was on the west side of the Huatanay torrent. It was next door to the house of the Princess Beatriz, married to Mancio Serra de Leguisamo. From that time, though he was often away for long periods during the civil wars, the events of the life of the elder Garcilasso were closely entwined with those of his young son, the Inca.
The son of the knight Garcilasso de la Vega by the Inca princess was born in their house at Cuzco[1] on the 12th of April 1539. His earliest recollection was of the beautiful view from the balcony. He looked down into the catu or market, and on his right was the convent of La Merced, where the Almagros and Gonzalo Pizarro were buried. The house had a long balcony over the entrance, where the principal lords of the city assembled to witness the bull fights and cane tournaments, which took place in the square. There was a view of the splendid snowy peak of Vilcañota, 'like a pyramid, and so lofty that, though twenty-five leagues away,[2] and though other mountains intervene, it could be seen from the balcony. It does not appear as a mass of rock, but as a peak of pure and perpetual snow without ever melting. Its name means a sacred and wonderful thing.'[3]
The young Inca's grown-up male relations at
