III.

And now it only remains for us to draw the inferences and conclusions suggested by our examination of the ancient religions of Mexico and Peru, so closely associated with the remarkable though imperfect civilizations to which the two nations had attained.

We have not stayed to discuss the hypotheses that have so often been put forward, to attach these religions and civilizations to some immigration from the Old World. The fact is that all these attempts rest on the arbitrary selection of some few traits of resemblance, on which exclusive stress is laid, to the neglect of still more characteristic differences. The best proof that the work of affiliation has been abortive, in spite of the high authority of some of the names that have been lent to it, may be found in the fact that every possible nation of the Old World has in its turn been selected as the true parent of the Peruvians and Mexicans. The Carthaginians, the Greeks, the Chinese, the Hindus, the Buddhists of India and China, the Romans, even the Celts and the Chaldeans, have been put forward one after the other. Nay, the English themselves have been tried! There is a gratifying legend which brings the story of Manco Capac and Mama Ogllo into connection with the results of the shipwreck of an Englishman, whose national name was transformed into Inga Man, which again, in conjunction with Cocapac, the name of the father of the native wife whom the Englishman had taken to himself, made Inca Manco Capac! The sequel is obvious. The two fair-skinned children that sprang from this union were of course the founders of the Inca family and the state of Cuzco.[122] I need not tell you that all this will not bear a moment's examination. Everything shows that the civilizations and religions of Mexico and Peru are autochthonous, springing from the soil itself.

There is surely something very strange in this passion for localizing all origins at some single point of the globe. Why not admit that what took place there may have taken place elsewhere also, that the same concourse of events which called forth such and such a result in a certain given place may have been reproduced somewhere else, and consequently given rise to identical or closely analogous results there too? Does not our own experience teach us that the contact of a civilized with an uncivilized people is not enough in itself to ensure the adoption by the latter of the civilization that is brought to it? It is the exception, not the rule, for the Red-skin, the Kafir, the Australian or the Papuan, to become civilized. Civilization can only be handed on if the invaded race possesses a special disposition and aptitude for civilized life; and this aptitude may have existed to such a degree as to be capable of independent development in the New-World as we know it did in the Old; and if there were centres of such nascent civilization in Central America, in Mexico and in Peru, it is absolutely superfluous to search elsewhere than in America itself for the origins of American civilization.

But the mistake into which so many historians and travellers have fallen is explained, to a certain extent, by the fact that, in examining the beliefs, the monuments and the customs of Peru and Mexico, we come upon phenomena at every moment which are identical with or analogous to something we have observed in the Old World. The temples, with their successive terraces, remind us of ancient Chaldea, and the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt. The convents recal the Indian and Chinese Buddhism. The cruel and bloody sacrifices and the preponderance of the Sun-worship have a Semitic tinge. There are myths and curious resemblances of words which wake thoughts of Hellenic civilization; and sacerdotal castes and sacrificial rites which bring us round to the Celts! Nay, are there not even beliefs as to the arrival or return of a deity who will restore order and avenge outraged justice, round which there breathes a kind of Messianic air? So much so, indeed, that I must add to the list of supposed ancestors of American civilization the ten lost tribes of Israel, who must have fled from the yoke of their Ninevite oppressors right across Asia into America! The partizans of this ingenious hypothesis have, it is true, forgotten to inquire how far these Israelites of the North, whose enthusiasm for the house of Judah was, to say the least of it, decidedly subdued, had ever heard of the Messianic hopes at all!

The real result of all these wild speculations, however, is to bring out the fact very clearly, that in the native religions of Mexico, of Central America and of Peru, we find a number of traits united which are scattered amongst the most celebrated religions of our own ancient world; so that this new and well-defined region gives us a precious opportunity of testing the value of the explanations of religious ideas and practices deduced from the comparative study of religions.

Let us take the question of sacrifice, for instance. In both religions sacrifice is frequent, often cruel,—in Mexico even frightful. But it is easy to trace the original idea that inspired it. It is by no means the sense of guilt, or the idea that the culprit, terrified by the account that he must render to the divine justice, can transfer to a victim the penalty he has himself incurred. It is simply the idea that by offering the gods the things they like—that is to say, whatever will satisfy and gratify their senses—it is possible to secure their goodwill, their protection and their favour, while at the same time disarming their wrath, if need be, and appeasing their dangerous appetites. It is only at a later stage that the extreme importance attributed to this rite, the very essence of the worship rendered to the gods, leads to the association of mystic and ultimately of moral ideas with the circumstance of the pain inseparably connected with sacrifice. And when this stage is reached, men will either refine upon the suffering with frantic intensity, as they did in Mexico, or, if the sentiment of humanity has made itself felt in religion, as was the case in Peru and in the special worship of Quetzalcoatl, they will try to restrain the number and mitigate the horror of the human sacrifices, while still inflexibly maintaining the principle they involve.

