4000003871

Royal Commenta-ries.

BooK-1:

Share, in the namre 'of Spoils taken in ,War. Bue what the_ value of chis Ran–

fome was

Auguffin de Carate,

and

Francu

úpe,:,,

who wrote

chofe days, vari–

ouíly rep;rt. I fupµofe chac their Errours were in the hea_p or mafs, I íhall rnen–

tion fome particulars thereof, tbac we 'may rnake a becter ¡udgment of che whole

rnacrer,

Carate,

in che 7th Chapter of his fecond Book, hath tbefe precife

Words, " There was due to His Majeíl:y for his Fifths, thirty thoufand Marks

'' of pure fine Place, wroughc afid emboíled; and in Gold an ·hundred and

" cwemy Mill\ons of Marks,

&r,

domara,

,in the 118th Chapc_er, faith, That

Francifco Pifarro,

afcer he had made an Eífay of the Gold and S1lver, he caufed

thern to be weighed, , and found fifcy two thoufand Marks in good Silver,

and a million and chree hundred and twenty íix choufand and five hundred weighc

or Ducacs of Gold.

_ .

· fo

cafe we compare thefe cwo Auchours cogecher, we íhall find that

Gomara

comes íhort of che Sum which

f!rate

mentions, ar leaft one hundred thoufand

Marks of Silver; becaufefthat to make che King's Fifch to amount unto thircy

thoufand Mark, che princi~al muft confiíl: of one hundred and fifty thoufahd, che

like Errour, and rnuch more, there is in che Gold; for whereas

Caraie

faith, thac

His Majefty's Fifch of che Gold amounted unto an hundred and cwency millions

of Marks, which muíl: be a plain Errour in che Ptint; for i,f according ro the va–

lue we mulciply,every Mark of G0ld ac fevemy ,cwo Ducats, che fum will

be–

come fo vaíl: and imrhenfe

that there will frarce be numbers

;f1

Arithmecick'fü}J

ficient to contain che account. · And if by Marks they

meap'

Maravedís,

che

Er–

rour will be as low on that fide, 'as it was exce!Iive in che other, becallfe an hun–

dred and twenty miHions of

Maravedú

make onely three hundred and twenty

thoufand Ducats; \\lhich likewife is more evident', as will hereafter appear by the

accoum of Diviíióo, which thefe Auchours make, 'in the ~fhare and proportion

which belonged to every fingle ·Perfon out of the Ranfóme of

AtahHttlpa,

whereby

they make the value of the Gold, reauced into Silver, t-0 amounc unto feven hun–

dfeél

and eigbty fix thoufand and fix hundred Ducacs. · According to which I am

inclined to mal<e otlt every Ma.o's fhare and proportion of Gold aod Silver, rather

chan

follow an opinion of fuch incredible Sums as are before mentioned.

And herein I am more willing to give credit unto

Carate

(

who was Accounranc

General) in fuch' Sums·as he fets down precifely, than to the reporrs of Goers

and Comers, who

peak at randorn: Onely as to the (JUJntity of Silver which

was'divided, I follow that which

Gomara

relates, becauíe

Gar11te

is filent in thac

particlilar, as alfo in the proportions divided to each Captain, as appears by his

Hiíl:ory; onely·the {hare which appertained

the General we have taken upon

the

inforrnation.of

chofe who were prefent. Both Authours agree, that the Horfe–

íflen were fixry in nui:nber, and the Foot, or Infantry, one hundred and

fifty.

Though

Ciepd de Leon,

[peaking of

Caf{amarca,

where

Attth,,a!pa

was imprifoned, ,

faith, that thofe who took him were fixty Horfe, andan hundred Foot; in which

report concerning the Foot, I rather follo\y this Authour than

Gomara;

for befides

th'át

!he

was aétually in

Peru,

wlien he wroce of the[e matters,

am alfo much

more apt

keep.wühin the compafs ofAccoums, and fet down ten coo little, ra-

tMer_ c\-ian five too much.

•Thefe Authours alfo di~r 1\Jucb about the Oiares which every Souldier recei–

ved; for to the Souldiers they a!loc fix pares in Gold, and one in Silver; and to the

C';,o'vérnour.,,and his,Capcains, and rhe People with

Almagro,

they give three pares in

G0JH;1

and one in Silver. Why in chofe times che Gold

rnuch exceeded che

qu;i,ntity of the,Silver, ( the cearrary

which now' appears in ali pares

the

World) the true Re:ifon is this: Becaufe that the

lncan

Kings were always Ma–

fl:'°rs of more Gold rhan Sil~er, of which they rnade no other u[e than ro adorn

_i ·

Temples, and Royal Pal,aées',.not eíl:eeming rhem in che place of Riches

01Treafure. Moréover there was rn'uch more difficulty in digging Silver, than i~

finding Gold. for Silver, as ~,e fee in che Mines of

Poto[,,

is ferched from che

B wels of the Earth, into which they fink fomecimes t1~(0 hundred fathoms as

.,:{:ofla,reporrs in che 8th Cbapter ofhis ftb Book, which fucb as have the cu'rio–

ficy may read and learn with what incredible labour that Mera] is excraéted for

which caufe the

lnca1

would noc exaét cheir Tribute from the People in rhat'Me–

t~.J,

but Gold is procured with much·more eafe, being found on che Surface of rhe

Earch, beidg waíhed down from che Moumains wirh fudden Rains and with

che

faJl

of the Waters is found in Brooks, and on che Banks of Rivers; and gene-

rally