At this time the Peruvian Empire stretched along the Pacific from about
the second degree north to the thirty-seventh degree of south latitude;
its breadth varied, but was nowhere very great. The country was most
remarkable, and seemed peculiarly unfitted for cultivation. The great
range of mountains ran parallel to the coast, sometimes in a single
line, sometimes in two or three, either side by side or running
obliquely to each other, broken here and there by the towering peaks of
huge volcanoes, white with perpetual snows, and descending towards the
coast in jagged cliffs and awful precipices. Between the rocks and the
sea lay a narrow strip of sandy soil, where no rain ever fell, and which
was insufficiently watered by the few scanty streams that flow down the
western side of the Cordilleras. Nevertheless, by the patient industry
of the Peruvians, these difficulties had all been overcome; by means of
canals and subterranean aqueducts the waste places of the coast were
watered and made fertile, the mountain sides were terraced and
cultivated, every form of vegetation finding the climate suited to it
at a different height, while over the snowy wastes above wandered the
herds of llamas, or Peruvian sheep, under the care of their herdsmen.
The Valley of Cuzco, the central region of Peru, was the cradle of their
civilisation. According to tradition among the Peruvians, there had been
a time, long past, when the land was held by many tribes, all plunged in
barbarism, who worshipped every object in nature, made war as a pastime,
and feasted upon the flesh of their slaughtered captives. The Sun, the
great parent of mankind, pitying their degraded condition, sent two of
his children, Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo Huaco, to govern and teach
them. They bore with them as they advanced from the neighbourhood of
Lake Titicaca a golden wedge, and were directed to take up their abode
at the spot where this sacred emblem should sink easily into the ground.
This happened in the Valley of Cuzco; the wedge of gold sank into the
earth and disappeared for ever, and Manco Capac settled down to teach
the men of the land the arts of agriculture, while Mama Ocllo showed the
women how to weave and spin. Under these wise and benevolent rulers the
community grew and spread, absorbing into itself the neighbouring
tribes, and overrunning the whole tableland. The city of Cuzco was
founded, and, under the successors of the Children of the Sun, became
the capital of a great and flourishing monarchy. In the middle of the
fifteenth century the famous Topa Inca Yupanqui led his armies across
the terrible desert of Atacama, and, penetrating to the southern region
of Chili, made the river Maule the boundary of his dominions, while his
son, Huayna Capac, who succeeded him, pushed his conquests northward,
and added the powerful kingdom of Quito to the empire of Peru. The city
of Cuzco was the royal residence of the Incas, and also the 'Holy City,'
for there stood the great Temple of the Sun, the most magnificent
structure in the New World, to which came pilgrims from every corner of
the empire.
[Illustration: MANCO CAPAC AND MAMA OCLLO HUACO, THE CHILDREN OF THE
SUN, COME FROM LAKE TITICACA TO GOVERN AND CIVILISE THE TRIBES OF PERU]
Cuzco was defended on the north by a high hill, a spur of the
Cordilleras, upon which was built a wonderful fortress of stone, with
walls, towers, and subterranean galleries, the remains of which exist to
this day and amaze the traveller by their size and solidity, some of the
stones being thirty-eight feet long by eighteen broad, and six feet
thick, and so exactly fitted together that, though no cement was used,
it would be impossible to put the blade of a knife between them. As the
Peruvians had neither machinery, beasts of burden, nor iron tools, and
as the quarry from which these huge blocks were hewn lay forty-five
miles from Cuzco, over river and ravine, it is easy to imagine the
frightful labour which this building must have cost; indeed, it is said
to have employed twenty thousand men for fifty years, and was, after
all, but one of the many fortifications established by the Incas
throughout their dominions. Their government was absolutely despotic,
the sovereign being held so far above his subjects that even the
proudest of the nobles only ventured into his presence barefooted, and
carrying upon his shoulders a light burden in token of homage. The title
of Inca was borne by all the nobility who were related to the king, or
who, like himself, claimed descent from the Children of the Sun; but the
crown passed from father to son, the heir being the eldest son of the
'coya,' or queen. From his earliest years he was educated by the
'amautas,' or wise men of the kingdom, in the ceremonial of their
religion, as well as in military matters and all manly exercises, that
he might be fitted to reign in his turn.
