History of the Conquest of Peru
 With a Preliminary View of the Civilization of the Incas

(See also #1209, a slightly different version w/o footnotes)

The Conquest Of Peru

by

William H. Prescott

"Congestae cumulantur opes, orbisque rapinas Accipit."

Claudian, In Ruf., lib. i., v. 194.

"So color de religion

Van a buscar plata y oro

Del encubierto tesoro."

Lope De Vega, El Nuevo Mundo, Jorn. 1.

Preface

The most brilliant passages in the history of Spanish adventure

in the New World are undoubtedly afforded by the conquests of

Mexico and Peru, - the two states which combined with the largest

extent of empire a refined social polity, and considerable

progress in the arts of civilization. Indeed, so prominently do

they stand out on the great canvas of history, that the name of

the one, notwithstanding the contrast they exhibit in their

respective institutions, most naturally suggests that of the

other; and, when I sent to Spain to collect materials for an

account of the Conquest of Mexico, I included in my researches

those relating to the Conquest of Peru.

The larger part of the documents, in both cases, was obtained

from the same great repository, - the archives of the Royal

Academy of History at Madrid; a body specially intrusted with the

preservation of whatever may serve to illustrate the Spanish

colonial annals. The richest portion of its collection is

probably that furnished by the papers of Munoz. This eminent

scholar, the historiographer of the Indies, employed nearly fifty

years of his life in amassing materials for a history of Spanish

discovery and conquest in America. For this, as he acted under

the authority of the government, every facility was afforded him;

and public offices and private depositories, in all the principal

cities of the empire, both at home and throughout the wide extent

of its colonial possessions, were freely opened to his

inspection. The result was a magnificent collection of

manuscripts, many of which he patiently transcribed with his own

hand. But he did not live to reap the fruits of his persevering

industry. The first volume, relative to the voyages of Columbus,

was scarcely finished when he died; and his manuscripts, at least

that portion of them which have reference to Mexico and Peru,

were destined to serve the uses of another, an inhabitant of that

New World to which they related.

Another scholar, to whose literary stores I am largely indebted,

is Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, late Director of the Royal

Academy of History. Through the greater part of his long life he

was employed in assembling original documents to illustrate the

colonial annals. Many of these have been incorporated in his

great work, "Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos," which,

although far from being completed after the original plan of its

author, is of inestimable service to the historian. In following

down the track of discovery, Navarrete turned aside from the

conquests of Mexico and Peru, to exhibit the voyages of his

countrymen in the Indian seas. His manuscripts, relating to the

two former countries, he courteously allowed to be copied for me.

Some of them have since appeared in print, under the auspices of

his learned coadjutors, Salva and Baranda, associated with him in

the Academy; but the documents placed in my hands form a most

important contribution to my materials for the present history.

The death of this illustrious man, which occurred some time after

the present work was begun, has left a void in his country not

easy to be filled; for he was zealously devoted to letters, and

few have done more to extend the knowledge of her colonial

history. Far from an exclusive solicitude for his own literary

projects, he was ever ready to extend his sympathy and assistance

to those of others. His reputation as a scholar was enhanced by

the higher qualities which he possessed as a man, - by his

benevolence, his simplicity of manners, and unsullied moral

worth. My own obligations to him are large; for from the

publication of my first historical work, down to the last week of

his life, I have constantly received proofs from him of his

hearty and most efficient interest in the prosecution of my

historical labors; and I now the more willingly pay this

well-merited tribute to his deserts, that it must be exempt from

all suspicion of flattery.

In the list of those to whom I have been indebted for materials,

I must, also, include the name of M. Ternaux-Compans, so well

known by his faithful and elegant French versions of the Munoz

manuscripts; and that of my friend Don Pascual de Gayangos, who,

under the modest dress of translation, has furnished a most acute

and learned commentary on Spanish-Arabian history, - securing for

himself the foremost rank in that difficult department of

letters, which has been illumined by the labors of a Masdeu, a

Casiri, and a Conde.

To the materials derived from these sources, I have added some

manuscripts of an important character from the library of the

Escurial. These, which chiefly relate to the ancient institutions

of Peru, formed part of the splendid collection of Lord

Kingsborough, which has unfortunately shared the lot of most

literary collections, and been dispersed, since the death of its

noble author. For these I am indebted to that industrious

bibliographer, Mr. O. Rich, now resident in London. Lastly, I

must not omit to mention my obligations, in another way, to my

friend Charles Folsom, Esq., the learned librarian of the Boston

Athenaeum; whose minute acquaintance with the grammatical

structure and the true idiom of our English tongue has enabled me

to correct many inaccuracies into which I had fallen in the

composition both of this and of my former works.

From these different sources I have accumulated a large amount of

manuscripts, of the most various character, and from the most

authentic sources; royal grants and ordinances, instructions of

the Court, letters of the Emperor to the great colonial officers,

municipal records, personal diaries and memoranda, and a mass of

private correspondence of the principal actors in this turbulent

drama. Perhaps it was the turbulent state of the country which

led to a more frequent correspondence between the government at

home and the colonial officers. But, whatever be the cause, the

collection of manuscript materials in reference to Peru is fuller

and more complete than that which relates to Mexico; so that

there is scarcely a nook or corner so obscure, in the path of the

adventurer, that some light has not been thrown on it by the

written correspondence of the period. The historian has rather

had occasion to complain of the embarras des richesses; for, in

the multiplicity of contradictory testimony, it is not always

easy to detect the truth, as the multiplicity of cross-lights is

apt to dazzle and bewilder the eye of the spectator.

The present History has been conducted on the same general plan

with that of the Conquest of Mexico. In an Introductory Book, I

have endeavoured to portray the institutions of the Incas, that

the reader may be acquainted with the character and condition of

that extraordinary race, before he enters on the story of their

subjugation. The remaining books are occupied with the narrative

of the Conquest. And here, the subject, it must be allowed,

notwithstanding the opportunities it presents for the display of

character, strange, romantic incident, and picturesque scenery,

does not afford so obvious advantages to the historian as the

Conquest of Mexico. Indeed, few subjects can present a parallel

with that, for the purposes either of the historian or the poet.

The natural development of the story, there, is precisely what

would be prescribed by the severest rules of art. The conquest

of the country is the great end always in the view of the reader.

From the first landing of the Spaniards on the soil, their

subsequent adventures, their battles and negotiations, their

ruinous retreat, their rally and final siege, all tend to this

grand result, till the long series is closed by the downfall of

the capital. In the march of events, all moves steadily forward

to this consummation. It is a magnificent epic, in which the

unity of interest is complete.

In the "Conquest of Peru," the action, so far as it is founded on

the subversion of the Incas, terminates long before the close of

the narrative. The remaining portion is taken up with the fierce

feuds of the Conquerors, which would seem, from their very

nature, to be incapable of being gathered round a central point

of interest. To secure this, we must look beyond the immediate

overthrow of the Indian empire. The conquest of the natives is

but the first step, to be followed by the conquest of the

Spaniards, - the rebel Spaniards, themselves, - till the

supremacy of the Crown is permanently established over the

country. It is not till this period, that the acquisition of

this Transatlantic empire can be said to be completed; and, by

fixing the eye on this remoter point, the successive steps of the

narrative will be found leading to one great result, and that

unity of interest preserved which is scarcely less essential to

historic than dramatic composition. How far this has been

effected, in the present work, must be left to the judgment of

the reader.

No history of the conquest of Peru, founded on original

documents, and aspiring to the credit of a classic composition,

like the "Conquest of Mexico" by Solis, has been attempted, as

far as I am aware, by the Spaniards. The English possess one of

high value, from the pen of Robertson, whose masterly sketch

occupies its due space in his great work on America. It has been

my object to exhibit this same story, in all its romantic

details; not merely to portray the characteristic features of the

Conquest, but to fill up the outline with the coloring of life,

so as to present a minute and faithful picture of the times. For

this purpose, have, in the composition of the work, availed

myself freely of my manuscript materials, allowed the actors to

speak as much as possible for themselves, and especially made

frequent use of their letters; for nowhere is the heart more

likely to disclose itself, than in the freedom of private

correspondence. I have made liberal extracts from these

authorities in the notes, both to sustain the text, and to put in

a printed form those productions of the eminent captains and

statesmen of the time, which are not very accessible to Spaniards

themselves.

M. Amedee Pichot, in the Preface to the French translation of the

"Conquest of Mexico," infers from the plan of the composition,

that I must have carefully studied the writings of his

countryman, M. de Barante. The acute critic does me but justice

in supposing me familiar with the principles of that writer's

historical theory, so ably developed in the Preface to his "Ducs

de Bourgogne." And I have had occasion to admire the skillful

manner in which he illustrates this theory himself, by

constructing out of the rude materials of a distant time a

monument of genius that transports us at once into the midst of

the Feudal Ages, - and this without the incongruity which usually

attaches to a modern-antique. In like manner I have attempted to

seize the characteristic expression of a distant age, and to

exhibit it in the freshness of life. But in an essential

particular, I have deviated from the plan of the French

historian. I have suffered the scaffolding to remain after the

building has been completed. In other words, I have shown to the

reader the steps of the process by which I have come to my

conclusions. Instead of requiring him to take my version of the

story on trust, I have endeavoured to give him a reason for my

faith. By copious citations from the original authorities, and

by such critical notices of them as would explain to him the

influences to which they were subjected, I have endeavoured to

put him in a position for judging for himself, and thus for

revising, and, if need be reversing, the judgments of the

historian. He will, at any rate, by this means, be enabled to

estimate the difficulty of arriving at truth amidst the conflict

of testimony; and he will learn to place little reliance on those

writers who pronounce on the mysterious past with what Fontenelle

calls "a frightful degree of certainty," - a spirit the most

opposite to that of the true philosophy of history.

Yet it must be admitted, that the chronicler who records the

events of an earlier age has some obvious advantages in the store

of manuscript materials at his command, - the statements of

friends, rivals, and enemies, furnishing a wholesome counterpoise

to each other; and also, in the general course of events, as they

actually occurred, affording the best commentary on the true

motives of the parties. The actor, engaged in the heat of the

strife, finds his view bounded by the circle around him, and his

vision blinded by the smoke and dust of the conflict; while the

spectator, whose eyes ranges over the ground from a more distant

and elevated point, though the individual objects may lose

somewhat of their vividness, takes in at a glance all the

operations of the field. Paradoxical as it may appear, truth

founded on contemporary testimony would seem, after all, as

likely to be attained by the writer of a later day, as by

contemporaries themselves.

Before closing these remarks, I may be permitted to add a few of

a personal nature. In several foreign notices of my writings,

the author has been said to be blind; and more than once I have

had the credit of having lost my sight in the composition of my

first history. When I have met with such erroneous accounts, I

have hastened to correct them. But the present occasion affords

me the best means of doing so; and I am the more desirous of

this, as I fear some of my own remarks, in the Prefaces to my

former histories, have led to the mistake.

While at the University, I received an injury in one of my eyes,

which deprived me of the sight of it. The other, soon after, was

attacked by inflammation so severely, that, for some time, I lost

the sight of that also; and though it was subsequently restored,

the organ was so much disordered as to remain permanently

debilitated, while twice in my life, since, I have been deprived

of the use of it for all purposes of reading and writing, for

several years together. It was during one of these periods that

I received from Madrid the materials for the "History of

Ferdinand and Isabella," and in my disabled condition, with my

Transatlantic treasures lying around me, I was like one pining

from hunger in the midst of abundance. In this state, I resolved

to make the ear, if possible, do the work of the eye. I procured

the services of a secretary, who read to me the various

authorities; and in time I became so far familiar with the sounds

of the different foreign languages (to some of which indeed, I

had been previously accustomed by a residence abroad), that I

could comprehend his reading without much difficulty. As the

reader proceeded, I dictated copious notes; and, when these had

swelled to a considerable amount, they were read to me

repeatedly, till I had mastered their contents sufficiently for

the purposes of composition. The same notes furnished an easy

means of reference to sustain the text.

Still another difficulty occurred, in the mechanical labor of

writing, which I found a severe trial to the eye. This was

remedied by means of a writing-case, such as is used by the

blind, which enabled me to commit my thoughts to paper without

the aid of sight, serving me equally well in the dark as in the

light. The characters thus formed made a near approach to

hieroglyphics; but my secretary became expert in the art of

deciphering, and a fair copy - with a liberal allowance for

unavoidable blunders - was transcribed for the use of the

printer. I have described the process with more minuteness, as

some curiosity has been repeatedly expressed in reference to my

modus operandi under my privations, and the knowledge of it may

be of some assistance to others in similar circumstances.

Though I was encouraged by the sensible progress of my work, it

was necessarily slow. But in time the tendency to inflammation

diminished, and the strength of the eye was confirmed more and

more. It was at length so far restored, that I could read for

several hours of the day, though my labors in this way

necessarily terminated with the daylight. Nor could I ever

dispense with the services of a secretary, or with the

writing-case, for, contrary to the usual experience, I have found

writing a severer trial to the eye than reading, - a remark,

however, which does not apply to the reading of manuscript; and

to enable myself, therefore, to revise my composition more

carefully, I caused a copy of the "History of Ferdinand and

Isabella" to be printed for of my own inspection, before it was

sent to the press for the publication. Such as I have described

the preparation of the "Conquest of Mexico"; and, satisfied with

being raised so nearly to a level with the rest of my species, I

scarcely envied the superior good fortune of those who could

prolong their studies into the evening, and the later hours of

the night.

But a change has again taken place during the last two years.

The sight of my eye has become gradually dimmed, while the

sensibility of the nerve has been so far increased, that for

several weeks of the last year I have not opened a volume, and

through the whole time I have not had the use of it, on an

average, for more than an hour a day. Nor can I cheer myself

with the delusive expectation, that, impaired as the organ has

become, from having been tasked, probably, beyond its strength,

it can ever renew its youth, or be of much service to me

hereafter in my literary researches. Whether I shall have the

heart to enter, as I had proposed, on a new and more extensive

field of historical labor, with these impediments, I cannot say.

Perhaps long habit, and a natural desire to follow up the career

which I have so long pursued, may make this, in a manner,

necessary, as my past experience has already proved that it is

practicable.

From this statement - too long, I fear, for his patience - the

reader, who feels any curiosity about the matter, will understand

the real extent of my embarrassments in my historical pursuits.

That they have not been very light will be readily admitted, when

it is considered that I have had but a limited use of my eye, in

its best state, and that much of the time I have been debarred

from the use of it altogether. Yet the difficulties I have had

to contend with a very far inferior to those which fall to the

lot of a blind man. I know of no historian, now alive, who can

claim the glory of having overcome such obstacles, but the author

of "La Conquete de l'Angleterre par les Normands" who, to use his

own touching and beautiful language, "has made himself the friend

of darkness"; and who, to a profound philosophy that requires no

light but that from within, unites a capacity for extensive and

various research, that might well demand the severest application

of the student.

The remarks into which I have been led at such length will, I

trust, not be set down by the reader to an unworthy egotism, but

to their true source, a desire to correct a misapprehension to

which I may have unintentionally given rise myself, and which has

gained me the credit with some - far from grateful to my

feelings, since undeserved - of having surmounted the

incalculable obstacles which lie in the path of the blind man.

Boston, April 2 1847

Chapter I

Physical Aspect Of The Country. - Sources Of Peruvian

Civilization. - Empire Of The Incas. - Royal Family. - Nobility.

Of the numerous nations which occupied the great American

continent at the time of its discovery by the Europeans, the two

most advanced in power and refinement were undoubtedly those of

Mexico and Peru. But, though resembling one another in extent of

civilization, they differed widely as to the nature of it; and

the philosophical student of his species may feel a natural

curiosity to trace the different steps by which these two nations

strove to emerge from the state of barbarism, and place

themselves on a higher point in the scale of humanity. - In a

former work I have endeavoured to exhibit the institutions and

character of the ancient Mexicans, and the story of their

conquest by the Spaniards. The present will be devoted to the

Peruvians; and, if their history shall be found to present less

strange anomalies and striking contrasts than that of the Aztecs,

it may interest us quite as much by the pleasing picture it

offers of a well-regulated government and sober habits of

industry under the patriarchal sway of the Incas.

The empire of Peru, at the period of the Spanish invasion,

stretched along the Pacific from about the second degree north to

the thirty-seventh degree of south latitude; a line, also, which

describes the western boundaries of the modern republics of

Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili. Its breadth cannot so easily

be determined; for, though bounded everywhere by the great ocean

on the west, towards the east it spread out, in many parts,

considerably beyond the mountains, to the confines of barbarous

states, whose exact position is undetermined, or whose names are

effaced from the map of history. It is certain, however, that its

breadth was altogether disproportioned to its length. *1

[Footnote 1: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 65. - Cieza de Leon,

Cronica del Peru, (Anvers, 1554,) cap. 41. - Garcilasso de la

Vega, Commentarios Reales, (Lisboa, 1609,) Parte 1, lib. 1, cap.

8.

According to the last authority, the empire, in its greatest

breadth, did not exceed one hundred and twenty leagues. But

Garcilasso's geography will not bear criticism.]

The topographical aspect of the country is very remarkable. A

strip of land, rarely exceeding twenty leagues in width, runs

along the coast, and is hemmed in through its whole extent by a

colossal range of mountains, which, advancing from the Straits of

Magellan, reaches its highest elevation - indeed, the highest on

the American continent - about the seventeenth degree south, *2

and, after crossing the line, gradually subsides into hills of

inconsiderable magnitude, as it enters the Isthmus of Panama.

This is the famous Cordillera of the Andes, or "copper

mountains," *3 as termed by the natives, though they might with

more reason have been called "mountains of gold." Arranged

sometimes in a single line, though more frequently in two or

three lines running parallel or obliquely to each other, they

seem to the voyager on the ocean but one continuous chain; while

the huge volcanoes, which to the inhabitants of the table-land

look like solitary and independent masses, appear to him only

like so many peaks of the same vast and magnificent range. So

immense is the scale on which Nature works in these regions, that

it is only when viewed from a great distance, that the spectator

can, in any degree, comprehend the relation of the several parts

to the stupendous whole. Few of the works of Nature, indeed, are

calculated to produce impressions of higher sublimity than the

aspect of this coast, as it is gradually unfolded to the eye of

the mariner sailing on the distant waters of the Pacific; where

mountain is seen to rise above mountain, and Chimborazo, with its

glorious canopy of snow, glittering far above the clouds, crowns

the whole as with a celestial diadem. *4

[Footnote 2: According to Malte-Brun, it is under the equator

that we meet with the loftiest summits of this chain. (Universal

Geography, Eng. trans., book 86.) But more recent measurements

have shown this to be between fifteen and seventeen degrees

south, where the Nevado de Sorata rises to the enormous height of

25,250 feet, and the Illimani to 24,300.]

[Footnote 3: At least, the word anta, which has been thought to

furnish the etymology of Andes, in the Peruvian tongue, signified

"copper." Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 15.]

[Footnote 4: Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres et Monumens des

Peuples Indigenes de l'Amerique, (Paris, 1810,) p. 106. -

Malte-Brun, book 88.

The few brief sketches which M. de Humboldt has given of the

scenery of the Cordilleras, showing the hand of a great painter,

as well as of a philosopher, make us regret the more, that he has

not given the results of his observations in this interesting

region as minutely as he has done in respect to Mexico.]

The face of the country would appear to be peculiarly unfavorable

to the purposes both of agriculture and of internal

communication. The sandy strip along the coast, where rain

rarely falls, is fed only by a few scanty streams, that furnish a

remarkable contrast to the vast volumes of water which roll down

the eastern sides of the Cordilleras into the Atlantic. The

precipitous steeps of the sierra, with its splintered sides of

porphyry and granite, and its higher regions wrapped in snows

that never melt under the fierce sun of the equator, unless it be

from the desolating action of its own volcanic fires, might seem

equally unpropitious to the labors of the husbandman. And all

communication between the parts of the long-extended territory

might be thought to be precluded by the savage character of the

region, broken up by precipices, furious torrents, and impassable

quebradas, - those hideous rents in the mountain chain, whose

depths the eye of the terrified traveler, as he winds along his

aerial pathway, vainly endeavours to fathom. *5 Yet the industry,

we might almost say, the genius, of the Indian was sufficient to

overcome all these impediments of Nature.

[Footnote 5: "These crevices are so deep," says M. de Humboldt,

with his usual vivacity of illustration, "that if Vesuvius or the

Puy de Dome were seated in the bottom of them, they would not

rise above the level of the ridges of the neighbouring sierra"

Vues des Cordilleres, p. 9.]

By a judicious system of canals and subterraneous aqueducts, the

waste places on the coast were refreshed by copious streams, that

clothed them in fertility and beauty. Terraces were raised upon

the steep sides of the Cordillera; and, as the different

elevations had the effect of difference of latitude, they

exhibited in regular gradation every variety of vegetable form,

from the stimulated growth of the tropics, to the temperate

products of a northern clime; while flocks of llamas - the

Peruvian sheep - wandered with their shepherds over the broad,

snow-covered wastes on the crests of the sierra, which rose

beyond the limits of cultivation. An industrious population

settled along the lofty regions of the plateaus, and towns and

hamlets, clustering amidst orchards and wide-spreading gardens,

seemed suspended in the air far above the ordinary elevation of

the clouds. *6 Intercourse was maintained between these numerous

settlements by means of the great roads which traversed the

mountain passes, and opened an easy communication between the

capital and the remotest extremities of the empire.

[Footnote 6: The plains of Quito are at the height of between

nine and ten thousand feet above the sea. (See Condamine,

Journal d'un Voyage a l'Equateur, (Paris, 1751,) p. 48.) Other

valleys or plateaus in this vast group of mountains reach a still

higher elevation.]

The source of this civilization is traced to the valley of Cuzco,

the central region of Peru, as its name implies. *7 The origin of

the Peruvian empire, like the origin of all nations, except the

very few which, like our own, have had the good fortune to date

from a civilized period and people, is lost in the mists of

fable, which, in fact, have settled as darkly round its history

as round that of any nation, ancient or modern, in the Old World.

According to the tradition most familiar to the European scholar,

the time was, when the ancient races of the continent were all

plunged in deplorable barbarism; when they worshipped nearly

every object in nature indiscriminately; made war their pastime,

and feasted on the flesh of their slaughtered captives. The Sun,

the great luminary and parent of mankind, taking compassion on

their degraded condition, sent two of his children, Manco Capac

and Mama Oello Huaco, to gather the natives into communities, and

teach them the arts of civilized life. The celestial pair,

brother and sister, husband and wife, advanced along the high

plains in the neighbourhood of Lake Titicaca, to about the

sixteenth degree south. They bore with them a golden wedge, and

were directed to take up their residence on the spot where the

sacred emblem should without effort sink into the ground. They

proceeded accordingly but a short distance, as far as the valley

of Cuzco, the spot indicated by the performance of the miracle,

since there the wedge speedily sank into the earth and

disappeared for ever. Here the children of the Sun established

their residence, and soon entered upon their beneficent mission

among the rude inhabitants of the country; Manco Capac teaching

the men the arts of agriculture, and Mama Oello *8 initiating her

own sex in the mysteries of weaving and spinning. The simple

people lent a willing ear to the messengers of Heaven, and,

gathering together in considerable numbers, laid the foundations

of the city of Cuzco. The same wise and benevolent maxims, which

regulated the conduct of the first Incas, *9 descended to their

successors, and under their mild sceptre a community gradually

extended itself along the broad surface of the table-land, which

asserted its superiority over the surrounding tribes. Such is

the pleasing picture of the origin of the Peruvian monarchy, as

portrayed by Garcilasso de la Vega, the descendant of the Incas,

and through him made familiar to the European reader. *10

[Footnote 7: "Cuzco, in the language of the Incas," says

Garcilasso, "signifies navel." Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 1, cap.

18.]

[Footnote 8: Mama, with the Peruvians, signified "mother."

(Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 1.) The identity

of this term with that used by Europeans is a curious

coincidence. It is scarcely less so, however, than that of the

corresponding word, papa, which with the ancient Mexicans denoted

a priest of high rank; reminding us of the papa, "pope," of the

Italians. With both, the term seems to embrace in its most

comprehensive sense the paternal relation, in which it is more

familiarly employed by most of the nations of Europe. Nor was

the use of it limited to modern times, being applied in the same

way both by Greeks and Romans.]

[Footnote 9: Inca signified king or lord. Capac meant great or

powerful. It was applied to several of the successors of Manco,

in the same manner as the epithet Yupanqui, signifying rich in

all virtues, was added to the names of several Incas. (Cieza de

Leon, Cronica, cap. 41. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib.

2, cap. 17.) The good qualities commemorated by the cognomens of

most of the Peruvian princes afford an honorable, though not

altogether unsuspicious, tribute to the excellence of their

characters.]

[Footnote 10: Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 9 - 16.]

But this tradition is only one of several current among the

Peruvian Indians, and probably not the one most generally

received. Another legend speaks of certain white and bearded

men, who, advancing from the shores of lake Titicaca, established

an ascendency over the natives, and imparted to them the

blessings of civilization. It may remind us of the tradition

existing among the Aztecs in respect to Quetzalcoatl, the good

deity, who with a similar garb and aspect came up the great

plateau from the east on a like benevolent mission to the

natives. The analogy is the more remarkable, as there is no

trace of any communication with, or even knowledge of, each other

to be found in the two nations. *11

[Footnote 11: These several traditions, all of a very puerile

character, are to be found in Ondegardo, Relacion Segunda, Ms., -

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 1, - Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap.

105, - Conquista i Poblacion del Piru, Ms., - Declaracion de los

Presidente e Oydores de la Audiencia Reale del Peru, Ms., - all

of them authorities contemporary with the Conquest. The story of

the bearded white men finds its place in most of their legends.]

The date usually assigned for these extraordinary events was

about four hundred years before the coming of the Spaniards, or

early in the twelfth century. *12 But, however pleasing to the

imagination, and however popular, the legend of Manco Capac, it

requires but little reflection to show its improbability, even

when divested of supernatural accompaniments. On the shores of

Lake Titicaca extensive ruins exist at the present day, which the

Peruvians themselves acknowledge to be of older date than the

pretended advent of the Incas, and to have furnished them with

the models of their architecture. *13 The date of their

appearance, indeed, is manifestly irreconcilable with their

subsequent history. No account assigns to the Inca dynasty more

than thirteen princes before the Conquest. But this number is

altogether too small to have spread over four hundred years, and

would not carry back the foundations of the monarchy, on any

probable computation beyond two centuries and a half, - an

antiquity not incredible in itself, and which, it may be

remarked, does not precede by more than half a century the

alleged foundation of the capital of Mexico. The fiction of

Manco Capac and his sister-wife was devised, no doubt, at a later

period, to gratify the vanity of the Peruvian monarchs, and to

give additional sanction to their authority by deriving it from a

celestial origin.

[Footnote 12: Some writers carry back the date 500, or even 550,

years before the Spanish invasion. (Balboa, Histoire du Perou,

chap. 1. - Velasco, Histoire du Royaume de Quito, tom. I. p. 81.

- Ambo auct. ap. Relations et Memoires Originaux pour servir a

l'Histoire de la Decouverte de l'Amerique, par Ternaux-Compans,

(Paris, 1840.)) In the Report of the Royal Audience of Peru, the

epoch is more modestly fixed at 200 years before the Conquest.

Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.]

[Footnote 13: "Otras cosas ay mas que dezir deste Tiaguanaco, que

passo por no detenerme: concluyedo que yo para mi tengo esta

antigualla por la mas antigua de todo el Peru. Y assi se tiene

que antes q los Ingas reynassen con muchos tiempos estavan hechos

algunos edificios destos: porque yo he oydo afirmar a Indios, que

los Ingas hizieron los edificios grandes del Cuzco por la forma

que vieron tener la muralla o pared que se vee en este pueblo."

(Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 105.) See also Garcilasso, (Com.

Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 1,) who gives an account of these

remains, on the authority of a Spanish ecclesiastic, which might

compare, for the marvellous, with any of the legends of his

order. Other ruins of similar traditional antiquity are noticed

by Herrera, (Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en

las Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano, (Madrid, 1730,) dec. 6,

lib. 6, cap. 9.) McCulloch, in some sensible reflections on the

origin of the Peruvian civilization, adduces, on the authority of

Garcilasso de la Vega, the famous temple of Pachacamac, not far

from Lima, as an example of architecture more ancient than that

of the Incas. (Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian,

concerning the Aboriginal History of America, (Baltimore, 1829,)

p. 405.) This, if true, would do much to confirm the views in our

text. But McCulloh is led into an error by his blind guide,

Rycaut, the translator of Garcilasso, for the latter does not

speak of the temple as existing before the time of the Incas, but

before the time when the country was conquered by the Incas.

Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 30.]

We may reasonably conclude that there existed in the country a

race advanced in civilization before the time of the Incas; and,

in conformity with nearly every tradition, we may derive this

race from the neighborhood of Lake Titicaca; *14 a conclusion

strongly confirmed by the imposing architectural remains which

still endure, after the lapse of so many years, on its borders.

Who this race were, and whence they came, may afford a tempting

theme for inquiry to the speculative antiquarian. But it is a

land of darkness that lies far beyond the domain of history. *15

[See Antiquities: Artistic handicrafts of the ancient people of

Peru]

[Footnote 14: Among other authorities for this tradition, see

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 3, 4, - Herrera, Hist. General,

dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 6, - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms., - Zarate,

Historia del Descubrimiento y de la Conquista del Peru, lib. 1,

cap. 10, ap. Barcia, Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias

Occidentales, (Madrid, 1749,) tom. 3.

In most, not all, of the traditions, Manco Capac is recognized as

the name of the founder of the Peruvian monarchy, though his

history and character are related with sufficient discrepancy.]

[Footnote 15: Mr. Ranking,

"Who can deep mysteries unriddle,

As easily as thread a needle,"

finds it "highly probable that the first Inca of Peru was a son

of the Grand Khan Kublai"! (Historical Researches on the

Conquest of Peru, &c., by the Moguls, (London, 1827,) p. 170.)

The coincidences are curious, though we shall hardly jump at the

conclusion of the adventurous author. Every scholar will agree

with Humboldt, in the wish that "some learned traveller would

visit the borders of the lake of Titicaca, the district of

Callao, and the high plains of Tiahuanaco, the theatre of the

ancient American civilization." (Vues des Cordilleres, p. 199.)

And yet the architectural monuments of the aborigines, hitherto

brought to light, have furnished few materials for a bridge of

communications across the dark gulf that still separates the Old

World from the New.]

The same mists that hang round the origin of the Incas continue

to settle on their subsequent annals; and, so imperfect were the

records employed by the Peruvians, and so confused and

contradictory their traditions, that the historian finds no firm

footing on which to stand till within a century of the Spanish

conquest. *16 At first, the progress of the Peruvians seems to

have been sow, and almost imperceptible. By their wise and

temperate policy, they gradually won over the neighbouring tribes

to their dominion, as these latter became more and more convinced

of the benefits of a just and well-regulated government. As they

grew stronger, they were enabled to rely more directly on force;

but, still advancing under cover of the same beneficent pretexts

employed by their predecessors, they proclaimed peace and

civilization at the point of the sword. The rude nations of the

country, without any principle of cohesion among themselves, fell

one after another before the victorious arm of the Incas. Yet it

was not till the middle of the fifteenth century that the famous

Topa Inca Yupanqui, grandfather of the monarch who occupied the

throne at the coming of the Spaniards, led his armies across the

terrible desert of Atacama, and, penetrating to the southern

region of Chili, fixed the permanent boundary of his dominions at

the river Maule. His son, Huayna Capac, possessed of ambition

and military talent fully equal to his father's marched along the

Cordillera towards the north, and, pushing his conquests across

the equator, added the powerful kingdom of Quito to the empire of

Peru. *17

[Footnote 16: A good deal within a century, to say truth.

Garcilasso and Sarmiento, for example, the two ancient

authorities in highest repute, have scarcely a point of contact

in their accounts of the earlier Peruvian princes; the former

representing the sceptre as gliding down in peaceful succession

from hand to hand, through an unbroken dynasty, while the latter

garnishes his tale with as many conspiracies, depositions, and

revolutions, as belong to most barbarous, and, unhappily, most

civilized communities. When to these two are added the various

writers, contemporary and of the succeeding age, who have treated

of the Peruvian annals, we shall find ourselves in such a

conflict of traditions, that criticism is lost in conjecture.

Yet this uncertainty as to historical events fortunately does not

extend to the history of arts and institutions, which were in

existence on the arrival of the Spaniards.]

[Footnote 17: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 57, 64. - Conq. i.

Pob. del Piru, Ms. - Velasco, Hist. de Quito, p. 59. - Dec. de la

Aud. Real., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap.

18, 19; lib. 8, cap. 5-8.

The last historian, and, indeed, some others, refer the conquest

of Chili to Yupanqui, the father of Topa Inca. The exploits of

the two monarchs are so blended together by the different

annalists, as in a manner to confound their personal identity.]

The ancient city of Cuzco, meanwhile, had been gradually

advancing in wealth and population, till it had become the worthy

metropolis of a great and flourishing monarchy. It stood in a

beautiful valley on an elevated region of the plateau, which,

among the Alps, would have been buried in eternal snows, but

which within the tropics enjoyed a genial and salubrious

temperature. Towards the north it was defended by a lofty

eminence, a spur of the great Cordillera; and the city was

traversed by a river, or rather a small stream, over which

bridges of timber, covered with heavy slabs of stone, furnished

an easy means of communication with the opposite banks. The

streets were long and narrow; the houses low, and those of the

poorer sort built of clay and reeds. But Cuzco was the royal

residence, and was adorned with the ample dwellings of the great

nobility; and the massy fragments still incorporated in many of

the modern edifices bear testimony to the size and solidity of

the ancient. *18

[Footnote 18: Garcilasso, Com. Real., lib. 7, cap. 8-11. - Cieza

de Leon, Cronica, cap. 92.

"El Cuzco tuuo gran manera y calidad, deuio ser fundada por gente

de gran ser. Auia grandes calles, saluo q era angostas, y las

casas hechas de piedra pura co tan lindas junturas, q illustra el

antiguedad del edificio, pues estauan piedras tan grades muy bien

assentadas." (Ibid., ubi supra.) Compare with this Miller's

account of the city, as existing at the present day. "The walls

of many of the houses have remained unaltered for centuries. The

great size of the stones, the variety of their shapes, and the

inimitable workmanship they display, give to the city that

interesting air of antiquity and romance, which fills the mind

with pleasing though painful veneration." Memoirs of Gen. Miller

in the Service of the Republic of Peru, (London, 1829, 2d ed.)

vol. II. p. 225.]

The health of the city was promoted by spacious openings and

squares, in which a numerous population from the capital and the

distant country assembled to celebrate the high festivals of

their religion. For Cuzco was the "Holy City"; *19 and the great

temple of the Sun, to which pilgrims resorted from the furthest

borders of the empire, was the most magnificent structure in the

New World, and unsurpassed, probably, in the costliness of its

decorations by any building in the Old.

[Footnote 19: "La Imperial Ciudad de Cozco, que la adoravan los

Indios, como a Cosa Sagrada." Garcilasso, Com. Real., parte 1,

lib. 3, cap. 20. - Also Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.]

Towards the north, on the sierra or rugged eminence already

noticed, rose a strong fortress, the remains of which at the

present day, by their vast size, excite the admiration of the

traveller. *20 It was defended by a single wall of great

thickness, and twelve hundred feet long on the side facing the

city, where the precipitous character of the ground was of itself

almost sufficient for its defence. On the other quarter, where

the approaches were less difficult, it was protected by two other

semicircular walls of the same length as the preceding. They

were separated, a considerable distance from one another and from

the fortress; and the intervening ground was raised so that the

walls afforded a breastwork for the troops stationed there in

times of assault. The fortress consisted of three towers,

detached from one another. One was appropriated to the Inca, and

was garnished with the sumptuous decorations befitting a royal

residence, rather than a military post. The other two were held

by the garrison, drawn from the Peruvian nobles, and commanded by

an officer of the blood royal; for the position was of too great

importance to be intrusted to inferior hands. The hill was

excavated below the towers, and several subterraneous galleries

communicated with the city and the palaces of the Inca. *21

[Footnote 20: See, among others, the Memoirs, above cited, of

Gen. Miller, which contain a minute and very interesting notice

of modern Cuzco. (Vol. II. p. 223, et seq.) Ulloa, who visited

the country in the middle of the last century, is unbounded in

his expressions of admiration. Voyage to South America, Eng.

trans., (London, 1806,) book VII. ch. 12.]

[Footnote 21: Betanzos, Suma y Narracion de los Yngas, Ms., cap.

12. - Garcilasso, Com Real., Parte 1, iib. 7, cap. 27-29.

The demolition of the fortress, begun immediately after the

Conquest, provoked the remonstrance of more than one enlightened

Spaniard, whose voice, however, was impotent against the spirit

of cupidity and violence. See Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap.

48.]

The fortress, the walls, and the galleries were all built of

stone, the heavy blocks of which were not laid in regular

courses, but so disposed that the small ones might fill up the

interstices between the great. They formed a sort of rustic

work, being rough-hewn except towards the edges, which were

finely wrought; and, though no cement was used, the several

blocks were adjusted with so much exactness and united so

closely, that it was impossible to introduce even the blade of

knife between them. *22 Many of these stones were of vast size;

some of them being full thirty-eight feet long, by eighteen

broad, and six feet thick. *23

[Footnote 22: Ibid., ubi supra. - Inscripciones, Medallas,

Templos, Edificios, Antiguedades, y Monumentos del Peru, Ms.

This manuscript, which formerly belonged to Dr. Robertson, and

which is now in the British Museum, is the work of some unknown

author, somewhere probably about the time of Charles III.; a

period when, as the sagacious scholar to whom I am indebted for a

copy of it remarks, a spirit of sounder criticism was visible in

the Castilian historians.]

[Footnote 23: Acosta, Naturall and Morall Historie of the East

and West Indies, Eng. trans., (London, 1604,) lib. 6, cap. 14. -

He measured the stones himself. - See also Garcilasso, Com.

Real., loc. cit.]

We are filled with astonishment, when we consider, that these

enormous masses were hewn from their native bed and fashioned

into shape, by a people ignorant of the use of iron; that they

were brought from quarries, from four to fifteen leagues distant,

*24 without the aid of beasts of burden; were transported across

rivers and ravines, raised to their elevated position on the

sierra, and finally adjusted there with the nicest accuracy,

without the knowledge of tools and machinery familiar to the

European. Twenty thousand men are said to have been employed on

this great structure, and fifty years consumed in the building.

*25 However this may be, we see in it the workings of a despotism

which had the lives and fortunes of its vassals at its absolute

disposal, and which, however mild in its general character,

esteemed these vassals, when employed in its service, as lightly

as the brute animals for which they served as a substitute.

[Footnote 24: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 93. - Ondegardo, Rel.

Seg., Ms. Many hundred blocks of granite may still be seen, it is

said, in an unfinished state, in a quarry near Cuzco.]

[Footnote 25: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 48. - Ondegardo,

Rel. Seg., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap.

27, 28.

The Spaniards, puzzled by the execution of so great a work with

such apparently inadequate means, referred it all, in their

summary way, to the Devil; an opinion which Garcilasso seems

willing to indorse. The author of the Antig y Monumentos del

Peru, Ms., rejects this notion with becoming gravity.]

The fortress of Cuzco was but part of a system of fortifications

established throughout their dominions by the Incas. This system

formed a prominent feature in their military policy; but before

entering on this latter, it will be proper to give the reader

some view of their civil institutions and scheme of government.

The sceptre of the Incas, if we may credit their historian,

descended in unbroken succession from father to son, through

their whole dynasty. Whatever we may think of this, it appears

probable that the right of inheritance might be claimed by the

eldest son of the Coya, or lawful queen, as she was styled, to

distinguish her from the host of concubines who shared the

affections of the sovereign. *26 The queen was further

distinguished, at least in later reigns, by the circumstance of

being selected from the sisters of the Inca, an arrangement

which, however revolting to the ideas of civilized nations, was

recommended to the Peruvians by its securing an heir to the crown

of the pure heaven-born race, uncontaminated by any mixture of

earthly mould. *27

[Footnote 26: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 7. - Garcilasso,

Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 26.

Acosta speaks of the eldest brother of the Inca as succeeding in

preference to the son. (lib. 6, cap. 12.) He may have confounded

the Peruvian with the Aztec usage. The Report of the Royal

Audience states that a brother succeeded in default of a son.

Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.]

[Footnote 27: "Et soror et conjux." - According to Garcilasso the

heir-apparent always married a sister. (Com. Real., Parte 1,

lib. 4, cap. 9.) Ondegardo notices this as an innovation at the

close of the fifteenth century. (Relacion Primera, Ms.) The

historian of the Incas, however, is confirmed in his

extra-ordinary statement by Sarmiento. Relacion, Ms., cap. 7.]

In his early years, the royal offspring was intrusted to the care

of the amautas, or "wise men," as the teachers of Peruvian

science were called, who instructed him in such elements of

knowledge as they possessed, and especially in the cumbrous

ceremonial of their religion, in which he was to take a prominent

part. Great care was also bestowed on his military education, of

the last importance in a state which, with its professions of

peace and good-will, was ever at war for the acquisition of

empire.

In this military school he was educated with such of the Inca

nobles as were nearly of his own age; for the sacred name of Inca

- a fruitful source of obscurity in their annals - was applied

indifferently to all who descended by the male line from the

founder of the monarchy. *28 At the age of sixteen the pupils

underwent a public examination, previous to their admission to

what may be called the order of chivalry. This examination was

conducted by some of the oldest and most illustrious Incas. The

candidates were required to show their prowess in the athletic

exercises of the warrior; in wrestling and boxing, in running

such long courses as fully tried their agility and strength, in

severe fasts of several days' duration, and in mimic combats,

which, although the weapons were blunted, were always attended

with wounds, and sometimes with death. During this trial, which

lasted thirty days, the royal neophyte fared no better than his

comrades, sleeping on the bare ground, going unshod, and wearing

a mean attire, - a mode of life, it was supposed, which might

tend to inspire him with more sympathy with the destitute. With

all this show of impartiality, however, it will probably be doing

no injustice to the judges to suppose that a politic discretion

may have somewhat quickened their perceptions of the real merits

of the heir-apparent.

[Footnote 28: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 26.]

At the end of the appointed time, the candidates selected as

worthy of the honors of their barbaric chivalry were presented to

the sovereign, who condescended to take a principal part in the

ceremony of inauguration. He began with a brief discourse, in

which, after congratulating the young aspirants on the

proficiency they had shown in martial exercises, he reminded them

of the responsibilities attached to their birth and station; and,

addressing them affectionately as "children of the Sun," he

exhorted them to imitate their great progenitor in his glorious

career of beneficence to mankind. The novices then drew near,

and, kneeling one by one before the Inca, he pierced their ears

with a golden bodkin; and this was suffered to remain there till

an opening had been made large enough for the enormous pendants

which were peculiar to their order, and which gave them, with the

Spaniards, the name of orejones. *29 This ornament was so massy

in the ears of the sovereign, that the cartilage was distended by

it nearly to the shoulder, producing what seemed a monstrous

deformity in the eyes of the Europeans, though, under the magical

influence of fashion, it was regarded as a beauty by the natives.

[Footnote 29: From oreja, "ear." - "Los caballeros de la sangre

Real tenian orejas horadadas, y de ellas colgando grandes rodetes

de plata y oro: Ilamaronles por esto los orejones los Castellanos

la primera vez que los vieron." (Montesinos, Memorias Antiguas

Historiales del Peru, Ms., lib. 2, cap. 6.) The ornament, which

was in the form of a wheel, did not depend from the ear, but was

inserted in the gristle of it, and was as large as an orange. "La

hacen tan ancha como una gran rosca de naranja; los Senores i

Principales traian aquellas roscas de oro fino en las orejas."

(Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms. - Also Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte

1, lib. 1, cap. 22.) "The larger the hole," says one of the old

Conquerors, "the more of a gentleman!" Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y

Conq., Ms.]

