Chapter VI: The Civilisation of Old Peru (2)

The Marquis de Nadaillac has placed on record a use to which the quipos were put in more modern times. He says: "A great revolt against the Spaniards was organised in 1792. As was found out later, the revolt had been organised by means of messengers carrying a piece of wood in which were enclosed threads the ends of which were formed of red, black, blue, or white fringes. The black thread had four knots, which signified that the messenger had started from Vladura, the residence of the chief of the conspiracy, four days after full moon. The white thread had ten knots, which signified that the revolt would break out ten days after the arrival of the messenger. The person to whom the keeper was sent had in his turn to make a knot in the red thread if he agreed to join the confederates; in the red and blue threads, on the contrary, if he refused." It was by means of these quipos that the Incas transmitted their instructions. On all the roads starting from the capital, at distances rarely exceeding five miles, rose tambos, or stations for the chasquis or couriers, who went from one post to another. The orders of the Inca thus became disseminated with great rapidity. Orders which emanated directly from the sovereign were marked with a red thread of the royal llantu (mantle), and nothing, as historians assure us, could equal the respect with which these messages were received.

The Incas as Craftsmen

The Incan Peruvians had made some progress in the metallurgic, ceramic, and textile arts. By washing the sands of the rivers of Caravaya they obtained large quantities of gold, and they extracted silver from the ore by means of blast-furnaces. Copper also was abundant, and was employed to manufacture bronze, of which most of their implements were made. Although it is difficult to know at what period their mining operations were carried on, it is evident that they could only have learned the art through long experience. Many proofs are to be found of their skill in jewellery, and amongst these are wonderful statuettes which they made from an amalgam of gold and mercury, afterwards exposed to great heat. A number of curious little ornaments made of various substances, with a little hole bored through them, were frequently found under the huacas--probably talismans. The finest handiwork of the Incas was undoubtedly in jewellery; but unfortunately most of the examples of their work in this craft were melted down to assuage the insatiable avarice of the Spanish conquerors, and are therefore for ever lost to us. The spade and chisel employed in olden times by the Peruvians are much the same as the people use now, but some of their tools were clumsy. Their javelins, tomahawks, and other military arms were very futile weapons. Some found near the mines of Pasco were made of stone.

The spinning, weaving, and dyeing of the Peruvians were unequalled in aboriginal America, their cloths and tapestries being both graceful in design and strong in texture.

Stamps of bark or earthenware were employed to fix designs upon their woollen stuffs, and feathers were added to the garments made from these, the combination producing a gay effect much admired by the Spaniards. The British Museum possesses some good specimens of these manufactures.

Pottery

The Peruvians excelled in the potter's art. The pottery was baked in a kiln, and was varied in colour, red, black, and grey being the favourite shades. It was varnished outside, and the vases were moulded in two pieces and joined before heating. Much of the work is of great grace and elegance, and the shapes of animals were very skilfully imitated. Many drinking-cups of elegant design have been discovered, and some vases are of considerable size, measuring over three feet in height. A simple geometric pattern is usually employed for decoration, but sometimes rows of birds and insects figure in the ceramics. The pottery of the coast people is more rich and varied than that of the Inca race proper, and among its types we find vases moulded in the form of human faces, many of them exhibiting so much character that we are forced to conclude that they are veritable portraits. Fine stone dishes are often found, as well as platters of wood, and these frequently bear as ornament tasteful carvings representing serpents. On several cups and vases are painted representations of battles between the Inca forces and the savages of the eastern forests using bows and arrows; below wander the animals of the forest region, a brightly painted group.

The Archæological Museum of Madrid gives a representation of very varied kinds of Peruvian pottery, including some specimens modelled upon a series of plants, interesting to botanists. The Louvre collections have one or two interesting examples of earthenware, as well as the Ethnographical Museum of St. Petersburg, and in all these collections there are types which are believed to be peculiar to the Old World.

The Trocadero Museum has a very curious specimen with two necks called the "Salvador." A drawing on the vase represents a man with a tomahawk. The Peruvians, like the Mexicans, also made musical instruments out of earthenware, and heavy ornaments, principally for the ear.

