Photograph bv O. F. Cook 



THE LARGE CUZCO KERNELS ARE EATEN ONE BY ONE 



The huge size of the Cuzco kernels (shown on the left) is more apparent when com- 

 pared with the kernels of Boone County white, one of our popular varieties (shown on the 

 right). The large kernels are eaten one at a time in Peru, like grapes or chestnuts. The 

 meat slips out of the skin when the boiled kernel is pressed between the thumb and finger. 

 Ripe corn is eaten this way, as well as green corn, and is a staple article of diet among the 

 Indians, who call it moil (natural size). 



for royal favor would undertake to de- 

 liver such a message. 



AN IRREPARABLE LOSS 



The problem was not easy; but the 

 aged warrior had a resourceful mind as 

 well as an active conscience, and he 

 found a way to give his testimony a last- 

 ing record. Instead of setting out on a 

 vain journey to the court of Spain, he 

 waited quietly at Cuzco and let death de- 

 liver his message to the king. As the last 

 of the conquistadores, he claimed the 

 right to send the king a legacy of truth 

 regarding the Incas : 



"True confession and protestation in the hour 

 of death by one of the first Spaniards, con- 

 querors of Peru, named Marcio Serra de 

 Lejesama, with his will proved in the city 

 of Cuzco on the 15th of November, 1589, 

 before Geronimo Sanchez de Quesada, pub- 

 lic notary. 



"First, before beginning my will, I declare 

 that I have desired much to give notice to his 

 Catholic Majesty King Philip, our lord, seeing 

 how good a Catholic and Christian he is, and 

 how zealous in the service of the Lord our 

 God, concerning that which I would relieve my 

 mind of, by reason of having taken part in the 



discovery and conquest of these countries, 

 which we took from the Lords Yncas, and 

 placed under the royal crown, a fact which is 

 known to his Catholic Majesty. 



"The said Yncas governed in such a way 

 that in all the land neither a.thief, nor a vicious 

 man, nor a bad, dishonest woman was known. 

 The men all had honest and profitable employ- 

 ment. The woods, and mines, and all kinds of 

 property were so divided that each man knew 

 what belonged to him, and there were no law- 

 suits. The Yncas were feared, obeyed, and 

 respected by their subjects, as a race very capa- 

 ble of governing; but we took away their land, 

 and placed it under the crown of Spain, and 

 made them subjects. 



"Your Majesty must understand that my 

 reason for making this statement is to relieve 

 my conscience, for we have destroyed this 

 people by our bad examples. Crimes were once 

 so little known among them that an Indian 

 with one hundred thousand pieces of gold and 

 silver in his house, left it open, only placing a 

 little stick across the door, as the sign that the 

 master was out, and nobody went in. But 

 when they saw that we placed locks and keys 

 on our doors, they understood that it was from 

 fear of thieves, and when they saw that we 

 had thieves amongst us, they despised us. All 

 this I tell your Majesty, to discharge my con- 

 science of a weight, that I may no longer be a 

 party to these things. And I pray God to par- 

 don me, for I am the last to die of all the 

 discoverers and conquerors, as it is notorious 



521 