When this operation was performed, one of the most venerable of

the nobles dressed the feet of the candidates in the sandals worn

by the order, which may remind us of the ceremony of buckling on

the spurs of the Christian knight. They were then allowed to

assume the girdle or sash around the loins, corresponding with

the toga virilis of the Romans, and intimating that they had

reached the season of manhood. Their heads were adorned with

garlands of flowers, which, by their various colors, were

emblematic of the clemency and goodness that should grace the

character of every true warrior; and the leaves of an evergreen

plant were mingled with the flowers, to show that these virtues

should endure without end. *30 The prince's head was further

ornamented by a fillet, or tasselled fringe, of a yellow color,

made of the fine threads of the vicuna wool, which encircled the

forehead as the peculiar insignia of the heir-apparent. The

great body of the Inca nobility next made their appearance, and,

beginning with those nearest of kin, knelt down before the

prince, and did him homage as successor to the crown. The whole

assembly then moved to the great square of the capital, where

songs, and dances, and other public festivities closed the

important ceremonial of the huaracu. *31

[Footnote 30: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 27.]

[Footnote 31: Ibid. Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 24 - 28.

According to Fernandez, the candidates wore white shirts, with

something like a cross embroidered in front! (Historia del Peru,

(Sevilla, 1571,) Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 6.) We may fancy ourselves

occupied with some chivalrous ceremonial of the Middle Ages.]

The reader will be less surprised by the resemblance which this

ceremonial bears to the inauguration of a Christian knight in the

feudal ages, if he reflects that a similar analogy may be traced

in the institutions of other people more or less civilized; and

that it is natural that nations, occupied with the one great

business of war, should mark the period, when the preparatory

education for it was ended, by similar characteristic ceremonies.

Having thus honorably passed through his ordeal, the

heir-apparent was deemed worthy to sit in the councils of his

father, and was employed in offices of trust at home, or, more

usually, sent on distant expeditions to practice in the field the

lessons which he had hitherto studied only on the mimic theatre

of war. His first campaigns were conducted under the renowned

commanders who had grown grey in the service of his father;

until, advancing in years and experience, he was placed in

command himself, and, like Huayna Capac, the last and most

illustrious of his line, carried the banner of the rainbow, the

armorial ensign of his house, far over the borders, among the

remotest tribes of the plateau.

The government of Peru was a despotism, mild in its character,

but in its form a pure and unmitigated despotism. The sovereign

was placed at an immeasurable distance above his subjects. Even

the proudest of the Inca nobility, claiming a descent from the

same divine original as himself, could not venture into the royal

presence, unless barefoot, and bearing a light burden on his

shoulders in token of homage. *32 As the representative of the

Sun, he stood at the head of the priesthood, and presided at the

most important of the religious festivals. *33 He raised armies,

and usually commanded them in person. He imposed taxes, made

laws, and provided for their execution by the appointment of

judges, whom he removed at pleasure. He was the source from which

every thing flowed, - all dignity, all power, all emolument. He

was, in short, in the well-known phrase of the European despot,

"himself the state." *34

[Footnote 32: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 11. -

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 7.

"Porque verdaderamente a lo que yo he averiguado toda la

pretension de los Ingas fue una subjeccion en toda la gente, qual

yo nunca he oido decir de ninguna otra nacion en tanto grado, que

por muy principal que un Senor fuese, dende que entrava cerca del

Cuzco en cierta senal que estava puesta en cada camino de quatro

que hay, havia dende alli de venir cargado hasta la presencia del

Inga, y alli dejava la carga y hacia su obediencia." Ondegardo,

Rel. Prim., Ms.]

[Footnote 33: It was only at one of these festivals, and hardly

authorizes the sweeping assertion of Carli, that the royal and

sacerdotal authority were blended together in Peru. We shall

see, hereafter, the important and independent position occupied

by the high-priest. "La Sacerdoce et l'Empire etoient divises au

Mexique; au lieu qu'i's etoient reunis au Perou, comme au Tibet

et a la Chine, et comme il le fut a Rome, lorsqu' Auguste jetta

les fondemens de l'Empire, en y reunissant le Sacerdoce ou la

dignite de Souverain Pontife." Lettres Americaines, (Paris,

1788,) trad. Franc., tom I. let. 7.]

[Footnote 34: "Porque el Inga dava a entender que era hijo del

Sol, con este titulo se hacia adorar, i governava principalmente

en tanto grado que nadie se le atrevia, i su palabra era ley, i

nadie osaba ir contra su palabra ni voluntad; aunque obiese de

matar cient mill Indios, no havia ninguno en su Reino que le

osase decir que no lo hiciese." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

The Inca asserted his claims as a superior being by assuming a

pomp in his manner of living well calculated to impose on his

people. His dress was of the finest wool of the vicuna, richly

dyed, and ornamented with a profusion of gold and precious

stones. Round his head was wreathed a turban of many-colored

folds, called the Ilautu; and a tasselled fringe, like that worn

by the prince, but of a scarlet color, with two feathers of a

rare and curious bird, called the coraquenque, placed upright in

it, were the distinguishing insignia of royalty. The birds from

which these feathers were obtained were found in a desert country

among the mountains; and it was death to destroy or to take them,

as they were reserved for the exclusive purpose of supplying the

royal head-gear. Every succeeding monarch was provided with a

new pair of these plumes, and his credulous subjects fondly

believed that only two individuals of the species had ever

existed to furnish the simple ornament for the diadem of the

Incas. *35

[Footnote 35: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 114. - Garcilasso,

Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 22; lib. 6, cap. 28. - Acosta,

lib. 6, cap. 12.]

Although the Peruvian monarch was raised so far above the highest

of his subjects, he condescended to mingle occasionally with

them, and took great pains personally to inspect the condition of

the humbler classes. He presided at some of the religious

celebrations, and on these occasions entertained the great nobles

at his table, when he complimented them, after the fashion of

more civilized nations, by drinking the health of those whom he

most delighted to honor. *36

[Footnote 36: One would hardly expect to find among the American

Indians this social and kindly custom of our Saxon ancestors, -

now fallen somewhat out of use, in the capricious innovations of

modern fashion. Garcilasso is diffuse in his account of the

forms observed at the royal table. (Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 6,

cap. 23.) The only hours of eating were at eight or nine in the

morning, and at sunset, which took place at nearly the same time,

in all seasons, in the latitude of Cuzco. The historian of the

Incas admits that, though temperate in eating, they indulged

freely in their cups, frequently prolonging their revelry to a

late hour of the night. Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 1.]

But the most effectual means taken by the Incas for communicating

with their people were their progresses through the empire.

These were conducted, at intervals of several years, with great

state and magnificence. The sedan, or litter, in which they

travelled, richly emblazoned with gold and emeralds, was guarded

by a numerous escort. The men who bore it on their shoulders

were provided by two cities, specially appointed for the purpose.

It was a post to be coveted by no one, if, as is asserted, a fall

was punished with death. *37 They travelled with ease and

expedition, halting at the tambos, or inns, erected by government

along the route, and occasionally at the royal palaces, which in

the great towns afforded ample accommodations to the whole of the

monarch's retinue. The noble loads which traversed the

table-land were lined with people, who swept away the stones and

stubble from their surface, strewing them with sweet-scented

flowers, and vying with each other in carrying forward the

baggage from one village to another. The monarch halted from

time to time to listen to the grievances of his subjects, or to

settle some points which had been referred to his decision by the

regular tribunals. As the princely train wound its way along the

mountain passes, every place was thronged with spectators eager

to catch a glimpse of their sovereign; and, when he raised the

curtains of his litter, and showed himself to their eyes, the air

was rent with acclamations as they invoked blessings on his head.

*38 Tradition long commemorated the spots at which he halted, and

the simple people of the country held them in reverence as places

consecrated by the presence of an Inca. *39

[Footnote 37: "In lectica, aureo tabulato constrata, humeris

ferebant; in summa, ea erat observantia, vt vultum ejus intueri

maxime incivile putarent, et inter baiulos, quicunque vel leviter

pede offenso haesitaret, e vestigio interficerent." Levinus

Apollonius, De Peruviae Regionis Inventione, et Rebus in eadem

gestis, (Antverpiae, 1567,) fol. 37. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru,

lib. 1, cap. 11.

According to this writer, the litter was carried by the nobles;

one thousand of whom were specially reserved for the humiliating

honor. Ubi supra.]

[Footnote 38: The acclamations must have been potent indeed, if,

as Sarmiento tells us, they sometimes brought the birds down from

the sky! "De esta manera eran tan temidos los Reyes que si

salian por el Reyno y permitian alzar algun pano de los que iban

en las andas para dejarse ver de sus vasallos, alzaban tan gran

alarido que hacian caer las aves de lo alto donde iban volando a

ser tomadas a manos." (Relacion, Ms., cap. 10.) The same author

has given in another place a more credible account of the royal

progresses, which the Spanish reader will find extracted in

Appendix, No. 1.]

[Footnote 39: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 14;

lib. 6, cap. 3. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 11.]

The royal palaces were on a magnificent scale, and, far from

being confined to the capital or a few principal towns, were

scattered over all the provinces of their vast empire. *40 The

buildings were low, but covered a wide extent of ground. Some of

the apartments were spacious, but they were generally small, and

had no communication with one another, except that they opened

into a common square or court. The walls were made of blocks of

stone of various sizes, like those described in the fortress of

Cuzco, rough-hewn, but carefully wrought near the line of

junction, which was scarcely visible to the eye. The roofs were

of wood or rushes, which have perished under the rude touch of

time, that has shown more respect for the walls of the edifices.

The whole seems to have been characterized by solidity and

strength, rather than by any attempt at architectural elegance.

*41

[Footnote 40: Velasco has given some account of several of these

palaces situated in different places in the kingdom of Quito.

Hist. de Quito, tom. I. pp. 195 - 197.]

[Footnote 41: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 44. - Antig. y

Monumentos de. Peru, Ms. - See, among others, the description of

the remains still existing of the royal buildings at Callo, about

ten leagues south of Quito, by Ulloa, Voyage to S. America, book

6, ch. 11, and since, more carefully, by Humboldt, Vues des

Cordilleres, p. 197.]

But whatever want of elegance there may have been in the exterior

of the imperial dwellings, it was amply compensated by the

interior, in which all the opulence of the Peruvian princes was

ostentatiously displayed. The sides of the apartments were

thickly studded with gold and silver ornaments. Niches, prepared

in the walls, were filled with images of animals and plants

curiously wrought of the same costly materials; and even much of

the domestic furniture, including the utensils devoted to the

most ordinary menial services, displayed the like wanton

magnificence! *42 With these gorgeous decorations were mingled

richly colored stuffs of the delicate manufacture of the Peruvian

wool, which were of so beautiful a texture, that the Spanish

sovereigns, with all the luxuries of Europe and Asia at their

command, did not disdain to use them. *43 The royal household

consisted of a throng of menials, supplied by the neighboring

towns and villages, which, as in Mexico, were bound to furnish

the monarch with fuel and other necessaries for the consumption

of the palace.

[Footnote 42: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte l, lib. 6, cap. 1.

"Tanto que todo el servicio de la Casa del Rey asi de cantaras

para su vino, como de cozina, todo era oro y plata, y esto no en

un lugar y en una parte lo tenia, sino en muchas." (Sarmiento,

Relacion, Ms., cap. 11.) See also the flaming accounts of the

palaces of Bilcas, to the west of Cuzco, by Cieza de Leon, as

reported to him by Spaniards who had seen them in their glory.

(Cronica, cap. 89.) The niches are still described by modern

travellers as to be found in the walls. (Humboldt, Vues des

Cordilleres, p. 197.)]

[Footnote 43: "La ropa de la cama toda era de mantas, y frecadas

de lana de Vicuna, que es tan fina, y tan regalada, que entre

otras cosas preciadas de aquellas Tierras, se las han traido para

la cama del Rey Don Phelipe Segundo." Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1. lib 6, cap. 1.]

But the favorite residence of the Incas was at Yucay, about four

leagues distant from the capital. In this delicious valley,

locked up within the friendly arms of the sierra, which sheltered

it from the rude breezes of the east, and refreshed by gushing

fountains and streams of running water, they built the most

beautiful of their palaces. Here, when wearied with the dust and

toil of the city, they loved to retreat, and solace themselves

with the society of their favorite concubines, wandering amidst

groves and airy gardens, that shed around their soft,

intoxicating odors, and lulled the senses to voluptuous repose.

Here, too, they loved to indulge in the luxury of their baths,

replenished by streams of crystal water which were conducted

through subterraneous silver channels into basins of gold. The

spacious gardens were stocked with numerous varieties of plants

and flowers that grew without effort in this temperate region of

the tropics, while parterres of a more extraordinary kind were

planted by their side, glowing with the various forms of

vegetable life skilfully imitated in gold and silver! Among them

the Indian corn, the most beautiful of American grains, is

particularly commemorated, and the curious workmanship is noticed

with which the golden ear was half disclosed amidst the broad

leaves of silver, and the light tassel of the same material that

floated gracefully from its top. *44

[Footnote 44: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 26;

lib. 6, cap. 2 - Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 24. - Cieza de

Leon, Cronica, cap. 94.

The last writer speaks of a cement, made in part of liquid gold,

as used in the royal buildings of Tambo, a valley not far from

Yucay! (Ubi supra.) We may excuse the Spaniards for demolishing

such edifices, - if they ever met with them.]

If this dazzling picture staggers the faith of the reader, he may

reflect that the Peruvian mountains teemed with gold; that the

natives understood the art of working the mines, to a

considerable extent; that none of the ore, as well shall see

hereafter, was converted into coin, and that the whole of it

passed into the hands of the sovereign for his own exclusive

benefit, whether for purposes of utility or ornament. Certain it

is that no fact is better attested by the Conquerors themselves,

who had ample means of information, and no motive for

misstatement. - The Italian poets, in their gorgeous pictures of

the gardens of Alcina and Morgana, came nearer the truth than

they imagined.

Our surprise, however, may reasonably be excited, when we

consider that the wealth displayed by the Peruvian princes was

only that which each had amassed individually for himself. He

owed nothing to inheritance from his predecessors. On the

decease of an Inca, his palaces were abandoned; all his

treasures, except what were employed in his obsequies, his

furniture and apparel, were suffered to remain as he left them,

and his mansions, save one, were closed up for ever. The new

sovereign was to provide himself with every thing new for his

royal state. The reason of this was the popular belief, that the

soul of the departed monarch would return after a time to

reanimate his body on earth; and they wished that he should find

every thing to which he had been used in life prepared for his

reception. *45

[Footnote 45: Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 12. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 4.]

When an Inca died, or, to use his own language, "was called home

to the mansions of his father, the Sun," *46 his obsequies were

celebrated with great pomp and solemnity. The bowels were taken

from the body, and deposited in the temple of Tampu, about five

leagues from the capital. A quantity of his plate and jewels was

buried with them, and a number of his attendants and favorite

concubines, amounting sometimes, it is said, to a thousand, were

immolated on his tomb. *47 Some of them showed the natural

repugnance to the sacrifice occasionally manifested by the

victims of a similar superstition in India. But these were

probably the menials and more humble attendants; since the women

have been known, in more than one instance, to lay violent hands

on themselves, when restrained from testifying their fidelity by

this act of conjugal martyrdom. This melancholy ceremony was

followed by a general mourning throughout the empire. At stated

intervals, for a year, the people assembled to renew the

expressions of their sorrow; processions were made, displaying

the banner of the departed monarch; bards and minstrels were

appointed to chronicle his achievements, and their songs

continued to be rehearsed at high festivals in the presence of

the reigning monarch, - thus stimulating the living by the

glorious example of the dead. *48

[Footnote 46: The Aztecs, also, believed that the soul of the

warrior who fell in battle went to accompany the Sun in his

bright progress through the heavens. (See Conquest of Mexico,

book 1, chap. 3.)]

[Footnote 47: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms. - Acosta, lib. 5, cap.

6.

Four thousand of these victims, according to Sarmiento, - we may

hope it is an exaggeration, - graced the funeral obsequies of

Huayna Capac, the last of the Incas before the coming of the

Spaniards. Relacion, Ms., cap. 65.]

[Footnote 48: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 62. - Garcilasso, Com.

Real., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 5. - Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap.

8.]

The body of the deceased Inca was skilfully embalmed, and removed

to the great temple of the Sun at Cuzco. There the Peruvian

sovereign, on entering the awful sanctuary, might behold the

effigies of his royal ancestors, ranged in opposite files, - the

men on the right, and their queens on the left, of the great

luminary which blazed in refulgent gold on the walls of the

temple. The bodies, clothed in the princely attire which they had

been accustomed to wear, were placed on chairs of gold, and sat

with their heads inclined downward, their hands placidly crossed

over their bosoms, their countenances exhibiting their natural

dusky hue, - less liable to change than the fresher coloring of a

European complexion, - and their hair of raven black, or silvered

over with age, according to the period at which they died! It

seemed like a company of solemn worshippers fixed in devotion, -

so true were the forms and lineaments to life. The Peruvians

were as successful as the Egyptians in the miserable attempt to

perpetuate the existence of the body beyond the limits assigned

to it by nature. *49

[Footnote 49: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com.

Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 29.

The Peruvians secreted these mummies of their sovereigns after

the Conquest, that they might not be profaned by the insults of

the Spaniards. Ondegardo, when corregidor of Cuzco, discovered

five of them, three male and two female. The former were the

bodies of Viracocha, of the great Tupac Inca Yupanqui, and of his

son Huayna Capac. Garcilasso saw them in 1560. They were

dressed in their regal robes, with no insignia but the llautu on

their heads. They were in a sitting posture, and, to use his own

expression, "perfect as life, without so much as a hair or an

eyebrow wanting." As they were carried through the streets,

decently shrouded with a mantle, the Indians threw themselves on

their knees, in sign of reverence, with many tears and groans,

and were still more touched as they beheld some of the Spaniards

themselves doffing their caps, in token of respect to departed

royalty. (Ibid., ubi supra.) The bodies were subsequently removed

to Lima; and Father Acosta, who saw them there some twenty years

later, speaks of them as still in perfect preservation.]

They cherished a still stranger illusion in the attentions which

they continued to pay to these insensible remains, as if they

were instinct with life. One of the houses belonging to a

deceased Inca was kept open and occupied by his guard and

attendants, with all the state appropriate to royalty. On

certain festivals, the revered bodies of the sovereigns were

brought out with great ceremony into the public square of the

capital. Invitations were sent by the captains of the guard of

the respective Incas to the different nobles and officers of the

court; and entertainments were provided in the names of their

masters, which displayed all the profuse magnificence of their

treasures, - and "such a display," says an ancient chronicler,

"was there in the great square of Cuzco, on this occasion, of

gold and silver plate and jewels, as no other city in the world

ever witnessed." *50 The banquet was served by the menials of the

respective households, and the guests partook of the melancholy

cheer in the presence of the royal phantom with the same

attention to the forms of courtly etiquette as if the living

monarch had presided! *51

[Footnote 50: "Tenemos por muy cierto que ni en Jerusalem, Roma,

ni en Persia, ni en ninguna parte del mundo por ninguna Republica

ni Rey de el, se juntaba en un lugar tanta riqueza de Metales de

oro y Plata y Pedreria como en esta Plaza del Cuzco; quando estas

fiestas y otras semejantes se hacian." Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms.,

cap. 27.]

[Footnote 51: Idem, Relacion, Ms., cap. 8, 27. - Ondegardo, Rel.

Seg., Ms.

It was only, however, the great and good princes that were thus

honored, according to Sarmiento, "whose souls the silly people

fondly believed, on account of their virtues, were in heaven,

although, in truth," as the same writer assures us, "they were

all the time burning in the flames of hell"! "Digo los que

haviendo sido en vida buenos y valerosos, generosos con los

Indios en les hacer mercedes, perdonadores de injurias, porque a

estos tales canonizaban en su ceguedad por Santos y honrraban sus

huesos, sin entender que las animas ardian en los Ynfiernos y

creian que estaban en el Cielo." Ibid., ubi supra.]

The nobility of Peru consisted of two orders, the first and by

far the most important of which was that of the Incas, who,

boasting a common descent with their sovereign, lived, as it

were, in the reflected light of his glory. As the Peruvian

monarchs availed themselves of the right of polygamy to a very

liberal extent, leaving behind them families of one or even two

hundred children, *52 the nobles of the blood royal, though

comprehending only their descendants in the male line, came in

the course of years to be very numerous. *53 They were divided

into different lineages, each of which traced its pedigree to a

different member of the royal dynasty, though all terminated in

the divine founder of the empire.

[Footnote 52: Garcilasso says over three hundred! (Com. Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 19.) The fact, though rather startling, is

not incredible, if, like Huayna Capac, they counted seven hundred

wives in their seraglio. See Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 7.]

[Footnote 53: Garcilasso mentions a class of Incas por

privilegio, who were allowed to possess the name and many of the

immunities of the blood royal, though only descended from the

great vassals that first served under the banner of Manco Capac.

(Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 22.) This important fact, to

which he often refers, one would be glad to see confirmed by a

single authority.]

They were distinguished by many exclusive and very important

privileges; they wore a peculiar dress; spoke a dialect, if we

may believe the chronicler, peculiar to themselves; *54 and had

the choicest portion of the public domain assigned for their

support. They lived, most of them, at court, near the person of

the prince, sharing in his counsels, dining at his board, or

supplied from his table. They alone were admissible to the great

offices in the priesthood. They were invested with the command

of armies, and of distant garrisons, were placed over the

provinces, and, in short, filled every station of high trust and

emolument. *55 Even the laws, severe in their general tenor, seem

not to have been framed with reference to them; and the people,

investing the whole order with a portion of the sacred character

which belonged to the sovereign, held that an Inca noble was

incapable of crime. *56

[Footnote 54: "Los Incas tuvieron otra Lengua particular, que

hablavan entre ellos, que no la entendian los demas Indios, ni

les era licito aprenderla, como Lenguage Divino. Esta me

escriven del Peru, que se ha perdido totalmente; porque como

perecio la Republica particular de los Incas, perecio tambien el

Lenguage dellos." Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap.

1]

[Footnote 55: "Una sola gente hallo yo que era exenta, que eran

los Ingas del Cuzco y por alli al rededor de ambas parcialidades,

porque estos no solo no pagavan tributo, pero aun comian de lo

que traian al Inga de todo el reino, y estos eran por la mayor

parte los Governadores en todo el reino, y por donde quiera que

iban se les hacia mucha honrra." Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]

[Footnote 56: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte I, lib. 2, cap. 15.]

The other order of nobility was the Curacas, the caciques of the

conquered nations, or their descendants. They were usually

continued by the government in their places, though they were

required to visit the capital occasionally, and to allow their

sons to be educated there as the pledges of their loyalty. It is

not easy to define the nature or extent of their privileges.

They were possessed of more or less power, according to the

extent of their patrimony, and the number of their vassals.

Their authority was usually transmitted from father to son,

though sometimes the successor was chosen by the people. *57 They

did not occupy the highest posts of state, or those nearest the

person of the sovereign, like the nobles of the blood. Their

authority seems to have been usually local, and always in

subordination to the territorial jurisdiction of the great

provincial governors, who were taken from the Incas. *58

[Footnote 57: In this event, it seems, the successor named was

usually presented to the Inca for confirmation. (Dec. de la Aud.

Real., Ms.) At other times, the Inca himself selected the heir

from among the children of the deceased Curaca. "In short," says

Ondegardo, "there was no rule of succession so sure, but it might

be set aside by the supreme will of the sovereign.' Rel. Prim.,

Ms.]

[Footnote 58: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 10. -

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 11 - Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. -

Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 93. - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

It was the Inca nobility, indeed, who constituted the real

strength of the Peruvian monarchy. Attached to their prince by

ties of consanguinity, they had common sympathies and, to a

considerable extent, common interests with him. Distinguished by

a peculiar dress and insignia, as well as by language and blood,

from the rest of the community, they were never confounded with

the other tribes and nations who were incorporated into the great

Peruvian monarchy. After the lapse of centuries, they still

retained their individuality as a peculiar people. They were to

the conquered races of the country what the Romans were to the

barbarous hordes of the Empire, or the Normans to the ancient

inhabitants of the British Isles. Clustering around the throne,

they formed an invincible phalanx, to shield it alike from secret

conspiracy and open insurrection. Though living chiefly in the

capital, they were also distributed throughout the country in all

its high stations and strong military posts, thus establishing

lines of communication with the court, which enabled the

sovereign to act simultaneously and with effect on the most

distant quarters of his empire. They possessed, moreover, an

intellectual preeminence, which, no less than their station, gave

them authority with the people. Indeed, it may be said to have

been the principal foundation of their authority. The crania of

the Inca race show a decided superiority over the other races of

the land in intellectual power; *59 and it cannot be denied that

it was the fountain of that peculiar civilization and social

polity, which raised the Peruvian monarchy above every other

state in South America. Whence this remarkable race came, and

what was its early history, are among those mysteries that meet

us so frequently in the annals of the New World, and which time

and the antiquary have as vet done little to explain.

[Footnote 59: Dr. Morton's valuable work contains several

engravings of both the Inca and the common Peruvian skull,

showing that the facial angle in the former, though by no means

great, was much larger than that in the latter, which was

singularly flat and deficient in intellectual character. Crania

Americana, (Philadelphia, 1829.)]

Chapter II

Orders Of The State. - Provisions For Justice. - Division Of

Lands. - Revenues And Registers. - Great Roads And Posts. -

Military Tactics And Policy.

If we are surprised at the peculiar and original features of what

may be called the Peruvian aristocracy, we shall be still more so

as we descend to the lower orders of the community, and see the

very artificial character of their institutions, - as artificial

as those of ancient Sparta, and, though in a different way, quite

as repugnant to the essential principles of our nature. The

institutions of Lycurgus, however, were designed for a petty

state, while those of Peru, although originally intended for

such, seemed, like the magic tent in the Arabian tale, to have an

indefinite power of expansion, and were as well suited to the

most flourishing condition of the empire as to its infant

fortunes. In this remarkable accommodation to change of

circumstances we see the proofs of a contrivance that argues no

slight advance in civilization.

The name of Peru was not known to the natives. It was given by

the Spaniards, and originated, it is said, in a misapprehension

of the Indian name of "river." *1 However this may be, it is

certain that the natives had no other epithet by which to

designate the large collection of tribes and nations who were

assembled under the sceptre of the Incas, than that of

Tavantinsuyu, or "four quarters of the world." *2 This will not

surprise a citizen of the United States, who has no other name by

which to class himself among nations than what is borrowed from a

quarter of the globe. *3 The kingdom, conformably to its name,

was divided into four parts, distinguished each by a separate

title, and to each of which ran one of the four great roads that

diverged from Cuzco, the capital or navel of the Peruvian

monarchy. The city was in like manner divided into four

quarters; and the various races, which gathered there from the

distant parts of the empire, lived each in the quarter nearest to

its respective province. They all continued to wear their

peculiar national costume, so that it was easy to determine their

origin; and the same order and system of arrangement prevailed in

the motley population of the capital, as in the great provinces

of the empire. The capital, in fact, was a miniature image of

the empire. *4

[Footnote 1: Pelu, according to Garcilasso, was the Indian name

for "river," and was given by one of the natives in answer to a

question put to him by the Spaniards, who conceived it to be the

name of the country. (Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 6.) Such

blunders have led to the names of many places both in North and

South America. Montesinos, however, denies that there is such an

Indian term for "river." (Mem. Antiguas, Ms., lib. 1, cap. 2.)

According to this writer, Peru was the ancient Ophir, whence

Solomon drew such stores of wealth; and which, by a very natural

transition, has in time been corrupted into Phiru, Piru, Peru!

The first book of the Memorias, consisting of thirty-two

chapters, is devoted to this precious discovery.]

[Footnote 2: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 11.]

[Footnote 3: Yet an American may find food for his vanity in the

reflection, that the name of a quarter of the globe, inhabited by

so many civilized nations, has been exclusively conceded to him.

- Was it conceded or assumed?]

[Footnote 4: Ibid., parte 1, cap. 9, 10. - Cieza de Leon,

Cronica, cap. 93.

The capital was further divided into two parts, the Upper and

Lower town, founded, as pretended, on the different origin of the

population; a division recognized also in the inferior cities.

Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.]

The four great provinces were each placed under a viceroy or

governor, who ruled over them with the assistance of one or more

councils for the different departments. These viceroys resided,

some portion of their time, at least, in the capital, where they

constituted a sort of council of state to the Inca. *5 The nation

at large was distributed into decades, or small bodies of ten;

and every tenth man, or head of a decade, had supervision of the

rest, - being required to see that they enjoyed the rights and

immunities to which they were entitled, to solicit aid in their

behalf from government, when necessary, and to bring offenders to

justice. To this last they were stimulated by a law that imposed

on them, in case of neglect, the same penalty that would have

been incurred by the guilty party. With this law hanging over

his head, the magistrate of Peru, we may well believe, did not

often go to sleep on his post. *6

[Footnote 5: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 15.

For this account of the councils I am indebted to Garcilasso, who

frequently fills up gaps that have been left by his

fellow-laborers. Whether the filling up will, in all cases, bear

the touch of time, as well as the rest of his work, one may

doubt.]

[Footnote 6: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. - Montesinos, Mem.

Antiguas, Ms., lib. 2, cap. 6. - Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

How analogous is the Peruvian to the Anglo-Saxon division into

hundreds and tithings! But the Saxon law was more humane, which

imposed only a fine on the district, in case of a criminal's

escape.]

The people were still further divided into bodies of fifty, one

hundred, five hundred, and a thousand, with each an officer

having general supervision over those beneath, and the higher

ones possessing, to a certain extent, authority in matters of

police. Lastly, the whole empire was distributed into sections

or departments of ten thousand inhabitants, with a governor over

each, from the Inca nobility, who had control over the curacas

and other territorial officers in the district. There were,

also, regular tribunals of justice, consisting of magistrates in

each of the towns or small communities, with jurisdiction over

petty offences, while those of a graver character were carried

before superior judges, usually the governors or rulers of the

districts. These judges all held their authority and received

their support from the Crown, by which they were appointed and

removed at pleasure. They were obliged to determine every suit

in five days from the time it was brought before them; and there

was no appeal from one tribunal to another. Yet there were

important provisions for the security of justice. A committee of

visitors patrolled the kingdom at certain times to investigate

the character and conduct of the magistrates; and any neglect or

violation of duty was punished in the most exemplary manner. The

inferior courts were also required to make monthly returns of

their proceedings to the higher ones, and these made reports in

like manner to the viceroys; so that the monarch, seated in the

centre of his dominions, could look abroad, as it were, to their

most distant extremities, and review and rectify any abuses in

the administration of the law. *7

[Footnote 7: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. - Ondegardo, Rel. Prim.

et Seg., Mss. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 2, cap.

11-14. - Montesinos, Mem. Antiguas, Ms., lib. 2, cap. 6.

The accounts of the Peruvian tribunals by the early authorities

are very meagre and unsatisfactory. Even the lively imagination

of Garcilasso has failed to supply the blank.]

The laws were few and exceedingly severe. They related almost

wholly to criminal matters. Few other laws were needed by a

people who had no money, little trade, and hardly any thing that

could be called fixed property. The crimes of theft, adultery,

and murder were all capital; though it was wisely provided that

some extenuating circumstances might be allowed to mitigate the

punishment. *8 Blasphemy against the Sun, and malediction of the

Inca, - offences, indeed, of the same complexion, - were also

punished with death. Removing landmarks, turning the water away

from a neighbour's land into one's own, burning a house, were all

severely punished. To burn a bridge was death. The Inca allowed

no obstacle to those facilities of communication so essential to

the maintenance of public order. A rebellious city or province

was laid waste, and its inhabitants exterminated. Rebellion

against the "Child of the Sun" was the greatest of all crimes. *9

[Footnote 8: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General,

dec. 5, lib. 4, cap 3.

Theft was punished less severely, if the offender had been really

guilty of it to supply the necessities of life. It is a singular

circumstance, that the Peruvian law made no distinction between

fornication and adultery, both being equally punished with death.

Yet the law could hardly have been enforced, since prostitutes

were assigned, or at least allowed, a residence in the suburbs of

the cities. See Garcilasso, Com Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap.

34.]

[Footnote 9: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 23.

"I los traidores entre ellos llamava aucaes, i esta palabra es la

mas abiltada de todas quantas pueden decir aun Indio del Piru,

que quiere decir traidor a su Senor." (Cong. i Pob. del Piru,

Ms.) "En las rebeliones y alzamientos se hicieron los castigos

tan asperos, que algunas veces asolaron las provincias de todos

los varones de edad sin quedar ninguno." Ondegardo, Rel. Prim.,

Ms.]

The simplicity and severity of the Peruvian code may be thought

to infer a state of society but little advanced; which had few of

those complex interests and relations that grow up in a civilized

community, and which had not proceeded far enough in the science

of legislation to economize human suffering by proportioning

penalties to crimes. But the Peruvian institutions must be

regarded from a different point of view from that in which we

study those of other nations. The laws emanated from the

sovereign, and that sovereign held a divine commission, and was

possessed of a divine nature. To violate the law was not only to

insult the majesty of the throne, but it was sacrilege. The

slightest offence, viewed in this light, merited death; and the

gravest could incur no heavier penalty. *10 Yet, in the

infliction of their punishments, they showed no unnecessary

cruelty; and the sufferings of the victim were not prolonged by

the ingenious torments so frequent among barbarous nations. *11

[Footnote 10: "El castigo era riguroso, que por la mayor parte

era de muerte, por liviano que fuese el delito; porque decian,

que no los castigavan por el delito que avian hecho, ni por la

ofensa agena, sino por aver quebrantado el mandamiento, y rompido

la palabra del Inca, que lo respetavan como a Dios." Garcilasso,

Com. Real. Parte 1, lib. 2. cap. 12.]

[Footnote 11: One of the punishments most frequent for minor

offences was to carry a stone on the back. A punishment attended

with no suffering but what arises from the disgrace attached to

it is very justly characterized by McCulloh as a proof of

sensibility and refinement. Researches, p. 361.]

These legislative provisions may strike us as very defective,

even as compared with those of the semi-civilized races of

Anahuac, where a gradation of courts, moreover, with the right of

appeal, afforded a tolerable security for justice. But in a

country like Peru, where few but criminal causes were known, the

right of appeal was of less consequence. The law was simple, its

application easy; and, where the judge was honest, the case was

as likely to be determined correctly on the first hearing as on

the second. The inspection of the board of visitors, and the

monthly returns of the tribunals, afforded no slight guaranty for

their integrity. The law which required a decision within five

days would seem little suited to the complex and embarrassing

litigation of a modern tribunal. But, in the simple questions

submitted to the Peruvian judge, delay would have been useless;

and the Spaniards, familiar with the evils growing out of

long-protracted suits, where the successful litigant is too often

a ruined man, are loud in their encomiums of this swift-handed

and economical justice. *12

[Footnote 12: The Royal Audience of Peru under Philip II. - there

cannot be a higher authority - bears emphatic testimony to the

cheap and efficient administration of justice under the Incas.

"De suerte que los vicios eran bien castigados y la gente estaba

bien sujeta y obediente; y aunque en las dichas penas havia

esceso, redundaba en buen govierno y policia suya, y mediante

ella eran aumentados. . . . . . Porque los Yndios alababan la

governacion del Ynga, y aun los Espanoles que algo alcanzan de

ella, es porque todas las cosas susodichas se de terminaban sin

hacerles costas" Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.]

The fiscal regulations of the Incas, and the laws respecting

property, are the most remarkable features in the Peruvian

polity. The whole territory of the empire was divided into three

parts, one for the Sun, another for the Inca, and the last for

the people. Which of the three was the largest is doubtful. The

proportions differed materially in different provinces. The

distribution, indeed, was made on the same general principle, as

each new conquest was added to the monarchy; but the proportion

varied according to the amount of population, and the greater or

less amount of land consequently required for the support of the

inhabitants. *13

[Footnote 13: Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 15. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 1.

"Si estas partes fuesen iguales, o qual fuese mayor, yo lo he

procurado averiguar, y en unas es diferente de otras, y finalmte

yo tengo entendido que se hacia conforme a la disposicion de la

tierra y a la calidad de los Indios" Ondegardo, Rel Prim., Ms]

The lands assigned to the Sun furnished a revenue to support the

temples, and maintain the costly ceremonial of the Peruvian

worship and the multitudinous priesthood. Those reserved for the

Inca went to support the royal state, as well as the numerous

members of his household and his kindred, and supplied the

various exigencies of government. The remainder of the lands was

divided, per capita, in equal shares among the people. It was

provided by law, as we shall see hereafter, that every Peruvian

should marry at a certain age. When this event took place, the

community or district in which he lived furnished him with a

dwelling, which, as it was constructed of humble materials, was

done at little cost. A lot of land was then assigned to him

sufficient for his own maintenance and that of his wife. An

additional portion was granted for every child, the amount

allowed for a son being the double of that for a daughter. The

division of the soil was renewed every year, and the possessions

of the tenant were increased or diminished according to the

numbers in his family. *14 The same arrangement was observed with

reference to the curacas, except only that a domain was assigned

to them corresponding with the superior dignity of their stations

*15

[Footnote 14: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com.

Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 2.

The portion granted to each new-married couple, according to

Garcilasso, was a fanega and a half of land. A similar quantity

was added for each male child that was born; and half of the

quantity for each female. The fanega was as much land as could

be planted with a hundred weight of Indian corn. In the fruitful

soil of Peru, this was a liberal allowance for a family.]

[Footnote 15: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 3.

It is singular, that while so much is said of the Inca sovereign,

so little should be said of the Inca nobility, of their estates,

or the tenure by which they held them. Their historian tells us,

that they had the best of the lands, wherever they resided,

besides the interest which they had in those of the Sun and the

Inca, as children of the one, and kinsmen of the other. He

informs us, also, that they were supplied from the royal table,

when living at court. (lib. 6, cap. 3.) But this is very loose

language. The student of history will learn, on the threshold,

that he is not to expect precise, or even very consistent,

accounts of the institutions of a barbarous age and people from

contemporary annalists.]

A more thorough and effectual agrarian law than this cannot be

imagined. In other countries where such a law has been

introduced, its operation, after a time, has given way to the

natural order of events, and, under the superior intelligence and

thrift of some and the prodigality of others, the usual

vicissitudes of fortune have been allowed to take their course,

and restore things to their natural inequality. Even the iron

law of Lycurgus ceased to operate after a time, and melted away

before the spirit of luxury and avarice. The nearest approach to

the Peruvian constitution was probably in Judea, where, on the

recurrence of the great national jubilee, at the close of every

half-century, estates reverted to their original proprietors.

There was this important difference in Peru; that not only did

the lease, if we may so call it, terminate with the year, but

during that period the tenant had no power to alienate or to add

to his possessions. The end of the brief term found him in

precisely the same condition that he was in at the beginning.

Such a state of things might be supposed to be fatal to any thing

like attachment to the soil, or to that desire of improving it,

which is natural to the permanent proprietor, and hardly less so

to the holder of a long lease. But the practical operation of

the law seems to have been otherwise; and it is probable, that,

under the influence of that love of order and aversion to change

which marked the Peruvian institutions, each new partition of the

soil usually confirmed the occupant in his possession, and the

tenant for a year was converted into a proprietor for life.

The territory was cultivated wholly by the people. The lands

belonging to the Sun were first attended to. They next tilled

the lands of the old, of the sick, of the window and the orphan,

and of soldiers engaged in actual service; in short, of all that

part of the community who, from bodily infirmity or any other

cause, were unable to attend to their own concerns. The people

were then allowed to work on their own ground, each man for

himself, but with the general obligation to assist his neighbour,

when any circumstance - the burden of a young and numerous

family, for example - might demand it. *16 Lastly, they

cultivated the lands of the Inca. This was done, with great

ceremony, by the whole population in a body. At break of day,

they were summoned together by proclamation from some

neighbouring tower or eminence, and all the inhabitants of the

district, men, women, and children, appeared dressed in their

gayest apparel, bedecked with their little store of finery and

ornaments, as if for some great jubilee. They went through the

labors of the day with the same joyous spirit, chanting their

popular ballads which commemorated the heroic deeds of the Incas,

regulating their movements by the measure of the chant, and all

mingling in the chorus, of which the word hailli, or "triumph,"

was usually the burden. These national airs had something soft

and pleasing in their character, that recommended them to the

Spaniards; and many a Peruvian song was set to music by them

after the Conquest, and was listened to by the unfortunate

natives with melancholy satisfaction, as it called up

recollections of the past, when their days glided peacefully away

under the sceptre of the Incas. *17

[Footnote 16: Garcilasso relates that an Indian was hanged by

Huayna Capac for tilling a curaca's ground, his near relation,

before that of the poor. The gallows was erected on the curaca's

own land. Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 2.]

[Footnote 17: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 1-3. - Ondegardo, Rel.

Seg., Ms.]

A similar arrangement prevailed with respect to the different

manufactures as to the agricultural products of the country. The

flocks of llamas, or Peruvian sheep, were appropriated

exclusively to the Sun and to the Inca. *18 Their number was

immense. They were scattered over the different provinces,

chiefly in the colder regions of the country, where they were

intrusted to the care of experienced shepherds, who conducted

them to different pastures according to the change of season. A

large number was every year sent to the capital for the

consumption of the Court, and for the religious festivals and

sacrifices. But these were only the males, as no female was

allowed to be killed. The regulations for the care and breeding

of these flocks were prescribed with the greatest minuteness, and

with a sagacity which excited the admiration of the Spaniards,

who were familiar with the management of the great migratory

flocks of merinos in their own country. *19

[Footnote 18: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

Yet sometimes the sovereign would recompense some great chief, or

even some one among the people, who had rendered him a service,

by the grant of a small number of llamas, - never many. These

were not to be disposed of or killed by their owners, but

descended as common property to their heirs. This strange

arrangement proved a fruitful source of litigation after the

Conquest. Ibid., ubi supra.]

[Footnote 19: See especially the account of the Licentiate

Ondegardo, who goes into more detail than any contemporary

writer, concerning the management of the Peruvian flocks. Rel.

Seg., Ms.]

At the appointed season, they were all sheared, and the wool was

deposited in the public magazines. It was then dealt out to each

family in such quantities as sufficed for its wants, and was

consigned to the female part of the household, who were well

instructed in the business of spinning and weaving When this

labor was accomplished, and the family was provided with a coarse

but warm covering, suited to the cold climate of the mountains, -

for, in the lower country, cotton, furnished in like manner by

the Crown, took the place, to a certain extent, of wool, - the

people were required to labor for the Inca. The quantity of the

cloth needed, as well as the peculiar kind and quality of the

fabric, was first determined at Cuzco. The work was then

apportioned among the different provinces. Officers, appointed

for the purpose, superintended the distribution of the wool, so

that the manufacture of the different articles should be

intrusted to the most competent hands. *20 They did not leave the

matter here but entered the dwellings, from time to time, and saw

that the work was faithfully executed. This domestic inquisition

was not confined to the labors for the Inca. It included, also,

those for the several families; and care was taken that each

household should employ the materials furnished for its own use

in the manner that was intended, so that no one should be

unprovided with necessary apparel. *21 In this domestic labor all

the female part of the establishment was expected to join.

Occupation was found for all, from the child five years old to

the aged matron not too infirm to hold a distaff. No one, at

least none but the decrepit and the sick, was allowed to eat the

bread of idleness in Peru. Idleness was a crime in the eye of

the law, and, as such, severely punished; while industry was

publicly commended and stimulated by rewards. *22

[Footnote 20: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim. et Seg., Mss.

The manufacture of cloths for the Inca included those for the

numerous persons of the blood royal, who wore garments of a finer

texture than was permitted to any other Peruvian. Garcilasso,

Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 6.]

[Footnote 21: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms - Acosta, lib. 6, cap.

15.]

[Footnote 22: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1 lib. 5, cap. 11.]

