EQUESTRIANS AND THEIR COSTUMES.--LADIES OF LIMA.--EXCURSIONS AMONG
RUINS.--PACHACAMAC, A HOLY CITY.--THE ANCIENT PERUVIANS.--ORIGIN OF THE
INCA GOVERNMENT.
[Illustration: A PERUVIAN CAVALIER.]
Horseback riding is a fashionable amusement in Lima, to judge by the
number of mounted men that are seen in the streets and in the
surrounding country. Our friends learned, somewhat to their
disappointment, that it has declined a good deal in the past twenty
years, and the gentlemen of Lima are now less renowned than formerly for
their equestrianism. Still, there are many excellent riders in Lima, and
occasionally one can be seen dressed in the costume that was once
universally worn by the Peruvian cavaliers. The fashions of Paris have
been adopted by society people in Lima, and the picturesqueness of the
old style of dress is fast disappearing.
Lima contains many professional horse-breakers, and they are among the
best of their class. Peruvian horses are easily instructed, and many of
them perform surprising tricks; one of their feats is to turn around
rapidly on the hind-legs when going at full gallop, and another is to
jump over a wall, and immediately back again, with their riders on their
backs. It is said that an English circus company once came to Lima, but
the proprietor and performers were disgusted, and made haste to leave
the country, when they found there were many horsemen in the city who
could fully equal all the equestrian feats of the ring.
[Illustration: HORSE-BREAKERS AT WORK.]
One of the performances of the horse-breakers is to make a horse jump to
the top of a broad wall, and describe a segment of a circle while
standing on his hind-feet, and holding his fore-feet over the edge of
the wall. He will do this repeatedly, and thus convince the spectator
that it was not accidental.
Fred made the following note of the costume of the Peruvian cavalier,
uncontaminated by foreign influences:
"He wears a _poncho_, smaller than that of the country muleteer, and
more gaudy in its appearance; it is a fringed shawl reaching to the hips
when the wearer is standing upright, and just covering the knees when he
is in the saddle. A hole in the centre admits the head, and the shawl
hangs gracefully over the shoulders of its wearer; it is more convenient
than a jacket, or any other riding-garment, as it leaves the arms
perfectly free to move in any direction, and there are no buttons to get
loose.
"The colors of the poncho are as varied as the tastes of the owners.
Sometimes they are pure white, without any ornamentation, but much
oftener they are richly embroidered, or made in varieties of stripes,
embracing all the colors of the rainbow. The trousers are close-fitting;
they have a stripe on the outside of the leg, and are held by a strap
beneath the foot. No horseman would consider himself properly equipped
without a pair of enormous spurs, the rowels standing out three or four
inches from the heel, and the spurs containing altogether fully a pound
of silver. A broad-brimmed hat and a riding-whip complete the cavalier's
costume, and he is rarely without a cigar between his lips. In mounting,
he generally scorns to put his feet in the stirrups, but springs on the
horse without their aid. The stirrups are huge blocks of wood, shielded
with fully a square foot of leather. The saddle and other trappings of
the horse are richly ornamented with silver, and sometimes with gold,
and occasionally the bridle, head-gear, and crupper are made of silver
rings linked closely together."
The decline of Peruvian horsemanship was shown in the late war between
Chili and Peru. The Chilian cavalry was admirably managed, and in
several battles it performed a large share of the work; the cavalrymen
were well mounted, and understood their business thoroughly, while the
Peruvians were inefficiently drilled, and their horses were far inferior
to those of the Chilians. One of the mounted detachments of the Peruvian
army was surprised and captured during the advance upon Lima, and the
whole available force of cavalry for the defence of the capital did not
exceed six hundred men.
[Illustration: NATIVE WOMEN OF LIMA.]
Frank and Fred were quick to remark the difference between the feminine
part of the population descended from the Spanish conquerors, and those
whose ancestry were the native possessors of the land. The complexion
was as distinctive as the dress; the Spanish race is fair in feature,
while the women of Peruvian descent have a tinge of copper or bronze in
their faces. The latter wear short skirts, and leave the hair uncovered
by a veil; sometimes the hair is braided in long tresses, and it is
frequently topped with a hat of almost gigantic proportions. Many of
these native women are excellent riders; they use the ordinary saddle of
the cavalier instead of the side-saddle of more northern lands, and wear
the Peruvian spur.
