Physical Aspect Of The Country--Sources Of Peruvian Civilization--
Empire Of The Incas--Royal Family--Nobility
Of the numerous nations which occupied the great American continent at
the time of its discovery by the Europeans, the two most advanced in
power and refinement were undoubtedly those of Mexico and Peru. But,
though resembling one another in extent of civilization, they differed
widely as to the nature of it; and the philosophical student of his species
may feel a natural curiosity to trace the different steps by which these two
nations strove to emerge from the state of barbarism, and place
themselves on a higher point in the scale of humanity.--In a former work I
have endeavored to exhibit the institutions and character of the ancient
Mexicans, and the story of their conquest by the Spaniards. The present
will be devoted to the Peruvians; and, if their history shall be found to
present less strange anomalies and striking contrasts than that of the
Aztecs, it may interest us quite as much by the pleasing picture it offers of
a well-regulated government and sober habits of industry under the
patriarchal sway of the Incas.
The empire of Peru, at the period of the Spanish invasion, stretched along
the Pacific from about the second degree north to the thirty-seventh
degree of south latitude; a line, also, which describes the western
boundaries of the modern republics of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili.
Its breadth cannot so easily be determined; for, though bounded
everywhere by the great ocean on the west, towards the east it spread out,
in many parts, considerably beyond the mountains, to the confines of
barbarous states, whose exact position is undetermined, or whose names
are effaced from the map of history. It is certain, however, that its breadth
was altogether disproportioned to its length.1
The topographical aspect of the country is very remarkable. A strip of
land, rarely exceeding twenty leagues in width, runs along the coast, and
is hemmed in through its whole extent by a colossal range of mountains,
which, advancing from the Straits of Magellan, reaches its highest
elevation-indeed, the highest on the American continent--about the
seventeenth degree south, 2 and, after crossing the line, gradually subsides
into hills of inconsiderable magnitude, as it enters the isthmus of Panama.
This is the famous Cordillera of the Andes, or "copper mountains," 3 as
termed by the natives, though they might with more reason have been
called "mountains of gold." Arranged sometimes in a single line, though
more frequently in two or three lines running parallel or obliquely to each
other, they seem to the voyager on the ocean but one continuous chain;
while the huge volcanoes, which to the inhabitants of the tableland look
like solitary and independent masses, appear to aim only like so many
peaks of the same vast and magnificent range. So immense is the scale on
which Nature works in these regions, that it is only when viewed from a
great distance, that the spectator can, in any degree, comprehend the
relation of the several parts to the stupendous whole. Few of the works of
Nature, indeed, are calculated to produce impressions of higher sublimity
than the aspect of this coast, as it is gradually unfolded to the eye of the
mariner sailing on the distant waters of the Pacific; where mountain is
seen to rise above mountain, and Chimborazo, with its glorious canopy of
snow, glittering far above the clouds, crowns the whole as with a celestial
diadem.4
The face of the country would appear to be peculiarly unfavorable to the
purposes both of agriculture and of internal communication. The sandy
strip along the coast, where rain never falls, is fed only by a few scanty
streams, that furnish a remarkable contrast to the vast volumes of water
which roll down the eastern sides of the Cordilleras into the Atlantic. The
precipitous steeps of the sierra, with its splintered sides of porphyry and
granite, and its higher regions wrapped in snows that never melt under the
fierce sun of the equator, unless it be from the desolating action of its own
volcanic fires, might seem equally unpropitious to the labors of the
husbandman. And all communication between the parts of the long-
extended territory might be thought to be precluded by the savage
character of the region, broken up by precipices, furious torrents, and
impassable quebradas,--those hideous rents in the mountain chain, whose
depths the eye of the terrified traveller, as he winds along his aerial
pathway, vainly endeavors to fathom.5 Yet the industry, we might almost
say, the genius, of the Indian was sufficient to overcome all these
impediments of Nature.
