Inca

“ The natives of many lands are as superstitious about the marvels of nature as were the Incas. “Is it a good omen, think you?”
“Royal Inca, son of the Sun,” answered his priest, “when the royal Atahualpa was on the eve of capture by the men of white faces, it is told by our haravecs—poets, minstrels—that a star fell!”
“Even so,” growled the Inca, “if Chasca comes to spell my doom, I care not whether he come from the Sun or from Cupay—the god of evil—I will sink an arrow into his flesh!” ”

“ To the modern inhabitants every such carved seat is a “throne of the Incas”—as if the Inca had nothing to do but sit around admiring the widespread view from those aërial points of vantage of which his dynasty was so fond. The imagination likes to picture him watching athletic games on the little plain before Sacsahuaman, and chuckling behind his Imperial mask at the antics of children sliding down the Rodadero, or toboggan-stone, as do still those youths of Cuzco who are low enough in caste not to jeopardize their dignity by such antics. ”

“ For centuries the Inca people had lived in undisturbed repose in their beautiful valleys and on their sunlit tablelands between the mountain ranges—or cordilleras, as they are called—which compose the Andes. If their peace was occasionally disturbed by neighbouring tribes, messages in knotted signs flew through the country, and the roads were full of armed men; but the Inca kings dreamed of no serious danger. For several hundred years their power had passed from father to son, and no neighbour was strong enough to wrest the sceptre from the Inca king's hand. ”

“ The people listened with deep earnestness and silence, till some expression aroused their passions, when brandishing their weapons, their bows, their clubs and spears, they uttered shouts of approval, or wild cries of defiance and hatred to their foe.
I had no doubt that I was in one of the strongholds of the Indians, among the mountains on the eastern side of the Andes. The Inca, for so I may call him, continued speaking for an hour or more, when I again fell off into a sleep or stupor. ”

“ Go back brother and say to Asto-huaraca, your Sinchi, that Inca Yupanqui is a child of the Sun and guardian of Cuzco, the city of Ticci Viracocha Pachayachachi, by whose order I am here guarding it. For this city is not mine but his; and if your Sinchi should wish to own obedience to Ticci Viracocha, or to me in His name, he will be honourably received. If your Sinchi should see things in another light, show him that I am here with our friends, and if he should conquer us he can call himself Lord and Inca. ”

“ The Inca is old. The High Priest, Cinto, who has his ear, fears me. He has made capital of my appearance today with you before the Council. To the Inca who, like an old man, clings with love to life and finds it sweeter as it grows to an end, he has said that I am in league with devils and that you are evil spirits, and not men from the outside world, who spoke as you did in order to aid my plans to seize the supreme power and slay the Inca. ”

“ So the Sun, or his representative the Inca, was furnished by his people with food, tilled by them from his own ground; clothing for his soldiers or his needy from the wool of his own flocks; bows and arrows, lances and{195} clubs, ropes for carrying burdens, helmets and targets each where most easily procurable. Temples and palaces of the Inca, his aqueducts, roads, and bridges were built with hymns of rejoicing. The laborers never got out of breath so as to spoil the cadence of the hymn of triumph; the chroniclers fail to say whether in obedience to law or from a sense of good taste. ”

“ On this road the army of the Inca was in great peril, suffering from scarcity of water, for the troops had to cross extensive tracts of sand. One day, at dawn, the Inca army found itself surrounded by an immense crowd of people, not knowing who they were. In fear of the unknown enemy, the troops began to retreat towards the Inca. Just as they were preparing for flight a boy came to Huayna Ccapac, and said: "My Lord! fear not, those are the people for whom we are in search. Let us attack them." ”

“ But when we descend to the matter of facts and figures, and critically compare this with the other narratives, we find the Inca always gives the highest number, always makes the array more imposing, the battle more furious, the victory more glorious, and the defeat more disastrous than either. ”

“ If it happened that because of ignorance they held out against the benefits an indulgent sovereign was waiting to bestow, the Inca’s messengers informed them of his exact intentions. All good gifts would be theirs, provided only they would renounce their independence, their language and religion, and send their chief god as an hostage of submission to the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco. Honored servants of the Inca would come to them in return to acquaint them more in particular with the new benefits they were about to receive. Skilled workmen would teach them the arts. ”

“ The Inca desolated that town with fire and sword, and with very great cruelty. He then returned to Cuzco and triumphed for that victory.
The Inca received information, after this, that there was a town called Huancara, 11 leagues from Cuzco, ruled by Sinchis named Ascascahuana and Urcu-cuna. So a message was sent to them, calling upon them to give reverence and obedience to the Inca and to pay tribute. They replied that they were not women to come and serve, that they were in their native place, and that if any one came to seek them they would defend themselves. ”

“ All things necessary having been prepared, the Inca set out from Cuzco with the whole army, and journeyed along a road as grand and wide as we now behold it; for all of us who have been in those parts have seen it, and travelled over it. He marched to the Collao, receiving the services proffered by the provinces through which he passed, as a matter of course. For they say that the Inca considered that it was merely their duty. He investigated what tribute they paid, and what were the capabilities of each province. He collected many women. ”

“ CHAPTER XXXVI. Of the seventh King or Inca who reigned in Cuzco, named Inca Yupanqui.
WHEN Inca Rocca died, many people, both men and women came from Condesuyo, Vicos, and Ayamarca, and there was great mourning for the deceased king. Many women, from among those who in life had loved and served him, in accordance with the general blindness of those Indians, hung themselves by their own hair, and others were killed in divers ways; that their souls might go quickly to serve their lord. ”

