CHAPTER XIV. _How the riches possessed by the Kings were very great, and how the sons of the lord were ordered always to be in attendance at court._ The great wealth that we have seen in these parts enables us to believe what is said of the riches possessed by the Incas. For I believe what I have already affirmed several times, that there is no other country in the world so rich in metals. Every day they are discovering great veins both of gold and silver. They also collected gold in the rivers in many parts of the provinces, and obtained silver from the mountains, and all was for one king. So that he must have possessed very great riches. I am not, therefore, astonished at these things, nor even if the whole city of Cuzco and its temples had been built of pure gold. That which brings necessity upon princes, and prevents them from accumulating riches, is war. We have a clear example of this in the expenditure of the Emperor from the year in which he was crowned to the present time. For, having received more silver and gold than the Kings of Spain ever had, from the king Don Rodrigo to himself, none of them were in such necessity as His Majesty. Yet if he had no wars, and his residence was in Spain, in truth, what with his dues and with the treasure from the Indies, all Spain would be as full of riches as Peru was in the time of its kings. I make the comparison because all the treasure of the Incas was expended in no other thing than in personal array and ornaments for the temples, and for the service of the houses and lodgings. In war time the provinces supplied all the men, arms, and provisions that were necessary; and if they gave some payment of gold to some one of the _mitimaes_ during war, it was little more than had been extracted from the mines in one day. As the gold and silver was highly valued and much esteemed by them, they ordered it to be procured in great quantity, from many parts of the empire, in the manner and with the order that I will explain presently.