Quechua people

“ From the preceding narrative we learn that Quicab by his skill in war and the valor of his armies extended the imperial Quiché power far beyond its former limits, subjecting to the monarch of Utatlan nearly the whole of Guatemala; and also that later in his reign he was forced by a combination of his vassal chieftains, to whom military power had [590] been entrusted during his conquests, to reorganize his government, and to bestow on these chieftains of the people nobility, and practically the control of the empire. ”

“ It is admired by the Italians, Germans, French, and English residents of the city, and however much we respect the Quechua tribe, we must give the Aymaras the preference in this mechanical art, They are more musical, and seem to possess a more independent character than the Quechuas; yet they cannot compare with the North American negro slaves in health, strength, happiness, comforts of life, or liberty. ”

“ The ladies of Quito are generally handsome and well educated, and the men a good looking race. The instruction given to young people of rank consists chiefly in the polite arts, and in philosophy and divinity. The language of the whites and most of their descendants is Spanish, but the Quichua and other dialects of Indian origin are no less common. ”

“ With past experiences with their fellow countrymen these Indians have learned to regard all strangers with apprehension. On several occasions we had ample opportunity to observe how the average paisano treats the Quechua. Should night overtake him on the trail, he stops at the nearest hut and demands food for himself and his horses. In the event that the owner has nothing to offer, he draws revolver or rifle and shoots any fowls that may be running about or, lacking these, a sheep or goat, and seizes whatever else he can find. Should he see an attractive blanket, it also is taken. ”

“ Solidly built, the Quechua looks a powerful and muscular man; but as from childhood both sexes are used to carrying extremely heavy burdens on the back they are not really very strong in the limbs, although the shoulders are very powerful. ”

“ Following this precedent I have ventured to search for further resemblances between Nahuatl and Quechua words, and one of the remarkable results I obtained was the discovery that the well-known Quechua name for colonists=Mitimaes, the meaning of which, in Quechua, is not forthcoming, seems to be connected in sound and meaning with the Nahuatl Ce-mitime=sons of one mother (Molina's dictionary) . It is superfluous to point out how appropriate this designation would have been for the colonists who invariably founded fresh centres of civilization on the plan of the central metropolis. ”

“ I cried in amazement. “Then thou art Kheira!” I added, for the extraordinary beauty of the only daughter of the Sultan of Abea was proverbial throughout the Great Desert, from Lake Tsâd, even to the Atlas.
“Yes,” she replied. “And from thy speech and dress I know thou art of the Azjar, our deadliest enemies.”
“True,” I answered. “To-morrow my tribe, to the number of ten thousand, now lying concealed in the valley called Deforou, will swarm upon thine impregnable city and—”
“Ten thousand?” she gasped, pale and agitated. “And thou wilt kill my father, and reduce our people to slavery. Ah, no!” ”

“ Quichua is a noble language, with a most extensive vocabulary, rich in forms of the plural number, which argue a very clear conception of the idea of plurality; rich in verbal conjugations; rich in the power of forming compound nouns; rich in varied expression to denote abstract ideas; rich in words for relationships which are wanting in the Old World idioms; and rich, above all, in synonyms: so that it was an efficient vehicle wherewith to clothe the thoughts and ideas of a people advanced in civilization. ”

“ The woman wears a small woollen vest, cut low on the bosom; the skirt is the same as that worn by the Aymara women; and on a feast-day the Quechua woman wears all the petticoats she possesses, one over another. As they are all of equal length, each shows the edge of that below it, whence a gamut of various colours. The Quechua women are distinguished from the Aymaras chiefly by their hats, which are flatter.
"The Quechua idiom is extremely rich and has been studied grammatically.
"The Indian race has never been assimilated; as it was at the moment of conquest, so it is now ”

“ They are not actively hostile to the white people, and, indeed, get on better with their landlords than some European peasantries have done with theirs. But they live apart, inside the nation, but not of it. The Aymarás are silent, suspicious, sullen. The Quichuas are more kindly, but hardly less reserved. ”

“ In the Quiché myths, the introduction of human sacrifice is associated with the “Yaqui,” a name afterwards used of the Mexicans, and it is the god Tohil, whom this people received from Tulan, who, by a trick, obtains the right to the hearts of the other tribes in return for the gift of fire. But the open and extensive practice of the rite belongs to a later stage of Quiché history, as the Popol Vuh also demonstrates. It is possible that the practice was, to speak generally, foreign to the original Maya, but was introduced in later times from Mexico. ”

“ The confederation of these three tribes or nations—Quichés, Cachiquels, and Tzutuhils—is sometimes spoken of as the Quiché-Cachiquel Empire; but whether it was ever a united empire, as we understand the term, is somewhat doubtful, while it is quite certain that at the time of the Spanish invasion all three tribes were at enmity with one another.
It is sometimes assumed that these people had attained a high degree of civilization, and were especially advanced in the art of building ”

“ They relate that at a remote epoch two Kechua-speaking tribes, the Mantas on the south, and the Caras on the north, occupied the coast from the Gulf of Guayaquil to the Esmeraldas River. The Caras were the elder, and its ancestors had reached that part of the coast in rafts and canoes from some more northern home. For many generations they remained a maritime people, but at length followed up the Esmeraldas and its affluents until they reached the vicinity of Quito, where they developed into a powerful nation under the rule of their scyri, or chiefs. ”

“ They are in reality varying forms of one speech. From the valley of Titicaca the Aymara spread from the source of the Amazon river to the higher parts of the Andes range, so that in course of time they exhibited those qualities which stamp the mountaineer in every age and clime. The Quichua, on the other hand, occupied the warm valleys beyond the river Apurimac, to the north-west of the Aymara-speaking people—a tract equal to the central portion of the modern republic of Peru. ”