“ For, as they have no writing like the Spaniards, they conserve ancient traditions among themselves by passing them from tongue to tongue, and age to age. They heard their fathers and ancestors say that Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the ninth Inca, had verified the history of the former Incas who were before him, and painted their deeds on boards, whence also they had been able to learn the sayings of their fathers, and had passed them on to their children. ”

“ The Inca then went to the conquest of Pillauya, three leagues from Cuzco in the valley of Pisac, and to Choyca, an adjacent place, and to Yuco. After that he oppressed by force and with cruelties, the towns of Chillincay, Taocamarca, and the Caviñas, making them pay tribute. The Inca conquered ten places himself or through his son and captains. Some attribute all the conquests to his son Viracocha. ”

“ The Inca’s conditions were that estates should be given to those who were with him and had served him; that the lands which he and his father had desolated near the land of peace and the valley of Amaibamba should be granted to him; that the Indians taken from there should be his; that his Majesty should gratify the persons favoured, that they should be given a promise that they should enjoy the liberties and privileges enjoyed by people of noble birth; that friars and clerics should enter to preach the holy evangel ”

“ At this time a letter arrived from the Judge Matienzo announcing that he intended to leave Cuzco in ten days, and that I was to return, bringing the statement of what the Inca wanted. I then said to the Inca that, to show his sincerity, and that the Christians might see that he was acting in good faith, I would request him to allow me to assemble the Indians who were Christians, to set up a cross, and there to preach the law of our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy evangel. The Inca consented and ordered a great cross to be made. ”

“ Apart from the treatment which they meted out to the subject races under their sway, the rule of the Inca monarchs was enlightened and contained the elements of high civilisation. It is scarcely clear whether the Inca race arrived in the country at such a date as would have permitted them to profit by adopting the arts and sciences of the Andean people who preceded them. But it may be affirmed that their arrival considerably post-dated the fall of the megalithic empire of the Andeans, so that in reality their civilisation was of their own manufacture. ”

“ These facts must be carefully borne in mind in pursuing inquiries relating to the history of Inca civilization. It is also essential that the nature and value of the evidence on which conclusions must be based should be understood and carefully weighed. This evidence is of several kinds. Besides the testimony of Spanish writers who witnessed the conquest of Peru, or who lived a generation afterwards, there is the evidence derived from a study of the characteristics of descendants of the Inca people, of their languages and literature, and of their architectural and other remains. ”

“ The other half was divided between the Inca and the priesthood who celebrated the worship of the sun.
Out of the proceeds of his specially allotted lands the Inca had to keep up the army, the roads throughout the whole empire, and all the machinery of government. This was conducted by a special governing class all more or less closely related to the Inca himself, and representing a civilization and a culture much in advance of the great masses of the population. ”

“ Hardy’s account of the Incas, Colonel Bingham writes to The Mentor as follows:
“Within the confines of the ancient Inca empire, the archeologist can find a field for work, which, in the beauty of its natural surroundings, and the healthfulness of its climate, together with the interest lent by the present-day inhabitants, is equal, if not superior to, any other part of the earth’s surface. ”

“ Wherever the Peruvian Quichua language prevails, traces of the expected restoration of the Inca rule [127] exist in the minds of many of the natives possessing any knowledge of their national history.
We remained five days in the capital of the Inca Atahuallpa, which, at that time, numbered only 7000 or 8000 inhabitants. Our departure was delayed by the necessity of obtaining a great number of mules to convey our collections, and of selecting careful guides to conduct us across the chain of the Andes to the entrance of the long but narrow Peruvian sandy desert called the Desierto de Sechura. ”

“ These festivals, which are called purucaya [83] , were continued for more than four months. Great and sumptuous sacrifices were made to each Inca, at the conclusion of the representation of his acts and life. This gave them such authority that it made all strangers adore them, and worship them as gods. These strangers, when they beheld such majesty, humbled themselves, and put up their hands to worship or mucha as they say. The corpses were held in great respect and veneration until the Spaniards came to this land of Peru. ”

“ After they had shaken their clothes, they passed their hands over their heads, faces, arms, and legs, as if in the act of washing. All this was done to drive the evils out of their houses, that the messengers of the Sun might banish them from the city; and it was done not only in the streets through which the Incas ran, but generally in all quarters of the city. Moreover, they all danced, the Inca himself amongst them, and bathed in the rivers and fountains, saying that their maladies would come out of them. ”

“ The Inca was represented in the provinces by governors of the blood-royal. Ofiicials were placed above ten thousand families, a thousand families, and even ten families, upon the principle that the rays of the sun enter everywhere, and that therefore the light of the Inca must penetrate to every corner of the empire. There was no such thing as personal freedom. Every man, woman, and child was numbered, branded, and under surveillance as much as were the llamas in the royal herds. ”

“ Besides these, the Inca also despatched other orejones as overseers to make roads and hospices on the routes of the Inca, ready for the use of his soldiers. These overseers set out, and made roads, now called "of the Inca," over the mountains and along the sea coast. Those on the sea coast are all provided, at the sides, with high walls of adobe, wherever it was possible to build them, except in the deserts where there are no building materials. These roads go from Quito to Chile, and into the forests of the Andes. ”

“ A very important part of the work of modern archeology lies in identifying the location of the cities and towns which have a place in Inca tradition and history. The finding of the first and last home of the Incas by Colonel Bingham’s expeditions is only the beginning of a great deal of similar work which awaits the archeologist in Peru. ”

“ The Inca gave the colonists authority and power to enter the houses of the natives at all hours, night or day, to see what they said, did or arranged, with orders to report all to the nearest governor, so that it might be known if anything was plotted against the government of the Inca, who, knowing the evil he had done, feared all in general, and knew that no one served him voluntarily, but only by force. ”