Chapter CXXI (6)

[498] These ruins are in lat. 16° 42´ S. long. 68° 42´ W., 12,930 feet above the level of the sea, and twelve miles from the south shore of lake Titicaca. (See Mr. Bollaert’s paper, in the _Intellectual Observer_ for May 1863.)

[499] It is 918 feet long, 400 broad, and 100 to 120 in height.

[500] The head of one of these statues is 3 feet 6 inches long, from the point of the beard to the upper part of the ornamental head dress; and from the nose to the back of the head it measures 2 feet 7 inches. It is adorned with a species of round cap, 1 foot 7 inches high, and 2 feet 5 inches in width. In the upper part are certain wide vertical bands, and in the lower are symbolical figures with human faces. From the eyes, which are large and round, two wide bands, each with three double circles, project to the chin. From the outer part of each eye a band descends, adorned with two squares terminating in a serpent. The nose is slightly prominent, surrounded on the lower side by a wide semicircular band, and terminating towards the inner side of the eyes in two corners. The mouth forms a transverse oval, garnished with sixteen teeth. From the under lip projects, in the form of a beard, six bands, towards the edge of the chin. The ear is represented by a semi-lunar figure in a square, and in the fore-part of it is a vertical band with three squares, terminating in the head of a wild beast. On the neck there are many human figures. The sculpture of this head is very remarkable. _Antiguedades Peruanas_, p. 295.

[501] Of these huge monolithic doorways there is one block of hard trachytic rock measuring 10 feet in height by 13 wide, and another 7 feet in height. In the former block a doorway is cut, which is 6 feet 4 inches high, and 3 feet 2 inches wide. On its eastern side there is a cornice, in the centre of which a human figure is carved. The head is almost square, and there proceed from it several rays, amongst which four snakes can be discerned. The arms are extended, and each hand holds a snake with a crowned head. The body is covered with an embroidered garment, and the short feet rest upon a pedestal, also ornamented with symbolical figures. On each side of this figure there are a number of small squares on the cornice, in three rows, each containing a human figure in profile with a walking-stick in the hand. Each row has sixteen figures, the central row with birds’ heads. _Antiguedades Peruanas_, p. 296.

Acosta says that he measured one of the great stones at Tiahuanaco, and found it to be 38 feet long, 18 broad, and 6 deep. _Historia Natural de las Indias_, lib. vi, cap. 14, p. 419.

(In the _Intellectual Observer_ for May 1863, there is an excellent engraving of one of the great monolithic doorways at Tiahuanaco, to illustrate a paper by Mr. Bollaert.)

[502] The famous ruins of Tiahuanaco, generally considered to be long anterior to the time of the Yncas, appear, like those at Ollantay-tambo, to be remains of edifices which were never completed.

Garcilasso de la Vega gives the following account of Tiahuanaco. “Amongst other works in this place, one of them is a hill, made artificially, and so high that the fact of its having been made by man causes astonishment; and, that it might not be loosened, it was built upon great foundations of stone. It is not known why this edifice was made. In another part, away from the hill, there were two figures of giants carved in stone, with long robes down to the ground, and caps on their heads: all well worn by the hand of time, which proves their great antiquity. There is also an enormous wall of stones, so large that the greatest wonder is caused to imagine how human force could have raised them to the place where they now are. For there are no rocks nor quarries within a great distance, from whence they could have been brought. In other parts there are grand edifices, and what causes most astonishment are some great doorways of stone, some of them made out of one single stone. The marvel is increased by their wonderful size, for some of them were found to measure 30 feet in length, 15 in breadth, and 6 in depth. And these stones, with their doorways, are all of one single piece, so that it cannot be understood with what instruments or tools they can have been worked.

“The natives say that all these edifices were built before the time of the Yncas, and that the Yncas built the fortress of Cuzco in imitation of them. They know not who erected them, but have heard their forefathers say that all these wonderful works were completed in a single night. The ruins appear never to have been finished, but to have been merely the commencement of what the founders intended to have built. All the above is from Pedro de Cieza de Leon, in his 105th chapter; to which I propose to add some further particular obtained from a schoolfellow of mine, a priest named Diego de Alcobasa (who I may call my brother, for we were born in the same house, and his father brought me up). Amongst other accounts, which he and others have sent me from my native land, he says the following respecting these great edifices of Tiahuanaco. ‘In Tiahuanaco, in the province of Collao, amongst other things, there are some ancient ruins worthy of immortal memory. They are near the lake called by the Spaniards Chucuito, the proper name of which is Chuquivitu. Here there are some very grand edifices, and amongst them there is a square court, 15 _brazas_ each way, with walls two stories high. On one side of this court there is a hall 45 feet long by 22 broad, apparently once covered, in the same way as those buildings you have seen in the house of the sun at Cuzco, with a roof of straw. The walls, roofs, floor, and doorways are all of one single piece, carved out of a rock, and the walls of the court and of the hall are three-quarters of a yard in breadth. The roof of the hall, though it appears to be thatch, is really of stone. For as the Indians cover their houses with thatch, in order that this might appear like the rest, they have combed and carved the stone so that it resembles a roof of thatch. The waters of the lake wash the walls of the court. The natives say that this and the other buildings were dedicated to the Creator of the universe. There are also many other stones carved into the shape of men and women so naturally that they appear to be alive, some drinking with cups in their hands, others sitting, others standing, and others walking in the stream which flows by the walls. There are also statues of women with their infants in their laps, others with them on their backs, and in a thousand other postures. The Indians say that for the great sins of the people of those times, and because they stoned a man who was passing through the province, they were all converted into these statues.’