By a judicious system of canals and subterraneous aqueducts, the waste
places on the coast were refreshed by copious streams, that clothed them
in fertility and beauty. Terraces were raised upon the steep sides of the
Cordillera; and, as the different elevations had the effect of difference of
latitude, they exhibited in regular gradation every variety of vegetable
form, from the stimulated growth of the tropics, to the temperate products
of a northern clime; while flocks of llamas--the Peruvian sheep--wandered
with their shepherds over the broad, snow-covered wastes on the crests of
the sierra, which rose beyond the limits of cultivation. An industrious
population settled along the lofty regions of the plateaus, and towns and
hamlets, clustering amidst orchards and widespreading gardens, seemed
suspended in the air far above the ordinary elevation of the clouds. 6
Intercourse was maintained between these numerous settlements by means
of great roads which traversed the mountain passes, and opened an easy
communication between the capital and the remotest extremities of the
empire.
The source of this civilization is traced to the valley of Cuzco, the central
region of Peru, as its name implies.7 The origin of the Peruvian empire,
like the origin of all nations, except the very few which, like our own,
have had the good fortune to date from a civilized period and people, is
lost in the mists of fable, which, in fact, have settled as darkly round its
history as round that of any nation, ancient or modern, in the Old World.
According to the tradition most familiar to the European scholar, the time
was, when the ancient races of the continent were all plunged in
deplorable barbarism; when they worshipped nearly every object in nature
indiscriminately; made war their pastime, and feasted on the flesh of their
slaughtered captives. The Sun, the great luminary and parent of mankind,
taking compassion on their degraded condition, sent two of his children,
Manco Capac and Mama Oello Huaco, to gather the natives into
communities, and teach them the arts of civilized life. The celestial pair,
brother and sister, husband and wife, advanced along the high plains in
the neighborhood of Lake Titicaca, to about the sixteenth degree south.
They bore with them a golden wedge, and were directed to take up their
residence on the spot where the sacred emblem should without effort sink
into the ground. They proceeded accordingly but a short distance, as far
as the valley of Cuzco, the spot indicated by the performance of the
miracle, since there the wedge speedily sank into the earth and
disappeared for ever. Here the children of the Sun established their
residence, and soon entered upon their beneficent mission among the rude
inhabitants of the country; Manco Capac teaching the men the arts of
agriculture, and Mama Oello 8 initiating her own sex in the mysteries of
weaving and spinning. The simple people lent a willing ear to the
messengers of Heaven, and, gathering together in considerable numbers,
laid the foundations of the city of Cuzco. The same wise and benevolent
maxims, which regulated the conduct of the first Incas, 9 descended to
their successors, and under their mild sceptre a community gradually
extended itself along the broad surface of the table-land, which asserted
its superiority over the surrounding tribes. Such is the pleasing picture of
the origin of the Peruvian monarchy, as portrayed by Garcilasso de la
Vega, the descendant of the Incas, and through him made familiar to the
European reader.10
But this tradition is only one of several current among the Peruvian
Indians, and probably not the one most generally received. Another
legend speaks of certain white and bearded men, who, advancing from the
shores of Lake Titicaca, established an ascendancy over the natives, and
imparted to them the blessings of civilization. It may remind us of the
tradition existing among the Aztecs in respect to Quetzalcoatl, the good
deity, who with a similar garb and aspect came up the great plateau from
the east on a like benevolent mission to the natives. The analogy is the
more remarkable, as there is no trace of any communication with, or even
knowledge of, each other to be found in the two nations.11
The date usually assigned for these extraordinary events was about four
hundred years before the coming of the Spaniards, or early in the twelfth
century.12 But, however pleasing to the imagination, and however
popular, the legend of Manco Capac, it requires but little reflection to
show its improbability, even when divested of supernatural
accompaniments. On the shores of Lake Titicaca extensive ruins exist at
the present day, which the Peruvians themselves acknowledge to be of
older date than the pretended advent of the Incas, and to have furnished
them with the models of their architecture.13 The date of their
appearance, indeed, is manifestly irreconcilable with their subsequent
history. No account assigns to the Inca dynasty more than thirteen princes
before the Conquest. But this number is altogether too small to have
spread over four hundred years, and would not carry back the foundations
of the monarchy, on any probable computation, beyond two centuries and
a half,-an antiquity not incredible in itself, and which, it may be remarked,
does not precede by more than half a century the alleged foundation of the
capital of Mexico. The fiction of Manco Capac and his sister-wife was
devised, no doubt, at a later period, to gratify the vanity of the Peruvian
monarchs, and to give additional sanction to their authority by deriving it
from a celestial origin.
