Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/21

Rh all the horrors of the Spanish American conquests. Humane, generous, full of noble sympathies, observant and methodical; he was bred amidst scenes of cruelty, pillage, and wanton destruction, which were calculated to produce a far different character. Considering the circumstances in which he was placed from early boyhood, his book is certainly a most extraordinary, as well as a most valuable, result of his military services and researches. He began to write a journal when serving under Robledo in the Cauca valley in 1541. He says: 'As I noted the many great and strange things that are to be seen in the new world of the Indies there came upon me a strong desire to write an account of some of them, as well those which I have seen with my own eyes as those I heard of from persons of good repute.' In another place he says: 'Oftentimes when the other soldiers were sleeping, I was tiring myself in writing. Neither fatigue nor the ruggedness of the country, nor the mountains and rivers, nor intolerable hunger and suffering, have ever been sufficient to obstruct my two duties, namely, writing and following my flag and my captain without fault.'

Cieza de Leon made his way by land to Quito, and then travelled all over Peru collecting information. He finished the first part of his 'Chronicle' in September 1550, when at the age of thirty-two. It is mainly a geographical description of the country, with sailing directions for the coast, and an account of the Inca roads and bridges. In 3em