“Thus far are the words of Diego de Alcobasa, who has been a vicar and preacher to the Indians in many provinces of this kingdom, having been sent by his superiors from one part to another: for, being a mestizo and native of Cuzco, he knows the language of the Indians better than others who are born in the country, and his labours bear more fruit.”

The part of the country in which Tia-huanaco is situated, was first conquered by Mayta Ccapac, the fourth Ynca. The name is derived from a circumstance connected with the conquest. It is said that, while the Ynca was engaged in this campaign against the Aymara nation, and being encamped amongst the ruins, a Cañari Indian, serving as a _chasqui_ or courier, arrived from Cuzco in an extraordinarily short space of time. The Ynca exclaimed _Tia_ (Be seated) _Huanaco_: the _huanaco_ being the swiftest animal in Peru. Thus, like Luxor, and so many other famous places, these wonderful ruins have received a comparatively modern name, which has no real connection with their history.

[503] See chapter lxxxvii.

[504] On the 26th of October 1547 Centeno mustered a thousand men, of whom 250 were mounted. Gonzalo Pizarro’s force barely amounted to 400 infantry and 85 cavalry. Pizarro gained a complete victory, and 350 of Centeno’s followers were killed.

[505] The president Gasca ordered Don Alonzo de Mendoza, an officer who had come over to him from the party of Gonzalo Pizarro, to found a new city south of lake Titicaca, which was to be called “La Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de la Paz;” to commemorate the peace which had been established, after the overthrow of the rebel Gonzalo Pizarro. It was deemed convenient that there should be a Spanish settlement between Cuzco and the rich silver-yielding province of Charcas, and thus the building of the city of La Paz was commenced. It is now one of the principal towns in the modern Republic of Bolivia.

[506] It is now known as the city of Chuquisaca, or Sucre, and is the capital of the republic of Bolivia.

[507] Pedro de Hinojosa is first heard of as fighting bravely against Almagro the younger, in the battle of Chupas. He afterwards joined the fortunes of Gonzalo Pizarro, and that ill-fated chief entrusted him with the command of Panama and of the fleet. On the arrival of the president Gasca from Spain, Hinojosa, after some months of hesitation, betrayed his trust, and handed over the fleet to the wily ecclesiastic on November 19th, 1546. He was rewarded by being appointed Gasca’s general by land and sea, and commanded the troops at the final overthrow of his old commander on the plain of Xaquixaguana. Gasca granted Gonzalo Pizarro’s valuable estates and mines in Charcas to Hinojosa. He was also appointed corregidor of Charcas, where he was assassinated two years afterwards in a mutiny headed by Sebastian de Castilla.

[508] Before the defeat and death of the viceroy Blasco Nuñez de Vela, near Quito in January 1546, Gonzalo Pizarro had sent his lieutenant Carbajal to reduce the province of Charcas, and put down a revolt headed by Diego Centeno and Lope de Mendoza. Centeno fled, closely pursued by Carbajal, and hid himself in a cave somewhere near Arequipa for eight months. The aged veteran Francisco de Carbajal, having run this fox to earth, then marched into Charcas, and captured Lope de Mendoza and Nicolas de Heredia, both of whom he hung. Carbajal sent the heads of his victims to Arequipa, while he busied himself in collecting silver from the rich mines of Potosi, to supply the needs of his commander.

[509] The ancient Peruvians knew of gold, silver, copper, tin, and quicksilver. They took the silver from mines which were not very deep, abandoning them as soon as the hardness of the ore offered a resistance sufficient to withstand their imperfect tools. They not only knew native silver, but also its chemical combinations, such as the sulphate, antimonial silver, etc. They also knew how to extract the pure metal from these compounds by fusion, or in portable stoves.

[510] The gold mines of Tipuani, to the eastward of the Andes of Bolivia, are the richest in South America. See an account of the method of working them in Bonelli’s _Travels in Bolivia_, i, p. 268.