Again: there is not the smallest trace of an earlier monotheism preceding the polytheism of either the one or the other nation. On the other hand, we may trace in both alike three stages of religious faith superimposed, so to speak, one upon the other. At the bottom of all still lies the religion that we find to-day amongst peoples that are strangers to all civilization. It is an incoherent and confused jumble of nature-worship and of animism or the worship of spirits, but especially the latter; for the primitive nature-worship has been developed, enlarged and more or less organized, on a higher level, whereas animism has remained what it was. The spirits of nature, which may often be anonymous—spirits of forests, of plants, of rocks, of waters, of animals, generally with the addition of the spirits of ancestors—make up a confused and inorganic mass that may assume almost any form. Fetichism is not the base, as it has been called, but the consequence and application of this animistic view. It is enough to secure adoration for any worthless object, natural or artificial, if it strikes the ignorant imagination forcibly enough to induce the belief that it is the residence of a spirit. Magic, founded on the pretension of certain individuals to stand in special relations with the spirits, equips the priesthood of this lowest stage. But above this, through the action of the higher minds amongst the people, nature-worship develops itself into the adoration of the most important, most general and most imposing phenomena of nature. In the tropical countries, at once warm and fertile, it is the Sun that reigns supreme, though not without leaving a very exalted place to other phenomena, such as wind, rain, vegetation and so on, personified as so many special deities. But in all this there is no indication of an antecedent and primitive monotheism. It is quite true that each one of these deities receives in his turn epithets which seem to attribute omnipotence to him and to make him the sole creator. But this is the case in all polytheistic systems, whether in Greece, Persia, and India, or in Mexico and Peru. It only proves that when man worships, he never limits the homage he renders to the object of his adoration; but if he is a polytheist, he has no scruple in attributing the same omnipotence to each of his gods in turn. It is much the same with the worthy curés in our rural districts, whose sermons systematically exalt the saint of the day, whoever he may be, to the chief place in Paradise! And here in Mexico and in Peru, as in Greece and in India, we observe the ever growing tendency towards anthropomorphism, transforming into men, of enormous strength, stature and power, those natural phenomena which at the earlier stage were rather assimilated to animals. Uitzilopochtli still bears the traces of his ancient nature as a humming-bird, and Tezcatlipoca of the time when he was no more than a celestial tapir. Their cultus, like their functions in the order of nature, must be regular and subject to fixed rules. And thus the priesthood, organized and regulated in its turn, emerges from the earlier stage of sorcery, and becomes a great institution to protect and foster the nascent civilization. The third stage was not actually reached in ancient Mexico and Peru. One can but divine its beginnings in the mysterious priesthood of Quetzalcoatl, or trace it in the traditions of the philosopher king of Tezcuco, and the sceptical Incas of whom Garcilasso and others tell us. In such traits as these we may discover a certain dissatisfaction with the established polytheism, striving to raise itself higher in the direction of a spiritual monotheism. But this tendency is obviously the last term of the evolution, and in no sense its first.

The history of the temple in Mexico and Peru suggests similar reflections. Its point of departure is the altar, and not the tomb,—the altar on which, as on a sacred table, the flesh destined for their food was placed before the gods. Little by little, as the developed and organized nature-worship substitutes gods of imposing might and greatness for the contemptible deities of the period when nature-worship and animism were confounded together, these altars assumed huge and at last gigantic proportions; and in Mexico, except in the case of Quetzalcoatl, there the development stopped, save that a little chapel, destined to serve as the abode of the national gods, was reared on the summit. Peru passes through the same phases, but goes further. There the surmounting chapel grows, assumes vast dimensions, and ends by embracing the altar itself, of which at first it was but an adjunct.

