401 / 1060
Boo:
IX.
R.oyal
Commentarier.
C
fl
AP.
XXI~
Of Conies, and Dogs
of Game.
N
OR
had they
Wild, or Tame Rabbets, as we bave
in
Spain,
for
they
hav
been
brought
thither fmce
I
departed
from
Peru :
The firfi: that
brought
them co
Cozco
was one ofche Clergy called
Andrew
Lope:c.,
born
in
the
Ejfrem~dura,
,but
in
what Village or Town I know not. This
Pr~ell: ~roughc
over a Buck and
a Doe in a
Cage,
and
in
paffing over
a
fir~am,
'X.rhich
IS
about fixteen
Leagues
diftant
from
Co~co,
and runs through the Countrey of
Chinchapttyu,
where the E–
ilate of
my
Lord and Father
Gar-rilaf[o de la Vega
lyes;
it
happene9
out,
that
whilll:
the
Indian
which carried them, had fee down the
<::age
to
reft bunfelf,
and eat a
bit of bread, that the Doe efcaped out through a hole of the
Cage, where
one of
the
Rods was
broken, and ran
out
amongft
the
Rocks
and Mountains, and amongfr
the
Willows
and
Ofiers which grow
by
th~
banks of the River ; the Doe
being·
then big with Yotmg, brought forth a great many, which being conferved
after–
wards
by the care of
the
Indians,
have increafed
co
that
degree,
that they have
made a
Warren, and now cover the ground
with
their Numbers. From thence
they
have
frocked
other Grounds
in
many parts ; the
Land
being barren, and che
Grafs
!hort, they kave thriven fo well, as to become of a larger fize than ours
5
as
~
have alfo other Conies which
have
been brought from
Spain
into other parts.
·
It was the fortune ofthat Coney
to
get loofe in a temperate
Climate,
which was
neither over hot, nor very cold; but as they fpread farther up the River, the Coun–
trey
grows cooler, untill at length they come to
places
of perpetual Snows : Such
. as
cook their downwards
as
the fiream
runs,
thofe were fubje& to greater
hears~
until}
they
came
to the River
Apurim~c,
which is the hotteft
Climate
of
all
Peru.
This
Story of the Conies
was
told
me
by an
Indian
of
my
Countrey, who know–
ing
that
I
was writing the
Hiftory of
Pent,
gav.e
me
thls
inf0rmation
5
for the
truth of which, I refer
my
felf to
the
banks of that River; which
if
they be fo
well frocked with Conies, as he relates, it may
f
erve for an undeniable proo£
In
the
Kingdom
of
~itu
thete are
Conies
like thofe in
Spain,
onely they
are lefs,
and
of
a darker colour,
having
a
black
fireak
along
the top of
their
backs,
in
eve–
ry
th~
elf€
th€y
are like the Rabbets we have
in
Spain :
they
have no Hares, nor
do I know whether they have brought any thither as
yec.
-
The Dogs of
game,
or of good race
1
Cuch as we have formerly mentioned,
were not
in
Peru,
untill the
Spanitirds
brought them thither. Mafiiffi were the
}aft
of
any tranfported to thofe parts,
by
reafon, that having no
Wolves,
nor other
beafis of
prey
which
might hurt their Cartel,
they
had no need
of
fuch Dogs for
their
defence,
or guard. Howfoever, when
they
were
come
thither, fuch
as
were
Mafiers of
great
Flocks and Herds, would not want, or be without them, not
that they had any need,
or
occafion for
them,
but onely becaufe they would have
thefr
Flocks and Herds
be
like thofe in
Spain :
And
fo
paffionately was their
fancy
ar the beginning inclined hereunto, that in every thing
they
affeeted rhe Manners
and Cull:oms of
Spain
;
for which reafon,
and
not for
any
need, a
Spani1trd
carried
a MafHffWhelp, rhar was not above a Momh
and
a half old, in a Wallet, which
he hanged at bis Saddle-bow, from
Co~co
t6
Los
Reyes,
which is a hundred and
twenty
Leagues through
a
mountainous
and craggy Counrrey, being every
day
troubled t.o find Milk for this Whelp; the which I faw, and can tefrifie, having
~een
a
Companion with that
Spaniard
in
the
Journey ;
who
told
me, that he ear–
ned
that
Whelp
for a
prefent
to his Father-in-law, who was a Grafie
being Ma–
fter of great Flocks of Cattel, and lived
fifty
or fixty Leagues on rhi; fide of
Cin–
d1Zd
de
los
Reyes,_
by
whom he would be efi:eemed as a Jewel of mighty
value.
Thefe
and greater pams .have
~he
Spa:'iards
taken at the begfaning to procure fuch Crea–
tures as are
ufea
m
Spain,
which
afterwards they
have
neglected
and
conferved
in
little
efieem.
-
HAP
"
I
..