We may reasonably conclude that there existed in the country a race
advanced in civilization before the time of the Incas; and, in conformity
with nearly every tradition, we may derive this race from the
neighborhood of Lake Titicaca; 14 a conclusion strongly confirmed by the
imposing architectural remains which still endure, after the lapse of so
many years, on its borders. Who this race were, and whence they came,
may afford a tempting theme for inquiry to the speculative antiquarian.
But it is a land of darkness that lies far beyond the domain of history.15
The same mists that hang round the origin of the Incas continue to settle
on their subsequent annals; and, so imperfect were the records employed
by the Peruvians, and so confused and contradictory their traditions, that
the historian finds no firm footing on which to stand till within a century
of the Spanish conquest.16 At first, the progress of the Peruvians seems
to have been slow, and almost imperceptible. By their wise and temperate
policy, they gradually won over the neighboring tribes to their dominion,
as these latter became more and more convinced of the benefits of a just
and well-regulated government. As they grew stronger, they were enabled
to rely more directly on force; but, still advancing under cover of the same
beneficent pretexts employed by their predecessors, they proclaimed
peace and civilization at the point of the sword. The rude nations of the
country, without any principle of cohesion among themselves, fell one
after another before the victorious arm of the Incas. Yet it was not till the
middle of the fifteenth century that the famous Topa Inca Yupanqui,
grandfather of the monarch who occupied the throne at the coming of the
Spaniards, led his armies across the terrible desert of Atacama, and,
penetrating to the southern region of Chili, fixed the permanent boundary
of his dominions at the river Maule. His son, Huayna Capac, possessed of
ambition and military talent fully equal to his father's, marched along the
Cordillera towards the north, and, pushing his conquests across the
equator, added the powerful kingdom of Quito to the empire of Peru.17
The ancient city of Cuzco, meanwhile, had been gradually advancing in
wealth and population, till it had become the worthy metropolis of a great
and flourishing monarchy. It stood in a beautiful valley on an elevated
region of the plateau, which, among the Alps, would have been buried in
eternal snows, but which within the tropics enjoyed a genial and
salubrious temperature. Towards the north it was defended by a lofty
eminence, a spur of the great Cordillera; and the city was traversed by a
river, or rather a small stream, over which bridges of timber, covered with
heavy slabs of stone, furnished an easy means of communication with the
opposite banks. The streets were long and narrow; the houses low, and
those of the poorer sort built of clay and reeds. But Cuzco was the royal
residence, and was adorned with the ample dwellings of the great nobility;
and the massy fragments still incorporated in many of the modern edifices
bear testimony to the size and solidity of the ancient.18
The health of the city was promoted by spacious openings and squares, in
which a numerous population from the capital and the distant country
assembled to celebrate the high festivals of their religion. For Cuzco was
the "Holy City"; 19 and the great temple of the Sun, to which pilgrims
resorted from the furthest borders of the empire, was the most magnificent
structure in the New World, and unsurpassed, probably, in the costliness
of its decorations by any building in the Old.
Towards the north, on the sierra or rugged eminence already noticed, rose
a strong fortress, the remains of which at the present day, by their vast
size, excite the admiration of the traveller.20 It was defended by a single
wall of great thickness, and twelve hundred feet long on the side facing
the city, where the precipitous character of the ground was of itself almost
sufficient for its defence. On the other quarter, where the approaches
were less difficult, it was protected by two other semicircular walls of the
same length as the preceding. They were separated, a considerable
distance from one another and from the fortress; and the intervening
ground was raised so that the walls afforded a breastwork for the troops
stationed there in times of assault. The fortress consisted of three towers,
detached from one another. One was appropriated to the Inca, and was
garnished with the sumptuous decorations befitting a royal residence,
rather than a military post. The other two were held by the garrison,
drawn from the Peruvian nobles, and commanded by an officer of the
blood royal; for the position was of too great importance to be intrusted to
inferior hands. The hill was excavated below the towers, and several
subterraneous galleries communicated with the city and the palaces of the
Inca.21
The fortress, the walls, and the galleries were all built of stone, the heavy
blocks of which were not laid in regular courses, but so disposed that the
small ones might fill up the interstices between the great. They formed a
sort of rustic work, being rough-hewn except towards the edges, which
were finely wrought; and, though no cement was used, the several blocks
were adjusted with so much exactness and united so closely, that it was
impossible to introduce even the blade of a knife between them.22 Many
of these stones were of vast size; some of them being full thirty-eight feet
long, by eighteen broad, and six feet thick.23
We are filled with astonishment, when we consider, that these enormous
masses were hewn from their native bed and fashioned into shape, by a
people ignorant of the use of iron; that they were brought from quarries,
from four to fifteen leagues distant, 24 without the aid of beasts of burden;
were transported across rivers and ravines, raised to their elevated
position on the sierra, and finally adjusted there with the nicest accuracy,
without the knowledge of tools and machinery familiar to the European.
