64 / 1060
Royal
Commentaries.
Bo<>K
It
Their poetical
V
erfes were compofed in long and fhort Meetre,
fitted to
am
0 ...
rons Subje&, and the Tunes
to
which they were fet; their
Kings,
and the
fu–
ploits
and
great Aetions performed in their refpeetive Reigns, were
alfo
matter
for their Poetry,
which
they recorded
in
verfe, and ferved
in
the place of
Hill:ory
~
their onnecs were not long, but fhort and compendious,
fo
as they might more
eafily be committed to
Memory ;
they ufed not rhimes, but loofe verfe,
like our
Heroick Poems.
1
remember four
erfes of an amorous ong, which
for
curiofity
fake,
and
to
fhew
their fhort bat compendious fenfe ,
I fhall
repeat here;
ooing
thereby beft accommodated
to the Aire
of their
lute : the Tune alfo
I
would
gladly
fet down, but that the impertinence thereof
may
eafily excufe me.
The
Sonnet in four verf
es is
this.
Cay/la Llapi
~
~'fir:o
tlJp
~ang
Pununqui
In f:nglifh
31
tnill
Reep
Chaupituta
.
thus,
!4t
miilnigf)t
Samufac.
31 ll)all tome.
Many other forts of Verfes the
lnca1,
who were Poets, compofed, who had
the
ame of
Haravec,
which
properly fignifies an lnventout.
Blas Valera
in
his
Writings mentions certain
V
erf
es,
which he calls
pondels, confiiling of four
fyllables; the
Indian
words he hath tranflated
into
Latin~
the
Subjelt of them
is
philofc phical, and trea
of thofe fecond caufes which God hath placed
in
the
Air,
fuch
a
Thunder, and Lightning, Rain and Snow, all which are defcribed
,
in verfe, and are agreeable
to
the fancy of their Fables, one of which
is
this:
That the Maker of all things hath placed
in
Heaven a
irgin , the Daughter of a
King, holding
a
Bucket of Water
in
her
hand, for refrefhment of the
Earth,
when occafion requires; and
that
fomecimes her Brother knocking upon this Buc–
ket, caufes Thunder and Lightning to proceed from it; thefe noif
es,
they
fay,
are
effe&
of the vi lent nature ofMan, but HaH, and Rain, and
now, falling
with
le~
noife and impetuofity, are more agreeable
to
the gentle nacure of
a
W
o–
man. They fay, that an
Inca,
who was
a
Poet and
an
Afrrologer compofed
ma–
ny
erfes in praife of the
ertue and
.xcellencies of this Virgin Lady , which
God had befl:owed u on her for the good and benefit of his Creatures. This Fa–
ble and
erf
es
13/M
Valera
reports
to
ha e found e prelfed
in
the
knots
and
ac–
counts of their ancient Annals, reprefi nted in the threads of divers Colours,
and
referved by thofe to whom the care of the hiflorical Knots and Accounts were
committed; and he fo much
w
ndred at th
ingenuity of the
AmauttM,
that
he
chought thofe
V
erfes worthy to be committed
to
Memory and Papei·.
I
remem–
er in
my
Infancy to have heard thi
able, with many
thers, recounted by my
arents, but being then but
a
hild,
I
as
not very inquiGti e to underfl:and the
fignification.
BIM
Tia/era
hath tranflared this ong out of the
Indian
Language
in-
to Latin, and which runs
in
this manner:
Cumac Nufla
Torallayquim
Puynuy
quit
Paquir cayan
Hina M ntara
Cummunun
Tlla Pantac
Camri
Nufla
Vmry
quita
Para
Munqui
Ma nimpiri
Cbichi
Munqui
Riti
MunfJ.uiulchra
Nympha,
rat r
tuu
Urnam tuam
Nunc
infringit
ujus ifuis
Tonat,
uJget
ulmi
' tq;
ed tu
ympha
Tuam
Jympham
und
s
luis,
Imerdumq;
Grandinem
fi
u
iv
m mittis.
JFait
Jeptnpf),
f{ll:f)p
'l5~otf)et
~trike~
notu
fll:f}ine
lHtne,
Mlf)o(e blotn
3f
~ ~f}unller
~nn
ILigbtnfng.
JSut tbou
Japtnp{)
~OUtfltlJ fO~tfJ
'(!Cf}p
tuatet
IDioppeO
rain,
~nn
gain
~t>nlleft
JPail
S[)~ ~now.
Pacha