Old Bookaroo
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- #1
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Three hundred years have not sufficed to eradicate the notion that enormous treasures are concealed within the Fortress; nor have three hundred years of excavation, more or less constant, entirely discouraged the searchers for tapadas. In making our surveys of the work and of the Rodadero many were the eyes that watched us from behind rocks and stones, in full belief that the forasteros were there with some ancient itinerario obtained from Spain, to determine the limit of our day's survey, and as a guide for resumption of our work. Often have I been approached by individuals of highest local position, with knowing and confidential hints and suggestions as to where the treasures were–merely as friends, to save us trouble, and with perfect willingness to make a fair division of the spoils; their traditional knowledge to offset our practical skill in treasurehunting.
I doubt if, among all the people, high and low, whom I met in the Sierra, half a dozen could be found, when questioned apart, who would not testify to a belief that the investigation of ancient monuments was rather a clumsy pretext under which to carry on search for the chain of Huayna Capac or some other tapada of equal value, like the pexe grande of Chimu or the 10,000 llama loads of gold that were lost to the Spaniards by the premature execution of Atahualpa.
And, if closely pressed, I think there are not a few who would take a distinct oath that my rather precipitate retreat to the coast, when the rains began to fall, was the immediate consequence of having been successful in my search. And I think it not impossible that the stones that were rolled down on us in the defiles of Andahuaylas were intended to create a confusion, wherein the mules laden with supposed Inca treasure could be stampeded, and the strangers and heretics spoiled.
What a disappointment it would have been to the evil-minded assailants if they had succeeded in obtaining the coveted packages, only to find them filled with skulls and all uncleanness!
In a MS. in the British Museum, a copy of which is in my possession, I find recorded a curious story touching the supposed treasures of the Sacsahuaman, told by Felipe de Pomanes, who says:
“It is a well-known and acknowledged thing that in this Fortress of Cuzco there is a secret vault, in which is a vast treasure, since there were placed in it ail the statues of the lncas, wrought in gold. And there is living to-day a lady who has been in this vault, named Dona Maria de Esqnivel, wife of the last Inca, and whom I have heard describe how she came to go there, and what she saw there. It was thus: This lady had married Don Carlos Inca, who had not the means to keep up the state of the great personage that he really was, and the Dona Maria neglected him" [the chronicler says something worse], "because she had been deceived into marrying a poor Indian under the pretense that he was a great lord and Inca. And she so often repeated this reproach that Don Carlos one night said to her: ‘Do you wish to know if I am the miserable pauper and wretch you accuse me of being? Do you wish to know if I am poor or rich? If so, come with me, and you shall see that I possess more wealth than any lord or king in the universe.' And Dona Maria, overcome by curiosity, consented to have her eyes bandaged–so unlike a woman –and to follow her indignant lord, who led her a number of turns, and then took her hand and conducted her down into a room, when he removed the bandage from her eyes, and she saw herself surrounded by unbounded treasures. In niches in the walls were many statues of all the Incas, as large as youths of twelve years old, all of finest gold, besides numberless vases of gold and silver, and blocks of the same, and altogether a wealth that convinced the lady that here was the grandest treasure of the world."
How she behaved to her lord afterward the chronicler does not tell us; and whether she wheedled Don Carlos Inca out of a statue of his fathers, or a block of gold, we are unfortunately left in ignorance. But the chronicler does say that it is not to be presumed that an author of such judgment and character as Felipe de Pomanes would tell a story, even if it were possible that a lady of the character and known virtue of Dona Maria de Esquivel, could be guilty of such a thing.
All I can say is, that if the secret chamber that she entered has not yet been found and despoiled it has not been for default of digging, for I doubt if a foot of the soil of the Sacsahuaman has escaped being turned a dozen times over. Men were constantly busy there during the whole time of our stay. Perhaps our visit gave a new impulse to money-digging, or tapada-hunting, which, if called on to say, I should declare to be the principal occupation of the people of Peru. The time, labor, and money that have been spent in digging and dismantling ancient edifices, would have built a railway from one end of the country to the other–given wharves to the ports, and, what is far more needed, sewers to the cities!