The two religions alike exhibit an initial penetration of religion by the moral idea. They are at bottom two theocracies, the laws and institutions of which rest upon the gods themselves, though the theocratic form is far more prominent in Peru than in Mexico. They share the advantages of a theocracy for a nascent civilization, and its disadvantages for one that has already reached a certain development. It was the theocratic and sacerdotal conception that maintained and enforced the religious butchery of which you have heard in Mexico, and which transformed Peru into one enormous convent, where no one had any will or any initiative of his own. For the same reason, asceticism, the principle that confuses, through an illusion we can easily understand, the moral act itself with the suffering that accompanies it, shows itself in both religions, but especially in that of Mexico; and convents that startle us by their resemblance to those of Buddhism and Christianity rise in either realm. But this mutual interpenetration of the religious and moral ideas is still quite rudimentary. The prevailing tone of the religion is given by the self-seeking and purely calculating principle, aiming no doubt at a certain mystic satisfaction (for at every stage of religion this moving principle has been most powerful and fruitful), but likewise seeking material advantages without any scruple as to the means; and those monstrous forms of transubstantiation which the Mexican thought he was bringing about when he ate of the same human flesh which he offered to his gods, are typical of the period in which religion pursued its purpose of union with the deity, regardless of the protests of the moral sense and of humanity.

It was reserved for the higher religions, and especially for that of which our Bible is the monument, to realize the intimate alliance of the religious and moral sentiments,—that priceless alliance, without which morals remain for the most part almost barren, and religion falls into monstrous aberrations. That the roots of religion pierce to the very cradles of humanity, may now be taken as demonstrated. Its principle is found in the necessity we feel of surmounting the uncertainties and the limitations of destiny, by attaching ourselves individually to the loftier Spirit revealed by nature outside us and within; and this principle has always remained the same; nor am I one of those who hold that we must now renounce it in the name of philosophy and science. For neither philosophy nor science can make us other than the poor creatures we are, with an unquenchable thirst for blessedness and life, yet constantly broken, crushed at every moment, by the very elements on the bosom of which we are forced to live. Philosophy and science may guide religion, may reveal its true object in ever-growing purity, may cleanse it from the pollutions in which ignorance and sin still plunge it, but they cannot replace and they cannot destroy it. There is a Dutch proverb, the profundity of which it would be difficult to exaggerate, "De natuur gaat boven de leer"—Nature is too strong for doctrine. The evolutions of philosophy may seem to make the heavens void, and inspire man with the idea that all is over with the poetic or terrific visions that rocked the cradle of his infancy. But stay! Nature, human nature, is still there; and under the impulse of the indestructible thirst for religion, human nature renews her efforts, looks deeper and looks higher, and finds her God once more.

Jérusalem renait plus brillante et plus belle.

But let not this conclusion, confirmed as it seems to me by the whole history of religion, prevent our boldly declaring how much that is small, puerile, often even immoral and deplorable, there is in the religious past of humanity. It is no otherwise with art, with legislation, with science herself, with all that constitutes the privilege, the power, the joy of our race. It is just the knowledge of these aberrations which should serve to keep us from falling back into the errors and false principles of which they were the consequence. And in this respect the study of the religions of ancient Mexico and Peru is profoundly instructive. It teaches us that there is a principle, bordering closely upon that of religion itself, which must serve as the torch to guide the religious idea in its development—not to supplant it, but to direct it to the true path. It is the principle of humanity. The truer a religion is, the more absolute the homage it will render to the principle of humanity, and the more will he who lives by its light feel himself impelled to goodness, loving and loved, trustful and free. The last word of religious history is, that there exists an affinity, a mysterious relationship, between our spirit and the Spirit of the universe; that this nobility of human nature embraces in itself all the promises, all the hopes, all the latent perfections, all the infinite ideals of the future; that, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, the Supreme Will is good to each one of the beings which it summons and draws to itself; and that man, in spite of his errors, his failures, his corruptions, his miseries, was never wrong in following the sacred instinct that raised him slowly from the mire, was always right in renewing his efforts, so constant, so toilsome—often, too, so woful—to mount the rounds

De cette échelle d'or qui va se perdre en Dieu.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, it only remains for me to bid you farewell, while giving you my warmest thanks for the perseverance, the encouragement and the sympathy, with which you have supported me. The reception you have given me has touched me deeply, and my stay in 1884 in your imposing and splendid capital will always remain amongst the most prized and the pleasantest recollections of my life. You have been good enough to pardon my linguistic infirmity. You have spared from your business or pleasure the time needed to listen to a stranger, who has come to speak to you of matters having no direct utility, and of purely historical and theoretical interest. This is far more to your honour than to mine. I thank you, but at the same time I congratulate you; for it is a trait in the nobleness in our human nature to be able thus to snatch ourselves from the vulgar pre-occupations of life, to contemplate the truth on those serene heights where it reveals itself to all who seek it with an upright heart. Cease not to love these noble studies, which touch upon all that is most exalted and most precious in us! If we search history for light in politics and the higher interests of our fatherlands, and learn thereby to understand, to appreciate, to love them more, let us turn to history no less for light on the path which we must tread in that order of sublime realities, necessities and aspirations, in which the soul of each one of us becomes a temple and a sanctuary, lying open to the Eternal Spirit that fills the universe.

