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BooK II. Royal Commentaries.
perfeCl: the Har.many amongft us.. They had alfo other ~ipesl which wer Flutes
with four or five fiops, like the Pipes of Shepherds 7. with thefe they .~laye ,pQt
in confort, but fingly, and tuned them to Sonnets, w~1ch d~ey cornpofed m meetre>
rhe Subjeet of hich was love, and the P~ffions which ~n e fr?m the ~avours or
Difpieafures of a MHhefs. Thefe Muficians were Indians ~ramed up m t~at art
for divertifement of the lncM, and the Curacas, who were hlS Nobles, which, as
rufiical and barbarous as it was, it was not common, but acquired with great In–
dufiry and Study.
Every Song was fee to its proper Tu e; fof two Songs of different Subje4s
could not correfpond with the fame Aire, by reafon that the 1'1uftck which the
Gallant made on 1is Flute, was deligned to exprefs the fatisfadion or difcontef?t
of his Mind, which were not fo intelligible perhaps by the words as by the melan–
choly or chearfulnefs of th Tune whicb he plaid. A certain Spaniard one night
late encountered an Indian Woman in the Streets ,of Co~co, and would have
brought her back to his Lodgings; but ilie cryed out, For Goas fak!, Sir, let me
go, for that Pipe which yo11 hear in yonder Tower calls me with gre~t Pajfion, and I cannot
refufe the fammom, for Love con.ftr1eins me to go, that I may 6e hu Wife and he "!}Hu}–
hand.
The Songs which they comRofed of their Wars, and grand Atchievernents >
were never fet to the Aires of their Flute, being too grave and ferious to be in:
termixed with the pleafures and fofcndfes of Love; for tsofe were onely fung at
their principal Fefiivals when they commemorated their Vittories and Triumphs.–
When I came from Peru which was in the Year 1560. there were then five In–
dians refiding at Couo, who were great Mall:ers on the Flute, and could play rea–
dily by book any Tune that was laid before them ; they belonged to one ruan
Rodrigue~, who lived at aVillage called Labo1, not far from the City: and now at
this time, being the Year 16oz.. 'tis reported, That the Indians are fo V\ ell impro–
ved in Mufick, that it was a common thing for a Man to found divers kinds of
lnfi:ruments; but Vocal Mufick was not fo ufual in my time, perhaps becaufe
they did not much pracli(e their Voices, though the M~mgrils, pr fuch as came
of a mixture of Spanifh and Indian bloud, had the faculty co fing with a tunable
and a fweet Voice. . ·
C H· A .P. xv.
The Poetry of the Inca's Amautas, who were Philofophers;
and of the Haravec, who were Poets. .
THe Amaut~s, vho were iyien of. the heft i~genuity amo~gll: them, invented
Come9ies .a d Traged1 s, which on their folemn Fefhvals they reprefen–
ted before taerr King, and the Lords of his Court. The Acrors ~ere not Men
of the co~mon fort, hut CuractU, or fome of the young Nobility, and Officers of
the So?ld1ery, ~ca fe e ery one aeted his own proper part ; the plot or argument
of. the~ Tragedies was o reprefent their military Exploits and the Triumphs
V 1Ctones a?d Hero·c cHons of their renowned Men; a~d the fubjett or de~
~gn <;>f t Comedies as to demonfirate the manner bandry in cul–
Affi~ng manuring t~~ir Fields, and to !hew the of domefiick
~rrs, h Ot~er familiar matters. So foon as th as ended· the
. Aetors took their plac~s ~ccording to their degrees and qualities. Thefe Plays
were not ~ade up w1~h interludes of obfcene and difhoneft farfes, but fuch as
here of fenous en~ertamment, compofed of grave and acute fentences, fitted to
t
1 e P1lace dand a d1tory , by whom the Aetors were commonly rewarded with
ewe s an other Prefems, according to their merit.
H Their
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