The Vilcanota Country and the Peruvian Highlanders
In the northernmost part of the Titicaca Basin are the grassy foothills
of the Cordillera Vilcanota, where large herds of alpacas thrive on
the sweet, tender pasturage. Santa Rosa is the principal town. Here
wool-buyers come to bid for the clip. The high prices which alpaca
fleece commands have brought prosperity. Excellent blankets, renowned
in southern Peru for their weight and texture, are made here on hand
looms. Notwithstanding the altitude--nearly as great as the top of
Pike's Peak--the stocky inhabitants of Santa Rosa are hardy, vigorous,
and energetic. Ricardo Charaja, the best Quichua assistant we ever had,
came from Santa Rosa. Nearly all the citizens are of pure Indian stock.
They own many fine llamas. There is abundant pasturage and the llamas
are well cared for by the Indians, who become personally attached to
their flocks and are loath to part with any of the individuals. Once I
attempted through a Cuzco acquaintance to secure the skin and skeleton
of a fine llama for the Yale Museum. My friend was favorably known
and spoke the Quichua language fluently. He offered a good price and
obtained from various llama owners promises to bring the hide and bones
of one of their "camels" for shipment; but they never did. Apparently
they regarded it as unlucky to kill a llama, and none happened to die
at the right time. The llamas never show affection for their masters,
as horses often do. On the other hand I have never seen a llama kick
or bite at his owner.
The llama was the only beast of burden known in either North or South
America before Columbus. It was found by the Spaniards in all parts of
Inca Land. Its small two-toed feet, with their rough pads, enable it
to walk easily on slopes too rough or steep for even a nimble-footed,
mountain-bred mule. It has the reputation of being an unpleasant pet,
due to its ability to sneeze or spit for a considerable distance
a small quantity of acrid saliva. When I was in college Barnum's
Circus came to town. The menagerie included a dozen llamas, whose
supercilious expression, inoffensive looks, and small size--they are
only three feet high at the shoulder
tempted some little urchins to tease them. When the llamas felt
that the time had come for reprisals, their aim was straight and the
result a precipitate retreat. Their tormentors, howling and rubbing
their eyes, had to run home and wash their faces. Curiously enough,
in the two years which I have spent in the Peruvian highlands I have
never seen a llama so attack a single human being. On the other hand,
when I was in Santa Rosa in 1915 some one had a tame vicuña which was
perfectly willing to sneeze straight at any stranger who came within
twenty feet of it, even if one's motive was nothing more annoying than
scientific curiosity. The vicuña is the smallest American "camel,"
yet its long, slender neck, small head, long legs, and small body,
from which hangs long, feathery fleece, make it look more like an
ostrich than a camel.
In the churchyard of Santa Rosa are two or three gnarled trees which
have been carefully preserved for centuries as objects of respect and
veneration. Some travelers have thought that 14,000 feet is above the
tree line, but the presence of these trees at Santa Rosa would seem
to show that the use of the words "tree line" is a misnomer in the
Andes. Mr. Cook believes that the Peruvian plateau, with the exception
of the coastal deserts, was once well covered with forests. When man
first came into the Andes, everything except rocky ledges, snow fields,
and glaciers was covered with forest growth. Although many districts
are now entirely treeless, Mr. Cook found that the conditions of light,
heat, and moisture, even at the highest elevations, are sufficient
to support the growth of trees; also that there is ample fertility of
soil. His theories are well substantiated by several isolated tracts
of forests which I found growing alongside of glaciers at very high
elevations. One forest in particular, on the slopes of Mt. Soiroccocha,
has been accurately determined by Mr. Bumstead to be over 15,000 feet
above sea level. It is cut off from the inhabited valley by rock falls
and precipices, so it has not been available for fuel. Virgin forests
are not known to exist in the Peruvian highlands on any lands which
could have been cultivated. A certain amount of natural reforestation
with native trees is taking place on abandoned agricultural terraces
in some of the high valleys. Although these trees belong to many
different species and families, Mr. Cook found that they all have
this striking peculiarity--when cut down they sprout readily from
the stumps and are able to survive repeated pollarding; remarkable
evidence of the fact that the primeval forests of Peru were long ago
cut down for fuel or burned over for agriculture.