The like course was pursued with reference to the other

requisitions of the government. All the mines in the kingdom

belonged to the Inca. They were wrought exclusively for his

benefit, by persons familiar with this service, and selected from

the districts where the mines were situated. *23 Every Peruvian

of the lower class was a husbandman, and, with the exception of

those already specified, was expected to provide for his own

support by the cultivation of his land. A small portion of the

community, however, was instructed in mechanical arts; some of

them of the more elegant kind, subservient to the purposes of

luxury and ornament. The demand for these was chiefly limited to

the sovereign and his Court; but the labor of a larger number of

hands was exacted for the execution of the great public works

which covered the land. The nature and amount of the services

required were all determined at Cuzco by commissioners well

instructed in the resources of the country, and in the character

of the inhabitants of different provinces. *24

[Footnote 23: Garcilasso would have us believe that the Inca was

indebted to the curacas for his gold and silver, which were

furnished by the great vassals as presents. (Com. Real., Parte

1, lib. 5, cap. 7.) This improbable statement is contradicted by

the Report of the Royal Audience, Ms., by Sarmiento, (Relacion,

Ms., cap. 15,) and by Ondegardo, (Rel. Prim., Ms.) who all speak

of the mines as the property of the government, and wrought

exclusively for its benefit. From this reservoir the proceeds

were liberally dispensed in the form of presents among the great

lords, and still more for the embellishment of the temples.]

[Footnote 24: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 13 -

16. - Ondegardo, Rel. Prim. et Seg., Mss.]

This information was obtained by an admirable regulation, which

has scarcely a counterpart in the annals of a semi-civilized

people. A register was kept of all the births and deaths

throughout the country, and exact returns of the actual

population were made to government every year, by means of the

quipus, a curious invention, which will be explained hereafter.

*25 At certain intervals, also, a general survey of the country

was made, exhibiting a complete view of the character of the

soil, its fertility, the nature of its products, both

agricultural and mineral, - in short, of all that constituted the

physical resources of the empire. *26 Furnished with these

statistical details, it was easy for the government, after

determining the amount of requisitions, to distribute the work

among the respective provinces best qualified to execute it. The

task of apportioning the labor was assigned to the local

authorities, and great care was taken that it should be done in

such a manner, that, while the most competent hands were

selected, it should not fall disproportionately heavy on any. *27

[Footnote 25: Montesinos, Mem. Antiguas, Ms., lib. 2, cap. 6. -

Pedro Pizarro, Relacion del Descubrimiento y Conquista de los

Reynos del Peru, Ms.

"Cada provincia, en fin del ano, mandava asentar en los quipos,

por la cuenta de sus nudos, todos los hombres que habian muerto

en ella en aquel ano, y por el consiguiente los que habian

nacido, y por principio del ano que entraba, venian con los

quipos al Cuzco." Sarmiento, Relacion Ms., cap. 16.]

[Footnote 26: Garcilasso, Com. Real. Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 14.]

[Footnote 27: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Sarmiento, Rel., Ms.,

cap. 15.

"Presupuesta y entendida la dicha division que el Inga tenia

hecha de su gente, y orden que tenia puesta en el govierno de

ella, era muy facil haverla en la division y cobranza de los

dichos tributos; porque era claro y cierto lo que a cada uno

cabia sin que hubiese desigualdad ni engano." Dec. de la Aud.

Real., Ms.]

The different provinces of the country furnished persons

peculiarly suited to different employments, which, as we shall

see hereafter, usually descended from father to son. Thus, one

district supplied those most skilled in working the mines,

another the most curious workers in metals, or in wood, and so

on. *28 The artisan was provided by government with the

materials; and no one was required to give more than a stipulated

portion of his time to the public service. He was then succeeded

by another for the like term; and it should be observed, that all

who were engaged in the employment of the government - and the

remark applies equally to agricultural labor - were maintained,

for the time, at the public expense. *29 By this constant

rotation of labor, it was intended that no one should be

overburdened, and that each man should have time to provide for

the demands of his own household. It was impossible - in the

judgment of a high Spanish authority - to improve on the system

of distribution, so carefully was it accommodated to the

condition and comfort of the artisan. *30 The security of the

working classes seems to have been ever kept in view in the

regulations of the government; and these were so discreetly

arranged, that the most wearing and unwholesome labors, as those

of the mines, occasioned no detriment to the health of the

laborer; a striking contrast to his subsequent condition under

the Spanish rule. *31

[Footnote 28: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 15. - Ondegardo,

Rel. Seg., Ms.]

[Footnote 29: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com.

Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 5.]

[Footnote 30: "Y tambien se tenia cuenta que el trabajo que

pasavan fuese moderado, y con el menos riesgo que fuese posible.

. . . . . . Era tanta la orden que tuvieron estos Indios, que a

mi parecer aunque mucho se piense en ello Seria dificultoso

mejorarla conocida su condicion y costumbres." Ondegardo, Rel.

Prim., Ms.]

[Footnote 31: "The working of the mines," says the President of

the Council of the Indies, "was so regulated that no one felt it

a hardship, much less was his life shortened by it." (Sarmiento,

Relacion, Ms., cap. 15) It is a frank admission for a Spaniard.]

A part of the agricultural produce and manufactures was

transported to Cuzco, to minister to the immediate demands of the

Inca and his Court. But far the greater part was stored in

magazines scattered over the different provinces. These spacious

buildings, constructed of stone, were divided between the Sun and

the Inca, though the greater share seems to have been

appropriated by the monarch. By a wise regulation, any

deficiency in the contributions of the Inca might be supplied

from the granaries of the Sun. *32 But such a necessity could

rarely have happened; and the providence of the government

usually left a large surplus in the royal depositories, which was

removed to a third class of magazines, whose design was to supply

the people in seasons of scarcity, and, occasionally, to furnish

relief to individuals, whom sickness or misfortune had reduced to

poverty; thus, in a manner, justifying the assertion of a

Castilian document, that a large portion of the revenues of the

Inca found its way back again, through one channel or another,

into the hands of the people. *33 These magazines were found by

the Spaniards, on their arrival, stored with all the various

products and manufactures of the country, - with maize, coca,

quinua, woollen and cotton stuffs of the finest quality, with

vases and utensils of gold, silver, and copper, in short, with

every article of luxury or use within the compass of Peruvian

skill. *34 The magazines of grain, in particular, would

frequently have sufficed for the consumption of the adjoining

district for several years. *35 An inventory of the various

products of the country, and the quarters whence they were

obtained, was every year taken by the royal officers, and

recorded by the quipucamayus on their registers, with surprising

regularity and precision. These registers were transmitted to the

capital, and submitted to the Inca, who could thus at a glance,

as it were, embrace the whole results of the national industry,

and see how far they corresponded with the requisitions of

government. *36

[Footnote 32: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 34. -

Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

"E asi esta parte del Inga no hay duda sino que de todas tres era

la mayor, y en los depositos se parece bien que yo visite muchos

en diferentes partes, e son mayores e mas largos que no los de su

religion sin comparasion." Idem, Rel. Seg., Ms.]

[Footnote 33: "Todos los dichos tributos y servicios que el Inga

imponia y llevaba como dicho es eran con color y para efecto del

govierno y pro comun de todos asi como lo que se ponia en

depositos todo se combertia y distribuia entre los mismos

naturales." Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.]

[Footnote 34: Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 15.

"No podre decir," says one of the Conquerors, "los depositos.

Vide de rropas y de todos generos de rropas y vestidos que en

este reino se hacian y vsavan que faltava tiempo para vello y

entendimiento para comprender tanta cosa, muchos depositos de

barretas de cobre para las minas y de costales y sogas de vasos

de palo y platos del oro y plata que aqui se hallo hera cosa

despanto." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 35: For ten years, sometimes, if we may credit

Ondegardo, who had every means of knowing. "E ansi cuando no era

menester se estaba en los depositos e habia algunas vezes comida

de diez anos. . . . . . Los cuales todos se hallaron Ilenos

cuando Ilegaron los Espanoles desto y de todas las cosas

necesarias para la vida humana" Rel. Seg., Ms.]

[Footnote 36: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

"Por tanta orden e cuenta que seria dificultoso creerlo ni darlo

a entender como ellos lo tienen en su cuenta e por registros e

por menudo lo manifestaron que se pudiera por estenso." Idem,

Rel. Seg., Ms.]

Such are some of the most remarkable features of the Peruvian

institutions relating to property, as delineated by writers who,

however contradictory in the details, have a general conformity

of outline. These institutions are certainly so remarkable, that

it is hardly credible they should ever have been enforced

throughout a great empire, and for a long period of years. Yet

we have the most unequivocal testimony to the fact from the

Spaniards, who landed in Peru in time to witness their operation;

some of whom, men of high judicial station and character, were

commissioned by the government to make investigations into the

state of the country under its ancient rulers.

The impositions on the Peruvian people seem to have been

sufficiently heavy. On them rested the whole burden of

maintaining, not only their own order, but every other order in

the state. The members of the royal house, the great nobles,

even the public functionaries, and the numerous body of the

priesthood, were all exempt from taxation. *37 The whole duty of

defraying the expenses of the government belonged to the people.

Yet this was not materially different from the condition of

things formerly existing in most parts of Europe, where the

various privileged classes claimed exemption - not always with

success, indeed - from bearing part of the public burdens. The

great hardship in the case of the Peruvian was, that he could not

better his condition. His labors were for others, rather than

for himself. However industrious, he could not add a rood to his

own possessions, nor advance himself one hair's breadth in the

social scale. The great and universal motive to honest industry,

that of bettering one's lot, was lost upon him. The great law of

human progress was not for him. As he was born, so he was to

die. Even his time he could not properly call his own. Without

money, with little property of any kind, he paid his taxes in

labor. *38 No wonder that the government should have dealt with

sloth as a crime. It was a crime against the state, and to be

wasteful of time was, in a manner, to rob the exchequer. The

Peruvian, laboring all his life for others, might be compared to

the convict in a treadmill, going the same dull round of

incessant toil, with the consciousness, that, however profitable

the results to the state, they were nothing to him.

[Footnote 37: Garcilasso. Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 15.]

[Footnote 38: "Solo el trabajo de las personas era el tributo que

se dava, porque ellos no poseian otra cosa." Ondegardo, Rel.

Prim., Ms.]

But this is the dark side of the picture. If no man could become

rich in Peru, no man could become poor. No spendthrift could

waste his substance in riotous luxury. No adventurous schemer

could impoverish his family by the spirit of speculation. The

law was constantly directed to enforce a steady industry and a

sober management of his affairs. No mendicant was tolerated in

Peru. When a man was reduced by poverty or misfortune, (it could

hardly be by fault,) the arm of the law was stretched out to

minister relief; not the stinted relief of private charity, nor

that which is doled out, drop by drop, as it were, from the

frozen reservoirs of "the parish," but in generous measure,

bringing no humiliation to the object of it, and placing him on a

level with the rest of his countrymen. *39

[Footnote 39: "Era tanta la orden que tenia en todos sus Reinos y

provincias, que no consentia haver ningun Indio pobre ni

menesteroso, porque havia orden i formas para ello sin que los

pueblos reciviesen vexacion ni molestia, porque el Inga lo suplia

de sus tributos." (Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.) The Licentiate

Ondegardo sees only a device of Satan in these provisions of the

Peruvian law, by which the old, the infirm, and the poor were

rendered, in a manner, independent of their children, and those

nearest of kin, on whom they would naturally have leaned for

support; no surer way to harden the heart, he considers, than by

thus disengaging it from the sympathies of humanity; and no

circumstance has done more, he concludes, to counteract the

influence and spread of Christianity among the natives. (Rel.

Seg., Ms.) The views are ingenious, but, in a country where the

people had no property, as in Peru, there would seem to be no

alternative for the supernumeraries, but to receive support from

government or to starve.]

No man could be rich, no man could be poor, in Peru; but all

might enjoy, and did enjoy, a competence. Ambition, avarice, the

love of change, the morbid spirit of discontent, those passions

which most agitate the minds of men, found no place in the bosom

of the Peruvian. The very condition of his being seemed to be at

war with change. He moved on in the same unbroken circle in

which his fathers had moved before him, and in which his children

were to follow. It was the object of the Incas to infuse into

their subjects a spirit of passive obedience and tranquillity, -

a perfect acquiescence in the established order of things. In

this they fully succeeded. The Spaniards who first visited the

country are emphatic in their testimony, that no government could

have been better suited to the genius of the people; and no

people could have appeared more contented with their lot, or more

devoted to their government. *40

[Footnote 40: Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 12, 15. - Sarmiento, Relacion,

Ms., cap. 10]

Those who may distrust the accounts of Peruvian industry will

find their doubts removed on a visit to the country. The

traveller still meets, especially in the central regions of the

table-land, with memorials of the past, remains of temples,

palaces, fortresses, terraced mountains, great military roads,

aqueducts, and other public works, which, whatever degree of

science they may display in their execution, astonish him by

their number, the massive character of the materials, and the

grandeur of the design. Among them, perhaps the most remarkable

are the great roads, the broken remains of which are still in

sufficient preservation to attest their former magnificence.

There were many of these roads, traversing different parts of the

kingdom; but the most considerable were the two which extended

from Quito to Cuzco, and, again diverging from the capital,

continued in a southern direction towards Chili.

One of these roads passed over the grand plateau, and the other

along the lowlands on the borders of the ocean. The former was

much the more difficult achievement, from the character of the

country. It was conducted over pathless sierras buried in snow;

galleries were cut for leagues through the living rock; rivers

were crossed by means of bridges that swung suspended in the air;

precipices were scaled by stairways hewn out of the native bed;

ravines of hideous depth were filled up with solid masonry; in

short, all the difficulties that beset a wild and mountainous

region, and which might appall the most courageous engineer of

modern times, were encountered and successfully overcome. The

length of the road, of which scattered fragments only remain, is

variously estimated, from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles;

and stone pillars, in the manner of European milestones, were

erected at stated intervals of somewhat more than a league, all

along the route. Its breadth scarcely exceeded twenty feet. *41

It was built of heavy flags of freestone, and in some parts, at

least, covered with a bituminous cement, which time has made

harder than the stone itself. In some places, where the ravines

had been filled up with masonry, the mountain torrents, wearing

on it for ages, have gradually eaten a way through the base, and

left the superincumbent mass - such is the cohesion of the

materials - still spanning the valley like an arch! *42

[Footnote 41: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.

"Este camino hecho por valles ondos y por sierras altas, por

montes de nieve, por tremedales de agua y por pena viva y junto a

rios furiosos por estas partes y ballano y empedrado por las

laderas, bien sacado por las sierras, deshechado, por las penas

socavado, por junto a los Rios sus paredes, entre nieves con

escalones y descanso, por todas partes limpio barrido

descombrado, lleno de aposentos, de depositos de tesoros, de

Templos del Sol, de Postas que havia en este camino." Sarmiento,

Relacion, Ms., cap. 60.]

[Footnote 42: "On avait comble les vides et les ravins par de

grandes masses de maconnerie. Les torrents qui descendent des

hauteurs apres des pluies abondantes, avaient creuse les endroits

les moins solides, et s'etaient fraye une voie sous le chemin, le

laissant ainsi suspendu en l'air comme un pont fait d'une seule

piece." (Velasco, Hist. de Quito, tom. l. p. 206.) This writer

speaks from personal observation, having examined and measured

different parts of the road, in the latter part of the road, in

the latter part of the last century. The Spanish scholar will

find in Appendix, No. 2., an animated description of this

magnificent work, and of the obstacles encountered in the

execution of it, in a passage borrowed from Sarmiento, who saw it

in the days of the Incas.]

Over some of the boldest streams it was necessary to construct

suspension bridges, as they are termed, made of the tough fibres

of the maguey, or of the osier of the country, which has an

extraordinary degree of tenacity and strength. These osiers were

woven into cables of the thickness of a man's body. The huge

ropes, then stretched across the water, were conducted through

rings or holes cut in immense buttresses of stone raised on the

opposite banks of the river, and there secured to heavy pieces of

timber. Several of these enormous cables, bound together, formed

a bridge, which, covered with planks, well secured and defended

by a railing of the same osier materials on the sides, afforded a

safe passage for the traveller. The length of this aerial bridge,

sometimes exceeding two hundred feet, caused it, confined, as it

was, only at the extremities, to dip with an alarming inclination

towards the centre, while the motion given to it by the passenger

occasioned an oscillation still more frightful, as his eye

wandered over the dark abyss of waters that foamed and tumbled

many a fathom beneath. Yet these light and fragile fabrics were

crossed without fear by the Peruvians, and are still retained by

the Spaniards over those streams which, from the depth or

impetuosity of the current, would seem impracticable for the

usual modes of conveyance. The wider and more tranquil waters

were crossed on balsas - a kind of raft still much used by the

natives - to which sails were attached, furnishing the only

instance of this higher kind of navigation among the American

Indians. *43

[Footnote 43: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 7.

A particular account of these bridges, as they are still to be

seen in different parts of Peru, may be found in Humboldt. (Vues

des Cordilleres, p. 230, et seq.) The balsas are described with

equal minuteness by Stevenson. Residence in America, vol. II. p.

222. et seq.]

The other great road of the Incas lay through the level country

between the Andes and the ocean. It was constructed in a

different manner, as demanded by the nature of the ground, which

was for the most part low, and much of it sandy. The causeway

was raised on a high embankment of earth, and defended on either

side by a parapet or wall of clay; and trees and odoriferous

shrubs were planted along the margin, regaling the sense of the

traveller with their perfumes, and refreshing him by their

shades, so grateful under the burning sky of the tropics. In the

strips of sandy waste, which occasionally intervened, where the

light and volatile soil was incapable of sustaining a road, huge

piles, many of them to be seen at this day, were driven into the

ground to indicate the route to the traveller. *44

[Footnote 44: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 60. - Relacion del

Primer Descubrimiento de la Costa y Mar del Sur, Ms.

This anonymous document of one of the early Conquerors contains a

minute and probably trustworthy account of both the high roads,

which the writer saw in their glory, and which he ranks among the

greatest wonders of the world.]

All along these highways, caravansaries, or tambos, as they were

called, were erected, at the distance of ten or twelve miles from

each other, for the accommodation, more particularly, of the Inca

and his suite, and those who journeyed on the public business.

There were few other travellers in Peru. Some of these buildings

were on an extensive scale, consisting of a fortress, barracks,

and other military works, surrounded by a parapet of stone, and

covering a large tract of ground. These were evidently destined

for the accommodation of the imperial armies, when on their march

across the country. - The care of the great roads was committed

to the districts through which they passed, and a large number of

hands was constantly employed under the Incas to keep them in

repair. This was the more easily done in a country where the

mode of travelling was altogether on foot; though the roads are

said to have been so nicely constructed, that a carriage might

have rolled over them as securely as on any of the great roads of

Europe. *45 Still, in a region where the elements of fire and

water are both actively at work in the business of destruction,

they must, without constant supervision, have gradually gone to

decay. Such has been their fate under the Spanish conquerors,

who took no care to enforce the admirable system for their

preservation adopted by the Incas. Yet the broken portions that

still survive, here and there, like the fragments of the great

Roman roads scattered over Europe, bear evidence to their

primitive grandeur, and have drawn forth the eulogium from a

discriminating traveller, usually not too profuse in his

panegyric, that "the roads of the Incas were among the most

useful and stupendous works ever executed by man." *46

[Footnote 45: Relacion del Primer Descub., Ms. - Cieza de Leon,

Cronica, cap. 37. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 11. -

Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 9, cap. 13.]

[Footnote 46: "Cette chaussee, bordee de grandes pierres de

taille, puet etre comparee aux plus belles routes des Romains que

j'aie vues en Italie, en France et en Espagne . . . . . . Le

grand chemin de l'Inca, un des ouvrages les plus utiles, et en

meme temps des plus gigantesques que les hommes aient execute."

Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, p. 294.]

The system of communication through their dominions was still

further improved by the Peruvian sovereigns, by the introduction

of posts, in the same manner as was done by the Aztecs. The

Peruvian posts, however, established on all the great routes that

conducted to the capital, were on a much more extended plan than

those in Mexico. All along these routes, small buildings were

erected, at the distance of less than five miles asunder, *47 in

each of which a number of runners, or chasquis, as they were

called, were stationed to carry forward the despatches of

government. *48 These despatches were either verbal, or conveyed

by means of quipus, and sometimes accompanied by a thread of the

crimson fringe worn round the temples of the Inca, which was

regarded with the same implicit deference as the signet ring of

an Oriental despot. *49

[Footnote 47: The distance between the posthouses is variously

stated; most writers not estimating it at more than three fourths

of a league. I have preferred the authority of Ondegardo, who

usually writes with more conscientiousness and knowledge of his

ground than most of his contemporaries.]

[Footnote 48: The term chasqui, according to Montesinos,

signifies "one that receives a thing." (Me. Antiguas, Ms., cap.

7) But Garcilasso, a better authority for his own tongue, says it

meant "one who makes an exchange." Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 6,

cap. 8.]

[Footnote 49: "Con vn hilo de esta Borla, entregado a uno de

aquellos Orejones, governaban la Tierra, i proveian lo que

querian con maior obediencia, que en ninguna Provincia del Mundo

se ha visto tener a las Provissiones de su Rei." Zarate, Conq.

del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 9.]

The chasquis were dressed in a peculiar livery, intimating their

profession. They were all trained to the employment, and

selected for their speed and fidelity. As the distance each

courier had to perform was small, and as he had ample time to

refresh himself at the stations, they ran over the ground with

great swiftness, and messages were carried through the whole

extent of the long routes, at the rate of a hundred and fifty

miles a day. The office of the chasquis was not limited to

carrying despatches. They frequently brought various articles

for the use of the Court; and in this way, fish from the distant

ocean, fruits, game, and different commodities from the hot

regions on the coast, were taken to the capital in good

condition, and served fresh at the royal table. *50 It is

remarkable that this important institution should have been known

to both the Mexicans and the Peruvians without any correspondence

with one another; and that it should have been found among two

barbarian nations of the New World, long before it was introduced

among the civilized nations of Europe. *51

[Footnote 50: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 18. - Dec. de la

Aud. Real., Ms.

If we may trust Montesinos, the royal table was served with fish,

taken a hundred leagues from the capital, in twenty-four hours

after it was drawn from the ocean! (Men. Antiguas, Ms., lib. 2,

cap. 7.) This is rather too expeditious for any thing but

rail-cars.]

[Footnote 51: The institution of the Peruvian posts seems to have

made a great impression on the minds of the Spaniards who first

visited the country; and ample notices of it may be found in

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 15. - Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. -

Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 5. - Conq. i

Pob. del Piru, Ms., et auct. plurimis.

The establishment of posts is of old date among the Chinese, and,

probably, still older among the Persians. (See Herodotus, Hist.,

Urania, sec. 98.) It is singular, that an invention designed for

the uses of a despotic government should have received its full

application only under a free one. For in it we have the germ of

that beautiful system of intercommunication, which binds all the

nations of Christendom together as one vast commonwealth.]

By these wise contrivances of the Incas, the most distant parts

of the long-extended empire of Peru were brought into intimate

relations with each other. And while the capitals of

Christendom, but a few hundred miles apart, remained as far

asunder as if seas had rolled between them, the great capitals

Cuzco and Quito were placed by the high roads of the Incas in

immediate correspondence. Intelligence from the numerous

provinces was transmitted on the wings of the wind to the

Peruvian metropolis, the great focus to which all the lines of

communication converged. Not an insurrectionary movement could

occur, not an invasion on the remotest frontier, before the

tidings were conveyed to the capital, and the imperial armies

were on their march across the magnificent roads of the country

to suppress it. So admirable was the machinery contrived by the

American despots for maintaining tranquillity throughout their

dominions! It may remind us of the similar institutions of

ancient Rome, when, under the Caesars, she was mistress of half

the world.

A principal design of the great roads was to serve the purposes

of military communication. It formed an important item of their

military policy, which is quite as well worth studying as their

municipal.

Notwithstanding the pacific professions of the Incas, and the

pacific tendency, indeed, of their domestic institutions, they

were constantly at war. It was by war that their paltry territory

had been gradually enlarged to a powerful empire. When this was

achieved, the capital, safe in its central position, was no

longer shaken by these military movements, and the country

enjoyed, in a great degree, the blessings of tranquillity and

order. But, however tranquil at heart, there is not a reign upon

record in which the nation was not engaged in war against the

barbarous nations on the frontier. Religion furnished a plausible

pretext for incessant aggression, and disguised the lust of

conquest in the Incas, probably, from their own eyes, as well as

from those of their subjects. Like the followers of Mahomet,

bearing the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other, the

Incas of Peru offered no alternative but the worship of the Sun

or war.

It is true, their fanaticism - or their policy - showed itself in

a milder form than was found in the descendants of the Prophet.

Like the great luminary which they adored, they operated by

gentleness more potent than violence. *52 They sought to soften

the hearts of the rude tribes around them, and melt them by acts

of condescension and kindness. Far from provoking hostilities,

they allowed time for the salutary example of their own

institutions to work its effect, trusting that their less

civilized neighbours would submit to their sceptre, from a

conviction of the blessings it would secure to them. When this

course failed, they employed other measures, but still of a

pacific character; and endeavoured by negotiation, by

conciliatory treatment, and by presents to the leading men, to

win them over to their dominion. In short, they practised all

the arts familiar to the most subtle politician of a civilized

land to secure the acquisition of empire. When all these

expedients failed, they prepared for war.

[Footnote 52: "Mas se hicieron Senores al za." Ondegardo, Rel.

Prim., principio por mana, que por fuer- Ms.]

Their levies were drawn from all the different provinces; though

from some, where the character of the people was particularly

hardy, more than from others. *53 It seems probable that every

Peruvian, who had reached a certain age, might be called to bear

arms. But the rotation of military service, and the regular

drills, which took place twice or thrice in a month, of the

inhabitants of every village, raised the soldiers generally above

the rank of a raw militia. The Peruvian army, at first

inconsiderable, came, with the increase of population, in the

latter days of the empire, to be very large, so that their

monarchs could bring into the field, as contemporaries assure us,

a force amounting to two hundred thousand men. They showed the

same skill and respect for order in their military organization,

as in other things. The troops were divided into bodies

corresponding with out battalions and companies, led by officers,

that rose, in regular gradation, from the lowest subaltern to the

Inca noble, who was intrusted with the general command. *54

[Footnote 53: Idem, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.]

[Footnote 54: Gomara, Cronica, cap. 195 - Conq. i Pob. del Piru,

Ms.]

Their arms consisted of the usual weapons employed by nations,

whether civilized or uncivilized, before the invention of powder,

- bows and arrows, lances, darts, a short kind of sword, a

battle-axe or partisan, and slings, with which they were very

expert. Their spears and arrows were tipped with copper, or,

more commonly, with bone, and the weapons of the Inca lords were

frequently mounted with gold or silver. Their heads were

protected by casques made either of wood or of the skins of wild

animals, and sometimes richly decorated with metal and with

precious stones, surmounted by the brilliant plumage of the

tropical birds. These, of course, were the ornaments only of the

higher orders. The great mass of the soldiery were dressed in

the peculiar costume of their provinces, and their heads were

wreathed with a sort of turban or roll of different-colored

cloths, that produced a gay and animating effect. Their

defensive armor consisted of a shield or buckler, and a close

tunic of quilted cotton, in the same manner as with the Mexicans.

Each company had its particular banner, and the imperial

standard, high above all, displayed the glittering device of the

rainbow, - the armorial ensign of the Incas, intimating their

claims as children of the skies. *55

[Footnote 55: Gomara, Cronica, ubi supra. - Sarmiento, Relacion,

Ms., cap. 20. - Velasco, Hist. de Quito, tom. I. pp. 176-179.

This last writer gives a minute catalogue of the ancient Peruvian

arms, comprehending nearly every thing familiar to the European

soldier, except fire-arms. - It was judicious in him to omit

these.]

By means of the thorough system of communication established in

the country, a short time sufficed to draw the levies together

from the most distant quarters. The army was put under the

direction of some experienced chief, of the blood royal, or, more

frequently, headed by the Inca in person. The march was rapidly

performed, and with little fatigue to the soldier; for, all along

the great routes, quarters were provided for him, at regular

distances, where he could find ample accommodations. The country

is still covered with the remains of military works, constructed

of porphyry or granite, which tradition assures us were designed

to lodge the Inca and his army. *56

[Footnote 56: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 11. -

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 60.

Condamine speaks of the great number of these fortified places,

scattered over the country between Quito and Lima, which he saw

in his visit to South America in 1737; some of which he has

described with great minuteness. Memoire sur Quelques Anciens

Monumens du Perou, du Tems des Incas, ap. Histoire de l'Academie

Royale des Sciences et de Belles Lettres, (Berlin, 1748,) tom.

II. p. 438.]

At regular intervals, also, magazines were established, filled

with grain, weapons, and the different munitions of war, with

which the army was supplied on its march. It was the especial

care of the government to see that these magazines, which were

furnished from the stores of the Incas, were always well filled.

When the Spaniards invaded the country, they supported their own

armies for a long time on the provisions found in them. *57 The

Peruvian soldier was forbidden to commit any trespass on the

property of the inhabitants whose territory lay in the line of

march. Any violation of this order was punished with death. *58

The soldier was clothed and fed by the industry of the people,

and the Incas rightly resolved that he should not repay this by

violence. Far from being a tax on the labors of the husbandman,

or even a burden on his hospitality, the imperial armies

traversed the country, from one extremity to the other, with as

little inconvenience to the inhabitants, as would be created by a

procession of peaceful burghers, or a muster of holiday soldiers

for a review.

[Footnote 57: "E ansi cuando," says Ondegardo, speaking from his

own personal knowledge, "el Senor Presidente Gasca passo con la

gente de castigo de Gonzalo Pizarro por el valle de Jauja, estuvo

alli siete semanas a lo que me acuerdo, se hallaron en deposito

maiz de cuatro y de tres y de dos anos mas de 15 hanegas junto al

camino, e alli comio la gente, y se entendio que si fuera

menester muchas mas no faltaran en el valle en aquellos

depositos, conforme a la orden antigua, porque a mi cargo estubo

el repartirlas y hacer la cuenta para pagarlas." Rel. Seg., Ms.]

[Footnote 58: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Cieza de

Leon, Cronica, cap. 44. - Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 14.]

From the moment war was proclaimed, the Peruvian monarch used all

possible expedition in assembling his forces, that he might

anticipate the movements of his enemies, and prevent a

combination with their allies. It was, however, from the neglect

of such a principle of combination, that the several nations of

the country, who might have prevailed by confederated strength,

fell one after another under the imperial yoke. Yet, once in the

field, the Inca did not usually show any disposition to push his

advantages to the utmost, and urge his foe to extremity. In

every stage of the war, he was open to propositions for peace;

and although he sought to reduce his enemies by carrying off

their harvests and distressing them by famine, he allowed his

troops to commit no unnecessary outrage on person or property.

"We must spare our enemies," one of the Peruvian princes is

quoted as saying, "or it will be our loss, since they and all

that belongs to them must soon be ours." *59 It was a wise maxim,

and, like most other wise maxims, founded equally on benevolence

and prudence. The Incas adopted the policy claimed for the

Romans by their countryman, who tells us that they gained more by

clemency to the vanquished than by their victories. *60

[Footnote 59: "Mandabase que en los mantenimientos y casas de los

enemigos se hiciese poco dano, diciendoles el Senor, presto seran

estos nuestros como los que ya lo son; como esto tenian conocido,

procuraban que la guerra fuese la mas liviana que ser pudiese."

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 14.]

[Footnote 60: "Plus pene parcendo victis, quam vincendo imperium

auxisse.' Livy, lib. 30, cap. 42.]

In the same considerate spirit, they were most careful to provide

for the security and comfort of their own troops; and, when a war

was long protracted, or the climate proved unhealthy, they took

care to relieve their men by frequent reinforcements, allowing

the earlier recruits to return to their homes. *61 But while thus

economical of life, both in their own followers and in the enemy,

they did not shrink from sterner measures when provoked by the

ferocious or obstinate character of the resistance; and the

Peruvian annals contain more than one of those sanguinary pages

which cannot be pondered at the present day without a shudder.

It should be added, that the beneficent policy, which I have been

delineating as characteristic of the Incas, did not belong to

all; and that there was more than one of the royal line who

displayed a full measure of the bold and unscrupulous spirit of

the vulgar conqueror.

[Footnote 61: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 18.]

The first step of the government, after the reduction of a

country, was to introduce there the worship of the Sun. Temples

were erected, and placed under the care of a numerous priesthood,

who expounded to the conquered people the mysteries of their new

faith, and dazzled them by the display of its rich and stately

ceremonial. *62 Yet the religion of the conquered was not treated

with dishonor. The Sun was to be worshipped above all; but the

images of their gods were removed to Cuzco and established in one

of the temples, to hold their rank among the inferior deities of

the Peruvian Pantheon. Here they remained as hostages, in some

sort, for the conquered nation, which would be the less inclined

to forsake its allegiance, when by doing so it must leave its own

gods in the hands of its enemies. *63

[Footnote 62: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 14.]

[Footnote 63: Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 12. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 12.]

The Incas provided for the settlement of their new conquests, by

ordering a census to be taken of the population, and a careful

survey to be made of the country, ascertaining its products, and

the character and capacity of its soil. *64 A division of the

territory was then made on the same principle with that adopted

throughout their own kingdom; and their respective portions were

assigned to the Sun, the sovereign, and the people. The amount of

the last was regulated by the amount of the population, but the

share of each individual was uniformly the same. It may seem

strange, that any people should patiently have acquiesced in an

arrangement which involved such a total surrender of property.

But it was a conquered nation that did so, held in awe, on the

least suspicion of meditating resistance, by armed garrisons, who

were established at various commanding points throughout the

country. *65 It is probable, too, that the Incas made no greater

changes than was essential to the new arrangement, and that they

assigned estates, as far as possible, to their former

proprietors. The curacas, in particular, were confirmed in their

ancient authority; or, when it was found expedient to depose the

existing curaca, his rightful heir was allowed to succeed him.

*66 Every respect was shown to the ancient usages and laws of the

land, as far as was compatible with the fundamental institutions

of the Incas. It must also be remembered, that the conquered

tribes were, many of them, too little advanced in civilization to

possess that attachment to the soil which belongs to a cultivated

nation. *67 But, to whatever it be referred, it seems probable

that the extraordinary institutions of the Incas were established

with little opposition in the conquered territories. *68

[Footnote 64: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 13, 14. - Sarmiento,

Relacion, Ms., cap. 15.]

[Footnote 65: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 19.]

[Footnote 66: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap.

11.]

[Footnote 67: Sarmiento has given a very full and interesting

account of the singularly humane policy observed by the Incas in

their conquests, forming a striking contrast with the usual

course of those scourges of mankind, whom mankind are wise enough

to requite with higher admiration, even, than it bestows on its

benefactors. As Sarmiento, who was President of the Royal

Council of the Indies, and came into the country soon after the

Conquest, is a high authority, and as his work, lodged in the

dark recesses of the Escurial, is almost unknown, I have

transferred the whole chapter to Appendix, No. 3.]

[Footnote 68: According to Velasco, even the powerful state of

Quito, sufficiently advanced in civilization to have the law of

property well recognized by its people, admitted the institutions

of the Incas "not only without repugnance, but with joy." (Hist.

de Quito, tom. II. p. 183.) But Velasco, a modern authority,

believed easily, - or reckoned on his readers' doing so.]

Yet the Peruvian sovereigns did not trust altogether to this show

of obedience in their new vassals; and, to secure it more

effectually, they adopted some expedients too remarkable to be

passed by in silence. - Immediately after a recent conquest, the

curacas and their families were removed for a time to Cuzco.

Here they learned the language of the capital, became familiar

with the manners and usages of the court, as well as with the

general policy of government, and experienced such marks of favor

from the sovereign as would be most grateful to their feelings,

and might attach them most warmly to his person. Under the

influence of these sentiments, they were again sent to rule over

their vassals, but still leaving their eldest sons in the

capital, to remain there as a guaranty for their own fidelity, as

well as to grace the court of the Inca. *69

[Footnote 69: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 12;

lib. 7, cap. 2.]

Another expedient was of a bolder and more original character.

This was nothing less than to revolutionize the language of the

country. South America, like North, was broken up into a great

variety of dialects, or rather languages, having little affinity

with one another. This circumstance occasioned great

embarrassment to the government in the administration of the

different provinces, with whose idioms they were unacquainted.

It was determined, therefore, to substitute one universal

language, the Quichua, - the language of the court, the capital,

and the surrounding country, - the richest and most comprehensive

of the South American dialects. Teachers were provided in the

towns and villages throughout the land, who were to give

instruction to all, even the humblest classes; and it was

intimated at the same time, that no one should be raised to any

office of dignity or profit, who was unacquainted with this

tongue. The curacas and other chiefs, who attended at the

capital, became familiar with this dialect in their intercourse

with the Court, and, on their return home, set the example of

conversing in it among themselves. This example was imitated by

their followers, and the Quichua gradually became the language of

elegance and fashion, in the same manner as the Norman French was

affected by all those who aspired to any consideration in

England, after the Conquest. By this means, while each province

retained its peculiar tongue, a beautiful medium of communication

was introduced, which enabled the inhabitants of one part of the

country to hold intercourse with every other, and the Inca and

his deputies to communicate with all. This was the state of

things on the arrival of the Spaniards. It must be admitted,

that history furnishes few examples of more absolute authority

than such a revolution in the language of an empire, at the

bidding of a master. *70

[Footnote 70: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 35; lib. 7, cap. 1, 2.

- Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms. - Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 55.

"Aun la Criatura no hubiese dejado el Pecho de su Madre quando le

comenzasen a mostrar la Lengua que havia de saber; y aunque al

principio fue dificultoso, e muchos se pusieron en no quere

deprender mas lenguas de las suyas propias, los Reyes pudieron

tanto que salieron con su intencion y ellos tubieron por bien de

cumplir su mandado y tan de veras se entendio en ello que en

tiempo de pocos anos se savia y usaba una lengua en mas de mil y

doscientas leguas." Ibid., cap. 21.]

Yet little less remarkable was another device of the Incas for

securing the loyalty of their subjects. When any portion of the

recent conquests showed a pertinacious spirit of disaffection, it

was not uncommon to cause a part of the population, amounting, it

might be, to ten thousand inhabitants or more, to remove to a

distant quarter of the kingdom, occupied by ancient vassals of

undoubted fidelity to the crown. A like number of these last was

transplanted to the territory left vacant by the emigrants. By

this exchange, the population was composed of two distinct races,

who regarded each other with an eye of jealousy, that served as

an effectual check on any mutinous proceeding. In time, the

influence of the well-affected prevailed, supported, as they

were, by royal authority, and by the silent working of the

national institutions, to which the strange races became

gradually accustomed. A spirit of loyalty sprang up by degrees

in their bosoms, and, before a generation had passed away, the

different tribes mingled in harmony together as members of the

same community. *71 Yet the different races continued to be

distinguished by difference of dress; since, by the law of the

land, every citizen was required to wear the costume of his

native province. *72 Neither could the colonist, who had been

thus unceremoniously transplanted, return to his native district.

For, by another law, it was forbidden to any one to change his

residence without license. *73 He was settled for life. The

Peruvian government prescribed to every man his local habitation,

his sphere of action, nay, the very nature and quality of that

action. He ceased to be a free agent; it might be almost said,

that it relieved him of personal responsibility.

[Footnote 71: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Fernandez, Hist. del

Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 11.]

[Footnote 72: "This regulation," says Father Acosta, "the Incas

held to be of great importance to the order and right government

of the realm." lib. 6, cap. 16.]

[Footnote 73: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

In following out this singular arrangement, the Incas showed as

much regard for the comfort and convenience of the colonist as

was compatible with the execution of their design. They were

careful that the mitimaes, as these emigrants were styled, should

be removed to climates most congenial with their own. The

inhabitants of the cold countries were not transplanted to the

warm, nor the inhabitants of the warm countries to the cold. *74

Even their habitual occupations were consulted, and the fisherman

was settled in the neighbourhood of the ocean, or the great

lakes; while such lands were assigned to the husbandman as were

best adapted to the culture with which he was most familiar. *75

And, as migration by many, perhaps by most, would be regarded as

a calamity, the government was careful to show particular marks

of favor to the mitimaes, and, by various privileges and

immunities, to ameliorate their condition, and thus to reconcile

them, if possible, to their lot. *76

[Footnote 74: "Trasmutaban de las tales Provincias la cantidad de

gente de que de ella parecia convenir que saliese, a los cuales

mandaban pasar a poblar otra tierra del temple y manera de donde

salian, si fria fria, si caliente caliente, en donde les daban

tierras, y campos, y casas, tanto, y mas como dejaron."

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 19.]

[Footnote 75: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]

[Footnote 76: The descendants of these mitimaes are still to be

found in Quito, or were so at the close of the last century,

according to Velasco, distinguished by this name from the rest of

the population. Hist. de Quito, tom.l. p. 175.]

The Peruvian institutions, though they may have been modified and

matured under successive sovereigns, all bear the stamp of the

same original, - were all cast in the same mould. The empire,

strengthening and enlarging at every successive epoch of its

history, was, in its latter days, but the development, on a great

scale, of what it was in miniature at its commencement, as the

infant germ is said to contain within itself all the

ramifications of the future monarch of the forest. Each

succeeding Inca seemed desirous only to tread in the path, and

carry out the plans, of his predecessor. Great enterprises,

commenced under one, were continued by another, and completed by

a third. Thus, while all acted on a regular plan, without any of

the eccentric or retrograde movements which betray the agency of

different individuals, the state seemed to be under the direction

of a single hand, and steadily pursued, as if through one long

reign, its great career of civilization and of conquest.

The ultimate aim of its institutions was domestic quiet. But it

seemed as if this were to be obtained only by foreign war.

Tranquillity in the heart of the monarchy, and war on its

borders, was the condition of Peru. By this war it gave

occupation to a part of its people, and, by the reduction and

civilization of its barbarous neighbours, gave security to all.

Every Inca sovereign, however mild and benevolent in his domestic

rule, was a warrior, and led his armies in person. Each

successive reign extended still wider the boundaries of the

empire. Year after year saw the victorious monarch return laden

with spoils, and followed by a throng of tributary chieftains to

his capital. His reception there was a Roman triumph. The whole

of its numerous population poured out to welcome him, dressed in

the gay and picturesque costumes of the different provinces, with

banners waving above their heads, and strewing branches and

flowers along the path of the conqueror. The Inca, borne aloft

in his golden chair on the shoulders of his nobles, moved in

solemn procession, under the triumphal arches that were thrown

across the way, to the great temple of the Sun. There, without

attendants, - for all but the monarch were excluded from the

hallowed precincts, - the victorious prince, stripped of his

royal insignia, barefooted, and with all humility, approached the

awful shrine, and offered up sacrifice and thanksgiving to the

glorious Deity who presided over the fortunes of the Incas. This

ceremony concluded, the whole population gave itself up to

festivity; music, revelry, and dancing were heard in every

quarter of the capital, and illuminations and bonfires

commemorated the victorious campaign of the Inca, and the

accession of a new territory to his empire. *77

[Footnote 77: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 11,

17; lib. 6 cap. 55. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., cap. 16.]

In this celebration we see much of the character of a religious

festival. Indeed, the character of religion was impressed on all

the Peruvian wars. The life of an Inca was one long crusade

against the infidel, to spread wide the worship of the Sun, to

reclaim the benighted nations from their brutish superstitions,

and impart to them the blessings of a well-regulated government.

This, in the favorite phrase of our day, was the "mission" of the

Inca. It was also the mission of the Christian conqueror who

invaded the empire of this same Indian potentate. Which of the

two executed his mission most faithfully, history must decide.

Yet the Peruvian monarchs did not show a childish impatience in

the acquisition of empire. They paused after a campaign, and

allowed time for the settlement of one conquest before they

undertook another; and, in this interval, occupied themselves

with the quiet administration of their kingdom, and with the long

progresses, which brought them into nearer intercourse with their

people. During this interval, also, their new vassals had begun

to accommodate themselves to the strange institutions of their

masters. They learned to appreciate the value of a government

which raised them above the physical evils of a state of

barbarism, secured them protection of person, and a full

participation in all the privileges enjoyed by their conquerors;

and, as they became more familiar with the peculiar institutions

of the country, habit, that second nature, attached them the more

strongly to these institutions, from their very peculiarity.

