was stopped, owing to his murder, and the arrival of Pizarro at Cuzco, the respite was employed in secretly concealing the vast treasure still remaining in Cuzco and the neighbourhood, which amounted to millions. It included the great golden statue which was the Huauqui of the Inca Huayna Ccapac, and of course was never found. It was very fortunate for Carlos Inca that the Spaniards did not know of the secret, or that he was its depositary. It is said that once, when his wife taunted him with his poverty, Carlos led her, under promise of secrecy, blindfold to the secret place, and took her breath away at the sight of such vast treasure. He handed the secret down to a successor when he went into exile.[1]
- ↑ Tradition told by Felipe de Pomares. Squier had a copy of the MS., which is in the British Museum.
My friend, the Señora Astete de Bennet, was the daughter of Colonel Pablo Astete of Cuzco, descended from that Miguel Astete who went with Hernando Pizarro to Pachacamac, and wrote an interesting report of the expedition. Colonel Astete was a friend of Tupac Amaru, who rose against the Spaniards in 1782, and of the Cacique Pumacagua, who rose against them in 1815.
My friend remembered Pumacagua as a very short old man, with a long nose and bright eyes. He could hardly speak Spanish, but could write it perfectly. In 1815 he was seventy-seven. He was shown the immense concealed wealth of the Incas by an Indian who had inherited the secret. Led up the bed of the river Huatanay for a long distance, blindfold and in the night, he suddenly found himself surrounded by vases, cups, plates, ingots, and great statues, all of pure gold, in incredible profusion. He only took what was urgently needed to equip his troops. Returning to Cuzco, he went straight to Colonel Astete's house. The Señora Astete told me that she could remember his coming into the room with the gold, and wet through, to relate his adventures. His conductor was the last who knew the secret, for when Pumacagua was killed
