The city of Cuzco is the head and principal province of all the others, and from here to the beach of San Mateo and, in the other direction, to beyond the province of Collao, which is entirely a land of arrow-using savages, all is subject to one single lord who was Atabalipa, and, before him, to the other by-gone lords, and at present the lord of all is this son of Guarnacaba. This Guarnacaba, who was so renowned and feared, and is so even to this day, although he is dead, was very much beloved by his vassals, and subjected great provinces, and made them his tributaries. He was well obeyed and almost worshipped, and his body is in the city of Cuzco, quite whole, enveloped in rich cloths and lacking only the tip of the nose. There are other images of plaster of clay which have only the hair and nails which were cut off in life and the clothes that were worn, and these images are as much venerated by those people as if they were their gods. Frequently they take the [body] out into the plaza with music and dancing, and they always stay close to it, day and night, driving away the flies. When some important lords come to see the cacique, they go first to salute these figures, and they then go to the cacique and hold, with him, so many ceremonies that it would be a great prolixity to describe them. So many people assemble at these feasts, which are held in that plaza, that their number exceeds one hundred thousand souls. It turned out to be fortunate that they [the Spaniards] had made that son of Guarnacaba lord, because all the caciques and lords of the land and of remote provinces came to serve him and, out of respect for him, to yield obedience to the Emperor. The conquerors passed through great trials, because all the land is the most mountainous and roughest that can be traversed on horseback, and it may be believed that, had it not been for the discord which existed between the people of Quito and those of Cuzco and its neighbourhood, the Spaniards would never have entered Cuzco, nor would there have been enough of them to get beyond Xauxa, and in order to enter they would have had to go in a force of five hundred, and, to maintain themselves, they would have needed many more, because the land is so large and so rough that there are mountains and passes that ten men could defend against ten thousand. And the Governor never thought of being able to go with less than five hundred Christians to conquer, pacify, and make a tributary of it. But as he learned of the great disunion that existed between the people of that land [Cuzco] and those of Quito, it was proposed that he should go with the few Christians that he had to deliver them from subjection and servitude, and to put a stop to the mischief and wrongs that those of Quito were doing in that land, and Our Lord saw fit to favor him [in it]. Nor would the Governor ever have ventured to make so long and toilsome a journey in this great