Thus, by degrees, and without violence, arose the great fabric of

the Peruvian empire, composed of numerous independent and even

hostile tribes, yet, under the influence of a common religion,

common language, and common government, knit together as one

nation, animated by a spirit of love for its institutions and

devoted loyalty to its sovereign. What a contrast to the

condition of the Aztec monarchy, on the neighbouring continent,

which, composed of the like heterogeneous materials, without any

internal principle of cohesion, was only held together by the

stern pressure, from without, of physical force! - Why the

Peruvian monarchy should have fared no better than its rival, in

its conflict with European civilization, will appear in the

following pages.

Chapter III

Peruvian Religion. - Deities. - Gorgeous Temples. - Festivals. -

Virgins Of The Sun. - Marriage.

It is a remarkable fact, that many, if not most, of the rude

tribes inhabiting the vast American continent, however disfigured

their creeds may have been in other respects by a childish

superstition, had attained to the sublime conception of one Great

Spirit, the Creator of the Universe, who, immaterial in his own

nature, was not to be dishonored by an attempt at visible

representation, and who, pervading all space, was not to be

circumscribed within the walls of a temple. Yet these elevated

ideas, so far beyond the ordinary range of the untutored

intellect, do not seem to have led to the practical consequences

that might have been expected; and few of the American nations

have shown much solicitude for the maintenance of a religious

worship, or found in their faith a powerful spring of action.

But, with progress in civilization, ideas more akin to those of

civilized communities were gradually unfolded; a liberal

provision was made, and a separate order instituted, for the

services of religion, which were conducted with a minute and

magnificent ceremonial, that challenged comparison, in some

respects, with that of the most polished nations of Christendom.

This was the case with the nations inhabiting the table-land of

North America, and with the natives of Bogota, Quito, Peru, and

the other elevated regions on the great Southern continent. It

was, above all, the case with the Peruvians, who claimed a divine

original for the founders of their empire, whose laws all rested

on a divine sanction, and whose domestic institutions and foreign

wars were alike directed to preserve and propagate their faith.

Religion was the basis of their polity, the very condition, as it

were, of their social existence. The government of the Incas, in

its essential principles, was a theocracy.

Yet, though religion entered so largely into the fabric and

conduct of the political institutions of the people, their

mythology, that is, the traditionary legends by which they

affected to unfold the mysteries of the universe, was exceedingly

mean and puerile. Scarce one of their traditions - except the

beautiful one respecting the founders of their royal dynasty - is

worthy of note, or throws much light on their own antiquities, or

the primitive history of man. Among the traditions of importance

is one of the deluge, which they held in common with so many of

the nations in all parts of the globe, and which they related

with some particulars that bear resemblance to a Mexican legend.

*1

[Footnote 1: They related, that, after the deluge, seven persons

issued from a cave where they had saved themselves, and by them

the earth was repeopled. One of the traditions of the Mexicans

deduced their descent, and that of the kindred tribes, in like

manner, from seven persons who came from as many caves in Aztlan.

(Conf. Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 19; lib. 7, cap. 2. - Ondegardo, Rel.

Prim., Ms.) The story of the deluge is told by different writers

with many variations, in some of which it is not difficult to

detect the plastic hand of the Christian convert.]

Their ideas in respect to a future state of being deserve more

attention. They admitted the existence of the soul hereafter, and

connected with this a belief in the resurrection of the body.

They assigned two distinct places for the residence of the good

and of the wicked, the latter of which they fixed in the centre

of the earth. The good they supposed were to pass a luxurious

life of tranquillity and ease, which comprehended their highest

notions of happiness. The wicked were to expiate their crimes by

ages of wearisome labor. They associated with these ideas a

belief in an evil principle or spirit, bearing the name of Cupay,

whom they did not attempt to propitiate by sacrifices, and who

seems to have been only a shadowy personification of sin, that

exercised little influence over their conduct. *2

[Footnote 2: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de las

Ind., cap. 123. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 2, cap.

2, 7.

One might suppose that the educated Peruvians - if I may so speak

- imagined the common people had no souls, so little is said of

their opinions as to the condition of these latter in a future

life, while they are diffuse on the prospects of the higher

orders, which they fondly believed were to keep pace with their

condition here.]

It was this belief in the resurrection of the body, which led

them to preserve the body with so much solicitude, - by a simple

process, however, that, unlike the elaborate embalming of the

Egyptians, consisted in exposing it to the action of the cold,

exceedingly dry, and highly rarefied atmosphere of the mountains.

*3 As they believed that the occupations in the future world

would have great resemblance to those of the present, they buried

with the deceased noble some of his apparel, his utensils, and,

frequently, his treasures; and completed the gloomy ceremony by

sacrificing his wives and favorite domestics, to bear him company

and do him service in the happy regions beyond the clouds. *4

Vast mounds of an irregular, or, more frequently, oblong shape,

penetrated by galleries running at right angles to each other,

were raised over the dead, whose dried bodies or mummies have

been found in considerable numbers, sometimes erect, but more

often in the sitting posture, common to the Indian tribes of both

continents. Treasures of great value have also been occasionally

drawn from these monumental deposits, and have stimulated

speculators to repeated excavations with the hope of similar

good-fortune. It was a lottery like that of searching after

mines, but where the chances have proved still more against the

adventurers. *5

[Footnote 3: Such, indeed, seems to be the opinion of Garcilasso,

though some writers speak of resinous and other applications for

embalming the body. The appearance of the royal mummies found at

Cuzco, as reported both by Ondegardo and Garcilasso, makes it

probable that no foreign substance was employed for their

preservation.]

[Footnote 4: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms

The Licentiate says, that this usage continued even after the

Conquest; and that he had saved the life of more than one

favorite domestic, who had fled to him for protection, as they

were about to be sacrificed to the Manes of their deceased lords.

Ibid., ubi supra.]

[Footnote 5: Yet these sepulchral mines have sometimes proved

worth the digging. Sarmiento speaks of gold to the value of

100,000 castellanos, as occasionally buried with the Indian

lords; (Relacion, Ms., cap. 57;) and Las Casas - not the best

authority in numerical estimates - says that treasures worth more

than half a million of ducats had been found, within twenty years

after the Conquest, in the tombs near Truxillo. (Oeuvres, ed.

par Llorente, (Paris, 1822,) tom. II. p. 192.) Baron Humboldt

visited the sepulchre of a Peruvian prince in the same quarter of

the country, whence a Spaniard in 1576 drew forth a mass of gold

worth a million of dollars! Vues des Cordilleres, p. 29.]

The Peruvians, like so may other of the Indian races,

acknowledged a Supreme Being, the Creator and Ruler of the

Universe, whom they adored under the different names of

Pachacamac and Viracocha. *6 No temple was raised to this

invisible Being, save one only in the valley which took its name

from the deity himself, not far from the Spanish city of Lima.

Even this temple had existed there before the country came under

the sway of the Incas, and was the great resort of Indian

pilgrims from remote parts of the land; a circumstance which

suggests the idea, that the worship of this Great Spirit, though

countenanced, perhaps, by their accommodating policy, did not

originate with the Peruvian princes. *7

[Footnote 6: Pachacamac signifies "He who sustains or gives life

to the universe." The name of the great deity is sometimes

expressed by both Pachacamac and Viracocha combined. (See

Balboa, Hist. du Perou, chap. 6. - Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 21.) An

old Spaniard finds in the popular meaning of Viracocha, "foam of

the sea," an argument for deriving the Peruvian civilization from

some voyager from the Old World. Conq. i Pob. de. Piru, Ms.]

[Footnote 7: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq. Ms. - Sarmiento,

Relacion, Ms., cap. 27.

Ulloa notices the extensive ruins of brick, which mark the

probable site of the temple of Pachacamac, attesting by their

present appearance its ancient magnificence and strength.

Memoires Philosophiques, Historiques, Physiques, (Paris, 1787,)

trad. Fr., p. 78.]

The deity whose worship they especially inculcated, and which

they never failed to establish wherever their banners were known

to penetrate, was the Sun. It was he, who, in a particular

manner, presided over the destinies of man; gave light and warmth

to the nations, and life to the vegetable world; whom they

reverenced as the father of their royal dynasty, the founder of

their empire; and whose temples rose in every city and almost

every village throughout the land, while his altars smoked with

burnt offerings, - a form of sacrifice peculiar to the Peruvians

among the semi-civilized nations of the New World. *8

[Footnote 8: At least, so says Dr. McCulloh; and no better

authority can be required on American antiquities. (Researches,

p. 392.) Might he not have added barbarous nations. also?]

Besides the Sun, the Incas acknowledged various objects of

worship in some way or other connected with this principal deity.

Such was the Moon, his sister-wife; the Stars, revered as part of

her heavenly train, - though the fairest of them, Venus, known to

the Peruvians by the name of Chasca, or the "youth with the long

and curling locks," was adored as the page of the Sun, whom he

attends so closely in his rising and in his setting. They

dedicated temples also to the Thunder and Lightning, *9 in whom

they recognized the Sun's dread ministers, and to the Rainbow,

whom they worshipped as a beautiful emanation of their glorious

deity. *10

[Footnote 9: Thunder, Lightning, and Thunderbolt, could be all

expressed by the Peruvians in one word, Illapa. Hence some

Spaniards have inferred a knowledge of the Trinity in the

natives! "The Devil stole all he could," exclaims Herrera, with

righteous indignation. (Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 5.)

These, and even rasher conclusions, (see Acosta, lib. 5, cap.

28,) are scouted by Garcilasso, as inventions of Indian converts,

willing to please the imaginations of their Christian teachers.

(Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 5, 6; lib. 3, cap. 21.)

Imposture, on the one hand, and credulity on the other, have

furnished a plentiful harvest of absurdities, which has been

diligently gathered in by the pious antiquary of a later

generation.]

[Footnote 10: Garcilasso's assertion, that these heavenly bodies

were objects of reverence as holy things, but not of worship,

(Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 1, 23,) is contradicted by

Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms., - Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms., -

Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 4, - Gomara, Hist.

de las Ind., cap. 121, - and, I might add, by almost every writer

of authority whom I have consulted. It is contradicted, in a

manner, by the admission of Garcilasso himself, that these

several objects were all personified by the Indians as living

beings, and had temples dedicated to them as such, with their

effigies delineated in the same manner as was that of the Sun in

his dwelling. Indeed, the effort of the historian to reduce the

worship of the Incas to that of the Sun alone is not very

reconcilable with what he else where says of the homage paid to

Pachacamac, above all, and to Rimac, the great oracle of the

common people. The Peruvian mythology was, probably, not unlike

that of Hindostan, where, under two, or at most three, principal

deities, were assembled a host of inferior ones, to whom the

nation paid religious homage, as personifications of the

different objects in nature.]

In addition to these, the subjects of the Incas enrolled among

their inferior deities many objects in nature, as the elements,

the winds, the earth, the air, great mountains and rivers, which

impressed them with ideas of sublimity and power, or were

supposed in some way or other to exercise a mysterious influence

over the destinies of man. *11 They adopted also a notion, not

unlike that professed by some of the schools of ancient

philosophy, that every thing on earth had its archetype or idea,

its mother, as they emphatically styled it, which they held

sacred, as, in some sort, its spiritual essence. *12 But their

system, far from being limited even to these multiplied objects

of devotion, embraced within its ample folds the numerous deities

of the conquered nations, whose images were transported to the

capital, where the burdensome charges of their worship were

defrayed by their respective provinces. It was a rare stroke of

policy in the Incas, who could thus accommodate their religion to

their interests. *13

[Footnote 11: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.

These consecrated objects were termed huacas, - a word of most

prolific import; since it signified a temple, a tomb, any natural

object remarkable for its size or shape, in short, a cloud of

meanings, which by their contradictory sense have thrown

incalculable confusion over the writings of historians and

travellers.]

[Footnote 12: "La orden por donde fundavan sus huacas que ellos

llamavan a las Idolatrias hera porque decian que todas criava el

sol i que les dava madre por madre que mostravan a la tierra,

porque decian que tenia madre, i tenian le echo su vulto i sus

adoratorios, i al fuego decian que tambien tenia madre i al mais

i a las otras sementeras i a las ovejas iganado decian que tenian

madre, i a la chocha ques el brevaje que ellos usan decian que el

vinagre della hera la madre i lo reverenciavan i llamavan mama

agua madre del vinagre, i a cada cosa adoravan destas de su

manera." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

[Footnote 13: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

So it seems to have been regarded by the Licentiate Ondegardo.

"E los Idolos estaban en aq1 galpon grande de la casa del Sol, y

cada Idolo destos tenia su servicio y gastos y mugeres, y en la

casa del Sol le iban a hacer reverencia los que venian de su

provincial para lo qual e sacrificios que se hacian proveian de

su misma tierra ordinaria e muy abundantemente por la misma orden

que lo hacian quando estaba en la misma provincia, que daba gran

autoridad a mi parecer e aun fuerza a estos Ingas que cierto me

causo gran admiracion." Rel. Seg., Ms.]

But the worship of the Sun constituted the peculiar care of the

Incas, and was the object of their lavish expenditure. The most

ancient of the many temples dedicated to this divinity was in the

Island of Titicaca, whence the royal founders of the Peruvian

line were said to have proceeded. From this circumstance, this

sanctuary was held in peculiar veneration. Every thing which

belonged to it, even the broad fields of maize, which surrounded

the temple, and formed part of its domain, imbibed a portion of

its sanctity. The yearly produce was distributed among the

different public magazines, in small quantities to each, as

something that would sanctify the remainder of the store. Happy

was the man who could secure even an ear of the blessed harvest

for his own granary! *14

[Footnote 14: Garcilasso. Com. Real, Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 25.]

But the most renowned of the Peruvian temples the pride of the

capital, and the wonder of the empire, was at Cuzco, where, under

the munificence of successive sovereigns, it had become so

enriched, that it received the name of Coricancha, or "the Place

of Gold." It consisted of a principal building and several

chapels and inferior edifices, covering a large extent of ground

in the heart of the city, and completely encompassed by a wall,

which, with the edifices, was all constructed of stone. The work

was of the kind already described in the other public buildings

of the country, and was so finely executed, that a Spaniard, who

saw it in its glory, assures us, he could call to mind only two

edifices in Spain, which, for their workmanship, were at all to

be compared with it. *15 Yet this substantial, and, in some

respects, magnificent structure, was thatched with straw!

[Footnote 15: "Tenia este Templo en circuito mas de quatro

cientos pasos, todo cercado de una muralla fuerte, labrado todo

el edificio de cantera muy excelente de fina piedra, muy bien

puesta y asentada, y algunas piedras eran muy grandes y

soberbias, no tenian mezcla de tierra ni cal, sino con el betun

que ellos suelen hacer sus edificios, y estan tan bien labradas

estas piedras que no se les parece mezcla ni juntura ninguna. En

toda Espana no he visto cosa que pueda comparar a estas paredes y

postura de piedra, sino a la torre que llaman la Calahorra que

esta junto con la puente de Cordoba, y a una obra que vi en

Toledo, cuando fui a presentar la primera parte de mi Cronica al

Principe Dn Felipe." Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 24]

The interior of the temple was the most worthy of admiration. It

was literally a mine of gold. On the western wall was emblazoned

a representation of the deity, consisting of a human countenance,

looking forth from amidst innumerable rays of light, which

emanated from it in every direction, in the same manner as the

sun is often personified with us. The figure was engraved on a

massive plate of gold of enormous dimensions, thickly powdered

with emeralds and precious stones. *16 It was so situated in

front of the great eastern portal, that the rays of the morning

sun fell directly upon it at its rising, lighting up the whole

apartment with an effulgence that seemed more than natural, and

which was reflected back from the golden ornaments with which the

walls and ceiling were everywhere incrusted. Gold, in the

figurative language of the people, was "the tears wept by the

sun," *17 and every part of the interior of the temple glowed

with burnished plates and studs of the precious metal. The

cornices, which surrounded the walls of the sanctuary, were of

the same costly material; and a broad belt or frieze of gold, let

into the stonework, encompassed the whole exterior of the

edifice. *18

[Footnote 16: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms - Cieza de Leon, Cronica,

cap. 44, 92.

"La figura del Sol, muy grande, hecha de oro obrada muy

primamente engastonada en muchas piedras ricas." Sarmiento,

Relacion, Ms., cap. 24.]

[Footnote 17: "I al oro asimismo decian que era lagrimas que el

Sol llorava." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

[Footnote 18: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 24. - Antig. y

Monumentos del Peru, Ms.

"Cercada junto a la techumbre de una plancha de oro de palmo i

medio de ancho i lo mismo tenian por de dentro en cada bohio o

casa i aposento." (Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.) "Tenia una cinta

de planchas de oro de anchor de mas de un palmo enlazadas en las

piedras." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

Adjoining the principal structure were several chapels of smaller

dimensions. One of them was consecrated to the Moon, the deity

held next in reverence, as the mother of the Incas. Her effigy

was delineated in the same manner as that of the Sun, on a vast

plate that nearly covered one side of the apartment. But this

plate, as well as all the decorations of the building, was of

silver, as suited to the pale, silvery light of the beautiful

planet. There were three other chapels, one of which was

dedicated to the host of Stars, who formed the bright court of

the Sister of the Sun; another was consecrated to his dread

ministers of vengeance, the Thunder and the Lightning; and a

third, to the Rainbow, whose many-colored arch spanned the walls

of the edifice with hues almost as radiant as its own. There

were besides several other buildings, or insulated apartments,

for the accommodation of the numerous priests who officiated in

the services of the temple. *19

[Footnote 19: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 24. - Garcilasso,

Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 21. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y

Conq., Ms.]

All the plate, the ornaments, the utensils of every description,

appropriated to the uses of religion, were of gold or silver.

Twelve immense vases of the latter metal stood on the floor of

the great saloon, filled with grain of the Indian corn; *20 the

censers for the perfumes, the ewers which held the water for

sacrifice, the pipes which conducted it through subterraneous

channels into the buildings, the reservoirs that received it,

even the agricultural implements used in the gardens of the

temple, were all of the same rich materials. The gardens, like

those described, belonging to the royal palaces, sparkled with

flowers of gold and silver, and various imitations of the

vegetable kingdom. Animals, also, were to be found there, -

among which the llama, with its golden fleece, was most

conspicuous, - executed in the same style, and with a degree of

skill, which, in this instance, probably, did not surpass the

excellence of the material. *21

[Footnote 20: "El bulto del Sol tenian mui grande de oro, i todo

el servicio desta casa era de plata i oro, i tenian doze horones

de plata blanca que dos hombres no abrazarian cada uno quadrados,

i eran mas altos que una buena pica donde hechavan el maiz que

havian de dar al Sol, segun ellos decian que comiese." Conq. i

Pob. del Piru, Ms.

The original, as the Spanish reader perceives, says each of these

silver vases or bins was as high as a good lance, and so large

that two men with outspread arms could barely encompass them! As

this might, perhaps, embarrass even the most accommodating faith,

I have preferred not to become responsible for any particular

dimensions.]

[Footnote 21: Levinus Apollonius, fol. 38. - Garcilasso, Com.

Real., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 24. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y

Conq., Ms.

"Tenian un Jardin que los Terrones eran pedazos de oro fino y

estaban artificiosamente sembrado de maizales los quales eran oro

asi las Canas de ello como las ojas y mazorcas, y estaban tan

bien plantados que aunque hiciesen recios bientos no se

arrancaban. Sin todo esto tenian hechas mas de veinte obejas de

oro con sus Corderos y los Pastores con sus ondas y cayados que

las guardaban hecho de este metal; havia mucha cantidad de

Tinajas de oro y de Plata y esmeraldas, vasos, ollas y todo

genero de vasijas todo de oro fino; por otras Paredes tenian

esculpidas y pintadas otras mayores cosas, en fin era uno de los

ricos Templos que hubo en el mundo." Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms.,

cap. 24.]

If the reader sees in this fairy picture only the romantic

coloring of some fabulous El Dorado, he must recall what has been

said before in reference to the palaces of the Incas, and

consider that these "Houses of the Sun," as they were styled,

were the common reservoir into which flowed all the streams of

public and private benefaction throughout the empire. Some of

the statements, through credulity, and others, in the desire of

exciting admiration, may be greatly exaggerated; but, in the

coincidence of contemporary testimony, it is not easy to

determine the exact line which should mark the measure of our

skepticism. Certain it is, that the glowing picture I have given

is warranted by those who saw these buildings in their pride, or

shortly after they had been despoiled by the cupidity of their

countrymen. Many of the costly articles were buried by the

natives, or thrown into the waters of the rivers and the lakes;

but enough remained to attest the unprecedented opulence of these

religious establishments. Such things as were in their nature

portable were speedily removed, to gratify the craving of the

Conquerors, who even tore away the solid cornices and frieze of

gold from the great temple, filling the vacant places with the

cheaper, but - since it affords no temptation to avarice - more

durable, material of plaster. Yet even thus shorn of their

splendor, the venerable edifices still presented an attraction to

the spoiler, who found in their dilapidated walls an

inexhaustible quarry for the erection of other buildings. On the

very ground once crowned by the gorgeous Coricancha rose the

stately church of St. Dominic, one of the most magnificent

structures of the New World. Fields of maize and lucerne now

bloom on the spot which glowed with the golden gardens of the

temple; and the friar chants his orisons within the consecrated

precincts once occupied by the Children of the Sun. *22

[Footnote 22: Miller's Memoirs, vol. II. pp. 223, 224.]

Besides the great temple of the Sun, there was a large number of

inferior temples and religious houses in the Peruvian capital and

its environs, amounting, as is stated, to three or four hundred.

*23 For Cuzco was a sanctified spot, venerated not only as the

abode of the Incas, but of all those deities who presided over

the motley nations of the empire. It was the city beloved of the

Sun; where his worship was maintained in its splendor; "where

every fountain, pathway, and wall," says an ancient chronicler,

"was regarded as a holy mystery." *24 And unfortunate was the

Indian noble who, at some period or other of his life, had not

made his pilgrimage to the Peruvian Mecca.

[Footnote 23: Herrera, Hist. General, dec 5, lib. 4, cap. 8.

"Havia en aquella ciudad y legua y media de la redonda

quatrocientos y tantos lugares, donde se hacian sacrificious, y

se gastava mucha suma de hacienda en ellos." Ondegardo, Rel.

Prim., Ms.]

[Footnote 24: "Que aquella ciudad del Cuzco era casa y morada de

Dioses, e ansi no habia en toda ella fuente ni paso ni pared que

no dixesen que tenia misterio." Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.]

Other temples and religious dwellings were scattered over the

provinces; and some of them constructed on a scale of

magnificence, that almost rivalled that of the metropolis. The

attendants on these composed an army of themselves. The whole

number of functionaries, including those of the sacerdotal order,

who officiated at the Coricancha alone, was no less than four

thousand. *25

[Footnote 25: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.

An army, indeed, if, as Cieza de Leon states, the number of

priests and menials employed in the famous temple of Bilcas, on

the route to Chili, amounted to 40,000! (Cronica, cap. 89.)

Every thing relating to these Houses of the Sun appears to have

been on a grand scale. But we may easily believe this a clerical

error for 4,000.]

At the head of all, both here and throughout the land, stood the

great High-Priest, or Villac Vmu, as he was called. He was

second only to the Inca in dignity, and was usually chosen from

his brothers or nearest kindred. He was appointed by the

monarch, and held his office for life; and he, in turn, appointed

to all the subordinate stations of his own order. This order was

very numerous. Those members of it who officiated in the House

of the Sun, in Cuzco, were taken exclusively from the sacred race

of the Incas. The ministers in the provincial temples were drawn

from the families of the curacas; but the office of high-priest

in each district was reserved for one of the blood royal. It was

designed by this regulation to preserve the faith in its purity,

and to guard against any departure from the stately ceremonial

which it punctiliously prescribed. *26

[Footnote 26: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 27. - Conq i Pob.

del Piru, Ms.

It was only while the priests were engaged in the service of the

temples, that they were maintained, according to Garcilasso, from

the estates of the Sun. At other times, they were to get their

support from their own lands, which, if he is correct, were

assigned to them in the same manner as to the other orders of the

nation. Com Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 8]

The sacerdotal order, though numerous, was not distinguished by

any peculiar badge or costume from the rest of the nation.

Neither was it the sole depository of the scanty science of the

country, nor was it charged with the business of instruction, nor

with those parochial duties, if they may so be called, which

bring the priest in contact with the great body of the people, -

as was the case in Mexico. The cause of this peculiarity may

probably be traced to the existence of a superior order, like

that of the Inca nobles, whose sanctity of birth so far

transcended all human appointments, that they in a manner

engrossed whatever there was of religious veneration in the

people. They were, in fact, the holy order of the state.

Doubtless, any of them might, as very many of them did, take on

themselves the sacerdotal functions; and their own insignia and

peculiar privileges were too well understood to require any

further badge to separate them from the people.

The duties of the priest were confined to ministration in the

temple. Even here his attendance was not constant, as he was

relieved after a stated interval by other brethren of his order,

who succeeded one another in regular rotation. His science was

limited to an acquaintance with the fasts and festivals of his

religion, and the appropriate ceremonies which distinguished

them. This, however frivolous might be its character, was no

easy acquisition; for the ritual of the Incas involved a routine

of observances, as complex and elaborate as ever distinguished

that of any nation, whether pagan or Christian. Each month had

its appropriate festival, or rather festivals. The four

principal had reference to the Sun, and commemorated the great

periods of his annual progress, the solstices and equinoxes.

Perhaps the most magnificent of all the national solemnities was

the feast of Raymi, held at the period of the summer solstice,

when the Sun, having touched the southern extremity of his

course, retraced his path, as if to gladden the hearts of his

chosen people by his presence. On this occasion, the Indian

nobles from the different quarters of the country thronged to the

capital to take part in the great religious celebration.

For three days previous, there was a general fast, and no fire

was allowed to be lighted in the dwellings. When the appointed

day arrived, the Inca and his court, followed by the whole

population of the city, assembled at early dawn in the great

square to greet the rising of the Sun. They were dressed in

their gayest apparel, and the Indian lords vied with each other

in the display of costly ornaments and jewels on their persons,

while canopies of gaudy feather-work and richly tinted stuffs,

borne by the attendants over their heads, gave to the great

square, and the streets that emptied into it, the appearance of

being spread over with one vast and magnificent awning. Eagerly

they watched the coming of their deity, and, no sooner did his

first yellow rays strike the turrets and loftiest buildings of

the capital, than a shout of gratulation broke forth from the

assembled multitude, accompanied by songs of triumph, and the

wild melody of barbaric instruments, that swelled louder and

louder as his bright orb, rising above the mountain range towards

the east, shone in full splendor on his votaries. After the usual

ceremonies of adoration, a libation was offered to the great

deity by the Inca, from a huge golden vase, filled with the

fermented liquor of maize or of maguey, which, after the monarch

had tasted it himself, he dispensed among his royal kindred.

These ceremonies completed, the vast assembly was arranged in

order of procession, and took its way towards the Coricancha. *27

[Footnote 27: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. - Sarmiento, Relacion,

Ms., cap. 27.

The reader will find a brilliant, and not very extravagant,

account of the Peruvian festivals in Marmontel's romance of Les

Incas. The French author saw in their gorgeous ceremonial a

fitting introduction to his own literary pageant Tom. I. chap. 1

- 4.]

As they entered the street of the sacred edifice, all divested

themselves of their sandals, except the Inca and his family, who

did the same on passing through the portals of the temple, where

none but these august personages were admitted. *28 After a

decent time spent in devotion, the sovereign, attended by his

courtly train, again appeared, and preparations were made to

commence the sacrifice. This, with the Peruvians, consisted of

animals, grain, flowers, and sweet-scented gums; sometimes of

human beings, on which occasions a child or beautiful maiden was

usually selected as the victim. But such sacrifices were rare,

being reserved to celebrate some great public event, as a

coronation, the birth of a royal heir, or a great victory. They

were never followed by those cannibal repasts familiar to the

Mexicans, and to many of the fierce tribes conquered by the

Incas. Indeed, the conquests of these princes might well be

deemed a blessing to the Indian nations, if it were only from

their suppression of cannibalism, and the diminution, under their

rule, of human sacrifices. *29

[Footnote 28: "Ningun Indio comun osaba pasar por la calle del

Sol calzado; ni ninguno, aunque fuese mui grand Senor, entrava en

las casas del Sol con zapatos." Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]

[Footnote 29: Garcilasso de la Vega flatly denies that the Incas

were guilty of human sacrifices; and maintains, on the other

hand, that they uniformly abolished them in every country they

subdued, where they had previously existed. (Com. Real., Parte

1, lib. 2, cap. 9, et alibi.) But in this material fact he is

unequivocally contradicted by Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 22,

- Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms., - Montesinos, Mem. Antiguas, Ms.,

lib. 2, cap. 8, - Balboa, Hist. du Perou, chap. 5, 8, - Cieza de

Leon, Cronica, cap. 72, - Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms., - Acosta,

lib. 5, cap. 19, - and I might add, I suspect, were I to pursue

the inquiry, by nearly every ancient writer of authority; some of

whom, having come into the country soon after the Conquest, while

its primitive institutions were in vigor, are entitled to more

deference in a matter of this kind than Garcilasso himself. It

was natural that the descendant of the Incas should desire to

relieve his race from so odious an imputation; and we must have

charity for him, if he does show himself, on some occasions,

where the honor of his country is at stake, "high gravel blind."

It should be added, in justice to the Peruvian government, that

the best authorities concur in the admission, that the sacrifices

were few, both in number and in magnitude, being reserved for

such extraordinary occasions as those mentioned in the text.]

At the feast of Raymi, the sacrifice usually offered was that of

the llama; and the priest, after opening the body of his victim,

sought in the appearances which it exhibited to read the lesson

of the mysterious future. If the auguries were unpropitious, a

second victim was slaughtered, in the hope of receiving some more

comfortable assurance. The Peruvian augur might have learned a

good lesson of the Roman, - to consider every omen as favorable,

which served the interests of his country. *30

[Footnote 30: "Augurque cum esset, dicere ausus est, optimis

auspiciis ea geri, quae pro reipublicae salute gererentur."

Cicero, De Senectute.

This inspection of the entrails of animals for the purposes of

divination is worthy of note, as a most rare, if not a solitary,

instance of the kind among the nations of the New World, though

so familiar in the ceremonial of sacrifice among the pagan

nations of the Old.]

A fire was then kindled by means of a concave mirror of polished

metal, which, collecting the rays of the sun into a focus upon a

quantity of dried cotton, speedily set it on fire. It was the

expedient used on the like occasions in ancient Rome, at least

under the reign of the pious Numa. When the sky was overcast,

and the face of the good deity was hidden from his worshippers,

which was esteemed a bad omen, fire was obtained by means of

friction. The sacred flame was intrusted to the care of the

Virgins of the Sun, and if, by any neglect, it was suffered to go

out in the course of the year, the event was regarded as a

calamity that boded some strange disaster to the monarchy. *31 A

burnt offering of the victims was then made on the altars of the

deity. This sacrifice was but the prelude to the slaughter of a

great number of llamas, part of the flocks of the Sun, which

furnished a banquet not only for the Inca and his Court, but for

the people, who made amends at these festivals for the frugal

fare to which they were usually condemned. A fine bread or cake,

kneaded of maize flour by the fair hands of the Virgins of the

Sun, was also placed on the royal board, where the Inca,

presiding over the feast, pledged his great nobles in generous

goblets of the fermented liquor of the country, and the long

revelry of the day was closed at night by music and dancing.

Dancing and drinking were the favorite pastimes of the Peruvians.

These amusements continued for several days, though the

sacrifices terminated on the first. - Such was the great festival

of Raymi; and the recurrence of this and similar festivities gave

relief to the monotonous routine of toil prescribed to the lower

orders of the community. *32

[Footnote 31: "Vigilemque sacraverat ignem, Excubias divum

aeternas."

Plutarch, in his life of Numa, describes the reflectors used by

the Romans for kindling the sacred fire, as concave instruments

of brass, though not spherical like the Peruvian, but of a

triangular form.]

[Footnote 32: Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 28, 29. - Garcilasso, Com.

Real., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 23.]

In the distribution of bread and wine at this high festival, the

orthodox Spaniards, who first came into the country, saw a

striking resemblance to the Christian communion; *33 as in the

practice of confession and penance, which, in a most irregular

form, indeed, seems to have been used by the Peruvians, they

discerned a coincidence with another of the sacraments of the

Church. *34 The good fathers were fond of tracing such

coincidences, which they considered as the contrivance of Satan,

who thus endeavoured to delude his victims by counterfeiting the

blessed rites of Christianity. *35 Others, in a different vein,

imagined that they saw in such analogies the evidence, that some

of the primitive teachers of the Gospel, perhaps an apostle

himself, had paid a visit to these distant regions, and scattered

over them the seeds of religious truth. *36 But it seems hardly

necessary to invoke the Prince of Darkness, or the intervention

of the blessed saints, to account for coincidences which have

existed in countries far removed from the light of Christianity

and in ages, indeed, when its light had not yet risen on the

world. It is much more reasonable to refer such casual points of

resemblance to the general constitution of man, and the

necessities of his moral nature. *37

[Footnote 33: "That which is most admirable in the hatred and

presumption of Sathan is, that he not onely counterfeited in

idolatry and sacrifices, but also in certain ceremonies, our

sacraments, which Jesus Christ our Lord instituted, and the holy

Church uses, having especially pretended to imitate, in some

sort, the sacrament of the communion, which is the most high and

divine of all others." Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 23.]

[Footnote 34: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 4. -

Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

"The father of lies would likewise counterfeit the sacrament of

Confession, and in his idolatries sought to be honored with

ceremonies very like to the manner of Christians." Acosta, lib.

5, cap. 25.]

[Footnote 35: Cieza de Leon, not content with many marvellous

accounts of the influence and real apparition of Satan in the

Indian ceremonies, has garnished his volume with numerous

wood-cuts representing the Prince of Evil in bodily presence with

the usual accompaniments of tail, claws, &c., as if to reenforce

the homilies in his text! The Peruvian saw in his idol a god.

His Christian conqueror saw in it the Devil. One may be puzzled

to decide which of the two might lay claim to the grossest

superstition.]

[Footnote 36: Piedrahita, the historian of the Muyscas, is

satisfied that this apostle must have been St. Bartholomew, whose

travels were known to have been extensive. (Conq. de Granada,

Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 3.) The Mexican antiquaries consider St.

Thomas as having had charge of the mission to the people of

Anahuac. These two apostles, then, would seem to have divided

the New World, at least the civilized portions of it, between

them. How they came, whether by Behring's Straits, or directly

across the Atlantic, we are not informed. Velasco - a writer of

the eighteenth century! - has little doubt that they did really

come. Hist. de Quito, tom. I. pp. 89, 90.]

[Footnote 37: The subject is illustrated by some examples in the

"History of the Conquest of Mexico," vol. III., Appendix, No. 1.;

since the same usages in that country led to precisely the same

rash conclusions among the Conquerors.]

Another singular analogy with Roman Catholic institutions is

presented by the Virgins of the Sun, the "elect," as they were

called, *38 to whom I have already had occasion to refer. These

were young maidens, dedicated to the service of the deity, who,

at a tender age, were taken from their homes, and introduced into

convents, where they were placed under the care of certain

elderly matrons, mamaconas, who had grown grey within their

walls. *39 Under these venerable guides, the holy virgins were

instructed in the nature of their religious duties. They were

employed in spinning and embroidery, and, with the fine hair of

the vicuna, wove the hangings for the temples, and the apparel

for the Inca and his household. *40 It was their duty, above all,

to watch over the sacred fire obtained at the festival of Raymi.

From the moment they entered the establishment, they were cut off

from all connection with the world, even with their own family

and friends. No one but the Inca, and the Coya or queen, might

enter the consecrated precincts. The greatest attention was paid

to their morals, and visitors were sent every year to inspect the

institutions, and to report on the state of their discipline. *41

Woe to the unhappy maiden who was detected in an intrigue! By

the stern law of the Incas, she was to be buried alive, her lover

was to be strangled, and the town or village to which he belonged

was to be razed to the ground, and "sowed with stones," as if to

efface every memorial of his existence. *42 One is astonished to

find so close a resemblance between the institutions to find so

close a resemblance between the institutions of the American

Indian, the ancient Roman, and the modern Catholic! Chastity and

purity of life are virtues in woman, that would seem to be of

equal estimation with the barbarian and with the civilized. - Yet

the ultimate destination of the inmates of these religious houses

was materially different.

[Footnote 38: Llamavase Casa de Escogidas; porque las escogian. o

por Linage, o por Hermosura." Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1,

lib. 4, cap. 1.]

[Footnote 39: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

The word mamacona signified "matron"; mama, the first half of

this compound word, as already noticed, meaning "mother." See

Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 1.]

[Footnote 40: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]

[Footnote 41: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.]

[Footnote 42: Balboa, Hist. du Perou, chap. 9. - Fernandez, Hist.

del Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 11. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 3.

According to the historian of the Incas, the terrible penalty was

never incurred by a single lapse on the part of the fair

sisterhood; though, if it had been, the sovereign, he assures us,

would have "exacted it to the letter, with as little compunction

as he would have drowned a puppy." (Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4,

cap. 3.) Other writers contend, on the contrary, that these

Virgins had very little claim to the reputation of Vestals. (See

Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind.,

cap. 121.) Such imputations are common enough on the inhabitants

of religious houses, whether pagan or Christian. They are

contradicted in the present instance by the concurrent testimony

of most of those who had the best opportunity of arriving at

truth, and are made particularly improbable by the superstitious

reverence entertained for the Incas.]

The great establishment at Cuzco consisted wholly of maidens of

the royal blood, who amounted, it is said, to no less than

fifteen hundred. The provincial convents were supplied from the

daughters of the curacas and inferior nobles, and, occasionally,

where a girl was recommended by great personal attractions, from

the lower classes of the people. *43 The "Houses of the Virgins

of the Sun" consisted of low ranges of stone buildings, covering

a large extent of ground, surrounded by high walls, which

excluded those within entirely from observation. They were

provided with every accommodation for the fair inmates, and were

embellished in the same sumptuous and costly manner as the

palaces of the Incas, and the temples; for they received the

particular care of government, as an important part of the

religious establishment. *44

[Footnote 43: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Garcilasso,

Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 1.]

[Footnote 44: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 5. - Cieza de Leon,

Cronica, cap. 44.]

Yet the career of all the inhabitants of these cloisters was not

confined within their narrow walls. Though Virgins of the Sun,

they were brides of the Inca, and, at a marriageable age, the

most beautiful among them were selected for the honors of his

bed, and transferred to the royal seraglio. The full complement

of this amounted in time not only to hundreds, but thousands, who

all found accommodations in his different palaces throughout the

country. When the monarch was disposed to lessen the number of

his establishment, the concubine with whose society he was

willing to dispense returned, not to her former monastic

residence, but to her own home; where, however humble might be

her original condition, she was maintained in great state, and,

far from being dishonored by the situation she had filled, was

held in universal reverence as the Inca's bride. *45

[Footnote 45: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com.

Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap.4. - Montesinos, Mem Antiguas, Ms.,

lib 2, cap. 19.]

The great nobles of Peru were allowed, like their sovereign, a

plurality of wives. The people, generally, whether by law, or by

necessity stronger than law, were more happily limited to one.

Marriage was conducted in a manner that gave it quite as original

a character as belonged to the other institutions of the country.

On an appointed day of the year, all those of a marriageable age

- which, having reference to their ability to take charge of a

family, in the males was fixed at not less than twenty-four

years, and in the women at eighteen or twenty - were called

together in the great squares of their respective towns and

villages, throughout the empire. The Inca presided in person

over the assembly of his own kindred, and taking the hands of the

different couples who were to be united, he placed them within

each other, declaring the parties man and wife. The same was

done by the curacas towards all persons of their own or inferior

degree in their several districts. This was the simple form of

marriage in Peru. No one was allowed to select a wife beyond the

community to which he belonged, which generally comprehended all

his own kindred; *46 nor was any but the sovereign authorized to

dispense with the law of nature - or at least, the usual law of

nations - so far as to marry his own sister. *47 No marriage was

esteemed valid without the consent of the parents; and the

preference of the parties, it is said, was also to be consulted;

though, considering the barriers imposed by the prescribed age of

the candidates, this must have been within rather narrow and

whimsical limits. A dwelling was got ready for the new-married

pair at the charge of the district, and the prescribed portion of

land assigned for their maintenance. The law of Peru provided for

the future, as well as for the present. It left nothing to

chance. - The simple ceremony of marriage was followed by general

festivities among the friends of the parties, which lasted

several days; and as every wedding took place on the same day,

and as there were few families who had not some one of their

members or their kindred personally interested, there was one

universal bridal jubilee throughout the empire. *48

[Footnote 46: By the strict letter of the law, according to

Garcilasso, no one was to marry out of his own lineage. But this

narrow rule had a most liberal interpretation, since all of the

same town, and even province, he assures us, were reckoned of kin

to one another. Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 8.]

[Footnote 47: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 9.

This practice, so revolting to our feelings that it might well be

deemed to violate the law of nature, must not, however, be

regarded as altogether peculiar to the Incas, since it was

countenanced by some of the most polished nations of antiquity.]

[Footnote 48: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte lib. 6, cap. 36. - Dec. de la Aud Real., Ms. - Montesinos,

Mem Antiguas, Ms., lib. 2, cap. 6.]

The extraordinary regulations respecting marriage under the Incas

are eminently characteristic of the genius of the government;

which, far from limiting itself to matters of public concern,

penetrated into the most private recesses of domestic life,

allowing no man, however humble, to act for himself, even in

those personal matters in which none but himself, or his family

at most, might be supposed to be interested. No Peruvian was too

low for the fostering vigilance of government. None was so high

that he was not made to feel his dependence upon it in every act

of his life. His very existence as an individual was absorbed in

that of the community. His hopes and his fears, his joys and his

sorrows, the tenderest sympathies of his nature, which would most

naturally shrink from observation, were all to be regulated by

law. He was not allowed even to be happy in his own way. The

government of the Incas was the mildest, - but the most searching

of despotisms.

Chapter IV

Education. - Quipus. - Astronomy. - Agriculture. - Aqueducts. -

Guano. - Important Esculents.

"Science was not intended for the people; but for those of

generous blood. Persons of low degree are only puffed up by it,

and rendered vain and arrogant. Neither should such meddle with

the affairs of government; for this would bring high offices into

disrepute, and cause detriment to the state." *1 Such was the

favorite maxim, often repeated, of Tupac Inca Yupanqi, one of the

most renowned of the Peruvian sovereigns. It may seem strange

that such a maxim should ever have been proclaimed in the New

World, where popular institutions have been established on a more

extensive scale than was ever before witnessed; where government

rests wholly on the people; and education - at least, in the

great northern division of the continent - is mainly directed to

qualify the people for the duties of government. Yet this maxim

was strictly conformable to the genius of the Peruvian monarchy,

and may serve as a key to its habitual policy; since, while it

watched with unwearied solicitude over its subjects, provided for

their physical necessities, was mindful of their morals, and

showed, throughout, the affectionate concern of a parent for his

children, it yet regarded them only as children, who were never

to emerge from the state of pupilage, to act or to think for

themselves, but whose whole duty was comprehended in the

obligation of implicit obedience.

[Footnote 1: "No es licito, que ensenen a los hijos de los

Plebeios, las Ciencias, que pertenescen a los Generosos, y no

mas; porque como Gente baja, no se eleven, y ensobervezcan, y

menoscaben, y apoqueen la Republica: bastales, que aprendan los

Oficios de sus Padres; que el Mandar, y Governar no es de

Plebeious, que es hacer agravio al Oficio, y a la Republica,

encomendarsela a Gente comun." Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1,

lib. 8, cap. 8.]

Such was the humiliating condition of the people under the Incas,

while the numerous families of the blood royal enjoyed the

benefit of all the light of education, which the civilization of

the country could afford; and, long after the Conquest, the spots

continued to be pointed out where the seminaries had existed for

their instruction. These were placed under the care of the

amautas, or "wise men," who engrossed the scanty stock of science

- if science it could be called - possessed by the Peruvians, and

who were the sole teachers of youth. It was natural that the

monarch should take a lively interest in the instruction of the

young nobility, his own kindred. Several of the Peruvian princes

are said to have built their palaces in the neighbourhood of the

schools, in order that they might the more easily visit them and

listen to the lectures of the amautas, which they occasionally

reinforced by a homily of their own. *2 In these schools, the

royal pupils were instructed in all the different kinds of

knowledge in which their teachers were versed, with especial

reference to the stations they were to occupy in after-life.

