the fierce and warlike Morochucos sought for pastures and raised edible roots among the giddy heights. To the east were the equally imposing mountains of Cuntur-cunca, in the rear of which the Iquichanos defied invasion. The intervening plains and ravines were inhabited by the numerous tribe of Pocras, who made a desperate fight for independence.
The final stand of the Pocras and Morochucos was on a slope between two ravines, at the foot of the Cuntur-cunca heights. There was a terrible slaughter, and the place was ever afterwards called the Ayacucho, or 'corner of death.'[1] The remnant of Morochucos fled westward to their own mountains, followed closely by the Inca general, who finally encamped on a grassy slope at the foot of the first steep ascent. As he sat with his officers around him at their evening meal, a falcon soared in circles round his head. He threw up a piece of llama flesh to it, crying out 'Huaman-ca' ('take it, falcon!') The tradition was never forgotten, and the natives tell it to this day. The place, afterwards the site of a Spanish city, was called Huamanca (Guamanga), in memory of the Inca's supper guest.[2]
- ↑ At the same place the independence of Peru was won at the battle between the Spanish Viceroy and the Colombian General Sucre, in 1824.
- ↑ Morua tells the story differently. He says that the Inca Huayna Ccapac, with one of his sons named Huaman, was encamped here. The Inca granted the land to his son, saying Huaman-ca.