Near the Santa Rosa trees is a tall bell-tower. The sight of a
picturesque belfry with four or five bells of different sizes hanging
each in its respective window makes a strong appeal. It is quite
otherwise on Sunday mornings when these same bells, "out of tune with
themselves," or actually cracked, are all rung at the same time. The
resulting clangor and din is unforgettable. I presume the Chinese would
say it was intended to drive away the devils--and surely such noise
must be "thoroughly uncongenial even to the most irreclaimable devil,"
as Lord Frederick Hamilton said of the Canton practices. Church bells
in the United States and England are usually sweet-toned and intended
to invite the hearer to come to service, or else they ring out in
joyous peals to announce some festive occasion. There is nothing
inviting or joyous about the bells in southern Peru. Once in a while
one may hear a bell of deep, sweet tone, like that of the great bell in
Cuzco, which is tolled when the last sacrament is being administered
to a dying Christian; but the general idea of bell-ringers in this
part of the world seems to be to make the greatest possible amount
of racket and clamor. On popular saints' days this is accompanied by
firecrackers, aerial bombs, and other noise-making devices which again
remind one of Chinese folkways. Perhaps it is merely that fundamental
fondness for making a noise which is found in all healthy children.
On Sunday afternoon the plaza of Santa Rosa was well filled with
Quichua holiday-makers, many of whom had been imbibing freely of
chicha, a mild native brew usually made from ripe corn. The crowd was
remarkably good-natured and given to an unusual amount of laughter
and gayety. For them Sunday is truly a day of rest, recreation,
and sociability. On week days, most of them, even the smaller boys,
are off on the mountain pastures, watching the herds whose wool
brings prosperity to Santa Rosa. One sometimes finds the mountain
Indians on Sunday afternoon sodden, thoroughly soaked with chicha,
and inclined to resent the presence of inquisitive strangers; not so
these good folk of Santa Rosa.
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FIGURE
Indian Alcaldes at Santa Rosa
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FIGURE
Native Druggists in the Plaza of Sicuani
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To be sure, the female vendors of eggs, potatoes, peppers, and sundry
native vegetables, squatting in two long rows on the plaza, did not
enjoy being photographed, but the men and boys crowded eagerly forward,
very much interested in my endeavors. Some of the Indian alcaldes,
local magistrates elected yearly to serve as the responsible officials
for villages or tribal precincts, were very helpful and, armed with
their large, silver-mounted staffs of office, tried to bring the
shy, retiring women of the market-place to stand in a frightened,
disgruntled, barefooted group before the camera. The women were dressed
in the customary tight bodices, heavy woolen skirts, and voluminous
petticoats of the plateau. Over their shoulders were pinned heavy
woolen shawls, woven on hand looms. On their heads were reversible
"pancake" hats made of straw, covered on the wet-weather side with
coarse woolen stuff and on the fair-weather side with tinsel and
velveteen. In accordance with local custom, tassels and fringes hung
down on both sides. It is said that the first Inca ordered the dresses
of each village to be different, so that his officials might know
to which tribe an Indian belonged. It was only with great difficulty
and by the combined efforts of a good-natured priest, the gobernador
or mayor, and the alcaldes that a dozen very reluctant females
were finally persuaded to face the camera. The expression of their
faces was very eloquent. Some were highly indignant, others looked
foolish or supercilious, two or three were thoroughly frightened, not
knowing what evil might befall them next. Not one gave any evidence
of enjoying it or taking the matter as a good joke, although that
was the attitude assumed by all their male acquaintances. In fact,
some of the men were so anxious to have their pictures taken that
they followed us about and posed on the edge of every group.
Men and boys all wore knitted woolen caps, with ear flaps, which they
seldom remove either day or night. On top of these were large felt
hats, turned up in front so as to give a bold aspect to their husky
wearers. Over their shoulders were heavy woolen ponchos, decorated with
bright stripes. Their trousers end abruptly halfway between knee and
ankle, a convenient style for herdsmen who have to walk in the long,
dewy grasses of the plateau. These "high-water" pantaloons do not
look badly when worn with sandals, as is the usual custom; but since
this was Sunday all the well-to-do men had put on European boots,
which did not come up to the bottom of their trousers and produced
a singular effect, hardly likely to become fashionable.