They studied the laws, and the principles of administering the

government, in which many of them were to take part. They were

initiated in the peculiar rites of their religion, most necessary

to those who were to assume the sacerdotal functions. They

learned also to emulate the achievements of their royal ancestors

by listening to the chronicles compiled by the amautas. They

were taught to speak their own dialect with purity and elegance;

and they became acquainted with the mysterious science of the

quipus, which supplied the Peruvians with the means of

communicating their ideas to one another, and of transmitting

them to future generations. *3

[Footnote 2: Ibid., Parte 1, lib 7, cap. 10. The descendant of

the Incas notices the remains, visible in his day, or two of the

palaces of his royal ancestors, which had been built in the

vicinity of the schools, for more easy access to them.]

[Footnote 3: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 4, cap. 19]

The quipu was a cord about two feet long, composed of different

colored threads tightly twisted together, from which a quantity

of smaller threads were suspended in the manner of a fringe. The

threads were of different colors and were tied into knots. The

word quipu, indeed, signifies a knot. The colors denoted sensible

objects; as, for instance, white represented silver, and yellow,

gold. They sometimes also stood for abstract ideas. Thus, white

signified peace, and red, war. But the quipus were chiefly used

for arithmetical purposes. The knots served instead of ciphers,

and could be combined in such a manner as to represent numbers to

any amount they required. By means of these they went through

their calculations with great rapidity, and the Spaniards who

first visited the country bear testimony to their accuracy. *4

[Footnote 4: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms. - Sarmiento, Relacion,

Ms., cap. 9. - Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 8. - Garcilasso Parte 1, lib.

6, cap. 8.]

Officers were established in each of the districts, who, under

the title of quipucamayus, or "keepers of the quipus," were

required to furnish the government with information on various

important matters. One had charge of the revenues, reported the

quantity of raw material distributed among the laborers, the

quality and quantity of the fabrics made from it, and the amount

of stores, of various kinds, paid into the royal magazines.

Another exhibited the register of births and deaths, the

marriages, the number of those qualified to bear arms, and the

like details in reference to the population of the kingdom.

These returns were annually forwarded to the capital, where they

were submitted to the inspection of officers acquainted with the

art of deciphering these mystic records. The government was thus

provided with a valuable mass of statistical information, and the

skeins of many-colored threads, collected and carefully

preserved, constituted what might be called the national

archives. *5

[Footnote 5: Ondegardo expresses his astonishment at the variety

of objects embraced by these simple records, "hardly credible by

one who had not seen them." "En aquella ciudad se hallaron muchos

viejos oficiales antiguos del Inga, asi de la religion, como del

Govierno, y otra cosa que no pudiera creer sino la viera, que por

hilos y nudos se hallan figuradas las leyes, y estatutos asi de

lo uno como de lo otro, las sucesiones de los Reyes y tiempo que

governaron: y hallose lo que todo esto tenian a su cargo que no

fue poco, y aun tube alguna claridad de los estatutos que en

tiempo de cada uno se havia: puesto." (Rel. Prim., Ms.) (See also

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 9. - Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 8, -

Garcilasso, Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 8, 9.) A vestige of the quipus

is still to be found in some parts of Peru, where the shepherds

keep the tallies of their numerous flocks by means of this

ancient arithmetic]

But, although the quipus sufficed for all the purposes of

arithmetical computation demanded by the Peruvians, they were

incompetent to represent the manifold ideas and images which are

expressed by writing. Even here, however, the invention was not

without its use. For, independently of the direct representation

of simple objects, and even of abstract ideas, to a very limited

extent, as above noticed, it afforded great help to the memory by

way of association. The peculiar knot or color, in this way,

suggested what it could not venture to represent; in the same

manner - to borrow the homely illustration of an old writer - as

the number of the Commandment calls to mind the Commandment

itself. The quipus, thus used, might be regarded as the Peruvian

system of mnemonics.

Annalists were appointed in each of the principal communities,

whose business it was to record the most important events which

occurred in them. Other functionaries of a higher character,

usually the amautas, were intrusted with the history of the

empire, and were selected to chronicle the great deeds of the

reigning Inca, or of his ancestors. *6 The narrative, thus

concocted, could be communicated only by oral tradition; but the

quipus served the chronicler to arrange the incidents with

method, and to refresh his memory. The story, once treasured up

in the mind, was indelibly impressed there by frequent

repetition. It was repeated by the amauta to his pupils, and in

this way history, conveyed partly by oral tradition, and partly

by arbitrary signs, was handed down from generation to

generation, with sufficient discrepancy of details, but with a

general conformity of outline to the truth.

[Footnote 6: Ibid., ubi supra.]

The Peruvian quipus were, doubtless, a wretched substitute for

that beautiful contrivance, the alphabet, which, employing a few

simple characters as the representatives of sounds, instead of

ideas, is able to convey the most delicate shades of thought that

ever passed through the mind of man. The Peruvian invention,

indeed, was far below that of the hieroglyphics, even below the

rude picture-writing of the Aztecs; for the latter art, however

incompetent to convey abstract ideas, could depict sensible

objects with tolerable accuracy. It is evidence of the total

ignorance in which the two nations remained of each other, that

the Peruvians should have borrowed nothing of the hieroglyphical

system of the Mexicans, and this, notwithstanding that the

existence of the maguey plant, agave, in South America might have

furnished them with the very material used by the Aztecs for the

construction of their maps. *7

[Footnote 7: Ibid., ubi supra. - Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. -

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 9.

Yet the quipus must be allowed to bear some resemblance to the

belts of wampum - made of colored beads strung together - in

familiar use among the North American tribes, for commemorating

treaties, and for other purposes.]

It is impossible to contemplate without interest the struggles

made by different nations, as they emerge from barbarism, to

supply themselves with some visible symbols of thought, - that

mysterious agency by which the mind of the individual may be put

in communication with the minds of a whole community. The want

of such a symbol is itself the greatest impediment to the

progress of civilization. For what is it but to imprison the

thought, which has the elements of immortality, within the bosom

of its author, or of the small circle who come in contact with

him, instead of sending it abroad to give light to thousands, and

to generations yet unborn! Not only is such a symbol an

essential element of civilization, but it may be assumed as the

very criterion of civilization; for the intellectual advancement

of a people will keep pace pretty nearly with its facilities for

intellectual communication.

Yet we must be careful not to underrate the real value of the

Peruvian system: nor to suppose that the quipus were as awkward

an instrument, in the hand of a practised native, as they would

be in ours. We know the effect of habit in all mechanical

operations, and the Spaniards bear constant testimony to the

adroitness and accuracy of the Peruvians in this. Their skill is

not more surprising than the facility with which habit enables us

to master the contents of a printed page, comprehending thousands

of separate characters, by a single glance, as it were, though

each character must require a distinct recognition by the eye,

and that, too, without breaking the chain of thought in the

reader's mind. We must not hold the invention of the quipus too

lightly, when we reflect that they supplied the means of

calculation demanded for the affairs of a great nation, and that,

however insufficient, they afforded no little help to what

aspired to the credit of literary composition.

The office of recording the national annals was not wholly

confined to the amautas. It was assumed in part by the haravecs,

or poets, who selected the most brilliant incidents for their

songs or ballads, which were chanted at the royal festivals and

at the table of the Inca. *8 In this manner, a body of

traditional minstrelsy grew up, like the British and Spanish

ballad poetry, by means of which the name of many a rude

chieftain, that might have perished for want of a chronicler, has

been borne down the tide of rustic melody to later generations.

[Footnote 8: Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 27.

The word haravec signified "inventor" or "finder"; and in his

title, as well as in his functions, the minstrel-poet may remind

us of the Norman trouvere. Garcilasso has translated one of the

little lyrical pieces of his countrymen. It is light and lively;

but one short specimen affords no basis for general criticism.]

Yet history may be thought not to gain much by this alliance with

poetry; for the domain of the poet extends over an ideal realm

peopled with the shadowy forms of fancy, that bear little

resemblance to the rude realities of life. The Peruvian annals

may be deemed to show somewhat of the effects of this union,

since there is a tinge of the marvellous spread over them down to

the very latest period, which, like a mist before the reader's

eye, makes it difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction.

The poet found a convenient instrument for his purposes in the

beautiful Quichua dialect. We have already seen the

extraordinary measures taken by the Incas for propagating their

language throughout their empire. Thus naturalized in the

remotest provinces, it became enriched by a variety of exotic

words and idioms, which, under the influence of the Court and of

poetic culture, if I may so express myself, was gradually

blended, like some finished mosaic made up of coarse and

disjointed materials, into one harmonious whole. The Quichua

became the most comprehensive and various, as well as the most

elegant, of the South American dialects. *9

[Footnote 9: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

Sarmiento justly laments that his countrymen should have suffered

this dialect, which might have proved so serviceable in their

intercourse with the motley tribes of the empire, to fall so much

out of use as it has done. "Y con tanto digo que fue harto

beneficio para los Espaoles haver esta lengua pues podian con

ella andar por todas partes en algunas de las quales ya se va

perdiendo." Relacion, Ms., cap. 21.

According to Velasco, the Incas, on arriving with their

conquering legions at Quito, were astonished to find a dialect of

the Quichua spoken there, although it was unknown over much of

the intermediate country; a singular fact, if true. (Hist. de

Quito, tom. I. p. 185.) The author, a native of that country, had

access to some rare sources of information; and his curious

volumes show an intimate analogy between the science and social

institutions of the people of Quito and Peru. Yet his book

betrays an obvious anxiety to set the pretensions of his own

country in the most imposing point of view, and he frequently

hazards assertions with a confidence that is not well calculated

to secure that of his readers.]

Besides the compositions already noticed, the Peruvians, it is

said, showed some talent for theatrical exhibitions; not those

barren pantomimes which, addressed simply to the eye, have formed

the amusement of more than one rude nation. The Peruvian pieces

aspired to the rank of dramatic compositions, sustained by

character and dialogue, founded sometimes on themes of tragic

interest, and at others on such as, from their light and social

character, belong to comedy. *10 Of the execution of these pieces

we have now no means of judging. It was probably rude enough, as

befitted an unformed people. But, whatever may have been the

execution, the mere conception of such an amusement is a proof of

refinement that honorably distinguishes the Peruvian from the

other American races, whose pastime was war, or the ferocious

sports that reflect the image of it.

[Footnote 10: Garcilasso, Com. Real., ubi supra.]

The intellectual character of the Peruvians, indeed, seems to

have been marked rather by a tendency to refinement than by those

hardier qualities which insure success in the severer walks of

science. In these they were behind several of the semi-civilized

nations of the New World. They had some acquaintance with

geography, so far as related to their own empire, which was

indeed extensive; and they constructed maps with lines raised on

them to denote the boundaries and localities, on a similar

principle with those formerly used by the blind. In astronomy,

they appear to have made but moderate proficiency. They divided

the year into twelve lunar months, each of which, having its own

name, was distinguished by its appropriate festival. *11 They

had, also, weeks; but of what length, whether of seven, nine, or

ten days, is uncertain. As their lunar year would necessarily

fall short of the true time, they rectified their calendar by

solar observations made by means of a number of cylindrical

columns raised on the high lands round Cuzco, which served them

for taking azimuths; and, by measuring their shadows, they

ascertained the exact times of the solstices. The period of the

equinoxes they determined by the help of a solitary pillar, or

gnomon, placed in the centre of a circle, which was described in

the area of the great temple, and traversed by a diameter that

was drawn from east to west. When the shadows were scarcely

visible under the noontide rays of the sun, they said that "the

god sat with all his light upon the column." *12 Quito, which lay

immediately under the equator, where the vertical rays of the sun

threw no shadow at noon, was held in especial veneration as the

favored abode of the great deity. The period of the equinoxes

was celebrated by public rejoicings. The pillar was crowned by

the golden chair of the Sun, and, both then and at the solstices,

the columns were hung with garlands, and offerings of flowers and

fruits were made, while high festival was kept throughout the

empire. By these periods the Peruvians regulated their religious

rites and ceremonial, and prescribed the nature of their

agricultural labors. The year itself took its departure from the

date of the winter solstice. *13

[Footnote 11: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.

Fernandez, who differs from most authorities in dating the

commencement of the year from June, gives the names of the

several months, with their appropriate occupations. Hist. del

Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 10.]

[Footnote 12: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 2, cap.

22-26.

The Spanish conquerors threw down these pillars, as savouring of

idolatry in the Indians. Which of the two were best entitled to

the name of barbarians?]

[Footnote 13: Betanzos, Nar. de los Ingas, Ms., cap. 16. -

Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 23. - Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 3.

The most celebrated gnomon in Europe, that raised on the dome of

the metropolitan church of Florence, was erected by the famous

Toscanelli, - for the purpose of determining the solstices, and

regulating the festivals of the Church, - about the year 1468;

perhaps at no very distant date from that of the similar

astronomical contrivance of the American Indian. See Tiraboschi,

Historia della Letteratura Italiana, tom. VI. lib. 2, cap. 2,

sec. 38.]

This meagre account embraces nearly all that has come down to us

of Peruvian astronomy. It may seem strange that a nation, which

had proceeded thus far in its observations, should have gone no

farther; and that, notwithstanding its general advance in

civilization, it should in this science have fallen so far short,

not only of the Mexicans, but of the Muyscas, inhabiting the same

elevated regions of the great southern plateau with themselves.

These latter regulated their calendar on the same general plan of

cycles and periodical series as the Aztecs, approaching yet

nearer to the system pursued by the people of Asia. *14

[Footnote 14: A tolerably meagre account - yet as full, probably,

as authorities could warrant - of this interesting people has

been given by Piedrahita, Bishop of Panama, in the first two

Books of his Historia General de las Conquistas del Nuevo Regno

de Granada, (Madrid, 1688.) - M. de Humboldt was fortunate in

obtaining a Ms., composed by a Spanish ecclesiastic resident in

Santa Fe de Bogota, in relation to the Muysca calendar, of which

the Prussian philosopher has given a large and luminous analysis.

Vues des Cordilleres. p. 244.]

It might have been expected that the Incas, the boasted children

of the Sun, would have made a particular study of the phenomena

of the heavens, and have constructed a calendar on principles as

scientific as that of their semi-civilized neighbours. One

historian, indeed, assures us that they threw their years into

cycles of ten, a hundred, and a thousand years, and that by these

cycles they regulated their chronology. *15 But this assertion -

not improbable in itself - rests on a writer but little gifted

with the spirit of criticism, and is counter-balanced by the

silence of every higher and earlier authority, as well as by the

absence of any monument, like those found among other American

nations, to attest the existence of such a calendar. The

inferiority of the Peruvians may be, perhaps, in part explained

by the fact of their priesthood being drawn exclusively from the

body of the Incas, a privileged order of nobility, who had no

need, by the assumption of superior learning, to fence themselves

round from the approaches of the vulgar. The little true science

possessed by the Aztec priest supplied him with a key to unlock

the mysteries of the heavens, and the false system of astrology

which he built upon it gave him credit as a being who had

something of divinity in his own nature. But the Inca noble was

divine by birth. The illusory study of astrology, so captivating

to the unenlightened mind, engaged no share of his attention.

The only persons in Peru, who claimed the power of reading the

mysterious future, were the diviners, men who, combining with

their pretensions some skill in the healing art, resembled the

conjurors found among many of the Indian tribes. But the office

was held in little repute, except among the lower classes, and

was abandoned to those whose age and infirmity disqualified them

for the real business of life. *16

[Footnote 15: Montesinos, Mem. Antiguas, Ms., lib. 2, cap. 7.

"Renovo la computacion de los tiempos, que se iba perdiendo, y se

contaron en su Reynaldo los anos por 365 dias y seis horas; a los

anos anadio decadeas de diez anos, a cada diez decadas una

centuria de 100 anos, y a cada diez centurias una capachoata o

Jutiphuacan, que son 1000 anos, que quiere decir el grande ano

del Sol; asi contaban los siglos y los sucesos memorables de sus

Reyes." Ibid., loc. cit.]

[Footnote 16: "Ansi mismo les hicieron senalar gente para

hechizeros que tambien es entre ellos, oficio publico y conoscido

en todos, . . . . . los diputados para ello no lo tenian por

travajo, por que ninguno podia tener semejante oficio como los

dichos sino fuesen viejos e viejas, y personas inaviles para

travajar, como mancos, cojos o contrechos, y gente asi a quien

faltava las fuerzas para ello." Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.]

The Peruvians had knowledge of one or two constellations, and

watched the motions of the planet Venus, to which, as we have

seen, they dedicated altars. But their ignorance of the first

principles of astronomical science is shown by their ideas of

eclipses, which, they supposed, denoted some great derangement of

the planet; and when the moon labored under one of these

mysterious infirmities, they sounded their instruments, and

filled the air with shouts and lamentations, to rouse her from

her lethargy. Such puerile conceits as these form a striking

contrast with the real knowledge of the Mexicans, as displayed in

their hieroglyphical maps, in which the true cause of this

phenomenon is plainly depicted. *17

[Footnote 17: See Codex Tel-Remensis, Part 4, Pl. 22, ap.

Antiquities of Mexico, vol. I. London, 1829.]

But, if less successful in exploring the heavens, the Incas must

be admitted to have surpassed every other American race in their

dominion over the earth. Husbandry was pursued by them on

principles that may be truly called scientific. It was the basis

of their political institutions. Having no foreign commerce, it

was agriculture that furnished them with the means of their

internal exchanges, their subsistence, and their revenues. We

have seen their remarkable provisions for distributing the land

in equal shares among the people, while they required every man,

except the privileged orders, to assist in its cultivation. The

Inca himself did not disdain to set the example. On one of the

great annual festivals, he proceeded to the environs of Cuzco,

attended by his Court, and, in the presence of all the people,

turned up the earth with a golden plough, - or an instrument that

served as such, - thus consecrating the occupation of the

husbandman as one worthy to be followed by the Children of the

Sun. *18

[Footnote 18: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 16.

The nobles, also, it seems, at this high festival, imitated the

example of their master. "Pasadas todas las fiestas, en la

ultima llevavan muchos arados de manos, los quales antiguamente

heran de oro; i echos los oficios, tomava el Inga an arado i

comenzava con el a romper la tierra, i lo mismo los demas

senores, para que de alli adelante en todo su senorio hiciesen lo

mismo, i sin que el Inga hiciese esto no avia Indio que osase

romper la tierra, ni pensavan que produjese si el Inga no la

rompia primero i esto vaste quanto a las fiestas.' Conq. i. Pob.

del Piru, Ms.]

The patronage of the government did not stop with this cheap

display of royal condescension, but was shown in the most

efficient measures for facilitating the labors of the husbandman.

Much of the country along the sea-coast suffered from want of

water, as little or no rain fell there, and the few streams, in

their short and hurried course from the mountains, exerted only a

very limited influence on the wide extent of territory. The

soil, it is true, was, for the most part, sandy and sterile; but

many places were capable of being reclaimed, and, indeed, needed

only to be properly irrigated to be susceptible of extraordinary

production. To these spots water was conveyed by means of canals

and subterraneous aqueducts, executed on a noble scale. They

consisted of large slabs of freestone nicely fitted together

without cement, and discharged a volume of water sufficient, by

means of latent ducts or sluices, to moisten the lands in the

lower level, through which they passed. Some of these aqueducts

were of great length. One that traversed the district of

Condesuyu measured between four and five hundred miles. They

were brought from some elevated lake or natural reservoir in the

heart of the mountains, and were fed at intervals by other basins

which lay in their route along the slopes of the sierra. In this

descent, a passage was sometimes to be opened through rocks, -

and this without the aid of iron tools; impracticable mountains

were to be turned; rivers and marshes to be crossed; in short,

the same obstacles were to be encountered as in the construction

of their mighty roads. But the Peruvians seemed to take pleasure

in wrestling with the difficulties of nature. Near Caxamarca, a

tunnel is still visible, which they excavated in the mountains,

to give an outlet to the waters of a lake, when these rose to a

height in the rainy seasons that threatened the country with

inundation. *19

[Footnote 19: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 21. - Garcilasso,

Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 24. - Stevenson, Narrative of a

Twenty Years' Residence in S. America, (London, 1829,) vol. I. p.

412; II. pp. 173, 174.

"Sacauan acequias en cabos y por partes que es cosa estrana

afirmar lo: porque las echauan por lugares altos y baxos: y por

laderas de los cabecos y haldas de sierras q estan en los valles:

y por ellos mismos atrauiessan muchas: unas por una parte, y

otras por otra, que es gran delectacio caminar por aquellos

valles: porque parece que se anda entre huertas y florestas

llenas de frescuras." Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 66.]

Most of these beneficent works of the Incas were suffered to go

to decay by their Spanish conquerors. In some spots, the waters

are still left to flow in their silent, subterraneous channels,

whose windings and whose sources have been alike unexplored.

Others, though partially dilapidated, and closed up with rubbish

and the rank vegetation of the soil, still betray their course by

occasional patches of fertility. Such are the remains in the

valley of Nasca, a fruitful spot that lies between long tracts of

desert; where the ancient water-courses of the Incas, measuring

four or five feet in depth by three in width, and formed of large

blocks of uncemented masonry, are conducted from an unknown

distance.

The greatest care was taken that every occupant of the land

through which these streams passed should enjoy the benefit of

them. The quantity of water allotted to each was prescribed by

law; and royal overseers superintended the distribution, and saw

that it was faithfully applied to the irrigation of the ground.

*20

[Footnote 20: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Memoirs of

Gen-Miller, vol II p. 220.]

The Peruvians showed a similar spirit of enterprise in their

schemes for introducing cultivation into the mountainous parts of

their domain. Many of the hills, though covered with a strong

soil, were too precipitous to be tilled. These they cut into

terraces, faced with rough stone, diminishing in regular

gradation towards the summit; so that, while the lower strip, or

anden, as it was called by the Spaniards, that belted round the

base of the mountain, might comprehend hundreds of acres, the

uppermost was only large enough to accommodate a few rows of

Indian corn. *21 Some of the eminences presented such a mass of

solid rock, that, after being hewn into terraces, they were

obliged to be covered deep with earth, before they could serve

the purpose of the husbandman. With such patient toil did the

Peruvians combat the formidable obstacles presented by the face

of their country! Without the use of the tools or the machinery

familiar to the European, each individual could have done little;

but acting in large masses, and under a common direction, they

were enabled by indefatigable perseverance to achieve results, to

have attempted which might have filled even the European with

dismay. *22

[Footnote 21: Miller supposes that it was from these andenes that

the Spaniards gave the name of Andes to the South American

Cordilleras. (Memoirs of Gen. Miller, vol II. p. 219.) But the

name is older than the Conquest, according to Garcilasso, who

traces it to Anti, the name of a province that lay east of Cuzco.

(Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 11.) Anta, the word for

copper, which was found abundant in certain quarters of the

country, may have suggested the name of the province, if not

immediately that of the mountains.]

[Footnote 22: Memoirs of Gen. Miller, ubi supra. - Garcilasso,

Com. Real. Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 1.]

In the same spirit of economical husbandry which redeemed the

rocky sierra from the curse of sterility, they dug below the arid

soil of the valleys, and sought for a stratum where some natural

moisture might be found. These excavations, called by the

Spaniards hoyas, or "pits," were made on a great scale,

comprehending frequently more than an acre, sunk to the depth of

fifteen or twenty feet, and fenced round within by a wall of

adobes, or bricks baked in the sun. The bottom of the

excavation, well prepared by a rich manure of the sardines, - a

small fish obtained in vast quantities along the coast, - was

planted with some kind of grain or vegetable. *23

[Footnote 23: Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 73.

The remains of these ancient excavations still excite the wonder

of the modern traveller. See Stevenson, Residence in S. America,

vol. I. p. 359. - Also McCulloh, Researches, p. 358.]

The Peruvian farmers were well acquainted with the different

kinds of manures, and made large use of them; a circumstance rare

in the rich lands of the tropics, and probably not elsewhere

practised by the rude tribes of America. They made great use of

guano, the valuable deposit of sea-fowl, that has attracted so

much attention, of late, from the agriculturists both of Europe

and of our own country, and the stimulating and nutritious

properties of which the Indians perfectly appreciated. This was

found in such immense quantities on many of the little islands

along the coast, as to have the appearance of lofty hills, which,

covered with a white saline incrustation, led the Conquerors to

give them the name of the sierra nevada, or "snowy mountains."

The Incas took their usual precautions for securing the benefits

of this important article to the husbandman. They assigned the

small islands on the coast to the use of the respective districts

which lay adjacent to them. When the island was large, it was

distributed among several districts, and the boundaries for each

were clearly defined. All encroachment on the rights of another

was severely punished. And they secured the preservation of the

fowl by penalties as stern as those by which the Norman tyrants

of England protected their own game. No one was allowed to set

foot on the island during the season for breeding, under pain of

death; and to kill the birds at any time was punished in the like

manner. *24

[Footnote 24: Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 36. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 3.]

With this advancement in agricultural science, the Peruvians

might be supposed to have had some knowledge of the plough, in

such general use among the primitive nations of the eastern

continent. But they had neither the iron ploughshare of the Old

World, nor had they animals for draught, which, indeed, were

nowhere found in the New. The instrument which they used was a

strong, sharp-pointed stake, traversed by a horizontal piece, ten

or twelve inches from the point, on which the ploughman might set

his foot and force it into the ground. Six or eight strong men

were attached by ropes to the stake, and dragged it forcibly

along, - pulling together, and keeping time as they moved by

chanting their national songs, in which they were accompanied by

the women who followed in their train, to break up the sods with

their rakes. The mellow soil offered slight resistance; and the

laborer, by long practice, acquired a dexterity which enabled him

to turn up the ground to the requisite depth with astonishing

facility. This substitute for the plough was but a clumsy

contrivance; yet it is curious as the only specimen of the kind

among the American aborigines, and was perhaps not much inferior

to the wooden instrument introduced in its stead by the European

conquerors. *25

[Footnote 25: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 2.]

It was frequently the policy of the Incas, after providing a

deserted tract with the means for irrigation, and thus fitting it

for the labors of the husbandman, to transplant there a colony of

mitimaes, who brought it under cultivation by raising the crops

best suited to the soil. While the peculiar character and

capacity of the lands were thus consulted, a means of exchange of

the different products was afforded to the neighbouring

provinces, which, from the formation of the country, varied much

more than usual within the same limits. To facilitate these

agricultural exchanges, fairs were instituted, which took place

three times a month in some of the most populous places, where,

as money was unknown, a rude kind of commerce was kept up by the

barter of their respective products. These fairs afforded so

many holidays for the relaxation of the industrious laborer. *26

[Footnote 26: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 19. - Garcilasso,

Com. Real, Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 36; lib. 7, cap. 1. - Herrera,

Hist. General. dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 3.]

Such were the expedients adopted by the Incas for the improvement

of their territory; and, although imperfect, they must be allowed

to show an acquaintance with the principles of agricultural

science, that gives them some claim to the rank of a civilized

people. Under their patient and discriminating culture, every

inch of good soil was tasked to its greatest power of production;

while the most unpromising spots were compelled to contribute

something to the subsistence of the people. Everywhere the land

teemed with evidence of agricultural wealth, from the smiling

valleys along the coast to the terraced steeps of the sierra,

which, rising into pyramids of verdure, glowed with all the

splendors of tropical vegetation.

The formation of the country was particularly favorable, as

already remarked, to an infinite variety of products, not so much

from its extent as from its various elevations, which, more

remarkable, even, than those in Mexico, comprehend every degree

of latitude from the equator to the polar regions. Yet, though

the temperature changes in this region with the degree of

elevation, it remains nearly the same in the same spots

throughout the year; and the inhabitant feels none of those

grateful vicissitudes of season which belong to the temperate

latitudes of the globe. Thus, while the summer lies in full

power on the burning regions of the palm and the cocoa-tree that

fringe the borders of the ocean, the broad surface of the table

land blooms with the freshness of perpetual spring, and the

higher summits of the Cordilleras are white with everlasting

winter.

The Peruvians turned this fixed variety of climate, if I may so

say, to the best account by cultivating the productions

appropriate to each; and they particularly directed their

attention to those which afforded the most nutriment to man.

Thus, in the lower level were to be found the cassava-tree and

the banana, that bountiful plant, which seems to have relieved

man from the primeval curse - if it were not rather a blessing -

of toiling for his sustenance. *27 As the banana faded from the

landscape, a good substitute was found in the maize, the great

agricultural staple of both the northern and southern divisions

of the American continent; and which, after its exportation to

the Old World, spread so rapidly there, as to suggest the idea of

its being indigenous to it. *28 The Peruvians were well

acquainted with the different modes of preparing this useful

vegetable, though it seems they did not use it for bread, except

at festivals; and they extracted a sort of honey from the stalk,

and made an intoxicating liquor from the fermented grain, to

which, like the Aztecs, they were immoderately addicted. *29

[Footnote 27: The prolific properties of the banana are shown by

M. de Humboldt, who states that its productiveness, as compared

with that of wheat, is as 133 to 1, and with that of the potato,

as 44 to 1. (Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle

Espagne, Paris, 1827, tom. II. p. 389.) It is a mistake to

suppose that this plant was not indigenous to South America. The

banana-leaf has been frequently found in ancient Peruvian tombs.]

[Footnote 28: The misnomer of ble de Turquie shows the popular

error. Yet the rapidity of its diffusion through Europe and

Asia, after the discovery of America, is of itself sufficient to

show that it could not have been indigenous to the Old World, and

have so long remained generally unknown there.]

[Footnote 29: Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 16.

The saccharine matter contained in the maize-stalk is much

greater in tropical countries than in more northern latitudes; so

that the natives in the former may be seen sometimes sucking it

like the sugarcane. One kind of the fermented liquors, sora,

made from the corn, was of such strength, that the use of it was

forbidden by the Incas, at least to the common people. Their

injunctions do not seem to have been obeyed so implicitly in this

instance as usual.]

The temperate climate of the table-land furnished them with the

maguey, agave Americana, many of the extraordinary qualities of

which they comprehended, though not its most important one of

affording a material for paper. Tobacco, too, was among the

products of this elevated region. Yet the Peruvians differed

from every other Indian nation to whom it was known, by using it

only for medicinal purposes, in the form of snuff. *30 They may

have found a substitute for its narcotic qualities in the coca

(Erythroxylum Peruvianum), or cuca, as called by the natives.

This is a shrub which grows to the height of a man. The leaves

when gathered are dried in the sun, and, being mixed with a

little lime, form a preparation for chewing, much like the

betel-leaf of the East. *31 With a small supply of this cuca in

his pouch, and a handful of roasted maize, the Peruvian Indian of

our time performs his wearisome journeys, day after day, without

fatigue, or, at least, without complaint. Even food the most

invigorating is less grateful to him than his loved narcotic.

Under the Incas, it is said to have been exclusively reserved for

the noble orders. If so, the people gained one luxury by the

Conquest; and, after that period, it was so extensively used by

them, that this article constituted a most important item of the

colonial revenue of Spain. *32 Yet, with the soothing charms of

an opiate, this weed so much vaunted by the natives, when used to

excess, is said to be attended with all the mischievous effects

of habitual intoxication. *33

[Footnote 30: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 25.]

[Footnote 31: The pungent leaf of the betel was in like manner

mixed with lime when chewed. (Elphinstone, History of India,

London, 1841, vol. I. p. 331.) The similarity of this social

indulgence, in the remote East and West, is singular.]

[Footnote 32: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms. - Acosta, lib. 4, cap.

22. - Stevenson, Residence in S. America, vol. II. p. 63. - Cieza

de Leon, Cronica, cap. 96.]

[Footnote 33: A traveller (Poeppig) noticed in the Foreign

Quarterly Review, (No. 33,) expatiates on the malignant effects

of the habitual use of the cuca, as very similar to those

produced on the chewer of opium. Strange that such baneful

properties should not be the subject of more frequent comment

with other writers! I do not remember to have seen them even

adverted to.]

Higher up on the slopes of the Cordilleras, beyond the limits of

the maize and of the quinoa, - a grain bearing some resemblance

to rice, and largely cultivated by the Indians, - was to be found

the potato, the introduction of which into Europe has made an era

in the history of agriculture. Whether indigenous to Peru, or

imported from the neighbouring country of Chili, it formed the

great staple of the more elevated plains, under the Incas, and

its culture was continued to a height in the equatorial regions

which reached many thousand feet above the limits of perpetual

snow in the temperate latitudes of Europe. *34 Wild specimens of

the vegetable might be seen still higher, springing up

spontaneously amidst the stunted shrubs that clothed the lofty

sides of the Cordilleras, till these gradually subsided into the

mosses and the short yellow grass, pajonal, which, like a golden

carpet, was unrolled around the base of the mighty cones, that

rose far into the regions of eternal silence, covered with the

snows of centuries. *35

[Footnote 34: Malte-Brun, book 86.

The potato, found by the early discoverers in Chili, Peru, New

Granada, and all along the Cordilleras of South America, was

unknown in Mexico, - an additional proof of the entire ignorance

in which the respective nations of the two continents remained of

one another. M. de Humboldt, who has bestowed much attention on

the early history of this vegetable, which has exerted so

important an influence on European society, supposes that the

cultivation of it in Virginia, where it was known to the early

planters, must have been originally derived from the Southern

Spanish colonies. Essai Politique, tom. II. p. 462.]

[Footnote 35: While Peru, under the Incas, could boast these

indigenous products, and many others less familiar to the

European, it was unacquainted with several of great importance,

which, since the Conquest, have thriven there as on their natural

soil. Such are the olive, the grape, the fig, the apple, the

orange, the sugar-cane. None of the cereal grains of the Old

World were found there. The first wheat was introduced by a

Spanish lady of Trujillo, who took great pains to disseminate it

among the colonists, of which the government, to its credit, was

not unmindful. Her name was Maria de Escobar. History, which is

so much occupied with celebrating the scourges of humanity,

should take pleasure in commemorating one of its real

benefactors.]

Chapter V

Peruvian Sheep. - Great Hunts. - Manufactures. - Mechanical

Skill. - Architecture. - Concluding Reflections.

A nation which had made such progress in agriculture might be

reasonably expected to have made, also, some proficiency in the

mechanical arts, - especially when, as in the case of the

Peruvians, their agricultural economy demanded in itself no

inconsiderable degree of mechanical skill. Among most nations,

progress in manufactures has been found to have an intimate

connection with the progress of husbandry. Both arts are

directed to the same great object of supplying the necessaries,

the comforts, or, in a more refined condition of society, the

luxuries of life; and when the one is brought to a perfection

that infers a certain advance in civilization, the other must

naturally find a corresponding development under the increasing

demands and capacities of such a state. The subjects of the

Incas, in their patient and tranquil devotion to the more humble

occupations of industry which bound them to their native soil,

bore greater resemblance to the Oriental nations, as the Hindoos

and Chinese, than they bore to the members of the great

Anglo-Saxon family, whose hardy temper has driven them to seek

their fortunes on the stormy ocean, and to open a commerce with

the most distant regions of the globe. The Peruvians, though

lining a long extent of sea-coast, had no foreign commerce.

They had peculiar advantages for domestic manufacture in a

material incomparably superior to any thing possessed by the

other races of the Western continent. They found a good

substitute for linen in a fabric which, like the Aztecs, they

knew how to weave from the tough thread of the maguey. Cotton

grew luxuriantly on the low, sultry level of the coast, and

furnished them with a clothing suitable to the milder latitudes

of the country. But from the llama and the kindred species of

Peruvian sheep they obtained a fleece adapted to the colder

climate of the table-land, "more estimable," to quote the

language of a well-informed writer, "than the down of the

Canadian beaver, the fleece of the brebis des Calmoucks, or of

the Syrian goat." *1

[Footnote 1: Walton, Historical and Descriptive Account of the

Peruvian Sheep, (London, 1811,) p. 115. This writer's comparison

is directed to the wool of the vicuna, the most esteemed of the

genus for its fleece.]

Of the four varieties of the Peruvian sheep, the llama, the one

most familiarly known, is the least valuable on account of its

wool. It is chiefly employed as a beast of burden, for which,

although it is somewhat larger than any of the other varieties,

its diminutive size and strength would seem to disqualify it. It

carries a load of little more than a hundred pounds, and cannot

travel above three or four leagues in a day. But all this is

compensated by the little care and cost required for its

management and its maintenance. It picks up an easy subsistence

from the moss and stunted herbage that grow scantily along the

withered sides and the steeps of the Cordilleras. The structure

of its stomach, like that of the camel, is such as to enable it

to dispense with any supply of water for weeks, nay, months

together. Its spongy hoof, armed with a claw or pointed talon to

enable it to take secure hold on the ice, never requires to be

shod; and the load laid upon its back rests securely in its bed

of wool, without the aid of girth or saddle. The llamas move in

troops of five hundred or even a thousand, and thus, though each

individual carries but little, the aggregate is considerable.

The whole caravan travels on at its regular pace, passing the

night in the open air without suffering from the coldest

temperature, and marching in perfect order, and in obedience to

the voice of the driver. It is only when overloaded that the

spirited little animal refuses to stir, and neither blows nor

caresses can induce him to rise from the ground. He is as sturdy

in asserting his rights on this occasion, as he is usually docile

and unresisting. *2

[Footnote 2: Ibid., p. 23, et seq. - Garcilasso, Com. Real.,

Parte 1, lib. 8, cap. 16. - Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 41.

Llama, according to Garcilasso de la Vega, is a Peruvian word

signifying "flock." (Ibid., ubi supra.) The natives got no milk

from their domesticated animals; nor was milk used, I believe, by

any tribe on the American continent.]

The employment of domestic animals distinguished the Peruvians

from the other races of the New World. This economy of human

labor by the substitution of the brute is an important element of

civilization, inferior only to what is gained by the substitution

of machinery for both. Yet the ancient Peruvians seem to have

made much less account of it than their Spanish conquerors, and

to have valued the llama, in common with the other animals of

that genus, chiefly for its fleece. Immense herds of these

"large cattle," as they were called, and of the "smaller cattle,"

*3 or alpacas, were held by the government, as already noticed,

and placed under the direction of shepherds, who conducted them

from one quarter of the country to another, according to the

changes of the season. These migrations were regulated with all

the precision with which the code of the mesta determined the

migrations of the vast merino flocks in Spain; and the

Conquerors, when they landed in Peru, were amazed at finding a

race of animals so similar to their own in properties and habits,

and under the control of a system of legislation which might seem

to have been imported from their native land. *4

[Footnote 3: Ganado maior, ganado menor.]

[Footnote 4: The judicious Ondegardo emphatically recommends the

adoption of many of these regulations by the Spanish government,

as peculiarly suited to the exigencies of the natives. "En esto

de los ganados parescio haber hecho muchas constituciones en

diferentes tiempos e algunas tan utiles e provechosas para su

conservacion que conven dria que tambien guardasen agora." Rel.

Seg., Ms.]

But the richest store of wool was obtained, not from these

domesticated animals, but from the two other species, the

huanacos and the vicunas, which roamed in native freedom over the

frozen ranges of the Cordilleras; where not unfrequently they

might be seen scaling the snow-covered peaks which no living

thing inhabits save the condor, the huge bird of the Andes, whose

broad pinions bear him up in the atmosphere to the height of more

than twenty thousand feet above the level of the sea. *5 In these

rugged pastures, "the flock without a fold" finds sufficient

sustenance in the ychu, a species of grass which is found

scattered all along the great ridge of the Cordilleras, from the

equator to the southern limits of Patagonia. And as these limits

define the territory traversed by the Peruvian sheep, which

rarely, if ever, venture north of the line, it seems not

improbable that this mysterious little plant is so important to

their existence, that the absence of it is the principal reason

why they have not penetrated to the northern latitudes of Quito

and New Granada. *6

[Footnote 5: Malte-Brun, book 86.]

[Footnote 6: Ychu, called in the Flora Peruana Jarava; Class,

Monandria Digynia. See Walton, p. 17]

But, although thus roaming without a master over the boundless

wastes of the Cordilleras, the Peruvian peasant was never allowed

to hunt these wild animals, which were protected by laws as

severe as were the sleek herds that grazed on the more cultivated

slopes of the plateau. The wild game of the forest and the

mountain was as much the property of the government, as if it had

been inclosed within a park, or penned within a fold. *7 It was

only on stated occasions, at the great hunts, which took place

once a year, under the personal superintendence of the Inca or

his principal officers, that the game was allowed to be taken.

These hunts were not repeated in the same quarter of the country

oftener than once in four years, that time might be allowed for

the waste occasioned by them to be replenished. At the appointed

time, all those living in the district and its neighbourhood, to

the number, it might be, of fifty or sixty thousand men, *8 were

distributed round, so as to form a cordon of immense extent, that

should embrace the whole country which was to be hunted over.

The men were armed with long poles and spears, with which they

beat up game of every description lurking in the woods, the

valleys, and the mountains, killing the beasts of prey without

mercy, and driving the others, consisting chiefly of the deer of

the country, and the huanacos and vicunas, towards the centre of

the wide-extended circle; until, as this gradually contracted,

the timid inhabitants of the forest were concentrated on some

spacious plain, where the eye of the hunter might range freely

over his victims, who found no place for shelter or escape.

[Footnote 7: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]

[Footnote 8: Sometimes even a hundred thousand mustered, when the

Inca hunted in person, if we may credit Sarmiento. "De donde

haviendose ya juntado cinquenta o sesenta mil Personas o cien mil

si mandado les era." Relacion, Ms., cap. 13.]

The male deer and some of the coarser kind of the Peruvian sheep

were slaughtered; their skins were reserved for the various

useful manufactures to which they are ordinarily applied, and

their flesh, cut into thin slices, was distributed among the

people, who converted it into charqui, the dried meat of the

country, which constituted then the sole, as it has since the

principal, animal food of the lower classes of Peru. *9

[Footnote 9: Ibid., ubi supra.

Charqui; hence, probably, says McCulloh, the term "jerked,"

applied to the dried beef of South America. Researches, p. 377.]

But nearly the whole of the sheep, amounting usually to thirty or

forty thousand, or even a larger number, after being carefully

sheared, were suffered to escape and regain their solitary haunts

among the mountains. The wool thus collected was deposited in

the royal magazines, whence, in due time, it was dealt out to the

people. The coarser quality was worked up into garments for

their own use, and the finer for the Inca; for none but an Inca

noble could wear the fine fabric of the vicuna. *10

[Footnote 10: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms. loc. cit. - Cieza de Leon,

Cronica, cap. 81. - Garcilasso, Com. Real. Parte 1, lib. 6, cap.

6.]

The Peruvians showed great skill in the manufacture of different

articles for the royal household from this delicate material,

which, under the name of vigonia wool, is now familiar to the

looms of Europe. It was wrought into shawls, robes, and other

articles of dress for the monarch, and into carpets, coverlets,

and hangings for the imperial palaces and the temples. The cloth

was finished on both sides alike; *11 the delicacy of the texture

was such as to give it the lustre of silk; and the brilliancy of

the dyes excited the admiration and the envy of the European

artisan. *12 The Peruvians produced also an article of great

strength and durability by mixing the hair of animals with wool;

and they were expert in the beautiful feather-work, which they

held of less account than the Mexicans from the superior quality

of the materials for other fabrics, which they had at their

command. *13

[Footnote 11: Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 41.]

[Footnote 12: "Ropas finisimas para los Reyes, que lo eran tanto

que parecian de sarga de seda y con colores tan perfectos quanto

se puede afirmar." Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 13]

[Footnote 13: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

"Ropa finissima para los senores Ingas de lana de las Vicunias.

Y cierto fue tan prima esta ropa, como auran visto en Espana: por

alguna que alla fue luego que se gano este reyno. Los vestidos

destos Ingas eran camisetas desta opa: vnas pobladas de

argenteria de oro, otras de esmeraldas y piedras preciosas: y

algunas de plumas de aues: otras de solamente la manta. Para

hazer estas ropas, tuuiero y tienen tan perfetas colores de

carmesi, azul, amarillo, negro, y de otras suertes: que

verdaderamente tienen ventaja a las de Espana." Cieza de Leon,

Cronica, cap. 114.]