Our friends passed a fortnight in Lima very pleasantly, making
excursions in the neighborhood, and trying the baths at Chorillos, where
the fashionable population goes for its seaside sports. Two days were
devoted to a visit to Pachacamac, which is in the valley of the Lurin
River, about twenty miles south of Lima, and overlooking the sea. What
they saw and did is best told in Fred's account of the journey.
"We went from Chorillos," said Fred, "and had a ride that was not
particularly pleasant, over the dusty road leading to the seaport of
Pisco, farther down the coast. Between Chorillos and the valley of the
Lurin is a stretch of desert, and the sun beat pitilessly on our heads
as we toiled along. Reaching the valley, we turned up the banks of the
stream, and a short ride near its welcome waters brought us to the place
we sought.
[Illustration: RUINS OF PACHACAMAC.]
"Pachacamac is a famous spot in Peru, or, rather, it was so in ancient
times. Its ruins cover a considerable space along a line of hills on the
edge of the desert. The sand has drifted over some of the buildings and
completely buried them, and we were forcibly reminded of the ruins at
Thebes, and other places in Egypt, not forgetting the grand temples that
stood near the pyramids of Gizeh.
[Illustration: HEAD OF PERUVIAN STATUE.]
"Pachacamac was the sacred city of the inhabitants of this part of the
coast before they were conquered by the Incas; their chief divinity,
whose name is preserved in the city, had his shrine here, and when the
Incas conquered the place they built a Temple of the Sun, and a House of
the Virgins of the Sun, quite near the shrine of Pachacamac. It was
their object to destroy the worship of the old divinity by building a
grander temple to the new, but they were not altogether successful.
There was an enormous amount of gold and silver used in the construction
and adornment of the temples; the Spaniards took away twenty-seven
_cargas_ of gold (a carga weighs sixty-two and a half pounds), and
sixteen thousand ounces of silver, but they were unable to discover the
place where four hundred cargas of these metals had been concealed just
previous to their arrival.
"We had quite a scramble among the ruins, as the walls are considerably
broken, and the footing is often very insecure. We visited the shrine of
Pachacamac, or, rather, the temple which contained it, and then went to
the temple near it, erected by the Incas. The first is called 'El
Castillo,' or The Temple, and the other is known as Mamacuna. The temple
is on a hill, or headland, five hundred feet above the ocean, and the
front of it extends down to the shore. It has been considerably shaken
by the earthquakes, of which there must have been many since the time of
its erection, and the wonder is that it is so well preserved.
[Illustration: TERRACED SPACE ON A HILL-TOP.]
"There was evidently a wall around the base of the hill; the slope of
the hill was formed into terraces, and its upper part is supported by a
terrace thirty-two feet high. In the centre of this upper part was the
shrine of the deity, enclosed in a sanctuary which had a door of gold
set with precious stones. But if the outside was beautiful, the inside
was the reverse, as the Spaniards found only an idol of wood there,
together with a flat stone where the priests performed their sacrifices.
The old historians say that only the priests were allowed to go inside
the sanctuary; when the Spaniards arrived there was no objection to
their entering, as it was believed the deity would strike them dead for
their sacrilege. The fact that they were not harmed, but proceeded
without hesitation to plunder the place of its wealth, was a serious
shock to the faith of these confiding natives.
"Mr. Squier's book contains an excellent description of the place, and
we sat down on the top of the hill and read his account of his visit to
Pachacamac. He says that in ancient times it was the Mecca of South
America, and pilgrims came here from all parts of the country to worship
at the shrine of the divinity who was called 'The Creator of the
World.' So great was the reverence in which it was held, that these
pilgrims were allowed to pass unharmed through tribes and people with
whom their own might be at war; the sacredness of their mission was an
ample protection.
[Illustration: PERUVIAN MUMMIES.]
"The natural result of this pilgrimage was that there was a large town
around the temple, and in course of time many thousands of people died
here, and were buried on the consecrated spot. The whole ground, for
many acres around the temple, seems to have been one vast cemetery; the
soil is dry, and contains a good deal of nitre, which possesses
excellent preservative qualities. There are thousands and thousands of
what are generally called mummies now lying in this soil, where they
have lain for centuries; they were not submitted to any mummifying
process, like the bodies of the ancient Egyptians, but are preserved by
the action of the salts of the earth and the aridity of the atmosphere.