Historical Sketch of the Incan Peruvians

The Inca dominion, as the Spaniards found it, was instituted only about a century before the coming of the white man. Before that time Inca sway held good over scattered portions of the country, but had not extended over the entire territory which in later times was connected with the Inca name. That it was founded on the wreck of a more ancient power which once existed in the district of Chinchay-suyu there can be little doubt. This power was wielded over a space bounded by the lake of Chinchay-cocha on the north and Abancay on the south, and extended to the Pacific at the valley of Chincha. It was constituted by an alliance of tribes under the leadership of the chief of Pucara, in the Huanca country. A branch of this confederacy, the Chanca, pushing southward in a general movement, encountered the Inca people of Colla-suyu, who, under their leader, Pachacutic, a young but determined chieftain, defeated the invaders in a decisive battle near Cuzco. In consequence of this defeat the Chanca deserted their former allies and made common cause with their victors. Together the armies made a determined attack on the Huanca alliance, which they broke up, and conquered the northern districts of the Chinchay-suyu. Thus Central Peru fell to the Inca arms.

The Inca Monarchs

Inca history, or rather tradition, as we must call it in the light of an unparalleled lack of original documentary evidence, spoke of a series of eleven monarchs from Manco Ccapac to Huaina Ccapac, who died shortly before the Spanish conquest. These had reigned for a collective period of nearly 350 years. The evidence that these chiefs had reigned was of the best, for their mummified bodies were preserved in the great Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, already described. There they received the same daily service as when in the flesh. Their private herds of llamas and slaves were still understood to belong to them, and food and drink were placed before them at stated intervals. Clothes were made for them, and they were carried about in palanquins as if for daily exercise. The descendants of each at periodical intervals feasted on the produce of their ancestor's private estate, and his mummy was set in the centre of the diners and treated as the principal guest.

The First Incas

After Manco Ccapac and his immediate successor, Sinchi Roca (Wise Chief), Lloque Yupanqui comes third in the series. He died while his son was still a child. Concerning Mayta Ccapac, who commenced his reign while yet a minor, but little is known. He was followed by Ccapac Yupanqui, who defeated the Conti-suyu, who had grown alarmed at the great power recently attained by Cuzco. The Inca and his men were attacked whilst about to offer sacrifice. A second attempt to sack Cuzco and divide its spoil and the women attached to the great Temple of the Sun likewise ended in the total discomfiture of the jealous invaders. With Inca Roca, the next Inca, a new dynasty commences, but it is well-nigh impossible to trace the connection between it and the preceding one. Of the origin of Inca Roca nothing is related save that he claimed descent from Manco Ccapac. Roca, instead of waiting to be attacked in his own dominions, boldly confronted the Conti-suyu in their own territory, defeated them decisively at Pumatampu, and compelled them to yield him tribute. His successor, Yahuarhuaccac, initiated a similar campaign against the Colla-suyu people, against whom he had the assistance of the conquered Conti-suyu. But at a feast which he held in Cuzco before setting out he was attacked by his allies, and fled to the Coricancha, or Golden Temple of the Sun, for refuge, along with his wives. Resistance was unavailing, and the Inca and many of his favourites were slaughtered. The allied tribes which had overrun Central Peru now threatened Cuzco, and had they advanced with promptitude the Inca dynasty would have been wiped out and the city reduced to ruins. A strong man was at hand, however, who was capable of dealing with the extremely dangerous situation which had arisen. This was Viracocha, a chieftain chosen by the vote of the assembled warriors of Cuzco. By a prudent conciliation of the Conti-suyu and Colla-suyu he established a confederation which not only put an end to all threats of invasion, but so menaced the invaders that they were glad to return to their own territory and place it in a suitable state of defence.

Viracocha the Great

With Viracocha the Great, or "Godlike," the period of true Inca ascendancy commences. He was the real founder of the enlarged Inca dominion. He was elected Inca on his personal merits, and during a vigorous reign succeeded in making the influence of Cuzco felt in the contiguous southern regions. In his old age he retired to his country seats at Yucay and Xaquixahuana, and left the conduct of the realm to his son and successor, Urco-Inca, a weak-minded voluptuary, who neglected his royal duties, and was superseded by his younger brother, Pachacutic, a famous character in Inca history.