[511] The licentiate Polo de Ondegardo was appointed corregidor of Charcas by the president Gasca, and subsequently of Cuzco, where he remained for several years. He was the author of two _Relaciones_, or reports to the government, the first addressed to the viceroy Marquis of Cañete in 1561, and the second to the Count of Nieva. They contain an account of the laws, habits, religion, and policy of the Yncas. Unfortunately these valuable documents have never been printed, and Mr. Prescott obtained copies both of them and of the equally important manuscript of Sarmiento from Lord Kingsborough’s collection, through the agency of Mr. Rich. Their publication would be a great boon to the student of ancient South American civilisation. See _Prescott’s Peru_, i, p. 162, etc.

[512] A _castellano_ was worth about £2 12s 6d. of our money.

[513] Acosta says that in his time there were four principal veins of silver on the hill of Potosi, called _La Rica_, _Centeno_, _Estaño_ (tin), and _Mendieta_. They were all on the east side, and ran in a north and south direction. There were many other smaller veins which branch off from these four, and in each vein there were several mines. In _La Rica_ there were seventy-eight mines, which were very deep; and to remedy the evils caused by their great depth, horizontal excavations, called _socabones_, were made in the sides of the hill, and continued until they met the veins. The mines of Potosi were discovered by an Indian named Hualpa, a native of Chumbivilica near Cuzco. He was climbing up a steep part of the hill in chase of deer, and helping his ascent by catching hold of the _queñua_ shrubs (_Polylepis tomentella_, Wedd.) which grow there. One of the shrubs came up by the roots, and disclosed a quantity of native silver, which was the commencement of the vein called _La Rica_. He secretly worked the vein himself for some time, but eventually disclosed the secret to a native of Xauxa, who told his master, a Spaniard of Porco, named Villaroel, and the latter began to work the vein in April 1545. The three other principal veins were discovered between April and August of the same year. People soon flocked from all parts to seek their fortunes at the hill of Potosi. _Acosta_, lib. iv, cap. 6, 7, 8.

[514] _Huayra_ is “wind” or “air” in Quichua.

[515] Acosta tells us that, when he wrote in 1608, most of the silver was extracted from the ore by means of quicksilver. Formerly, however, he says that there were more than six thousand _huayras_ on the sides and summit of the hill of Potosi. “The _huayras_ were small ovens in which the metal was melted, and to see them burning at night with a red heat, and throwing their light to a distance, was a pleasant spectacle. At present if the number of _huayras_ reaches to one thousand or two thousand, it is the outside, because the melting is done on a small scale, nearly all the metal being extracted by quicksilver.” _Acosta_, lib. iv, cap. 9, p. 218.

The hill of Potosi is in 21° 40´ S. lat., and seventeen thousand feet above the level of the sea. The name is said to be derived from the Aymara word _Potocsi_ (“he who makes a noise”), because, when Huayna Ccapac in 1462 ordered search to be made for a silver mine on the hill, a terrible voice cried out from underground that the riches it contained were reserved for other masters. _G. de la Vega._

Zarate says, that in a short time after the discovery of the silver, seven thousand Indians were at work, who had to give two marcs of silver to their masters every week, which they did with such ease, that they retained more silver for themselves than they paid to their employers. _Historia del Peru_, lib. vi, cap. 4.

In 1563 Potosi was constituted a town, and was granted a coat of arms by Philip II; and in 1572 the viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo went in person to this great seat of mining wealth, and established regulations for its government. This viceroy also introduced the use of quicksilver, a mine of which had been discovered at Huancavelica, by a Portuguese named Enrique Garces, in 1566. Toledo also regulated and legalised the atrocious system of _mitas_, or forced labour in the mines. He caused a census to be taken of Indians in Peru, between the ages of eighteen and fifty, the result of which gave a total of 1,677,697 men liable for service, who were divided into 614 _ayllus_ or lineages. Of these he assigned a seventh part of those living in the seventeen nearest provinces, or 11,199 Indians, to work at the mines of Potosi, under certain rules for their protection, which were generally evaded. According to Toledo’s law, each _Mitayo_, or forced labourer, would only have to serve for eighteen months during the thirty-two years that he was liable. They were to receive twenty rials a week, and half a rial for every league of distance between their native village and Potosi. In 1611 there was a population of one hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants in the town of Potosi, of whom seventy-six thousand were Indians, three thousand Spaniards, thirty-five thousand Creoles, forty thousand Europeans, and six thousand Negroes and Mulattoes. The riches accumulated by individuals were enormous, and a man named Sinteros, “the rich,” who died in 1650, was worth twenty million dollars. _Mercurio Peruano._

In 1825 there were about five thousand mouths of mines on the mountain, of which only fifty or sixty were then worked. The upper portion of the mountain, indeed, was so completely honeycombed, that it was considered as nearly worked out. The lower part, about one-third of the cone, was then hardly touched, in consequence of the number of springs which impede the working.

[516] _Yana_, in Quichua, is a “companion,” and also a “servant.” The word also means “black.” _Cuna_ is a particle denoting the plural number. The _Yana-cuna_ were a class of Indians forced to labour as domestic servants, but with the power to choose their masters.