The prosperity of the town was also shown by corrugated iron roofs. Far
less picturesque than thatch or tile, they require less attention
and give greater satisfaction during the rainy season. They can also
be securely bolted to the rafters. On this wind-swept plateau we
frequently noticed that a thatched roof was held in place by ropes
passed over the house and weights resting on the roof. Sometimes to
the peak of a gable are fastened crosses, tiny flags, or the skulls of
animals--probably to avert the Evil Eye or bring good luck. Horseshoes
do not seem to be in demand. Horses' skulls, however, are deemed
very efficacious.
On the rim of the Titicaca Basin is La Raya. The watershed is so level
that it is almost impossible to say whether any particular raindrop
will eventually find itself in Lake Titicaca or in the Atlantic
Ocean. The water from a spring near the railroad station of Araranca
flows definitely to the north. This spring may be said to be one of the
sources of the Urubamba River, an important affluent of the Ucayali
and also of the Amazon, but I never have heard it referred to as
"the source of the Amazon" except by an adventurous lecturer, Captain
Blank, whose moving picture entertainment bore the alluring title,
"From the Source to the Mouth of the Amazon." As most of his pictures
of wild animals "in the jungle" looked as though they were taken in
the zoölogical gardens at Para, and the exciting tragedies of his canoe
trip were actually staged near a friendly hacienda at Santa Ana, less
than a week's journey from Cuzco, it is perhaps unnecessary to censure
him for giving this particular little spring such a pretentious title.
The Urubamba River is known by various names to the people who live on
its banks. The upper portion is sometimes spoken of as the Vilcanota,
a term which applies to a lake as well as to the snow-covered peaks
of the cordillera in this vicinity. The lower portion was called by
the Incas the Uilca or the Uilcamayu.
Near the water-parting of La Raya I noticed the remains of an
interesting wall which may have served centuries ago to divide the
Incas of Cuzco from the Collas or warlike tribes of the Titicaca
Basin. In places the wall has been kept in repair by the owners of
grazing lands, but most of it can be but dimly traced across the
valley and up the neighboring slopes to the cliffs of the Cordillera
Vilcanota. It was built of rough stones. Near the historic wall
are the ruins of ancient houses, possibly once occupied by an Inca
garrison. I observed no ashlars among the ruins nor any evidence of
careful masonry. It seems to me likely that it was a hastily thrown-up
fortification serving for a single military campaign, rather than any
permanent affair like the Roman wall of North Britain or the Great Wall
of China. We know from tradition that war was frequently waged between
the peoples of the Titicaca Basin and those of the Urubamba and Cuzco
valleys. It is possible that this is a relic of one of those wars.
On the other hand, it may be much older than the Incas. Montesinos,
[3] one of the best early historians, tells us of Titu Yupanqui,
Pachacuti VI, sixty-second of the Peruvian Amautas, rulers who
long preceded the Incas. Against Pachacuti VI there came (about 800
A.D.) large hordes of fierce soldiers from the south and east, laying
waste fields and capturing cities and towns; evidently barbarian
migrations which appear to have continued for some time. During
these wars the ancient civilization, which had been built up with
so much care and difficulty during the preceding twenty centuries,
was seriously threatened. Pachacuti VI, more religious than warlike,
ruler of a people whose great achievements had been agricultural
rather than military, was frightened by his soothsayers and priests;
they told him of many bad omens. Instead of inducing him to follow
a policy of military preparedness, he was urged to make sacrifices
to the deities. Nevertheless he ordered his captains to fortify the
strategic points and make preparations for defense. The invaders
may have come from Argentina. It is possible that they were spurred
on by hunger and famine caused by the gradual exhaustion of forested
areas and the subsequent spread of untillable grasslands on the great
pampas. Montesinos indicates that many of the people who came up
into the highlands at that time were seeking arable lands for their
crops and were "fleeing from a race of giants"--possibly Patagonians
or Araucanians--who had expelled them from their own lands. On their
journey they had passed over plains, swamps, and jungles. It is obvious
that a great readjustment of the aborigines was in progress. The
governors of the districts through which these hordes passed were not
able to summon enough strength to resist them. Pachacuti VI assembled
the larger part of his army near the pass of La Raya and awaited the
approach of the enemy. If the accounts given in Montesinos are true,
this wall near La Raya may have been built about 1100 years ago,
by the chiefs who were told to "fortify the strategic points."