And now to the Eternal, the Invisible, to Him whose name we can but stammer, whose infinite perfections we can but feel after, be rendered all our homage and our hearts!

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The second, third and fourth despatches (the first is lost) from Fernando Cortes to Charles V., written in 1520, 1522 and 1524 respectively. Original editions as follows: "Carta de relacion embiada a su S. majestad del emperador nuestro señor ... por el capitan general de la nueva spaña: Llamado fernando cortes," &c.: Seville, 1522. "Carta tercera de relacion: embiada por Fernando cortes," &c.: Seville, 1523. "La quarta relacion que Fernando cortes gouernador y capitan general ... embio al muy alto ... rey de España," &c.: Toledo, 1525. Recent edition, with notes, &c.: "Cartas y Relaciones de Hernan Cortés al Emperador Carlos V. colegidas é ilustradas por Don Pascual de Gayangos," &c.: Paris, 1866. English translation: "The Despatches of Hernando Cortes," &c., translated by George Folsom: New York and London, 1843.—Francisco Lopez de Gómara (Cortes' chaplain): "Hispania Victrix. Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias con todo el descubrimiento, y cosas notables que han acaescido dende que se ganaron hasta el año de 1551. Con la conquista de Mexico y dela nueva España:" Modina del Campo, 1553. Also printed in Vol. XXII. of the "Biblioteca de Autores Españoles:" Madrid, 1852 (to the pagination of which references in future notes will be made). There is an old English translation of Part II. of this work, entitled, "The Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the Weast India, now called new Spayne, Atchieved by the worthy Prince Hernando Cortes, Marques of the Valley of Huaxacac, most delectable to Reade: Translated out of the Spanishe tongue by T. N. [Thomas Nicholas], Anno 1578:" London.—Bernal Diaz: "Historia Verdadera de la Nueva España escrita por el Capitan Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Uno de sus Conquistadores. Sacada a luz por el P. M. Fr. Alonso Remon," &c.: Madrid, 1632. English translation: "The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, written by Himself," &c.: translated by John Ingram Lockhart, F.R.A.S. 2 vols.: London, 1844. There is also a good French translation: "Histoire Véridique de la conquête ... par le Capitaine Bernal Diaz del Castillo," &c., by Dr. Jourdanet. Second edition: Paris, 1877.—Las Casas. Numerous works collected by Llorente: "Collecion de las obras del Venerable Obispo de Chiapa, Don Bartolomé de las Casas, Defensor de la Libertad de los Americanos." 2 vols.: Paris, 1822. Also translated into French, with some additional matter, by the same Llorente, and published in the same year at Paris. His "Historia de las Crueldades de los Españoles," &c., was translated into English in 1655 by J. Phillips, under the title of "The Tears of the Indians," &c., and dedicated to Oliver Cromwell. [N.B. Translations in full or epitomized of several of the above works, together with others, may be found in Vols. III. and IV. of "Purchas his Pilgimes," &c.: London, 1625-26.]—Sahagun's history of New Spain, a work of the utmost importance for the religious history of Mexico, remained unpublished till the present century, and appeared almost simultaneously in Mexico and London: "Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España ... escribió el R. P. Fr. Bernardino de Sahagun ... uno de los primeros predicadores del santo evangelio en aquellas regiones," &c. 3 vols.: Mexico, 1829-30. The same work appeared in Vols. V. and VII. of Lord Kingsborough's collection. Vid. infr. A French translation by Jourdanet appeared in 1880.—Acosta: "Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias ... compuesta por el Padre Joseph de Acosta Religioso de la Campañia de Jesus," &c.: Seville, 1590. English translation: "The Naturall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies," &c.: translated by E. G.: London, 1604. E[dward] G[rimstone]'s translation was edited, with notes, for the Hakluyt Society, by Clements R. Markham, in 1880.—Torquemada: "Los veynte y un libros Rituales y Monarchia Yndiana ... Compuesto por Fray Ivan de Torquemada," &c. 3 vols.: Seville, 1615. Printed again at Madrid in 1723.—Herrera (official historiographer of Philip II.): "Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas i Tierra Firme del mar Oceano," &c., by Antonio de Herrera; to which is prefixed, "Descripcion de las Indias Ocidentales," &c., by the same. 4 vols.: Madrid, 1601. English translation in epitome by Capt. John Stevens, "The General History of the vast Continent and Islands of America," &c. 6 vols.: London, 1725-26.