"Some men who came with us from a sugar plantation in the valley offered
to find a grave, and reveal its contents. We assented, and they selected
a spot, and began to dig.
"We had a suspicion that they had dug in the same place before, and the
grave they discovered had been opened many times previously for the
benefit of visitors like ourselves. We remember that the same trick is
practised in Egypt, especially at the temple in the neighborhood of the
Great Pyramids, and saw no reason why it should not be adopted here.
With this belief we had less compunction at disturbing the resting-place
of the dead than we might have had otherwise.
[Illustration: SEPULCHRAL TOWER.]
"The men dug four or five feet through the dry soil, and then came to a
flat stone which they uncovered with great pretence of not knowing how
large it was. It was about three feet square, and, perhaps, four inches
thick, so that two of them had no difficulty in turning it over. Under
the stone was a cavity measuring a trifle over a yard each way, and
containing two bundles that had little resemblance to the human form.
These were lifted out so that we might examine them; the outside
wrappings were removed from one of them, and we then found that they
covered a human figure, doubled so that the hands were clasped around
the knees, and the head rested upon them. Our guide said this is
invariably the position in which the mummies are found, and they are
generally contained in a wrapping of coarse matting made of rushes, and
bound with ropes or cords of the same material.
[Illustration: GOLDEN VASE FOUND IN A TOMB.]
"It was the custom of the ancient Peruvians to bury with their dead the
implements to which they were accustomed in life, and this may be taken
to indicate their belief in a resurrection. Household utensils, combs,
needles, wallets, spindles for spinning, knives, fishing-hooks and
lines, spools of thread, knitting-needles, toilet articles, spoons,
pottery, and many other things are found here, and the same is the case
in excavations in other parts of Peru. We discovered only a few pieces
of pottery and two knives of copper, and then we left the grave to be
re-filled, or treated according to the taste of the inhabitants of the
place.
"The character of the wrappings, and the articles found in the graves,
indicate the condition in life of the occupants of this Peruvian
cemetery. Mr. Squier says the burial-place at Pachacamac contains three
series of graves one above the other, indicating that the spot was for a
very long while dedicated to sepulture. He opened one of the second
series of tombs, which evidently belonged to a family in middle
circumstances, neither rich nor poor.
"The bodies were all wrapped as I have described, but underneath the
covering of coarse rushes were many yards of fine cloth, similar to
that which the Egyptians placed around their mummies. The tomb contained
the bodies of a man, his wife, and two children; the play-things of the
children were buried with them, and between the feet of the girl was a
dried parrot, which was doubtless her pet. Near the bodies were several
pieces of pottery, and every pot contained something. One was filled
with maize or corn, another with ground-nuts, and the rest with edibles
of different kinds. The collection of pots and pans was quite
interesting, and revealed some of the domestic ways of the people.
[Illustration: SILVER VASE.]
"You will naturally ask how long these bodies have been lying here where
we find them.
"The question is easier asked than answered. Unfortunately for us, the
Peruvians had no system of writing, like the ancient Egyptians, and
therefore there are no records by which we can learn their history. To
get at the antiquity of the people we must judge by the traditions that
have come down to us and by the effect of time upon the monuments they
have left. This enables us to guess at the date of the construction of
their temples, and it is proper to remark that the guesses of
archæologists who have studied the subject have been very far apart.
[Illustration: PERUVIAN IDOL.]
"The government of the Incas, which the Spaniards found and destroyed,
is supposed to have existed not less than five hundred years, though
some writers give it twice or three times that duration. When the
Spaniards came here they found nearly all of what is now Peru, Ecuador,
Bolivia, and a part of Chili united under one form of government, under
three great tribes or families: the _Aymaraes_, the _Chinchas_, and the
_Huancas_. The first of these, the Aymaraes, was the ruling race, and
from it came the Incas or emperors. They occupied the high lands of
Peru and Bolivia, and were said to have been more advanced in
civilization than either of the others; the Chinchas dwelt mostly along
the coast, while the Huancas were scattered through the mountain region
between the Aymaraes and the Chinchas.
[Illustration: PERUVIAN COPPER KNIVES.]