[517] “The domestic animals,” says Padre Blas Valera, “which God has given to these Indians of Peru, are bland and gentle, like their masters, so that a child can lead them where he likes. There are two kinds, one larger than the other. The Indians call the animals _llamas_, and their shepherds _llama-michec_. They are of all colours, like the horses of Spain, when domesticated, but the wild kind, called _huanacus_, have only one colour, which is a washed-out chestnut. The _llama_ stands as high as a deer of Spain, but no animal does it resemble more than a camel without a hump, and a third part of the size. The neck of the _llama_ is long and smooth. The Indians used the skin, softened with grease, as soles for their sandals, but, as they had not the art of tanning, they took them off in crossing brooks or in rainy weather. The Spaniards make very good reins of it for their horses. The skin is also used for girths and cruppers of saddles, and for whips. Besides this, the animals are useful to both Indians and Spaniards as beasts of burden, to carry merchandise whithersoever they list, but they are generally used on the road from Cuzco to Potosi, a distance of near two hundred leagues. They carry three or four _arrobas_” (75 or 100 lbs.) “weight, and only make journeys of three leagues a day. When they are tired they lie down, and nothing will induce them to stir, for if any one tries to force them to rise, they spit in his face. They have no other means of defending themselves, having no horns like a stag. That they may not be easily tired, some forty or fifty unladen animals accompany the drove, that they may take their turn with the burdens. Their flesh is the best in the world; it is tender, wholesome, and savoury. The doctors order the flesh of their lambs of four or five months, for sick persons, in preference to chickens.

“The Yncas possessed enormous flocks of _llamas_ of all colours, and each colour had a special name. The flocks were divided according to their colours, and if a lamb was born of a different colour from its parents, it was passed into the flock of its own colour. The _Quipus_ had knots for each flock, according to the colour, and thus an account of their number was easily kept.

“There is another domestic kind, called _Paco_. The _Pacos_ are not reared for carrying burdens, but for the sake of their flesh, and for their wool, which is excellent and very long. The Indians make very fine cloths of it, dotted with rich colours. The Indians do not use the milk of either of the kinds, nor do they make cheese of it. Indeed, they only have sufficient to nourish their lambs, and the Indians call the milk, the udder, and the act of sucking, by the same word _nuñu_.

“The wild kind was called _huanacu_, and these _huanacus_ are of the same size and form as the llamas. Their flesh is good, though not so good as that of the domesticated llama. The males always remain on lofty heights, while the females come down into the plains to feed, and when the males see any one coming, they bleat like the neighing of a horse, to warn the females, and they gallop away with the females in front. Their wool is short and rough, yet it was also used by the Indians for their cloths. There is another wild kind called _vicuña_, a delicate animal with plenty of fine wool. The _vicuña_ stands higher than a goat, and the colour of its wool is a clear chestnut. They are so fleet that no dog can overtake them, and frequent the loftiest fastnesses near the line of snow.” _G. de la Vega_, i, lib. viii, caps. 16 and 17.

“Among the notable things possessed by the Indians of Peru,” says Acosta, “are the _vicuñas_ and _llamas_. These llamas are tame and very useful; the vicuñas are wild. The vicuñas live in the loftiest and most uninhabited parts of the mountains, which are called _punas_. Snow and frost do not harm them, and they run very swiftly. They are not very prolific, and the Yncas therefore prohibited the hunting of these animals, except on special occasions. Their wool is like silk and very durable, and, as the colour is natural and not a dye, it lasts for ever. Acosta also says that vicuña flesh is excellent for sore eyes.

“The domestic flocks are of two kinds, one small, and called _pacos_, the others with less wool, and useful as beasts of burden, called llamas. The llamas have long necks like those of camels, and this is necessary to enable them to browse, as they stand high on their legs. They are of various colours, some white all over, others black all over, others grey, others black and white, which they call _moro-moro_. For sacrifices the Indians were very particular to select the proper colour, according to the season or occasion. The Indians make cloth from the wool, a coarse sort called _auasca_, and a fine sort called _ccompi_. Of this _ccompi_ they make table cloths, napkins, and other cloths very skilfully worked, which have a lustre like silk. In the time of the Yncas the principal _ccompi_ workers lived at Capachica, near the lake of Titicaca. They use dyes which are gathered from various plants.

“The llamas carry loads weighing from four to six arrobas (100 to 150 lbs.), but do not go further than three, or at the most four leagues a day. They are all fond of a cold climate, and die when they are taken down into the warm valleys. They have a very pleasant look, for they will stop in the road and watch a person very attentively for some time without moving, with their necks raised up, so that it causes laughter to see their serenity; but sometimes they suddenly take fright and run off to inaccessible places with their loads.” _Acosta_, lib. iv, cap. 41, p. 293.