At the age of sixteen the prince, with the young Inca nobles who had
shared his studies, underwent a kind of public examination, their
proficiency as warriors being tested by various athletic exercises and
by mimic combats which, though fought with blunted weapons, generally
resulted in wounds, and sometimes in death. During this trial, which
lasted thirty days, the young prince fared no better than his comrades,
wearing mean attire, going barefoot, and sleeping upon the ground--a
mode of life which was supposed to give him sympathy with the destitute.
At the end of that time, the candidates considered worthy of the honours
of this barbaric chivalry were presented to the sovereign, who reminded
them of the responsibilities of their birth and station, and exhorted
them, as Children of the Sun, to imitate the glorious career of their
ancestor. He then, as they knelt before him one by one, pierced their
ears with a golden bodkin, which they continued to wear until the hole
was made large enough to contain the enormous pendants worn by the
Incas, which made the Spaniards call them 'Orejones.' Indeed, as one of
the conquerors remarked, 'The larger the hole, the more of a gentleman,'
and the sovereign wore so massive an ornament that the cartilage of his
ear was distended by it nearly to the shoulder. After this ceremony the
feet of the candidates were dressed in the sandals of the order, and
girdles, and garlands of flowers were given them. The head of the prince
was then encircled with a tasselled fringe of a yellow colour, which
distinguished him as the heir apparent, and he at once received the
homage of all the Inca nobility; and then the whole assembly
proceeded to the great square of the capital, where with songs, dances,
and other festivities the ceremony was brought to an end. After this the
prince was deemed worthy to sit in the councils of his father, and to
serve under distinguished generals in time of war, and finally himself
to carry the rainbow banner of his house upon distant campaigns.
The Inca lived with great pomp and show. His dress was of the finest
vicuna wool, richly dyed, and ornamented with gold and jewels. Round his
head was a many-coloured turban and a fringe like that worn by the
prince, but of a scarlet colour, and placed upright in it were two
feathers of a rare and curious bird called the coraquenque, which was
found in a desert country among the mountains. It was death to take or
destroy one of these birds; they were reserved exclusively to supply the
king's headgear. In order to communicate with their people, the Incas
were in the habit of making a stately progress through their land once
in every few years. The litter in which they travelled was richly
decorated with gold and emeralds, and surrounded by a numerous escort.
The men who bore it on their shoulders were provided by two cities
specially appointed for the purpose, and the service was no enviable
one, since a fall was punished by death. Halts were made at the
'tambos,' or inns regularly kept up by the Government along all the
principal roads, and the people assembled all along the line, clearing
stones from the road and strewing it with flowers, and vying with one
another in carrying the baggage from village to village. Here and there
the Inca halted to listen to the grievances of his subjects, or to
decide points referred to him by the ordinary tribunals, and these spots
were long held in reverence as consecrated by his presence. Everywhere
the people flocked to catch a glimpse of their ruler, and to greet him
with acclamations and blessings.
The royal palaces were on a magnificent scale, and were scattered over
all the provinces of the great empire. The buildings were low, covering
a large space, the rooms not communicating with each other, but opening
upon a common square. The walls were of stone rough hewn, and the roofs
of rushes; but inside all was splendour. Gold, silver, and
richly-coloured stuffs abounded, covering the walls, while in niches
stood images of animals and plants curiously wrought in the precious
metals. Even the commonest household utensils were of gold. The
favourite residence of the Incas was the delicious valley of Yucay,
about twelve miles from Cuzco; there they loved to retreat to enjoy
their exquisite gardens, and luxurious baths replenished with clear
water, which flowed through subterranean channels of silver into basins
of gold. The gardens were full of flowers and plants, which flourished
in this temperate climate of the tropics; but strangest of all were
those borders which glowed with various forms of vegetable life,
cunningly fashioned in gold and silver. Among these is specially
recorded the beautiful Indian corn, its golden grain set off by broad
silver leaves, and crowned with a light tassel of silver. But all the
wealth displayed by the Inca belonged to himself alone. When he died,
or, as they put it, 'was called home to the mansions of his father the
Sun,' his palaces were abandoned, and all his treasures and possessions
were suffered to remain as he left them, lest his soul should at any
time return to its body, and require again the things it had used
before. The body itself was skilfully embalmed and removed to the great
Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, where were the bodies of all the former
Incas and their queens, ranged in opposite files. Clothed in their
accustomed attire, they sat in chairs of gold, their heads bent, their
hands crossed upon their breasts, their dusky faces and black, or
sometimes silver, hair retaining a perfectly natural look. On certain
festivals they were brought out into the great square of Cuzco,
invitations were issued in their names to all the nobles' and officers
of the Court, and magnificent entertainments were held, when the display
of plate, gold, and jewels was such as no other city in the world ever
witnessed. The banquets were served by the retainers of the respective
houses, and the same forms of courtly etiquette were used as if the
living monarch had presided, instead of his mummy. The nobility of Peru
consisted of two Orders--the Incas or relatives of the sovereign, and
the Curacas, or chiefs of the conquered nations. The former enjoyed many
privileges; they wore a peculiar dress, and spoke a peculiar dialect.
