As in the last chapter I wrote of the method adopted by the Incas in their conquests, it will be well in this one to relate how they levied tribute from so many nations. It is a thing very well understood that there was no village, either in the mountains or in the valleys of the coast, which did not pay such tribute as was imposed by those who were in charge. It is said that when, in one province, the people represented that they had nothing wherewith to pay the tribute, the king ordered that each inhabitant should be obliged, every four months, to give a rather large cane full of live lice, which was a sign of the care taken by the Inca to make every subject contribute something. Thus we know that they paid their tribute of lice until such time as, having been supplied with flocks, they had been industrious enough to multiply them, and to make cloth wherewith to pay more suitable tribute in the time to come.

The system which the Orejones of Cuzco and the other native lords of the land say that the Incas adopted in imposing tribute was as follows: He who reigned in Cuzco, sent some of his principal officers to visit the empire, one by each of the four royal roads of which I have already written.