Pedro Sancho Secretary Pizarro's staff The city of Cusco, for being the main one where the main lords resided, is so large, so beautiful and with so many buildings, that it would be worthy of being seen in Spain, and all full of lordly hamlets, because in it does not live poor people, and all the lords built their houses there, as well as all the caciques, although they lived there continuously. Most of these houses are made of stone, and the rest have only half of the façade made of stone; there are many earthen houses, and they are built with beautiful order; the streets are very straight, crossed, all paved, and in the middle of each one runs a ditch of water surrounded by stones; the only defect they have is that they are narrow, since on one side of the conduit one can hardly go on horseback and another on the other. This city is located on top of a mountain; many farmhouses are placed on its very slope, and others below the level:the square is square, and for the most part flat and paved with small stones; around it there are four houses of gentlemen that are the most sumptuous in the city, painted, carved and made of stone; and the best is that of the cacique Huayna capac, whose main door is made of white, red and other colored marble; In addition to this, on the roofs there are other buildings worthy of being seen:there are many other lodgings and grandeurs in this city:two rivers pass on its flanks that are born a league far above Cusco, until they reach the city, and two more leagues. below, both are paved so that the water runs clean and clear; and so that it does not flood in the flood, they both have their bridges, through which one enters the city:on the hill towards the city that is round and very steep, there is a most beautiful fortress of earth and stone with large windows that look towards the city and that make it appear more beautiful:inside there are many lodgings and a main tower in the middle, built in the manner of a vat and with four to five turns, some larger than the others:the lodgings and chambers inside are small , the stones with which it is built are very well carved, and joined in such a way that there seems to be no mixture of lime, and the stones are so smooth and polished that they look like planks planed with sandpaper, one setting contrary to the other to the use of Spain:that building has so many rooms and towers that a person could not see them all in a single day, and many Spaniards who have seen it and who have been in Lombardy, and in other foreign kingdoms, assure that they had never seen another like this fortress, nor stronger castle. Five thousand men could comfortably fit inside:it cannot be beaten anywhere, nor look at it, because it is placed on a living rock; on the part of the city that is a very rugged hill, there is only one ridge, and on the opposite side that is not so rugged there are three, one higher than the other, and the last one further in is the highest everyone.
The most beautiful thing that can be seen in these buildings are these wisps, because they are built of stones so large that whoever sees them will not be able to believe that they have been placed by the hands of men, since they are as large as pieces of stony mountains and rocks, and many are seen as high as 30 palms and as wide. others of 20 and 25 and others of 15; but there is not even one so small that it can be pulled by three carts:this is not smooth stone, but very well fitted or woven one with the other:the Spaniards who see it say that neither the bridge of Segovia, nor the other buildings that Hercules did, nor the Romans are as worthy of being seen as this one. The city of Tarragona has some work of this kind and very similar in its wall, but it is not built with such solidity, nor with stones of such an enormous size:these strands are turned in such a way that if they were given a battery they could not be given on the plain but through the shreds that protrude outside, which are all of this same stone, and between one wall and the other earth has been placed, and in such quantity that three carts can comfortably walk abreast. They are made as three tiers, one starting at the height of the other and this one at the other. All this fortress was a repository for weapons, maces, spears, bows, slings, axes, bucklers, heavily woven cleats, and various other weapons, and clothing for soldiers who gathered there from all parts of the country that was subject to the lords of the Cusco. They had many blue, yellow, and many other colors to paint fabrics, and much tin and lead with other metals, and much silver and some gold, and many blankets and saddles for the men of war. The reason why this fortress has so much artifice is because when the city was founded, it was built by a Mr. Orejione, who came from Cunti-Suyu towards the sea, a great man, who conquered this country as far as Vilcas, and seeing that this was the best place to make his residence, he founded that city with the fortress, and all the other lords who have succeeded him later made some improvement in the fortress, for which reason it was always growing and enlarging.
From this fortress many houses can be seen in the city, a quarter of a league, half a league, and a league away:and in the valley that is in the middle, surrounded by hills, there are more than a hundred thousand houses, and many of them are from field and recreation of the past lords, and others of the caciques of the whole country who reside continuously in the city:the others are houses or warehouses full of clothes, spears, weapons, metals and fabrics, and of all the things that are born and are made in the country. There are houses where the tributes that the people give to the caciques are preserved:and there is such a house that in it there are more than a hundred thousand dry birds, because of their feathers, which are of many colors, dresses are made and there are many for that. houses. There are shields, copper plates to cover the houses, knives and other tools:shoes and combs for warfare, in such quantity that it is impossible to calculate who could have given such a great tribute of so many and various things. Each of our lords has there his house of tribute of these clothes that were given to him in life, because no lord who succeeds him (such is the law among them) can, after the death of the deceased, reach it in the estate. Each one has his gold and silver dishes, clothes and dress apart from him, and whoever succeeds him does not take it away from him; and the dead lords and caciques have their pleasure houses surrounded by the services of servants and women, and their fields of corn are planted, of which a little is put when they are buried. They worship the Sun, and have built many temples to it, and of the things they have, both clothing and corn and other things, they offer a part to the Sun, which the people of war later use.
Literary documents from Peru collected and arranged by the colonel of the cavalry of the army, founder of independence, Manuel de Odriozola (pages 61-64).
Published in Lima in 1873. Photo:perutripsplanner.com