_Peru--“The Country of Marvels”_
From Tumbez to Callao, the country presents a most arid and uninviting
appearance. The high, steep hills near to the shore extend in an almost
unbroken line of dull greyish brown, as the sun-baked clay, with here
and there patches of dirty white indicating guano deposits. I must
confess to a feeling of disappointment on first gazing upon the
inhospitable shores of Peru. For my mind treasured recollections of all
the glamour and romance that gather round the land and the history of
the wonderful Incas.
The world’s records contain few more fairy-like narratives than the well
attested story of a civilisation equal in many of its aspects to any the
world has known.
Inland, many types are encountered, easily traceable to those “Children
of the Sun” who migrated from the north to the interior highlands of the
country and established at Cuzco the centre and capital of a great
empire. Originally, their very contrast with surrounding tribes gave
them a remarkable distinction, whilst their civilisation was full of
sound and humane elements. Its keynote was an intelligent socialism, for
the citizen had to supply the needs of the aged and infirm, the widow
and the orphan, and the soldier on active service, before supplying his
own. The person of the Emperor was regarded as divine, and he wielded
supreme authority over his realm. In this enlightened society, hidden
away for centuries from the eyes of the rest of the world, poverty was a
thing unknown, for communism, tempered by an almost extravagant regard
for authority, attained during the regime of the Incas an ideal height
never achieved before or since.
The Peruvians of those bygone times have left little doubt that they
excelled as agriculturalists and shepherds; their mountains were
cultivated almost to the snow-line; irrigation on thoroughly sound lines
was known and practised; aqueducts and bridges abounded, and adequate
roads connected town with town and with the sea. Moreover, the people
had advanced sufficiently far along the path of civilisation to have
tamed wild animals such as the llama and alpaca for domestic use.
[Illustration: THE ARID COAST OF PERU.]
On a higher plane than this, they had evolved a religion full of sound
rules for individual and social conduct and performed with a wealth of
ritual. Its central feature was Sun-worship, which relates it somewhat
to the Zoroastrianism of the Persians, but it is clear that, in
addition, the Incas and their subjects had an exalted conception of a
Supreme Being--the fount and origin of the Universe. His greatest
temple, which filled one side of the square at Cuzco, was richly
ornamented and decorated, its walls and shrines being overlaid with pure
gold, in the working of which metal the ancient Peruvians were highly
proficient.
Truly, here was a people widely differentiated from the ruck of South
American natives--those squalid Indians with whom the Spanish
adventurers came into contact. Possessed of sufficient enterprise to
establish an empire which, from north to south, extended from Quito in
Ecuador to the River Maule in Chili, they were a noble and withal
peaceful race; and the inexplicable manner in which this fabric of
civilisation arose can only be compared in sheer wonder with the sudden
manner of its fall. Although nothing definite seems to have been known
in Europe of the empire of the Incas, such an Eldorado had been
adumbrated by dreamers and sung of by poets, and the outpourings of
these men of fancy fired the hearts of adventurers in quest of a land
rich in treasure beyond the dreams of avarice.
The splendid dominion of the Incas fell a prey to the greatest of all
the Spanish adventurers--Francisco Pizarro, who outshone his fellows in
ability, daring, resourcefulness, and, alas! treachery. The illegitimate
offspring of a gentleman and a woman of the people, Pizarro, although
lacking in education, proved himself more than a match for the proudest
sons of Spain who had received careful training in the schools of arms
and diplomacy.
In 1524, we find him settled in Panama with two companions, Almagro and
Luque, the trio eager to discover that rich country which everyone was
persuaded had other than imaginary existence. Having obtained permission
from Pedrarias, the Governor of Panama, Pizarro set sail in a small
vessel with 112 men, but after many privations was compelled to retire.
Urged on, however, by the persistence of his comrades Almagro and Luque,
and undeterred by the defections of his men, spent and weary after a
sojourn on an inhospitable island in sight of a swampy shore, Pizarro at
length landed at Tumbez on the Peruvian coast, where his eyes feasted
for the first time upon the opulence of the Incas. Eldorado was
discovered at last!
Pizarro came and saw, but did not conquer, at any rate, not then, and
that for the very good reason that he had with him a mere handful of
followers. But he lost no time in collecting what he could of the spoil,
and taking it as a sample to Spain, where he succeeded in inducing the
court to aid and abet his surprising adventure.
He returned to Peru and arrived on the scene at the psychological
moment. The last Inca monarch, Huayna Capac, had divided his kingdom
between his two sons--Huascar, the rightful heir, and Atahualpa, the old
king’s son by an Ecuadorian mother. These two sons began to squabble
over territorial questions, and at length Atahualpa endeavoured to
appropriate the whole country to himself. This was Pizarro’s opportunity
and he was quick to take advantage of it.
The meeting between the Spanish conquistadors and the last of the great
Incas was surely one of the most remarkable in history, resembling
somewhat the splendours of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. On the
surface at least, amity prevailed on both sides, Pizarro being lavish in
his professions of good intentions, and Atahualpa child-like in his
belief of them.
