Incas

“ Under these conditions, in this great struggle for existence, the Incas established and sustained a Government—the first in which the equal rights of every human being were recognized—and worshipped a being whose attributes were similar to those of the Christian God. The great sea, breaking with ceaseless thunder upon the rocky coast, impressed the dweller in the desert with reverence and awe, and he recognized by an equally natural logic that the sun was the source of light and happiness. ”

“ We whose countless tribes only a few centuries ago covered the vast tract of land contained between the two seas, are now reduced to a small band of warriors, who, timid as llamas, fly before our despoilers. Our sacred cities, the last refuges of the civilization of our fathers the Incas, are about to become the prey of these human-faced monsters who have no other God but gold. Our dispersed race will soon disappear from this world which it so long possessed and governed alone. ”

“ If the rise of the Incas to power was not related to the topography and climate of the Cuzco basin, at least it is certain that without so broad and noble a stage the scenes would have been enacted on a far different scale.
The first Inca king and the Spanish after the Incas found here no mobile nomadic tribes melting away at the first touch, no savages hiding in forest fastnesses, but a well-rooted agricultural race in whose center a large city had grown up. Without a city and a fertile tributary plain no strong system of government could be maintained or could even arise. ”

“ One by one they fell before the assaults of the Incas, and were reduced to tribute. Rendered still more powerful by success, the Incas pushed on their conquests until finally all the tribes living in that vast stretch of country from the Andes to the Pacific, from Chili to the United States of Colombia, acknowledged themselves tributary to the Incas. This was the state of things when the Spaniards, under Pizarro, appeared on the scene.
When we undertake to learn the history or the state of culture among the Incas, we are entering on a difficult subject. ”

“ The revelations of scientific research are daily adding to the record of its glory in the remote past, when the Incas and their predecessors ruled with theocratic sway over a large part of the continent and lived in barbaric splendor at Cuzco, at Chan-Chan, or at some other of the great pre-Columbian capitals, the ruins of which to-day excite the admiration of archæologists and the enthusiasm of sightseers. ”

“ No tradition was found among the Peruvians only three centuries later concerning the Incas or any other people having reached their shores by the accident of shipwreck, or who could be identified as of Asiatic origin. It is true the Incas may have designed to keep their human origin as well as their misfortunes a secret, that they might the better set up their claim to imperial and divine honors among the people whom they sought to subjugate by that most powerful ally to ambition—superstition. ”

“ There were ten or twelve Incas before the conquest of Peru. Their conquests extended through the entire valley of the Cordilleras, until over four hundred tribes, with a population of many millions, became subject to their dominion.
The territory of the Incas extended from the southern part of Chili northward into Colombia, beyond Quito, a distance of two thousand miles, and west to the Pacific Ocean. On the eastern slope of the Cordilleras, toward the great plain of the Amazon, the Incas met a stronger and more savage people, with whom they were in constant warfare. ”

“ Even the executive Incas were obliged to turn back with only a fringe of jungle conquest, great campaigns resulting only in loss of life then as now. They retreated, submissive before nature’s impregnable stronghold. There are tribes of strange, shy little people still showing traces of contact with the Incas. ”

“ After supper the professor gave the lads an interesting sketch of the country they were in, and finished up with an account of the old Incas, one of whose lost cities they had come to find.
Among other things of interest he told them concerning the lost race, was that they are believed to have been sun worshippers. At any rate, in one of the ruined cities which has been located in Peru, circular temples with the walls embellished with pictures of the sun have been found. Other facts concerning the vanished civilization of the Incas must ever remain a mystery, said the man of science. ”

“ The Incas, reigning over them, considered their manner of living to be evil, and induced them, partly by menaces and partly by favours, to see the wisdom of ceasing to live like savages, but rather as reasonable beings, establishing themselves in towns, both on the plains of the coast and in the mountains, and settling on the land according to the regulations that were made. In this way the Indians abandoned the pucaras in which they originally dwelt, and formed themselves into communities in towns, as well in the valleys of the coast as in the mountains, and on the plain of the Collao. ”

“ Yet against the force and power of the Incas on foot and united, it appeared that it would be impossible for human force to do what a few Spaniards did, numbering only 180, who at first entered with the Governor Don Francisco Pizarro.
It is well established that it is a thing false and without reason, and which ought not to be said, that there is now, in these kingdoms, any person of the lineage of the Incas who can pretend to a right of succession to the Incaship of this kingdom of Peru, nor to be natural or legitimate lords. ”

“ We see we can not solve the question of the origin of the Incas until we solve the deeper problems of the origin of the Andean tribes. Every thing seems to indicate a long-continued residence, perhaps for centuries, and a slow advance in culture. We are not to suppose the Incas were endowed with unusual capacity for improvement; all the tribes were probably about equal in this respect.20 But their situation was in their favor, and they did not have to contend with those obstacles that confronted other tribes. They must have increased in numbers and in culture ”