The following native writers may also be consulted. Ixlilxochitl (Fernando de Alva): "Historia Chichimeca" and "Relaciones," in Lord Kingsborough's "Mexican Antiquities," Vol. IX. (vid. infr.). French translations in Vols. VIII. XII. and XIII. of H. Ternaux-Compans' collection: "Voyages, Relations et Memoires originaux pour servir a l'histoire de la Découverte de l'Amérique:" Paris, 1837-41.—Camargo: "Histoire de la République de Tlaxcallan, par Domingo Muñoz Camargo, Indien, natif de cette ville," translated from the Spanish MS. in Vols. XCVIII. and XCIX. of the "Nouvelles Annales des Voyages," &c.: Paris, 1843.—Pomar (J. B. de): "Relacion de las Antiquedades de los Indios." Pomar was a descendant of the royal house of Tezcuco, and his memoirs were made use of in MS. by Torquemada.

Amongst later authorities may be mentioned (in addition to Prescott's well-known work, and those cited in the following notes): W. Robertson: "History of America."—Alx. von Humboldt: "Vues des Cordillières et Monuments des peuples de l'Amérique:" Paris, 1810; forming the "Atlas Pittoresque" of Part III. of "Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland."—Francesco Saverio Clavigero: "Storia antica del Messico," &c. 4 vols.: Cesena, 1780-81. English translation by Charles Cullen: "The History of Mexico," &c. 2 vols.: London, 1787.—Th. Waitz: "Anthropologie der Naturvölker," Vol. IV.: Leipzig, 1864.—Brasseur de Bourbourg: "Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique et de L'Amérique-centrale," &c. 4 vols: Paris, 1857-59.—Müller (Joh. George), Professor at Bâle: "Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen." Second edition: Basel, 1867.—To these should be added the narratives and works of M. D. Charnay, still in the course of publication.

References will be given to the originals, but in such a form, wherever possible, as to serve equally well for the English and French translations. Where, as is not unfrequently the case, the chapters or sections of the translations do not correspond to the originals, a note of the vol. and page of the former will generally be added.

[2] The original collection is in seven magnificent folio volumes. "Antiquities of Mexico: comprising Facsimiles of Ancient Mexican Paintings and Hieroglyphics ... together with The Monuments of New Spain, by M. Dupaix ... the whole illustrated by many valuable inedited Manuscripts by Augustine Aglio:" London, 1830. Two supplementary volumes, on the title-page of which Lord Kingsborough's own name appears, were added in 1848, and a tenth volume was projected, but only a small portion of it (appended to Vol. IX.) was printed.

[3] Five volumes: New York, 1875-76.

[4] See Bancroft, Vol. II. pp. 311, 312.

[5] See Sahagun, Tom. I. p. 201, Appendix to Lib. ii. (Vol. II. p. 174, in Jourdanet's translation).

[6] The story is given by Bancroft, Vol. III. p. 471, on the authority of Lopez Medel.

[7] See Torquemada, Lib. viii. cap. xx. at the end. On the Mexican temples in general, see Müller, pp. 644-646.

[8] On the great temple of Mexico and its annexes, see Waitz, IV. 148 sqq., where the scattered data of Sahagun, Acosta, Gomara, Bernal Diaz, Ixtlilxochitl, Clavigero, &c., are drawn together. See also Bancroft, II. 577-587, III. 430 sq.

[9] Op. cit. cap. xcii.

[10] Compare the German "Schlangenberg" and the old French "Guivremont."

[11] See the legend in Clavigero, Lib. vi. § 6.

[12] See Müller, pp. 602 sqq., and Sahagun, Tom. I. pp. 1, 237, sqq., Lib. i. cap. i., and Lib. iii. cap. i., &c.

[13] See Clavigero, Lib. vi. § 2. Acosta, pp. 324 sqq., Lib. v. cap. ix. (pp. 353 sq. in E. G.'s translation); Sahagun, Tom. I. pp. 2 sq., 241 sq., Lib. i. cap. iii., Lib. iii. cap. ii. See also Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XII. p. 18.

[14] On Quetzalcoatl, see Müller, pp. 577-590; Bancroft, Vol. III. pp. 239-287; Torquemada, Lib. vi. cap. xxiv., Lib. iii. cap. vii.; Clavigero, Lib. vi. § 4; Ixtlilxochitl in Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XII. pp. 5-8 (further, pp. 9-27 of the same volume on the Toltecs); Prescott, Bk. i. chap, iii., Bk. iv. chap, v., and elsewhere; Sahagun, Tom. I. pp. 3-4, 245-6, 255-259, Lib. i, cap. v., Lib. iii. cap p. iv. xii.-xiv.