Twenty thousand men are said to have been employed on this great
structure, and fifty years consumed in the building.25 However this may
be, we see in it the workings of a despotism which had the lives and
fortunes of its vassals at its absolute disposal, and which, however mild in
its general character, esteemed these vassals, when employed in its
service, as lightly as the brute animals for which they served as a
substitute.
The fortress of Cuzco was but part of a system of fortifications established
throughout their dominions by the Incas. This system formed a prominent
feature in their military policy; but before entering on this latter, it will
be proper to give the reader some view of their civil institutions and
scheme of government.
The sceptre of the Incas, if we may credit their historian, descended in
unbroken succession from father to son, through their whole dynasty.
Whatever we may think of this, it appears probable that the right of
inheritance might be claimed by the eldest son of the Coya, or lawful
queen, as she was styled, to distinguish her from the host of concubines
who shared the affections of the sovereign.26 The queen was further
distinguished, at least in later reigns, by the circumstance of being
selected from the sisters of the Inca, an arrangement which, however
revolting to the ideas of civilized nations, was recommended to the
Peruvians by its securing an heir to the crown of the pure heaven-born
race, uncontaminated by any mixture of earthly mould.27
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.28 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 fasts 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 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.29 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.30 The prince's head was further ornamented by a fillet, or tasselled
fringe, of a yellow color, made of the fine threads of the vicuna 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.31
The reader will be less surprised by the resemblance which this
ceremonial bears to the inauguration of a Christian knight in the feudal
ages, if he reflects that a similar analogy may be traced in the institutions
of other people more or less civilized; and that it is natural that nations,
occupied with the one great business of war, should mark the period,
when the preparatory education for it was ended, by similar characteristic
ceremonies.
Having thus honorably passed through his ordeal, the heir-apparent was
deemed worthy to sit in the councils of his father, and was employed in
offices of trust at home, or, more usually, sent on distant expeditions to
practise in the field the lessons which he had hitherto studied only in the
mimic theatre of war. His first campaigns were conducted under the
renowned commanders who had grown grey in the service of his father;
until, advancing in years and experience, he was placed in command
himself, and, like Huayna Capac, the last and most illustrious of his line,
carried the banner of the rainbow, the armorial ensign of his house, far
over the borders, among the remotest tribes of the plateau.