[Illustration: A LLAMA IN GOLD, MADE BY THE INCAS.]
The Inca king was carried to the meeting-place on a throne or couch
adorned with plumes of various colours, and almost covered with plates
of gold and silver embellished with precious stones. Following him were
the chief officers of his court carried in a similar manner, singers and
dancers accompanying the procession, whilst the plain was covered with
countless troops.
Pizarro could make no such gorgeous display, being attended merely by a
small band of soldiers and a priest. As always, this latter accompanied
the Spanish adventurers to furnish a religious excuse for any excesses
that might be deemed necessary. As the royal procession approached, the
priest, Valverde by name, holding a crucifix in one hand and a breviary
in the other, called upon the Inca to embrace the Christian faith, which
he expounded at some length, and to acknowledge as his lawful sovereign
the King of Castile, to whom the Pope, God’s viceregent on earth, had
granted all the regions of the New World. Little understanding the badly
translated harangue, the monarch indignantly refused to comply with the
impudent demand, and this was the cue for one of the most remarkable
exploits that even Pizarro ever carried out.
The signal was given to fire, and for the first time in their existence
the Peruvians were made acquainted with the deadly effect of firearms.
In this unprovoked attack, more than four thousand of them were slain,
and Atahualpa, rudely dragged from his throne by Pizarro’s own hand, was
cast into prison.
Although bent on the Inca’s destruction, Pizarro for a time, played with
him with catlike cruelty. When there came a talk of liberty, Atahualpa
offered to fill the room in which he was confined with vessels of gold
as high as he could reach, provided he were allowed to go free. Pizarro
jumped at so tempting a bargain, and the treasure was duly delivered,
but the Inca was not given his liberty, and eventually the Spaniard had
him strangled. Many pretexts were given for the crime, one being that he
had ordered the death of his brother Huascar; another that he kept a
great many concubines! But neither of these reasons nor any of the
others cited revealed the dark motive in Pizarro’s soul. He was astute
enough to perceive that so long as there was a single Inca alive a
superstitious reverence would cling round his personality, and the
domination of Spain would never be secure.
So perished the last of the Incas, and thereafter the great edifice of
civilisation which they had erected crumbled into ruins. There was now a
profuse distribution of gold and other treasure, some of which went to
the Spanish court, a goodly proportion being reserved for Pizarro and
his men.
It was only Almagro who did not get his just due, and Almagro must never
be forgotten in the telling of this turbulent tale; for he played a big
part in the events that preceded and followed the overthrow of the last
Inca. Pizarro showed all through the piece that he was an implacable
enemy and a treacherous friend, and his treatment of his comrade in arms
exposes his character in the very worst light possible. While he
rewarded the priestly Luque--ecclesiastical honours being outside the
province of his own ambitions--he failed to fulfil hardly a single
obligation to Almagro, who in those early Panama days had borne with him
the burden and brunt of the battle.
[Illustration: INCA PORTRAITURE ON A PIECE OF OLD POTTERY.]
For some years after, the history of Peru resolves itself into a duel
between the two conquistadors, Almagro usually showing himself as the
man of honour, Pizarro as the perjured schemer. But virtue did not avail
men much in those days, and when Almagro at last fell into his rival’s
hands it was plain that the game was up. He was sentenced to death, and
bore his fate with fortitude.
For a little time after that, Pizarro remains the dominant figure in the
picture, his rule, for he had long since thrown to the winds all
pretence of obedience to Spain, being practically absolute. But the
friends and supporters of Almagro had not forgotten the foul way in
which their hero had been done to death, and they bided their time.
Their chance was not long in coming. On June 26th, 1541, Pizarro met his
doom. A desperate band of conspirators burst into the palace in the
square of Lima, broke down the resistance of the guard, and surprised
the dictator just after he had risen from dinner. It may be said of him
as it was said of Charles I, that nothing became him so much in life as
his manner of leaving it. Armed with nothing more than a sword and
buckler, he fought with all the vigour of his youthful days; but his
courage was unavailing, for the conspirators were numerous and
well-armed. Pizarro received a deadly thrust full in his throat, sank to
the ground, and expired.
After these picturesque, though lurid happenings, the history of Peru,
like that of all the other South American Republics, becomes
monotonous. The colonial period resolves itself into a record of
oppressive taxation, rigidly exacted, and patiently borne; and events do
not begin to move again until the declaration of independence in the
early part of the nineteenth century. For the establishment of its
freedom, Peru has much to thank the great Bolivar, and that modern
Peruvians have not forgotten the invaluable services which the Liberator
rendered their fathers the fine equestrian statue of him in the square
at Lima testifies.
But Peru has much to show the rambler in addition to the relics of its
impressive past. As already intimated, it is a country of marvels, and
not all of them are supplied by Incan civilisation. The Indians who
preceded that regime were also possessed of quaint and curious
knowledge. Amongst other things, they knew how to reduce the human head
from its natural size to about four inches. The object of this strange
craft was obvious. Just as the Indian of North America carried the
scalps of his foes at his belt, so the Indian of North Peru carried the
reduced heads of his victims strung together to show his warlike
prowess.
