Quiriguá

“ At night the men of the place were all drunk and very noisy. The fires were kept burning late, and cast weird gleams through the open slat walls into the darkness.
Having engaged a guide for the so-called Ruinas at Quirigua, at eight o’clock the next morning we said our adios (after paying our hostess nineteen reals for ourselves and mozos) and started down the river bank. Across the river were the largest bambus we had seen in the country, some joints at least six inches in diameter. ”

“ Quiché account of the creation, 194; four attempts to create man, 194-5; its mythology grew out of an older system, 193-4; kingdom of Quiché not older than 1200 A.D., 193. Pueblos, 76, 77; Pueblo ruins, 77-89; occupied northern frontier of the Mexican race, 68, 217-18; unlike the wild Indians, 67-8. Quichés, notices of, 193. Quippus, Peruvian, 254-5. Quirigua, its ruins like those of Copan, but older, 114; it is greatly decayed, 117; has inscriptions, 117. Quito subjugated by Huayna-Capac, 225; was civilized like Peru, 270; modern traveler’s remark on, 276. Savage theory of human history, 182. ”

“ The serried veterans of Paz, schooled in the Brazilian wars, stood grimly to the death before the fiery onslaught of Quiroga; in vain did his horsemen shatter themselves against the Unitarian General's scanty squares; the tactics of civilized warfare proved for the first time successful on these plains against wild ferocity and a larger force; Quiroga was driven back at length with fearful slaughter, with the loss of arms, ammunition, reputation, and of seventeen hundred men. ”

“ A community of herdsmen, scattered over an extensive territory, and deprived at one blow of the two great families to whom they had been accustomed to look up, with infantine submission, as their God-appointed chiefs,--these were not the men to stand up, unprompted by a single master-mind, to rid themselves of one whose oppression was, after all, only a new form of the treatment to which, for an entire generation, they had been subjected. La Rioja and San Juan were the only two provinces in which Quiroga's heavy hand was felt continuously ”

“ The appearance of Facundo Quiroga and his hordes in his native province and city had made a profound impression upon him, and with the disastrous history of the colonization and of the internal wars of his own country as a point of departure, and the influence of his uncle's keen and vigorous intellect and free and generous views, he was prepared for that remarkable career which has separated him from the body of his contemporaries in letters, in politics, in the consecration of his life. ”

“ What did Quiroga intend to do now? He was governor of no province, and had no army under his command; nothing remained to him but his arms and the terror of his name. On his way to Rioja he had left hidden in the woods all the guns, swords, and lances which he had collected in the eight cities he had overrun, numbering more than twelve thousand. He deposited in the city twenty-six pieces of artillery, with plenty of baggage and ammunition, and moreover he had sixteen hundred fine horses at pasture in the ravines of Cuyo. ”

“ Francisco, after the battle of Agacucho, in which he served under Bolivar, returned to Chili, where he was engaged by Rivadavia's agents to go to Mendoza and organize a force to dislodge Facundo Quiroga, who had taken possession of San Juan. For Quiroga, having heard something of the agitation among the Catholics, lost no time in raising a black flag with a red cross upon it, and the words, "Religion or Death!" though it is very certain that he did nothing for the benefit of religion anywhere, and equally true that violence and death constantly followed his footsteps. ”

“ As governor of the city he could not exactly shoot his own citizens, though an independent Federal, and neither did he have the power to extort money from the Unitarios. But he ordered all the political prisoners in the gaols to be sent to the camp at Atiles to join the army. The mothers and wives understood what fate they were to expect, and first one, and then another and another, succeeded in scraping together the sums necessary to keep back their sons and husbands from the den of the Tiger. Thus Quiroga governed in San Juan merely by the terror of his name. ”

“ While going up the valley, we found people who were going hunting, who were natives of Quivira.
All that there is at Quivira is a very brutish people, without any deeency whatever in their houses nor in anything. These are of straw, like the Tarascan settlements; in some villages there are as many as 200 houses; they have corn and beans and melons; they do not have cotton nor fowls, nor do they make bread which is cooked, except under the ashes. ”

