THE CHILD IN PERU
=The People.= The origin of the people found in Peru at the time of the
Spanish conquest is unknown. The people themselves held to a tradition
that the empire began with a settlement in the Cuzco valley, the central
region of Peru. By the time of the coming of the Spaniards in the first
part of the sixteenth century, through military expeditions this Inca
power had been extended to include the country from the river Ancasmayu,
just north of the city of Quito, Ecuador, to the river Maule, just south
of the city of Santiago, Chile, or from about the second degree of north
latitude to the thirty-seventh degree of south latitude, territory
embraced at the present time by Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, part of Chile,
and north-west Argentina. Before these Inca people there seemed to have
existed a race of well advanced people who left imposing architectural
remains that the Inca people were unable to account for. To hold
together the parts of the empire, great roads were built leading from
Cuzco, the capital, to the extremities of the country. One of these
great roads ran over the grand plateau north to Quito and south to
Chile, and a second one ran each way, north and south, along the
lowlands on the border of the ocean, and these two were connected by
cross-roads. "The road over the plateau was conducted over pathless
sierras buried in snow; galleries were cut for leagues through the
living rock; rivers were crossed by means of bridges that swung
suspended in the air; precipices were scaled by stairways hewn out of
the native bed; ravines of hideous depths were filled up with solid
masonry; in short, all the difficulties that beset a wild and
mountainous region, and which might appall the most courageous engineer
in modern times, were encountered and successfully overcome. The length
of the road, of which scattered fragments only remain, is variously
estimated at from fifteen hundred to two thousands miles; and stone
pillars, in the manner of European mile-stones, were erected at stated
intervals of somewhat more than a league, all along the route. Its
breadth scarcely exceeded twenty feet. It was built of heavy flags of
freestone, and, in some parts at least, covered with a bituminous
cement, which time has made harder than the stone itself."[17] Along
these roads were a series of post-houses for couriers, selected for
their swiftness of foot, who carried messages back and forth between the
capital and the different parts of the empire. The statement is made
that these couriers covered the distance from Quito to Cuzco, over a
thousand miles, in eight days. Along the routes were also placed
storehouses with provisions for troops or for those who travelled on
state affairs, who really were the only travellers.
At the time of the Spanish invasion, Peru was a huge bureaucracy, which
had evolved from a primitive communism as the territory was extended by
conquest. The empire was divided into provinces and placed under rulers,
below whom was a hierarchy of officials, running down to an inspector of
ten heads of families. A careful census was kept of the people and
resources of each province, which censuses were sent regularly to Cuzco.
From these returns was estimated the tribute each person was to give to
the state, which was not paid in money but in labor or products. No one
but the sick was permitted to remain idle and there was constant
supervision over all. No man was exempt except by special regulation
from agricultural work and military service. "From the cradle to the
grave the life of the individual was marked out for him; as he was born
so would he die, and he lived his allotted span under the ceaseless
supervision of officials. His dress was fixed according to his district;
he might not leave his village except at the bidding of the state, and
then only for state purposes, he might not even seek a wife outside his
own community."[18] Yet every one was cared for, widows, orphans, aged,
and sick, in fact no one was allowed to suffer. The state stored in
buildings provisions for times of scarcity of crops, so as to prevent
famine. At the head of the empire was the sovereign and who bore the
title of Sapa Inca, Only Inca, the divine ruler; next to the sovereign
came the nobility of royal blood, the Inca nobility, and who held the
principal offices of the state; then came a lower nobility, the Curaças,
who were of the original rulers of conquered states; and last were the
common people.
