ward, in the other chain of mountains, there are more chiefs,
with a language different from that of Lili.
On the ten leagues of road towards Popayan there is
another chief, called Jamindi, with another language; and
many villages with five hundred to eight hundred houses ;
of which, when I arrived, no memory remained, except the
ashes; for all had been destroyed, and the inhabitants killed
by Belalcazar. From the said chief's territory commences
the language of Jitirigiti, which prevails in the maritime
cordillera, towards the river of San Juan and the south sea,
in the valleys; but in the mountains there is a different
language. From the point where this language commences,
on the east side of the Cordillera, the language of Popayan
prevails for ten leagues to the southward. From the tops
of the mountains, towards Timana, there is a different lan-
guage; and there are many other languages in the two
chains of mountains as far as Quito. Of the twenty leagues
between Popayan and Lib, the ten nearest Popayan are
over a cold country, where a fire is necessary; and the ten
towards Lili are over a warm country, with almost the j
1 See Cieza de Leon, pp. 187 and 283.
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NARRATIVE OP
climate of Panama. The whole is a very beautiful land,
with plains, rivers full of fish, and abundant hunting of
deer and rabbits. This land, now laid waste, was a most
populous and fertile country, abounding in maize, fruit, and
ducks. When I arrived, it was so laid waste that there was
not a duck fit to breed, to be found throughout the land;
and where there were over one hundred thousand houses in
the space of these thirty leagues, I did not find ten thousand
men. And the principal cause of their destruction was
that they received such evil treatment, without having faith
kept with them. In Popayan, the Christians never sowed
during the whole time they were there, having the crops
of the Indians to live on, and they gathered these crops,
and turned their pigs and horses into the fields. tSo the
Indians determined not to sow, and there was no maize
for eight months, which caused so great a famine that many
ate each other, and others died. Belalcazar also took many
out of the country.
The few that remained were friendly, and I wished to
convert them to our holy faith, and to learn whether they
had any religion. They had none whatever, and did not
even worship the sun, like those of Cuzco. But they lived
according to the law of nature, with great justice, like those
of Tierra Firnie. The dress of the women was like that of
the women of Tierra Firme; but the men wore a garment
of cotton of very bright colours, which covered their loins,
after the manner of a cloak, from below the arms; only it is
short. The first who were converted in Popayan were one
hundred of the natives of that land, and fifty of those of
Quito, who had come here with the Spaniards. Among
them was one chieftainess, and two or three chiefs. They
asked me many lively questions, saying,'c Why had nothing
of this been told them before, for it appeared a good thing V3
and 'c Why, if, as we declared, we had come to give them
life and salvation, had we killed many of them with so much
PASCUAL DE ANDAGOYA.
67
cruelty ? " They often disputed among themselves as to
what manner of people those could be who did so much
harm, saying « When we are dead, whom will they have to
serve them V They delighted greatly to hear the things
concerning the creation of the world; for they themselves
have a tradition of Noe's flood, just as we have. But they
had no other information in this province concerning Him
who was able to cause the water to rise and cover the land.
Having already instructed these one hundred and fifty
converts in the essentials of our holy faith, not touching
on the passion and incarnation of our Lord, and other mys-
teries, but only on matters easy to be believed, I wished to
convince them that there truly was a God the Creator.
I put before them how they might behold the sun; that
it was a thing created for the use of man and of the world,
and how it was ordained that it should not stop; and in like
manner the moon. I showed them that neither the earth,
which was without life, nor the sun and moon, nor the first
man, could do anything of themselves; whence they might
truly believe that it was the Creator and Maker of all things
who is God, whom we must worship. I did not think it
right to baptise them on the first day, but let them pass
the night on these thoughts, intending to baptise them next
morning. When they came to be baptised, I asked them
if they remembered what I had said to them the day before,
and whether they believed it, and desired to do as God
commanded. They replied that they had not slept all night,
but had conversed concerning all that had been said to
them, holding it all to be good, and that they desired to
do as God willed. 1 I then placed crosses of red cloth on
their shirts, and took them in procession to the church,
where they again asked to be baptised. Mass was solemnly
said, and having explained somewhat concerning it, they all
ate with me, and I ordered that the captains and officers of
his Majesty should serve them, at which they were asto-
p 2
G8
NARRATIVE OE
nished. After eating, I gave them to understand that on
that day they had merited to be changed from beasts to sons
of God and heirs of his kingdom. I ordered a tournament,
and a great festival to be celebrated, and they held it to be
very grand; and after four or five days there were three
hundred more, for whom the same festival was celebrated.
