EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU
Sec. (A) _Peruvian Archeology_
As the extinct civilization of the Incas of Peru is the most important
phase of development among all the American races, so also their
prehistoric remains are extremely interesting to the archeologist.
[Illustration: Monolith Doorway. Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. 1.]
1. _Architecture._--In the interior of the country we find many
remarkable examples of stone building, such as walls of huge polygonal
stones, four-sided or five-sided or six-sided, some six feet across,
laid without mortar, and so finely polished and adjusted that the blade
of a knife can not be inserted between them. The strength of the masonry
is sometimes assisted by having the projecting parts of a stone fitting
into corresponding hollows or recesses in the stone above or below it.
The stones being frequently extremely hard granite, or basalt, etc.,
antiquarian travelers have wondered how in early times the natives could
have cut and polished them without any metal tools. The ordinary
explanation is that the work was done by patiently rubbing one stone
against another, with the aid of sharp sand, "time being no object" in
the case of the laborers among savage and primitive races. It is
believed by most antiquaries that long before the period of the Incas
there was a powerful empire to which we must attribute such Cyclopean
ruins; especially as the construction and style differ so greatly from
what is found in the Inca period. The huge stones occur at Tiahuanacu
(near Lake Titicaca), Cuzco, Ollantay, and the altar of Concacha. Fig. 1
is a broken doorway at Tiahuanacu, composed of huge monoliths. Fig. 2 is
an enlargement of an image over the doorway shown in Fig. 1. The doorway
forms the entrance to a quadrangular area (400 yards by 350) surrounded
by large stones standing on end. The gateway or doorway of Fig. 1 is one
of the most marvelous stone monuments existing, being _one block of hard
rock_, deeply sunk in the ground. The present height is over seven feet.
The whole of the inner side "from a line level with the upper lintel of
the doorway to the top" is a mass of sculpture, "which speaks to us,"
says Sir C. R. Markham, "in difficult riddles of the customs and art
culture, of the beliefs and traditions of an ancient" extinct
civilization.
The figure in high relief above the doorway (Fig. 2) is a head
surrounded by rays, "each terminating in a circle or the head of an
animal." Six human heads hang from the girdle, and two more from the
elbows. Each hand holds a scepter terminating at the lower end with the
head of a condor--that huge American vulture familiar to the Peruvians.
That bird of prey was probably an emblem of royalty to the prehistoric
dynasty now long forgotten.
[Illustration: Image over the doorway shown in Fig. 1.
Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. 2.]
Some older historians speak of richly carved statues which formerly
stood in this enclosure, and "many cylindrical pillars." Of the
masonry of these ruins generally, Squier says: "The stone is faced
with a precision that no skill can excel, its right angles turned with
an accuracy that the most careful geometer could not surpass. I do not
believe there exists a better piece of stone-cutting, the material
considered, on this or the other continent."
The fortress above Cuzco, the capital of the Incas, is considered the
grandest monument of extinct American civilization. "Like the Pyramids
and the Coliseum, it is imperishable.... A fortified work, 600 yards in
length, built of gigantic stones, in three lines, forming walls
supporting terraces and parapets.... The stones are of blue limestone,
of enormous size and irregular in shape, but fitted into each other with
rare precision. One stone is twenty-seven feet high by fourteen; and
others fifteen feet high by twelve are common throughout the work."
In all the architecture of the prehistoric Peruvians the true arch is
not found, though there is an approach to the "Maya arch," formerly
described, finishing the doorway overhead by overlapping stones.
The immense fortresses of Ollantay and Pisac are really hills which, by
means of encircling walls, have been transformed into immense pyramids
with many terraces rising above each other. All large buildings, such as
temples and palaces, were laid out to agree with the "cardinal points,"
the principal entrance always facing the rising sun. The tomb
construction of the ancient Peruvians has been already noticed (_v._
chap. iv).
To the south of Cuzco are the ruins of a temple, Cacha, which is
considered to be of a date between the Cyclopean structures already
described and the Inca architecture. The chief part is 110 yards long,
built of wrought stones; and in the middle of the building from end to
end runs a wall pierced by twelve high doorways. There were also two
series of pillars which had formerly supported a floor.
Those traces of the Cyclopean builders point to an extremely early date,
but several students of the Peruvian antiquities point confidently to
distinct evidence of a still more primitive race--to be compared,
perhaps, with those builders of "Druidic monuments" whom it is now the
fashion to call "neolithic men." Some "cromlechs" or burial-places have
been found in Bolivia and other parts of Peru; and in many respects they
are parallel to the stone monuments found in Great Britain as well as
Brittany and other parts of Europe. Some of those Peruvian cromlechs
consist of four great slabs of slate, each about five feet high, four or
five in width, and more than an inch thick. A fifth is placed over them.