=Buildings.= The buildings of the highlands were of stone, while on the
coast stone was used for foundations and brick made of clay mixed with
reeds or tough grass was used for the walls. With stone mortar was
sometimes used and sometimes not. In the great buildings where large
stones were placed in the walls no mortar was used, and it is stated
that in some of the remains of such buildings the stones are fitted so
closely that not even a knife-blade can be inserted in the joints. The
exterior walls were often of great thickness and the interior of the
building was arranged around a court, with windows and doors from the
rooms opening on to the court. Some of the buildings were of immense
sizes, in particular those built as fortifications and for religious
purposes. The doors were narrowed at the top, and with a stone across
the top, the arch with the keystone not showing in Peruvian
architecture. The roofs were thatched and in the large buildings the
ceilings sometimes were vaulted by having the upper courses of masonry
overlap and the whole topped by a single slab, thus forming a kind of
arch. On this lower part a second story was built, which did not open on
to the first floor, but was approached from the hill against which the
building was built. Inside the building the walls were niched for the
purpose of decoration and also gold plates and jewels were placed on the
walls as ornaments.
=Dress.= The two principal garments of the ancient Peruvians were the
tunic and the robe. In the simplest form the tunic consisted of an
oblong piece of cloth, folded crosswise in the middle and a piece cut
out of the fold for the head to go through, and the edges on each side
sewed together except a place left for the arms. Sometimes the tunic was
made with short sleeves. Often a belt was worn about the tunic at the
waist. In the coast country the material used for clothing was cotton
while wool was used in the highlands in the interior. The quality of the
clothing differed with the rank of the wearer, the coarsest clothes were
used by the common people while the finest were reserved for the
nobility and the very finest for the sovereign. The cloths were colored
and designs woven in them and sometimes they were fringed and
embroidered and sometimes even they were further decorated with feathers
and small plates of silver and gold.
On the head were worn conical or flat-topped caps, some having flaps to
cover the ears and the back part of the head, while others enclosed the
entire head, coming down under the chin, leaving only the face exposed
to view. Women wore their hair long while with men the length of the
hair proclaimed the rank, as the higher the rank the shorter the hair
was worn, the sovereign alone having a closely cropped head. The ruling
class wore a fringed cord of vicuña wool wound round the head three or
four times, the color designating the rank of the wearer, that of the
sovereign being crimson, of the heir to the throne yellow, and the
higher officials wore other colors. Hair was not allowed to grow on the
face and it was kept pulled out by means of small silver and copper
tweezers. They wore sandals made of the hide of the llama or of
vegetable fiber and they were fastened to the feet with cords.
Another mark of rank, along with their colored fringed cord, was the
wearing of studs in the lobe of the ear, the largest size having been
permitted to the sovereign only, and the sizes diminished according to
rank. These ear-ornaments were so heavy as to pull the lobes of the ears
down, making them quite large, the sovereign's ears being distended
nearly to his shoulders. Sometimes the nose and the lower lip were
pierced and ornaments worn in them. They wore necklaces made of beads of
colored shell and turquoise, finger-rings, anklets, and bracelets of
silver and gold, and pins for fastening the cloaks. Tattooing was
practiced, designs having been worked into the skin with a blue pigment.
=Food, Drink, Narcotics.= Because of the country's lying for the most
part in the tropics and also being of a mountainous nature, thus
allowing different climatic conditions, there was a plant life as found
in both tropical and temperate zones such as to offer a variety of food.
In the uplands maize was one of the staple foods, which was usually
eaten whole, roasted or boiled, maybe not used by them as bread except
at festivals, and the leaves were eaten as a vegetable. Quinoa was
another grain used by them, a kind of buckwheat. Another staple was the
potato, most commonly used in the form of chuno, in which the potatoes
were exposed to the frost for some time, then pounded and dried in the
sun, which made quite nourishing food and could be stowed away and kept
for some time. Beans and tomatoes were also used by them. On the
lowlands along the coast were found bananas, cocoa-nuts, the quava, and
the manioc. Birds were abundant, as were also fish, both from the lakes
and the ocean. The llama and the deer and the wild sheep of the
mountains were used as food, as was the flesh of some other animals.
This flesh was often cut into strips and dried, which was called
_charqui_, probably from which came the term "jerked" beef.
