Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/402

350 afforded three crops in the year, in such abundance, that Vitoc was, relatively to the bordering provinces, what Sicily was to the Roman empire. To the fecundity of the soil it unites a mild temperature of climate, and is free from the mosquitoes and other insects by which the mountains are infested. To enjoy these advantages, three towns, named Sibis, Pucara, and Colla, were built, and annexed to the doctrina of Monobamba, belonging to the Dominican friars.

The commencement of the year 1742 forms an epoch in the annals of Peru. Juan Santos Atahualpa, whom some conjecture to have been born in Cuzco, and others in Huamanga, having been guilty of murder, sought refuge in the recesses of the Andes mountains, to shun the punishment due to his guilt. Pretending to be descended from the ancient Yncas, he stiled himself Apu-Inga Huaynacapac, and declared himself the restorer of the empire. Novelty, and the love of domination, enabled him to collect, in a little time, a multitude of barbarous Indians, who, assailing our establishments, demolished twenty-five towns, inhabited by Indian converts, the fruit of the zealous labours of the provincial order of Franciscans of Lima. Juan Santos having succeeded, in his first attempts, in the dispersion of our weak and undisciplined troops, did not stop until he had buried beneath the ruins of Quimiri, the valiant governor, Don Fabricio Bartoli. The conquest of that important post afforded him a ready entrance into Vitoc, which shared the same fate. Its inhabitants, after having been lords of vast and flourishing plantations, were reduced to a state of indigence in Tapo, and other towns of Tarma. The arrows of the chichirenes and simirinches, two of the savage tribes, were dire6led against them with so much effect