Over the whole a pyramid of clay and rough stones is piled. Possibly
that race of cromlech builders bore the same relation to the temple
builders described above that the builders of Kits Coty House, between
Rochester and Maidstone, bore to the temple builders of Stonehenge on
Salisbury Plain. If they had to retreat, as the ice-sheet was driven
farther from the torrid zone, then by the theory of the Glacial Period
the Cromlech men in both cases would at last be simply Eskimos.
2. _Aqueducts._--The ancient Peruvians attained great skill in the
distribution of water--especially for irrigation. Artificial lakes or
reservoirs were formed, so that by damming up the streams in the rainy
season a good supply was created for the dry season. Some great
monuments still remain of their hydraulic engineering, such as extensive
cisterns, solid dikes along the rivers to prevent overflow, tunnels to
drain lakes during an oversupply, and, in some places, artificial
cascades.
3. _Roads and Bridges._--The roads and highways of the Incas were so
excellent that "in many places" they still offer by far the most
convenient avenues of transit. They are from fifteen to twenty-five feet
in width, bedded with small stones often laid in concrete. As the use of
beasts of burden was almost unknown, the roads did not ascend a steep
inclination by zigzags but by steps cut in the rock. At certain
distances public shelters were erected for travelers, and some of these
still offer the best lodging-houses to be found along the routes.
Bridges were of wood, of ropes made from maguey fiber, or of stone. Some
of the latter are still in excellent condition, in spite of the violence
of the mountain torrents which they have spanned for four centuries.
4. _Sculpture._--The Maya race of Yucatan and Central America were much
superior to the prehistoric Peruvians in stone sculpture. Except those
examples already referred to under 1, their artists have apparently
produced nothing to show skill in workmanship, much less fertility of
imagination. That is largely explained by their lack of suitable tools.
5. _Goldsmith's Work._--In this branch of art the ancient Peruvians
greatly excelled, especially in inlaying and gilding. Gold-beating and
gilding had been prosecuted to remarkable delicacy, and the very thin
layers of gold-leaf on many articles led the Spaniards at first to
believe they were of the solid metal. These delicate layers showed
ornamental designs, including birds, butterflies, and the like.
6. _Pottery._--In this department of industrial art the prehistoric
Peruvians showed much aptitude both "in regard to variety of design and
technical skill in preparing the material. Vases with pointed bottoms
and painted sides recalling those of ancient Greece and Etruria are
often disinterred along the coast." The merit of those artists lay in
perfect imitation of natural objects, such as birds, fishes, fruits,
plants, skulls, persons in various positions, faces (often with graphic
individuality). Some jars exactly resembled the "magic vases" which are
still found in Hindustan, and can be emptied only when held at a certain
angle.
7. Though ignorant of perspective and the rules of light and shade,
these ancient Peruvians had an accurate eye for color. "Spinning,
weaving, and dyeing," to quote Sir C. R. Markham, "were arts which were
sources of employment to a great number, owing to the quantity and
variety of the fabrics.... There were rich dresses interwoven with gold
or made of gold thread; fine woolen mantles ornamented with borders of
small square plates of gold and silver; colored cotton cloths worked in
complicated patterns; and fabrics of aloe fiber and sheep's sinews for
breeches. Coarser cloths of llama wool were also made in vast
quantities."
[Illustration: The Quipu.]
8. The _quipu_ (i e., "knot").--Without writing or even any of the
simpler forms of pictographs which some Indian races inferior to them in
refinement had invented, the Peruvians had no means of sending a message
relating to tribute or the number of warriors in an army, or a date,
except the _quipu_. It consisted of one principal cord about two feet
long held horizontally, to which other cords of various colors and
lengths were attached, hanging vertically. The knots on the vertical
cords, and their various lengths served by means of an arranged code to
convey certain words and phrases. Each color and each knot had so many
conventional significations; thus _white_ = silver, _green_ = corn,
_yellow_ = gold; but in another quipu, _white_ = peace, _red_ = war,
soldiers, etc. The quipu was originally only a means of numeration and
keeping accounts, thus:
a single knot = 10
a double knot = 100
a triple knot = 1,000
two singles = 20
two doubles = 200
etc.
9. The great stone monuments described in our first section belonged,
according to some writers, to a dynasty called Pirua, who ruled over the
highlands of Peru and Bolivia long before the times of the Incas. That
early race had as the center of their civilization the shores of Lake
Titicaca.
10. _The Ancient Capital._--Cuzco, the center of government till the
time of the conquest by the Spaniards, and for a long time the only city
in the Peruvian empire, deserves a paragraph under the head archeology.
