WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 599 



few days the sum passed 100,000; so it has become very important, 

 and is notable for the pardons and indulgences granted by the Pontiffs 

 to those who aided by their contributions such a holy work, and to the 

 Indians who might die there. 



1602. When they began building this splendid hospital, Capl. 

 Garcilaso de la Vega was the Corregidor of the imperial city ; and 

 he put under the foundation stone a doubloon with the two faces 

 of the Catholic JNIonarchs, which was considered in those days a 

 rarity in Peru, for although they have the greatest wealth in the 

 world there, they have never minted gold coin, nor do they now. 

 Diego Maldonado the Rich, a native of the city of Salamanca, on 

 that same occasion put a silver bar under the foundation stone, and 

 so it commenced. Many other residents contributed with their gifts, 

 both in the imperial city and all over the Kingdom, and not only for 

 the building but for the comfort and care of the invalids, so that at 

 present that hospital is one of the finest charitable works in all the 

 Kingdom ; and it not only confers distinction on this famous city, 

 but it is a parish church within it, administering the Holy Sacraments. 



Furthermore there is another excellent hospital, where they care 

 for poor Spaniards, in distress and sick. It has an excellent college 

 with students in sash and gown, founded by the Bishop of that 

 imperial city, Don Antonio de Raya, so that impecunious sons of 

 that country might study the sciences. There are other seminaries, 

 churches, and shrines, all heartily supported by the charity and piety 

 of the residents of the city, Spaniards and natives. 



1603. There are many shops of merchandise, both of residents 

 and of transients, who come there in numbers because it is a place 

 with active trade, and is the halfway point on the King's Highway 

 between the city of Lima and all the upland cities and provinces — 

 Potosi, Charcas, Oruro, and the city of La Paz and the Provinces 

 of Collao ; for these localities this imperial city exports much sugar, 

 preserves, and other luxuries, by troops of mules, and from its tribu- 

 tary country, quantities of coca, which large troops of llamas carry 

 out every day, besides much other merchandise. 



In this imperial city there are many artisans of all crafts — some 

 of them Spaniards but the majority Indians, very skillful and accurate 

 in their professions : carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, etc., in large 

 corporations, and a great number of Indian silversmiths, after their 

 fashion, for they do not use hammers like ours, but bronze contrap- 

 tions shaped like dice, six- or eight-pointed, with which they shape 

 every piece of silver given them to work at, with great accuracy and 

 finesse, and the same with gold. These artisans have the parish of 



