Daybreak in the Incas' realm on the far western shores, known to our
fathers as the great wonderland--the great country discovered by
adventurous mariners, and thought of, dreamed of, seen through a golden
mist raised by the imagination--a mist which gave to everything its own
peculiar hue; and hence the far-off land was whispered of as "El
Dorado," the gilded, "the Golden Americas," and the country whose rivers
ran over golden sand, whose rocks were veined with the coveted ore; and
nations vied with each other in seeking to humble the haughty Spaniard,
whose enterprise had gained him the strongest footing in the coveted
region.
Daybreak at Tehutlan, the Incas' city, in the year 1533, and the peaks
of the mighty mountains that appeared to pierce the bright blue sky,
appearing to bear out the fabulous belief of the eastern lands, for
their icy summits glowed, and flushed, and sparkled in the rays of the
sun, which gilded every pinnacle and turned each glacier into a river of
gold, seeming to flow slowly downwards towards the vales and plains of
the Andes, as yet flooded with the darkness of the night.
But soon the purple flood of darkness began to give place to golden
light, as, still streaming down, as it were, from the mountain tops, the
sunshine leaped in bright cataracts from point to point, rushing up this
dark gully, that vast fissure, turning gloom into glowing landscape, and
at last filling the vast vales with gladness and life, as the glowing
picture burst into full beauty.
Here, at the foot of the mountains, flowed the mighty rivers of South
America, bordered by the vast, eternal tropic forest, with its dank,
steaming moisture--the home of the fierce beast, the loathsome reptile,
and insect plagues innumerable. Far up the mountains was the land of
ice and snow, fierce biting wind, and sleety tempest, with here and
there patches of verdure, the pastoral land of the vicuna and llama
flocks; but in the intermediate space, balanced, as it were, between the
tropical heat and the wintry frosts, on the table-lands half-way up the
mountains, was the stronghold of the Peruvian civilisation. So near to
the equator that intolerable heat might have been expected, an
expectation, though, not fulfilled, for the elevation gave to the
Peruvians a glorious climate, with all the brightness but none of the
enervation of equatorial land.
Cottage, house, and palace, of no mean construction, were scattered here
and there, the homes of peasant and Peruvian noble. But it was upon the
temple crowning a near elevation that the eye would rest, in rapt
astonishment at its magnificence and grandeur. The description may
sound like a scrap from some eastern fable, but none the less it is a
fact culled from the pages of history.
For as that bright morning sun peered at length above the shoulder of an
eastern hill, it was to shine full upon the Temple of the Sun and its
glorious gardens.
Gold--gold everywhere--gold and precious stones. Fronting the great
entrance, and ready to receive its first beams, was a golden
representation of the sun itself--a vast golden face surrounded by rays
stretching out in every direction--vast, massive, and glowing
effulgently, reflecting back the sun's rays, and lighting the interior
of the gold-decked temple.
For there was no paltry gilding here, but massive golden cornice,
frieze, plate, stud, and boss ornamenting the massive walls--glistening,
sparkling, and flashing back the sun's light, while, as if these were
not sufficient, emeralds and other precious stones were lavishly spread
in further ornamentation, adding their lustrous sheen to the warm glow
already diffused through the magnificent building. Flash, sparkle--
glistening streams of golden light, dancing like golden water upon the
gorgeous walls, gilding even those who entered, so that face and
garments were bathed and dyed in the glorious radiance, till the eye of
the beholder ached, and the darkened intellects of the simple Peruvians
might well believe that they were in the presence of the sun-god
himself.
But not only was gold lavished upon the stone building, even to adorning
its outer walls with a broad belt of the precious metal--solid, massive,
and magnificently wrought; but the implements and vessels of the temple
were of the yellow treasure. Huge vases stood upon the floor filled
with the produce of their land--offerings to the sun; perfume-censers,
water-cruses, cistern-pipes, reservoirs, all were of the rich, ruddy
metal.
The Peruvians called the ore in their language of imagery "the tears
wept by the sun;" and these tears they toiled to gather, and their
artificers worked them up with a cunning skill under the direction of
the priests; and, as if to complete the wonders of the temple, and to
give it adornments that should never lose their lustre, never fade, it
was surrounded by an Aladdin-like garden whose plants were gold--golden
of leaf, silver of stem, and with flowers sparkling in combinations of
the two metals. Fountains of gold cast up golden water to fall back in
golden basins--a mimic spray; and even then fresh objects of the
goldsmith's skill were seen in the golden-fleeced llamas grouped around.
But the glory of the Incas was passing. After a long period of
prosperity the evil days were at hand, the wondrous barbaric
civilisation was about to be swept away; for the adventurous Spaniard,
moved by his thirst for the gold, of whose existence rumour had from
time to time told him, was now in the land. The simple people, coasting
along in their light balsas or rafts, had seen the coming of what to
them were then wondrous ships, cock-boats, though, as compared even to
our collier brigs. War and rapine were in the land; the arms of the
Spaniards--the thunder and lightning they bore with them in their guns--
were everywhere victorious, and the riches of the temples were seized;
gloriously wrought vessels were hastily molten down into ingots, along
with plate, shield, and wonderfully-worked flowers; rapacity was
triumphant, and upon one occasion the value of the treasure collected
and melted down into bars was computed at three millions and a half
pounds sterling of our money.
The temples and their adornments were many and held sacred by the
people, a sanctity they had ventured to hope would be observed by the
conquerors; but the delusion was of short duration. The coming of a
body of Spaniards was the signal for the stripping of each gorgeous
building. Sacred vessel and ornament were seized upon and borne off;
but the news was spread from temple to temple, from priest to priest,
through the length and breadth of the land by means of swift-footed
couriers, not by written letter, neither by word of mouth, but by means
of a fringe of cords tied in knots, each knot and its place having its
particular signification.
The alarm spread, and the day of evil being upon them--their sun-gods
giving no sign of crushing the profane intruders--the priests looked
upon it as a sign of wrath and punishment; and sooner than their
treasure should fall into the hands of the fierce, remorseless
conquerors, eagerly stripped their temples themselves, and in remote
hiding-places, with many a mysterious rite, re-committed the gold to its
parent earth, binding all who beheld by the most fearful bonds never to
reveal the treasure-places to the conquerors, but to wait for the great
day when the ancient glory of Peru should be revived, when the Incas
should reign once more, and their religion flourish, ere the sacred
treasures were disinterred.
But that day came not. European civilisation began to take the place of
that of the Incas, a new form of religion flourished, and from being
monarchs in the country the Peruvians became the slaves, the hewers of
wood and drawers of water of a new race. Generations came and
generations died out, and the years still rolled on till ages passed
away; but though poor and degraded, the priestly caste existed still
amongst the Indians, and from father to son was the great secret handed
down in village after village, the idea of appropriating to their own
use the buried treasures never once being dreamed of; but, with the
wealth of princes scattered here and there throughout the country, the
Indians watched over the treasures still, and handed down the secret to
their children.
Some were discovered by stratagem, others by treachery, others, again,
by accident; and while the exact bearings of the places were mostly well
remembered, others died out of the memory of those to whose trust they
had been committed, or in some cases died with them. But to this day it
is believed that vast stores of the precious metal still lie waiting the
hand of the discoverer, the barbaric relics of a fierce and bloody
religion, the creed of an idolatrous people; and many an explorer
unrewarded has wasted his days amidst the traces of the ruined temples
and tokens of a grand civilisation, scattered here and there amidst the
forests and mountain fastnesses of the mighty Andes.