Most of them lived at Court, sharing the counsels of the king, and
dining at his table. They alone were admissible to the great offices of
the priesthood, and had the command of armies and the government of
distant provinces.
The whole territory of the empire was divided into three parts: one for
the Sun, another for the Inca, and the last for the people. The revenue
from the lands assigned to the Sun supported the numerous priests, and
provided for the maintenance of the temples and their costly
ceremonial. The land of the people was parted equally among them, every
man when he was married receiving enough to support himself and his
wife, together with a house. An additional piece was granted for every
child, the portion for a son being double that for a daughter. The
division of the soil was renewed every year, and the possession of the
tenant increased or diminished according to the number of his family.
The country was wholly cultivated by the people. First the lands of the
Sun were tilled; then those of the old or sick, the widow and orphan,
and soldiers on active service; after this each man was free to attend
to his own, though he was still obliged to help any neighbour who might
require it. Lastly, they cultivated the land of the Inca. This was done
with great ceremony by all the people in a body. At break of day they
were called together, and men, women, and children appeared in their
gayest apparel as if decked for some festival, and sang as they worked
their popular ballads, which told the heroic deeds of the Inca. The
flocks of llamas belonged exclusively to the Sun and the Inca, they were
most carefully tended and managed, and their number was immense. Under
the care of their shepherds they moved to different pastures according
to the climate. Every year some were killed as sacrifices at the
religious festivals or for the consumption of the Court, and at
appointed seasons all were sheared and their wool stored in the public
magazines. Thence it was given out to each family, and when the women
had spun and woven enough coarse garments to supply their husbands and
children they were required to labour for the Inca. Certain officers
decided what was to be woven, gave out the requisite material, and saw
that the work was faithfully done. In the lower and hotter regions
cotton, given out in the same way, took the place of wool. Occupation
was found for all, from the child of five years to the oldest woman who
could hold a distaff. Idleness was held to be a crime in Peru, and was
severely punished, while industry was publicly commended and rewarded.
In the same way all the mines in the kingdom belonged to the Inca, and
were worked for his benefit by men familiar with the service, and there
were special commissioners whose duty it was to know the nature of the
country and the capabilities of its inhabitants, so that whatever work
was required, it might be given into competent hands, the different
employments generally descending from father to son. All over the
country stood spacious stone storehouses, divided between the Sun and
the Inca, in which were laid up maize, coca, woollen and cotton stuffs,
gold, silver, and copper, and beside these were yet others designed to
supply the wants of the people in times of dearth. Thus in Peru, though
no man who was not an Inca could become rich, all had enough to eat and
to wear.
To this day the ruins of temples, palaces, aqueducts, and, above all,
the great roads, remain to bear witness to the industry of the
Peruvians. Of these roads the most remarkable were two which ran from
Quito to Cuzco, diverging again thence in the direction of Chili. One
ran through the low lands by the sea, the other over the great plateau,
through galleries cut for leagues from the living rock, over pathless
sierras buried in snow. Rivers were crossed by filling up the ravines
through which they flowed with solid masses of masonry which remain to
this day, though the mountain torrents have in the course of ages worn
themselves a passage through, leaving solid arches to span the valleys.
Over some of the streams they constructed frail swinging bridges of
osiers, which were woven into cables the thickness of a man's body.
