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 l. Royal Commenidries~ begot upon thofe Women whom rhey had taken Captives in theWar, bm bree- ding rhem wirh füch care and éliet as might make them fat; fo foon as tbey carne ro be twelve years of age, and rhat they were plump and tender, they dreffed them for thei.r Table, and devour~d therri wirb !íhéir Mothers, unlels they were with Child; for then they referved them till they \\·ere deli\'ered, and had nurfed up their brood. Moreover to rhofe Men \'vhom they took in che War they gave Women, and their breed rhey nourifhed ·;tnd fatned, with i.ntent to ear them, as we do Lambs: and Calves, and the young ones of our heard~ and flocks, wirhout regard co Bloud or Paremage, which even in brute beafl:s hath fome effea of lave and tendernels. Bue what was moíl: abominable ¡ibove-aJI, was a cufl:ome amongíl; fome Jndians to eat che Flefh of rheir Parents, .G Ioon as they were dead; accoun- ting it a pan of their refpeét: and dmy to bury ancf intomb rhem wirhín cheir mnr Entrails, wlúch they boiled, or roaíl:ed, according to che quantiry; if the body was lean, and extenuared, rhey boiled rhe fldh ro make it t!1e more tendei:, and if it were grofs and fleíl1y, rhen it was roaíl~G; and for :the Bones, they bufüd them with fome Ceremony, either in rhe hales bf Rock~, 0nhe hollo\v Tr'ees: bue this foi-r of Péople know no Gods, nor adme any thing ai;1d inhabit for die rnoíl: pare ín the hotrer, and not in colder Regi011s of this Continenr; In the more ·poJd and·l?an;en Goumries, wliere the eaJith is not fo fruitfull, neceffity to npells ·them to fow Mayz, wlúch is tlieír Indian Wheat, and other.ferts of pulfe or gtaín; 'bue they d.Hl:iiígµifu neither times, nor foafons for it; and in thei.r fifhing and fowling, and>in all other. things the like barbatity of manners predorninates. · As to their ma'.nner of€loa:thing, the modéíl:y of an Hifl:orian obligeth .me i·i - ther topa~ it 'by, than to ·d~f¿ribe it, left I íhould [een'l offenfive w chafhnd modefi: Ears: büt to expréfs it with as much decency as I am able; we are to know, that th~ Indiam in the foíl: ages wóre no other cov€t"ing than die S.kins which Narure gave them.. Son1e perbaps of them for curiofity ¡ or a'ffeét:ation, .girt themtelv~ about che Wafl'e with a clout of cómfe thread, wbich rhey eltee- ¿tlled a Clóa,thing füfficie11t for them. I rerne'1nber, that in the Year 15"70. when 1 carne into NowSpain, that-1m€t in the 1 fl:r~etS" ' ~f f:;artagena with five Indians, all iiaked, wállMg ón~ ~frér the '~>'t!¡er, like 1o many Crnnes, fo little had the conver·. útioo an~ focíety-of fhe Spaniards in [o long a time prevailed· tó the alreration of their Htimours, Manners or Barbarity. The Women wear no orher garments thc¡n the Men; onely the matTied \i\Tives girt a ll:rlng <íbout thern tEH~· híéh they faíl:en a dom of Cotton, a yard fquare, Jike an Aprol1, ahd where rhey cannot or will -tiot learn to weave, t héy, cover" their nakednels with rhe rine or broad leaves of crees. ·The Maidens al.fo wear fome[hing girt about them, 'to. \~·hich they add foine other mark, as a íi gn o f their Vi~giniry. j\1 0Hef ly forbids 4s to enlarge (arthet on tbis Suqjeét, it being füffici, ene whar wé h :1.ve declared ,·.t'har in hot Counuies they went naked, without other covering, or omament, ,than that wh.ich Nature furnifues to bru~e Beaíl:s; whence 'Ye may imagine how barbarous rbofe · Indians were before fü€ times iri .which the :Tncas_gained a Sover~ignty 0ver theni. . . , · 1 In colder C:ountries they u[ed G:irments, nótfor modefl:y, br decenc y, but fot ºeceffiry to defend them from the cold: theit' cloathing was colnmonly wi.th the Skins of beafis, and wirh ·a: , fort of Matr; ·which rhey wove wirh íltaw or tl!í hfs. Ocher Nations of them, who had more ingenuity, wo re a f ort of Matit les, ill- inade, and fpun with a cour[e thread, ánd wor[e'woven wi.th wool, or wi.ld hemp,· which they call Chahuar; and fome ornament about th eir m icks, án d a-co véring· about the~r waíl:es, was ali the doathing which tlieir cuíl:oms an'd ma~mers req\&ed ~ and in chis habit the Spaniards found thofe Jndiam, over whom the IncM h~d noc extended their Dorninion; and vvhich even to this .day confimies amongíl them : for they have fuch an averfion ro garmems, that even thofo who live fami:liarly with the Spaniards, and·are their domefück Servanrs, are rather forced b)' im- por.runiry to ufe them, than that they chu(e them out of inclinatiorr, or any coníi- ceration ofdecency or modeíl:y; the like humour is alfo comrnon to the Women ; fo that the Spaniardl u[e in jeQ to tell them that they were bad Spi:nfiers, and td ask th~m wliether they would not cloath themfelves becaufe they would not fpin , or would not fpin,: beeaufe they would not be cloathe& e HA P: 9