How the Incas were free from the abominable sin, and from other evil customs which have been seen to prevail in the world, among other princes.

IN this kingdom of Peru, the public fame among all the natives is that the abominable sin was practised in some of the villages of the district of Pueblo Viejo, as well as in other lands where there were evil people, as in the rest of the world. I shall record a great virtue in these Incas; for, being lords with such freedom, and with no one to whom to give an account, besides being able to take their pleasure with women, night and day, and enjoy themselves as their fancies dictated, it has never been alleged, or even hinted, that any of them committed the above crime. On the contrary, they abhorred those who were guilty of it, looking upon them as vile wretches for glorying in such filthy conduct. Not only were they free from such vices in their own persons, but they would not permit any one who was guilty of such practices to remain in the royal houses or palaces. I believe, also, and I have heard it related that, even if it came to their knowledge that any one had committed an offence of that kind, they punished it with such severity that it was known to all.

It therefore should not be doubted, but rather believed implicitly, that this vice was unknown among the Orejones and many other nations. Those who have written generally of the Indians, condemning them for being guilty of this sin, should retract what they have said as regards many nations who are innocent. With the exception of Puerto Viejo, sinners of this class were unknown throughout Peru, except that, as is the case in all countries, there may be eight or ten here and there who do evil secretly. Those who were kept as priests in the temples, with whom it was rumoured that the lords joined in company on days of festivity, did not meditate the committing of such sin, but only the offering of sacrifice to the demon. If the Incas, by chance, had some knowledge of such proceedings in the temple, they may have ignored them, thinking that it was enough if they ordered that the Sun and their other gods should be worshipped in all parts, without considering it necessary to prohibit other ancient customs and religions, to abandon which would have been as bad as death itself, to those who were born in their practice.

We understand that in ancient times, before the Yncas reigned, the inhabitants of many provinces went about like savages; coming forth to make war upon each other, and eating their prisoners, as is now the case in the province of Arma[138] and others in that neighbourhood. But as soon as the Incas began to reign, being a reasonable people, with good and holy customs and laws, they not only did not themselves eat such food, but they exerted their power to put a stop to it among all the people with whom they came in contact, with many of whom it was much esteemed. Such was their energy, that in a short time the practice was forgotten throughout their vast empire, where no such food had been eaten for many years before the Spaniards came. Those who have now succeeded the Incas give evidence that they conferred a great benefit by not imitating their ancestors in eating such food, in the sacrifices of men and children.

Some have published—among those who hastily write down what they hear—that the Incas, on their days of festival, killed a thousand or two thousand children, and a greater number of Indians. This and other things are proofs that we Spaniards falsely impute crimes to the Indians, using the stories they recount to us to justify our ill-treatment of them and the bad usage they have suffered at our hands. I do not say that they did not sacrifice, and that they did not kill men and children in such sacrifices; but it was not in the way that has been asserted, nor were the victims so numerous. They sacrificed animals from their flocks, but fewer human beings than I thought, as I shall explain in its place.

I know, from the statements of the aged Orejones, that these Incas were innocent of any abominable sin, that they did not practise the evil custom of eating human flesh, nor were they guilty of public vices and irregularities. On the contrary, they punished such crimes in others. If God had permitted that one influenced by Christian zeal, and not by avarice, should have given them complete knowledge of our sacred religion, they were a people who would have been impressed by it, as we now see in the good order in which conversion works. But we must leave what has been done to the judgment of God, who knows all; and in what may be done hereafter we must beseech Him to give us grace to enable us in some measure to repay those people to whom we owe so much, and who had given such slight offence to justify the injury we have done them, Peru and the rest of the Indies being so many leagues from Spain, and separated by so vast an ocean.