Further on is the river of Apurimac, which is the largest of those which are crossed between this place and Caxamarca. It is eight leagues from that of Abancay, and the road is much broken up by mountains and declivities, so that those who made it must have had much labour in breaking up the rocks, and levelling the ground, especially where it descends towards the river. Here the road is so rugged and dangerous, that some horses, laden with gold and silver, have fallen in and been lost without any possibility of saving them. There are two enormous stone pillars, to which the bridge is secured. When I returned to the City of the Kings, after we had defeated Gonzalo Pizarro, some of our soldiers crossed the river without a bridge, which had been destroyed, each man in a sack fastened to a rope passing from the pillar on one side of the river to that on the other, more than fifty of us. It is no small terror that is caused by seeing what men pass through in these Indies. After crossing this river the place is presently seen where the buildings of the Yncas were, and where they had an oracle. The devil, according to the Indians, replied from out of the trunk of a tree, near which they buried gold, and offered up sacrifices.