Leaving the burning sand-coast, we will ascend once more the steep sides
of the Cordilleras to those fertile tracts found at an elevation of many
thousand feet above the ocean; but, before describing the brute creation
and the vegetable products of this interesting region, we should
properly take a glance at the human beings inhabiting it.
When, in 1524, the Spaniards first reached the western coast of South
America, of which they were soon to become the conquerors, they found a
people greatly advanced in civilisation. They consisted of two distinct
races; the one, known as the Incas, showing a decided superiority in
intellectual power over the other. Whence they came is unknown; but a
tradition existed, that two persons--husband and wife--had appeared some
four hundred years before that period in the neighbourhood of Lake
Titicaca, announcing themselves as the Children of the Sun. The
husband, Manco Capac, taught the men the arts of agriculture; and his
wife, Mama Oello (_mama_, meaning mother), initiating her own sex in the
mysteries of weaving and spinning. The wise policy which regulated the
conduct of the first Incas (kings, or lords), was followed by their
successors, and under their mild sceptre a community gradually extended
itself along the surface of the broad table-land, which asserted its
superiority over the surrounding tribes.
Fine cities sprang up in different parts of their kingdom, connected by
well-formed roads, suited to the nature of the country. Their capital
was Cuzco, at some distance to the north of the lake, in latitude 14
degrees south; while the city next in importance to it was Quito, in a
rich valley, beneath the equator. These cities were connected by two
roads; one passing over the grand plateau, and the other along lowlands
at the borders of the ocean. The first was conducted over
mountain-ridges, frequently buried in snow; galleries were cut through
the living rock; rivers crossed by suspension-bridges; precipices scaled
by stairways; and deep ravines were filled up with solid masonry.
This road was upwards of fifteen hundred miles long; and stone pillars,
to serve the purpose of mile-stones, were erected at intervals of about
a league along the route. Its breadth was about twenty feet. In some
places it was covered with heavy flagstones; and in others, with a
bituminous cement, which time has rendered harder than the stone itself.
Where the ravines had been filled with solid masonry, the mountain
torrents have eaten a way beneath it, leaving the superincumbent mass
still spanning the valley like an arch. The suspension-bridges--instead
of which wretchedly inferior ones of wood are now used--were composed of
the tough fibres of the maguey; a species of osier, possessing an
extraordinary degree of tenacity and strength. The fibres were woven
into cables of the thickness of a man's body, which were then stretched
across the water, and 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, side by side, formed a bridge--which, covered with
planks well secured, and defended on each side by a railing of the same
material, afforded a safe passage for the traveller. The length of this
aerial bridge, sometimes exceeding 200 feet, caused it--confined as it
was only at the extremities--to dip, with an alarming inclination
towards the centre; while the motion given it by the passenger created
an oscillation frightful to one whose eye glanced down into the dark
abyss of waters, that foamed and tumbled many a fathom beneath.
Over these roads a system of communication throughout the country was
kept up by running postmen, called chasquis. Along the roads small
buildings were erected, within five miles of each other, at which a
number of chasquis were stationed. They were trained to the employment,
and selected for their speed and fidelity. As the distance each had to
perform was small, he ran over the ground with great swiftness, and
messages were carried along all the routes at the rate of a hundred and
fifty miles a day. The chasquis not only carried despatches, but
brought fish from the distant ocean, and fruits, game, and other
commodities, from the warm regions on the coast.
It is not our province to describe the gorgeous temples, palaces, and
convents, in which the Virgins of the Sun resided, and the numerous
other public buildings, extensive remains of which still exist scattered
throughout the region. The glory of the Incas has departed. But few of
their descendants remain, and their blood has generally mingled with
that of their conquerors.