WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 557 



in the place and section prescribed for it by the governors and 

 ministers whom the Inca kings maintained in the city for that pur- 

 pose ; and thus the city comprised the whole empire. 



Chapter LXXIII \y2\ (75) 



Continuing the Description of the Imperial City of Cuzco. 



1601. Each nationality followed the usages of its own country and 

 kept the customs [and ways] of its ancestors, and so they were 

 easily recognized by the insignia and tokens they wore on their heads 

 and by their use of their own costumes which the kings expressly 

 allowed them to keep so that they might be recognized and not be 

 confused. Furthermore they governed with great consideration and 

 were obeyed, respected, and worshiped by all their vassals ; and for 

 that purpose, although each tribe and province kept its native mother 

 tongue, the Incas so managed that they all learned their language, 

 which is commonly called the Lengua General, because it is generally 

 spoken in the whole Kingdom of Peru ; it is current among all those 

 tribes whom they conquered, for a distance of over 1,500 leagues, 

 being spoken from Popayan to Chile and Tucuman, and they con- 

 ducted their administration and government in it, and were beloved 

 and obeyed by their vassals, even in countries and regions so remote. 



The main city abode of the Incas of the blood royal, and the homes 

 of their kings, stood inside of the 12 wards or suburbs of their 

 vassals. I shall describe this as concisely and clearly as I can, and 

 to that end I would say that the Sacsahuaman ridge rises to the N. 

 of the city and that a watercourse flows down from it from N. to S., 

 through to the last ward, which is called Pumachupa (Marg. : Mango- 

 Capac). This stream separated the city from the wards or suburbs, 

 and the principal streets ran N. and S. 



1502. Near this ridge the first king. Mango Capac, built his royal 

 palaces. A street ran down from there which today is called the 

 Calle de San Augustin ; it ended at the Plaza Rimacpampa, where 

 they proclaimed and published abroad everything that concerned 

 good government, so that all should be cognizant of it. From there 

 four other streets ran crosswise, E. and W. ; the Incas of the blood 

 royal lived on them, segregated according to their ayllos or ancestry ; 

 although they were all descended from the first king, Mango Capac, 

 they had nevertheless their distinctions in their filiation by this or 

 that king in their immediate ancestry ; thus every male descendant 

 of the blood royal was called an Inca, and each woman a Palla. 



1503. On this same Calle de S. Augustin, on the upper part of 

 it, is the nunnery of Santa Clara; farther downtown, where the 