The natives showed a skill in other mechanical arts similar to

that displayed by their manufacturers of cloth. Every man in

Peru was expected to be acquainted with the various handicrafts

essential to domestic comfort. No long apprenticeship was

required for this, where the wants were so few as among the

simple peasantry of the Incas. But, if this were all, it would

imply but a very moderate advancement in the arts. There were

certain individuals, however, carefully trained to those

occupations which minister to the demands of the more opulent

classes of society. These occupations, like every other calling

and office in Peru, always descended from father to son. *14 The

division of castes, in this particular, was as precise as that

which existed in Egypt or Hindostan. If this arrangement be

unfavorable to originality, or to the development of the peculiar

talent of the individual, it at least conduces to an easy and

finished execution by familiarizing the artist with the practice

of his art from childhood. *15

[Footnote 14: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim. et Seg., Mss. - Garcillaso,

Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 7, 9, 13.]

[Footnote 15: At least, such was the opinion of the Egyptians,

who referred to this arrangement of castes as the source of their

own peculiar dexterity in the arts. See Diodorus Sic., lib. 1,

sec. 74.]

The royal magazines and the huacas or tombs of the Incas have

been found to contain many specimens of curious and elaborate

workmanship. Among these are vases of gold and silver,

bracelets, collars, and other ornaments for the person; utensils

of every description, some of fine clay, and many more of copper;

mirrors of a hard, polished stone, or burnished silver, with a

great variety of other articles made frequently on a whimsical

pattern, evincing quite as much ingenuity as taste or inventive

talent. *16 The character of the Peruvian mind led to imitation,

in fact, rather than invention, to delicacy and minuteness of

finish, rather than to boldness or beauty of design.

[Footnote 16: Ulloa, Not. Amer., ent. 21. - Pedro Pizarro,

Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Cieza de Leon, Cronica, cap. 114. -

Condamine, Mem. ap. Hist. de l'Acad. Royale de Berlin, tom. II.

p. 454-456.

The last writer says, that a large collection of massive gold

ornaments of very rich workmanship was long preserved in the

royal treasury of Quito. But on his going there to examine them,

he learned that they had just been melted down into ingots to

send to Carthagena, then besieged by the English! The art of war

can flourish only at the expense of all the other arts.]

That they should have accomplished these difficult works with

such tools as they possessed, is truly wonderful. It was

comparatively easy to cast and even to sculpture metallic

substances, both of which they did with consummate skill. But

that they should have shown the like facility in cutting the

hardest substances, as emeralds and other precious stones, is not

so easy to explain. Emeralds they obtained in considerable

quantity from the barren district of Atacames, and this

inflexible material seems to have been almost as ductile in the

hands of the Peruvian artist as if it had been made of clay. *17

Yet the natives were unacquainted with the use of iron, though

the soil was largely impregnated with it. *18 The tools used were

of stone, or more frequently of copper. But the material on

which they relied for the execution of their most difficult tasks

was formed by combining a very small portion of tin with copper.

*19 This composition gave a hardness to the metal which seems to

have been little inferior to that of steel. With the aid of it,

not only did the Peruvian artisan hew into shape porphyry and

granite, but by his patient industry accomplished works which the

European would not have ventured to undertake. Among the remains

of the monuments of Cannar may be seen movable rings in the

muzzles of animals, all nicely sculptured of one entire block of

granite. *20 It is worthy of remark, that the Egyptians, the

Mexicans, and the Peruvians, in their progress towards

civilization, should never have detected the use of iron, which

lay around them in abundance; and that they should each, without

any knowledge of the other, have found a substitute for it in

such a curious composition of metals as gave to their tools

almost the temper of steel; *21 a secret that has been lost - or,

to speak more correctly, has never been discovered - by the

civilized European.

[Footnote 17: They had turquoises, also, and might have had

pearls, but for the tenderness of the Incas, who were unwilling

to risk the lives of their people in this perilous fishery! At

least, so we are assured by Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib.

8, cap. 23.]

[Footnote 18: "No tenian herramientas de hierro in azero."

Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib.

4, cap. 4.]

[Footnote 19: M. de Humboldt brought with him back to Europe one

of these metallic tools, a chisel, found in a silver mine opened

by the Incas not far from Cuzco. On an analysis, it was found to

contain 0.94 of copper, and 0.06 of tin. See Vues des

Cordilleres, p. 117.]

[Footnote 20: "Quoiqu'il en soit," says M. de la Condamine, "nous

avons vu en quelques autres ruines des ornemens du meme granit,

qui representoient des mufles d'animaux, dont les narines percees

portoient des anneaux mobiles de la meme pierre." Mem. ap. Hist.

de l'Acad. Royale de Berlin, tom. II. p. 452.]

[Footnote 21: See the History of the Conquest of Mexico, Book 1,

chap. 5.]

I have already spoken of the large quantity of gold and silver

wrought into various articles of elegance and utility for the

Incas; though the amount was inconsiderable, in comparison with

what could have been afforded by the mineral riches of the land,

and with what has since been obtained by the more sagacious and

unscrupulous cupidity of the white man. Gold was gathered by the

Incas from the deposits of the streams. They extracted the ore

also in considerable quantities from the valley of Curimayo,

northeast of Caxamarca, as well as from other places; and the

silver mines of Porco, in particular, yielded them considerable

returns. Yet they did not attempt to penetrate into the bowels

of the earth by sinking a shaft, but simply excavated a cavern in

the steep sides of the mountain, or, at most, opened a horizontal

vein of moderate depth. They were equally deficient in the

knowledge of the best means of detaching the precious metal from

the dross with which it was united, and had no idea of the

virtues of quicksilver, - a mineral not rare in Peru, - as an

amalgam to effect this decomposition. *22 Their method of

smelting the ore was by means of furnaces built in elevated and

exposed situations, where they might be fanned by the strong

breezes of the mountains. The subjects of the Incas, in short,

with all their patient perseverance, did little more than

penetrate below the crust, the outer rind, as it were, formed

over those golden caverns which lie hidden in the dark depths of

the Andes. Yet what they gleaned from the surface was more than

adequate for all their demands. For they were not a commercial

people, and had no knowledge of money. *23 In this they differed

from the ancient Mexicans, who had an established currency of a

determinate value. In one respect, however, they were superior

to their American rivals, since they made use of weights to

determine the quantity of their commodities, a thing wholly

unknown to the Aztecs. This fact is ascertained by the discovery

of silver balances, adjusted with perfect accuracy, in some of

the tombs of the Incas. *24

[Footnote 22: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 8, cap. 25.]

[Footnote 23: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 7; lib. 6, cap. 8. -

Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.

This, which Bonaparte thought so incredible of the little island

of Loo Choo, was still more extraordinary in a great and

flourishing empire like Peru; - the country, too, which contained

within its bowels the treasures that were one day to furnish

Europe with the basis of its vast metallic currency.]

[Footnote 24: Ulloa, Not. Amer., ent. 21.]

But the surest test of the civilization of a people - at least,

as sure as any - afforded by mechanical art is to be found in

their architecture, which presents so noble a field for the

display of the grand and the beautiful, and which, at the same

time, is so intimately connected with the essential comforts of

life. There is no object on which the resources of the wealthy

are more freely lavished, or which calls out more effectually the

inventive talent of the artist. The painter and the sculptor may

display their individual genius in creations of surpassing

excellence, but it is the great monuments of architectural taste

and magnificence that are stamped in a peculiar manner by the

genius of the nation. The Greek, the Egyptian, the Saracen, the

Gothic, - what a key do their respective styles afford to the

character and condition of the people! The monuments of China,

of Hindostan, and of Central America are all indicative of an

immature period, in which the imagination has not been

disciplined by study, and which, therefore, in its best results,

betrays only the ill-regulated aspirations after the beautiful,

that belong to a semi-civilized people.

The Peruvian architecture, bearing also the general

characteristics of an imperfect state of refinement, had still

its peculiar character; and so uniform was that character, that

the edifices throughout the country seem to have been all cast in

the same mould. *25 They were usually built of porphyry or

granite; not unfrequently of brick. This, which was formed into

blocks or squares of much larger dimensions than our brick, was

made of a tenacious earth mixed up with reeds or tough grass, and

acquired a degree of hardness with age that made it insensible

alike to the storms and the more trying sun of the tropics. *26

The walls were of great thickness, but low, seldom reaching to

more than twelve or fourteen feet in height. It is rare to meet

with accounts of a building that rose to a second story. *27

[Footnote 25: It is the observation of Humboldt. "Il est

impossible d'examiner attentivement un seul edifice du temps des

Incas, sans reconnoitre le meme type dans tous les autres qui

couvrent le dos des Andes, sur une longueur de plus de quatre

cent cinquante lieues, depuis mille jusqu'a quatre mille metres

d'elevation au-dessus du niveau de l'Ocean. On dirait qu'un seul

architecte a construit ce grand nombre de monumens." Vues des

Cordilleres, p. 197.]

[Footnote 26: Ulloa, who carefully examined these bricks,

suggests that there must have been some secret in their

composition, - so superior in many respects to our own

manufacture, - now lost. Not. Amer., ent. 20.]

[Footnote 27: Ibid., ubi supra.]

The apartments had no communication with one another, but usually

opened into a court; and, as they were unprovided with windows,

or apertures that served for them, the only light from without

must have been admitted by the doorways. These were made with

the sides approaching each other towards the top, so that the

lintel was considerably narrower than the threshold, a

peculiarity, also, in Egyptian architecture. The roofs have for

the most part disappeared with time. Some few survive in the

less ambitious edifices, of a singular bell-shape, and made of a

composition of earth and pebbles. They are supposed, however, to

have been generally formed of more perishable materials, of wood

or straw. It is certain that some of the most considerable

stone-buildings were thatched with straw. Many seem to have been

constructed without the aid of cement; and writers have contended

that the Peruvians were unacquainted with the use of mortar, or

cement of any kind. *28 But a close, tenacious mould, mixed with

lime, may be discovered filling up the interstices of the granite

in some buildings; and in others, where the well-fitted blocks

leave no room for this coarser material, the eye of the antiquary

has detected a fine bituminous glue, as hard as the rock itself.

*29

[Footnote 28: Among others, see Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 15. -

Robertson, History of America, (London, 1796,) vol. III. p. 213.]

[Footnote 29: Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms. - Ulloa, Not. Amer., ent.

21.

Humboldt, who analyzed the cement of the ancient structures at

Cannar, says that it is a true mortar, formed of a mixture of

pebbles and a clayey marl. (Vues des Cordilleres, p. 116.)

Father Velasco is in raptures with an "almost imperceptible kind

of cement" made of lime and a bituminous substance resembling

glue, which incorporated with the stones so as to hold them

firmly together like one solid mass, yet left nothing visible to

the eye of the common observer. This glutinous composition,

mixed with pebbles, made a sort of Macadamized road much used by

the Incas, as hard and almost as smooth as marble. Hist. de

Quito, tom. I. pp. 126-128.]

The greatest simplicity is observed in the construction of the

buildings, which are usually free from outward ornament; though

in some the huge stones are shaped into a convex form with great

regularity, and adjusted with such nice precision to one another,

that it would be impossible, but for the flutings, to determine

the line of junction. In others, the stone is rough, as it was

taken from the quarry, in the most irregular forms, with the

edges nicely wrought and fitted to each other. There is no

appearance of columns or of arches; though there is some

contradiction as to the latter point. But it is not to be

doubted, that, although they may have made some approach to this

mode of construction by the greater or less inclination of the

walls, the Peruvian architects were wholly unacquainted with the

true principle of the circular arch reposing on its key-stone.

*30

[Footnote 30: Condamine, Mem. ap. Hist. de l'Acad. Royale de

Berlin, tom. II. p. 448. - Antig. y Monumentos del Peru, Ms. -

Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib 4, cap. 4. - Acosta, lib. 6,

cap. 14. - Ulloa, Voyage to S. America, vol. I. p 469. -

Ondegardo, Rel. Seg., Ms.]

The architecture of the Incas is characterized, says an eminent

traveller, "by simplicity, symmetry and solidity." *31 It may

seem unphilosophical to condemn the peculiar fashion of a nation

as indicating want of taste, because its standard of taste

differs from our own. Yet there is an incongruity in the

composition of the Peruvian buildings which argues a very

imperfect acquaintance with the first principles of architecture.

While they put together their bulky masses of porphyry and

granite with the nicest art, they were incapable of mortising

their timbers, and, in their ignorance of iron, knew no better

way of holding the beams together than tying them with thongs of

maguey. In the same incongruous spirit, the building that was

thatched with straw, and unilluminated by a window, was glowing

with tapestries of gold and silver! These are the

inconsistencies of a rude people, among whom the arts are but

partially developed. It might not be difficult to find examples

of like inconsistency in the architecture and domestic

arrangements of our Anglo-Saxon, and, at a still later period, of

our Norman ancestors.

[Footnote 31: "Simplicite, symetrie, et solidite, voila les trois

caracteres par lesquels se distinguent avantageusement tous les

edifices peruviens.' Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, p. 115.]

Yet the buildings of the Incas were accommodated to the character

of the climate, and were well fitted to resist those terrible

convulsions which belong to the land of volcanoes. The wisdom of

their plan is attested by the number which still survive, while

the more modern constructions of the Conquerors have been buried

in ruins. The hand of the Conquerors, indeed, has fallen heavily

on these venerable monuments, and, in their blind and

superstitious search for hidden treasure, has caused infinitely

more ruin than time or the earthquake. *32 Yet enough of these

monuments still remain to invite the researches of the antiquary.

Those only in the most conspicuous situations have been hitherto

examined. But, by the testimony of travellers, many more are to

be found in the less frequented parts of the country; and we may

hope they will one day call forth a kindred spirit of enterprise

to that which has so successfully explored the mysterious

recesses of Central America and Yucatan.

[Footnote 32: The anonymous author of the Antig. y Monumentos del

Peru, Ms., gives us, at second hand, one of those golden

traditions which, in early times, fostered the spirit of

adventure. The tradition, in this instance, he thinks well

entitled to credit. The reader will judge for himself.

"It is a well-authenticated report, and generally received, that

there is a secret hall in the fortress of Cuzco, where an immense

treasure is concealed, consisting of the statues of all the

Incas, wrought in gold. A lady is still living, Dona Maria de

Esquivel, the wife of the last Inca, who has visited this hall,

and I have heard her relate the way in which she was carried to

see it.

"Don Carlos, the lady's husband, did not maintain a style of

living becoming his high rank. Dona Maria sometimes reproached

him, declaring that she had been deceived into marrying a poor

Indian under the lofty title of Lord or Inca. She said this so

frequently, that Don Carlos one night exclaimed, 'Lady! do you

wish to know whether I am rich or poor? You shall see that no

lord nor king in the world has a larger treasure than I have.'

Then covering her eyes with a handkerchief he made her turn round

two or three times, and, taking her by the hand, led her a short

distance before he removed the bandage. On opening her eyes,

what was her amazement! She had gone not more than two hundred

paces, and descended a short flight of steps, and she now found

herself in a large quadrangular hall, where, ranged on benches

round the walls, she beheld the statues of the Incas, each of the

size of a boy twelve years old, all of massive gold! She saw

also many vessels of gold and silver. 'In fact,' she said, 'it

was one of the most magnificent treasures in the whole world!'"]

I cannot close this analysis of the Peruvian institutions without

a few reflections on their general character and tendency, which,

if they involve some repetition of previous remarks, may, I

trust, be excused, from my desire to leave a correct and

consistent impression on the reader. In this survey, we cannot

but be struck with the total dissimilarity between these

institutions and those of the Aztecs, - the other great nation

who led in the march of civilization on this western continent,

and whose empire in the northern portion of it was as conspicuous

as that of the Incas in the south. Both nations came on the

plateau, and commenced their career of conquest, at dates, it may

be, not far removed from each other. *33 And it is worthy of

notice, that, in America, the elevated region along the crests of

the great mountain ranges should have been the chosen seat of

civilization in both hemispheres.

[Footnote 33: Ante, chap. 1.]

Very different was the policy pursued by the two races in their

military career. The Aztecs, animated by the most ferocious

spirit, carried on a war of extermination, signalizing their

triumphs by the sacrifice of hecatombs of captives; while the

Incas, although they pursued the game of conquest with equal

pertinacity, preferred a milder policy, substituting negotiation

and intrigue for violence, and dealt with their antagonists so

that their future resources should not be crippled, and that they

should come as friends, not as foes, into the bosom of the

empire.

Their policy toward the conquered forms a contrast no less

striking to that pursued by the Aztecs. The Mexican vassals were

ground by excessive imposts and military conscriptions. No

regard was had to their welfare, and the only limit to oppression

was the power of endurance. They were overawed by fortresses and

armed garrisons, and were made to feel every hour that they were

not part and parcel of the nation, but held only in subjugation

as a conquered people. The Incas, on the other hand, admitted

their new subjects at once to all the rights enjoyed by the rest

of the community; and, though they made them conform to the

established laws and usages of the empire, they watched over

their personal security and comfort with a sort of parental

solicitude. The motley population, thus bound together by common

interest, was animated by a common feeling of loyalty, which gave

greater strength and stability to the empire, as it became more

and more widely extended; while the various tribes who

successively came under the Mexican sceptre, being held together

only by the pressure of external force, were ready to fall

asunder the moment that that force was withdrawn. The policy of

the two nations displayed the principle of fear as contrasted

with the principle of love.

The characteristic features of their religious systems had as

little resemblance to each other. The whole Aztec pantheon

partook more or less of the sanguinary spirit of the terrible

war-god who presided over it, and their frivolous ceremonial

almost always terminated with human sacrifice and cannibal

orgies. But the rites of the Peruvians were of a more innocent

cast, as they tended to a more spiritual worship. For the

worship of the Creator is most nearly approached by that of the

heavenly bodies, which, as they revolve in their bright orbits,

seem to be the most glorious symbols of his beneficence and

power.

In the minuter mechanical arts, both showed considerable skill;

but in the construction of important public works, of roads,

aqueducts, canals, and in agriculture in all its details, the

Peruvians were much superior. Strange that they should have

fallen so far below their rivals in their efforts after a higher

intellectual culture, in astronomical science, more especially,

and in the art of communicating thought by visible symbols. When

we consider the greater refinement of the Incas, their

inferiority to the Aztecs in these particulars can be explained

only by the fact, that the latter in all probability were

indebted for their science to the race who preceded them in the

land, - that shadowy race whose origin and whose end are alike

veiled from the eye of the inquirer, but who possibly may have

sought a refuge from their ferocious invaders in those regions of

Central America the architectural remains of which now supply us

with the most pleasing monuments of Indian civilization. It is

with this more polished race, to whom the Peruvians seem to have

borne some resemblance in their mental and moral organization,

that they should be compared. Had the empire of the Incas been

permitted to extend itself with the rapid strides with which it

was advancing at the period of the Spanish conquest, the two

races might have come into conflict, or, perhaps, into alliance

with one another.

The Mexicans and Peruvians, so different in the character of

their peculiar civilization, were, it seems probable, ignorant of

each other's existence; and it may appear singular, that, during

the simultaneous continuance of their empires, some of the seeds

of science and of art, which pass so imperceptibly from one

people to another, should not have found their way across the

interval which separated the two nations. They furnish an

interesting example of the opposite directions which the human

mind may take in its struggle to emerge from darkness into the

light of civilization.

A closer resemblance - as I have more than once taken occasion to

notice - may be found between the Peruvian institutions and some

of the despotic governments of Eastern Asia; those governments

where despotism appears in its more mitigated form, and the whole

people, under the patriarchal sway of its sovereign, seem to be

gathered together like the members of one vast family. Such were

the Chinese, for example, whom the Peruvians resembled in their

implicit obedience to authority, their mild yet somewhat stubborn

temper, their solicitude for forms, their reverence for ancient

usage, their skill in the minuter manufactures, their imitative

rather than inventive cast of mind, and their invincible

patience, which serves instead of a more adventurous spirit for

the execution of difficult undertakings. *34

[Footnote 34: Count Carli has amused himself with tracing out the

different points of resemblance between the Chinese and the

Peruvians. The emperor of China was styled the son of Heaven or

of the Sun. He also held a plough once a year in presence of his

people, to show his respect for agriculture. And the solstices

and equinoxes were noted, to determine the periods of their

religious festivals. The coincidences are curious. Lettres

Americaines, tom. II. pp. 7, 8.]

A still closer analogy may be found with the natives of Hindostan

in their division into castes, their worship of the heavenly

bodies and the elements of nature, and their acquaintance with

the scientific principles of husbandry. To the ancient

Egyptians, also, they bore considerable resemblance in the same

particulars, as well as in those ideas of a future existence

which led them to attach so much importance to the permanent

preservation of the body.

But we shall look in vain in the history of the East for a

parallel to the absolute control exercised by the Incas over

their subjects. In the East, this was founded on physical power,

- on the external resources of the government. The authority of

the Inca might be compared with that of the Pope in the day of

his might, when Christendom trembled at the thunders of the

Vatican, and the successor of St. Peter set his foot on the necks

of princes. But the authority of the Pope was founded on

opinion. His temporal power was nothing. The empire of the

Incas rested on both. It was a theocracy more potent in its

operation than that of the Jews; for, though the sanction of the

law might be as great among the latter, the law was expounded by

a human lawgiver, the servant and representative of Divinity.

But the Inca was both the lawgiver and the law. He was not

merely the representative of Divinity, or, like the Pope, its

vicegerent, but he was Divinity itself. The violation of his

ordinance was sacrilege. Never was there a scheme of government

enforced by such terrible sanctions, or which bore so

oppressively on the subjects of it. For it reached not only to

the visible acts, but to the private conduct, the words, the very

thoughts, of its vassals.

It added not a little to the efficacy of the government, that,

below the sovereign, there was an order of hereditary nobles of

the same divine original with himself, who, placed far below

himself, were still immeasurably above the rest of the community,

not merely by descent, but, as it would seem, by their

intellectual nature. These were the exclusive depositaries of

power, and, as their long hereditary training made them familiar

with their vocation, and secured them implicit deference from the

multitude, they became the prompt and well-practised agents for

carrying out the executive measures of the administration. All

that occurred throughout the wide extent of his empire - such was

the perfect system of communication - passed in review, as it

were, before the eyes of the monarch, and a thousand hands, armed

with irresistible authority, stood ready in every quarter to do

his bidding. Was it not, as we have said, the most oppressive,

though the mildest, of despotisms?

It was the mildest, from the very circumstance, that the

transcendent rank of the sovereign, and the humble, nay,

superstitious, devotion to his will made it superfluous to assert

this will by acts of violence or rigor. The great mass of the

people may have appeared to his eyes as but little removed above

the condition of the brute, formed to minister to his pleasures.

But, from their very helplessness, he regarded them with feelings

of commiseration, like those which a kind master might feel for

the poor animals committed to his charge, or - to do justice to

the beneficent character attributed to many of the Incas - that a

parent might feel for his young and impotent offspring. The laws

were carefully directed to their preservation and personal

comfort. The people were not allowed to be employed on works

pernicious to their health, nor to pine - a sad contrast to their

subsequent destiny - under the imposition of tasks too heavy for

their powers. They were never made the victims of public or

private extortion; and a benevolent forecast watched carefully

over their necessities, and provided for their relief in seasons

of infirmity, and for their sustenance in health. The government

of the Incas, however arbitrary in form, was in its spirit truly

patriarchal.

Yet in this there was nothing cheering to the dignity of human

nature. What the people had was conceded as a boon, not as a

right. When a nation was brought under the sceptre of the Incas,

it resigned every personal right, even the rights dearest to

humanity. Under this extraordinary polity, a people advanced in

many of the social refinements, well skilled in manufactures and

agriculture, were unacquainted, as we have seen, with money. They

had nothing that deserved to be called property. They could

follow no craft, could engage in no labor, no amusement, but such

as was specially provided by law. They could not change their

residence or their dress without a license from the government.

They could not even exercise the freedom which is conceded to the

most abject in other countries, that of selecting their own

wives. The imperative spirit of despotism would not allow them

to be happy or miserable in any way but that established by law.

The power of free agency - the inestimable and inborn right of

every human being - was annihilated in Peru.

The astonishing mechanism of the Peruvian polity could have

resulted only from the combined authority of opinion and positive

power in the ruler to an extent unprecedented in the history of

man. Yet that it should have so successfully gone into

operation, and so long endured, in opposition to the taste, the

prejudices, and the very principles of our nature, is a strong

proof of a generally wise and temperate administration of the

government.

The policy habitually pursued by the Incas for the prevention of

evils that might have disturbed the order of things is well

exemplified in their provisions against poverty and idleness. In

these they rightly discerned the two great causes of disaffection

in a populous community. The industry of the people was secured

not only by their compulsory occupations at home, but by their

employment on those great public works which covered every part

of the country, and which still bear testimony in their decay to

their primitive grandeur. Yet it may well astonish us to find,

that the natural difficulty of these undertakings, sufficiently

great in itself, considering the imperfection of their tools and

machinery, was inconceivably enhanced by the politic contrivance

of government. The royal edifices of Quito, we are assured by

the Spanish conquerors, were constructed of huge masses of stone,

many of which were carried all the way along the mountain roads

from Cuzco, a distance of several hundred leagues. *35 The great

square of the capital was filled to a considerable depth with

mould brought with incredible labor up the steep slopes of the

Cordilleras from the distant shores of the Pacific Ocean. *36

Labor was regarded not only as a means, but as an end, by the

Peruvian law.

[Footnote 35: "Era muy principal intento que la gente no holgase,

que dava causa a que despues que los Ingas estuvieron en paz

hacer traer de Quito al Cuzco piedra que venia de provincia en

provincia para hacer casas para si o pa el Sol en gran cantidad,

y del Cuzco llevalla a Quito pa el mismo efecto, . . . . . y asi

destas cosas hacian los Ingas muchas de poco provecho y de

escesivo travajo en que traian ocupadas las provincias

ordinariamte, y en fin el travajo era causa de su conservacion."

Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Also Antig. y Monumentos del Peru,

Ms.]

[Footnote 36: This was literally gold dust; for Ondegardo states,

that, when governor of Cuzco, he caused great quantities of gold

vessels and ornaments to be disinterred from the sand in which

they had been secreted by the natives. "Que toda aquella plaza

del Cuzco le sacaron la tierra propia, y se llevo a otras partes

por cosa de gran estima, e la hincheron de arena de la costa de

la mar, como hasta dos palmos y medio en algunas partes, mas

sembraron por toda ella muchos vasos de oro e plata, y hovejuelas

y hombrecillos pequenos de lo mismo, lo cual se ha sacado en

mucha cantidad, que todo lo hemos visto; desta arena estaba toda

la plaza, quando yo fui a governar aquella Ciudad; e si fue

verdad que aquella se trajo de ellos, afirman e tienen puestos en

sus registros, paresceme que sea ansi, que toda la tierra junta

tubo necesidad de entender en ello, por que la plaza es grande, y

no tiene numero las cargas que en ella entraron; y la costa por

lo mas cerca esta mas de nobenta leguas a lo que creo, y cierto

yo me satisfice, porque todos dicen, que aquel genero de arena,

no lo hay hasta la costa." Rel. Seg., Ms]

With their manifold provisions against poverty the reader has

already been made acquainted. They were so perfect, that, in

their wide extent of territory, - much of it smitten with the

curse of barrenness, - no man, however humble, suffered from the

want of food and clothing. Famine, so common a scourge in every

other American nation, so common at that period in every country

of civilized Europe, was an evil unknown in the dominions of the

Incas.

The most enlightened of the Spaniards who first visited Peru,

struck with the general appearance of plenty and prosperity, and

with the astonishing order with which every thing throughout the

country was regulated, are loud in their expressions of

admiration. No better government, in their opinion, could have

been devised for the people. Contented with their condition, and

free from vice, to borrow the language of an eminent authority of

that early day, the mild and docile character of the Peruvians

would have well fitted them to receive the teachings of

Christianity, had the love of conversion, instead of gold,

animated the breasts of the Conquerors. *37 And a philosopher of

a later time, warmed by the contemplation of the picture - which

his own fancy had colored - of public prosperity and private

happiness under the rule of the Incas, pronounces "the moral man

in Peru far superior to the European." *38

[Footnote 37: "Y si Dios permitiera que tubieran quien con celo

de Cristiandad, y no con ramo de codicia, en lo pasado, les

dieran entera noticia de nuestra sagrada Religion, era gente en

que bien imprimiera, segun vemos por lo que ahora con la buena

orden que hay se obra." Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 22.

But the most emphatic testimony to the merits of the people is

that afforded by Mancio Sierra Lejesema, the last survivor of the

early Spanish Conquerors, who settled in Peru. In the preamble

to his testament, made, as he states, to relieve his conscience,

at the time of his death, he declares that the whole population,

under the Incas, was distinguished by sobriety and industry; that

such things as robbery and theft were unknown; that, far from

licentiousness, there was not even a prostitute in the country;

and that every thing was conducted with the greatest order, and

entire submission to authority. The panegyric is somewhat too

unqualified for a whole nation, and may lead one to suspect that

the stings of remorse for his own treatment of the natives goaded

the dying veteran into a higher estimate of their deserts than

was strictly warranted by facts. Yet this testimony by such a

man at such a time is too remarkable, as well as too honorable to

the Peruvians, to be passed over in silence by the historian; and

I have transferred the document in the original to Appendix, No.

4.]

[Footnote 38: "Sans doute l'homme moral du Perou etoit infiniment

plus perfectionne que l'Europeen." Carli, Lettres Americaines,

tom. I. p. 215.]

Yet such results are scarcely reconcilable with the theory of the

government I have attempted to analyze. Where there is no free

agency, there can be no morality. Where there is no temptation,

there can be little claim to virtue. Where the routine is

rigorously prescribed by law, the law, and not the man, must have

the credit of the conduct. If that government is the best, which

is felt the least, which encroaches on the natural liberty of the

subject only so far as is essential to civil subordination, then

of all governments devised by man the Peruvian has the least real

claim to our admiration.

It is not easy to comprehend the genius and the full import of

institutions so opposite to those of our own free republic, where

every man, however humble his condition, may aspire to the

highest honors of the state, - may select his own career, and

carve out his fortune in his own way; where the light of

knowledge, instead of being concentrated on a chosen few, is shed

abroad like the light of day, and suffered to fall equally on the

poor and the rich; where the collision of man with man wakens a

generous emulation that calls out latent talent and tasks the

energies to the utmost; where consciousness of independence gives

a feeling of self-reliance unknown to the timid subjects of a

despotism; where, in short, the government is made for man, - not

as in Peru, where man seemed to be made only for the government.

The New World is the theatre on which these two political

systems, so opposite in their character, have been carried into

operation. The empire of the Incas has passed away and left no

trace. The other great experiment is still going on, - the

experiment which is to solve the problem, so long contested in

the Old World, of the capacity of man for self-government. Alas

for humanity, if it should fail!

The testimony of the Spanish conquerors is not uniform in respect

to the favorable influence exerted by the Peruvian institutions

on the character of the people. Drinking and dancing are said to

have been the pleasures to which they were immoderately addicted.

Like the slaves and serfs in other lands, whose position excluded

them from more serious and ennobling occupations, they found a

substitute in frivolous or sensual indulgence. Lazy, luxurious,

and licentious, are the epithets bestowed on them by one of those

who saw them at the Conquest, but whose pen was not too friendly

to the Indian. *39 Yet the spirit of independence could hardly be

strong in a people who had no interest in the soil, no personal

rights to defend; and the facility with which they yielded to the

Spanish invader - after every allowance for their comparative

inferiority - argues a deplorable destitution of that patriotic

feeling which holds life as little in comparison with freedom.

[Footnote 39: "Heran muy dados a la lujuria y al bever, tenian

acceso carnal con las hermanas y las mugeres de sus padres como

no fuesen sus mismas madres, y aun algunos avia que con ellas

mismas lo hacian y ansi mismo con sus hijas. Estando borrachos

tocavan algunos en el pecado nefando, emborrachavanse muy a

menudo, y estando borrachos todo lo que el demonio les traia a la

voluntad hacian Heran estos orejones muy soberbios y

presuntuosos.

. . . . . Tenian otras muchas maldades que por ser muchas no las

digo." Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

These random aspersions of the hard conqueror show too gross an

ignorance of the institutions of the people to merit much

confidence as to what is said of their character.]

But we must not judge too hardly of the unfortunate native,

because he quailed before the civilization of the European. We

must not be insensible to the really great results that were

achieved by the government of the Incas. We must not forget,

that, under their rule, the meanest of the people enjoyed a far

greater degree of personal comfort, at least, a greater exemption

from physical suffering, than was possessed by similar classes in

other nations on the American continent, - greater, probably,

than was possessed by these classes in most of the countries of

feudal Europe. Under their sceptre, the higher orders of the

state had made advances in many of the arts that belong to a

cultivated community. The foundations of a regular government

were laid, which, in an age of rapine, secured to its subjects

the inestimable blessings of tranquillity and safety. By the

well-sustained policy of the Incas, the rude tribes of the forest

were gradually drawn from their fastnesses, and gathered within

the folds of civilization; and of these materials was constructed

a flourishing and populous empire, such as was to be found in no

other quarter of the American continent. The defects of this

government were those of over-refinement in legislation, - the

last defects to have been looked for, certainly, in the American

aborigines.

Note. I have not thought it necessary to swell this Introduction

by an inquiry into the origin of Peruvian civilization, like that

appended to the history of the Mexican. The Peruvian history

doubtless suggests analogies with more than one nation in the

East, some of which have been briefly adverted to in the

preceding pages; although these analogies are adduced there not

as evidence of a common origin, but as showing the coincidences

which might naturally spring up among different nations under the

same phase of civilization. Such coincidences are neither so

numerous nor so striking as those afforded by the Aztec history.

The correspondence presented by the astronomical science of the

Mexicans is alone of more importance than all the rest. Yet the

light of analogy, afforded by the institutions of the Incas,

seems to point, as far as it goes, towards the same direction;

and as the investigation could present but little substantially

to confirm, and still less to confute, the views taken in the

former disquisition, I have not thought it best to fatigue the

reader with it.

Two of the prominent authorities on whom I have relied in this

Introductory portion of the work, are Juan de Sarmiento and the

Licentiate Ondegardo. Of the former I have been able to collect

no information beyond what is afforded by his own writings. In

the title prefixed to his manuscript, he is styled President of

the Council of the Indies, a post of high authority, which infers

a weight of character in the party, and means of information,

that entitle his opinions on colonial topics to great deference.

These means of information were much enlarged by Sarmiento's

visit to the colonies, during the administration of Gasca.

Having conceived the design of compiling a history of the ancient

Peruvian institutions, he visited Cuzco, as he tells us, in 1550,

and there drew from the natives themselves the materials for his

narrative. His position gave him access to the most authentic

sources of knowledge, and from the lips of the Inca nobles, the

best instructed of the conquered race, he gathered the traditions

of their national history and institutions. The quipus formed,

as we have seen, an imperfect system of mnemonics, requiring

constant attention, and much inferior to the Mexican

hieroglyphics. It was only by diligent instruction that they

were made available to historical purposes; and this instruction

was so far neglected after the Conquest, that the ancient annals

of the country would have perished with the generation which was

the sole depositary of them, had it not been for the efforts of a

few intelligent scholars, like Sarmiento, who saw the importance,

at this critical period, of cultivating an intercourse with the

natives, and drawing from them their hidden stores of

information.

To give still further authenticity to his work, Sarmiento

travelled over the country, examined the principal objects of

interest with his own eyes, and thus verified the accounts of the

natives as far as possible by personal observation. The result

of these labors was his work entitled, "Relacion de la sucesion y

govierno de las Yngas Senores naturales que fueron de las

Provincias del Peru y otras cosas tocantes a aquel Reyno, para el

Iltmo. Senor Dn Juan Sarmiento, Presidente del Consejo R1 de

Indias."

It is divided into chapters, and embraces about four hundred

folio pages in manuscript. The introductory portion of the work

is occupied with the traditionary tales of the origin and early

period of the Incas; teeming, as usual, in the antiquities of a

barbarous people, with legendary fables of the most wild and

monstrous character. Yet these puerile conceptions afford an

inexhaustible mine for the labors of the antiquarian, who

endeavours to unravel the allegorical web which a cunning

priesthood had devised as symbolical of those mysteries of

creation that it was beyond their power to comprehend. But

Sarmiento happily confines himself to the mere statement of

traditional fables, without the chimerical ambition to explain

them.

From this region of romance, Sarmiento passes to the institutions

of the Peruvians, describes their ancient polity, their religion,

their progress in the arts, especially agriculture; and presents,

in short, an elaborate picture of the civilization which they

reached under the Inca dynasty. This part of his work, resting,

as it does, on the best authority, confirmed in many instances by

his own observation, is of unquestionable value, and is written

with an apparent respect for truth, that engages the confidence

of the reader. The concluding portion of the manuscript is

occupied with the civil history of the country. The reigns of

the early Incas, which lie beyond the sober province of history,

he despatches with commendable brevity. But on the three last

reigns, and fortunately of the greatest princes who occupied the

Peruvian throne, he is more diffuse. This was comparatively firm

ground for the chronicler, for the events were too recent to be

obscured by the vulgar legends that gather like moss round every

incident of the older time. His account stops with the Spanish

invasion; for this story, Sarmiento felt, might be safely left to

his contemporaries who acted a part in it, but whose taste and

education had qualified them but indifferently for exploring the

antiquities and social institutions of the natives.

Sarmiento's work is composed in a simple, perspicuous style,

without that ambition of rhetorical display too common with his

countrymen. He writes with honest candor, and while he does

ample justice to the merits and capacity of the conquered races,

he notices with indignation the atrocities of the Spaniards and

the demoralizing tendency of the Conquest. It may be thought,

indeed, that he forms too high an estimate of the attainments of

the nation under the Incas. And it is not improbable, that,

astonished by the vestiges it afforded of an original

civilization, he became enamoured of his subject, and thus

exhibited it in colors somewhat too glowing to the eye of the

European. But this was an amiable failing, not too largely

shared by the stern Conquerors, who subverted the institutions of

the country, and saw little to admire in it, save its gold. It

must be further admitted, that Sarmiento has no design to impose

on his reader, and that he is careful to distinguish between what

he reports on hearsay, and what on personal experience. The

Father of History himself does not discriminate between these two

things more carefully.

Neither is the Spanish historian to be altogether vindicated from

the superstition which belongs to his time; and we often find him

referring to the immediate interposition of Satan those effects

which might quite as well be charged on the perverseness of man.

But this was common to the age, and to the wisest men in it; and

it is too much to demand of a man to be wiser than his

generation. It is sufficient praise of Sarmiento, that, in an

age when superstition was too often allied with fanaticism, he

seems to have had no tincture of bigotry in his nature. His

heart opens with benevolent fulness to the unfortunate native;

and his language, while it is not kindled into the religious glow

of the missionary, is warmed by a generous ray of philanthropy

that embraces the conquered, no less than the conquerors, as his

brethren.

Notwithstanding the great value of Sarmiento's work for the

information it affords of Peru under the Incas, it is but little

known, has been rarely consulted by historians, and still remains

among the unpublished manuscripts which lie, like uncoined

bullion, in the secret chambers of the Escurial.

The other authority to whom I have alluded, the Licentiate Polo

de Ondegardo, was a highly respectable jurist, whose name appears

frequently in the affairs of Peru. I find no account of the

period when he first came into the country. But he was there on

the arrival of Gasca, and resided at Lima under the usurpation of

Gonzalo Pizarro. When the artful Cepeda endeavoured to secure

the signatures of the inhabitants to the instrument proclaiming

the sovereignty of his chief, we find Ondegardo taking the lead

among those of his profession in resisting it. On Gasca's

arrival, he consented to take a commission in his army. At the

close of the rebellion he was made corregidor of La Plata, and

subsequently of Cuzco, in which honorable station he seems to

have remained several years. In the exercise of his magisterial

functions, he was brought into familiar intercourse with the

natives, and had ample opportunity for studying their laws and

ancient customs. He conducted himself with such prudence and

moderation, that he seems to have won the confidence not only of

his countrymen but of the Indians; while the administration was

careful to profit by his large experience in devising measures

for the better government of the colony.

The Relaciones, so often cited in this History, were prepared at

the suggestion of the viceroys, the first being addressed to the

Marques de Canete, in 1561, and the second, ten years later, to

the Conde de Nieva. The two cover about as much ground as

Sarmiento's manuscript; and the second memorial, written so long

after the first, may be thought to intimate the advancing age of

the author, in the greater carelessness and diffuseness of the

composition.

As these documents are in the nature of answers to the

interrogatories propounded by government, the range of topics

might seem to be limited within narrower bounds than the modern

historian would desire. These queries, indeed, had particular

reference to the revenues, tributes, - the financial

administration, in short, of the Incas; and on these obscure

topics the communication of Ondegardo is particularly full. But

the enlightened curiosity of government embraced a far wider

range; and the answers necessarily implied an acquaintance with

the domestic policy of the Incas, with their laws, social habits,

their religion, science, and arts, in short, with all that make

up the elements of civilization. Ondegardo's memoirs, therefore,

cover the whole ground of inquiry for the philosophic historian.

In the management of these various subjects, Ondegardo displays

both acuteness and erudition. He never shrinks from the

discussion, however difficult; and while he gives his conclusions

with an air of modesty, it is evident that he feels conscious of

having derived his information through the most authentic

channels. He rejects the fabulous with disdain; decides on the

probabilities of such facts as he relates, and candidly exposes

the deficiency of evidence. Far from displaying the simple

enthusiasm of the well-meaning but credulous missionary, he

proceeds with the cool and cautious step of a lawyer accustomed

to the conflict of testimony and the uncertainty of oral

tradition. This circumspect manner of proceeding, and the

temperate character of his judgments, entitle Ondegardo to much

higher consideration as an authority than most of his countrymen

who have treated of Indian antiquities.

There runs through his writings a vein of humanity, shown

particularly in his tenderness to the unfortunate natives, to

whose ancient civilization he does entire, but not extravagant,

justice; while, like Sarmiento, he fearlessly denounces the

excesses of his own countrymen, and admits the dark reproach they

had brought on the honor of the nation. But while this censure

forms the strongest ground for condemnation of the Conquerors,

since it comes from the lips of a Spaniard like themselves, it

proves, also, that Spain in this age of violence could send forth

from her bosom wise and good men who refused to make common cause

with the licentious rabble around them. Indeed, proof enough is

given in these very memorials of the unceasing efforts of the

colonial government, from the good viceroy Mendoza downwards, to

secure protection and the benefit of a mild legislation to the

unfortunate natives. But the iron Conquerors, and the colonist

whose heart softened only to the touch of gold, presented a

formidable barrier to improvement.

Ondegardo's writings are honorably distinguished by freedom from

that superstition which is the debasing characteristic of the

times; a superstition shown in the easy credit given to the

marvellous, and this equally whether in heathen or in Christian

story; for in the former the eye of credulity could discern as

readily the direct interposition of Satan, as in the latter the

hand of the Almighty. It is this ready belief in a spiritual

agency, whether for good or for evil, which forms one of the most

prominent features in the writings of the sixteenth century.

Nothing could be more repugnant to the true spirit of

philosophical inquiry, or more irreconcilable with rational

criticism. Far from betraying such weakness, Ondegardo writes in

a direct and business-like manner, estimating things for what

they are worth by the plain rule of common-sense. He keeps the

main object of his argument ever in view, without allowing

himself, like the garrulous chroniclers of the period, to be led

astray into a thousand rambling episodes that bewilder the reader

and lead to nothing.

Ondegardo's memoirs deal not only with the antiquities of the

nation, but with its actual condition, and with the best means

for redressing the manifold evils to which it was subjected under

the stern rule of its conquerors. His suggestions are replete

with wisdom, and a merciful policy, that would reconcile the

interests of government with the prosperity and happiness of its

humblest vassal. Thus, while his contemporaries gathered light

from his suggestions as to the present condition of affairs, the

historian of later times is no less indebted to him for

information in respect to the past. His manuscript was freely

consulted by Herrera, and the reader, as he peruses the pages of

the learned historian of the Indies, is unconsciously enjoying

the benefit of the researches of Ondegardo. His valuable

Relaciones thus had their uses for future generations, though

they have never been admitted to the honors of the press. The

copy in my possession, like that of Sarmiento's manuscript, for

which I am indebted to that industrious bibliographer, Mr. Rich,

formed part of the magnificent collection of Lord Kingsborough, -

a name ever to be held in honor by the scholar for his

indefatigable efforts to illustrate the antiquities of America.