Syrup and a kind of vinegar were made from the juice of the maguey and
also syrup was made from the juice extracted from the stalk of the
maize. They made from the grain of the maize _chica_, which was the
national drink of Peru, and chica also was made from the grain of the
quinoa. But more desired than food or drink was the narcotic effect of
the coca, whose leaves were gathered and dried, mixed with lime or
bone-ash, and thus made into a preparation for chewing. Tobacco was used
by the Peruvians but they "differed from every other Indian nation to
whom it was known, by using it only for medicinal purposes, in the form
of snuff."[19]
=Marriage.= By law in ancient Peru, every person, both male and female,
was to marry at a marriageable age, which should be not less than
twenty-four in males and eighteen or twenty in females, it being
recognized that not until that age were people prepared to care for a
family. The nobility were allowed more than one wife but the common
people were limited to one.
According to law, each person was to marry within his own kindred. This
was not a very great restriction since all of his community, including
the town and often the whole province, were counted his kin.
The queen of the ruler was selected from among his sisters. No other
person in the realm was allowed to marry his own sister. This was
commanded of the ruler so that only the purest blood--the blood of the
heaven-born children of the sun--would thus flow in their offspring,
thereby preventing anything earthly from being a part of their great
rulers.
No marriage was considered legal unless the consent of the parents had
been given; nor was any contract performed without the contracting
parties so desiring it.
The ceremony was very simple and yet quite peculiar. On a certain day of
each year, designated by law, all persons of marriageable age came
together in the open squares of their native places. The ruler of the
district would take the hands of the different couples in his and place
them in each other's and pronounce them man and wife. Among the kindred
of the Inca this ceremony was performed by the Inca in person.
After all the marriage vows were performed, there was a general good
time had by the newly married pair and their friends, which was carried
on for several days. It can be seen that these festivities must have
been very general over the whole empire, as all weddings occurred on the
same day, and as in every circle there must have been one wedding, so
there must have been among the participants in the after-feasts nearly
all, if not all, the people of the country.
The newly married pair were not left to find a home for themselves. Each
district furnished a house for each married couple within its boundaries
and gave a certain portion of land to them, and as children came
additional allotments were made for the support of each child. For a son
twice as much land was assigned to the parents as for a daughter. This
allotment of land occurred each year and amounts were given in
accordance with the size of the family.
=Care and Treatment of Children.= Infants were placed in cradles,
somewhat like Indian cradles, and fastened in them and kept in this
manner, not even having been taken out and into the mother's arms when
fed. When they were weaned an important ceremony occurred. In the first
place the hair was cut. The first lock of hair was cut from the head by
an elder relative with a stone knife and the rest of the hair was cut by
the relatives in the order of closeness of kin. The child was then given
a name, presents were given to it, and a feast closed the proceedings.
When the heir to the throne underwent this ceremony, the High-priest of
the Sun cut the first lock of hair, and the child received many fine
presents, among them being presents from the rulers of the various
provinces of the empire. A very careful record of births and deaths was
kept.
=The Virgins of the Sun.= The Peruvians worshipped the sun and they
trained for this worship young women who were called Virgins of the Sun.
They were taken from their homes at an early age and placed in convents
solely consecrated to their instruction and training. One of these
institutions, located at Cuzco, was for the girls of royal blood. In the
other provinces they were for the girls of the higher and inferior
nobles, and occasionally a girl of remarkable beauty from among the
common people was placed among the inmates.
These girls were put in charge of old, reliable women, who had spent
many years in the convents. They taught the girls how to spin and to
weave the hangings for the temples. They prepared the apparel for the
ruler and his people. They were instructed in their religious duties,
one of these being the watching over the sacred fires.
When the girls entered the convents they were shut entirely away from
the world, not even being permitted to see or to hear from their friends
and relatives. Morality was carefully inculcated. If one of the young
women should be caught in an intrigue, she was buried alive, her lover
was strangled, and his native town razed to the ground.
No one was allowed to enter these convents except the king and his
lawful queen. The institutions were inspected each year by persons sent
for that purpose, who made a report of what they noted on their visits.
The buildings themselves were as finely furnished as were the palaces of
the Incas and the temples, as they were for the accommodation of the
Daughters of the Sun and so were in especial charge of the state.
When these young women reached a marriageable age, the most beautiful
among them were chosen to become brides of the ruler, others were given
by him as wives to the higher nobles, while others remained in the
service of religion, vowing perpetual virginity, and who were held in
the very highest respect.