"Gradually the Aymaraes conquered the other great tribes, and their
system of conquest and colonization is an interesting study.
"The tradition is that the tutelary divinity, the sun, sent his own
children to instruct and govern the people, who were at war with each
other, and had sunk into a condition of barbarism. These children of the
sun were Manco Capac and his sister and wife, Mama Oello; they appeared
first on an island in Lake Titicaca, and the island was ever afterwards
regarded as holy. There are many temples around the lake and on the
island to which they descended from heaven; we shall have more to say
about these temples at another time.
[Illustration: RUINS ON TITICACA ISLAND.]
"From Lake Titicaca, Manco Capac travelled northward, carrying a golden
staff; during his travels his staff sank into the ground at a certain
spot, and there he founded the city of Cuzco. Manco Capac was the first
of a long line of powerful kings, who gradually subdued the surrounding
people and replaced the old religions with the worship of the sun. They
built magnificent temples, forts, and palaces, and the ruins of these
works, as they are seen to-day, excite the admiration of every
traveller.
[Illustration: PART OF TEMPLE OF THE SUN, CUZCO.]
"To appreciate the wisdom of the Incas, let us consider their manner of
ruling a conquered province.
"From Cuzco, the capital, there were roads leading to the four cardinal
points, and the city was divided into four quarters, which were
respectively named, 'North,' 'South,' 'East,' and 'West.' When their
armies had reduced a nation or a province, they brought the idols of the
conquered people to Cuzco, and treated them with every mark of respect.
Then they summoned the chiefs and their families to the capital, where
they showed them every kindness and distinction. When these chiefs had
been thoroughly instructed concerning the power of the Inca and the
spirit of his government, they were sent to their homes, and very often
they were restored to their official positions as representatives of the
government of Cuzco.
[Illustration: OUTER WALL OF FORTRESS OF CUZCO.]
"In the conquered region the taxes were reduced, the poor were cared
for, and the language of the empire was taught to the children. They
were instructed in the religion of the Incas in place of their own, but
always with the greatest respect for the old form of worship.
[Illustration: STONES IN THE WALL OF CUZCO.]
"To make sure that there would be no rebellion of the conquered people a
colony of eight or ten thousand Aymaraes was sent there to live, while a
similar number of the subjugated nation was brought to the towns whence
these colonists were taken. Both of the transferred colonies were given
great advantages; they had many privileges of exemption from taxation,
received large grants of land, and were made to feel in every way that
the transfer had been for their benefit. But while the Inca government
was liberal it was severe; it was the iron hand under the velvet glove,
and when its kindness was refused or the conquered people rebelled they
were made to understand, in the most practical manner, that disobedience
and rebellion were useless.
[Illustration: PART OF WALL OF FORTRESS.]
"The four great divisions of the empire were each governed by a viceroy,
appointed by the central power at Cuzco; the inhabitants were divided
into groups of ten thousand, under a native chief and an Inca governor,
acting together, and these were again subdivided into groups of one
thousand, one hundred, and ten, each having an official who was
responsible to the one above him. Every man received an allotment of
land for the support of himself and family, children were obliged to
follow the occupations of their fathers, no one could change his
residence without permission, idleness was severely punished, robbers
were put to death, those who sinned against religion or the majesty of
the Inca were burned or buried alive with their families, while their
houses were destroyed and their fields devastated. When a province
rebelled all the men and boys in it were put to death, and the remainder
of the population was scattered.
[Illustration: PERUVIAN VASES.]
"There; I've given you quite a lecture on the ancient Peruvians, and
hope you've not found it dull. Of course I realize that a large part of
our enthusiasm on the subject comes from our having seen the monuments
of this wonderful people, and read and heard of the way they built their
nation and extended its power."
"'History repeats itself,'" said Dr. Bronson, as our young friend read
the account we have just quoted. "In the descent of the children of the
sun we have a repetition of the story of divine origin which has existed
in many countries and lands since the beginning of governments. Manco
Capac bears an exceedingly close resemblance to the Egyptian Osiris, the
Chinese Fohi, the Hindoo Buddha, and the Scandinavian Odin. The same
idea is preserved to-day in the 'divine right of kings,' which is so
often quoted, and in which millions of people have implicit faith."