[15] See Clavigero, Lib. iv. §§ 4, 15, Lib. vii. § 42; Humboldt, pp. 319-20, cf. p. 95; Prescott, Bk. i. chap. i. and elsewhere; Bancroft, Vol. V. pp. 427-429; Müller, pp. 526 sq.

[16] Clavigero, Lib. vi. §§ 5, 15, 34; Sahagun, Tom. I. pp. 16-19, Lib. i. cap. xiii.; Bancroft, Vol. III. p. 385.

[17] See Sahagun, Tom. I. pp. 10-16, Lib. i. cap. xii.

[18] See Boturini, "Idea de una nueva historia general de la America Septentrional," &c.: Madrid, 1746, pp. 63-65.

[19] Bancroft, Vol. III. pp. 403-417; Sahagun, Tom. I. pp. 22-25, 29-33, Lib. i. capp. xv. xvi. xix.

[20] Bancroft, Vol. III. pp. 396-402; Clavigero, Lib. vi. §§ 1, 5.

[21] Sahagun, Tom. I. p. 86 (cf. p. 88), Lib. ii. cap. xx.

[22] Sahagun, Tom. I. p. 50, Lib. ii. cap. i.

[23] Compare the detailed description of the festivals of the ancient religion of Mexico in Bancroft, Vol. II. pp. 302-341, Vol. III. pp. 297-300, 330-348, 354-362, 385-396.

[24] Amongst all the indigenous races of North America, prolonged fasting is regarded as the means par excellence of securing supernatural inspiration. The Red-skin to become a sorcerer or to secure a revelation from his totem, or the Eskimo to become Angekok, will endure the most appalling fasts.

[25] Torquemada, Lib. vi. cap. xxxviii.; cf. Sahagun, Tom. I. p. 174, Lib. ii. cap. xxiv.

[26] Sahagun, Tom. I. pp. 35—39, Lib. i. cap. xxi.

[27] Sahagun, Tom. I. pp. 11-16, Tom. II. pp. 57-64, Lib. i. cap. xii., Lib. vi. cap. vii.

[28] Elements were not wanting for the formation of a dualistic system analogous to Mazdeism. The Tzitzimitles nearly corresponded to the Iranian Devas. They were a kind of demon servants of Mictlan, who delighted in springing upon men to devour them, and the protection of the celestial gods was needed to escape from their attacks. Sahagun, Tom. II. p. 67, Lib. vi. cap. viii. (in the middle of a prayer to Tlaloc). Cf. also Tom. II. pp. 14 sqq., Lib. v. capp. xi.-xiii.

[29] On the Mexican priesthood, see Bancroft, Vol. II. pp. 200-207, Vol. III. pp. 430-441; Clavigero, Lib. vi. §§ 13—17; cf. Lib. iv. § 4; Humboldt, pp. 98, 194, 290; Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii.; Torquemada, Lib. ix. capp. i.-xxxiv.

[30] Camargo (in Nouv. An. d. Voy. xcix.), pp. 134-5.

[31] Bancroft, Vol. II. pp. 204-206, Vol. III. pp. 435-436; Torquemada, Lib. ix. capp. xiv. xv.; Sahagun, Tom. I. pp. 227-8 (last section of Appendix to Lib. ii.); Acosta, Lib. v. cap. xvi.; Clavigero, Lib. vi. capp. xvi. xxii.

[32] See the "Cuadro historico-geroglifico," &c., contributed by Don José Fernando Ramirez (curator of the national Museum at Mexico) to Garcia y Cubas, "Altas geographico, estadistico e historico de la Republica Mexicana," Entrega 29a (1858).

[33] On all that concerns the Mexican cosmogonies, see Müller, pp. 477 sq., 509—519; Bancroft, Vol. III. pp. 57—65; Ixtlilxochitl, "Historia Chichimeca," capp. i. ii.; Kingsborough, "Mexican Antiquities," Vol. V. pp. 164-167; Humboldt, pp. 202—211.

[34] See Sahagun, Tom. II. pp. 281—283, Lib. viii. cap. vi.

[35] The sacerdotal year was lunar. The civil year, which was doubtless of later origin, and had been adopted as better suited to the purposes of agriculture, was solar. Every thirteenth year the two coincided. The number four, which plays an important part in Mexican symbolism (cf. the Mexican cross) gave a kind of cosmic significance to 13 × 4 = 52.

