History of the Incas / by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa ; and the execution of the Inca Tupac Amaru, by Captain Baltasar de Ocampo ; tr. and ed., with notes and an introduction by Sir Clements Markham.
- Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa
- Date:
- 1907
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: History of the Incas / by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa ; and the execution of the Inca Tupac Amaru, by Captain Baltasar de Ocampo ; tr. and ed., with notes and an introduction by Sir Clements Markham. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![chance they formerly had some notice, passed down to them from mouth to mouth, which had reached them from their ancestors, respecting the truth of what happened in former times. Mixing this with the stories told them by the devil, and with other things which they changed, invented, or added, which may happen in all nations, they made up a pleasing salad, and in some things worthy of the attention of the curious who are accustomed to consider and discuss human ideas. One thing must be noted among many others. It is that the stories which are here treated as fables, which they are, are held by the natives to be as true as we hold the articles of our faith, and as such they affirm and confirm them with unanimity, and swear by them. There are a few, however, who by the mercy of God are opening their eyes and beginning to see what is true and what is false re¬ specting those things. But we have to write down what they say and not what we think about it in this part. We shall hear what they hold respecting their first age, [and afterwards we shall come to the inveterate and cruel tyranny of the Inca tyrants who oppressed these kingdoms of Peru for so long. All this is done by order of the most excellent Don Francisco de Toledo, Viceroy of these kingdoms]. I have collected the information with much diligence so that this history can rest on attested proofs from the general testi¬ mony of the whole kingdom, old and young, Incas and tributary Indians. The natives of this land affirm that in the beginning, and before this world was created, there was a being called Viracocha. He created a dark world without sun, moon or stars. Owing to this creation he was named Viracocha Pachayachachi, which means “Creator of all things1.” And 1 Uiracocha (Viracocha) was the Creator. Garcilasso de la Vega pointed out the mistake of supposing that the word signified “foam of the sea” (ii. p. 16). He believed it to be a name, the derivation of which he did not attempt to explain. Bias Valera (i. p. 243) said the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31361201_0076.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
