By OSGOOD HARDY, M. A.
_Instructor in Spanish in the Sheffield Scientific School, and Chief
Assistant and Interpreter of the Peruvian Expeditions of 1914-1915,
under the auspices of Yale University and the National Geographic
Society_
_MENTOR GRAVURES_
RUINS OF A TYPICAL INCA CITY · SACSAHUAMAN, THE INCAS’ GREATEST
FORTRESS, CUZCO, PERU · ENTRANCE TO DOMINICAN CHURCH, CUZCO, PERU ·
DOORWAYS IN INCA RUINS OF ROSASPATA · LLAMAS COMING INTO CUZCO ·
RUINS OF THE GREAT INCA TEMPLE OF VIRACOCHA, NEAR SICUANI, PERU
NOTE.--All pictures in this Mentor are reproduced by permission of the
National Geographic Society and the South American Exploration Fund of
Yale University, under whose auspices the Peruvian Expeditions directed
by Dr. Hiram Bingham have taken place.
NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION.--The letter “_ä_” with two dots above is
pronounced as in “father”; the “_ā_” with a horizontal line above is
pronounced as in “ray.”
Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New
York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1918, by The
Mentor Association, Inc.
There is probably no part of the world that stimulates more curiosity
in an archeologist or even in a casual traveler than that part
of South America which was once inhabited by the Incas of Peru.
Tiahuanaco’s (tee-ä-wane-ä´-ko) finely carved gateway and its ponderous
stone platforms, Sacsahuaman’s (saks-ä-wa´-män) gigantic walls,
Ollantaytambo’s (ol-yän-tie-tam´-bo) monolithic fortress, and Machu
Picchu’s (mä´-choo peek´-choo) picturesque grandeur fill one with an
admiration for their builders which is only equaled by the sorrow that
today, over three centuries after the advent of Pizarro (pee-sä´-ro)
and his _conquistadores_ (con-kees-tä-do´-rays), we can do little more
than make conjectures concerning the ancient Peruvians.
[Illustration: RUINS OF PATALLACTA--A Typical Inca Temple]
And, furthermore, it is doubtful if we can ever go very far in
solving the problem of man in the Andes. Although they made great
progress in architecture, agriculture, engineering, and the science of
government, the ancient Peruvians did not achieve the art of writing,
nor did they even reach the stage of hieroglyphics. Their records
were kept on _quipus_ (kee-poos), variously colored strings with many
different kinds of knots. These seem, however, to have been used only
for accounting purposes. Thus far, the _quipus_ in possession of our
archeologists have been of no particular aid in deciphering the history
of their makers. Accordingly, what we know of the Incas consists of
traditions gathered together by early Spaniards, and the work of
present-day students who, by modern archeological methods, are slowly
bringing some light to bear on this apparently insolvable problem.
[Illustration: PISAC
Terraces below the principal ruins, still used for growing wheat and
barley]
[Illustration: DOORWAY
In ruins, now known as Rosaspata, but which Dr. Bingham has shown are
probably those known to the Incas as “Vitcos,” the last home of the
Incas]
_Origin of American Aborigines_
Although there are many ideas advanced as to the origin of the American
aborigine, it is commonly believed that he came from northeastern
Asia and gradually moved southward. Archeologists and geologists are
all agreed that he arrived at the close of the glacial epoch, long
after the disappearance of the prehistoric animals which Dr. Matthew
described for Mentor readers some time ago. When he came to this
continent he had probably already reached the higher stages of the
Stone Age, and was possibly already in the Bronze Age. Just how long it
has been since his arrival we cannot tell.
Although the number of traditions concerning the origin of the Inca
empire is legion, the two best known are the Titicaca (tee-tee-kä´-kä)
and Tampu-tocco (täm-poo-tok´-ko) legends. The former has been given
us by the immortal Prescott, relying on the Commentaries of the Inca
Garcilaso de la Vega (gär-sil´-ä-so day lä vay-gä). From him we know
there was a time when the ancient races of the continent were all
plunged in deplorable barbarism. “The Sun, the grand luminary and
parent of mankind, taking compassion on their degraded condition, sent
two of his children, Manco Ccapac (män´-ko k-kä´-päk) and Mama Occlo
(mä´-mä ok´-klo), 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 neighborhood
of Lake Titicaca to about the 16th 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 but a short distance--as far as the valley of Cuzco
(koos´-ko), the spot indicated by the performance of the miracle; there
the wedge speedily sank into the earth and disappeared forever. On this
spot the children of the Sun established their residence, and laid the
foundations of the city of Cuzco.”
[Illustration: RUINS OF PATALLACTA
Showing niches with holes for bar locks in the upper room of the temple
on top of the rock]
[Illustration: INCA FORTRESS WALL, SACSAHUAMAN
The gigantic size of the stones and the precision with which they are
fitted, without mortar, bear testimony to the engineering genius of the
Inca megalithic builders]
The Titicaca myth, however, does not receive as much consideration
today as the Tampu-tocco (täm´-poo-tok´-ko) myth. The former is
characterized by the late Sir Clements Markham as an obvious invention
to account for the ancient ruins and statues in the vicinity of
Tiahuanaco (tee-ä-wane-ä´-ko), and on the islands of Titicaca and
Koati (ko-ä´-tee). “It has no historical value,” he says, “while the
Tampu-tocco myth is as certainly the outcome of a real tradition, and
is the fabulous version of a distant historical event.”
[Illustration: CUZCO, PERU