“ These lances, light and made of flexible bamboos, sixteen to eighteen feet in length, and armed at their extremity with a spear a foot long forged by the Indians themselves, grow in the mountains of Chili, near Valdivia.
The liveliest joy appeared to prevail in the toldería. In some chozas Indian women, provided with spindles handed down from the Incas, were winding the wool of their flocks; in others, women were weaving their ponchos, so renowned for their delicacy and perfection of work, at looms of primitive simplicity which are another inheritance from the Incas. ”

“ The most remarkable results of the rule of the Incas are seen in the material well-being which they secured to their people. All the historians speak of the really extraordinary perfection to which Peruvian agriculture had been carried, though the use of iron was quite unknown. The solar religion fits perfectly with the habits of an agricultural people, and the Incas thought it became them, as children of the Sun, to encourage the cultivation of the soil. ”

“ 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. ”

“ By advantage of these, and other similar inventions, it was not difficult for the Incas to persuade the rest of the Indians, that they actually descended from the sun, and to confirm their belief by the manifold benefits and advantages which their doctrine and religion brought with them. On the assurance of these two fables, it is said, the Incas and all their subjects did really esteem this island to be a sacred and holy piece of ground, upon which, with that opinion, they erected a rich temple, all plated with gold, to be dedicated to their Father, the Sun ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 Viceroy, Don Francisco de Toledo, who governed Peru from 1569 to 1581, caused them to be prepared for the information of Philip II. Four cloths were sent to the King from Cuzco, and a history of the Incas written by Captain Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. On three cloths were figures of the Incas with their wives, on medallions, with their Ayllus and a genealogical tree. Historical events in each reign were depicted on the borders. The fable of Tampu-tocco was shown on the first cloth, and also the fables touching the creations of Viracocha, which formed the foundation for the whole history. ”

“ The chasquis not only carried despatches, but brought fish from the distant ocean, and fruits, game, and other commodities, from the warm regions on the coast.
It is not our province to describe the gorgeous temples, palaces, and convents, in which the Virgins of the Sun resided, and the numerous other public buildings, extensive remains of which still exist scattered throughout the region. The glory of the Incas has departed. But few of their descendants remain, and their blood has generally mingled with that of their conquerors. ”

“ But the Incas were very few in number, and came to Peru with mechanical knowledge and the knowledge of pottery far in advance of that possessed by the settlers in Central America, and their works initiated for the purpose of improving water courses and constructing roads were far more beneficial to mankind than the temples erected to Baal in Central America, although the Incas, though more intelligent than the settlers in Central America, were not yet emancipated from belief in that heathen god. ”

“ They have built mighty cities. There is one beyond your mountains to the east called Buenos Ayres where dwell more than two million souls. They——”
“But can they read and write, can they do this?” cried Prince Huaca, eagerly. “Our ancestors, the ancient Incas of Cusco, kept accounts only by means of quippus, knotted strings. But we of Inca lineage here have that knowledge of reading and writing handed down to us by the three priests of de Arguello. This is knowledge, and power.”
“Today, the simplest of the commoners can read and write in that world beyond your mountains,” said Mr. Hampton. ”

“ Such was their energy, that in a short time the practice was forgotten throughout their vast empire, where no such food had been eaten for many years before the Spaniards came. Those who have now succeeded the Incas give evidence that they conferred a great benefit by not imitating their ancestors in eating such food, in the sacrifices of men and children.
Some have published—among those who hastily write down what they hear—that the Incas, on their days of festival, killed a thousand or two thousand children, and a greater number of Indians. ”

“ All things from the greater to the less had their order, concert, and good management. The Incas were dreaded, obeyed, and respected by their subjects, for the greatness of their capacity and the excellence of their rule. ”

“ These aborigines call themselves Incas or Ingas, [26] and their dialect is known as the Inca language, and is rather easily picked up by the whites, who are much in contact with the Incas.
These Indians live in large rectangular houses, the walls of which consist of upright sticks, tied together with bark, the roof being of thatch and the floor of hardened earth. The spaces between the upright sticks that form the walls obviate the necessity for windows. Sometimes, if the house{57} is a large one, several families live in it together, each family having its own corner, fireside, and utensils. ”

“ It is also true that the natives, the peons of Peru and Ecuador, the descendants of the Incas, never wear anything except black, and still celebrate with impressive and appropriate ceremonies the anniversary of the day on which Atahualpa was strangled. In Chili the custom has died out, for the Inca empire was never able to sustain itself there against the savage{374} Araucanian tribes of Indians who inhabited the southern range of the Andes.
The Inca women in Peru and Ecuador are not at all pretty. ”

“ The Incas never forgot the obligations of their dual sovereignty, and in proportion as their earthly power was extended and increased, the evidences of their spiritual glory became more impressive, and might be seen in the greater riches of the temple, the increased splendor of the annual feasts, and the higher interpretation given to their religion. ”