400 / 1060
·
Royal
Commentaries.
BooK
IX.
CH AP.
xx.
Of Sheep, and
Ta1ne
Cats.
T
HE
Sheep of
Caftile,
which
we
call
fo, to dillinguifh them from
thofe
of
Peru,
to which the
Spaniards
improperly give the
Name
of
Sheep,
fmce
they are neither like them in tbape, Ror col.our,
nor
any thing
elfe,
as we have
fhewn in
its
due
place: Thefe Sheep, I
fay,
of
Cttftile,
I know not when
they
were
firft
imported
into
Per11,
nor by whom ; the
firft
that I ever
faw
were
in
lhe
Fiel~
about
Couo,
in the
year
1
556,
and
were
then fold, one with another, at the
rate
of
forty
Pieces of Eight a head, and fome of
the
prime fort at
fifty;
and were
bought then
both
for love and money, as the Goats at firft were.
In the year
1
r6o,
when
I
departed
from
Couo,
Mutton
was
not
as
yet
fold
in
the Shambles by weight :
but
fince by Letters from
thence
dated,
in
the
year
1
5
90,
they write
me
that a
Shee~
was then fold
in
the Market for eight Ryals of
Eight,
or ten
at
mofi: ;
and in eight years time fince,
Sheep
are
fallen to
four Ducats a
head, and under ; and now at prefent are
fo
common, and
in
fuch numbers,
that
they are worth very little ; for an
Ewe
commonly brings forth
two
at a time, and
often
three:
their Wool alfo
is
produced
in
that quantity, that
it
is
of little
value,
and
is
not worth
above
three or four Ryals
a
quarter of a hundred ; I
know
not
if
they have learned as
yet
to
make Weathers of them.
There
are no
Wolves
in
thofe Countries,
nor ever were ;
nor
will
they
be
thought worthy to
be
tranf..
ported thither,
unletS they
were
more profitable,
and better conditioned.
Nor
haa
the
Jndian.r
Houfe-Cats
before the coming
in
of the
Spaniards,
though
now they have them, and call them
Mcitu,
which
is
a word
tney
have framed
from the
Spaniarth,
whom they
have
heard
to call chem
~' Mi~.
This, I
fay.,.
to
rectifie
the
mifiake
of fame
Spaniard!,
who were of opinion, that the
Indi1W
had Cats before
the
time that the
Spaniards
came amongft them, becaufe they
had
in
their Language a proper Name for them
:
And
in
like
manner
a
cert~n
Hifio–
ri~n
argues, that
they
liad Hens
before
the time of
the
Spa11i11rds,
becaufe
they
gave diem the Name of
Gualpa :
And this would
feem
a mofr convincing
Argu–
ment to fuch
who know not the dedutticm, or occafion, on which this Name of
Gualpa
was
given, which indeed
is
not
Gualpa,
but
Atahualpa
;
and
hereon de–
pends a
moll: pleafant
Story, which we fhall recount, when we come
co
treat of
Tame Fowl,
which
were
not in
Peru
before
the time of
the
Spaniards.
/
CH AP.