The _modus operandi_ of this gruesome process was as follows: The
severed head was boiled in an infusion of forest plants, so as to soften
the bones, which were then taken out. The head was afterwards hung up,
and hot pebbles constantly placed inside until the skin was dried and
the required size attained.
The custom is not confined to Peru, but is practised by savage tribes in
other parts of northern South America. There is in the British Museum a
reduced head from Venezuela, which was presented by Mr. Fagan, British
Minister in Caracas. The human likeness of the features in these
miniature heads is wonderfully retained and has a most weird appearance.
It is not only savage heads that are treated in this barbarous fashion.
At least one of the preserved heads which have been brought to Europe
bears unmistakable evidence of its having belonged to a white
man--probably some wretched adventurer who lost his way in the forest
and perished at the hands of these fiendishly ingenious savages.
Railways rise steadily from sea-level with an average grade of about
four per cent, clinging to, or boring through, solid rock throughout
almost the entire distance, to the highest point at Ticlio, 15,665 feet.
The short branch from Ticlio to the mining camp of Morococha, beautiful
with its many lakes and glaciers, crosses the range at the stupendous
altitude of 15,865 feet above sea-level, which is somewhat higher than
the summit of Mont Blanc. The Central Railway of Peru is, therefore, the
highest railway in the world. It need hardly be said that the intrepid
builders of this unique mountain railway surmounted some of the greatest
obstacles ever encountered in the history of engineering.
[Illustration: A REDUCED HUMAN HEAD.]
To revert to politics, the sore feeling engendered by the war between
Chili and Peru has been much embittered by the conduct of Chili in the
case of the Tacna and Arica provinces.
It has often been said that treaties between nations are only made to be
torn up, and this is evidently how Chili regards them. By the Treaty of
Ancon, which was signed after the war on October 20th, 1883, the
province of Tarapaca, which is extremely rich in nitrates, was ceded to
Chili, while the provinces of Tacna and Arica were to remain in the
possession of Chili for ten years as from the date of the treaty. At the
end of that time, a plebiscite of the inhabitants of the provinces was
to be taken on the point whether they preferred the territory to remain
under the sovereignty of Chili. The clause in the treaty concludes: “The
country in whose favour the provinces be annexed shall pay to the other
the sum of £1,000,000.” Although twenty-nine years have passed since the
signing of that treaty no plebiscite has yet been taken, and Peru
charges her neighbours with always raising technical difficulties
whenever the question of taking the vote is mooted. She prefers an even
more serious charge than this, alleging that, as the time when the
plebiscite must, owing to international pressure, be taken draws nearer,
Chili is making it so hot for the Peruvians in the two provinces under
dispute that they are unable to live there. The object of this is, of
course, that the plebiscite shall have only one result, and that in
favour of Chili.
In this country of marvels, a word must be given to coca, that wonderful
plant which grows in the warm valleys of Peru and Bolivia, and will not
flourish anywhere else. It grows in the form of a shrub, and seldom
exceeds six feet in height. For centuries past the Peruvian Indians have
recognised its dietetic value. It is at once refreshing and stimulating;
it must be nutritious also, for a native can work for an extreme length
of time without troubling about any other form of food. The local way of
taking it is by chewing, generally with the admixture of a little lime.
When infused, it makes a very refreshing beverage. Its value in medicine
is also great, for it is the source of that indispensable alkaloid
cocaine.
The collection of the coca leaves involves much care, as they have to be
gathered one by one for fear of injuring the plant. The person who has
charge of this operation places a mantle alongside each plant and throws
into this the leaves which he gathers. The preservation of the leaves is
also a difficult matter; if too dry they become reduced to powder; if
too damp they decompose.
In the countries to which they are exported, the coca leaves, in the
dried form, are used for making wines, tonics, and medicinal syrups.
It will be seen from the foregoing description that coca is a very
wonderful and unique product. In countless directions fortune has been
kind to South America, showering distinctive gifts upon her with a
lavish hand. It would really seem that nature believed in the principle
of monopoly, for certainly the coca of Peru and Bolivia and the maté tea
of Paraguay flourish on no other soil. With these two products may be
bracketed the coffee of Brazil. The three things combined suggest, in
the old Doctor’s phrase, “the potentiality of growing rich beyond the
dreams of avarice,” and even when the gold, which tempted the cupidity
of the Spaniard to the exclusion of everything else, is exhausted the
continent will find (indeed, already is finding) a larger, a more
regular, and a more constant source of wealth in its indigenous crops.
The sustaining powers of coca, attested by centuries of use, as well as
by the fact that it is daily consumed by eight millions of people in
Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Rio Negro, who require little food
of any other kind, constitute a strong argument for its extended
employment in the future. If it is such a good friend to the South
American Indian, it should be equally serviceable to the soldier on the
march; and already the army authorities of several countries are
considering the advisability of including it in their commissariat. The
present value of the crop--about £200,000 annually--is therefore as
nothing to the wealth it may yield in the future.
[Illustration: AN INCA MASK IN GOLD.]
[Illustration: PRE-INCA MONOLITHS IN BOLIVIA.]