How the riches possessed by the Kings were very great, and how the sons of the lord were ordered always to be in attendance at court.

THE great wealth that we have seen in these parts enables us to believe what is said of the riches possessed by the Incas. For I believe what I have already affirmed several times, that there is no other country in the world so rich in metals. Every day they are discovering great veins both of gold and silver. They also collected gold in the rivers in many parts of the provinces, and obtained silver from the mountains, and all was for one king. So that he must have possessed very great riches. I am not, therefore, astonished at these things, nor even if the whole city of Cuzco and its temples had been built of pure gold. That which brings necessity upon princes, and prevents them from accumulating riches, is war. We have a clear example of this in the expenditure of the Emperor from the year in which he was crowned to the present time. For, having received more silver and gold than the Kings of Spain ever had, from the king Don Rodrigo to himself, none of them were in such necessity as His Majesty. Yet if he had no wars, and his residence was in Spain, in truth, what with his dues and with the treasure from the Indies, all Spain would be as full of riches as Peru was in the time of its kings.

I make the comparison because all the treasure of the Incas was expended in no other thing than in personal array and ornaments for the temples, and for the service of the houses and lodgings. In war time the provinces supplied all the men, arms, and provisions that were necessary; and if they gave some payment of gold to some one of the mitimaes during war, it was little more than had been extracted from the mines in one day. As the gold and silver was highly valued and much esteemed by them, they ordered it to be procured in great quantity, from many parts of the empire, in the manner and with the order that I will explain presently.

Such vast sums were collected because the son was obliged to leave all the wealth of the father with his image as a memorial, which had been amassed during many years. For all the service of the king’s house, including the vases for his use and the kitchen utensils, were of gold and silver. These treasures were not collected in one place, but were scattered, especially at the chief places in the provinces, where there were many workers in silver who made these things for the king’s service. In the palaces and royal lodgings there were plates and sheets of these metals, and the royal clothes were enriched with silver work, torquoises, emeralds, and other stones of great value. For the women they had still greater riches to ornament their persons and for their service; and their litters were encrusted with gold and silver. Besides this, there were vast quantities of gold in ingots, and of silver; besides many taquiras,[99] or beads, some very small, and other ornaments for their taquis[100] and drinking-bouts. For their sacrifices they also had great store of treasure. As they also had the foolish practice of burying treasure with the dead, it is incredible the quantity that was interred at the obsequies of a great king. In short, the drums and musical instruments and arms for royal use were of the precious metals. Moreover, to add to the grandeur of their capital, a law was made that neither gold nor silver that once entered Cuzco should ever leave it again, on pain of death to be inflicted on the transgressor. Owing to this law, the quantity that entered being great, while none went out, there was such store that if when the Spaniards entered they had not committed other tricks, and had not so soon executed their cruelty in putting Atahuallpa to death, I know not how many great ships would have been required to bring such treasure to Spain as is now lost in the bowels of the earth, and will remain so, because those who buried it are now dead.

As these Incas required so much, they ordered further that some sons of the lords of the provinces throughout the empire should reside at court all the year round, that they might understand the ceremonials and behold the great majesty of the sovereign, and they were assured that, as they obeyed and served, so they would inherit their lordships and curaca-ships;[101] and when those of one province departed, those of another arrived. Thus the court was always well attended, for besides these, it was never without many knights of the Orejones and aged councillors, with whom to consult touching what had to be provided and ordained.