Certainly the pass of La Raya, long the gateway from the Titicaca
Basin to the important cities and towns of the Urubamba Basin, was the
key to the situation. It is probable that Pachacuti VI drew up his
army behind this wall. His men were undoubtedly armed with slings,
the weapon most familiar to the highland shepherds. The invaders,
however, carried bows and arrows, more effective arms, swifter, more
difficult to see, less easy to dodge. As Pachacuti VI was carried
over the field of battle on a golden stretcher, encouraging his men,
he was killed by an arrow. His army was routed. Montesinos states that
only five hundred escaped. Leaving behind their wounded, they fled to
"Tampu-tocco," a healthy place where there was a cave, in which they
hid the precious body of their ruler. Most writers believe this to
be at Paccaritampu where there are caves under an interesting carved
rock. There is no place in Peru to-day which still bears the name
of Tampu-tocco. To try and identify it with some of the ruins which
do exist, and whose modern names are not found in the early Spanish
writers, has been one of the principal objects of my expeditions to
Peru, as will be described in subsequent chapters.
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FIGURE
A Potato-field at La Raya
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FIGURE
Laying Down the Warp for a Blanket: Near the Pass of La Raya
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Near the watershed of La Raya we saw great flocks of sheep and alpacas,
numerous corrals, and the thatched-roofed huts of herdsmen. The
Quichua women are never idle. One often sees them engaged in the
manufacture of textiles--shawls, girdles, ponchos, and blankets--on
hand looms fastened to stakes driven into the ground. When tending
flocks or walking along the road they are always winding or spinning
yarn. Even the men and older children are sometimes thus engaged. The
younger children, used as shepherds as soon as they reach the
age of six or seven, are rarely expected to do much except watch
their charges. Some of them were accompanied by long-haired suncca
shepherd dogs, as large as Airedales, but very cowardly, given to
barking and slinking away. It is claimed that the sunccas, as well
as two other varieties, were domesticated by the Incas. None of them
showed any desire to make the acquaintance of "Checkers," my faithful
Airedale. Their masters, however, were always interested to see that
"Checkers" could understand English. They had never seen a dog that
could understand anything but Quichua!
On the hillside near La Raya, Mr. Cook, Mr. Gilbert, and I visited
a healthy potato field at an elevation of 14,500 feet, a record
altitude for potatoes. When commencing to plough or spade a potato
field on the high slopes near here, it is the custom of the Indians to
mark it off into squares, by "furrows" about fifteen feet apart. The
Quichuas commence their task soon after daybreak. Due to the absence
of artificial lighting and the discomfort of rising in the bitter cold
before dawn, their wives do not prepare breakfast before ten o'clock,
at which time it is either brought from home in covered earthenware
vessels or cooked in the open fields near where the men are working.
We came across one energetic landowner supervising a score or more
of Indians who were engaged in "ploughing" a potato field. Although
he was dressed in European garb and was evidently a man of means and
intelligence, and near the railroad, there were no modern implements
in sight. We found that it is difficult to get Indians to use any
except the implements of their ancestors. The process of "ploughing"
this field was undoubtedly one that had been used for centuries,
probably long before the Spanish Conquest. The men, working in unison
and in a long row, each armed with a primitive spade or "foot plough,"
to the handle of which footholds were lashed, would, at a signal, leap
forward with a shout and plunge their spades into the turf. Facing
each pair of men was a girl or woman whose duty it was to turn the
clods over by hand. The men had taken off their ponchos, so as to
secure greater freedom of action, but the women were fully clothed as
usual, modesty seeming to require them even to keep heavy shawls over
their shoulders. Although the work was hard and painful, the toil was
lightened by the joyous contact of community activity. Every one worked
with a will. There appeared to be a keen desire among the workers to
keep up with the procession. Those who fell behind were subjected to
good-natured teasing. Community work is sometimes pleasant, even though
it appears to require a strong directing hand. The "boss" was right
there. Such practices would never suit those who love independence.
In the centuries of Inca domination there was little opportunity for
individual effort. Private property was not understood. Everything
belonged to the government. The crops were taken by the priests,
the Incas and the nobles. The people were not as unhappy as we
should be. One seldom had to labor alone. Everything was done in
common. When it was time to cultivate the fields or to harvest the
crops, the laborers were ordered by the Incas to go forth in huge
family parties. They lessened the hardships of farm labor by village
gossip and choral singing, interspersed at regular intervals with
rest periods, in which quantities of chicha quenched the thirst and
cheered the mind.
