350 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



afforded three crops in the year, in such abundance, that 

 Vitoc was, relatively to the bordering provinces, what Sicily 

 was to the Roman empire. To the fecundity of the soil it 

 unites a mild temperature of climate, and is free from the mos- 

 quitoes and other inse6ts by which the mountains are infested. 

 To enjoy these advantages, three towns, named Sibis, Pucara, 

 and Colla, were built, and annexed to the do&rina of Mono- 

 bamba, belonging to the Dominican friars. 



The commencement of the year 1742 forms an epoch in the 

 annals of Peru. Juan Santos Atahualpa, whom some con- 

 je6ture to have been born in Cuzco, and others in Huamanga, 

 having been guilty of murder, sought refuge in the recesses of 

 the Andes mountains, to shun the punishment due to his guilt. 

 Pretending to be descended from the ancient Yncas, he stiled 

 himself Apu-Inga Huaynacapac, and declared himself the re- 

 storer of the empire. Novelty, and the love of domination, 

 enabled him to collect, in a little time, a multitude of bar- 

 barous Indians, who, assailing our establishments, demolished 

 twenty -five towns, inhabited by Indian converts, the fruit of 

 the zealous labours of the provincial order of Franciscans of 

 Lima. Juan Santos having succeeded, in his first attempts, 

 in the dispersion of our w^eak and undisciplined troops, did 

 not stop until he had buried beneath the ruins of Quimiri, 

 the valiant governor, Don Fabricio Bartoli. The conquest 

 of that important post afforded him a ready entrance into 

 Vitoc, which shared the same fate. Its inhabitants, after 

 having been lords of vast and flourishing plantations, were 

 reduced to a state of indigence in Tapo, and other towns of 

 Tarma. The arrows of the chichirenes and simir inches, two 

 ^of the savage tribes, were dire6led against them with so much 



effea, 



