he perusal and by the ratification of witnesses. It will certify to the
truth of the worst and most inhuman tyranny of these Incas and of their
_curacas_ who are not and never were original lords of the soil, but
were placed there by Tupac Inca Yupanqui, [_the greatest, the most
atrocious and harmful tyrant of them all_]. The _curacas_ were and still
are great tyrants appointed by other great and violent tyrants, as will
clearly and certainly appear in the history; so that the tyranny is
proved, as well as that the Incas were strangers in Cuzco, and that they
had seized the valley of Cuzco, and all the rest of their territory from
Quito to Chile by force of arms, making themselves Incas without the
consent or election of the natives.

Besides this, there are their tyrannical laws and customs. [_It will be
understood that your Majesty has a specially true and holy title to
these kingdoms of Peru, because your Majesty and your most sacred
ancestors stopped the sacrifices of innocent men, the eating of human
flesh, the accursed sin, the promiscuous concubinage with sisters and
mothers, the abominable use of beasts, and their wicked and accursed
customs[20].]_ For from each one God demands an account of his
neighbour, and this duty specially appertains to princes, and above all
to your Majesty. Only for this may war be made and prosecuted by the
right to put a stop to the deeds of tyrants. Even if they had been true
and natural lords of the soil, it would be lawful to remove them and
introduce a new government, because man may rightly be punished for
these sins against nature, though the native community has not been
opposed to such practices nor desires to be avenged, as innocent, by the
Spaniards. For in this case they have no right to deliver themselves and
their children over to death, and they should be forced to observe
natural laws, as we are taught by the Archbishop of Florence, Innocent,
supported by Fray, Francisco de Victoria in his work on the title to the
Indies. So that by this title alone, without counting many others, your
Majesty has the most sufficient and legitimate right to the Indies,
better than any other prince in the world has to any lordship whatever.
For, whether more or less concealed or made known, in all the lands that
have been discovered in the two seas of your Majesty, north and south,
this general breaking of the law of nature has been found.

[Note 20: For a contradiction of these slanders