Habits of community work are still shown in the Andes. One often sees a
score or more of Indians carrying huge bundles of sheaves of wheat or
barley. I have found a dozen yoke of oxen, each a few yards from the
other in a parallel line, engaged in ploughing synchronously small
portions of a large field. Although the landlords frequently visit
Lima and sometimes go to Paris and New York, where they purchase
for their own use the products of modern invention, the fields are
still cultivated in the fashion introduced three centuries ago by the
conquistadores, who brought the first draft animals and the primitive
pointed plough of the ancient Mediterranean.
Crops at La Raya are not confined to potatoes. Another food plant,
almost unknown to Europeans, even those who live in Lima, is cañihua,
a kind of pigweed. It was being harvested at the time of our visit
in April. The threshing floor for cañihua is a large blanket laid
on the ground. On top of this the stalks are placed and the flail
applied, the blanket serving to prevent the small grayish seeds from
escaping. The entire process uses nothing of European origin and has
probably not changed for centuries.
We noticed also quinoa and even barley growing at an elevation of
14,000 feet. Quinoa is another species of pigweed. It often attains
a height of three to four feet. There are several varieties. The
white-seeded variety, after being boiled, may be fairly compared
with oatmeal. Mr. Cook actually preferred it to the Scotch article,
both for taste and texture. The seeds retain their form after being
cooked and "do not appear so slimy as oatmeal." Other varieties of
quinoa are bitter and have to be boiled several times, the water
being frequently changed. The growing quinoa presents an attractive
appearance; its leaves assume many colors.
As we went down the valley the evidences of extensive cultivation,
both ancient and modern, steadily increased. Great numbers of old
terraces were to be seen. There were many fields of wheat, some of them
growing high up on the mountain side in what are called temporales,
where, owing to the steep slope, there is little effort at tillage or
cultivation, the planter trusting to luck to get some kind of a crop
in reward for very little effort. On April 14th, just above Sicuani,
we saw fields where habas beans had been gathered and the dried stalks
piled in little stacks. At Occobamba, or the pampa where oca grows,
we found fields of that useful tuber, just now ripening. Near by
were little thatched shelters, erected for the temporary use of night
watchmen during the harvest season.
The Peruvian highlanders whom we met by the roadside were different
in feature, attitude, and clothing from those of the Titicaca Basin
or even of Santa Rosa, which is not far away. They were typical
Quichuas--peaceful agriculturists--usually spinning wool on the
little hand spindles which have been used in the Andes from time
immemorial. Their huts are built of adobe, the roofs thatched with
coarse grass.
The Quichuas are brown in color. Their hair is straight and black. Gray
hair is seldom seen. It is the custom among the men in certain
localities to wear their hair long and braided. Beards are sparse or
lacking. Bald heads are very rare. Teeth seem to be more enduring
than with us. Throughout the Andes the frequency of well-preserved
teeth was everywhere noteworthy except on sugar plantations, where
there is opportunity to indulge freely in crude brown sugar nibbled
from cakes or mixed with parched corn and eaten as a travel ration.
The Quichua face is broad and short. Its breadth is nearly the same
as the Eskimo. Freckles are not common and appear to be limited to
face and arms, in the few cases in which they were observed. On the
other hand, a large proportion of the Indians are pock-marked and
show the effects of living in a country which is "free from medical
tyranny." There is no compulsory vaccination.
One hardly ever sees a fat Quichua. It is difficult to tell whether
this is a racial characteristic or due rather to the lack of
fat-producing foods in their diet. Although the Peruvian highlander
has made the best use he could of the llama, he was never able to
develop its slender legs and weak back sufficiently to use it for
loads weighing more than eighty or a hundred pounds. Consequently, for
the carrying of really heavy burdens he had to depend on himself. As
a result, it is not surprising to learn from Dr. Ferris that while
his arms are poorly developed, his shoulders are broader, his back
muscles stronger, and the calves of his legs larger and more powerful
than those of almost any other race.
