Description of the city of Cuzco and of its wonderful fortress, and of the customs of its inhabitants.
The city of Cuzco is the principal one of all those where the lords of this land have their residence; it is so large and so beautiful that it would be worthy of admiration even in Spain; and it is full of the palaces of the lords, because no poor people live there, and each lord builds there his house, and all the caciques[104] do likewise, although the latter do not dwell there continuously. The greater part of these houses are of stone, and others have half the faÇade of stone. There are many houses of adobe, and they are all arranged in very good order. The streets are laid out at right angles; they are very straight, and are paved, and down the middle runs a gutter for water lined with stone. The chief defect which the streets have is that of being narrow, so that only one horse and rider can go on one side of the gutter and another upon the opposite side. This city is located upon the slope of a mountain, and there are many houses upon the slope and others below on the plain. The plaza is rectangular, and the greater part of it is flat and paved with small stones. Around the plaza are four houses of noblemen, who are the chief men of the city; [the houses] are of stone, painted and carved, and the best of them is the house of Guaynacaba,[105] a former chief, and the door of it is of marble [colored] white and red and of other colors;[106] and there are other very sightly buildings with flat roofs. There are, in the said city, many other buildings and grandeurs. Along the two sides [of the city] pass two rivers which rise a league above Cuzco, and from there down to the city and for two leagues below it they run over stone flags so that the water may be pure and clear, and so that, though they may rise, they may not overflow. They have bridges for those who enter the city. Upon the hill which, toward the city, is rounded and very steep, there is a very beautiful fortress of earth and stone. Its large windows which look over the city make it appear still more beautiful.[107] Within, there are many dwellings, and a chief tower in the centre, built square, and having four or five terraces one above another. The rooms inside are small and the stones of which it is built are very well worked and so well adjusted to one another that it does not appear that they have any mortar and they are so smooth that they look like polished slabs with the joinings in regular order and alternating with one another after the usage in Spain.[108] There are so many rooms and towers that a person could not see them all in one day; and many Spaniards who have been in Lombardy and in other foreign kingdoms say that they have never seen any other fortress like this one nor a stronger castle. Five thousand Spaniards might well be within it; nor could it be given a broadside or be mined, because it is on a rocky mountain. On the side toward the city, which is a very steep slope, there is no more than one wall;[109] on the other side, which is less steep, there are three, one above the other. The most beautiful thing which can be seen in the edifices of that land are these walls, because they are of stones so large that anyone who sees them would not say that they had been put in place by human hands, for they are as large as chunks of mountains and huge rocks, and they have a height of thirty palms and a length of as many more, and others have twenty and twenty-five, and others fifteen, but there is none so small that three carts could carry it. These are not smooth stones, but rather well joined and matched one with another. The Spaniards who see them say that neither the bridge of Segovia nor any other of the edifices which Hercules or the Romans made is so worthy of being seen as this. The city of Tarragona has some works in its walls made in this style, but neither so strong nor of such large stones. These walls twist in such a way that if they are attacked, it is not possible to do so from directly in front, but only obliquely.[110] These walls are of the same stone, and between wall and wall there is enough earth to permit three carts to go along the top at one time. They are made after the fashion of steps, so that one begins where another leaves off. The whole fortress was a deposit of arms, clubs, lances, bows, axes, shields, doublets thickly padded with cotton and other arms of various sorts, and clothes for the soldiers collected here from all parts of the land subject to the lords of Cuzco. They had many colors, blue, yellow, brown and many others for painting, much tin and lead with other metals, and much silver and some gold, many mantles and quilted doublets for the warriors. The reason why this fortress contained so much workmanship was that, when this city was founded it was done by a lord orejon[111] who came from Condisuyo, toward the sea, a great warrior who conquered this land as far as Bilcas and who, perceiving that this was the best place to fix his domicile, founded that city with its fortress. And all the other lords who followed after him made some improvements in this fortress so that it was ever augmenting in size. From this fortress are seen around the city many houses a quarter of a league, half a league and a league away, and in the valley, which is surrounded by hills, there are more than five thousand houses, many of them for the pleasure and recreation of former lords and others for the caciques of all the land who dwell continuously in the city. The others are storehouses full of mantles, wool, arms, metals, and clothes and all the things which are grown or made in this land. There are houses where the tribute is kept which the vassals bring to the caciques; and there is a house where are kept more than a hundred dried birds because they make garments of their feathers, which are of many colors, and there are many houses for this [work]. There are bucklers, oval shields made of leather, beams for roofing the houses, knives and other tools, sandals and breast-plates for the warriors in such great quantity that the mind does not cease to wonder how so great a tribute of so many kinds of things can have been given. Each dead lord has here his house and all that was paid to him as tribute during his life, for no lord who succeeds another [and this is the law among them] can, after the death of the last one, take possession of his inheritance. Each one has his service of gold and of silver, and his things and clothes for himself, and he who follows takes nothing from him. The caciques and lords maintain their houses of recreation with the corresponding staff of servants and women who sow their fields with maize and place a little of it in their sepulchres. They adore the sun and have built many temples to him, and of all the things which they have, as much of clothes as of maize and other things, they offer some to the sun, of which the warriors later avail themselves.