The llama measures, from the sole of the hoof to the top of the head, 4 feet 6 to 8 inches, and from the sole of the hoof to the shoulders 2 feet 11 inches to 3 feet. The female is usually smaller, but her wool is finer and better. The young llamas are left with their dams for about a year. In Acosta’s time (1608) a llama was worth six or seven dollars, and in 1840 about from three to four dollars. The Indians are very fond of these animals. They adorn them by tying bows of ribbon to their ears, and, before loading, they always fondle and caress them affectionately. See _Von Tschudi’s Travels_, pp. 307-14.

The llama is invaluable to the Peruvian Indians, and Cieza de Leon truly says that without this useful animal they could scarcely exist. Their food is llama flesh, which may be preserved for a long time in the form of _charqui_ or smoke-dried meat, their clothing is made from llama wool, all the leather they use is from llama hides, the only fuel they have in many parts of the Collao is llama dung, and, while living, the llama is their beast of burden.

[518] The molle tree (_Schinus Molle_: Lin.) is well known in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, and Mrs. Clements Markham introduced it into the Neilgherry hills in Southern India in 1861. It is the commonest tree in some parts of the Andes, especially in the valleys of Xauxa, Guamanga, Andahuaylas, Abancay, and the Vilcamayu, and in the _campiña_ of Arequipa; where its graceful foliage and bunches of red berries overshadow the roads.

Acosta says that the molle tree possesses rare virtues, and that the Indians make a wine of the small twigs (lib. iv, cap. 30). Garcilasso de la Vega describes it as forming its fruit in large bunches. “The fruits are small round grains like coriander seeds, the leaves are small and always green. When ripe the berry has a slightly sweet taste on the surface, but the rest is very bitter. They make a beverage of the berries by gently rubbing them in the hand, in warm water, until all their sweetness has come out, without any of the bitter. The water is then allowed to stand for three or four days, and it makes a very pleasant and healing drink. When mixed with _chicha_ it improves the flavour. The same water boiled until it is curdled, forms treacle, and when put in the sun it becomes vinegar. The resin of the molle is very efficacious in curing wounds, and for strengthening the gums. The leaves boiled in water also have healing virtues. I remember when the valley of Yucay was adorned with great numbers of these useful trees, and in a few years afterwards there were scarcely any; for they had all been used to make charcoal.” _Comm. Real._, i, lib. viii, cap. 12, p. 280.

The resin of the molle is a substance like mastick, and the Peruvians still use it for strengthening their gums.

[519] The _Collahuayas_, or itinerant native doctors of Peru, still carry about a vast number of herbs and roots, which are supposed to cure all diseases.

[520] Buenaventura.

[521] See p. 26.

[522] The best known hot medicinal springs in Peru are those near Caxamarca (129.7° Fahr.), those at Laris, in the mountains overhanging the valley of the Vilcamayu, and those at Yura, near Arequipa.

Great attention was paid by the Yncas to the formation of their baths, called _armana_ in Quichua. The springs (_puquio_), or hot springs (_ccoñic puquio_), were carefully paved with a mixture of small stones and a species of bitumen, and over them was arranged the figure of an animal, bird, or serpent in marble, basalt, or even gold or silver, which threw water from the mouth, either perpendicularly into the air, when the jet was called _huraca_, or horizontally, when it was called _paccha_. The flowing water was conducted through a pipe of metal or stone into jars of sculptured stone. The baths had small dressing-rooms attached, which were ornamented with statues in stone and metal. _Antiguedades Peruanas_, p. 238.

[523] Wheat was introduced into Peru by a lady named Maria de Escobar, wife of Don Diego de Chaves, a native of Truxillo; and one of those noble knights who raised their voices against the murder of the Ynca Atahualpa. She first sowed it in the valley of the Rimac, but there were so few seeds to begin with, that three years elapsed before any wheaten bread was made.

[524] Garcilasso says he does not know who introduced the barley, but thinks it probable that a few grains may have come with the wheat. _Comm. Real._, i, lib. ix, cap. 24.

[525] Olive trees from Seville were introduced into Peru in 1560, by Don Antonio de Ribera, a citizen of Lima, ten years after Cieza de Leon left the country. Ribera brought more than a hundred young plants out very carefully in two jars, but, as might have been expected, there were only three alive when he reached Lima, and he was very fortunate in preserving any. He planted them in a fruit garden near Lima, and stationed an army consisting of a hundred negroes and thirty dogs, to guard and watch over them night and day. In spite of all this care, one of the three plants was stolen and carried off to Chile, where it yielded many cuttings, which eventually formed flourishing plantations. At the end of three years the same olive tree was secretly planted again in Ribera’s garden, and he was never able to discover who had stolen it, nor who had restored it. There are now several olive plantations in the coast valleys of Peru, especially at Tambo, near Aiequipa, where there are five thousand olive trees and seven mills. _G. de la Vega._

[526] This excellent suggestion, which Cieza de Leon made more than three hundred years ago, has never been adopted by the indolent Peruvians. I am convinced that plantations, not perhaps of oak, but of larch, fir, and birch, might be successfully formed in the more sheltered ravines of the Collao, and of other treeless parts of the Andes, for the supply of timber and fuel. The winters, from May to September, are not nearly so cold as in Scotland, though very dry; and during the rainy season, though it is cold, there is plenty of moisture. The introduction of these plantations would change the whole face of the country, and the introducer would confer an inestimable blessing on the inhabitants.