The Quichuas are fond of shaking hands. When a visiting Indian
joins a group he nearly always goes through the gentle ceremony with
each person in turn. I do not know whether this was introduced by
the Spaniards or comes down from prehistoric times. In any event,
this handshaking in no way resembles the hearty clasp familiar to
undergraduates at the beginning of the college year. As a matter of
fact the Quichua handshake is extremely fishy and lacks cordiality. In
testing the hand grip of the Quichuas by a dynamometer our surgeons
found that the muscles of the forearm were poorly developed in the
Quichua and the maximum grip was weak in both sexes, the average
for the man being only about half of that found among American white
adults of sedentary habits.
Dr. Ales Hrdlicka believes that the aboriginal races of North
and South America were of the same stock. The wide differences
in physiognomy observable among the different tribes in North and
South America are perhaps due to their environmental history during
the past 10,000 or 20,000 years. Mr. Frank Chapman, of the American
Museum of Natural History, has pointed out the interesting biological
fact that animals and birds found at sea level in the cold regions of
Tierra del Fuego, while not found at sea level in Peru, do exist at
very high altitudes, where the climate is similar to that with which
they are acquainted. Similarly, it is interesting to learn that the
inhabitants of the cold, lofty regions of southern Peru, living in
towns and villages at altitudes of from 9000 to 14,000 feet above the
sea, have physical peculiarities closely resembling those living at
sea level in Tierra del Fuego, Alaska, and Labrador. Dr. Ferris says
the Labrador Eskimo and the Quichua constitute the two "best-known
short-stature races on the American continent."
So far as we could learn by questions and observation, about one
quarter of the Quichuas are childless. In families which have children
the average number is three or four. Large families are not common,
although we generally learned that the living children in a family
usually represented less than half of those which had been born. Infant
mortality is very great. The proper feeding of children is not
understood and it is a marvel how any of them manage to grow up at all.
Coughs and bronchial trouble are very common among the Indians. In
fact, the most common afflictions of the tableland are those of the
throat and lungs. Pneumonia is the most serious and most to be dreaded
of all local diseases. It is really terrifying. Due to the rarity
of the air and relative scarcity of oxygen, pneumonia is usually
fatal at 8000 feet and is uniformly so at 11,000 feet. Patients are
frequently ill only twenty-four hours. Tuberculosis is fairly common,
its prevalence undoubtedly caused by the living conditions practiced
among the highlanders, who are unwilling to sleep in a room which is
not tightly closed and protected against any possible intrusion of
fresh air. In the warmer valleys, where bodily comfort has led the
natives to use huts of thatch and open reeds, instead of the air-tight
hovels of the cold, bleak plateau, tuberculosis is seldom seen. Of
course, there are no "boards of health," nor are the people bothered by
being obliged to conform to any sanitary regulations. Water supplies
are so often contaminated that the people have learned to avoid
drinking it as far as possible. Instead, they eat quantities of soup.
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FIGURE
The Ruins of the Temple of Viracocha at Racche
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In the market-place of Sicuani, the largest town in the valley, and
the border-line between the potato-growing uplands and lowland maize
fields, we attended the famous Sunday market. Many native "druggists"
were present. Their stock usually consisted of "medicines," whose
efficacy was learned by the Incas. There were forty or fifty kinds
of simples and curiosities, cure-alls, and specifics. Fully half
were reported to me as being "useful against fresh air" or the evil
effects of drafts. The "medicines" included such minerals as iron
ore and sulphur; such vegetables as dried seeds, roots, and the
leaves of plants domesticated hundreds of years ago by the Incas or
gathered in the tropical jungles of the lower Urubamba Valley; and
such animals as starfish brought from the Pacific Ocean. Some of them
were really useful herbs, while others have only a psychopathic effect
on the patient. Each medicine was in an attractive little particolored
woolen bag. The bags, differing in design and color, woven on miniature
hand looms, were arranged side by side on the ground, the upper parts
turned over and rolled down so as to disclose the contents.