=Human Sacrifice.= Human sacrifice was of rare event in Peru. This only
occurred to mark some great public affair. The victims usually were
children and beautiful maidens. They were selected from the various
parts of the empire and they travelled in regular convoys, the children
too young to walk being carried by their mothers. As they journeyed they
received the adoration of all the people on the way. In offering them up
as sacrifices, the priests strangled them or broke their necks with a
stone implement, while with some the throat was cut and blood from the
wound sprinkled on their faces. In some cases the hearts of the victims
were plucked out and offered to the divinity. These sacrifices were
never served up at feasts, as in Mexico, but all were buried in special
cemeteries. Human sacrifice never came to be a great part of the
religion of Peru under the Incas, as was the case in Mexico, and where
it did occur there was never any cannibalism with it.
=Industries.= Agriculture was the main occupation of the ancient
Peruvians. Every one was required to put in some time in agricultural
pursuits unless excused by special permit by the authorities. The land
was divided into three parts, one portion was reserved for the Sun, to
be used to produce revenue to care for the temples and the priests and
others connected with the religion, a second part was reserved for the
state, and the third part was given over to the people for their own
use, each head of a family receiving a plot and additional plots for
each unmarried child. There were no animals for use in the fields, so
the people had all the work to do. The men used a digging-stick, which
was a long stake with a sharpened point, sometimes having the point
covered with copper, and with a cross stick about a foot up from the
pointed end for a foot-rest for digging with the foot. The men would
turn up the soil with their digging-sticks and the women would follow
and break up the clods with a rake and pull out the weeds. The men
unable to dig and the boys acted as scare-crows or used blow-guns and
slings to keep the birds away. Every bit of ground was cultivated and to
add to this terraces were formed on the hillsides by means of parallel
walls of rough stones, one above the other. To add further to the area
of tillable land, where the soil was rocky and dry they would make
excavations, sometimes as much as an acre in extent and sunk to the
depth of fifteen or twenty feet, and would line these with walls of
adobe, sun-dried bricks. The bottom of the pits probably reached down to
where there was some moisture and they were prepared for cultivation as
the other fields.
As is well known, much of the coast region of the country which was
occupied by the empire of the ancient Peruvians is arid, as the
prevailing winds are from the east and the moisture is taken from them
by the high Andes mountains, and thus the rivers are few and with but
little water in them, often dry for a long time, and there is but little
rainfall, if at all. In order to overcome this lack of moisture and to
add to the fertile area of the country, the Peruvians built reservoirs
and aqueducts. These aqueducts were sometimes above ground and sometimes
underground and some were quite long, one at least having been between
four and five hundred miles in length and twelve feet deep and wide. As
they did not use the arch they could not well cross depressions or
streams and had to make long detours, and sometimes they tunneled in the
mountains for the passages. They had sluices by means of which the
water could be turned on to the land and they were very careful in
allowing the right amount of water to be used on the fields. The
construction of these aqueducts, and other great buildings, is all the
more remarkable when it is considered that these people had no iron
tools of any kind whatever.
They were acquainted with the principle of fertilizing the crop. A small
sardine-like fish was abundant along the coast, which they caught and
often placed with the grains of maize in the holes in planting. Guano,
the deposit of sea-fowls on the islands along the coast, was used in
great quantity by them, and much care was given to its proper
distribution to the different districts. No one was allowed on the
islands during the breeding season and such trespass and killing the
birds at any time were punished by death. "Inland other forms of manure
were used."[20]
As most of the country of the Peruvian empire lay in the torrid zone and
consisted of low coast land, elevated land, and mountainous regions, it
would have all ranges of climate, according to elevation, and without
any great changes of temperature in any one part. Thus all kinds of
agricultural products could be cultivated, such as would be found in
tropical and temperate regions. In the warm coast region cotton was
grown in great abundance and the banana and the cassava; in the more
elevated regions the great staple produced was maize and also manioc,
guava, groundnuts, tobacco, beans, gourds, and tomatoes; and in the
higher and colder parts were found the potato, quinoa, coca, and maguey.
