The royal commentaries of Peru : in two parts / written originally in spanish by the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega; rendred into english by sir Paul Rycaut.

BooK IV. Royal C~mmentaries. and during their Vifüs, not to loofe time, or be idle, they fpun and worked as ·they difcourfed ; their Spindles were 'made of Canes, as we in Spain have them of Iron, they were crooked, but not hollow at the point, as ours are: with their thread they rnade a kind of Filleting, which they wound in upon their Spindles, rwiíl:ing it with the fingers of their left hand; their Diíl:aff they carried in their Ieft hand, and not ar their girdle; being about a quarter of a yard long, and held between two of their Fingers, and then with both hands they, forrned the finenefs oftheir thread, and cleared it of foulnefs, but did not wet it at their rnouths, be- caufe in my time they fpun nothing there beíides Wool and Cottons; nor do·they make any great riddance of their work, becaufe their lníl:ruments and T ools are bad, as we have already declared. CH A . P. XIV. . How the Women made their Viftts,; how _they wori<_ed; and that common Who1:es were permitted amongft them. W Hen any Woman, that was nota Palln., though íhe were the Wife of a Curaca, who is· a Lord that hath command over his Subje&, carne to make a Vifit ro a Palla, who was a Lady of the Bloud Royal; fo foon as rhe fü!l Salutations and Complements were ended, fhe prefently asked whether íhe had any Work for her, or Service to command her; for íhe carrying not her Work wirh her, did feem to intimare, that íhe pretended not to fo much familiarity as to come onely for Converfe, but as an inferiour, to dernand wherein íhe mighc be eíl:eemed ufefull in her fervice. The Pal!n., to make a courreous return ro this humble proffer, would ufually give her fome of rhe farne work which fue, or one : of her Daughters was then working; for to have put any thing elíe inco her hand, which her Maids were doing, would have equalled her Vifüant wirh them, which in this manner was a Complement, and a courteous preferring her to forne degree of equality with her felf and her Daughters. Such was the courreíie and obliging carriage of one to the other; for it was the delign and ·faíhion in tbar fiare, for the Su~riours to catTYthemfelves with an affable and winning behaviour to· wards rheir inferiours, and for them with all Modeíl:y and Obfervance to honour and refpeét their fuperiour Magiíl:rates and Rulers; wpich was the common pra· füce ofal!, even from the Inca, who was King, to the meaneíl: Peafant, or Shep- herd, whom they called Llamamichec. The Spanifh W ornen, wbich carne afterwards to live at Couo, imitated this cu- íl:ome, afrer the rnanner of the Ir.dian Women, carrying always their Work with them, whenfoever they carne to make théir.Vifüs; and this faíhion was in ufe arnongíl: them to their ~reat commendation, untill fuch time as Francifco Hernan- dez:. began his Civil War, which as it introduced nothing but Tyranny and Cru- elcy, fo it aboliíhed this laudable cuíl:ome, and difcouncenanced al! vertuous and innocent praétices. I forgot to rnention the great ore they had in mending their Clorhes, in cafe they were broken by any accident, as torn by a Nail, or burnt with a coal of fire, for then they prefencly derned it up again with their needle made of a Thorn, and with thread of the fame colour ; and bringing it again to the Loom, they fo neatly wove in the Thread, that it could not be feen where the rent was made; and in this m:mer they thought they had more wit than che -spaniards, and would)augh at the parches they laid on their Clothes: The truch is, the Web which ch'e l ndians wove, was different to che fabrick of Cloth which che Spaniards made, and would not bear the farne fort of mending. lt is alfo ob- fervable, tbat the Fire-hearths which the Jndians ufed to drefs tbeir mear in, were a kind ofOve,ns, made of clay, bigger or lefs, according to the Wealth or Eíl:ate Q · ·of