Not many miles below Sicuani, at a place called Racche, are the
remarkable ruins of the so-called Temple of Viracocha, described by
Squier. At first sight Racche looks as though there were here a row
of nine or ten lofty adobe piers, forty or fifty feet high! Closer
inspection, however, shows them all to be parts of the central wall of
a great temple. The wall is pierced with large doors and the spaces
between the doors are broken by niches, narrower at the top than at
the bottom. There are small holes in the doorposts for bar-holds. The
base of the great wall is about five feet thick and is of stone. The
ashlars are beautifully cut and, while not rectangular, are roughly
squared and fitted together with most exquisite care, so as to insure
their making a very firm foundation. Their surface is most attractive,
but, strange to say, there is unmistakable evidence that the builders
did not wish the stonework to show. This surface was at one time
plastered with clay, a very significant fact. The builders wanted the
wall to seem to be built entirely of adobe, yet, had the great clay
wall rested on the ground, floods and erosion might have succeeded
in undermining it. Instead, it rests securely on a beautifully built
foundation of solid masonry. Even so, the great wall does not stand
absolutely true, but leans slightly to the westward. The wall also
seems to be less weathered on the west side. Probably the prevailing
or strongest wind is from the east.
An interesting feature of the ruins is a round column about twenty
feet high--a very rare occurrence in Inca architecture. It also
is of adobe, on a stone foundation. There is only one column now
standing. In Squier's day the remains of others were to be seen,
but I could find no evidences of them. There was probably a double
row of these columns to support the stringers and tiebeams of the
roof. Apparently one end of a tiebeam rested on the circular column
and the other end was embedded in the main wall. The holes where the
tiebeams entered the wall have stone lintels.
Near the ruins of the great temple are those of other buildings, also
unique, so far as I know. The base of the party wall, decorated with
large niches, is of cut ashlars carefully laid; the middle course is of
adobe, while the upper third is of rough, uncut stones. It looks very
odd now but was originally covered with fine clay or stucco. In several
cases the plastered walls are still standing, in fairly good condition,
particularly where they have been sheltered from the weather.
The chief marvel of Racche, however, is the great adobe wall of the
temple, which is nearly fifty feet high. It is slowly disintegrating,
as might be expected. The wonder is that it should have stood so
long in a rainy region without any roof or protecting cover. It is
incredible that for at least five hundred years a wall of sun-dried
clay should have been able to defy severe rainstorms. The lintels,
made of hard-wood timbers and partially embedded in the wall, are all
gone; yet the adobe remains. It would be very interesting to find out
whether the water of the springs near the temple contains lime. If
so this might have furnished natural calcareous cement in sufficient
quantity to give the clay a particularly tenacious quality, able to
resist weathering. The factors which have caused this extraordinary
adobe wall to withstand the weather in such an exposed position for
so many centuries, notwithstanding the heavy rains of each summer
season from December to March, are worthy of further study.
It has been claimed that this temple was devoted to the worship
of Viracocha, a great deity, the Jove or Zeus of the ancient
pantheon. It seems to me more reasonable to suppose that a primitive
folk constructed here a temple to the presiding divinity of the place,
the god who gave them this precious clay. The principal industry
of the neighboring village is still the manufacture of pottery. No
better clay for ceramic purposes has been found in the Andes.
It would have been perfectly natural for the prehistoric potters to
have desired to placate the presiding divinity, not so much perhaps
out of gratitude for the clay as to avert his displeasure and fend
off bad luck in baking pottery. It is well known that the best pottery
of the Incas was extremely fine in texture. Students of ceramics are
well aware of the uncertainty of the results of baking clay. Bad luck
seems to come most unaccountably, even when the greatest pains are
taken. Might it not have been possible that the people who were most
concerned with creating pottery decided to erect this temple to insure
success and get as much good luck as possible? Near the ancient temple
is a small modern church with two towers. The churchyard appears to be
a favorite place for baking pottery. Possibly the modern potters use
the church to pray for success in their baking, just as the ancient
potters used the great temple of Viracocha. The walls of the church are
composed partly of adobe and partly of cut stones taken from the ruins.
Not far away is a fairly recent though prehistoric lava flow. It
occurs to me that possibly this flow destroyed some of the clay
beds from which the ancient potters got their precious material. The
temple may have been erected as a propitiatory offering to the god
of volcanoes in the hope that the anger which had caused him to send
the lava flow might be appeased. It may be that the Inca Viracocha,
an unusually gifted ruler, was particularly interested in ceramics and
was responsible for building the temple. If so, it would be natural
for people who are devoted to ancestor worship to have here worshiped
his memory.
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FIGURE
Route Map of the Peruvian Expedition of 1912
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