The Plain of Blood

The commencement of Pachacutic's reign witnessed one of the most sanguinary battles in the history of Peru. Hastu-huaraca, chief of the Antahuayllas, in the Chanca country, invaded the Inca territory, and encamped on the hills of Carmenca, which overlooks Cuzco. Pachacutic held a parley with him, but all to no purpose, for the powerful invader was determined to humble the Inca dynasty to the dust. Battle was speedily joined. The first day's fight was indecisive, but on the succeeding day Pachacutic won a great victory, the larger part of the invading force being left dead on the field of battle, and Hastu-huaraca retreating with five hundred followers only. The battle of Yahuar-pampa (Plain of Blood) was the turning-point in Peruvian history. The young Inca, formerly known as Yupanqui, was now called Pachacutic (He who changes the World). The warriors of the south made full submission to him, and came in crowds to offer him their services and seek his alliance and friendship, and he shortly found himself supreme in the territories over which his predecessors had exercised merely a nominal control.

The Conquest of Middle Peru

Hastu-huaraca, who had been commissioned by the allied tribesmen of Chinchay-suyu to reduce the Incas, now threw in his lot with them, and together conqueror and conquered proceeded to the liberation of the district of Chinchay-suyu from the tyranny of the Huanca alliance. The reduction of the southern portion of that territory was speedily accomplished. In the valley of Xauxa the invaders came upon the army of the Huanca, on which they inflicted a final defeat. The Inca spared and liberated the prisoners of war, who were numerous. Once more, at Tarma, were the Huanca beaten, after which all resistance appears to have been overcome. The city-state of Cuzco was now the dominant power throughout the whole of Central Peru, a territory 300 miles in length, whilst it exercised a kind of suzerainty over a district of equal extent toward the south-east, which it shortly converted into actual dominion.

Fusion of Races

This conquest of Central Peru led to the fusing of the Quichua-speaking tribes on the left bank of the Apurimac with the Aymara-speaking folk on the right bank, with the result that the more numerous Quichua speedily gained linguistic ascendancy over their brethren the Aymara. Subsequently to this the peoples of Southern and Central Peru, led by Inca headmen, swept in a great wave of migration over Cerro de Pasco, where they met with little or no resistance, and Pachacutic lived to be lord over a dominion extending for a thousand miles to the northward, and founder of a great Inca colony south of the equator almost identical in outline with the republic of Ecuador.

Two Branches of the Incas

These conquests, or rather race-movements, split up the Inca people into two separate portions, the respective centres of which were well-nigh a thousand miles apart. The centre of the northern district was at Tumipampa, Riopampa, and Quito at different periods. The political separation of these areas was only a question of time. Geographical conditions almost totally divided the two portions of the empire, a sparsely populated stretch of country 400 miles in extent lying between them (see map, p. 333.)

The Laws of Pachacutic

Pachacutic united to his fame as a warrior the reputation of a wise and liberal ruler. He built the great Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, probably on the site of a still older building, and established in its walls the convent in which five hundred maidens were set apart for the service of the god. He also, it is said, instituted the great rite of the Ccapac-cocha, at which maize, cloth, llamas, and children were sacrificed in honour of the sun-god. He devised a kind of census, by which governors were compelled periodically to render an account of the population under their rule. This statement was made by means of quipos. Agriculture was his peculiar care, and he was stringent in the enforcement of laws regarding the tilling of the soil, the foundation and upkeep of stores and granaries, and the regulation of labour in general. As an architect he took upon himself the task of personally designing the principal buildings of the city of Cuzco, which were rebuilt under his instructions and in accordance with models moulded from clay by his own hands. He appears to have had a passion for order, and to him we may be justified in tracing the rigorous and almost grandmotherly system under which the Peruvians were living at the time of the arrival of their Spanish conquerors. To Pachacutic, too, is assigned the raising of the immense fortress of Sacsahuaman, already described. He further instituted the order of knighthood known as Auqui, or "Warrior," entrance to which was granted to suitable applicants at the great feast of Ccapac Raymi, or Festival of the Sun. He also named the succession of moons, and erected the pillars on the hill of Carmenca by which the season of solstice was found. In short, all law and order which had a place in the Peruvian social economy were attributed to him, and we may designate him the Alfred of his race.