The government of Peru was a despotism, mild in its character, but in its
form a pure and unmitigated despotism. The sovereign was placed at an
immeasurable distance above his subjects. Even the proudest of the Inca
nobility, claiming a descent from the same divine original as himself,
could not venture into the royal presence, unless barefoot, and bearing a
light burden on his shoulders in token of homage.32 As the
representative of the Sun, he stood at the head of the priesthood, and
presided at the most important of the religious festivals.33 He raised
armies, and usually commanded them in person. He imposed taxes, made
laws, and provided for their execution by the appointment of judges,
whom he removed at pleasure. He was the source from which every thing
flowed, all dignity, all power, all emolument. He was, in short, in the well-
known phrase of the European despot, "himself the state." 34
The Inca asserted his claims as a superior being by assuming a pomp in
his manner of living well calculated to impose on his people. His dress
was of the finest wool of the vicuna, richly dyed, and ornamented with a
profusion of gold and precious stones. Round his head was wreathed a
turban of many-colored folds, called the llautu; and a tasselled fringe, like
that worn by the prince, but of a scarlet color, with two feathers of a rare
and curious bird, called the coraquenque, placed upright in it, were the
distinguishing insignia of royalty. The birds from which these feathers
were obtained were found in a desert country among the mountains; and it
was death to destroy or to take them, as they were reserved for the
exclusive purpose of supplying the royal head-gear. Every succeeding
monarch was provided with a new pair of these plumes, and his credulous
subjects fondly believed that only two individuals of the species had ever
existed to furnish the simple ornament for the diadem of the Incas.35
Although the Peruvian monarch was raised so far above the highest of his
subjects, he condescended to mingle occasionally with them, and took
great pains personally to inspect the condition of the humbler classes. He
presided at some of the religious celebrations, and on these occasions
entertained the great nobles at his table, when he complimented them,
after the fashion of more civilized nations, by drinking the health of those
whom he most delighted to honor.36
But the most effectual means taken by the Incas for communicating with
their people were their progresses through the empire. These were
conducted, at intervals of several years, with great state and magnificence.
The sedan, or litter, in which they travelled, richly emblazoned with gold
and emeralds, was guarded by a numerous escort. The men who bore it
on their shoulders were provided by two cities, specially appointed for the
purpose. It was a post to be coveted by no one, if, as is asserted, a fall
was punished by death.37 They travelled with ease and expedition,
halting at the tambos, or inns, erected by government along the route, and
occasionally at the royal palaces, which in the great towns afforded ample
accommodations to the whole of the monarch's retinue. The noble roads
which traversed the table-land were lined with people who swept away the
stones and stubble from their surface, strewing them with sweet-scented
flowers, and vying with each other in carrying forward the baggage from
one village to another. The monarch halted from time to time to listen to
the grievances of his subjects, or to settle some points which had been
referred to his decision by the regular tribunals. As the princely train
wound its way along the mountain passes, every place was thronged with
spectators eager to catch a glimpse of their sovereign; and, when he raised
the curtains of his litter, and showed himself to their eyes, the air was rent
with acclamations as they invoked blessings on his head.38 Tradition
long commemorated the spots at which he halted, and the simple people
of the country held them in reverence as places consecrated by the
presence of an Inca.39
The royal palaces were on a magnificent scale, and, far from being
confined to the capital or a few principal towns, were scattered over all
the provinces of their vast empire.40 The buildings were low, but
covered a wide extent of ground. Some of the apartments were spacious,
but they were generally small, and had no communication with one
another, except that they opened into a common square or court. The
walls were made of blocks of stone of various sizes, like those described
in the fortress of Cuzco, rough-hewn, but carefully wrought near the line
of junction, which was scarcely visible to the eye. The roofs were of
wood or rushes, which have perished under the rude touch of time, that
has shown more respect for the walls of the edifices. The whole seems to
have been characterized by solidity and strength, rather than by any
attempt at architectural elegance.41
But whatever want of elegance there may have been in the exterior of the
imperial dwellings, it was amply compensated by the interior, in which all
the opulence of the Peruvian princes was ostentatiously displayed. The
sides of the apartments were thickly studded with gold and silver
ornaments. Niches, prepared in the walls, were filled with images of
animals and plants curiously wrought of the same costly materials; and
even much of the domestic furniture, including the utensils devoted to the
most ordinary menial services, displayed the like wanton magnificence!
42 With these gorgeous decorations were mingled richly colored stuffs of
the delicate manufacture of the Peruvian wool, which were of so beautiful
a texture, that the Spanish sovereigns, with all the luxuries of Europe and
Asia at their command, did not disdain to use them.43 The royal
household consisted of a throng of menials, supplied by the neighboring
towns and villages, which, as in Mexico, were bound to furnish the
monarch with fuel and other necessaries for the consumption of the
palace.