“ For these reasons the people would not receive him in Cuzco, Arequipa, Huanuco, Chachapoyas, Charcas and Quito. Many went to Cuzco with arms and horses, wishing to march against him to kill him or drive him out of the country, for they said that he was a man without justice, proud, very cruel, one who neither kept his word nor promise, and one in whom they could have no faith. ”

“ The Aymara language and people excite the imagination to a belief that their history is of an anterior date to that of the Quechuas, and more interesting to those who seek, in the depths of time long passed, for a knowledge of the origin of the aboriginal races of men on this part of the earth. ”

“ The narrative of the Popol Vuh condenses in the preceding paragraphs, the history of the Quichés during the whole time that elapsed between the scattering of the Nahuas from Tulan before the fifth century, and the final establishment of the Quiché empire, an event whose exact date is unknown—for we have nothing but approximate dates in the aboriginal history of Guatemala—but which, judging by the number of kings that are represented as having occupied the throne afterwards down to the coming of the Spaniards, is thought not to have been earlier than the thirteenth century. ”

“ This language is not at all superseded by Spanish; on the contrary, the Whites learn it, and several Quechua words: guano, pampa, condor, quina, have found their way into the languages of all civilised nations. [644] The principal tribes are: the Huancas to the north-east of Lima, the Lamanas near Trujillo, the Incas in the vicinity of the Rio Apurimac, the Aymaras of the high table-lands of Bolivia (600,000 individuals, of whom two-thirds are of pure blood) .
In spite of the diversity of dialects all the Quechuas and Aymaras present a remarkable uniformity of physical type. ”

“ It is estimated that there are some three hundred and fifty thousand of the Quiché tribes now living in Guatemala. They are quite industrious being engaged in agriculture and the weaving of cotton and woollen goods. Although nominal Catholics, yet they follow their own customs of worship. They have their own wizards, who are always old men, and follow a strange mixture of fire and devil worship. These old men, the wizards or priests, are much feared and held in great reverence by the people. ”

“ And they attained to that degree of civilisation by very slow and gradual advances. Many things, and especially the character of the people, lead to the belief that cycles of ages must have elapsed before these Quichuas were in a position to establish a superiority over their neighbours, and assume the position of an imperial people. ”

“ BALTHASAR'S bit of blackmail turned out, on the whole, rather a stroke of luck for the expedition. The Colombian was very useful in translating the Quichua dialect of the Indians. When the mules and their Bible packs were in the mountains, Lassiter found his Castilian of little service. Not only did the Indians not understand pure Spanish, they distrusted every one who spoke the language. Four centuries of slavery, peonage and inquisition have crushed out of the Indian the last shred of faith in the Spaniard.
Undoubtedly the Quichuas are the most wretched human beings on the globe. ”

“ Both Quichuas and Aymarás have that remarkable impassiveness and detachment which belongs to all the American peoples and which in the Old World one finds only in some of the East Asiatic races. With plenty of stability, they lack initiative. They make steady soldiers, and fight well under white, or mestizo, leaders, but one seldom hears of a pure Indian accomplishing anything or rising either through war or politics, or in any profession, above the level of his class. The Mexican Juarez, the conqueror of Maximilian and of the priesthood, was a pure-blooded Indian. ”

“ He is cruelly enslaved at the rubber posts, held by the loose bonds of a desultory trade at others, and in a few places, as at Pongo do Mainique, gives service for both love and profit, but in many places it is impossible to establish control or influence. The lowland Indian never falls into the abject condition of his Quechua brother on the plateau. He is self-reliant, proud, and independent. He neither cringes before a white nor looks up to him as a superior being. I was greatly impressed by the bearing of the first of the forest tribes I met in August, 1911, at Santo Anato. ”

“ Quesada led an expedition up the Magdalena River. He had for companion Benalcazar. They approached the country from the south, occupied Popagan and Pasto, and founded Guayaquil. They also penetrated the Valley of Curacua and Bogotá, and thus traversed the whole Province. This brought them into contact with the Chibcha Indians. In the end these unfortunate beings were completely subdued, their civilization destroyed, and they themselves divided as slaves among the Spaniards. ”

“ The Indians still relate that at times a mysterious, wavering, white light appears on the terraces and hills where old treasure lies buried. Some of the Indians have gold and silver objects which they say were dug from the floors of hill caves. There appears to have been an early occupation of the best lands by the Spaniards, for the long extensions down them of Quechua population upon which the conquerors could depend no doubt combined with the special products of the valley to draw white colonists thither. ”

“ They further state that, at that time, the Quichuas were lords of the province called Andahuaylas, and that from the neighbourhood of a lake called Choclococha there came a great multitude of people under two captains named Huaraca and Uasco; who went forward, conquering as they advanced, until they came to that province. When the inhabitants knew{119} of their approach, they prepared for war, encouraging each other, and saying, that it would be right to kill those who had come to attack them. ”

“ The colour is coppery or an olive-brown, varying with the altitude. The hair is black, thick and strong, but the beard is absolutely lacking.
"While the Quechua is docile, submissive and obedient, the Aymara is hard, vindictive, bellicose, rebellious, egotistical, cruel and jealous of his liberty; he is always ready to resort to force. In times of disturbance the factions have always recruited the bulk of their fighters from the Aymaras. Yet they seem lacking in will, except the will to hate all that is unlike themselves. ”

“ Relacion, Ms., cap. 21.
According to Velasco, the Incas, on arriving with their conquering legions at Quito, were astonished to find a dialect of the Quichua spoken there, although it was unknown over much of the intermediate country; a singular fact, if true. (Hist. de Quito, tom. I. p. 185.) The author, a native of that country, had access to some rare sources of information; and his curious volumes show an intimate analogy between the science and social institutions of the people of Quito and Peru. ”