Its wonderful fortress has already been referred to, and there are other
Cyclopean remains, such as the great wall which contains the "stone of
twelve corners." Some monuments of the Inca period also attract much
attention, such as the Curi-cancha temple, 296 feet long, the palace of
Amaru-cancha (i. e., "place of serpents"), so called from the serpents
sculptured in relief on the exterior. Of these and other buildings
Squier remarks that the "joints are of a precision unknown in our
architecture; the world has nothing to show in the way of stone-cutting
and fitting to surpass the skill and accuracy displayed in the Inca
structures of Cuzco." To obtain the site for their capital the Incas had
to carry out a great engineering work, by confining two mountain
torrents between walls of substantial masonry so solid as to serve even
to modern times. The Valley of Cuzco was the source of the Peruvian
civilization, center and origin of the empire. Hence the name, Cuzco =
"navel," just as the ancient Greeks called Athens _umbilicus terrae_, and
our New England cousins fondly refer to Boston, Mass., as "the hub of
the universe"!
[Illustration: Gold Ornament (? Zodiac) from a Tomb at Cuzco.]
Sec. (B) _Peru before the Arrival of the Spaniards_
The "national myth" of the Peruvians was that at Lake Titicaca two
supernatural beings appeared, both children of the Sun. One was Manco
Capac, the first Inca, who taught the people agriculture; the other was
his wife, who taught the women to spin and weave. From them were
lineally derived all the Incas. As representing the Sun, the Inca was
high priest and head of the hierarchy, and therefore presided at the
great religious festivals. He was the source from which everything
flowed--all dignity, all power, all emolument. Louis le Magnifique when
at the height of his power might be taken as a type of the emperor Inca:
both could literally use the phrase, _L'etat c'est Moi,_ "The State! I
am the State!"
In the royal palaces and dress great barbaric pomp was assumed. All the
apartments were studded with gold and silver ornaments.
The worship of the Sun, representing the Creator, the Dweller in Space,
the Teacher and Ruler of the Universe,[25] was the religion of the Incas
inherited from their distant ancestry. The great temple at Cuzco, with
its gorgeous display of riches, was called "the place of gold, the abode
of the Teacher of the Universe." An elliptical plate of gold was fixed
on the wall to represent the Deity.
[Footnote 25: According to Sir C. R. Markham, F. R. S.]
Sufficient evidence is still visible of the engineering industry evinced
by the natives before the arrival of Pizarro. We give some particulars
of the two principal highways, both joining Quito to Cuzco, then passing
south to Chile. First, the high level road, 1,600 miles in length,
crossing the great Peruvian table-land, and conducted over pathless
sierras buried in snow; with galleries cut for leagues through the
living rock, rivers crossed by means of bridges, and ravines of hideous
depth filled up with solid masonry. The roadway consisted of heavy
flags of freestone. Secondly, the low level highway along the coast
country between the Andes and the Pacific. The prehistoric engineers had
here to encounter quite a different task. The causeway was raised on a
high embankment of earth, with trees planted along the margin. In the
strips of sandy waste, huge piles (many of them to be seen to this day)
were driven into the ground to indicate the route.
Another colossal effort was the conveyance of water to the rainless
country by the seacoast, especially to certain parts capable of being
reclaimed and made fertile. Some of the aqueducts were of great
length--one measuring between 400 and 500 miles.
The following table gives the Peruvian calendar for a year:
I. Raymi, the _Festival of the Winter Solstice_,
in honor of the Sun June 22d.
Season of plowing July 22d.
Season of sowing August 22d.
II. _Festival of the Spring Equinox_ September 22d.
Season of brewing October 22d.
Commemoration of the Dead November 22d.
III. _Festival of the Summer Solstice_ December 22d.
Season of exercises January 22d.
Season of ripening February 22d.
IV. _Festival of Autumn Equinox_ March 22d.
Beginning of harvest April 22d.
Harvesting month May 22d.
Since Quito is exactly on the equator, the vertical rays of the sun at
noon during the equinox cast no shadow. That northern capital,
therefore, was "held in especial veneration as the favored abode of the
great deity."
At the feast of Raymi, or New Year's day, the sacrifice usually offered
was that of the llama, a fire being kindled by means of a concave mirror
of polished metal collecting the rays of the sun into a focus upon a
quantity of dried cotton.
The national festival of the Aztecs we compared to the secular
celebration of the Romans; so now the Raymi of the Peruvians may be
likened to the Panathenaea of ancient Athens, when the people of Attica
ascended in splendid procession to the shrine on the Acropolis.
In Mexico the Spanish travelers often experienced severe famines; and in
India, even at the present day (to the disgrace perhaps of our
management) nearly every year many thousands die of hunger. It was very
different under the ancient Peruvians, because by law "the product of
the lands consecrated to the Sun, as well as those set apart for the
Incas, was deposited in the _Tambos_, or public storehouses, as a stated
provision for times of scarcity."
The Spaniards found those prehistoric agriculturists utilizing the
inexhaustible supply of guano found on all the islands of the Pacific.
It was not till the middle of the nineteenth century that the British
farmer found the value of this fertilizer.