[527] This nasty animal is called _añas_ in Quichua.

[528] Called _Suri_ in Quichua. (_Rhea Americana_ L.)

[529] The _Huis-cacha_ (_Lagidium Peruvianum_ May) is a large rodent very common in the Andes, and frequenting rocky ridges. It has a long bushy tail. In the morning and evening it creeps out from amongst its rocks to nibble the alpine grass.

[530] One called _chuy_ in Quichua; the other _yutu_.

[531] He here alludes to the turkey buzzards, or _gallinazos_, obscene vultures, which act as scavengers in the streets of Lima and other coast towns, but are unknown in the mountains. The Quichua word for them is _suyuntuy_. _Aura_ is the word used in Mexico.

[532] The ancient Peruvian silversmiths knew how to melt the metal, to cast it in moulds, to solder it, and to hammer it. For melting they used small ovens, with tubes of copper through which the air passed. The moulds were made of a clay mixed with gypsum, and the moulded figures were finished off with a chisel. They hammered out figures on the sides of open vases with wonderful skill, and soldered the parts with great art, after burnishing so that the points of junction can scarcely be discerned. They supplied the place of gilding by fastening very thin leaves of gold or silver to copper, timber, and even stone. They also extracted fine threads from the precious metal, and wove them into cloths. Unfortunately, all their best works were either destroyed by the covetous Spaniards, or concealed by the Indians themselves at the time of the conquest. Zarate mentions four llamas and ten statues of women, of the natural size, of the finest gold, as having been found at Xauxa; and all the ancient writers agree in their accounts of the vast number and great merit of the gold and silver ornaments of the Yncas.

The ancient pottery of Peru is very remarkable. The Indians imitated every quadruped, bird, fish, shell, plant, fruit, besides heads of men and women. All these varied forms were moulded in clay, and the vessels thus made were used as sacred urns to be buried with the dead, or for sacrificial purposes. Those for domestic uses were more simple. The material made use of was coloured clay and blackish earth, and the vessels do not appear to have been burnt, but dried in the sun. Many of these vessels are double, others quadruple, and even octuple, the principal vessel being surrounded by smaller appendages, which communicate with each other and with the principal vessel. When the double ones were filled with water, the air escaped through the opening left for that purpose, and produced sounds, which imitated the voice of the animal represented by the principal vessel. Thus, in a vessel representing a cat, when water is poured in, a sound like mewing is produced, and another gives out a sound like the whistling of a bird, the form of which is moulded on the handle. See some very interesting remarks on ancient Peruvian pottery, in Professor Wilson’s work. _Prehistoric Man_, i, p. 110.

[533] Small beads. See note at page 176.

[534] The Peruvians wove cotton and woollen cloths with great skill, and there are a great number of words connected with weaving in the Quichua language, such as _ahuana_ (loom), _ahuay_ (woof), _comana_ (a wooden batten used in weaving), etc. They also knew the secret of fixing the dyes of all colours--flesh colour, yellow, gray, blue, green, black--so firmly that they never fade after the lapse of ages, and all their dyes were extracted from vegetables. They ornamented their textures by sewing leaves of gold or silver, mother-of-pearl, and feathers on them; and they also made fringes, laces, and tassels of wool and cotton, to adorn carpets and tapestries.

[535] The people included within the empire of Yncas are comprised by D’Orbigny in his Ando-Peruvian race, which he divides into three branches, namely the Peruvian, Antisian, and Araucanian. The Peruvian branch is subdivided by him into four nations, namely the Quichua, Aymara, Atacama, and Chango. This Peruvian branch is characterised by a rich brown olive colour, middling height (1 mètre 597 millimètres), massive form, trunk very long in comparison with the whole height, forehead receding, face large and oval, nose long, very aquiline, and full at the base, mouth large, eyes horizontal, cornea yellowish, ball not jutting out: character serious, thoughtful, and sad. The height of the pure Quichua Indians varies from 4 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 3 inches. Their shoulders are very broad, and square; breast excessively voluminous, and longer than ordinary, so as to increase the length of the trunk. The arms and feet are always small. The head is oblong, forehead slightly receding, but the cranium is nevertheless voluminous, and indicates a well developed brain. The face is generally large, and nearer a circle than an oval. The nose is long and very aquiline, nostrils large and open. The lips are thick and the mouth large, but the teeth are always good. The chin is short but not receding. The cheeks are somewhat high. The eyes are always horizontal, the cornea yellowish, the eyebrows much arched, and the hair black, long, and very straight. They have no beard beyond a few straggling hairs, appearing late in life.

