three fieps by rule
rhe firft
\~as
back, and then two others forw d, like the Chafe and
Coupe~
that ve
u[e
in our
Spanifh
Dances; fo that g_iving but one fiep backward,
and
two forward, they
frill
gained gro nd, untill hey came to die middle of
the
place, where the
Inca
fate: as they danced they fang by
turn ,
not to
tire
themfelves,
fo
much as they would do,
in
ca[e they all fang together; their
Tunes were according to the meafure of their Dances, and the fubjelts of their
ongs \ ere
in
praife of the prefent
Inca,
and
his
Ancefiours, and thofe of the
Bloud Royal, and of their Atl:ions and Exploits performed
in
rhe time of ·
Peace
and
War. The
lnca.r
alfo there prefent, and fianding about t
ie
King,
bore their
part
in
the Confort, as thofe who were equally concerned in the
merriment,
and
the King himfelf danced fometimes, to render the
eilival
more olernn.
From this manner of clafping and linking hands one within another, the
Inca
H11ayna Capac
took his invention of making
his
Chain of Gold, efieeming that
it "ould be much more !lately and majefiical to have thefe Dancers linked and
faftened one to the other by this Chain, rather than by their hands. The par–
ticulars of this
hain I did not hear from common report, but from my Old
Uncle, whom I mentioned at the beginning of this Hifiory,
"''110
being a Per–
fon much pleaCed with the remembrance of old
torie , told me that
this
Chain
was
f(
long, as
ould reach the length and breadth of the chief Market-place
of
Couo,
here they danced at the time of
all
their
principal Feafis; and
though
it
was not neceffary to have
it
fo
long
in
refpeet to the Dance, onely
the
Inca
'vas pleafed
to
order
it
of that leagth, for greater State, and in honour
to the Fefiival of h. Son and Heir, in which nothing was
~o
be deficient which
might render
it
great and folemn.
I fhall not need
to
inform and trouble thofe
·ho have een and meafured that Market-place, with an account of the length
and breadth of it; howfoever to ati fie die curioGty of fuch
as
have not been
there, I dare to affirm, that that
lace
orth and South is two hundred com–
mon aces in length, allowing
C\\'O
Foot for every Pace, and an hundred and
fifty
ace
afi: and
ell:
in
breadth, taking in thofe Houfes
\v
hich the
Spani–
ards
in the
ear
1
))6.
hen my Malter
Garcilaf[o
de
la
Vega
was Chief Ju!Hce,
had built on the fide of the
i
er;
fo
that this Chain mufi have been three
hundr d and fifty Pac
long, which make feven hundred Foot; and when
I asked the fame
Indian
f
die compafs of this Chain, he held up his Hand,
pointing to his W rift, fignifying rnat every Link wa of that bignefS.
The
Accountant
eneral
Attguftine
Garate,
in the 14th Chapter of
his
firft
Book,
having at any
ime occafion to fpeak of the Riches of the
oyal Palaces belon–
ging
t
the
Incru,
reckons up vaft Treafures, and almofi: incredible, but I
{hall
onely repeat ' hat he fays
articularly
of
chis
Golden Chain, ' bich I have
ex-
ra ed
verbatim.
G
fll!J'1AC;tV