But the favorite residence of the Incas was at Yucay, about four leagues
distant from the capital. In this delicious valley, locked up within the
friendly arms of the sierra, which sheltered it from the rude breezes of the
east, and refreshed by gushing fountains and streams of running water,
they built the most beautiful of their palaces. Here, when wearied with
the dust and toil of the city, they loved to retreat, and solace themselves
with the society of their favorite concubines, wandering amidst groves and
airy gardens, that shed around their soft, intoxicating odors, and lulled the
senses to voluptuous repose. Here, too, they loved to indulge in the
luxury of their baths, replenished by streams of crystal water which were
conducted through subterraneous silver channels into basins of gold. The
spacious gardens were stocked with numerous varieties of plants and
flowers that grew without effort in this temperate region of the tropics,
while parterres of a more extraordinary kind were planted by their side,
glowing with the various forms of vegetable life skilfully imitated in gold
and silver! Among them the Indian corn, the most beautiful of American
grains, is particularly commemorated, and the curious workmanship is
noticed with which the golden ear was half disclosed amidst the broad
leaves of silver, and the light tassel of the same material that floated
gracefully from its top.44
If this dazzling picture staggers the faith of the reader, he may reflect that
the Peruvian mountains teemed with gold; that the natives understood the
art of working the mines, to a considerable extent; that none of the ore, as
we shall see hereafter, was converted into coin, and that the whole of it
passed into the hands of the sovereign for his own exclusive benefit,
whether for purposes of utility or ornament. Certain it is that no fact is
better attested by the Conquerors themselves, who had ample means of
information, and no motive for misstatement.--The Italian poets, in their
gorgeous pictures of the gardens of Alcina and Morgana, came nearer the
truth than they imagined.
Our surprise, however, may reasonably be excited, when we consider that
the wealth displayed by the Peruvian princes was only that which each
had amassed individually for himself. He owed nothing to inheritance
from his predecessors. On the decease of an Inca, his palaces were
abandoned, all his treasures, except what were employed in his obsequies,
his furniture and apparel, were suffered to remain as he left them, and his
mansions, save one, were closed up for ever. The new sovereign was to
provide himself with every thing new for his royal state. The reason of
this was the popular belief, that the soul of the departed monarch would
return after a time to reanimate his body on earth; and they wished that he
should find every thing to which he had been used in life prepared for his
reception.45
When an Inca died, or, to use his own language, "was called home to the
mansions of his father, the Sun," 46 his obsequies were celebrated with
great pomp and solemnity. The bowels were taken from the body, and
deposited in the temple of Tampu, about five leagues from the capital. A
quantity of his plate and jewels was buried with them, and a number of his
attendants and favorite concubines, amounting sometimes, it is said, to a
thousand, were immolated on his tomb.47 Some of them showed the
natural repugnance to the sacrifice occasionally manifested by the victims
of a similar superstition in India. But these were probably the menials
and more humble attendants; since the women have been known, in more
than one instance, to lay violent hands on themselves, when restrained
from testifying their fidelity by this act of conjugal martyrdom. This
melancholy ceremony was followed by a general mourning throughout the
empire. At stated intervals, for a year, the people assembled to renew the
expressions of their sorrow, processions were made, displaying the banner
of the departed monarch; bards and minstrels were appointed to chronicle
his achievements, and their songs continued to be rehearsed at high
festivals in the presence of the reigning monarch,--thus stimulating the
living by the glorious example of the dead.48
The body of the deceased Inca was skilfully embalmed, and removed to
the great temple of the Sun at Cuzco. There the Peruvian sovereign, on
entering the awful sanctuary, might behold the effigies of his royal
ancestors, ranged in opposite files,--the men on the right, and their queens
on the left, of the great luminary which blazed in refulgent gold on the
walls of the temple. The bodies, clothed in the princely attire which they
had been accustomed to wear, were placed on chairs of gold, and sat with
their heads inclined downward, their hands placidly crossed over their
bosoms, their countenances exhibiting their natural dusky hue,--less liable
to change than the fresher coloring of a European complexion,--and their
hair of raven black, or silvered over with age, according to the period at
which they died! It seemed like a company of solemn worshippers fixed in
devotion,--so true were the forms and lineaments to life. The Peruvians
were as successful as the Egyptians in the miserable attempt to perpetuate
the existence of the body beyond the limits assigned to it by nature.49
They cherished a still stranger illusion in the attentions which they
continued to pay to these insensible remains, as if they were instinct with
life. One of the houses belonging to a deceased Inca was kept open and
occupied by his guard and attendants, with all the state appropriate to
royalty. On certain festivals, the revered bodies of the sovereigns were
brought out with great ceremony into the public square of the capital.
