The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie

Author:Kim MacQuarrie [MacQuarrie, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2007-05-29T07:00:00+00:00

12 IN THE REALM OF THE ANTIS

“This land of the [Antis] . . . is a rugged land with many high peaks and gorges, and for this reason there are many bad passes through which horses cannot travel unless the numerous bad areas are paved over with adobe [and] with an enormous amount of effort. . . . The whole forested [jungle] region . . . is very extensive [and] . . . slopes down towards the northern sea.”

PEDRO PIZARRO, RELACIÓN, 1571

“Those who dwell on the other side of the land, beyond the summits of the mountains, are like savages who possess but little and have neither houses nor corn. They have immense forests and live almost entirely on fruit from the trees. They have neither places to live nor known settlements [and] there are very great rivers. The land is so useless that it paid all of its tribute to the [Inca] lords in parrot feathers.”

PEDRO SANCHO DE LA HOZ, RELACIÓN, 1543

AFTER A CLIMB OF PERHAPS FIVE HOURS, MANCO’S PROCES-sion finally crossed the pass of Panticalla, with the snow-capped Apu of Wakay Willka (Mount Veronica) rising brilliantly white on the left. On the other side of the pass they caught their first glimpse of an endless sea of clouds stretching out below them, all the way to the horizon—the fabled land of the Antis. Descending spurs of the Andes, like the flying buttresses of a massive cathedral, extended down from the mountains, gradually sinking until they disappeared into the swirling mists, their upper crests limned with a black mane of trees. Manco Inca, riding in a royal litter carried by individuals from the Rucana tribe—the male members of which were trained to bear litters from a young age and hence were famed for their smooth gait—no doubt paused for a moment, looking out over the immense vista before him. Manco knew that his great-grandfather Pachacuti had been the first to enter the Antisuyu, and that his grandfather Tupac Inca had carried out a number of military campaigns in that region as well. Fittingly, he was bringing both of these ancestors with him, each riding in his own litter, dressed in fine vicuña wool cloaks and with their mummified eyes appearing to look out over the same regions they had conquered so many years before.

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