Of the river of Apurimac, of the valley of Xaquixaguana, of the causeway which passes over it, and of what else there is to relate until the city of Cuzco is reached.

FURTHER on is the river of Apurimac, which is the largest of those which are crossed between this place and Caxamarca. It is eight leagues from that of Abancay, and the road is much broken up by mountains and declivities, so that those who made it must have had much labour in breaking up the rocks, and levelling the ground, especially where it descends towards the river. Here the road is so rugged and dangerous, that some horses, laden with gold and silver, have fallen in and been lost without any possibility of saving them. There are two enormous stone pillars, to which the bridge is secured. When I returned to the City of the Kings, after we had defeated Gonzalo Pizarro, some of our soldiers crossed the river without a bridge, which had been destroyed, each man in a sack fastened to a rope passing from the pillar on one side of the river to that on the other, more than fifty of us.[444] It is no small terror that is caused by seeing what men pass through in these Indies. After crossing this river the place is presently seen where the buildings of the Yncas were, and where they had an oracle. The devil, according to the Indians, replied from out of the trunk of a tree, near which they buried gold, and offered up sacrifices.

From this river of Apurimac the road leads to the buildings of Limatambo,[445] and crossing the mountains of Vilcaconga (which is the place where the Adelantado Don Diego de Almagro, with some Spaniards, fought a battle with the Indians before he entered Cuzco) the valley of Xaquixaguana is reached, which is a plain situated between the chains of mountains. It is not very broad, nor long. At the beginning of it, is the place where Gonzalo Pizarro was defeated, and close by he and his captains were tried by order of the licentiate Don Pedro de la Gasca, president for his Majesty. In this valley there were very rich and sumptuous edifices, where the nobles of Cuzco retired to enjoy their ease and pleasure. Here, also, was the place where the governor Don Francisco Pizarro ordered Challcuchima, the captain-general of Atahualpa, to be burnt. The distance from this valley to the city of Cuzco is five leagues along the grand royal road. The water of a river which rises near this valley forms a large and deep morass, and it would be very difficult to cross it, if the Yncas had not caused a broad and strong causeway to be made, with walls on either side so strong as to last for a long time. In former times this valley was very populous, and was covered with crops, in fields which were so numerous that it was a sight worth seeing. These fields were divided from each other by broad walls, with the crops of maize and roots sown between them, and thus they rose up the sides of the mountains.[446] Many of these crops are of wheat, which grows well.[447] There are also large flocks belonging to the Spaniards who are citizens of the ancient city of Cuzco, which is built between certain hills in the manner and fashion that I shall declare in the following chapter.