[36] See Bancroft, Vol. III. pp. 393-396.

[37] Compare the Appendix to Jourdanet's translation of Bernal Diaz, pp. 912 sqq.

[38] On the conversion of the Mexicans, &c., compare the anonymous treatise at the end of Kingsborough's "Mexican Antiquities," Vol. IX. Cf. also Torquemada, Lib. xvii. cap. xx., Lib. xix. cap. xxix.

[39] See P. Pauke, "Reise in d. Missionen von Paraguay:" Vienna, 1829, p. 111.

[40] In addition to the works of Acosta, Gomara, Herrera, Humboldt, Waitz and Müller, already cited in connection with Mexico, and Prescott's "Conquest of Peru," we may mention the following authorities for the political and religious history of Peru:

Xeres (Pizarro's secretary): "Verdadera relacion de la conquista del Peru y provincia del Cuzco llamada la nueva Castilla ... por Francisco de Xeres," &c.: Seville, 1534. English translation by Markham in "Reports on the Discovery of Peru:" printed for the Hakluyt Society, London, 1872.—Zarate (official Spanish "auditor" in Peru): "Historia del descubrimiento y conquista del Peru.... La qual escriua Augustin de Çarate," &c.: Antwerp, 1555. English translation: "The strange and delectable History, &c.: translated out of the Spanish Tongue by T. Nicholas:" London, 1581.—Cieza de Leon (served in Peru for seventeen years): "Parte Primera Dela chronica del Peru," &c.: Seville, 1553. The second and third Parts have never been printed. English translation by Markham: Hakluyt Society, 1864. [N. B. Xeres (or Jeres), Cieza de Leon and Zarate, are all contained in Tom. XXVI. of Aribau's "Biblioteca de autores Españoles.">[—Diego Fernandez of Palencia (historiographer of Peru under the vice-royalty of Mendoza): "Primera, y Segunda Parte, de la Historia del Peru," &c.: Seville, 1571.—Miguel Cavello Balboa: "Histoire du Pérou," in Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XV.—Arriaga: "Extirpacion de la Idolatria del Piru ... Por el Padre Pablo Joseph de Arriaga de la Compañia de Jesus:" Lima, 1621. Extracts are given in Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII.—Fernando Montesinos: "Memoires historiques sur l'Ancien Pérou:" translated from the Spanish MS. in Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII. Montesinos rectifies Garcilasso de la Vega on more points than one.—Johannes de Laet: "Novus Orbis," &c.: Leiden, 1633.—Velasco: "Historia del Reino de Quito," &c.: Quito, 1844. This work is in three Parts, the second of which, the "Historia Antigua," is the one referred to in future notes. This second Part is translated in Ternaux-Compans, Vols. XVIII. XIX.

The Abbé Raynal's "Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements ... des Européens dans les deux Indes" (10 vols.: Geneva, 1770) made a great stir in its time, the English translation by Justamond reaching a third edition in 1777; but it is now completely forgotten, and has no real value for our purposes. I cannot refrain from a passing notice of a romance which is now almost as completely forgotten as the Abbé Raynal's History, in spite of its long popularity: I mean Marmontel's "Les Incas et la Destruction de l'empire du Pérou:" Paris, 1777. The author derived his materials from Garcilasso de la Vega. In spite of the florid style and innumerable offences against historical and psychological fact which characterize this work, it cannot be denied that Marmontel has disengaged with great skill the profound causes of the irremediable ruin of the Peruvian state.

Lacroix: "Pérou," in Vol. IV. of "L'Amérique" in "L'Univers Pittoresque."—Paul Chaix: "Histoire de l'Amerique méridionale au XVI^e siècle," Part I.: Geneva, 1853.—Wuttke: "Geschichte des Heidenthums," Theil I., 1852.—J. J. von Tschudi: "Peru. Reiseskizzen aus den Jahren 1838-1842:" St. Gallen, 1846.—Thos. J. Hutchinson: "Two Years in Peru, with explorations of its Antiquities:" London, 1873. Hutchinson had good reason to point out the exaggerations in which Garcilasso indulges with reference to his ancestors the Incas, but he himself speaks too slightingly of their government. Had it not been in the main beneficent and popular, it could not have left such affectionate and enduring memories in the minds of the native population.

For the method of citation, see end of note on p. 18.