"History is repeated, too, in another way," said Frank. "The system of
colonization and government under the Incas reminds me of what we saw
in Java, the most successful European colony in the eastern hemisphere.
The government of the people by their own chiefs, supervised by an
official of the ruling power, the punishment of idleness, and the
distribution of land so that everybody can earn a living for himself and
family, might almost have been borrowed from the ancient Peruvians by
the Dutch possessors of Java and the islands of the Malay Archipelago."
"It is not very likely the Dutch troubled themselves about ancient
Peru," replied the Doctor; "they probably formed their system to suit
the character of the people they were to govern; and when we remember
the natural shrewdness with which their nation is credited we need not
wonder that they established such an excellent government. It has its
features of severity, like that of the Incas, but it has been decidedly
beneficial to the subject race."
"Is the tradition correct that the people were sunk in barbarism when
Manco Capac came on earth?" Frank inquired.
[Illustration: ORNAMENTS OF PERUVIAN WALLS.]
"It is a pleasant fiction," replied the Doctor, "invented by the Incas
as an excuse for their subjugation of the neighboring provinces and
kingdoms. The evidences are that some of the finest monuments of Peru
are older than the Inca empire, and several of the conquered nations
were well advanced in civilization, and understood many useful arts and
occupations. Manco Capac began with Cuzco, and then with the country a
few leagues around it; his rule and that of his descendants was
gradually extended until, at the coming of the Spaniards, it embraced
forty degrees of latitude and a population of ten millions of people.
Since the Spanish conquest the native population has diminished, and
there are now little over four millions of inhabitants in the old
dominions of the Incas."
[Illustration: ANCIENT PALACE AT HUANCO.]
Our friends passed the night at a sugar plantation about two miles from
the ruins of Pachacamac, and returned the next day to Lima. There is now
only a small village where once was a large city; the inhabitants are
employed on the sugar plantations and in the cultivation of their
gardens, which are watered by careful irrigation from the Lurin River.
The village was burned by the Chilians during the late war, and the
traces of their devastations will long remain. The inhabitants fled for
safety, and some of them never found their way back again to their
birth-places.
[Illustration: DOORWAY CUT THROUGH A SINGLE STONE.]
Pachacamac does not contain the only ruins in the neighborhood of Lima.
At Magdalena, not far from the railway between Callao and the capital,
is an extensive ruin which was in good condition at the time of the
Spanish conquest; the material has been taken for building purposes, so
that the spot is hardly worth visiting at present. The temple contained
an idol known as Rimac, whose name is preserved in the river. The idol
used to speak, after the manner of the oracles of the Egyptian and Greek
temples, and in exactly the same way; a priest was concealed in the
statue, which was hollow, and thus the confiding populace was deceived.
The deceptions of paganism were as well known in the New World as in the
Old.
[Illustration: CENTRAL FIGURE OVER DOORWAY.]
There are ruins near Chorillos which have also undergone demolition for
the sake of their brick and stone, and in the valley of the River
Chillon, ten miles northwest of Lima, is a fortification enclosing a
hill about five hundred feet high. There is a wall at the base of the
hill, another about half-way up, and a third around a level space at the
top, where there is a watch-tower, with several ruined buildings. The
upper wall is fourteen feet high and made of stones set in tough mortar.
As the ancient Peruvians had no knowledge of gunpowder, a fortress of
this sort was an excellent protection for a garrison.
Following up the valley of the Rimac, twelve or fifteen miles from Lima
we come to a side valley which contains the ruins of Cajamarquilla. It
was a city about three miles square, laid out into streets and blocks
and containing many massive walls which the earthquakes have not been
able to destroy. The history of this city is not even known in
tradition, and the natives shake their heads when inquiry is made
concerning it. The ruins were there when the Spaniards came to Peru.
The buildings of this American Baalbec were extensive and connected by
narrow passages and subterranean vaults, that seem to have been used for
storage purposes. The doorways were low and curiously shaped, and there
are no signs of windows in the houses.
Frank and Fred desired to visit the place, but as it was said to be the
haunt of robbers, and not particularly safe, the idea of an excursion
was abandoned. Mr. Squier had an encounter with a noted robber while
inspecting these ruins, but a display of his commission from the
government of the United States secured the good-will of the brigand,
and the stranger was saved from harm.