History of the Incas | Page 7

of the Inca family when the Viceroy, Francisco de Toledo, came to Cuzco in 1571. Cusi Titu Yupanqui and Tupac Amaru, sons of the Inca Manco were in the mountains of Vilcapampa, the former maintaining his independence. Carlos Inca, son of Paullu, was baptized, and living on the Colcampata at Cuzco with his wife Maria de Esquivel. Seven Inca princesses had married Spaniards, most of them living at Cuzco with their husbands and children.
The events, connected with the Inca family, which followed on the arrival of the Viceroy Toledo at Cuzco, will be found fully described in this volume. It need only be stated here that the inexorable tyrant, having got the innocent young prince Tupac Amaru into his power, resolved to put him to death. The native population was overwhelmed with grief. The Spaniards were horrified. They entreated that the lad might be sent to Spain to be judged by the King. The heads of religious orders and other ecclesiastics went down on their knees. Nothing could move the obstinate narrow-minded Viceroy. The deed was done.
When too late Toledo seems to have had some misgivings. The judicial murder took place in December, 1571. The history of the Incas was finished in March, 1572. Yet there is no mention of the death of Tupac Amaru. For all that appears he might have been still in Vilcapampa. Nevertheless the tidings reached Philip II, and the Viceroy's conduct was not approved.
There was astonishing audacity on the part of Toledo, in basing arguments on the alleged cruelty and tyranny of the Incas, when the man was actually red-handed with the blood of an innocent youth, and engaged in the tyrannical persecution of his relations and the hideous torture of his followers. His arguments made no impression on the mind of Philip II. The King even showed some favour to the children of Tupac Amaru by putting them in the succession to the Marquisate of Oropesa. In the Inca pedigrees Toledo is called "el execrable regicidio." When he presented himself on his return from Peru the King angrily exclaimed: "Go away to your house; for I sent you to serve kings; and you went to kill kings[11]."
[Note 11: "Idos a vuestra casa, que yo os envie a servir reyes; y vos fuiste a matar reyes."]
All his faithful services as a legislator and a statesman could not atone for this cruel judicial murder in the eyes of his sovereign. He went back to his house a disgraced and broken-hearted man, and died soon afterwards.
The history of the Incas by Sarmiento is followed, in this volume, by a narrative of the execution of Tupac Amaru and of the events leading to it, by an eye-witness, the Captain Baltasar de Ocampo. It has been translated from a manuscript in the British Museum.
The narrative of Ocampo, written many years after the event, is addressed to the Viceroy Marquis of Montes Claros. Its main object was to give an account of the province of Vilcapampa, and to obtain some favours for the Spanish settlers there.
Vilcapampa is a region of very special historical and geographical interest, and it is one of which very little is known. It is a mountainous tract of country, containing the lofty range of Vilcacunca and several fertile valleys, between the rivers Apurimac and Vilcamayu, to the north of Cuzco. The mountains rise abruptly from the valley of the Vilcamayu below Ollantay-tampu, where the bridge of Chuqui-chaca opened upon paths leading up into a land of enchantment. No more lovely mountain scenery can be found on this earth. When Manco Inca escaped from the Spaniards he took refuge in Vilcapampa, and established his court and government there. The Sun temple, the convent of virgins, and the other institutions of the Incas at Cuzco, were transferred to this mountain fastness. Even handsome edifices were erected. Here the Incas continued to maintain their independence for 35 years.
Ocampo opens his story with a very interesting account of the baptism of Melchior Carlos, son of Carlos Inca, who had become a Christian, and lived in the palace on the Colcampata at Cuzco. He then describes the events which culminated in the capture, of the Inca Tupac Amaru, and gives a pathetic and touching account of the judicial murder of that ill-fated young prince. Ocampo was an actor in these events and an eye-witness. The rest of his narrative consists of reminiscences of occurrences in Vilcapampa after it was occupied by the Spaniards. He owned property there, and was a settler holding official posts. He tells of the wealth and munificence of a neighbour. He gives the history of an expedition into the forests to the northward, which will form material for the history of these expeditions when it is written. He tells the story of an insurrection among the negro