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 II. Royal Commentaries. -.' ' to make a paffi.ge : They paífed alfo feveral fnówy Mountaios and Defarts, (a " thing very füange fo near rhe Equinofüal) in thac cold Coutitrey fixty of their " people were frozen co death ;- fo rhat when they were efcaped 'from che Snows, " they returned hearty thanks co God; wñ.o had delivered them from th:it dan- " ger ; a,nd curfed ali rhe Gold and Silver to the pit of Hell, which had enticed · " ahd tempted rhem ro a condition of íl:arving both with cold and hunger. Thus far are rhe W ords of Gomara ; and then C arate pr oceeds, and fays, ' ' Thus '~ did they travel wirhour hope, or comforr; or pow.er to fuccoUr orie rhe óther ; " for ir h:ippened, chat a Spaniard, who cartied his Wife aúd two little Children ." with him, finding them fo tireC 1nd weary, that they.could travel no farther, " nor himfelf able co c;¡rry them ; he fate clown with them to take fome repofe; " during which .rime they. were all ·frozen to deach ; and chough che Man could " have efcaped, yet fuf\1 was his compaflion to his Wife and Children, that he ~' would racher perííh wich chem, than 'forfake .them in that condition. Widi .'~ fuch labour and difficulty as this they ¡:iaífed the fnowy Mountain, rejoycing :« much when they ha:d got over to the other fide. Thus far are che Woras of Car.ate, in the 9th Chapter of bis fecond Book. And here we may condole chis unhappy fate, that the firíl: Spanijh Woman which carne to Peru; füonld thus moíl: miferably periíh. · · ' · As to the five hundred Men which thefe Auchours account to have beeri wich A/varado, 1 have been inforrned from feveral that were with him, that they were no lefs than eight hundred Spaniards; perhaps.they might be no more than five hundred that carne from Nicaragua, and that when they were landed in·Peru,' other í:ecruits might join with them; fo that in the Plains of JUvecpampa, where A/varado, and Diego de Alma,.~ro entered into Arrides of Confederacy together, they might • arife ter the number of eight hundred : But another Hiíl:orian rnakes a d.ifference ; of three years time between thefe rnatters, bue that is not rnuch to our purpofe. 493 ' As to the Canes in whicb they found theWater, called Tpa, they are common• ly as bigas aMan's leg or thigh, though the el)d of them is not thicker than the .finger ofa Man's hand: they grow in no orher than in hot Coumries, where they ' rnake ufe of them to Tharch their Houfes: The inforrnation they had oftheWa- ter was from the people of the Counrrey, who guided them to che Canes, fome of. which concained Iix Gallons of Water, ahd fome more, áccording to the bignefs. of them, which is proportionable to their height. / A11guftine Carqte in the 1 oth Chapter of bis fecond Book, writingi che Journal of trus Don Pedro de A/varado, • gives this defcription of che Canes: " -In this Joumey, faith he, they endured " much hunger, and greater 'thirll:; for fuch was their want of VV.ater, that had " they not mee with Groves or Thickets ofCanes, whichyielded good and whol• ' ' fome Water, they had all periíhed. Thefe Can~ are cornmonly about the big- '.' nefs of a Man's leg, every knot of which contained about a quart of Water, " having a natural propriety to imbibe or fuck in the nightly Dews which fall " frorn the Heayens ; befides which there was·no Water nor Springs in chat dry " Countrey; and herewith Don Pedro refrefhed both bis Men and Horfes. Thus- far Augufline Carate gives usan account of General Don Pedro de Alvarado, where we íhall leave him for a while, and recuro te:> che SpaniardJ and Jndians which we left in Cajfamam;, 1 1 ( e HA r.