394 / 1060
Royal
Commentaries.
BooK
IX. ·
CH
AP. XVI.
Of the Mares and Horfes; and how they were bred at the
beginning; and of the great price and value
of the111.
F.
0 R
the better
Information and Satisfattion, as well of the
prefent
as of
fu–
ture Ages,
it
will
be
neceifary
to know
what
things
were not
in
Peru
at
the
time when the
Spaniards
fufi:
entred into
Peru;
and therefore
I
have thought
fit
to make a particular Chapter thereof, to enumerate
~ow
many things thefe
peo.
ple wanred, which we efieem nece!fary
for
the wellfare and convenient
living of
Mankind, and yet notwithfianding they lived happily
1
and contented
witliout
them.
In
the firfi place
V\
e muft know that they neither had Horfes nor Mares
for their fervice
in
War, or
for
their delight
and
divertifement , they
had no
Cows, nor had they
Oxen
to plow
their
Lands~
and prepare them
for
the feed ;
neither had they Camels, nor A«es, nor Mules
for
their Carriages or Burthens;
nor
had
they Sheep, as we have in
pain,
which yield us both ood and Clothing;
nor had they Hogs, which yield us alt-flefh, and
Bacon~
and Leather co
make
our Bottels; nor had they Dogs of any good race, fuch as Grey-hounds,
Beagl5,
Spannels, Water-dogs and Tumbler ; nor had they Maftiffi
to
keep their Flocks,
or
Lap.dogs for pleafure of the Ladie , but onely a company of Curs of all
forts
and f12es, which were good for nothing.
Nor had they Wheat, or Barly, or Wine, or
Oil,
nor
Fruit,
nor Pulfe,
as
'~e
have in
Spain;
of all which things we G1all treat diftinCl:ly, and of the
manner
how, and when they were brought out of
Spain
into thofe parts. As to the Horfes
and Mares, the
Spaniards
brought them over with themfelves, having been very
ferviceable and ufefull
to
them
in
making their Conquefrs in the new World,
of
which the
Indians
had no great neceffity;
for
being born and bretj in the
craggy
and fieep Mowitains
:i
they became naturally hardy, and nimble of foot,
being
very aCl:ive in climbing afcenrs, and defcendiog again down the fieepefl: Precipices.
All
rhofe Horfes and Mares which are in the Kingdoms and Provinces of thofe
In·
die.r
which have been difcovered by the
Spaniard.1
fince the Year
1492.
umill this
time, are of the race of thofe
v1.
1
hich
\'ere brought from
Spain,
and particulatly
from
Anda/JR,ia.
The firfi were landed in the
Ifie
of
Cuba,
and St.
Domingo,
and
the other Hlands of
Ban;olento,
as they were difcovered and fubdued ; where
they
increafed, and multiplied abundantly, and thence they were tranfported to
Mexico
and
Peru,
for their fervice and ufe
in
thofe Conquefis.
At
firfi,
for
want
of
care
in the Malter , ' ho put their Horfes out to pafture loofe, and into places without
fences they could not
eafily
be carched again; and
fo
roving in the Mountains,
they became wild., flying like Deer, at the fight of a Man, and not being
feized
or preyed upon
by
any fierce Creature, they increafed and multiplied
in
great
abundance.
The
Spaniards
who inhabited the Hland, obferving how neceffary Horfes
were
for
the
nquefts; and their
ountries produced fuch as were
ry good, enhan–
fed the prices of them to
a
confiderable rate. There ' ere certain Men \
ho
kept
thirty, forty, fifty Horfe in their
tables, as we have mentioned
in
our Hifiory
of the
Florida.
The way of caking the
olts was in a certain Park, which
chey
had encornpaffed
v
ich Pales, raifed at fome convenient
A
venues of the Moumains,
;vhere are
Cov
s,
called
CavanM,
of three or four Leagues wide,
where the
Horfes and Coles defcending cowards the
E
ening to feed, fome perfons \ ho
keep
watch in Trees give notice thereof; and then fourteen or fifteen Men on
H0rfe·
back, riding in amongO: them, drive them
within
the pale, which then
they
en·
dofe, and cafimg Halters about the
e
k
of thofe
Colts
which are about
three
or
four Years old, they tie them
to
tree , letting the Mar
go and efcape
as they
ple fe;
the Colts remain tied
in
this manner
for thte
or
four
days, jumping
and
1
a
ing until! being
we
kned \\
ith wea
·inefs,
and
unger~
they
ield
rhemfelves.
ro