Chap. IX. 



CAREER OF TUPAC AMARU. 



139 



The oppression of the Indians by means of the mitas and 

 repartos excited the indignation of the Inca Tupac Amaru ; but 

 he exerted himself for years, and exhausted every means of ob- 

 taining redress, before he was finally driven to take up arms in 

 their defence. Moved by his earnest and incessant appeals 

 and his piteous account of the sufferings of liis people, the 

 Bishops of Cuzco .and La Paz forwarded them to the king 

 tln-ough Don Ventura Santalices ; and Bias Tupac Amaru, the 

 Inca's uncle, also undertook a voyage to Spain ; but death put 

 an end to the humane missions both of the Spaniard and the 

 Indian. Nevertheless, Tupac Amaru persevered in remitting 

 renewed petitions ; while the corregidors not only eluded 

 compliance with the royal decrees, but also increased the bur- 

 dens of the Indians. At length his patience came to an end, 

 and he resolved to make an appeal to arras, not to throw off 

 the yoke of Spain, but to obtain some guarantee for the due 



drama of OUantay, and an abstract of 

 the plot. I then stated that it was an 

 ancient play, which had been handed 

 down from the time of the Incas ; but 

 I have since discovered that Dr. Valdez 

 was its author, although it contains 

 several ancient songs and speeches, 

 and though the plot is undoubtedly 

 ancient. 1 was led into the error by 

 the opinion expressed by the Peruvian 

 antiquary, Mariano Rivero,* a very 

 high authority, that the drama had 

 been handed down from the time of 

 the Incas. 



The original MS. is now in the pos- 

 session of Don Narciso Cueutas, of 

 Tinta, the nephew and lieir of Dr. 

 Valdez ; but tliere are numerous MS. 

 copies in Peru, and it has been printed 

 at the end of Dr. Von Tschudi's Kechua 

 Sprache. 



There is a review of this Quichua 

 drama of Dr. Valdez, in the Museo 

 Erudito (Nos. 5 to 9), a periodical 

 pubUshed at Cuzco in 1837, by the 

 editor, Don Jose Palacios. He says 



that the story respecting Ollantay was 

 handed down by immemorial tratlition, 

 but that the drama was written by Dr. 

 Valdez. The writer criticizes the plot, 

 objecting that the treason of Ollantay 

 is rewarded, wliile the heroic conduct 

 of Rumi-fmiii remains unnoticed. Pa- 

 lacios had inquired of Don Juan 

 Hualpa, a noble Cacique of Belem in 

 Cuzco, and of the Caciques of San Se- 

 bastian and San Bias, wlio agi-eed in 

 then account of the tradition, which 

 was that the rebellion of Ollantiiy arose 

 fi'om the abduction of an Aclla or Vir- 

 gin of the Sun from her convent, but 

 they had not heard her name, nor who 

 she was. 



These particulars respecting the 

 origin of the drama of Ollantay maybe 

 interesting to readers who have paid 

 any attention to the hlstorj' of the 

 civilization of the Incas. Though not 

 so ancient as I once supposed, the 

 drama is stUl very curious, because it 

 contains songs and long passages of 

 undoubted antiquity. 



* Autiquciludcs IVru.'iua.s, p. 11(5. 



