[Note 1: Printed in the same volume with Montesinos, and edited by Jimenes de la Espada, _Informaciones acerca del señorio y gobierno de los Ingas hechas por mandado de Don Francisco de Toledo,_ 1570--72.]
[Note 2: The accomplished lawyer, author, and statesman.]
[Note 3: One of the first conquerors. His house at Cuzco was in the square of our Lady, near that of Garcilasso de la Vega.]
[Note 4: A generous defender of the cause of the Indians.]
[Note 5: One of the first conquerors. He occupied a house near the square, with his friend and comrade Alonso de Marchena.]
Sarmiento mentions in his history of the Incas that it was intended to be the Second Part of his work. There were to be three Parts. The First, on the geography of Peru, was not sent because it was not finished. The Third Part was to have been a narrative of the conquest.
The four cloths, and the other documents, were taken to Spain, for presentation to the King, by a servant of the Viceroy named Geronimo Pacheco, with a covering letter dated at Yucay on March 1st, 1572.
Of all these precious documents the most important was the history of the Incas by Sarmiento, and it has fortunately been preserved. The King's copy found its way into the famous library of Abraham Gronovius, which was sold in 1785, and thence into the library of the University of Göttingen, where it remained, unprinted and unedited, for 120 years. But in August, 1906, the learned librarian, Dr Richard Pietschmann published the text at Berlin, very carefully edited and annotated with a valuable introduction. The Council of the Hakluyt Society is thus enabled to present an English translation to its members very soon after the first publication of the text. It is a complement of the other writings of the great navigator, which were translated and edited for the Hakluyt Society in 1895.
The manuscript consists of eight leaves of introduction and 138 of text. The dedicatory letter to the King is signed by Sarmiento on March 4th, 1572. The binding was of red silk, under which there is another binding of green leather. The first page is occupied by a coloured shield of the royal arms, with a signature _el Capitã Sarmi de Gãboa_. On the second page is the title, surrounded by an ornamental border. The manuscript is in a very clear hand, and at the end are the arms of Toledo (_chequy azure and argent_) with the date Cuzco, 29 Feb., 1572. There is also the signature of the Secretary, Alvaro Ruiz de Navamuel[6].