478 / 1070
Royal
Commentaries.
BoO'I~ l.
C H A P. XXIII.
Of the D1fficu!ty there
was to
interpret the fenfe
a1Ul mea–
ning of thi-s Speech of Friar
Vicente de Valverde.
U
Pon thí.s 'Speech
Bl.u Va/era
makes fome Reflexions, in .orde
r to the better
anderílanding of his Hiflory ; faying, thac t
he Hül:orians
:whi.chtrnac of-·
rhefe· maliters make rnention of chis Speeah of
cl1€
fri.ar,bue
h
owfoever witb
lo'ine variety, for fome leave ouc the
mrft
párt, and
othersthe fecond; at1d forne
have -abbr~ime.d
it
in their Reiations.
Bue
howfoever
Bl.u Valera
faith, that
rohn
de Oliva ,
and
Chriftopher de Medina,
who were Prieíl:s, and
slµlfull in
tbe
1ndian
bnguage, and fevera-l other. Wricers, h'a"1e' (pecitied chis Speech ac large in' both
parts,
as {p0ken by
Frfar.P.incent;
and rluey a11 agree, thac it was a moll tárt ·and
roerle
Speecfo,; without ·alily mixtmre of,fweernefs or ailJuretl}iJeliJt wbatfoever, ancd
that che Inter,p>retacion there0f was mmch worfe,
as
we !ha'ill fee hereafcer;
and
theíe A'tithours do
mMcfu
mor.eappuove che Spefich tWlaicfu
flernando
de
Soto
and
Pi<¡arro
macle co
AtahHalpa,
1beir.tgm@re
georle,
and inoaleft, rhan rhe fharp, and
ill
·natured Speech of Friar
Vincent.
.
And now
as
co t:he lineitpr.etatiotl which
was
made ·to King
At(lhu11lpa
of thefe
W-ords, we1-nay beliewe it was very imperfeét and con;upc; for
chis
Philip
ihe
In–
dittn,
who was
ali
che Inter¡1lreter tbey
1
hácd, was a Nativ'e ofthe Hland
of
Puna,
and
b0m
of cemmon and
bl©dkifh
Par,ems , and was .fcarce mived to che age
of
~weflty rwo,ye-ats, a!ild
was
1
J10t 1.mely
il'l
leatmi! in che
-Spani-fh,
bue
.alfo in fhe ge–
neral
'f
0ngue, .fpoken,by che
Incll4
át
c'o~co,
which is different from that
ufod
in
Tumpi~,
for ,as we have fa¡d at the ~ginning, the Lartguage of
Cot.c,
is
more
téfi–
fl(!d, iR reípeft ofaill,oth@r
fndiAnJ,
whofe LaF1guage is barbarnus an8.corrupt. And
h10reover rhis IAt@rpuecer bad leamed.his
Spanifh
of
hirnfelf, without Rule, and
fome W0rds'0nely whicm,he had go~ten up armmgíl: the Souldiers, and lewd·Peo–
ple, füth ils lOunds, aml dammee, and the like; and beíides he was bue aServant
m
the
ceani~rl/J,
ano
learned onely ro [peak like che Negroes, and chough he had
heen
bapclfotl,
,yec he wasdgnoranc of ali the Principies of Religion, having
nei–
iher know!etlge of1Chrill our Lordi nor
of
che Apoílles Creed.
'fhis
was nll
che Edudnion and Learning which our firíl: Incerpreter had in
Pe•
ru,
and 'atrnrtlh1gly ihe Tmnflacions
he
made ouc of
-Spanifh
were
ali
imperfecl:,
ana óf
a
concrary fenfe ; not rhat he rnaéle his miílakes voluncarily from malice, bue
fr0m
:ignorante, fpeaking, like a Pan-ot, things that he did not underfiand; as for
e~ample,
when he wá-s
to
&ciare, and explain thé n_amre of the Trinicy, as ,rhac
Oed
was three and yec,-onej he woultlfay,God was«itee, and,one, rhat is fout,che
whichrappe1lrs~y thei-r
~ipta¡
which ,is ch~ir
Knots
11
u'fed in .theC:ou
mrey o'fCa./[a–
,m,roa,
where th~fe Affairs paili:d; and ihdeed
l.ie-
w'asn.mch co blame,
if.weconfi–
der, thac in che
Pcruvian
Language they have
nowords co exprels ·che
Ttiniry, che
Holy Gholl, Faich, Grace, che Church, che Sacramencs, and ocher
Vv
ords of rhe
like Myíl:eries; for which reaíon the
Spaniards,
who fl:udy that Language in our
times, and endeavour to exprefs cheir rnyílical Notions, are forced co coin new
words moíl: accomrnodaced to the reafon of chis people, and to·che manner of
Ex–
preffions of che mo!t incelligenc
Ind,'.ans,
who having underllood fomething of che
Spa14ijh
Language and Learning; have of thernfelves framed new Words co fuppl}'
the' defeél:s of their Speech, whereby the Preachers are now able co expreís any
thing in conforrnicy co che underíl:anding of rheir Audicory. We have upon di–
vers occafions given feveral Iníl:ances ofrhe Barrenneís and Defeél:s of rhe
PerH·via11
Language; and cherefore we ought,not
to
lay the fole blame on our firll Inter–
precer; for even in chefe our Days, which are cwency nine Years, íince that time,
there are almoll as many grofs rnillakes made by our prefent Imerprecers, as were
by
Philippillio,
who never converfed with rhe
Spaniards
in
other Language chan
his own.
In
íl1ort,
I
fay, chat
I
never knew an
Indian
who [pake good
Spanifh,
..
r
bue