DEDICATION. ——— TO ANDRES AVELINO CACERES (General of Brigade in the Peruvian Army),
Clements R. (Clements Robert) Markham translation
And to his gallant companions in arms, now heroically defending their native country against fearful odds, I dedicate this edition of the narrative of that scholarly soldier, Pedro de Cieza de Leon, who warmly sympathised with the people of the land of the Yncas, advocated their cause, and denounced their wrongs.
The natives of the valley of Xauxa, descendants of the Huancas mentioned by Cieza de Leon, have suffered most cruelly from the inroads of the Chilian soldiery, and on this classic ground the brave Caceres and his little army have striven to protect these people from robbery and outrage. Cieza de Leon mentions a fact relating to the Huancas of the Xauxa valley, which gives us a high estimate of their civilization. The cruelties and robberies of the Spanish conquerors, whose deeds are now outdone by their Chilian imitators, would have led to the complete destruction of the natives if it had not been for the excellent order and concert of their polity. They made an agreement among themselves that if an army of Spaniards passed through any of their districts, and did such damage as would be caused by the destruction of growing crops, by the sacking of houses, and other mischief of still worse kinds, the accountants should keep careful records of the injury done. The accounts were then examined and checked; and if one district had lost more than another, those which had suffered less made up part of the difference; so that the burden was shared equally by all.[1]
It is among the descendants of these Huancas that the Chilians are now committing havoc. With the Peruvians, with the men who are fighting in the noblest of all causes—the defence of their Fatherland—with General Caceres and his companions in arms, must be the hearty sympathies and best wishes of all who hate wrong and love patriotic devotion. Through that devotion, through the sacrifices and self-denials entailed upon the unfortunate people of the land of the Yncas, may be seen those rays of light which break the black cloud now hanging over the country and the race described by Cieza de Leon in the following pages.
May his narrative excite the interest of many readers, and so enlist sympathy for the descendants of that people whose story he tells so well.
June 1883.