Ondegardo's manuscripts, it should be remarked, do not bear his

signature. But they contain allusions to several actions of the

writer's life, which identify them, beyond any reasonable doubt,

as his production. In the archives of Simancas is a duplicate

copy of the first memorial, Relacion Primera, though, like the

one in the Escurial, without its author's name. Munoz assigns it

to the pen of Gabriel de Rojas, a distinguished cavalier of the

Conquest. This is clearly an error; for the author of the

manuscript identifies himself with Ondegardo, by declaring, in

his reply to the fifth interrogatory, that he was the person who

discovered the mummies of the Incas in Cuzco; an act expressly

referred, both by Acosta and Garcilasso, to the Licentiate Polo

de Ondegardo, when corregidor of that city. - Should the savans

of Madrid hereafter embrace among the publications of valuable

manuscripts these Relaciones, they should be careful not to be

led into an error here, by the authority of a critic like Munoz,

whose criticism is rarely at fault.

Book II: Discovery Of Peru

Chapter I

Ancient And Modern Science. - Art Of Navigation. - Maritime

Discovery. - Spirit Of The Spaniards. - Possessions In The New

World. - Rumors Concerning Peru.

Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the comparative

merit of the ancients and the moderns in the arts, in poetry,

eloquence, and all that depends on imagination, there can be no

doubt that in science the moderns have eminently the advantage.

It could not be otherwise. In the early ages of the world, as in

the early period of life, there was the freshness of a morning

existence, when the gloss of novelty was on every thing that met

the eye; when the senses, not blunted by familiarity, were more

keenly alive to the beautiful, and the mind, under the influence

of a healthy and natural taste, was not perverted by

philosophical theory; when the simple was necessarily connected

with the beautiful, and the epicurean intellect, sated by

repetition, had not begun to seek for stimulants in the fantastic

and capricious. The realms of fancy were all untravelled, and

its fairest flowers had not been gathered, nor its beauties

despoiled by the rude touch of those who affected to cultivate

them. The wing of genius was not bound to the earth by the cold

and conventional rules of criticism, but was permitted to take

its flight far and wide over the broad expanse of creation.

But with science it was otherwise. No genius could suffice for

the creation of facts, - hardly for their detection. They were

to be gathered in by painful industry; to be collected from

careful observation and experiment. Genius, indeed, might

arrange and combine these facts into new forms, and elicit from

their combinations new and important inferences; and in this

process might almost rival in originality the creations of the

poet and the artist. But if the processes of science are

necessarily slow, they are sure. There is no retrograde movement

in her domain. Arts may fade, the Muse become dumb, a moral

lethargy may lock up the faculties of a nation, the nation itself

may pass away and leave only the memory of its existence, but the

stores of science it has garnered up will endure for ever. As

other nations come upon the stage, and new forms of civilization

arise, the monuments of art and of imagination, productions of an

older time, will lie as an obstacle in the path of improvement.

They cannot be built upon; they occupy the ground which the new

aspirant for immortality would cover. The whole work is to be

gone over again, and other forms of beauty - whether higher or

lower in the scale of merit, but unlike the past - must arise to

take a place by their side. But, in science, every stone that

has been laid remains as the foundation for another. The coming

generation takes up the work where the preceding left it. There

is no retrograde movement. The individual nation may recede, but

science still advances. Every step that has been gained makes

the ascent easier for those who come after. Every step carries

the patient inquirer after truth higher and higher towards

heaven, and unfolds to him, as he rises, a wider horizon, and new

and more magnificent views of the universe.

Geography partook of the embarrassments which belonged to every

other department of science in the primitive ages of the world.

The knowledge of the earth could come only from an extended

commerce; and commerce is founded on artificial wants or an

enlightened curiosity, hardly compatible with the earlier

condition of society. In the infancy of nations, the different

tribes, occupied with their domestic feuds, found few occasions

to wander beyond the mountain chain or broad stream that formed

the natural boundary of their domains. The Phoenicians, it is

true, are said to have sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and

to have launched out on the great western ocean. But the

adventures of these ancient voyagers belong to the mythic legends

of antiquity, and ascend far beyond the domain of authentic

record.

The Greeks, quick and adventurous, skilled in mechanical art, had

many of the qualities of successful navigators, and within the

limits of their little inland sea ranged fearlessly and freely.

But the conquests of Alexander did more to extend the limits of

geographical science, and opened an acquaintance with the remote

countries of the East. Yet the march of the conqueror is slow in

comparison with the movements of the unencumbered traveller. The

Romans were still less enterprising than the Greeks, were less

commercial in their character. The contributions to geographical

knowledge grew with the slow acquisitions of empire. But their

system was centralizing in its tendency; and instead of taking an

outward direction and looking abroad for discovery, every part of

the vast imperial domain turned towards the capital as its head

and central point of attraction. The Roman conqueror pursued his

path by land, not by sea. But the water is the great highway

between nations, the true element for the discoverer. The Romans

were not a maritime people. At the close of their empire,

geographical science could hardly be said to extend farther than

to an acquaintance with Europe, - and this not its more northern

division, - together with a portion of Asia and Africa; while

they had no other conception of a world beyond the western waters

than was to be gathered from the fortunate prediction of the

poet. *1

[Footnote 1: Seneca's well-known prediction, in his Medea, is,

perhaps, the most remarkable random prophecy on record. For it

is not a simple extension of the boundaries of the known parts of

the globe that is so confidently announced, but the existence of

a New World across the waters, to be revealed in coming ages

"Quibus Oceanus

Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens

Pateat tellus, Typhisque Novos

Detegat Orbes."

It was the lucky hit of the philosopher rather than the poet.]

Then followed the Middle Ages; the dark ages, as they are called,

though in their darkness were matured those seeds of knowledge,

which, in fulness of time, were to spring up into new and more

glorious forms of civilization. The organization of society

became more favorable to geographical science. Instead of one

overgrown, lethargic empire, oppressing every thing by its

colossal weight, Europe was broken up into various independent

communities, many of which, adopting liberal forms of government,

felt all the impulses natural to freemen; and the petty republics

on the Mediterranean and the Baltic sent forth their swarms of

seamen in a profitable commerce, that knit together the different

countries scattered along the great European waters.

But the improvements which took place in the art of navigation,

the more accurate measurement of time, and, above all, the

discovery of the polarity of the magnet, greatly advanced the

cause of geographical knowledge. Instead of creeping timidly

along the coast, or limiting his expeditions to the narrow basins

of inland waters, the voyager might now spread his sails boldly

on the deep, secure of a guide to direct his bark unerringly

across the illimitable waste. The consciousness of this powered

thought to travel in a new direction; and the mariner began to

look with earnestness for another path to the Indian

Spice-islands than that by which the Eastern caravans had

traversed the continent of Asia. The nations on whom the spirit

of enterprise, at this crisis, naturally descended, were Spain

and Portugal, placed, as they were, on the outposts of the

European continent, commanding the great theatre of future

discovery.

Both countries felt the responsibility of their new position.

The crown of Portugal was constant in its efforts, through the

fifteenth century, to find a passage round the southern point of

Africa into the Indian Ocean; though so timid was the navigation,

that every fresh headland became a formidable barrier; and it was

not till the latter part of the century that the adventurous Diaz

passed quite round the Stormy Cape, as he termed it, but which

John the Second, with happier augury, called the Cape of Good

Hope. But, before Vasco de Gama had availed himself of this

discovery to spread his sails in the Indian seas, Spain entered

on her glorious career, and sent Columbus across the western

waters.

The object of the great navigator was still the discovery of a

route to India, but by the west instead of the east. He had no

expectation of meeting with a continent in his way, and, after

repeated voyages, he remained in his original error, dying, as is

well known, in the conviction that it was the eastern shore of

Asia which he had reached. It was the same object which

directed the nautical enterprises of those who followed in the

Admiral's track; and the discovery of a strait into the Indian

Ocean was the burden of every order from the government, and the

design of many an expedition to different points of the new

continent, which seemed to stretch its leviathan length along

from one pole to the other. The discovery of an Indian passage

is the true key to the maritime movements of the fifteenth and

the first half of the sixteenth centuries. It was the great

leading idea that gave the character to the enterprise of the

age.

It is not easy at this time to comprehend the impulse given to

Europe by the discovery of America. It was not the gradual

acquisition of some border territory, a province or a kingdom

that had been gained, but a New World that was now thrown open to

the European. The races of animals, the mineral treasures, the

vegetable forms, and the varied aspects of nature, man in the

different phases of civilization, filled the mind with entirely

new sets of ideas, that changed the habitual current of thought

and stimulated it to indefinite conjecture. The eagerness to

explore the wonderful secrets of the new hemisphere became so

active, that the principal cities of Spain were, in a manner,

depopulated, as emigrants thronged one after another to take

their chance upon the deep. *2 It was a world of romance that was

thrown open; for, whatever might be the luck of the adventurer,

his reports on his return were tinged with a coloring of romance

that stimulated still higher the sensitive fancies of his

countrymen, and nourished the chimerical sentiments of an age of

chivalry. They listened with attentive ears to tales of Amazons

which seemed to realize the classic legends of antiquity, to

stories of Patagonian giants, to flaming pictures of an El

Dorado, where the sands sparkled with gems, and golden pebbles as

large as birds' eggs were dragged in nets out of the rivers.

[Footnote 2: The Venetian ambassador, Andrea Navagiero, who

travelled through Spain in 1525, near the period of the

commencement of our narrative, notices the general fever of

emigration. Seville, in particular, the great port of

embarkation, was so stripped of its inhabitants, he says, "that

the city was left almost to the women." Viaggio fatto in Spagna,

(Vinegia, 1563.) fol. 15.]

Yet that the advtenturers were no impostors, but dupes, too easy

dupes of their own credulous fancies, is shown by the extravagant

character of their enterprises; by expeditions in search of the

magical Fountain of Health, of the golden Temple of Doboyba, of

the golden sepulchres of Zenu; for gold was ever floating before

their distempered vision, and the name of Castilla del Oro,

Golden Castile, the most unhealthy and unprofitable region of the

Isthmus, held out a bright promise to the unfortunate settler,

who too frequently, instead of gold, found there only his grave.

In this realm of enchantment, all the accessories served to

maintain the illusion. The simple natives, with their

defenceless bodies and rude weapons were no match for the

European warrior armed to the teeth in mail. The odds were as

great as those found in any legend of chivalry, where the lance

of the good knight overturned hundreds at a touch. The perils

that lay in the discoverer's path, and the sufferings he had to

sustain, were scarcely inferior to those that beset the

knight-errant. Hunger and thirst and fatigue, the deadly

effluvia of the morass with its swarms of venomous insects, the

cold of mountain snows, and the scorching sun of the tropics,

these were the lot of every cavalier who came to seek his

fortunes in the New World. It was the reality of romance. The

life of the Spanish adventurer was one chapter more - and not the

least remarkable - in the chronicles of knight-errantry.

The character of the warrior took somewhat of the exaggerated

coloring shed over his exploits. Proud and vainglorious, swelled

with lofty anticipations of his destiny, and an invincible

confidence in his own resources, no danger could appall and no

toil could tire him. The greater the danger, indeed, the higher

the charm; for his soul revelled in excitement, and the

enterprise without peril wanted that spur of romance which was

necessary to rouse his energies into action. Yet in the motives

of action meaner influences were strangely mingled with the

loftier, the temporal with the spiritual. Gold was the incentive

and the recompense, and in the pursuit of it his inflexible

nature rarely hesitated as to the means. His courage was sullied

with cruelty, the cruelty that flowed equally - strange as it may

seem - from his avarice and his religion; religion as it was

understood in that age, - the religion of the Crusader. It was

the convenient cloak for a multitude of sins, which covered them

even from himself. The Castilian, too proud for hypocrisy,

committed more cruelties in the name of religion than were ever

practised by the pagan idolater or the fanatical Moslem. The

burning of the infidel was a sacrifice acceptable to Heaven, and

the conversion of those who survived amply atoned for the foulest

offences. It is a melancholy and mortifying consideration, that

the most uncompromising spirit of intolerance - the spirit of the

Inquisitor at home, and of the Crusader abroad - should have

emanated from a religion which preached peace upon earth and

good-will towards man!

What a contrast did these children of Southern Europe present to

the Anglo-Saxon races who scattered themselves along the great

northern division of the western hemisphere! For the principle

of action with these latter was not avarice, nor the more

specious pretext of proselytism; but independence, - independence

religious and political. To secure this, they were content to

earn a bare subsistence by a life of frugality and toil. They

asked nothing from the soil, but the reasonable returns of their

own labor. No golden visions threw a deceitful halo around their

path, and beckoned them onwards through seas of blood to the

subversion of an unoffending dynasty. They were content with the

slow but steady progress of their social polity. They patiently

endured the privations of the wilderness, watering the tree of

liberty with their tears and with the sweat of their brow, till

it took deep root in the land and sent up its branches high

towards the heavens; while the communities of the neighbouring

continent, shooting up into the sudden splendors of a tropical

vegetation, exhibited, even in their prime, the sure symptoms of

decay.

It would seem to have been especially ordered by Providence that

the discovery of the two great divisions of the American

hemisphere should fall to the two races best fitted to conquer

and colonize them. Thus the northern section was consigned to

the Anglo-Saxon race, whose orderly, industrious habits found an

ample field for development under its colder skies and on its

more rugged soil; while the southern portion, with its rich

tropical products and treasures of mineral wealth, held out the

most attractive bait to invite the enterprise of the Spaniard.

How different might have been the result, if the bark of Columbus

had taken a more northerly direction, as he at one time

meditated, and landed its band of adventurers on the shores of

what is now Protestant America!

Under the pressure of that spirit of nautical enterprise which

filled the maritime communities of Europe in the sixteenth

century, the whole extent of the mighty continent, from Labrador

to Terra del Fuego, was explored in less than thirty years after

its discovery; and in 1521, the Portuguese Maghellan, sailing

under the Spanish flag, solved the problem of the strait, and

found a westerly way to the long sought Spice-islands of India, -

greatly to the astonishment of the Portuguese, who, sailing from

the opposite direction, there met their rivals, face to face, at

the antipodes. But while the whole eastern coast of the American

continent had been explored, and the central portion of it

colonized, - even after the brilliant achievement of the Mexican

conquest, - the veil was not yet raised that hung over the golden

shores of the Pacific.

Floating rumors had reached the Spaniards, from time to time, of

countries in the far west, teeming with the metal they so much

coveted; but the first distinct notice of Peru was about the year

1511, when Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the discoverer of the Southern

Sea, was weighing some gold which he had collected from the

natives. A young barbarian chieftain, who was present, struck

the scales with his fist, and, scattering the glittering metal

around the apartment, exclaimed, - "If this is what you prize so

much that you are willing to leave your distant homes, and risk

even life itself for it, I can tell you of a land where they eat

and drink out of golden vessels, and gold is as cheap as iron is

with you." It was not long after this startling intelligence that

Balboa achieved the formidable adventure of scaling the mountain

rampart of the isthmus which divides the two mighty oceans from

each other; when, armed with sword and buckler, he rushed into

the waters of the Pacific, and cried out, in the true chivalrous

vein, that "he claimed this unknown sea with all that it

contained for the king of Castile, and that he would make good

the claim against all, Christian or infidel, who dared to gain

say it"! *3 All the broad continent and sunny isles washed by the

waters of the Southern Ocean! Little did the bold cavalier

comprehend the full import of his magnificent vaunt.

[Footnote 3: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 1. lib. 10, cap. 2. -

Quintana, Vidas de Espanoles Celebres, (Madrid, 1830,) tom. II.

p. 44.]

On this spot he received more explicit tidings of the Peruvian

empire, heard proofs recounted of its civilization, and was shown

drawings of the llama, which, to the European eye, seemed a

species of the Arabian camel. But, although he steered his

caravel for these golden realms, and even pushed his discoveries

some twenty leagues south of the Gulf of St. Michael, the

adventure was not reserved for him. The illustrious discoverer

was doomed to fall a victim to that miserable jealousy with which

a little spirit regards the achievements of a great one.

The Spanish colonial domain was broken up into a number of petty

governments, which were dispensed sometimes to court favorites,

though, as the duties of the post, at this early period, were of

an arduous nature, they were more frequently reserved for men of

some practical talent and enterprise. Columbus, by virtue of his

original contract with the Crown, had jurisdiction over the

territories discovered by himself, embracing some of the

principal islands, and a few places on the continent. This

jurisdiction differed from that of other functionaries, inasmuch

as it was hereditary; a privilege found in the end too

considerable for a subject, and commuted, therefore, for a title

and a pension. These colonial governments were multiplied with

the increase of empire, and by the year 1524, the period at which

our narrative properly commences, were scattered over the

islands, along the Isthmus of Darien, the broad tract of Terra

Firma, and the recent conquests of Mexico. Some of these

governments were of no great extent. Others, like that of Mexico,

were of the dimensions of a kingdom; and most had an indefinite

range for discovery assigned to them in their immediate

neighbourhood, by which each of the petty potentates might

enlarge his territorial sway, and enrich his followers and

himself. This politic arrangement best served the ends of the

Crown, by affording a perpetual incentive to the spirit of

enterprise. Thus living on their own little domains at a long

distance from the mother country, these military rulers held a

sort of vice-regal sway, and too frequently exercised it in the

most oppressive and tyrannical manner; oppressive to the native,

and tyrannical towards their own followers. It was the natural

consequence, when men, originally low in station, and unprepared

by education for office, were suddenly called to the possession

of a brief, but in its nature irresponsible, authority. It was

not till after some sad experience of these results, that

measures were taken to hold these petty tyrants in check by means

of regular tribunals, or Royal Audiences, as they were termed,

which, composed of men of character and learning, might interpose

the arm of the law, or, at least, the voice of remonstrance, for

the protection of both colonist and native.

Among the colonial governors, who were indebted for their

situation to their rank at home, was Don Pedro Arias de Avila, or

Pedrarias, as usually called. He was married to a daughter of

Dona Beatriz de Bobadilla, the celebrated Marchioness of Moya,

best known as the friend of Isabella the Catholic. He was a man

of some military experience and considerable energy of character.

But, as it proved, he was of a malignant temper; and the base

qualities, which might have passed unnoticed in the obscurity of

private life, were made conspicuous, and perhaps created in some

measure, by sudden elevation to power; as the sunshine, which

operates kindly on a generous soil, and stimulates it to

production, calls forth from the unwholesome marsh only foul and

pestilent vapors. This man was placed over the territory of

Castilla del Oro, the ground selected by Nunez de Balboa for the

theatre of his discoveries. Success drew on this latter the

jealousy of his superior, for it was crime enough in the eyes of

Pedrarias to deserve too well. The tragical history of this

cavalier belongs to a period somewhat earlier than that with

which we are to be occupied. It has been traced by abler hands

than mine, and, though brief, forms one of the most brilliant

passages in the annals of the American conquerors. *4

[Footnote 4: The memorable adventures of Vasco Nunez de Balboa

have been recorded by Quintana, (Espanoles Celebres, tom II.) and

by Irving in his Companions of Columbus. - It is rare that the

life of an individual has formed the subject of two such elegant

memorials, produced at nearly the same time, and in different

languages, without any communication between the authors.]

But though Pedrarias was willing to cut short the glorious career

of his rival, he was not insensible to the important consequences

of his discoveries. He saw at once the unsuitableness of Darien

for prosecuting expeditions on the Pacific, and, conformably to

the original suggestion of Balboa, in 1519, he caused his rising

capital to be transferred from the shores of the Atlantic to the

ancient site of Panama, some distance east of the present city of

that name. *5 This most unhealthy spot, the cemetery of many an

unfortunate colonist, was favorably situated for the great object

of maritime enterprise; and the port, from its central position,

afforded the best point of departure for expeditions, whether to

the north or south, along the wide range of undiscovered coast

that lined the Southern Ocean. Yet in this new and more

favorable position, several years were suffered to elapse before

the course of discovery took the direction of Peru. This was

turned exclusively towards the north, or rather west, in

obedience to the orders of government, which had ever at heart

the detection of a strait that, as was supposed, must intersect

some part or other of the long-extended Isthmus. Armament after

armament was fitted out with this chimerical object; and

Pedrarias saw his domain extending every year farther and farther

without deriving any considerable advantage from his

acquisitions. Veragua, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, were successively

occupied; and his brave cavaliers forced a way across forest and

mountain and warlike tribes of savages, till, at Honduras, they

came in collision with the companions of Cortes, the Conquerors

of Mexico, who had descended from the great northern plateau on

the regions of Central America, and thus completed the survey of

this wild and mysterious land.

[Footnote 5: The Court gave positive instructions to Pedrarias to

make a settlement in the Gulf of St. Michael, in obedience to the

suggestion of Vasco Nunez, that it would be the most eligible

site for discovery and traffic in the South Sea. "El asiento que

se oviere de hacer en el golfo de S. Miguel en la mar del sur

debe ser en el puerto que mejor se hallare y mas convenible para

la contratacion de aquel golfo, porque segund lo que Vasco Nunez

escribe, seria muy necessario que alli haya algunos navios, asi

para descubrir las cosas del golfo; y de la comarca del, como

para la contratacion de rescates de las otras cosas necesarias al

buen provoimiento de aquello; e para que estos navios aprovechen

es menester que se hagan alla." Capitulo de Carta escrita por el

Rey Catolico a Pedrarias Davila, ap. Navarrete, Coleccion de los

Viages y Descubrimientos, (Madrid, 1829.) tom. III. No. 3.]

It was not till 1522 that a regular expedition was despatched in

the direction south of Panama, under the conduct of Pascual de

Andagoya, a cavalier of much distinction in the colony. But that

officer penetrated only to the Puerto de Pinas, the limit of

Balboa's discoveries, when the bad state of his health compelled

him to reembark and abandon his enterprise at its commencement.

*6

[Footnote 6: According to Montesinos, Andagoya received a severe

injury by a fall from his horse, while showing off the

high-mettled animal to the wondering eyes of the natives.

(Annales del Peru, Ms., ano 1524.) But the Adelantado, in a

memorial of his own discoveries, drawn up by himself, says

nothing of this unlucky feat of horsemanship, but imputes his

illness to his having fallen into the water, an accident by which

he was near being drowned, so that it was some years before he

recovered from the effects of it; a mode of accounting for his

premature return, more soothing to his vanity, probably, than the

one usually received. This document, important as coming from

the pen of one of the primitive discoverers, is preserved in the

Indian Archives of Seville, and was published by Navarrete,

Coleccion, tom. III. No. 7.]

Yet the floating rumors of the wealth and civilization of a

mighty nation at the South were continually reaching the ears and

kindling the dreamy imaginations of the colonists; and it may

seem astonishing that an expedition in that direction should have

been so long deferred. But the exact position and distance of

this fairy realm were matter of conjecture. The long tract of

intervening country was occupied by rude and warlike races; and

the little experience which the Spanish navigators had already

had of the neighbouring coast and its inhabitants, and still

more, the tempestuous character of the seas - for their

expeditions had taken place at the most unpropitious seasons of

the year - enhanced the apparent difficulties of the undertaking,

and made even their stout hearts shrink from it.

Such was the state of feeling in the little community of Panama

for several years after its foundation. Meanwhile, the dazzling

conquest of Mexico gave a new impulse to the ardor of discovery,

and, in 1524, three men were found in the colony, in whom the

spirit of adventure triumphed over every consideration of

difficulty and danger that obstructed the prosecution of the

enterprise. One among them was selected as fitted by his

character to conduct it to a successful issue. That man was

Francisco Pizarro; and as he held the same conspicuous post in

the Conquest of Peru that was occupied by Cortes in that of

Mexico, it will be necessary to take a brief review of his early

history.

Chapter II

Francisco Pizarro. - His Early History. - First Expedition To The

South. - Distresses Of The Voyagers. - Sharp Encounters. - Return

To Panama. - Almagro's Expedition.

1524-1525.

Francisco Pizarro was born at Truxillo, a city of Estremadura, in

Spain. The period of his birth is uncertain; but probably it was

not far from 1471. *1 He was an illegitimate child, and that his

parents should not have taken pains to perpetuate the date of his

birth is not surprising. Few care to make a particular record of

their transgressions. His father, Gonzalo Pizarro, was a colonel

of infantry, and served with some distinction in the Italian

campaigns under the Great Captain, and afterwards in the wars of

Navarre. His mother, named Francisca Gonzales, was a person of

humble condition in the town of Truxillo. *2

[Footnote 1: The few writers who venture to assign the date of

Pizarro's birth do it in so vague and contradictory a manner as

to inspire us with but little confidence in their accounts.

Herrera, it is true, says positively, that he was sixty-three

years old at the time of his death, in 1541. (Hist. General,

dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 6.) This would carry back the date of his

birth only to 1478. But Garcilasso de la Vega affirms that he

was more than fifty years old in 1525. (Com. Real., Parte 2,

lib. 1, cap. 1.) This would place his birth before 1475. Pizarro

y Orellana, who, as a kinsman of the Conqueror, may be supposed

to have had better means of information, says he was fifty-four

years of age at the same date of 1525. (Varones Ilustres del

Nuevo Mundo, (Madrid, 1639,) p. 128.) But at the period of his

death he calls him nearly eighty years old! (p. 185.) Taking

this latter as a round exaggeration for effect in the particular

connection in which it is used, and admitting the accuracy of the

former statement, the epoch of his birth will conform to that

given in the text. This makes him somewhat late in life to set

about the conquest of an empire. But Columbus, when he entered

on his career, was still older.]

[Footnote 2: Xerez, Conquista del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p.

179. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 1. - Pizarro y

Orellana, Varones Ilustres, p. 128.]

But little is told of Francisco's early years, and that little

not always deserving of credit. According to some, he was

deserted by both his parents, and left as a foundling at the door

of one of the principal churches of the city. It is even said

that he would have perished, had he not been nursed by a sow. *3

This is a more discreditable fountain of supply than that

assigned to the infant Romulus. The early history of men who

have made their names famous by deeds in after-life, like the

early history of nations, affords a fruitful field for invention.

[Footnote 3: "Nacio en Truxillo, i echaronlo a la puerta de la

Iglesia, mamo una Puerca ciertos Dias, no se hallando quien le

quisiese dar leche." Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 144.]

It seems certain that the young Pizarro received little care from

either of his parents, and was suffered to grow up as nature

dictated. He was neither taught to read nor write, and his

principal occupation was that of a swineherd. But this torpid

way of life did not suit the stirring spirit of Pizarro, as he

grew older, and listened to the tales, widely circulated and so

captivating to a youthful fancy, of the New World. He shared in

the popular enthusiasm, and availed himself of a favorable moment

to abandon his ignoble charge, and escape to Seville, the port

where the Spanish adventurers embarked to seek their fortunes in

the West. Few of them could have turned their backs on their

native land with less cause for regret than Pizarro. *4

[Footnote 4: According to the Comendador Pizarro y Orellana,

Francis Pizarro served, while quite a stripling, with his father,

in the Italian wars; and afterwards, under Columbus and other

illustrious discoverers, in the New World, whose successes the

author modestly attributes to his kinsman's valor, as a principal

cause! Varones Ilustres, p. 187.]

In what year this important change in his destiny took place we

are not informed. The first we hear of him in the New World is

at the island of Hispaniola, in 1510, where he took part in the

expedition to Uraba in Terra Firma, under Alonzo de Ojeda, a

cavalier whose character and achievements find no parallel but in

the pages of Cervantes. Hernando Cortes, whose mother was a

Pizarro, and related, it is said, to the father of Francis, was

then in St. Domingo, and prepared to accompany Ojeda's

expedition, but was prevented by a temporary lameness. Had he

gone, the fall of the Aztec empire might have been postponed for

some time longer, and the sceptre of Montezuma have descended in

peace to his posterity. Pizarro shared in the disastrous

fortunes of Ojeda's colony, and, by his discretion, obtained so

far the confidence of his commander, as to be left in charge of

the settlement, when the latter returned for supplies to the

islands. The lieutenant continued at his perilous post for

nearly two months, waiting deliberately until death should have

thinned off the colony sufficiently to allow the miserable

remnant to be embarked in the single small vessel that remained

to it. *5

[Footnote 5: Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilustres, pp. 121, 128.

- Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. 1, lib. 7, cap. 14. - Montesinos,

Annales, Ms., ane 1510.]

After this, we find him associated with Balboa, the discoverer of

the Pacific, and cooperating with him in establishing the

settlement at Darien. He had the glory of accompanying this

gallant cavalier in his terrible march across the mountains, and

of being among the first Europeans, therefore, whose eyes were

greeted with the long-promised vision of the Southern Ocean.

After the untimely death of his commander, Pizarro attached

himself to the fortunes of Pedrarias, and was employed by that

governor in several military expeditions, which, if they afforded

nothing else, gave him the requisite training for the perils and

privations that lay in the path of the future Conqueror of Peru.

In 1515, he was selected, with another cavalier named Morales, to

cross the Isthmus and traffic with the natives on the shores of

the Pacific. And there, while engaged in collecting his booty of

gold and pearls from the neighbouring islands, as his eye ranged

along the shadowy line of coast till it faded in the distance,

his imagination may have been first fired with the idea of, one

day, attempting the conquest of the mysterious regions beyond the

mountains. On the removal of the seat of government across the

Isthmus to Panama, Pizarro accompanied Pedrarias, and his name

became conspicuous among the cavaliers who extended the line of

conquest to the north over the martial tribes of Veragua. But

all these expeditions, whatever glory they may have brought him,

were productive of very little gold, and, at the age of fifty,

the captain Pizarro found himself in possession only of a tract

of unhealthy land in the neigbourhood of the capital, and of such

repartimientos of the natives as were deemed suited to his

military services. *6 The New World was a lottery, where the

great prizes were so few that the odds were much against the

player; yet in the game he was content to stake health, fortune,

and, too often, his fair fame.

[Footnote 6: "Teniendo su casa, i Hacienda, i Repartimiento de

Indios como uno de los Principales de la Tierra; porque siempre

lo fue." Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 79.]

Such was Pizarro's situation when, in 1522, Andagoya returned

from his unfinished enterprise to the south of Panama, bringing

back with him more copious accounts than any hitherto received of

the opulence and grandeur of the countries that lay beyond. *7 It

was at this time, too, that the splendid achievements of Cortes

made their impression on the public mind, and gave a new impulse

to the spirit of adventure. The southern expeditions became a

common topic of speculation among the colonists of Panama. But

the region of gold, as it lay behind the mighty curtain of the

Cordilleras, was still veiled in obscurity. No idea could be

formed of its actual distance; and the hardships and difficulties

encountered by the few navigators who had sailed in that

direction gave a gloomy character to the undertaking, which had

hitherto deterred the most daring from embarking in it. There is

no evidence that Pizarro showed any particular alacrity in the

cause. Nor were his own funds such as to warrant any expectation

of success without great assistance from others. He found this

in two individuals of the colony, who took too important a part

in the subsequent transactions not to be particularly noticed.

[Footnote 7: Andagoya says that he obtained, while at Biru, very

minute accounts of the empire of the Incas, from certain

itinerant traders who frequented that country. "En esta

provincia supe y hube relacion, ansi de los senores como de

mercaderes e interpretes que ellos tenian, de toda la costa de

todo lo que despues se ha visto hasta el Cuzco, particularmente

de cada provincia la manera y gente della, porque estos

alcanzaban por via de mercaduria mucha tierra." Navarrete,

Coleccion, tom. III. No 7.]

One of them, Diego de Almagro, was a soldier of fortune, somewhat

older, it seems probable, than Pizarro; though little is known of

his birth, and even the place of it is disputed. It is supposed

to have been the town of Almagro in New Castile, whence his own

name, for want of a better source, was derived; for, like

Pizarro, he was a foundling. *8 Few particulars are known of him

till the present period of our history; for he was one of those

whom the working of turbulent times first throws upon the

surface, - less fortunate, perhaps, than if left in their

original obscurity. In his military career, Almagro had earned

the reputation of a gallant soldier. He was frank and liberal in

his disposition, somewhat hasty and ungovernable in his passions,

but, like men of a sanguine temperament, after the first sallies

had passed away, not difficult to be appeased. He had, in short,

the good qualities and the defects incident to an honest nature,

not improved by the discipline of early education or

self-control.

[Footnote 8: "Decia el que hera de Almagro," says Pedro Pizarro,

who knew him well. Relacion del Descubrimiento y Conquista de

los Reynos del Peru, Ms. - See also Zarate. Conq. del Peru, lib.

1, cap. 1. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 141. - Pizarro y

Orellana, Varones Ilustres, p. 211.

The last writer admits that Almagro's parentage is unknown; but

adds that the character of his early exploits infers an

illustrious descent. - This would scarcely pass for evidence with

the College of Heralds.]

The other member of the confederacy was Hernando de Luque, a

Spanish ecclesiastic, who exercised the functions of vicar at

Panama, and had formerly filled the office of schoolmaster in the

Cathedral of Darien. He seems to have been a man of singular

prudence and knowledge of the world; and by his respectable

qualities had acquired considerable influence in the little

community to which he belonged, as well as the control of funds,

which made his cooperation essential to the success of the

present enterprise.

It was arranged among the three associates, that the two

cavaliers should contribute their little stock towards defraying

the expenses of the armament, but by far the greater part of the

funds was to be furnished by Luque. Pizarro was to take command

of the expedition, and the business of victualling and equipping

the vessels was assigned to Almagro. The associates found no

difficulty in obtaining the consent of the governor to their

undertaking. After the return of Andagoya, he had projected

another expedition, but the officer to whom it was to be

intrusted died. Why he did not prosecute his original purpose,

and commit the affair to an experienced captain like Pizarro,

does not appear. He was probably not displeased that the burden

of the enterprise should be borne by others, so long as a good

share of the profits went into his own coffers. This he did not

overlook in his stipulations. *9

[Footnote 9: "Asi que estos tres companeros ya dichos Acordaron

de yr a conquistar esta provincia ya dicha. Pues consultandolo

con Pedro Arias de Avila que a la sazon hera governador en tierra

firme. Vino en ello haziendo compania con los dichos companeros

con condicion que Pedro Arias no havia de contribuir entonces con

ningun dinero ni otra cosa sino de lo que se hallase en la tierra

de lo que a el le cupiese por virtud de la compania de alli se

pagasen los gastos que a el le cupiesen. Los tres companeros

vinieron en ello por aver esta licencia porque de otra manera no

la alcanzaran." (Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.) Andagoya,

however, affirms that the governor was interested equally with

the other associates in the adventure, each taking a fourth part

on himself. (Navarrete, Coleccion, tom. III. No. 7.) But

whatever was the original interest of Pedrarias, it mattered

little, as it was surrendered before any profits were realized

from the expedition.]

Thus fortified with the funds of Luque, and the consent of the

governor, Almagro was not slow to make preparations for the

voyage. Two small vessels were purchased, the larger of which

had been originally built by Balboa, for himself, with a view to

this same expedition. Since his death, it had lain dismantled in

the harbour of Panama. It was now refitted as well as

circumstances would permit, and put in order for sea, while the

stores and provisions were got on board with an alacrity which

did more credit, as the event proved, to Almagro's zeal than to

his forecast.

There was more difficulty in obtaining the necessary complement

of hands; for a general feeling of distrust had gathered round

expeditions in this direction, which could not readily be

overcome. But there were many idle hangers-on in the colony, who

had come out to mend their fortunes, and were willing to take

their chance of doing so, however desperate. From such materials

as these, Almagro assembled a body of somewhat more than a

hundred men; *10 and every thing being ready, Pizarro assumed the

command, and, weighing anchor, took his departure from the little

port of Panama, about the middle of November, 1524. Almagro was

to follow in a second vessel of inferior size, as soon as it

could be fitted out. *11

[Footnote 10: Herrera, the most popular historian of these

transactions, estimates the number of Pizarro's followers only at

eighty. But every other authority which I have consulted raises

them to over a hundred. Father Naharro, a contemporary, and

resident at Lima even allows a hundred and twenty-nine. Relacion

sumaria de la entrada de los Espanoles en el Peru, Ms.]

[Footnote 11: There is the usual discrepancy among authors about

the date of this expedition. Most fix it at 1525. I have

conformed to Xerez, Pizarro's secretary, whose narrative was

published ten years after the voyage, and who could hardly have

forgotten the date of so memorable an event, in so short an

interval of time. (See his Conquista del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom.

III. p. 179.)

The year seems to be settled by Pizarro's Capitulacion with the

Crown, which I had not examined till after the above was written.

This instrument, dated July, 1529, speaks of his first expedition

as having taken place about five years previous. (See Appendix,

No. VII.)]

The time of year was the most unsuitable that could have been

selected for the voyage; for it was the rainy season, when the

navigation to the south, impeded by contrary winds, is made

doubly dangerous by the tempests that sweep over the coast. But

this was not understood by the adventurers. After touching at the

Isle of Pearls, the frequent resort of navigators, at a few

leagues' distance from Panama, Pizarro held his way across the

Gulf of St. Michael, and steered almost due south for the Puerto

de Pinas, a headland in the province of Biruquete, which marked

the limit of Andagoya's voyage. Before his departure, Pizarro had

obtained all the information which he could derive from that

officer in respect to the country, and the route he was to

follow. But the cavalier's own experience had been too limited to

enable him to be of much assistance.

Doubling the Puerto de Pinas, the little vessel entered the river

Biru, the misapplication of which name is supposed by some to

have given rise to that of the empire of the Incas. *12 After

sailing up this stream for a couple of leagues, Pizarro came to

anchor, and disembarking his whole force except the sailors,

proceeded at the head of it to explore the country. The land

spread out into a vast swamp, where the heavy rains had settled

in pools of stagnant water, and the muddy soil afforded no

footing to the traveller. This dismal morass was fringed with

woods, through whose thick and tangled undergrowth they found it

difficult to penetrate; and emerging from them, they came out on

a hilly country, so rough and rocky in its character, that their

feet were cut to the bone, and the weary soldier, encumbered with

his heavy mail or thick-padded doublet of cotton, found it

difficult to drag one foot after the other. The heat at times

was oppressive; and, fainting with toil and famished for want of

food, they sank down on the earth from mere exhaustion. Such was

the ominous commencement of the expedition to Peru.

[Footnote 12: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1. cap. 1. - Herrera,

Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 6, cap. 13.]

Pizarro, however, did not lose heart. He endeavoured to revive

the spirits of his men, and besought them not to be discouraged

by difficulties which a brave heart would be sure to overcome,

reminding them of the golden prize which awaited those who

persevered. Yet it was obvious that nothing was to be gained by

remaining longer in this desolate region. Returning to their

vessel, therefore, it was suffered to drop down the river and

proceed along its southern course on the great ocean.

After coasting a few leagues, Pizarro anchored off a place not

very inviting in its appearance, where he took in a supply of

wood and water. Then, stretching more towards the open sea, he

held on in the same direction towards the south. But in this he

was baffled by a succession of heavy tempests, accompanied with

such tremendous peals of thunder and floods of rain as are found

only in the terrible storms of the tropics. The sea was lashed

into fury, and, swelling into mountain billows, threatened every

moment to overwhelm the crazy little bark, which opened at every

seam. For ten days the unfortunate voyagers were tossed about by

the pitiless elements, and it was only by incessant exertions -

the exertions of despair - that they preserved the ship from

foundering. To add to their calamities, their provisions began

to fail, and they were short of water, of which they had been

furnished only with a small number of casks; for Almagro had

counted on their recruiting their scanty supplies, from time to

time, from the shore. Their meat was wholly consumed, and they

were reduced to the wretched allowance of two ears of Indian corn

a day for each man.

Thus harassed by hunger and the elements, the battered voyagers

were too happy to retrace their course and regain the port where

they had last taken in supplies of wood and water. Yet nothing

could be more unpromising than the aspect of the country. It had

the same character of low, swampy soil, that distinguished the

former landing-place; while thick-matted forests, of a depth

which the eye could not penetrate, stretched along the coast to

an interminable length. It was in vain that the wearied

Spaniards endeavoured to thread the mazes of this tangled

thicket, where the creepers and flowering vines, that shoot up

luxuriant in a hot and humid atmosphere, had twined themselves

round the huge trunks of the forest-trees, and made a network

that could be opened only with the axe. The rain, in the mean

time, rarely slackened, and the ground, strewed with leaves and

saturated with moisture, seemed to slip away beneath their feet.

Nothing could be more dreary and disheartening than the aspect of

these funereal forests; where the exhalations from the

overcharged surface of the ground poisoned the air, and seemed to

allow no life, except that, indeed, of myriads of insects, whose

enamelled wings glanced to and fro, like sparks of fire, in every

opening of the woods. Even the brute creation appeared

instinctively to have shunned the fatal spot, and neither beast

nor bird of any description was seen by the wanderers. Silence

reigned unbroken in the heart of these dismal solitudes; at

least, the only sounds that could be heard were the plashing of

the rain-drops on the leaves, and the tread of the forlorn

adventurers. *13

[Footnote 13: Xerez, Conq del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 180.

- Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms.,

ano 1515. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 1. - Garcilasso,

Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 7. - Herrera, Hist. General,

dec. 3, lib. 6, cap. 13.]

Entirely discouraged by the aspect of the country, the Spaniards

began to comprehend that they had gained nothing by changing

their quarters from sea to shore, and they felt the most serious

apprehensions of perishing from famine in a region which afforded

nothing but such unwholesome berries as they could pick up here

and there in the woods. They loudly complained of their hard

lot, accusing their commander as the author of all their

troubles, and as deluding them with promises of a fairy land,

which seemed to recede in proportion as they advanced. It was of

no use, they said, to contend against fate, and it was better to

take their chance of regaining the port of Panama in time to save

their lives, than to wait where they were to die of hunger.

But Pizarro was prepared to encounter much greater evils than

these, before returning to Panama, bankrupt in credit, an object

of derision as a vainglorious dreamer, who had persuaded others

to embark in an adventure which he had not the courage to carry

through himself. The present was his only chance. To return

would be ruin. He used every argument, therefore, that mortified

pride or avarice could suggest to turn his followers from their

purpose; represented to them that these were the troubles that

necessarily lay in the path of the discoverer; and called to mind

the brilliant successes of their countrymen in other quarters,

and the repeated reports, which they had themselves received, of

the rich regions along this coast, of which it required only

courage and constancy on their part to become the masters. Yet,

as their present exigencies were pressing, he resolved to send

back the vessel to the Isle of Pearls, to lay in a fresh stock of

provisions for his company, which might enable them to go forward

with renewed confidence. The distance was not great, and in a

few days they would all be relieved from their perilous position.

The officer detached on this service was named Montenegro; and

taking with him nearly half the company, after receiving

Pizarro's directions, he instantly weighed anchor, and steered

for the Isle of Pearls.

On the departure of his vessel, the Spanish commander made an

attempt to explore the country, and see if some Indian settlement

might not be found, where he could procure refreshments for his

followers. But his efforts were vain, and no trace was visible

of a human dwelling; though, in the dense and impenetrable

foliage of the equatorial regions, the distance of a few rods

might suffice to screen a city from observation. The only means

of nourishment left to the unfortunate adventurers were such

shell-fish as they occasionally picked up on the shore, or the

bitter buds of the palm-tree, and such berries and unsavoury

herbs as grew wild in the woods. Some of these were so

poisonous, that the bodies of those who ate them swelled up and

were tormented with racking pains. Others, preferring famine to

this miserable diet, pined away from weakness and actually died

of starvation. Yet their resolute leader strove to maintain his

own cheerfulness and to keep up the drooping spirits of his men.

He freely shared with them his scanty stock of provisions, was

unwearied in his endeavours to procure them sustenance, tended

the sick, and ordered barracks to be constructed for their

accommodation, which might, at least, shelter them from the

drenching storms of the season. By this ready sympathy with his

followers in their sufferings, he obtained an ascendency over

their rough natures, which the assertion of authority, at least

in the present extremity, could never have secured to him.