Such were the main characteristics of nearly all the tribes which formed the empire of the Yncas. These tribes were, as mentioned by Cieza de Leon, the Quichuas, Collas or Aymaras, Canas and Canches, Chancas, Huancas, Yuncas, Antis, Chachapuyas, and Cañaris. It is generally found that a vast number of languages exist in a mountainous country, and the Caucasus offers a striking example of this rule; to which the Andes was no exception, for Cieza de Leon assures us that nearly every village originally had a language of its own. But the dominant tribe of the Quichuas, with its civilised rule and astute policy, had gradually superseded all the other dialects by their own language--the richest and most copious to be found in the whole American group of tongues. Thus at the time of the conquest the Quichua was alone spoken throughout the empire of the Yncas, and we now have but few scattered remnants of any other language on the plateaux of the Andes, except the Aymara. The vocabulary of a Chinchay-suyu dialect, spoken in the north of Peru, as given by Torres Rubio, differs little, if at all, from the Quichua, and the same remark applies to the Quito dialect. I am of opinion that the whole of the ancient tribes mentioned above, were essentially members of one and the same race.

D’Orbigny says of the Quichua or Ynca Indians that their character is gentle, hospitable, and obedient. They are good fathers, good husbands, sociable or rather gregarious, always living together in villages, taciturn, patient, and industrious. (_L’Homme Américain_, i, p. 255). I have myself seen much of these interesting people, and have found them to be intelligent, patient, obedient, loving amongst each other, and particularly kind to animals. They are brave and enduring. I was in the dense untrodden forests with four of these Indians for many days, and they proved to be willing, hard working, intelligent, good humoured, efficient, and companionable. Of the higher qualities of this race, their copious language; plaintive songs; superb works of art in gold, silver, stone, and clay; beautiful fabrics; stupendous architecture; enlightened laws; and marvellous civilisation in the days of the Yncas; are sufficient proof.

[536] See p. 82.

[537] The family of Quiñones is still the principal one in Azangaro; and the enlightened and liberal Don Luis Quiñones, late a member of Congress, was my host during my stay in that interesting town.

[538] This is a very curious account of the ceremony at harvest time, in use among the ancient inhabitants of the Collao.

[539] _Umu_ is the correct word for priest in Quichua, and _huillac-umu_ for high priest. _Huaca-camayoc_ was a person having charge of the _huacas_, or tombs and holy places.

[540] This is the Mexican name for turkey buzzards.

[541] All this sounds very like a spirit-rapping and table-turning piece of business.

[542]

“Pues Señor Gobernador
Mirelo bien por entero
Que allá va el Recogedor
Y acá queda el Carnicero.”

The above is Mr. Prescott’s version of these famous lines. Mr. Helps translates them thus:--

“My good lord Governor,
Have pity on our woes;
For here remains the butcher,
To Panama the salesman goes.”

[543] Of the famous thirteen only four ever appear again in the history of the times. These are Pedro de Candia (see note, p. 193); Juan de la Torre (see note, p. 221); Nicholas de Ribera, who is mentioned as having deserted from Gonzalo Pizarro to Gasca, as having been afterwards appointed captain of the guard of the royal seal by the Royal Audience of Lima in 1554, and as having lived quietly on a _repartimiento_ granted to him near Cuzco, and left children to inherit it; and Alonzo de Molina. When Pizarro finally left the desert island, and continued his voyage of discovery, he first touched at Tumbez, on the northern boundary of Peru, and then sailed some distance down the coast. Alonzo de Molina was sent on shore at one place, and, the sea running high, he was left there until the return of the ship. The natives treated him with great kindness, and when Pizarro’s ship came back, three more of the thirteen, Nicolas de Ribera, Francisco de Cuellar, and Pedro Alcon were sent ashore, the latter being very gaily dressed. This Alcon fell madly in love with an Indian lady at first sight, and was so furious at not being allowed to stay behind, that he drew his sword on his own shipmates, and the pilot Ruiz was obliged to knock him down with an oar. He was afterwards kept chained on the lower deck. When Pizarro finally sailed for Panama again, on his way to Spain, Alonzo de Molina was allowed to remain behind at Tumbez until the Spaniards should come back, the Indians promising to use him well. But he died before Pizarro returned, and the Indians gave various conflicting accounts of the manner of his death. _Herrera_, dec. iii, lib. iii, cap. 3, and lib. iv, cap. 1.

The most authentic and only complete list of the thirteen is given by Prescott, from a manuscript copy of “the Capitulation made by Pizarro with Queen Juana on July 26th, 1529,” which he obtained from Navarrete. The original is at Seville. In this document all those, among the thirteen, who were not already hidalgos, were created so.

Gomara gives the names of two, the pilot Ruiz, and Pedro de Candia. Zarate adds seven more, one of whom is not in the “Capitulation.” Garcilasso de la Vega copies from Zarate, but adds that there were two whose names were Ribera, and that he knew them both afterwards. There is only one in the “Capitulation.”

