*38 Tradition long commemorated the spots at which he halted, and
the simple people of the country held them in reverence as places
consecrated by the presence of an Inca. *39
[Footnote 37: "In lectica, aureo tabulato constrata, humeris
ferebant; in summa, ea erat observantia, vt vultum ejus intueri
maxime incivile putarent, et inter baiulos, quicunque vel leviter
pede offenso haesitaret, e vestigio interficerent." Levinus
Apollonius, De Peruviae Regionis Inventione, et Rebus in eadem
gestis, (Antverpiae, 1567,) fol. 37. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru,
lib. 1, cap. 11.
According to this writer, the litter was carried by the nobles;
one thousand of whom were specially reserved for the humiliating
honor. Ubi supra.]
[Footnote 38: The acclamations must have been potent indeed, if,
as Sarmiento tells us, they sometimes brought the birds down from
the sky! "De esta manera eran tan temidos los Reyes que si
salian por el Reyno y permitian alzar algun pano de los que iban
en las andas para dejarse ver de sus vasallos, alzaban tan gran
alarido que hacian caer las aves de lo alto donde iban volando a
ser tomadas a manos." (Relacion, Ms., cap. 10.) The same author
has given in another place a more credible account of the royal
progresses, which the Spanish reader will find extracted in
Appendix, No. 1.]
[Footnote 39: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 14;
lib. 6, cap. 3. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 11.]
The royal palaces were on a magnificent scale, and, far from
being confined to the capital or a few principal towns, were
scattered over all the provinces of their vast empire.
Pages:
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58