“ Rosas sent for Quiroga. No one but the hero of La Rioja, he insinuated, had sufficient influence to bring about a settlement of these disputes; no one but he had power to prevent a war; would he not, therefore, hasten to Tucuman, and obviate so dire a calamity? Quiroga hesitated, refused, consented, wavered, and again declined the task. With a vacillation to which he had hitherto been a stranger, he remained for many days undecided; a suspicion of deceit appears to have presented itself to his mind ”

“ Both causes, or sources, exist in Quito. If we look to the royal protection, it is secured to us by the warranty and engagement of our illustrious president, as well as by the supplications he promises to direct to the throne; and with respect to the learned and patriotic nobility, can it be doubted, but that, in ingenuity, and activity of mind, the nobles of Quito are on a par with those of the other provinces?
“The sole causes which can impede the progress of our Society, are envy, discord, and inapplication. ”

“ Yet this Buenos Ayres, so proud of its institutions, was, before the end of a year, to be treated with greater barbarity than the interior had ever received at the hands of Quiroga. The police once went to Quiroga's house in search of him, and he overcame his first impulse to defend himself, feeling that there was a greater power than his, and that he might at any time be imprisoned should he take his defense into his own hands. Quiroga's sons were in the best schools, and he made them wear the European dress ”

“ On his becoming an adult, the thread of his life disappears in an intricate labyrinth of bouts and broils among the people of the surrounding region. Sometimes lying hid, always pursued, he passed his time in gambling, working as a common laborer, domineering over everybody around him, and distributing his stabs among them.
On the Godoy farm in San Juan are shown to this day mud-walls of Quiroga's treading; there are others in Fiambola, in La Rioja, made by him. ”

“ As the country seemed inviting, and as good as Cuzco, the Inca here founded a place which he called Quito, peopling it with mitimaes. Here he made edifices and store-houses, saying, “Cuzco must be the capital of one part of my great empire and Quito of the other.” He gave important powers to the Governor of Quito, and placed his own governors and delegates in all the surrounding districts. He ordered that there should be a garrison of men, both for peace and war, at Caranguri; and he removed the inhabitants from one village to another, making them exchange their abodes. ”

“ As, in the progress of this history, the Chirihuanos Indians will occupy a considerable space, it may not be amiss, in this place, to give an idea of their origin and customs. These Indians, according to the commonly received opinion, do not constitute a part of the numerous Quechua nation, which peopled the extensive empire of Peru at the time it was first entered by the Spaniards. Their language, their costume, and their characteristic bravery, leave room for a fixed persuasion that they belong to the nation of the Tobas, the aborigines of the provinces of Parahuay. They are not idolaters ”

“ In the district of Quito, not very far from Tumebamba, there is a province called Chumbo, but before reaching it there are other villages of various sizes, inhabited by Indians wearing clothes, with good-looking women. There are royal buildings in the villages, as in those we have passed, and the people obeyed the Lords Yncas, and used the general language which was ordered to be talked in all parts. The natives have the same customs as their neighbours, and the same religion, worshipping the sun and other gods, and believing in the immortality of the soul. ”

“ Such natures develop according to the society in which they originate, and are either noble leaders who hold the highest place in history, ever forwarding the progress of civilization, or the cruel and vicious tyrants who become the scourges of their race and time.
Facundo Quiroga was the son of an inhabitant of San Juan, who had settled in the Llanos of La Rioja, and there had acquired a fortune in pastoral pursuits. ”

“ A collection of ruins is almost always found at their feet, which formed the village of the tribe. Cieza de Leon gives a detailed account of the manners and customs of these Yunca chiefs, and of their subjects. [84] Nearly every valley had its independent chief and separate tribe; although some of the more powerful chiefs, such as the Grand Chimu, the Chuqui-mancu of the Rimac, and the Lord of Chincha, had extended their dominion over several valleys. The language of the coast was quite distinct from Quichua. ”

