An Account of the Antiquities of Peru.

I, Don Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti-yamqui Salcamayhua, a Christian by the grace of God our Lord, am native of the towns of Santiago ¹ of Hanalucayhua and Hurinhuayhuacanchi of Urco-suyu, ² between Canas and Canches of Collasuyu, ³ legitimate son of Don Diego Felipe Coudorcanqui and of Doña Maria Huayrotari, legitimate grandson of Don Baltasar Cacyaquivi and of Don Francisco Yamquihuanacu (whose wives, my grandmothers, are alive), great grandson of Don Gaspar Apuquiricanqui and of General Don Juan Apu Ynca Mayhua, great great grandson of Don Bernabe Apu-hilas Urcuni the less, and of Don Gonzalo Pizarro Tintaya, and of Don Carlos Anco, all once principal chiefs in the said province, and professed Christians in the things of our holy Catholic faith. They were the first chiefs who came to the tambo of Caxamarca to be made Christians, ⁴ renouncing all the errors, rites, and ceremonies of the time of heathenry, which were devised by the ancient enemies of the human race, namely the demons and devils. In the 68general language they are called hapiñuñu ⁵ achacalla. ⁶ When the first Apostolic Priests entered this most noble province of Ttahuantin-suyu, inspired by the holy zeal of gaining a soul for God our Lord, like good fishers, with their loving words, preaching and catechising on the mystery of our holy Catholic Faith, then my ancestors, after having been well instructed, were baptized. They renounced the Devil and all his followers and his false promises, and all his rites. Thus they became Christians, adopted sons of Jesus Christ our Lord, and enemies of all the ancient customs and idolatries. As such they persecuted the wizards, destroyed and pulled down all the huacas and idols, denounced idolaters, and punished those who were their own servants and vassals throughout all that province. Therefore our Lord God preserved these my ancestors; and to their grandchildren and descendants, male and female, He has given his holy benediction. Finally I am, through the mercy of his divine majesty, and by his divine grace, a believer in his holy Catholic faith, as I ought to believe. All my paternal and maternal ancestors were baptized by the mercy of God, and freed from the servitude of the infernal yoke under which they were enthralled in the times of idolatry, with great risk and peril, on whose souls may our Lord have pity; and pardon all the offences committed in times past by those souls who were made in His image and likeness. I myself, as the grandchild and legitimate descendant of these ancestors, have, ever since I have reached manhood, continued firm and established in the mystery of our holy Catholic faith, exhorting my family to be good Christians, keeping the ten commandments of the law of God, believing in our Lord Jesus Christ, in obedience to our holy Mother Church of Rome. Thus the holy Roman Mother Church believes what I, Don Juan de Santa Cruz, 69believe, and in her I desire to live and die in the fear of God three and one, who lives and reigns for ever without end, as I declare. I believe in God three and one, who is the powerful God that created heaven and earth and all things that are therein, the sun, the moon, the stars, the day star, thunder and lightning, and all the elements. I also believe that he created Adam, the first man, in his image and likeness, progenitor of all mankind, whose descendants we, the natives of Ttahuantin-suyu, are, as well as the other nations throughout the whole world, as well white as black. I believe that, for their sakes, the living son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, by the work of the Holy Ghost, became incarnate in the womb of the holy Virgin Mary, coming down from heaven alone to free the human race from the infernal thraldom of the Devil in which they were kept. I believe that our Lord Christ, living among men during thirty-three years, and being true God and Man, afterwards suffered death on the cross at Jerusalem to redeem the human race, and died and was buried, and entered the infernal regions to free the souls of the holy fathers. I believe that he rose from the dead on the third day, and was in the body for forty days, and ascended into Heaven, where he sits in the great power of the Almighty God, and whence he sent the gift of the Holy Spirit to his apostles and disciples, that they might be more powerful in the spiritual things of God. God is the true God above all other Gods, the powerful God our Creator, and he it is who, by his order, rules the heavens throughout all ages, as supreme Lord and Judge and merciful Lord.