Tupac-Yupanqui

Pachacutic's son, Tupac-Yupanqui, for some time before his father's death acted as his lieutenant. His name signifies "Bright" or "Shining." His activity extended to every portion of the Inca dominion, the borders of which he enlarged, suppressing revolts, subjugating tribes not wholly brought within the pale of Inca influence, and generally completing the work so ably begun by his father.

"The Gibbet"

A spirit of cruelty and excess such as was unknown to Pachacutic marked the military exploits of Tupac. In the valley of Huarco, near the Pacific coast, for example, he was repulsed by the natives, who were well supplied with food and stores of all sorts, and whose town was well fortified and very strongly situated. Tupac constructed an immense camp, or rather town, the outlines of which recalled those of his capital of Cuzco, on a hill opposite the city, and here he calmly sat down to watch the gradual starvation of the enemy. This siege continued for three years, until the wretched defenders, driven to despair through want of food, capitulated, relying on the assurance of their conqueror that they should become a part of the Inca nation and that their daughters should become the wives of Inca youths. The submission of their chiefs having been made, Tupac ordered a general massacre of the warriors and principal civilians. At the conquest the Spaniards could still see the immense heaps of bones which littered the spot where this heartless holocaust took place, and the name Huarco (The Gibbet) became indissolubly associated with the district.

Huaina Ccapac

Tupac died in 1493, and was succeeded by his son Huaina Ccapac (The Young Chief). Huaina was about twenty-two years of age at the time of his father's death, and although the late Inca had named Ccapac-Huari, his son by another wife, as his successor, the claims of Huaina were recognised. His reign was peaceful, and was marked by wise administrative improvements and engineering effort. At the same time he was busily employed in holding the savage peoples who surrounded his empire in check. He favoured the northern colony, and rebuilt Tumipampa, but resided at Quito. Here he dwelt for some years with a favourite son by a wife of the lower class, named Tupac-atau-huallpa (The Sun makes Good Fortune). Huaina was the victim of an epidemic raging in Peru at the time. He was greatly feared by his subjects, and was the last Inca who held undisputed sway over the entire dominion. Like Nezahualcoyotl in Mexico, he attempted to set up the worship of one god in Peru, to the detriment of all other huacas, or sacred beings.

The Inca Civil War

On the death of Huaina his two sons, Huascar and Atauhuallpa, [16] strove for the crown. Before his demise Huaina had divided his dominion between his two sons, but it was said that he had wrested Quito from a certain chieftain whose daughter he had married, and by whom he had Atauhuallpa, who was therefore rightful heir to that province. The other son, Huascar, or Tupac-cusi-huallpa (The Sun makes Joy), was born to his principal sister-wife--for, according to Inca custom, the monarchs of Peru, like those of certain Egyptian dynasties, filled with pride of race, and unwilling to mingle their blood with that of plebeians, took spouses from among their sisters. This is the story as given by many Spanish chroniclers, but it has no foundation in fact. Atauhuallpa was in reality the son of a woman of the people, and Huascar was not the son of Huaina's sister-wife, but of a wife of less intimate relationship. Therefore both sons were on an equality as regards descent. Huascar, however, was nearer the throne by virtue of his mother's status, which was that of a royal princess, whereas the mother of Atauhuallpa was not officially recognised. Huascar by his excesses and his outrages on religion and public decency aroused the people to revolt against his power, and Atauhuallpa, discerning his opportunity in this émeute, made a determined attack on the royal forces, and succeeded in driving them slowly back, until at last Tumipampa was razed to the ground, and shortly afterwards the important southerly fortress of Caxamarca fell into the hands of the rebels.

A Dramatic Situation

Atauhuallpa remained at Caxamarca, and despatched the bulk of his forces into the enemy's country. These drove the warriors of Huascar back until the upper courses of the Apurimac were reached. Huascar fled from Cuzco, but was captured, and carried a prisoner with his mother, wife, and children to Atauhuallpa. Not many days afterwards news of the landing of the Spaniards was received by the rebel Inca. The downfall of the Peruvian Empire was at hand.

A Worthless Despotism

If the blessings of a well-regulated government were dispensed by the Incas, these benefits were assuredly counterbalanced by the degrading despotism which accompanied them. The political organisation of the Peruvian Empire was in every sense more complete than that of Mexico. But in a state where individual effort and liberty are entirely crushed even such an effective organisation as the Peruvian can avail the people little, and is merely a device for the support of a calculated tyranny.