Several of these laid side by side were secured at either end to huge
stone buttresses, and covered with planks. As these bridges were
sometimes over two hundred feet long they dipped and oscillated
frightfully over the rapidly-flowing stream far below, but the Peruvians
crossed them fearlessly, and they are still used by the Spaniards. The
wider and smoother rivers were crossed on 'balsas,' or rafts with sails.
The whole length of this road was about two thousand miles, its breadth
did not exceed twenty feet, and it was paved with heavy flags of
freestone, in parts covered with a cement which time has made harder
than stone itself. The construction of the lower road must have
presented other difficulties. For the most part the causeway was raised
on a high embankment of earth, with a wall of clay on either side. Trees
and sweet-smelling shrubs were planted along the margin, and where the
soil was so light and sandy as to prevent the road from being continued,
huge piles were driven into the ground to mark the way. All along these
highways the 'tambos,' or inns, were erected at a distance of ten or
twelve miles from each other, and some of them were on an extensive
scale, consisting of a fortress and barracks surrounded by a stone
parapet. These were evidently intended as a shelter for the Imperial
armies when on the march.
[Illustration: A Peruvian postman]
The communication throughout the country was by means of runners, each
of whom carried the message entrusted to him with great swiftness for
five miles, and then handed it over to another. These runners were
specially trained to their work and wore a particular dress; their
stations were small buildings erected five miles apart along all the
roads. The messages might be verbal, or conveyed by means of the
'quipus.' A quipu was a cord two feet long, composed of differently
coloured threads twisted together, from which were hung a number of
smaller threads, also differently coloured and tied in knots. Indeed,
the word 'quipu' means 'a knot.' By means of the colours and the various
knots the Peruvians expressed ideas--it was their method of writing--but
the quipus were chiefly used for arithmetical purposes. In every
district officers were stationed who were called 'keepers of the
quipus'; their duty was to supply the Government with information as to
the revenues, births, deaths, and marriages, number of population, and
so on. These records--in skeins of many-coloured thread--were inspected
at headquarters and carefully preserved, the whole collection
constituting what might be call the national archives. In like manner
the wise men recorded the history of the empire, and chronicled the
great deeds of the reigning Inca or his ancestors. The Peruvians had
some acquaintance with geography and astronomy, and showed a decided
talent for theatrical exhibitions, but it was in agriculture that they
really excelled. The mountains were regularly hewn into stone-faced
terraces, varying in width from hundreds of acres at the base to a few
feet near the snows. Water was conveyed in stone-built aqueducts for
hundreds of miles, from some snow-fed lake in the mountains, fertilising
all the dry and sandy places through which it passed. In some of the
arid valleys they dug great pits twenty feet deep and more than an acre
in extent, and, after carefully preparing the soil, planted grain or
vegetables. Their method of ploughing was primitive indeed. Six or eight
men were attached by ropes to a strong stake, to which was fastened a
horizontal piece of wood upon which the ploughman might set his foot to
force the sharp point into the earth as it was dragged along, while
women followed after to break up the clods as they were turned.
Much of the wealth of the country consisted in the huge flocks of llamas
and alpacas, and the wild huanacos and vicunas which roamed freely over
the frozen ranges of the Cordilleras. Once a year a great hunt took
place under the superintendence of the Inca or some of his officers.
Fifty or sixty thousand men encircled the part of the country that was
to be hunted over, and drove all the wild animals by degrees towards
some spacious plain. The beasts of prey they killed, and also the deer,
the flesh of the latter being dried in strips and distributed among the
people. This preparation, called 'charqui,' was the only animal food of
the lower classes in Peru. The huanacos and vicunas were only captured
and shorn, being afterwards allowed to escape and go back to their
haunts among the mountains. No district was hunted over more than once
in four years. The Peruvians showed great skill in weaving the vicuna
wool into robes for the Inca and carpets and hangings for his palaces.
The texture was as delicate as silk, and the brilliancy of the dyes
unequalled even in Europe. They also were expert in the beautiful
feather-work for which Mexico was famous, but they held it of less
account than the Mexicans did. In spite of some chance resemblances in
their customs, it seems certain that the Mexicans and Peruvians were
unaware of each other's existence. They differed in nothing more utterly
than in their treatment of the tribes they conquered. While the Mexicans
kept them in subjection by force and cruelty, the Peruvians did
everything they possibly could to make the conquered people one with the
rest of the nation.