Invitations were sent by the captains of the guard of the respective Incas
to the different nobles and officers of the court; and entertainments were
provided in the names of their masters, which displayed all the profuse
magnificence of their treasures,--and "such a display," says an ancient
chronicler, "was there in the great square of Cuzco, on this occasion, of
gold and silver plate and jewels, as no other city in the world ever
witnessed." 50 The banquet was served by the menials of the respective
households, and the guests partook of the melancholy cheer in the
presence of the royal phantom with the same attention to the forms of
courtly etiquette as if the living monarch had presided! 51
The nobility of Peru consisted of two orders, the first and by far the most
important of which was that of the Incas, who, boasting a common
descent with their sovereign, lived, as it were, in the reflected light of his
glory. As the Peruvian monarchs availed themselves of the right of
polygamy to a very liberal extent, leaving behind them families of one or
even two hundred children, 52 the nobles of the blood royal, though
comprehending only their descendants in the male line, came in the course
of years to be very numerous.53 They were divided into different
lineages, each of which traced its pedigree to a different member of the
royal dynasty, though all terminated in the divine founder of the empire.
They were distinguished by many exclusive and very important privileges;
they wore a peculiar dress; spoke a dialect, if we may believe the
chronicler, peculiar to themselves; 54 and had the choicest portion of the
public domain assigned for their support. They lived, most of them, at
court, near the person of the prince, sharing in his counsels, dining at his
board, or supplied from his table. They alone were admissible to the great
offices in the priesthood. They were invested with the command of
armies, and of distant garrisons, were placed over the provinces, and, in
short, filled every station of high trust and emolument.55 Even the laws,
severe in their general tenor, seem not to have been framed with reference
to them; and the people, investing the whole order with a portion of the
sacred character which belonged to the sovereign, held that an Inca noble
was incapable of crime.56
The other order of nobility was the Curacas, the caciques of the
conquered nations, or their descendants. They were usually continued by
the government in their places, though they were required to visit the
capital occasionally, and to allow their sons to be educated there as the
pledges of their loyalty. It is not easy to define the nature or extent of
their privileges. They were possessed of more or less power, according to
the extent of their patrimony, and the number of their vassals. Their
authority was usually transmitted from father to son, though sometimes
the successor was chosen by the people.57 They did not occupy the
highest posts of state, or those nearest the person of the sovereign, like the
nobles of the blood. Their authority seems to have been usually local, and
always in subordination to the territorial jurisdiction of the great
provincial governors, who were taken from the Incas.58
It was the Inca nobility, indeed, who constituted the real strength of the
Peruvian monarchy. Attached to their prince by ties of consanguinity,
they had common sympathies and, to a considerable extent, common
interests with him. Distinguished by a peculiar dress and insignia, as well
as by language and blood, from the rest of the community, they were
never confounded with the other tribes and nations who were incorporated
into the great Peruvian monarchy. After the lapse of centuries, they still
retained their individuality as a peculiar people. They were to the
conquered races of the country what the Romans were to the barbarous
hordes of the Empire, or the Normans to the ancient inhabitants of the
British Isles. Clustering around the throne, they formed an invincible
phalanx, to shield it alike from secret conspiracy and open insurrection.
Though living chiefly in the capital, they were also distributed throughout
the country in all its high stations and strong military posts, thus
establishing lines of communication with the court, which enabled the
sovereign to act simultaneously and with effect on the most distant
quarters of his empire. They possessed, moreover, an intellectual
preeminence, which, no less than their station, gave them authority with
the people. Indeed, it may be said to have been the principal foundation
of their authority. The crania of the Inca race show a decided superiority
over the other races of the land in intellectual power; 59 and it cannot be
denied that it was the fountain of that peculiar civilization and social
polity, which raised the Peruvian monarchy above every other state in
South America. Whence this remarkable race came, and what was its
early history, are among those mysteries that meet us so frequently in the
annals of the New World, and which time and the antiquary have as yet
done little to explain.