78 / 1060
Royal
Commentaries.
BooK
III.
CH AP. VII.
How
11iany
other People were reduced; and in what
manner
the
Inca
made a Bridge of Ofiers.
T
HE News of this bloudy battel
was
foon fpread over all the Neighbouring
Countries, and every-where interpreted as
a juft
judgment fent from the Sun
on
the
Jni:lians,
who had refufed his beneficial conditions, and difobeyed the
Inca;
on which apprehenfion many of thofe
~ople,
who
had
taken
up Arms,
and for–
med
their Camp with intent to oppofe the
lncd,
did now
lay
afide
their
thoughts
of
War,
refolving to fubmit and depend on the Clemency of the
Inca;
who accor–
dingly received them with grace and favour, prefenting them with Vefis, and
other gifts, with which the
Indians
remained greatly fatisfied, and
in
every place
publifhed the
InctU
to be the true and undoubted
oft~fpring
of the SWl.
.
-
The people which were thus reduced, were the Inhabitants -from
H11ay~hu
to
Ca//amar,
which is
thirty
Leagues
to
the Southward. Hence the
Inca
proceeded
from
Cl-fllamarca,
twenty four Leagues farther, by the high-way of
CharctU
to
Cara–
collc,
Summoning all the Natives to
his
fervice both on one hand , and the o-
ther
as
far a to the Lake
of
Paria
;
thence taking
a
compafs
to
the Eaftward
as
far as
Antu,
he came at length to that Vally, which
to
this day
ls
called
Chuq11ia–
pu,
which
in
the common tongue is
as
much as to fay, the principal or chiefLance;
in which divifion he
f
lanted feveral Colonies, becaufe he had obferved,
that
thofe
Valleys being fruitful and warm, were a better Soil for producing
Mayz
(or
In–
dian
Wheat ) than any of thofe Provinces within the Precin& of
Colla.
From
'
the Vale of
Oaracatu
he continued
his
March Eafiward, to the skirts of the greac
Snowy Mountain of
A»tu,
which
is
above thirty Leagues dillant from the Royal
way of
Vmafl!Ju.
In
thefe Marches, and in the employment he had of fettling C0lonies, and con..
fiituting
Laws and Government
in
his new Conquefis, the
Inca
fpent three
ye~
and then returned again to
Couo,
where he was received with expreffions of joy
and acclamation. And having there repofed two or three
years
more, he com–
manded, that preparations fhmild be made againll: the next Spring, both of Men
and Provifions, for a new Conquefr ; for his aCtive mind not fuffering him to fie
idle, moved hi
mto
enterprize fomething in the Counttey of
Contifayu,
which
is
to the Well: of
Coz.co,containing many great and large Countries under
it :
And
becaufe they
\JI\
ereto
pafs the River called
Apurimac,
he commanded a Bridge to
be made for tranfporting his Army ; for framing of which, becaufe it was a thing
as yet new and unknown, he confulted with the moll: ingenious
Indians
in . the
contrivance; and becaufe it
v.
as the full: Bridge of Ofiers that was ever made in
P erH,
I fhall defcribe the manner how it was made; not agreeing with the Wri–
cen of
Peru,
who tell us Stories of Bridges made of Feathers, but omit to declare
the manner and fafhion of them.
In making this Bridge they twilled, or weaved, great quantities of OGers to_ge–
ther, which are not of the fame fort which we have in
Spain,
but of a more fine
and pliable prig : Of three Ofiers they made one Twift for the length , and ano–
ther for the breadth which the Bridge was to be; to rhefe Twills of three Ofiers,
they added another of nine, and weaved three of thefe together ,
fo
that
it
came
to be twenty feven Ofiers
in
thickne!S ; and
fo
they went on Weaving in this
manner, till it came to be as thick as a Man,s body, and of this
fort
they made
five pieces.
-
Having thus prepared their Bridge, fome
Indians
either {\ am or ferried rhem–
felves over on a Float to th ocher fide, carrying with them the end of a finall
C ord,
hich was faftned to a Baffe-rope, made of Rufhes, called by the
Jndian1
Chah11ar
;
this Rope or Cord
as tied to the end of one of the twined or matted
pieces, and by the for e ofmany hands they drew it over to the other fide ofthe Ri-
ver,