Fishing was an important industry and on the coast regions it ranked
next to agriculture. They had a kind of raft, balsa, made of bundles of
reeds or poles fastened together and they used nets, harpoons made of
copper or tipped with copper, and hooks of bone or copper. Fowling was
carried on by means of nets and quite largely engaged in especially
along the coast where there were great numbers of birds. Game was
plentiful in the mountainous regions and often great drives were made,
sometimes as many as fifty or sixty thousand people took part in one and
in which thirty thousand head of game might have been taken. They used
dogs in hunting, having had at least two varieties of hunting dogs.
Beasts of prey, such as pumas, bears, foxes, and wild-cats were killed.
The real purpose of the hunt, though, was to capture the huanaco and
vicuña, from which the wool was cut and then the greater part of them,
the females and best males, were turned loose to let the wool grow for
another year, some being kept for food. Besides these wild animals, they
kept great flocks of llamas and alpacas, the alpaca having been raised
for its wool and the llama for a beast of burden, for its wool, and also
for its flesh for eating.
The Peruvians excelled in the art of weaving. They made cloth, tapestry,
gauze, and embroidery. They used cotton and wool for the most part,
although there was a thread made from the fiber of the maguey. One of
the principal occupations of the women was the preparation of the thread
for weaving. In the early times it would seem that the loom was unknown
but at the time of the entrance of the Spaniards into the country the
work was done by true weaving on the loom. There were a number of
designs used, variations showing from one period to another. Various
colors were used. The patterns were woven in the material or placed on
the cloth in the form of embroidery or painted on the cloth, and
sometimes the cloth was ornamented with feathers placed on it in the
form of patterns. They also wove a double-faced cloth in which the
colors were different on the two sides. Delicate gauzes were made in
which designs were embroidered on fine net background.
Pottery was another important industry. There were very many designs and
all kinds of utensils and the workmanship was good. Gold was obtained
from deposits in streams and silver was mined. These metals were cast,
hammered, soldered, and inlaid, as the people were very skillful in
working with these metals and did especially fine work. They made vases,
bracelets, mirrors, necklaces, and all kinds of delicate ornaments.
Copper was greatly used, tin having been mixed with it. They made from
this various kinds of implements and tools and weapons. They were quite
skillful in wood-carving and inlaying was widely practiced, not only on
wood but also on bone and shell and stone. They displayed skill in
stone-carving, being able to cut the hardest stones, as emeralds and
other precious stones. Their implements were of copper or stone, as iron
was not at all in use.
Money was not in use among the Peruvians and so there was required an
exchange of products. As the products of the country varied it became
necessary that ways should be provided whereby people could have
opportunity to exchange what they had for things greatly needed from
other people of a different calling. This was done by means of fairs
held throughout the empire. In the more populous places they took place
three times a month. "These fairs afforded so many holidays for the
relaxation of the industrious laborers."[21]
=Training of the Inca and the Order of the Huaracu.= "In his early
years, the royal offspring was intrusted to the care of the _amautas_,
or 'wise men,' as the teachers of Peruvian science were called, who
instructed him in such elements of knowledge as they possessed, and
especially in the cumbrous ceremonial of their religion, in which he was
to take a prominent part. Great care was also bestowed on his military
education, of the last importance in a state which, with its professions
of peace and good will, was ever at war for the acquisition of empire.
"In this military school he was educated with such of the Inca nobles as
were nearly of his own age; for the sacred name of Inca--a fruitful
source of obscurity in their annals--was applied indifferently to all
who descended by the male line from the founder of the monarchy. At the
age of sixteen the pupils underwent a public examination, previous to
their admission to what may be called the order of chivalry. This
examination was conducted by some of the oldest and most illustrious
Incas. The candidates were required to show their prowess in the
athletic exercises of the warrior; in wrestling and boxing, in running
such long courses as fully tried their agility and strength, in severe
fast of several days' duration, and in mimic combats, which, although
the weapons were blunted, were always attended with wounds, and
sometimes with death. During this trial, which lasted thirty days, the
royal neophyte fared no better than his comrades, sleeping on the bare
ground, going unshod, and wearing a mean attire--a mode of life, it was
supposed, which might tend to inspire him with more sympathy with the
destitute. With all this show of impartiality, however, it will probably
be doing no injustice to the judges to suppose that a politic discretion
may have somewhat quickened their perceptions of the real merits of the
heir-apparent.
