History of the Incas | Page 3

in the Archivo de Indias[1]. At Cuzco all the Inca descendants were called upon to give evidence respecting the history of Peru under their ancestors. They all swore that they would give truthful testimony. The compilation of the history was then entrusted to Captain Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, the cosmographer of Peru. When it was completed the book was read to the Inca witnesses, chapter by chapter, in their own language. They discussed each chapter, and suggested some corrections and alterations which were adopted. It was then submitted to the Viceroy, who caused the documents to be attested by the principal Spaniards settled at Cuzco, who had been present at the conquest, or had taken a leading part in the subsequent administration. These were Dr Loarte, the licentiate Polo de Ondegardo[2], Alonso de Mena[3], Mancio Serra de Leguisano[4], Pero Alonso Carrasco, and Juan de Pancorvo[5], in whose house the Viceroy resided while he was at Cuzco. Mancio Serra de Leguisano married Beatriz ?usta, an Inca princess, daughter of Huayna Ccapac. The Viceroy then made some final interpolations to vilify the Incas, which would not have been approved by some of those who had attested, certainly not by Polo de Ondegardo or Leguisano.
[Note 1: Printed in the same volume with Montesinos, and edited by Jimenes de la Espada, Informaciones acerca del se?orio y gobierno de los Ingas hechas por mandado de Don Francisco de Toledo, 1570--72.]
[Note 2: The accomplished lawyer, author, and statesman.]
[Note 3: One of the first conquerors. His house at Cuzco was in the square of our Lady, near that of Garcilasso de la Vega.]
[Note 4: A generous defender of the cause of the Indians.]
[Note 5: One of the first conquerors. He occupied a house near the square, with his friend and comrade Alonso de Marchena.]
Sarmiento mentions in his history of the Incas that it was intended to be the Second Part of his work. There were to be three Parts. The First, on the geography of Peru, was not sent because it was not finished. The Third Part was to have been a narrative of the conquest.
The four cloths, and the other documents, were taken to Spain, for presentation to the King, by a servant of the Viceroy named Geronimo Pacheco, with a covering letter dated at Yucay on March 1st, 1572.
Of all these precious documents the most important was the history of the Incas by Sarmiento, and it has fortunately been preserved. The King's copy found its way into the famous library of Abraham Gronovius, which was sold in 1785, and thence into the library of the University of G?ttingen, where it remained, unprinted and unedited, for 120 years. But in August, 1906, the learned librarian, Dr Richard Pietschmann published the text at Berlin, very carefully edited and annotated with a valuable introduction. The Council of the Hakluyt Society is thus enabled to present an English translation to its members very soon after the first publication of the text. It is a complement of the other writings of the great navigator, which were translated and edited for the Hakluyt Society in 1895.
The manuscript consists of eight leaves of introduction and 138 of text. The dedicatory letter to the King is signed by Sarmiento on March 4th, 1572. The binding was of red silk, under which there is another binding of green leather. The first page is occupied by a coloured shield of the royal arms, with a signature el Capit? Sarmi de G?boa. On the second page is the title, surrounded by an ornamental border. The manuscript is in a very clear hand, and at the end are the arms of Toledo (chequy azure and argent) with the date Cuzco, 29 Feb., 1572. There is also the signature of the Secretary, Alvaro Ruiz de Navamuel[6].
[Note 6: Alvaro Ruiz and his brother Captain Francisco Ruiz were the sons of Francisco Santiago Rodriguez de los Rios by Inez de Navamuel. Both used their mother's name of Navamuel as their surname; and both were born at Aquilar del Campo. Alonso Ruiz de Navamuel was Secretary to the governments of five successive Viceroys. He wrote a Relacion de las cosas mas notables que hiza en el Peru, siendo Virev Don Francisco de Toledo, 20 Dec. 1578. He died in the year 1613. The descendants of his son Juan de los Rios formed the mayorazgos of Rios and Cavallero.
By his wife Angela Ortiz de Arbildo y Berriz, a Biscayan, he had a daughter Inez married to her cousin Geronimo Aliaga, a son of the Secretary's brother Captain Francisco Ruiz de Navamuel, the encomendero of Caracoto in the Collao, by Juana, daughter of Captain Geronimo de Aliaga. His marriage, at which the Viceroy Toledo was present, took place on November 23rd, 1578. From the marriage of the younger Geronimo de Aliaga with Inez