In which certain things are declared concerning the Indians; and what fell out between a clergyman and one of them, in a village of this kingdom.

AS some people say evil things of these Indians, comparing them with beasts, saying that in their customs and ways of living they are more like beasts than men, and that they not only eat each other, but commit other great crimes; and as I have written of these and other abuses of which they are guilty in this history, I wish it to be known that all this is not true of every nation in these Indies, and that, if in some provinces they eat human flesh, and commit other crimes, in others they abhor these things. It would, therefore, be unjust to condemn them all, and even those who practise these sins will be freed from them by the light of our holy faith, without which they were ignorant of what they did, like many other nations, such as the gentiles, who knew no more of the faith than these Indians, and sacrificed to idols as much or more than they did. And even, if we look round, we shall see many who profess our law, and have received the water of the holy baptism, committing great sins every day, being deceived by the devil. If, therefore, these Indians practised the customs of which I have written, it was because formerly they had no one to direct them in the way of truth. Now those who hear the doctrine of the holy gospel, know that the shades of perdition surround those who are separated from it; while the devil, whose envy increases at the fruits of our holy faith, deceives some of these people by fears and terrors; but his victims are few, and are each day decreasing, seeing that our Lord God works in all times for the extension of his holy faith.

Among other notable things, I will relate one which happened in a village called Lampa, according to the account which was given me of it in the village of Azangaro, a repartimiento of the priest Antonio de QuiÑones,[537] a citizen of Cuzco. It relates to the conversion of an Indian, and I asked my informant to give me the statement in writing, which, without adding or omitting anything, is as follows:—

“I, Marcos Otaso, a priest and native of Valladolid, being in the village of Lampa, teaching the Indians our holy Christian faith, in the month of May 1547, the moon being full, all the chiefs and principal people came to me and asked very eagerly for permission to do what was their custom at that season. I replied that if it was anything that was unlawful in our holy Catholic faith, it must not be done from that time forward. They received my decision, and returned to their homes. At about noon they began to sound drums in several directions with one stick, which is their way of sounding them; and presently several mantles were spread in the plaza for the chiefs to sit upon, who were dressed in their best clothes, with their hair plaited according to their custom—a plait, twisted four times, falling on each side. Being seated in their places, I saw a boy deity, aged about twelve years, go up to each cacique. These boys were very handsome, and richly dressed. From the knees downwards they were covered with red fringe, their arms were clothed in the same way, and they had many stamped medals of gold and silver on different parts of their bodies. In their right hands they carried a kind of weapon like a halberd, and in the left a large bag of coca. On the left hand of each boy walked girls of ten years old, beautifully dressed in the same way, except that they wore a long train behind, which is not the custom with other women. This train was held by an older girl, who was beautiful and stately. Behind came many women as attendants. The girls carried bags of very fine cloth in their right hands, full of gold and silver medals. From the shoulders a lion skin hung down and covered everything. Behind the attendants came six Indian labourers, each with a plough on his shoulder, and beautiful crowns of many-coloured feathers on his head. Then followed six others, as their pages, with bags of potatoes, playing on drums. Thus they advanced towards the chiefs, and, as they passed them, the boys and girls, and all the others, made deep reverences and bowed their heads. The chiefs returned the salute by bowing also. They then retired without turning their heads, for about twenty paces, in the same order. The labourers then put the ploughs on the ground, and took the bags of the large and choice potatoes, at the same time beating drums, and performing a sort of dance, raising themselves on the points of their toes, and holding up the bags which they held in their hands from time to time. Only those I have mentioned did this; for all the chiefs and the rest of the people were seated on the ground in rows in perfect silence, watching what was going on. Afterwards those in the procession sat down, and others brought a one-year old lamb all of one colour, and took it before the chief, surrounded by other Indians, so that I might not see what was going on. They then threw the lamb on the ground, and, having torn out the bowels, they gave them to the sorcerers, called Huaca-camayoc, who are to them what priests are with us. I then saw certain Indians taking up as much of the lamb’s blood as they could hold in their hands, and pouring it quickly amongst the potatoes in the bags.[538] At this moment a chief came forward, who had become a Christian a few days before, calling them dogs and other things, in their own language, which I did not understand. He then went to the foot of a high cross which stood in the middle of the plaza, where, with a loud voice, he fearlessly denounced this diabolical rite. They all went away in great affright, without finishing the sacrifice, or prognosticating the success of the harvests during the year, as was their wont. Other priests, called umu,[539] also predict coming events, and converse with the devil, carrying about with them a figure of the enemy, made of a hollow bone, with a lump of the black wax, that is found in the country, on the top.

“While I was in this village of Lampa, a boy of mine came to me on Maundy Thursday, who had slept in the church. He was very much frightened, and asked me to get up and go to baptise a cacique who was in the church on his knees before the images, in a state of great terror. On the Wednesday night, when this cacique was in the huaca where they go to worship, he saw a man dressed in white, who told him to go to the church and be baptised by me. As soon as day dawned I got up and recited my prayers, and then, not believing the story, went to say mass, and found the man still on his knees. Directly he saw me, he threw himself at my feet, and begged me to make him a Christian. I consented, and having said mass in presence of several Christians, I baptised him. He then went out with great joy, crying out that he was now a Christian, and not a bad man like the other Indians. Then, without saying anything to anybody, he burnt his house, divided his women and flocks amongst his servants, and returned to the church, where he was always preaching to the Indians what concerned their salvation, and urging them to forsake their sins and vices. He did this with great fervour, as if he had been inspired by the Holy Spirit. Many Indians became Christians, owing to the persuasions of the newly-converted chief; and the chief related that the man whom he saw in the huaca, or temple of the devil, was white and very beautiful, and that his clothes were resplendent.”

The priest gave me this account in writing, and I myself see great signs every day that the Lord is more served now than in times past. The Indians are converted, and little by little they are forgetting their rites and evil customs. If this work has been slow, the fault lies more in our neglect than in their malice; for the best way to convert the Indians is to do good works, that the newly converted may take example.