~ Among the Andres of Peru and Bolivia, by E.G. Squier - The Harpers Monthly, August 1868
Good luck to all,
The Old Bookaroo, CM
I doubt if, among all the people, high and low, whom I met in the Sierra, half a dozen could be found, when questioned apart, who would not testify to a belief that the investigation of ancient monuments was rather a clumsy pretext under which to carry on search for the chain of Huayna Capac or some other tapada of equal value, like the pexe grande of Chimu or the 10,000 llama loads of gold that were lost to the Spaniards by the premature execution of Atahualpa.
And, if closely pressed, I think there are not a few who would take a distinct oath that my rather precipitate retreat to the coast, when the rains began to fall, was the immediate consequence of having been successful in my search. And I think it not impossible that the stones that were rolled down on us in the defiles of Andahuaylas were intended to create a confusion, wherein the mules laden with supposed Inca treasure could be stampeded, and the strangers and heretics spoiled.
What a disappointment it would have been to the evil-minded assailants if they had succeeded in obtaining the coveted packages, only to find them filled with skulls and all uncleanness!
In a MS. in the British Museum, a copy of which is in my possession, I find recorded a curious story touching the supposed treasures of the Sacsahuaman, told by Felipe de Pomanes, who says:
“It is a well-known and acknowledged thing that in this Fortress of Cuzco there is a secret vault, in which is a vast treasure, since there were placed in it ail the statues of the lncas, wrought in gold. And there is living to-day a lady who has been in this vault, named Dona Maria de Esqnivel, wife of the last Inca, and whom I have heard describe how she came to go there, and what she saw there. It was thus: This lady had married Don Carlos Inca, who had not the means to keep up the state of the great personage that he really was, and the Dona Maria neglected him" [the chronicler says something worse], "because she had been deceived into marrying a poor Indian under the pretense that he was a great lord and Inca. And she so often repeated this reproach that Don Carlos one night said to her: ‘Do you wish to know if I am the miserable pauper and wretch you accuse me of being? Do you wish to know if I am poor or rich? If so, come with me, and you shall see that I possess more wealth than any lord or king in the universe.' And Dona Maria, overcome by curiosity, consented to have her eyes bandaged–so unlike a woman –and to follow her indignant lord, who led her a number of turns, and then took her hand and conducted her down into a room, when he removed the bandage from her eyes, and she saw herself surrounded by unbounded treasures. In niches in the walls were many statues of all the Incas, as large as youths of twelve years old, all of finest gold, besides numberless vases of gold and silver, and blocks of the same, and altogether a wealth that convinced the lady that here was the grandest treasure of the world."
How she behaved to her lord afterward the chronicler does not tell us; and whether she wheedled Don Carlos Inca out of a statue of his fathers, or a block of gold, we are unfortunately left in ignorance. But the chronicler does say that it is not to be presumed that an author of such judgment and character as Felipe de Pomanes would tell a story, even if it were possible that a lady of the character and known virtue of Dona Maria de Esquivel, could be guilty of such a thing.
All I can say is, that if the secret chamber that she entered has not yet been found and despoiled it has not been for default of digging, for I doubt if a foot of the soil of the Sacsahuaman has escaped being turned a dozen times over. Men were constantly busy there during the whole time of our stay. Perhaps our visit gave a new impulse to money-digging, or tapada-hunting, which, if called on to say, I should declare to be the principal occupation of the people of Peru. The time, labor, and money that have been spent in digging and dismantling ancient edifices, would have built a railway from one end of the country to the other–given wharves to the ports, and, what is far more needed, sewers to the cities!
~ Among the Andres of Peru and Bolivia, by E.G. Squier - The Harpers Monthly, August 1868
Good luck to all,
The Old Bookaroo, CM
