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Royal Commentaries. BooK· VII.
wor.e a-Pad or Pannel to keep them from galling with the weight, and at
every 200 paces they were relieved oy a frefh Company.Ahd here we may leave
the Reader to confider, with how much trouble aod labour thefe poor lndians
carried thefe weighty Burdens over thofe Rocky aod Mountainous w.ays which
are in my Country ; and over afcents, and deíceots oí three and four Leagues
long, and fo fteep, that many .Spaniards, whom 1 have feen travelling, have
for eafe of ~heir Horfes and Mules, alighced off frorn their backs, efpecially
ac a defcent, Vo!hic.h are many times fo freep that a man cannot lit in bis Saddle,
but it will be on che horfe.:neck, notwithftanding the Crupper, which often
breaks : and fuch kind of way as this we have from Q..uiw to , which
are 500 Leagues diftant; bue from to the Charcas the way re plea–
fant, being for the moft pare a plain trey. And hereby we may underftand,
that, what Palentino faith concerning the Artíllery whic'h'Felipe de Mendofa
brought into the Parade, and fired íeveral times, was _rather to fpeak fine
things, as in a Romance, anQ to ernbellilh his Hiftory, than that any fuch thing
was really aél:ed, or put ioco praétice ; as we have faid before.
His Majefties Army marched out, and encamped about a League from the
City, where they con~inued about five days to puc all, things in a readinefs,
and make Provifions of every thing they ftood in need; and until the Indi,ms of
the neighbouring Places could bring in the Viétuals and Seores they had ga–
tbered; theve was need of Horfe: shoes and other Iron-works; and befare the
one could be forged, and the other got together, time was required: And this
certaioly was the rea fon that detained the Army fo many days; and not what
· our Author alledges, Chapter the 50th, in thefe rcls, The Camp, faith he,
remained in the Salinas five or fix days, in expe n of Jndians to carry the
Baggage:, but they e.ame not, but rathe·r feveral of them fled to their own
Homes; and b they belonged to Planters, who had their Eftates and
Lands near to , ÍE was fofpeéted thaE they were fentaway by order of
their Mafi:ers'. roubled to find this, and fuch like P::11fages in the Hiftory
of, this Author, which argues fome kind of Paffion· or fique he had again!I:
the lnhabitants of Couo, whom·he frequentl'y blames on all occafions, in mat–
ters whereof they never were guilty: And indeed it were more reafonable to
believe, that thefe Citizens, and Men of Eftates, fhould contribute ali they were
able to putan end to this War,. ratber than to do any aét which migbt be a
means to protra[t: and hinder the final determination of it; nór coúld it be
ro the advantage of the (;itizens , to be accell'ory· to any Aét (fuch as
fending away tbe Jndians) which migbt occalion the ftay of the Army in
parts fo near the City, from whi'cb they could not expeá other than troubles,
perpetual rnoleftations, and damages t~ their Eftates, during ali the time of
theirq_uarters in th'at place. And moreover this Author feems to co.ntradiét
liimfelf, in faying, that che Army was detained in expeél:ation of lndians to
carry their Baggage, and for wanc of them they could not proceeed; and then
afterwards, he faith, that many of themfled away, and yet the Army raifed
their Camp, au.d departcd without tbem : Bue the truth of what pafied in
this·particular, was this :, . That, by arder of the General, manyof the Indian~
who were appointed to carry Burdens weredifmift, by reafon that the wáy af–
terwards being plain and without Rocks, or Moontains, -orhollow Cavities,
th~y 11:ood not in need of the Service of fo many Jndians a~ fornierly, and
therefore diícharged fev:eraJ of them'as ufelefs and cµmberfom to the Camp.
In fine, the Army, after five days 11:ay, departed from their Quarters near the
City, and marched in good Order, and always in a readinefs to engage the
Enerny, in cafe they fhould be attacked by them in any of thofe narrow pafia–
g~s which are between the City and í!.!!_equ.efana : But tbe Rebels had anotber
Game,t0 play, futfering tbem to pafs quietly and undifcurbed, until they carne
to the Pe0pJe called Pucara, about forty Leagues diftant from , onlythey
found themfelves .fom_ething diltrefied for want of Provifi ecaufe the
Negm, wf!o were Souldiers to the Rebels, having divided themfelves into
two bands on both fides of the Road, had droven all the Cattel away, and
taken ali the P.royifion,s with them that they could find, leaving nothing
behind for fobfiJtance of his Maje.fries Artny. And now the Scouts of botlt
the parties mee each wich ch.e other, and yec no -Sk1tmifhes, or Encoun–
tcrs pa,lfed between them ; only the Jufticcs received Intelligence, that the
Rebels