The list in the “Capitulation,” supplied by Pizarro himself, must of course have been the correct one: it is as follows:--

Bartolome Ruiz (the pilot).
Cristoval de Peralta.
Pedro de Candia.
Domingo de Soria Luce.
Nicolas de Ribera.
Francisco de Cuellar.
Alonzo de Molina.
Pedro Alcon.
Garcia de Jerez.
Anton de Carrion.
Alonzo Briceño.
Martin de Paz.
Juan de la Torre.

The name added by Zarate is that of Alonzo de Truxillo; but he may have been one of the two Alonzos of the “Capitulation;” Zarate giving his birth place of Truxillo, instead of his surname. Garcia de Jerez (or de Jaren), another of the thirteen, seems to have given evidence before a judge respecting this transaction in 1529, which has been preserved (_Doc. Ined._, tom. 26, p. 260), and is quoted by Mr. Helps (iii, p. 446, _note_). He says:--“Pizarro being in the island of Gallo, the governor Rios sent for the men who were with the said captain, allowing any one who should wish to prosecute the enterprise to remain with him.”

This story respecting Pizarro, who, when his people were suffering from the extremities of famine and hardship, and when a ship had arrived to take them back to Panama, drew a line, and called upon those who preferred toil and hunger to ease and pleasure, to cross it and remain with him, is certainly one of the most heart-stirring in the history of Spanish conquest in America. Robertson gives the story on the authority of Herrera, Zarate, Xerez, and Gomara. Prescott adds the speech imputed to Pizarro, from Montesinos, a very unreliable source; and Helps gives the account according to Herrera’s version, which no doubt is very near the truth. The conduct of these thirteen brave men shows the spirit which animated the Spaniards of that age, and the dauntless act itself, in its simple grandeur, certainly derives no additional glory from the melodramatic speeches which have been put into Pizarro’s mouth by later chroniclers.

[544] See note at page 47.

[545] See page 79 and note.

[546] See page 110, note.

[547] See note at page 300.

[548] This warlike prelate was in the battle of Huarina, fighting on the side of Centeno, and narrowly escaped with his life; for if grim old Carbajal had caught him, he would assuredly have been hanged. Solano succeeded Valverde in the bishopric of Cuzco in 1545, and died in 1562.

[549] Guamanga was detached from Cuzco, and erected into a separate bishopric by a Bull of Pope Paul V, dated July 20th, 1609. The first bishop was installed in 1615; since which time there have been twenty-five bishops of Guamanga.

[550] See note at page 227.

[551] Plata (Chuquisaca), Truxillo, and Chachapoyas afterwards became the seats of distinct bishoprics.

[552] Previously viceroy of Mexico. He died at Lima in 1555. He was a son of Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, second Count of Tendilla and Marquis of Mondejar, who was ambassador to Rome in the time of Innocent VIII.

[553] The church of La Merced in Cuzco has a cloister, which is the finest specimen of architecture in Peru dating from Spanish times, and, I should think, in all South America. Here the Almagros, father and son, and Gonzalo Pizarro were buried.

[554] All the monasteries in Guamanga have been suppressed.

[555] This is by far the largest monastery in Lima.

[556] The tower of San Domingo is the loftiest in Lima, being 180 feet high. The church contains a rich silver-cased altar to Santa Rosa, the patron saint of Lima.

* * * * *

Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

disappoined courtiers=> disappointed courtiers {pg ii}

Descubrimiento de la Neuva Granada=> Descubrimiento de la Nueva Granada {pg vii fn 7}

palms of the _Pixiuaes_=> palms of the _Pixiuares_ {pg 73}

The porvince round Popayan=> The province round Popayan {pg 118}

sumptuous buildings of Cavangue=> sumptuous buildings of Carangue {pg 133}

which, in our languege=> which, in our language {pg 133}

between the two camps at early down=> between the two camps at early dawn {pg 158 fn 284}

marquis Don Fracisco Pizarro=> marquis Don Francisco Pizarro {pg 186}

of this punisnment=> of this punishment {pg 190}

were there are vast territories=> where there are vast territories {pg 204}

during most part of the year=> during most parts of the year {pg 303}

who try to foretel=> who try to foretell {pg 312}

The Indians of Andehuaylas=> The Indians of Andahuaylas {pg 317 fn 438}

Many deep excations have been made=> Many deep excavations have been made {pg 324}

about two feet by one a-half=> about two feet by one and a-half {pg 328 fn 454}

got much gold from Paccari-tambo=> got much gold from Paccari-tambu {pg 335}

To the _paráná-merím_ of Sapiá.=> To the _paraná-merím_ of Sapiá. {pg 344}

Toledo (Garcia Gutierrèz do), discovery of treasure by, 243 _note_=> Toledo (Garcia Gutierrez de), discovery of treasure by, 243 _note_ {pg 437}