It is now time to introduce the villain of the piece. Don Francisco de Toledo was a younger son of the Count of Oropesa, belonging to a family of which the butcher Alva was the head. Don Francisco was advanced in years when he came to Peru as Viceroy in 1569, and resolved to visit every part of the vast territory under his rule. He was accompanied by Agustin de la Coruña, Bishop of Popayan, the author Josef de Acosta, the lawyers Polo de Ondegardo and Juan de Matienza, the cosmographer Pedro Sarmiento, the secretary Navamuel, and some others. Toledo was an indefatigable worker, but excessively narrow-minded, cruel and pitiless. One of his ideas was to prove that the King of Spain had a right to Peru because the Incas were usurpers. With this object he examined a number of leading Indians at every place he stopped at, but they were not Amautas versed in history, and their evidence is of little or no value. He sent it all to Spain in reports, which have recently been published.[1] This Viceroy arrived at Cuzco early
- ↑ Informaciones a cerca del senorio y gobierno de los Ingas hechas por mandado de Don Francisco de Toledo, 1570-1572. Printed in the same volume as Montesinos and edited by Jimenez de la Espada (Madrid, 1882).
he despaired of his country, and died without revealing it to a successor.
Mateo Garcia Pumacagua, Cacique of Chinchero, was defeated by the Spanish General Ramirez at Umachiri on March 4, 1815, taken prisoner and hanged. His rebellion was the forerunner of independence.
My old friend the Señora Astete hoped that the Inca treasure would never be found. 'No one deserves it,' she said.
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