TUPAC INCA YUPANQUI ORDERS A SECOND
VISITATION OF THE LAND, AND DOES OTHER THINGS.
As the visitation entrusted to Tupac
Ccapac was not to his liking, the Inca revoked it,
and nominated another brother named Apu Achachi to
be visitor-general. The Inca ordered him not
to include the Yana-yacus in the visitation,
because they were unworthy to enter into the number
of the rest, owing to what they had done, Apu Achachi
set out and made his general visitation, reducing
many of the Indians to live in villages and houses
who had previously lived in caves and hills and on
the banks of rivers, each one by himself. He
sent those in strong fastnesses into plains, that
they might have no site for a fortress, on the strength
of which they might rebel. He reduced them into
provinces, giving them their Curacas in the order
already described. He did not make the son of
the deceased a Curaca, but the man who had most ability
and aptitude for the service. If the appointment
did not please the Inca he, without more ado, dismissed
him and appointed another, so that no Curaca, high
or low, felt secure in his appointment. To these
Curacas were given servants, women and estates, submitting
an account of them, for, though they were Curacas,
they could not take a thing of their own authority,
without express leave from the Inca.
In each province all those of the
province made a great sowing of every kind of edible
vegetable for the Inca, his overseers coming to the
harvest. Above all there was a Tucurico Apu,
who was the governor-lieutenant of the Inca in that
province. It is true that the first Inca who
obliged the Indians of this land to pay tribute of
everything, and in quantity, was Inca Yupanqui.
But Tupac Inca imposed rules and fixed the tribute
they must pay, and divided it according to what each
province was to contribute as well for the general
tax as those for Huacas, and Houses of the
Sun. [In this way the people were so loaded with
tributes and taxes, that they had to work perpetually
night and day to pay them, and even then they could
not comply, and had no time for sufficient labour
to suffice for their own maintenance.]
Tupac Inca divided the estates throughout
the whole empire, according to the measure which they
call tupu.
He divided the months of the year,
with reference to labour in the fields, as follows.
Three months in the year were allotted to the Indians
for the work of their own fields, and the rest must
be given up to the work of the Sun, of huacas,
and of the Inca. In the three months that were
given to themselves, one was for ploughing and sowing,
one for reaping, and another in the summer for festivals,
and for make and mend clothes days. The rest
of their time was demanded for the service of the
Sun and the Incas.
This Inca ordered that there should
be merchants who might profit by their industry in
this manner. When any merchant brought gold, silver,
precious stones, or other valuable things for sale,
they were to be asked where they got them, and in
this way they gave information respecting the mines
and places whence the valuables had been taken.
Thus a very great many mines of gold and silver, and
of very fine colours, were discovered.
This Inca had two Governors-General
in the whole empire, called Suyuyoc Apu; one
resided at Xauxa and the other at Tiahuanacu in Colla-suyu.
Tupac Inca ordered the seclusion of
certain women in the manner of our professed nuns,
maidens of 12 years and upwards, who were called acllas.
From thence they were taken to be given in marriage
to the Tucurico Apu, or by order of the Inca
who, when any captain returned with victory, distributed
the acllas to captains, soldiers and other
servants who had pleased him, as gracious gifts which
were highly valued. As they took out some, they
were replaced by others, for there must always be
the number first ordained by the Inca. If any
man takes one out, or is caught inside with one they
are both hanged, tied together.
This Inca made many ordinances, in
his tyrannical mode of government, which will be given
in a special volume.