Day after day, week after week, had now passed away, and no

tidings were heard of the vessel that was to bring relief to the

wanderers. In vain did they strain their eyes over the distant

waters to catch a glimpse of their coming friends. Not a speck

was to be seen in the blue distance, where the canoe of the

savage dared not venture, and the sail of the white man was not

yet spread. Those who had borne up bravely at first now gave way

to despondency, as they felt themselves abandoned by their

countrymen on this desolate shore. They pined under that sad

feeling which "maketh the heart sick." More than twenty of the

little band had already died, and the survivors seemed to be

rapidly following. *14

[Footnote 14: Ibid., ubi supra. - Relacion del Primer. Descub.,

Ms. - Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ubi supra.]

At this crisis reports were brought to Pizarro of a light having

been seen through a distant opening in the woods. He hailed the

tidings with eagerness, as intimating the existence of some

settlement in the neighbourhood; and, putting himself at the head

of a small party, went in the direction pointed out, to

reconnoitre. He was not disappointed, and, after extricating

himself from a dense wilderness of underbrush and foliage, he

emerged into an open space, where a small Indian village was

planted. The timid inhabitants, on the sudden apparition of the

strangers, quitted their huts in dismay; and the famished

Spaniards, rushing in, eagerly made themselves masters of their

contents. These consisted of different articles of food, chiefly

maize and cocoanuts. The supply, though small, was too

seasonable not to fill them with rapture.

The astonished natives made no attempt at resistance. But,

gathering more confidence as no violence was offered to their

persons, they drew nearer the white men, and inquired, "Why they

did not stay at home and till their own lands, instead of roaming

about to rob others who had never harmed them?" *15 Whatever may

have been their opinion as to the question of right, the

Spaniards, no doubt, felt then that it would have been wiser to

do so. But the savages wore about their persons gold ornaments of

some size, though of clumsy workmanship. This furnished the best

reply to their demand. It was the golden bait which lured the

Spanish adventurer to forsake his pleasant home for the trials of

the wilderness. From the Indians Pizarro gathered a confirmation

of the reports he had so often received of a rich country lying

farther south; and at the distance of ten days' journey across

the mountains, they told him, there dwelt a mighty monarch whose

dominions had been invaded by another still more powerful, the

Child of the Sun. *16 It may have been the invasion of Quito that

was meant, by the valiant Inca Huayna Capac, which took place

some years previous to Pizarro's expedition.

[Footnote 15: "Porque decian a los Castellanos, que por que no

sembraban. i cogian, sin andar tomando los Bastimentos agenos,

pasando tantos trabajos?" Herrera, Hist. General, loc. cit.]

[Footnote 16: "Dioles noticia el viejo por medio del lengua, como

diez soles de alli habia un Rey muy poderoso yendo por espesas

montanas, y que otro mas poderoso hijo del sol habia venido de

milagro a quitarle el Reino sobre que tenian mui sangrientas

batallas." (Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1525.) The conquest of

Quito by Huayna Capac took place more than thirty years before

this period in our history. But the particulars of this

revolution, its time or precise theatre, were, probably, but very

vaguely comprehended by the rude nations in the neighbourhood of

Panama: and their allusion to it in an unknown dialect was as

little comprehended by the Spanish voyagers, who must have

collected their information from signs much more than words.]

At length, after the expiration of more than six weeks, the

Spaniards beheld with delight the return of the wandering bark

that had borne away their comrades, and Montenegro sailed into

port with an ample supply of provisions for his famishing

countrymen. Great was his horror at the aspect presented by the

latter, their wild and haggard countenances and wasted frames, -

so wasted by hunger and disease, that their old companions found

it difficult to recognize them. Montenegro accounted for his

delay by incessant head winds and bad weather; and he himself had

also a doleful tale to tell of the distress to which he and his

crew had been reduced by hunger, on their passage to the Isle of

Pearls. - It is minute incidents like these with which we have

been occupied, that enable one to comprehend the extremity of

suffering to which the Spanish adventurer was subjected in the

prosecution of his great work of discovery.

Revived by the substantial nourishment to which they had so long

been strangers, the Spanish cavaliers, with the buoyancy that

belongs to men of a hazardous and roving life, forgot their past

distresses in their eagerness to prosecute their enterprise.

Reembarking therefore on board his vessel, Pizarro bade adieu to

the scene of so much suffering, which he branded with the

appropriate name of Puerto de la Hambre, the Port of Famine, and

again opened his sails to a favorable breeze that bore him

onwards towards the south.

Had he struck boldly out into the deep, instead of hugging the

inhospitable shore, where he had hitherto found so little to

recompense him, he might have spared himself the repetition of

wearisome and unprofitable adventures, and reached by a shorter

route the point of his destination. But the Spanish mariner

groped his way along these unknown coasts, landing at every

convenient headland, as if fearful lest some fruitful region or

precious mine might be overlooked, should a single break occur in

the line of survey. Yet it should be remembered, that, though

the true point of Pizarro's destination is obvious to us,

familiar with the topography of these countries, he was wandering

in the dark, feeling his way along, inch by inch, as it were,

without chart to guide him, without knowledge of the seas or of

the bearings of the coast, and even with no better defined idea

of the object at which he aimed than that of a land, teeming with

gold, that lay somewhere at the south! It was a hunt after an El

Dorado; on information scarcely more circumstantial or authentic

than that which furnished the basis of so many chimerical

enterprises in this land of wonders. Success only, the best

argument with the multitude, redeemed the expeditions of Pizarro

from a similar imputation of extravagance.

Holding on his southerly course under the lee of the shore,

Pizarro, after a short run, found himself abreast of an open

reach of country, or at least one less encumbered with wood,

which rose by a gradual swell, as it receded from the coast. He

landed with a small body of men, and, advancing a short distance

into the interior, fell in with an Indian hamlet. It was

abandoned by the inhabitants, who, on the approach of the

invaders, had betaken themselves to the mountains; and the

Spaniards, entering their deserted dwellings, found there a good

store of maize and other articles of food, and rude ornaments of

gold of considerable value. Food was not more necessary for

their bodies than was the sight of gold, from time to time, to

stimulate their appetite for adventure. One spectacle, however,

chilled their blood with horror. This was the sight of human

flesh, which they found roasting before the fire, as the

barbarians had left it, preparatory to their obscene repast. The

Spaniards, conceiving that they had fallen in with a tribe of

Caribs, the only race in that part of the New World known to be

cannibals, retreated precipitately to their vessel. *17 They were

not steeled by sad familiarity with the spectacle, like the

Conquerors of Mexico.

[Footnote 17: "I en las Ollas de la comida, que estaban al Fuego,

entre la Carne, que sacaban, havia Pies i Manos de Hombres, de

donde conocieron, que aquellos Indios eran Caribes." Herrera,

Hist. General dec. 3, lib. 8, cap. 11.]

The weather, which had been favorable, new set in tempestuous,

with heavy squalls, accompanied by incessant thunder and

lightning, and the rain, as usual in these tropical tempests,

descended not so much in drops as in unbroken sheets of water.

The Spaniards, however, preferred to take their chance on the

raging element rather than remain in the scene of such brutal

abominations. But the fury of the storm gradually subsided, and

the little vessel held on her way along the coast, till, coming

abreast of a bold point of land named by Pizarro Punta Quemada,

he gave orders to anchor. The margin of the shore was fringed

with a deep belt of mangrove-trees, the long roots of which,

interlacing one another, formed a kind of submarine lattice-work

that made the place difficult of approach. Several avenues,

opening through this tangled thicket, led Pizarro to conclude

that the country must be inhabited, and he disembarked, with the

greater part of his force, to explore the interior.

He had not penetrated more than a league, when he found his

conjecture verified by the sight of an Indian town of larger size

than those he had hitherto seen, occupying the brow of an

eminence, and well defended by palisades. The inhabitants, as

usual, had fled; but left in their dwellings a good supply of

provisions and some gold trinkets, which the Spaniards made no

difficulty of appropriating to themselves. Pizarro's flimsy bark

had been strained by the heavy gales it had of late encountered,

so that it was unsafe to prosecute the voyage further without

more thorough repairs than could be given to her on this desolate

coast. He accordingly determined to send her back with a few

hands to be careened at Panama, and meanwhile to establish his

quarters in his present position, which was so favorable for

defence. But first he despatched a small party under Montenegro

to reconnoitre the country, and, if possible, to open a

communication with the natives.

The latter were a warlike race. They had left their habitations

in order to place their wives and children in safety. But they

had kept an eye on the movements of the invaders, and, when they

saw their forces divided, they resolved to fall upon each body

singly before it could communicate with the other. So soon,

therefore, as Montenegro had penetrated through the defiles of

the lofty hills, which shoot out like spurs of the Cordilleras

along this part of the coast, the Indian warriors, springing from

their ambush, sent off a cloud of arrows and other missiles that

darkened the air, while they made the forest ring with their

shrill war-whoop. The Spaniards, astonished at the appearance of

the savages, with their naked bodies gaudily painted, and

brandishing their weapons as they glanced among the trees and

straggling underbrush that choked up the defile, were taken by

surprise and thrown for a moment into disarray. Three of their

number were killed and several wounded. Yet, speedily rallying,

they returned the discharge of the assailants with their

cross-bows, - for Pizarro's troops do not seem to have been

provided with muskets on this expedition, - and then gallantly

charging the enemy, sword in hand, succeeded in driving them back

into the fastnesses of the mountains. But it only led them to

shift their operations to another quarter, and make an assault on

Pizarro before he could be relieved by his lieutenant.

Availing themselves of their superior knowledge of the passes,

they reached that commander's quarters long before Montenegro,

who had commenced a countermarch in the same direction. And

issuing from the woods, the bold savages saluted the Spanish

garrison with a tempest of darts and arrows, some of which found

their way through the joints of the harness and the quilted mail

of the cavaliers. But Pizarro was too well practised a soldier

to be off his guard. Calling his men about him, he resolved not

to abide the assault tamely in the works, but to sally out, and

meet the enemy on their own ground. The barbarians, who had

advanced near the defences, fell back as the Spaniards burst

forth with their valiant leader at their head. But, soon

returning with admirable ferocity to the charge, they singled out

Pizarro, whom, by his bold bearing and air of authority, they

easily recognized as the chief; and, hurling at him a storm of

missiles, wounded him, in spite of his armour, in no less than

seven places. *18

[Footnote 18: Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Xerez, Conq. del

Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 180. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru,

lib. 1, cap. 1. - Balboa, Hist. du Perou, chap. 15.]

Driven back by the fury of the assault directed against his own

person, the Spanish commander retreated down the slope of the

hill, still defending himself as he could with sword and buckler,

when his foot slipped and he fell. The enemy set up a fierce

yell of triumph, and some of the boldest sprang forward to

despatch him. But Pizarro was on his feet in an instant, and,

striking down two of the foremost with his strong arm, held the

rest at bay till his soldiers could come to the rescue. The

barbarians, struck with admiration at his valor, began to falter,

when Montenegro luckily coming on the ground at the moment, and

falling on their rear, completed their confusion; and, abandoning

the field, they made the best of their way into the recesses of

the mountains. The ground was covered with their slain; but the

victory was dearly purchased by the death of two more Spaniards

and a long list of wounded.

A council of war was then called. The position had lost its

charm in the eyes of the Spaniards, who had met here with the

first resistance they had yet experienced on their expedition.

It was necessary to place the wounded in some secure spot, where

their injuries could be attended to. Yet it was not safe to

proceed farther, in the crippled state of their vessel. On the

whole, it was decided to return and report their proceedings to

the governor; and, though the magnificent hopes of the

adventurers had not been realized, Pizarro trusted that enough

had been done to vindicate the importance of the enterprise, and

to secure the countenance of Pedrarias for the further

prosecution of it. *19

[Footnote 19: Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 8, cap. 11. -

Xerez, ubi supra.]

Yet Pizarro could not make up his mind to present himself, in the

present state of the undertaking, before the governor. He

determined, therefore, to be set on shore with the principal part

of his company at Chicama, a place on the main land, at a short

distance west of Panama. From this place, which he reached

without any further accident, he despatched the vessel, and in it

his treasurer, Nicolas de Ribera, with the gold he had collected,

and with instructions to lay before the governor a full account

of his discoveries, and the result of the expedition.

While these events were passing, Pizarro's associate, Almagro,

had been busily employed in fitting out another vessel for the

expedition at the port of Panama. It was not till long after his

friend's departure that he was prepared to follow him. With the

assistance of Luque, he at length succeeded in equipping a small

caravel and embarking a body of between sixty and seventy

adventurers, mostly of the lowest order of the colonists. He

steered in the track of his comrade, with the intention of

overtaking him as soon as possible. By a signal previously

concerted of notching the trees, he was able to identify the

spots visited by Pizarro, - Puerto de Pinas, Puerto de la Hambre,

Pueblo Quemado, - touching successively at every point of the

coast explored by his countrymen, though in a much shorter time.

At the last-mentioned place he was received by the fierce natives

with the same hostile demonstrations as Pizarro, though in the

present encounter the Indians did not venture beyond their

defences. But the hot blood of Almagro was so exasperated by

this check, that he assaulted the place and carried it sword in

hand, setting fire to the outworks and dwellings, and driving the

wretched inhabitants into the forests.

His victory cost him dear. A wound from a javelin on the head

caused an inflammation in one of his eyes, which, after great

anguish, ended in the loss of it. Yet the intrepid adventurer

did not hesitate to pursue his voyage, and, after touching at

several places on the coast, some of which rewarded him with a

considerable booty in gold, he reached the mouth of the Rio de

San Juan, about the fourth degree of north latitude. He was

struck with the beauty of the stream, and with the cultivation on

its borders, which were sprinkled with Indian cottages showing

some skill in their construction, and altogether intimating a

higher civilization than any thing he had yet seen.

Still his mind was filled with anxiety for the fate of Pizarro

and his followers. No trace of them had been found on the coast

for a long time, and it was evident they must have foundered at

sea, or made their way back to Panama. This last he deemed most

probable; as the vessel might have passed him unnoticed under the

cover of the night, or of the dense fogs that sometimes hang over

the coast.

Impressed with this belief, he felt no heart to continue his

voyage of discovery, for which, indeed, his single bark, with its

small complement of men, was altogether inadequate. He proposed,

therefore, to return without delay. On his way, he touched at

the Isle of Pearls, and there learned the result of his friend's

expedition, and the place of his present residence. Directing his

course, at once, to Chicama, the two cavaliers soon had the

satisfaction of embracing each other, and recounting their

several exploits and escapes. Almagro returned even better

freighted with gold than his confederate, and at every step of

his progress he had collected fresh confirmation of the existence

of some great and opulent empire in the South. The confidence of

the two friends was much strengthened by their discoveries; and

they unhesitatingly pledged themselves to one another to die

rather than abandon the enterprise. *20

[Footnote 20: Xerez, ubi supra. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms.

- Zarate, Conq. del Peru, loc. cit. - Balboa, Hist. du Perou,

chap. 15. - Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms. - Herrera, Hist.

General, dec. 3, lib. 8, cap. 13. - Levinus Apollonius, fol. 12.

- Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 108.]

The best means of obtaining the levies requisite for so

formidable an undertaking - more formidable, as it now appeared

to them, than before - were made the subject of long and serious

discussion. It was at length decided that Pizarro should remain

in his present quarters, inconvenient and even unwholesome as

they were rendered by the humidity of the climate, and the

pestilent swarms of insects that filled the atmosphere. Almagro

would pass over to Panama, lay the case before the governor, and

secure, if possible, his good-will towards the prosecution of the

enterprise. If no obstacle were thrown in their way from this

quarter, they might hope, with the assistance of Luque, to raise

the necessary supplies; while the results of the recent

expedition were sufficiently encouraging to draw adventurers to

their standard in a community which had a craving for excitement

that gave even danger a charm, and which held life cheap in

comparison with gold.

Chapter III

The Famous Contract. - Second Expedition. - Ruiz Explores The

Coast. - Pizarro's Sufferings In The Forests. - Arrival Of New

Recruits. - Fresh Discoveries And Disasters. - Pizarro On The

Isle Of Gallo.

1526-1527.

On his arrival at Panama, Almagro found that events had taken a

turn less favorable to his views than he had anticipated.

Pedrarias, the governor, was preparing to lead an expedition in

person against a rebellious officer in Nicaragua; and his temper,

naturally not the most amiable, was still further soured by this

defection of his lieutenant, and the necessity it imposed on him

of a long and perilous march. When, therefore, Almagro appeared

before him with the request that he might be permitted to raise

further levies to prosecute his enterprise, the governor received

him with obvious dissatisfaction, listened coldly to the

narrative of his losses, turned an incredulous ear to his

magnificent promises for the future, and bluntly demanded an

account of the lives, which had been sacrificed by Pizarro's

obstinacy, but which, had they been spared, might have stood him

in good stead in his present expedition to Nicaragua. He

positively declined to countenance the rash schemes of the two

adventurers any longer, and the conquest of Peru would have been

crushed in the bud, but for the efficient interposition of the

remaining associate, Fernando de Luque.

This sagacious ecclesiastic had received a very different

impression from Almagro's narrative, from that which had been

made on the mind of the irritable governor. The actual results

of the enterprise in gold and silver, thus far, indeed, had been

small, - forming a mortifying contrast to the magnitude of their

expectations. But, in another point of view, they were of the

last importance; since the intelligence which the adventurers had

gained in every successive stage of their progress confirmed, in

the strongest manner, the previous accounts, received from

Andagoya and others, of a rich Indian empire at the south, which

might repay the trouble of conquering it as well as Mexico had

repaid the enterprise of Cortes. Fully entering, therefore, into

the feelings of his military associates, he used all his

influence with the governor to incline him to a more favorable

view of Almagro's petition; and no one in the little community of

Panama exercised greater influence over the councils of the

executive than Father Luque, for which he was indebted no less to

his discretion and acknowledged sagacity than to his professional

station.

But while Pedrarias, overcome by the arguments or importunity of

the churchman, yielded a reluctant assent to the application, he

took care to testify his displeasure with Pizarro, on whom he

particularly charged the loss of his followers, by naming Almagro

as his equal in command in the proposed expedition. This

mortification sunk deep into Pizarro's mind. He suspected his

comrade, with what reason does not appear, of soliciting this

boon from the governor. A temporary coldness arose between them,

which subsided, in outward show, at least, on Pizarro's

reflecting that it was better to have this authority conferred on

a friend than on a stranger, perhaps an enemy. But the seeds of

permanent distrust were left in his bosom, and lay waiting for

the due season to ripen into a fruitful harvest of discord. *1

[Footnote 1: Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 180.

- Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1526. - Herrera, Hist. General,

dec. 3 lib. 8, cap. 12.]

Pedrarias had been originally interested in the enterprise, at

least, so far as to stipulate for a share of the gains, though he

had not contributed, as it appears, a single ducat towards the

expenses. He was at length, however, induced to relinquish all

right to a share of the contingent profits. But, in his manner

of doing so, he showed a mercenary spirit, better becoming a

petty trader than a high officer of the Crown. He stipulated

that the associates should secure to him the sum of one thousand

pesos de oro in requital of his goodwill, and they eagerly closed

with his proposal, rather than be encumbered with his

pretensions. For so paltry a consideration did he resign his

portion of the rich spoil of the Incas! *2 But the governor was

not gifted with the eye of a prophet. His avarice was of that

short-sighted kind which defeats itself. He had sacrificed the

chivalrous Balboa just as that officer was opening to him the

conquest of Peru, and he would now have quenched the spirit of

enterprise, that was taking the same direction, in Pizarro and

his associates.

[Footnote 2: Such is Oviedo's account, who was present at the

interview between the governor and Almagro, when the terms of

compensation were discussed. The dialogue, which is amusing

enough, and well told by the old Chronicler, may be found

translated in Appendix, No. 5. Another version of the affair is

given in the Relacion, often quoted by me, of one of the Peruvian

conquerors, in which Pedrarias is said to have gone out of the

partnership voluntarily, from his disgust at the unpromising

state of affairs. "Vueltos con la dicha gente a Panama,

destrozados y gastados que ya no tenian haciendas para tornar con

provisiones y gentes que todo lo habian gastado, el dicho

Pedrarias de Avila les dijo, que ya el no queria mas hacer

compania con ellos en los gastos de la armada, que si ellos

querian volver a su costa, que lo hiciesen; y ansi como gente que

habia perdido todo lo que tenia y tanto habia trabajado,

acordaron de tornar a proseguir su jornada y dar fin a las vidas

y haciendas que les quedaba, o descubrir aquella tierra, y

ciertamente ellos tubieron grande constancia y animo." Relacion

del Primer. Descub., Ms.]

Not long after this, in the following year, he was succeeded in

his government by Don Pedro de los Rios, a cavalier of Cordova.

It was the policy of the Castilian Crown to allow no one of the

great colonial officers to occupy the same station so long as to

render himself formidable by his authority. *3 It had, moreover,

many particular causes of disgust with Pedrarias. The

functionary they sent out to succeed him was fortified with ample

instructions for the good of the colony, and especially of the

natives, whose religious conversion was urged as a capital

object, and whose personal freedom was unequivocally asserted, as

loyal vassals of the Crown. It is but justice to the Spanish

government to admit that its provisions were generally guided by

a humane and considerate policy, which was as regularly

frustrated by the cupidity of the colonist, and the capricious

cruelty of the conqueror. The few remaining years of Pedrarias

were spent in petty squabbles, both of a personal and official

nature; for he was still continued in office, though in one of

less consideration than that which he had hitherto filled. He

survived but a few years, leaving behind him a reputation not to

be envied, of one who united a pusillanimous spirit with

uncontrollable passions; who displayed, notwithstanding, a

certain energy of character, or, to speak more correctly, an

impetuosity of purpose, which might have led to good results had

it taken a right direction. Unfortunately, his lack of

discretion was such, that the direction he took was rarely of

service to his country or to himself.

[Footnote 3: This policy is noticed by the sagacious Martyr. "De

mutandis namque plaerisque gubernatoribus, ne longa nimis imperii

assuetudine insolescant, cogitatur, qui praecipue non fuerint

prouinciarum domitores. de hisce ducibus namque alia ratio

ponderatur." (De Orbe Novo, (Parisiis, 1587,) p. 498.) One cannot

but regret that the philosopher, who took so keen an interest in

the successive revelations of the different portions of the New

World, should have died before the empire of the Incas was

disclosed to Europeans. He lived to learn and to record the

wonders of

"Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezuma

Not Cuzco in Peru, the richer seat of

Atabalipa."]

Having settled their difficulties with the governor, and obtained

his sanction to their enterprise, the confederates lost no time

in making the requisite preparations for it. Their first step

was to execute the memorable contract which served as the basis

of their future arrangements; and, as Pizarro's name appears in

this, it seems probable that that chief had crossed over to

Panama so soon as the favorable disposition of Pedrarias had been

secured. *4 The instrument, after invoking in the most solemn

manner the names of the Holy Trinity and Our Lady the Blessed

Virgin, sets forth, that, whereas the parties have full authority

to discover and subdue the countries and provinces lying south of

the Gulf, belonging to the empire of Peru, and as Fernando de

Luque had advanced the funds for the enterprise in bars of gold

of the value of twenty thousand pesos, they mutually bind

themselves to divide equally among them the whole of the

conquered territory. This stipulation is reiterated over and

over again, particularly with reference to Luque, who, it is

declared, is to be entitled to one third of all lands,

repartimientos, treasures of every kind, gold, silver, and

precious stones, - to one third even of all vassals, rents, and

emoluments arising from such grants as may be conferred by the

Crown on either of his military associates, to be held for his

own use, or for that of his heirs, assigns, or legal

representative.

[Footnote 4: In opposition to most authorities, - but not to the

judicious Quintana, - I have conformed to Montesinos, in placing

the execution of the contract at the commencement of the second,

instead of the first, expedition. This arrangement coincides with

the date of the instrument itself, which, moreover, is reported

in extenso by no ancient writer whom I have consulted except

Montesinos.]

The two captains solemnly engage to devote themselves exclusively

to the present undertaking until it is accomplished; and, in case

of failure in their part of the covenant, they pledge themselves

to reimburse Luque for his advances, for which all the property

they possess shall be held responsible, and this declaration is

to be a sufficient warrant for the execution of judgment against

them, in the same manner as if it had proceeded from the decree

of a court of justice.

The commanders, Pizarro and Almagro, made oath, in the name of

God and the Holy Evangelists, sacredly to keep this covenant,

swearing it on the missal, on which they traced with their own

hands the sacred emblem of the cross. To give still greater

efficacy to the compact, Father Luque administered the sacrament

to the parties, dividing the consecrated wafer into three

portions, of which each one of them partook; while the

by-standers, says an historian, were affected to tears by this

spectacle of the solemn ceremonial with which these men

voluntarily devoted themselves to a sacrifice that seemed little

short of insanity. *5

[Footnote 5: This singular instrument is given at length by

Montesinos. (Annales, Ms., ano 1526.) It may be found in the

original in Appendix, No. 6.]

The instrument, which was dated March 10, 1526, was subscribed by

Luque, and attested by three respectable citizens of Panama, one

of whom signed on behalf of Pizarro, and the other for Almagro;

since neither of these parties, according to the avowal of the

instrument, was able to subscribe his own name. *6

[Footnote 6: For some investigation of the fact, which has been

disputed by more than one, of Pizarro's ignorance of the art of

writing, see Book 4, chap. 5, of this History.]

Such was the singular compact by which three obscure individuals

coolly carved out and partitioned among themselves, an empire of

whose extent, power, and resources, of whose situation, of whose

existence, even, they had no sure or precise knowledge. The

positive and unhesitating manner in which they speak of the

grandeur of this empire, of its stores of wealth, so conformable

to the event, but of which they could have really known so

little, forms a striking contrast with the general skepticism and

indifference manifested by nearly every other person, high and

low, in the community of Panama. *7

[Footnote 7: The epithet of loco or "madman" was punningly

bestowed on Father Luque, for his spirited exertions in behalf of

the enterprise; Padre Luque o loco, says Oviedo of him, as if it

were synonymous. Historia de las Indias Islas e Tierra Firme del

Mar Oceano, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8 cap. 1.]

The religious tone of the instrument is not the least remarkable

feature in it, especially when we contrast this with the

relentless policy, pursued by the very men who were parties to

it, in their conquest of the country. "In the name of the Prince

of Peace," says the illustrious historian of America, "they

ratified a contract of which plunder and bloodshed were the

objects." *8 The reflection seems reasonable. Yet, in

criticizing what is done, as well as what is written, we must

take into account the spirit of the times. *9 The invocation of

Heaven was natural, where the object of the undertaking was, in

part, a religious one. Religion entered, more or less, into the

theory, at least, of the Spanish conquests in the New World.

That motives of a baser sort mingled largely with these higher

ones, and in different proportions according to the character of

the individual, no one will deny. And few are they that have

proposed to themselves a long career of action without the

intermixture of some vulgar personal motive, - fame, honors, or

emolument. Yet that religion furnishes a key to the American

crusades, however rudely they may have been conducted, is evident

from the history of their origin; from the sanction openly given

to them by the Head of the Church; from the throng of

self-devoted missionaries, who followed in the track of the

conquerors to garner up the rich harvest of souls; from the

reiterated instructions of the Crown, the great object of which

was the conversion of the natives; from those superstitious acts

of the iron-hearted soldiery themselves, which, however they may

be set down to fanaticism, were clearly too much in earnest to

leave any ground for the charge of hypocrisy. It was indeed a

fiery cross that was borne over the devoted land, scathing and

consuming it in its terrible progress; but it was still the

cross, the sign of man's salvation, the only sign by which

generations and generations yet unborn were to be rescued from

eternal perdition.

[Footnote 8: Robertson, America, vol. III. p. 5.]

[Footnote 9: "A perfect judge will read each work of wit

With the same spirit that its author writ,"

says the great bard of Reason. A fair criticism will apply the

same rule to action as to writing, and, in the moral estimate of

conduct, will take largely into account the spirit of the age

which prompted it.]

It is a remarkable fact, which has hitherto escaped the notice of

the historian, that Luque was not the real party to this

contract. He represented another, who placed in his hands the

funds required for the undertaking. This appears from an

instrument signed by Luque himself and certified before the same

notary that prepared the original contract. The instrument

declares that the whole sum of twenty thousand pesos advanced for

the expedition was furnished by the Licentiate Gaspar de

Espinosa, then at Panama; that the vicar acted only as his agent

and by his authority; and that, in consequence, the said Espinosa

and no other was entitled to a third of all the profits and

acquisitions resulting from the conquest of Peru. This

instrument, attested by three persons, one of them the same who

had witnessed the original contract, was dated on the 6th of

August, 1531. *10 The Licentiate Espinosa was a respectable

functionary, who had filled the office of principal alcalde in

Darien, and since taken a conspicuous part in the conquest and

settlement of Tierra Firme. He enjoyed much consideration for

his personal character and station; and it is remarkable that so

little should be known of the manner in which the covenant, so

solemnly made, was executed in reference to him. As in the case

of Columbus, it is probable that the unexpected magnitude of the

results was such as to prevent a faithful adherence to the

original stipulation; and yet, from the same consideration, one

can hardly doubt that the twenty thousand pesos of the bold

speculator must have brought him a magnificent return. Nor did

the worthy vicar of Panama, as the history will show hereafter,

go without his reward.

[Footnote 10: The instrument making this extraordinary disclosure

is cited at length in a manuscript entitled Noticia General del

Peru, Tierra Firme y Chili, by Francisco Lopez de Caravantes, a

fiscal officer in these colonies. The Ms., formerly preserved in

the library of the great college of Cuenca at Salamanca, is now

to be found in her Majesty's library at Madrid. The passage is

extracted by Quintana, Espanoles Celebres, tom. II. Apend. No. 2,

nota.]

Having completed these preliminary arrangements, the three

associates lost no time in making preparations for the voyage.

Two vessels were purchased, larger and every way better than

those employed on the former occasion. Stores were laid in, as

experience dictated, on a larger scale than before, and

proclamation was made of "an expedition to Peru." But the call

was not readily answered by the skeptical citizens of Panama. Of

nearly two hundred men who had embarked on the former cruise, not

more than three fourths now remained. *11 This dismal mortality,

and the emaciated, poverty-stricken aspect of the survivors,

spoke more eloquently than the braggart promises and magnificent

prospects held out by the adventurers. Still there were men in

the community of such desperate circumstances, that any change

seemed like a chance of bettering their condition. Most of the

former company also, strange to say, felt more pleased to follow

up the adventure to the end than to abandon it, as they saw the

light of a better day dawning upon them. From these sources the

two captains succeeded in mustering about one hundred and sixty

men, making altogether a very inadequate force for the conquest

of an empire. A few horses were also purchased, and a better

supply of ammunition and military stores than before, though

still on a very limited scale. Considering their funds, the only

way of accounting for this must be by the difficulty of obtaining

supplies at Panama, which, recently founded, and on the remote

coast of the Pacific, could be approached only by crossing the

rugged barrier of mountains, which made the transportation of

bulky articles extremely difficult. Even such scanty stock of

materials as it possessed was probably laid under heavy

contribution, at the present juncture, by the governor's

preparations for his own expedition to the north.

[Footnote 11: "Con ciento i diez Hombres salio de Panama, i fue

donde estaba el Capitan Picarro con otros cinquenta de los

primeros ciento; diez, que con el salieron, i de los setenta, que

el Capitan Almagro llevo, quando le fue a buscar, que los ciento

i treinta ia eran muertos. Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia,

tom. III. p. 180.]

Thus indifferently provided, the two captains, each in his own

vessel, again took their departure from Panama, under the

direction of Bartholomew Ruiz, a sagacious and resolute pilot,

well experienced in the navigation of the Southern Ocean. He was

a native of Moguer, in Andalusia, that little nursery of nautical

enterprise, which furnished so many seamen for the first voyages

of Columbus. Without touching at the intervening points of the

coast, which offered no attraction to the voyagers, they stood

farther out to sea, steering direct for the Rio de San Juan, the

utmost limit reached by Almagro. The season was better selected

than on the former occasion, and they were borne along by

favorable breezes to the place of their destination, which they

reached without accident in a few days. Entering the mouth of

the river, they saw the banks well lined with Indian habitations;

and Pizarro, disembarking, at the head of a party of soldiers,

succeeded in surprising a small village and carrying off a

considerable booty of gold ornaments found in the dwellings,

together with a few of the natives. *12

[Footnote 12: Ibid., pp. 180, 181. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria,

Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib 1, cap. 1. - Herrera, Hist.

General, dec. 3, lib. 8, cap. 13.]

Flushed with their success, the two chiefs were confident that

the sight of the rich spoil so speedily obtained could not fail

to draw adventurers to their standard in Panama; and, as they

felt more than ever the necessity of a stronger force to cope

with the thickening population of the country which they were now

to penetrate, it was decided that Almagro should return with the

treasure and beat up for reinforcements, while the pilot Ruiz, in

the other vessel, should reconnoitre the country towards the

south, and obtain such information as might determine their

future movements. Pizarro, with the rest of the force, would

remain in the neighbourhood of the river, as he was assured by

the Indian prisoners, that not far in the interior was an open

reach of country, where he and his men could find comfortable

quarters. This arrangement was instantly put in execution. We

will first accompany the intrepid pilot in his cruise towards the

south.

Coasting along the great continent, with his canvas still spread

to favorable winds, the first place at which Ruiz cast anchor was

off the little island of Gallo, about two degrees north. The

inhabitants, who were not numerous, were prepared to give him a

hostile reception, - for tidings of the invaders had preceded

them along the country, and even reached this insulated spot. As

the object of Ruiz was to explore, not to conquer, he did not

care to entangle himself in hostilities with the natives; so,

changing his purpose of landing, he weighed anchor, and ran down

the coast as far as what is now called the Bay of St. Matthew.

The country, which, as he advanced, continued to exhibit evidence

of a better culture as well as of a more dense population than

the parts hitherto seen, was crowded, along the shores, with

spectators, who gave no signs of fear or hostility. They stood

gazing on the vessel of the white men as it glided smoothly into

the crystal waters of the bay, fancying it, says an old writer,

some mysterious being descended from the skies.

Without staying long enough on this friendly coast to undeceive

the simple people, Ruiz, standing off shore, struck out into the

deep sea; but he had not sailed far in that direction, when he

was surprised by the sight of a vessel, seeming in the distance

like a caravel of considerable size, traversed by a large sail

that carried it sluggishly over the waters. The old navigator

was not a little perplexed by this phenomenon, as he was

confident no European bark could have been before him in these

latitudes, and no Indian nation, yet discovered, not even the

civilized Mexican, was acquainted with the use of sails in

navigation. As he drew near, he found it was a large vessel, or

rather raft, called balsa by the natives, consisting of a number

of huge timbers of a light, porous wood, tightly lashed together,

with a frail flooring of reeds raised on them by way of deck.

Two masts or sturdy poles, erected in the middle of the vessel,

sustained a large square-sail of cotton, while a rude kind of

rudder and a movable keel, made of plank inserted between the

logs, enabled the mariner to give a direction to the floating

fabric, which held on its course without the aid of oar or

paddle. *13 The simple architecture of this craft was sufficient

for the purposes of the natives, and indeed has continued to

answer them to the present day; for the balsa, surmounted by

small thatched huts or cabins, still supplies the most commodious

means for the transportation of passengers and luggage on the

streams and along the shores of this part of the South American

continent.

[Footnote 13: "Traia sus manteles y antenas de muy fina madera y

velas de algodon del mismo talle de manera que los nuestros

navios." Relacion de los Primeros Descubrimientos de F. Pizarro y

Diego de Almagro, sacada del Codice, No. 120 de la Biblioteca

Imperial de Vienna, Ms]

On coming alongside, Ruiz found several Indians, both men and

women, on board, some with rich ornaments on their persons,

besides several articles wrought with considerable skill in gold

and silver, which they were carrying for purposes of traffic to

the different places along the coast. But what most attracted

his attention was the woollen cloth of which some of their

dresses were made. It was of a fine texture, delicately

embroidered with figures of birds and flowers, and dyed in

brilliant colors. He also observed in the boat a pair of

balances made to weigh the precious metals. *14 His astonishment

at these proofs of ingenuity and civilization, so much higher

than any thing he had ever seen in the country, was heightened by

the intelligence which he collected from some of these Indians.

Two of them had come from Tumbez, a Peruvian port, some degrees

to the south; and they gave him to understand, that in their

neighbourhood the fields were covered with large flocks of the

animals from which the wool was obtained, and that gold and

silver were almost as common as wood in the palaces of their

monarch. The Spaniards listened greedily to reports which

harmonized so well with their fond desires. Though half

distrusting the exaggeration, Ruiz resolved to detain some of the

Indians, including the natives of Tumbez, that they might repeat

the wondrous tale to his commander, and at the same time, by

learning the Castilian, might hereafter serve as interpreters

with their countrymen. The rest of the party he suffered to

proceed without further interruption on their voyage. Then

holding on his course, the prudent pilot, without touching at any

other point of the coast, advanced as far as the Punta de Pasado,

about half a degree south, having the glory of being the first

European who, sailing in this direction on the Pacific, had

crossed the equinoctial line. This was the limit of his

discoveries; on reaching which he tacked about, and standing away

to the north, succeeded, after an absence of several weeks, in

regaining the spot where he had left Pizarro and his comrades.

*15

[Footnote 14: In a short notice of this expedition, written

apparently at the time of it, or soon after, a minute

specification is given of the several articles found in the

balsa; among them are mentioned vases and mirrors of burnished

silver, and curious fabrics both cotton and woollen. "Espejos

guarnecidos de la dicha plata, y tasas y otras vasijas para

beber, trahian muchas mantas de lana y de algodon, y camisas y

aljubas y alcaceres y alaremes, y otras muchas ropas, todo lo mas

de ello muy labrado de labores muy ricas de colores de grana y

carmisi y azul y amarillo, y de todas otras colores de diversas

maneras de labores y figuras de aves y animales, y Pescados, y

arbolesas y trahian unos pesos chiquitos de pesar oro como

hechura de Romana, y otras muchas cosas.' Relacion sacada de la

Biblioteca Imperial de Vienna, Ms.]

[Footnote 15: Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p.

181. - Relacion sacada de la Biblioteca Imperial de Vienna, Ms. -

Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 8, cap. 13.

One of the authorities speaks of his having been sixty days on

this cruise. I regret not to be able to give precise dates of

the events in these early expeditions. But chronology is a thing

beneath the notice of these ancient chroniclers, who seem to

think that the date of events, so fresh in their own memory, must

be so in that of every one else.]

It was high time; for the spirits of that little band had been

sorely tried by the perils they had encountered. On the

departure of his vessels, Pizarro marched into the interior, in

the hope of finding the pleasant champaign country which had been

promised him by the natives. But at every step the forests

seemed to grow denser and darker, and the trees towered to a

height such as he had never seen, even in these fruitful regions,

where Nature works on so gigantic a scale. *16 Hill continued to

rise above hill, as he advanced, rolling onward, as it were, by

successive waves to join that colossal barrier of the Andes,

whose frosty sides, far away above the clouds, spread out like a

curtain of burnished silver, that seemed to connect the heavens

with the earth.

[Footnote 16: "Todo era montanas, con arboles hasta el cielo!"

Herrera Hist. General, ubi supra.]

On crossing these woody eminences, the forlorn adventurers would

plunge into ravines of frightful depth, where the exhalations of

a humid soil steamed up amidst the incense of sweet-scented

flowers, which shone through the deep glooms in every conceivable

variety of color. Birds, especially of the parrot tribe, mocked

this fantastic variety of nature with tints as brilliant as those

of the vegetable world. Monkeys chattered in crowds above their

heads, and made grimaces like the fiendish spirits of these

solitudes; while hideous reptiles, engendered in the slimy depths

of the pools, gathered round the footsteps of the wanderers.

Here was seen the gigantic boa, coiling his unwieldy folds about

the trees, so as hardly to be distinguished from their trunks,

till he was ready to dart upon his prey; and alligators lay

basking on the borders of the streams, or, gliding under the

waters, seized their incautious victim before he was aware of

their approach. *17 Many of the Spaniards perished miserably in

this way, and others were waylaid by the natives, who kept a

jealous eye on their movements, and availed themselves of every

opportunity to take them at advantage. Fourteen of Pizarro's men

were cut off at once in a canoe which had stranded on the bank of

a stream. *18

[Footnote 17: Ibid., ubi supra.]

[Footnote 18: Ibid., loc. cit. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap.

108. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms]

Famine came in addition to other troubles, and it was with

difficulty that they found the means of sustaining life on the

scanty fare of the forest, - occasionally the potato, as it grew

without cultivation, or the wild cocoa-nut, or, on the shore, the

salt and bitter fruit of the mangrove; though the shore was less

tolerable than the forest, from the swarms of mosquitos which

compelled the wretched adventurers to bury their bodies up to

their very faces in the sand. In this extremity of suffering,

they thought only of return; and all schemes of avarice and

ambition - except with Pizarro and a few dauntless spirits - were

exchanged for the one craving desire to return to Panama.

It was at this crisis that the pilot Ruiz returned with the

report of his brilliant discoveries; and, not long after, Almagro

sailed into port with his vessel laden with refreshments, and a

considerable reinforcement of volunteers. The voyage of that

commander had been prosperous. When he arrived at Panama, he

found the government in the hands of Don Pedro de los Rios; and

he came to anchor in the harbour, unwilling to trust himself on

shore, till he had obtained from Father Luque some account of the

dispositions of the executive. These were sufficiently

favorable; for the new governor had particular instructions fully

to carry out the arrangements made by his predecessor with the

associates. On learning Almagro's arrival, he came down to the

port to welcome him, professing his willingness to afford every

facility for the execution of his designs. Fortunately, just

before this period, a small body of military adventurers had come

to Panama from the mother country, burning with desire to make

their fortunes in the New World. They caught much more eagerly

than the old and wary colonists at the golden bait held out to

them; and with their addition, and that of a few supernumerary

stragglers who hung about the town, Almagro found himself at the

head of a reinforcement of at least eighty men, with which,

having laid in a fresh supply of stores, he again set sail for

the Rio de San Juan.

The arrival of the new recruits all eager to follow up the

expedition, the comfortable change in their circumstances

produced by an ample supply of refreshments, and the glowing

pictures of the wealth that awaited them in the south, all had

their effect on the dejected spirits of Pizarro's followers.

Their late toils and privations were speedily forgotten, and,

with the buoyant and variable feelings incident to a freebooter's

life, they now called as eagerly on their commander to go forward

in the voyage, as they had before called on him to abandon it.

Availing themselves of the renewed spirit of enterprise, the

captains embarked on board their vessels, and, under the guidance

of the veteran pilot, steered in the same track he had lately

pursued.

But the favorable season for a southern course, which in these

latitudes lasts but a few months in the year, had been suffered

to escape. The breezes blew steadily towards the north, and a

strong current, not far from shore, set in the same direction.

The winds frequently rose into tempests, and the unfortunate

voyagers were tossed about, for many days, in the boiling surges,

amidst the most awful storms of thunder and lightning, until, at

length, they found a secure haven in the island of Gallo, already

visited by Ruiz. As they were now too strong in numbers to

apprehend an assault, the crews landed, and, experiencing no

molestation from the natives, they continued on the island for a

fortnight, refitting their damaged vessels, and recruiting

themselves after the fatigues of the ocean. Then, resuming their

voyage, the captains stood towards the south until they reached

the Bay of St. Matthew. As they advanced along the coast, they

were struck, as Ruiz had been before, with the evidences of a

higher civilization constantly exhibited in the general aspect of

the country and its inhabitants. The hand of cultivation was

visible in every quarter. The natural appearance of the coast,

too, had something in it more inviting; for, instead of the

eternal labyrinth of mangrove-trees, with their complicated roots

snarled into formidable coils under the water, as if to waylay

and entangle the voyager, the low margin of the sea was covered

with a stately growth of ebony, and with a species of mahogany,

and other hard woods that take the most brilliant and variegated

polish. The sandal-wood, and many balsamic trees of unknown

names, scattered their sweet odors far and wide, not in an

atmosphere tainted with vegetable corruption, but on the pure

breezes of the ocean, bearing health as well as fragrance on

their wings. Broad patches of cultivated land intervened,

disclosing hill-sides covered with the yellow maize and the