History of the Incas | Page 5

in the introduction to my edition of the voyages of that celebrated
navigator.
But the administration of the Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo, from
1569 to 1581, forms a landmark in the history of Peru, and seems to
call for some notice in this place. He found the country in an unsettled
state, with the administrative system entirely out of gear. Though no
longer young he entered upon the gigantic task of establishing an
orderly government, and resolved to visit personally every part of the
vast territory under his rule. This stupendous undertaking occupied him
for five years. He was accompanied by ecclesiastics, by men well
versed in the language of the Incas and in their administrative policy,
and by his secretary and aide-de-camp. These were the Bishop of
Popayan, Augustin de la Coruña, the Augustine friars Juan Vivero and
Francisco del Corral, the Jesuit and well-known author, Joseph de
Acosta, the Inquisitor Pedro Ordoñez Flores, his brother, the Viceroy's

chaplain and confessor, the learned lawyer Juan Matienzo, whose work
is frequently quoted by Solorzano[7], the licentiate Polo de Ondegardo,
who had been some years in the country and had acquired an intimate
knowledge of the laws of the Incas, the secretary Alvaro Ruiz de
Navamuel, and as aide-de-camp his young nephew, Geronimo de
Figueroa, son of his brother Juan, the Ambassador at Rome[8].
[Note 7: In his Politica Indiana. There are two manuscripts of Juan
Matienzo de Peralta at the British Museum, Govierno del Peru and
Relacion del libro intitulado Govierno del Peru, apparently one work
in two parts. Add. MSS. 5469, in Gayangos Catalogue, vol. II. p. 470.]
[Note 8: Some sons took the father's surname, others that of the mother.
The Viceroy had the name of his father, Francisco Alvarez de Toledo,
the third Count of Oropesa, while his brother Juan had the surname of
Figueroa, being that of his mother.]
Toledo was endowed with indefatigable zeal for the public service,
great energy, and extraordinary powers of application. He took the
opinions of others, weighed them carefully, and considered long before
he adopted any course. But he was narrow-minded and obstinate, and
when he had once determined on a measure nothing could alter him.
His ability is undoubted, and his appointment, at this particular juncture,
is a proof of Philip's sagacity.
The Viceroy's intercourse with Polo de Ondegardo informed him
respecting the administrative system of the Incas, so admirably adapted
to the genius of the people, and he had the wisdom to see that there was
much to learn from it. His policy was to collect the people, who, to a
great extent, were scattered over the country and hiding from the
Spaniards, in villages placed near the centres of their cultivated or
pasture lands. He fixed the numbers in each village at 400 to 500, with
a priest and Alcalde. He also ordered the boundaries of all the parishes
to be settled. Spanish Corregidors were to take the places of the
Tucuyricoc or governors of Inca times, and each village had an elected
Alcalde approved by the Corregidor. Under him there were to be two
overseers, a Pichca pachaca over 500, and a Pachaca as assistant.
Another important measure was the settlement of the tribute. The name

"tribute" was unfortunate. The system was that of the Incas, and the
same which prevailed throughout the east. The government was the
landlord, and the so-called "tribute" was rent. The Incas took two-thirds
for the state and for religion, and set apart one-third for the cultivators.
Toledo did much the same, assessing, according to the nature of the soil,
the crops, and other local circumstances. For the formation of villages
and the assessment of the tribute he promulgated a whole code of
ordinances, many of them intended to prevent local oppression in
various forms.
The Viceroy next took up the questions of the position of yana-cunas
or domestic servants, and of forced service. Both these institutions
existed in Incarial times. All that was needed were moderate laws for
the protection of servants and conscripts, and the enforcement of such
laws. Toledo allowed a seventh of the adult male population in each
village to be made liable for service in mines or factories, fixed the
distance they could be taken from their homes, and made rules for their
proper treatment. It is true that the mita, as it was called, was
afterwards an instrument of cruel oppression, that rules were
disregarded, and that it depopulated the country. But this was not the
fault of Toledo.
The Viceroy gave much attention to the mining industry, promoted the
introduction of the use of mercury in the extraction of silver, and
founded the town of Huancavelica near the quick-silver mine. His
personality pervaded every department of the state, and his tasas or
ordinances fill a