“ José Santos Ortez, ex-governor of San Luis, his own friend and secretary. "He is not a rough gaucho like myself," he said, "but a scholar and an honest man; the man who knows how to do justice to his enemies, is worthy of confidence."
Thus it appears that Quiroga, after routing the Unitarios, went back to the old idea he entertained before the struggle—the advocacy of a presidency and the necessity of putting in order the affairs of the Republic. ”

“ He defeated Bustos, the tyrant of Córdova, took possession of the city, (one of the most important strategic points upon the Pampas,) and restored that confidence and security to which its inhabitants had so long been strangers. This action was at the same time a challenge to Quiroga in his neighboring domain. It was a warning that right was beginning to assert its supremacy over might; nor was the hero of La Rioja slow to understand it. Collecting a band of four thousand Gaucho lancers, he marched upon Córdova with the assurance of an easy victory. The _boleado_ General! ”

“ An illiterate man, one of Quiroga's companions in childhood and youth, who has supplied me with many of the above facts, sends me the following curious statements in a manuscript describing Quiroga's early years: "His public career was not preceded by the practice of theft; he never committed robbery even in his most pressing necessities. He was not only fond of fighting, but would pay for an opportunity, or for a chance to insult the most renowned champion in any company. He had a great aversion to respectable men. ”

“ Such were the Quichuas, the representative people of the Peruvian Andes. To the eastward of their original territory, in the virgin forests which are traversed by the tributaries of the Amazon, dwelt the Antis and Chunchos, who wandered about in search of food, through the interminable wilderness of matted vegetation. They never seem to have made any progress; what they are now, such they were centuries ago: the nature of the country renders advancement impossible. Moreover they probably belong to the great Tupi-Guarani race of Brazil, and are distinct from the Peruvian tribes. ”

“ The night which the travellers passed at the post-station of Ojo del Agua, was one of great agony to the unhappy secretary, who was going to a certain death without the half-savage valor and rashness which inspired Quiroga; death never seems more terrible than when imposed by the senseless bravado of a friend, and when there would be no dishonor in avoiding it. Dr. Ortez took the post-master aside and asked him about the report he had heard, promising not to abuse his confidence ”

“ A letter addressed to Quiroga by one of his partisans contains this statement: "We can't do anything more with 'Religion or Death,' general, it no longer makes an impression; confederation is the word for us now; let us have a Constitution, and we will carry it at the point of the bayonet." Yet Quiroga was assassinated while endeavoring to pursuade the Unitarios to join him for the purpose of destroying Rosas and the Federals.
Francisco Aldao arrived at Mendoza with ten thousand dollars, which he had received beforehand for the enterprise against Quiroga ”

“ No sooner had Jorge gone away than Juliana swept into Luiza’s room like a whirlwind, closed the door behind her, and began to cry out that the mistress soiled a heap of clothes, the master a heap of shirts, and that without assistance she could not do so much work. “Whoever wants slaves must go to Brazil for them,” she ended. “And I am in no humor to put up with the ill-temper of your husband, do you understand, Senhora? If there is so much put upon me to do I must have help.” ”

“ Quivira is in the fortieth degree and the river in the thirty-sixth. It was so dangerous to travel or to go away from the camp in these plains, that it is as if one was traveling on the sea, since the only roads are those of the cows, and they are so level and have no mountain or prominent landmark, that if one went out of sight of it, lie was lost, and in this way we lost one man, and others who went hunting wandered around two or three days, lost. Two kinds of people travel around these plains with the cows; one is called Querechos and the others Teyas ”

“ The Quichuas of Peru must not be confounded with the Quiches of Guatemala. Quiche is the name of a place, and means “many trees;” the derivation of Quichua is unknown. Muyscas means “men.” This nation also called themselves Chibchas.
32-1 The significance of Carib is probably warrior. It may be the same word as Guarani, which also has this meaning. Tupi or Tupa is the name given the thunder, and can only be understood mythically.
33-1 The Araucanians probably obtained their name from two Quichua words, ari auccan, yes! they fight; an idiom very expressive of their warlike character. ”