"At the end of the appointed time, the candidates selected as worthy of
the honors of their barbaric chivalry were presented to the sovereign,
who condescended to take a principal part in the ceremony of the
inauguration. He began with a brief discourse, in which, after
congratulating the young aspirants on the proficiency they had shown in
martial exercises, he reminded them of the responsibilities attached to
their birth and station, and, addressing them affectionately as
'children of the Sun,' he exhorted them to imitate their great
progenitor in his glorious career of beneficence to mankind. The novices
then drew near, and, kneeling one by one before the Inca, he pierced
their ears with a golden bodkin; and this was suffered to remain there
till an opening had been made large enough for the enormous pendants
which were peculiar to their order, and which gave them, with the
Spaniards, the name of _orejones_. This ornament was so massy in the
ears of the sovereign that the cartilage was distended by it nearly to
the shoulder, producing what seemed a monstrous deformity in the eyes of
the Europeans, though, under the magical influence of fashion, it was
regarded as a beauty by the natives.
"When this operation was performed, one of the most venerable of the
nobles dressed the feet of the candidates in the sandals worn by the
order, which may remind us of the ceremony of buckling on the spurs of
the Christian knight. They were then allowed to assume the girdle or
sash around the loins, corresponding with the _toga virilis_ of the
Romans, and intimating that they had reached the season of manhood.
Their heads were adorned with garlands of flowers, which, by their
various colors, were emblematic of the clemency and goodness that should
grace the character of every true warrior; and the leaves of an
evergreen plant were mingled with the flowers, to show that these
virtues should endure without end. The prince's head was further
ornamented by a fillet, or tasselled fringe, of a yellow color, made of
the fine threads of the vicuña wool, which encircled the forehead as the
peculiar insignia of the heir-apparent. The great body of the Inca
nobility next made their appearance, and, beginning with those nearest
of kin, knelt down before the prince and did him homage as successor to
the crown. The whole assembly then moved to the great square of the
capital, where songs and dances and other public festivities closed the
important ceremonial of the _huaracu_."[22]
=Education.= Education in ancient Peru was wholly reserved for the
nobility. The common people were treated very kindly by the ruling
class, but it was the theory of their government that the masses were
only children and must be treated as such. The following from one of
their leading sovereigns portrays this idea: "Science was not intended
for the people; but for those of generous blood. Persons of low degree
are only puffed up by it, and rendered vain and arrogant. Neither should
such meddle with the affairs of government; for this would bring high
offices into disrepute, and cause detriment to the state."[23]
The youth of the nobility were placed under "wise men," who were the
only ones having sufficient learning to do such work. The youth were
trained for the especial kind of duties they were to perform in after
life. They were taught the laws of their country, the principles of
government, and were well grounded in the use of their mother tongue.
Those who were to enter into a religious life were carefully instructed
in regard to the rites and ceremonies of the religion of the country.
All were made familiar with the use of the quipus.
The quipus were used for counting and computing numbers. The quipu was a
cord near two feet long, made of threads of different colors twisted
together and having smaller threads hanging from them like fringe. These
threads were of different colors with knots in them which served instead
of ciphers in computing. Sometimes the threads represented abstract
ideas, as, white stood for peace, red for war, and, again they
represented concrete objects, as, white was for silver, yellow for gold.
LITERATURE
1. ... Ancient Peru--Its people and its monuments. _Harper's Magazine_,
VII. (1853), 7-38.
2. Joyce, Thomas A., South American archæology.
3. Nadaillac, Marquis de, Prehistoric America.
4. Prescott, William H., History of the conquest of Peru.
5. Winsor, Justin, Narrative and critical history of America.