Having done this, I set out for the province of the Jitiri-
gites, which was four leagues off. Here three conversions
were made in three different parts, and four or five thousand
persons were converted. At one of the conversions, an
Indian turned to a captain, who was his master, when they
were learning the sixth» commandment,1 and said, " Well!
how is it that you have three wives V3 The master, wishing
to dissimulate, did not answer, that I might not understand ;
and when at last he said that they were not his wives, but
his servants; the Indian replied, " Then how is it that you
have them all with child V3 After the Indians were. con-
verted, the marriage state was treated of, and all the chiefs
were married according to law, and with a blessing. There
was a woman, who had been three days married, from
whom a Spaniard solicited favours, which she would have
freely granted before her conversion. But she replied,
almost rebuking him, « Mana Senor que soy casada} y terna
Santa Maria ternan ancha jpina ;332 which means, '' do not
speak to me of such a thing, for I am married, and St. Mary
would be much offended.» In these provinces they wor-
shipped the cross; and the lords ordered that any Indian
who passed by a cross should kiss and worship it, on pain
of punishment. In one of these provinces, called Aisquis,
in the house of a chief named Jangono, on the day of
1 The Catholics omit the second commandment as given in Exodus xx;
and so the seventh becomes the sixth. They make up the ten by dividing
the tenth into two.
2 A mixture of Spanish and Quichua words. liana (notf; ancha
(very), pina (wrath), are Quichua.
PASCUAL DE ANDAGOYA.
69
Magdalen, following the conversion, treating of the marriage
of a woman, whom they ought to take from the hand of
Grod, they brought out beautiful fair women, who had never
seen Spaniards, and were united that day. All the newly
married couples dined with me, and I gave them all trinkets
and ornaments of Castile. They were served at table in
the same manner as those who were converted at Popayan.
After dinner, the chief ordered twelve men to come with
twelve flutes, who made very harmonious music. They all
danced, and made the Spaniards dance with them. They
passed the whole day dancing to this music; and at night
they had many other games, inviting the Spaniards to play
with them.
On my return to Popayan from these provinces there
came to me the brother of a chief named Patia,1 who
lived at a distance of twenty or more leagues. Hitherto
this chief had not been friendly; and the messenger said
that his brother had sent him to tell me that he would
have come himself, if he had not received a hurt out hunt-
ing. On the day of my entry into Popayan, I received
messengers from this chief, who had been sent to give me
welcome, and to say that he had learned how I had treated
the chiefs and Indians, without deceiving them, and that
for this reason he wished to be my friend, and to do as I
desired. I sent back certain trinkets and ornaments by
these messengers, to the chief, his wife, and some daughters
he had. He sent his son to thank me, and I found him to
be so intelligent and rational that 1 engaged in his con-
version. He was converted, with his twelve Indians; and
the same festival and solemnities were celebrated as on the
former occasions, and they put on their crosses as signs that
they were Christians. When he returned to his brother
1 The Patia is a large river flowing into the Pacific. The valley of
the Patia has a direction north and south, for a considerable distance,
between Pasto and Popayan.
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NARRATIVE OF
and lord, and gave an account of what had been done,
the lord made festivals and rejoicings in the land. When
I sent eight men on horseback to the town of Pasto, with
letters to be sent forward to the Marquis Don Francisco
Pizarro; the chief learnt they were on the road, for they
had to pass near his village. His brother came out to
receive them for nearly four leagues, with Indians and pro-
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