Of the great buildings in the province of Vilcas, which are beyond the city of Guamanga.

THE distance from the city of Guamanga to that of Cuzco is sixty leagues, a little more or less. On this road is the plain of Chupas, where the cruel battle was fought between the governor Vaca de Castro and Don Diego de Almagro the Younger. Further on, still following the royal road, are the edifices of Vilcas, eleven leagues from Guamanga, which, say the natives, was the centre of the dominions of the Yncas; for they assert that from Quito to Vilcas is the same distance as from Vilcas to Chile, these being the extreme points of the empire. Some Spaniards, who have travelled from one end to the other, say the same. Ynca Yupanqui ordered these edifices to be built, and his successors added to them. The temple of the sun was large and richly ornamented. On one part of the plain, towards the point where the sun rises, there was a chapel for the lords, made of stone, and surrounded by a low wall, which formed a terrace about six feet broad, with other steps upon it, on the highest of which there was a seat where the lord stationed himself when he said his prayers. This seat was made of a single enormous stone, eleven feet long, and seven broad. They say that this stone was once set with gold and precious stones, for it was thus that they adorned a place held by them in great veneration. On another stone, which is not small, in the centre of the open space, they killed animals and young children as sacrifices, whose blood they offered to their gods. The Spaniards have found some treasure on these terraces.

By the side of the chapel were the palaces of Tupac Ynca Yupanqui, and other great buildings, besides many storehouses where they put the arms and fine cloths, with all other things paid as tribute by the Indians of provinces within the jurisdiction of Vilcas, which was, I have heard it said in other places, as it were the head of the kingdom. Near a small hill there were, and still are, more than seven hundred houses, where they stored up the maize and other provisions for the soldiers who marched that way. In the middle of the great square there was another form or seat, where the lord sat to witness the dances and festivals. The temple of the sun, which was built of stones fitted one on the other with great skill, had two doorways, approached by two flights of stone stairs, having, as I counted them, thirty steps apiece. Within this temple there were lodgings for the priests and virgins. The Orejones and other Indians affirm that the figure of the sun was very rich, and that there was great treasure in smaller pieces. These buildings were served by more than forty thousand Indians, divided into relays, and each chief understood the orders of the governor, who received his power from the Ynca. To guard the doorways alone there were forty porters. A gentle channel of water, conducted with much skill, flowed through the great square, and the lords also had their secret baths both for themselves and for their women. What may now be seen of all this are the outlines of the buildings, the walls of the chapels, the temple with its steps all in ruins, and other ruined buildings. In fine, it once was what it now is not, and by what it now is we may judge what it once was. Some of the first Spanish conquerors saw this edifice entire and in its perfection, as I have myself been told by them.[431]

From Vilcas the road passes to Uramarca, which is seven leagues nearer Cuzco, and here the great river called Vilcas is crossed, the name being given because it is near these buildings. On each side of the river there are very large stone pillars made very strong and with very deep foundations. From these pillars a bridge of ropes, like those used for drawing water with a wheel, is slung across the river. These ropes are so strong that horses may pass over with loosened rein, as if they were crossing the bridge of Alcantara, or that of Cordova. The bridge was one hundred and sixty-six paces long when I passed over it.[432] The river rises in the province of the Soras, which is very fertile, and inhabited by a warlike race. They and the people of Lucanas[433] speak one language, and go about dressed in woollen cloths. They possessed large flocks, and in their provinces there are rich mines of gold and silver. The Yncas esteemed the Soras and Lucanas so highly, that their provinces were favoured, and the sons of their chiefs resided at the court of Cuzco. There are store-houses in these provinces, and great numbers of wild flocks in the desert mountains. Returning to the royal road, the traveller reaches the buildings of Uramarca, which is a village of Mitimaes, for most of the natives were killed in the wars of the Yncas.