[41] This work is in two Parts, the first of which (Lisbon, 1609) gives an account of the native traditions, customs and history prior to the Spanish conquest, while the second (published under the separate title of Historia General del Peru: Cordova, 1617) deals with the Spanish conquest, &c. English translation by Sir Paul Rycaut: London, 1688, not at all to be trusted; both imperfect (omitting and condensing in an arbitrary fashion) and incorrect. As it may be in the possession of some of my readers, however, reference will be made to it in future notes. The earlier and more important part of Garcilasso's work has recently been translated for the Hakluyt Society by Clements R. Markham, 2 vols.: London, 1869, 1871. References are to the Commentarios reales (Part I.), unless otherwise stated.

[42] Herrera, Decada v. Libro iv. cap. ii. (Vol. IV. p. 335, in Stevens's epitomized translation).

[43] Garcilasso, Lib. iv. cap. viii., Lib. v. capp. vi. vii. viii. xiii.; Acosta, Lib. vi. capp. xiii. xvi.; Montesinos, p. 57.

[44] Garcilasso, Lib. vi. cap. xxxv.

[45] Garcilasso, Lib. v. cap. xii.; Herrera, Dec. v. Lib. iv. cap. iv. (Vol. IV. p. 344, in Stevens's translation). See also Hazart, "Historie van Peru," Part II. chap. iv.; in his "Kerckelijcke Historie van de Gheheele Wereldt," Vol. I. p. 315: Antwerp, 1682.

[46] See Gomara (in Vol. XXII. of the Bibliotheca de Autores Españoles), p. 228a; Garcillasso, "Historia General," &c., Lib. i. cap. xviii.; cf. Prescott, Bk. iii. chaps. v. vi., and Appendices viii. ix.

[47] Gomara, p. 232 a.

[48] Cf. Waitz, Theil IV. S. 411, 418.

[49] Cf. Garcilasso, Lib. v. cap. xiii.; Prescott, Bk. i. chap. ii.

[50] Müller, p. 406.

[51] See Herrera, Dec. v. Lib. iv. cap. iii. (Vol. IV. pp. 337 sqq. in Stevens's translation); Garcilasso, Lib. ii. capp. xii. xiii. xiv. (p. 35 of Rycaut's translation, in which the passage is much shortened), Lib. v. cap. xi.; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 6.

[52] Acosta, Lib. vi. cap. xviii.; Herrera, Dec. v. Lib. iv. cap. i. and end of cap. iii. (Vol. IV. pp. 329 sq., 342, in Stevens's translation).

[53] Garcilasso, Lib. iv. cap. vii.; Herrera, Dec. v. Lib. iv. capp. ii. iii. (Vol. IV. pp. 334, 341, in Stevens's translation); cf. Montesinos, p. 56.

[54] Garcilasso, Lib. iv. cap. xix.; cf. Lib. viii. cap. viii. (ad fin.).

[55] Cf. Tschudi, Vol. II. p. 387; Hutchinson, Vol. II. pp. 175-6.

[56] Montesinos, p. 119, cf. pp. 33, 108.

[57] Garcilasso, Lib. v. cap. iii.

[58] Humboldt, pp. 108, 294.

[59] Gomara, p. 277 b.

[60] Prescott, Bk. iii. chap. viii.

[61] Cf. Garcilasso, Lib. vi. cap. iv.

[62] Garcilasso, Lib. i. capp. ix.-xvii.; cf. Lib. ii. cap. ix., Lib. iii. cap. xxv.

[63] Such at least is the etymology proposed by Garcilasso (Lib. i. cap. xviii.). Modern Peruvian scholars rather incline to refer Cuzco to the same root as cuzcani ("to clear the ground").

[64] See the critical summary of the history of the Incas in Waitz, Theil. IV. S. 396 sq. The following table of the successive Incas follows Garcilasso:

Manco Capac,died about1000
Sinchi Roca,"1091
Lloque Yupanqui,"1126
Mayta Capac,"1156
Capac Yupanqui,"1197
Inca Roca,"1249
Yahuar Huacac,"1289
Viracocha Inca Ripac,"1340
[Inca Urco, who only reigned 11 days, is omitted by Garcilasso]
Tito Manco Capac Pachacutec,"1400
Yupanqui,"1438
Tupac Yupanqui,"1475
Huayna Capac,"1525
Huascar,}"{1532
Atahualpa,}"{1533

[65] Garcilasso, Lib. viii. cap. viii. Garcilasso says that he translates this passage, word for word, from the Latin MS. of the Jesuit Father, Blas Valera.

[66] Herrera, Dec. v. Lib. iv. cap. iv. (Vol. IV. p. 346, in Stevens's translation).

[67] Lib. ix. cap. x.

[68] Herrera, Dec. v. Lib. i. capp. ii. iii., Lib. iii. cap. xvii. (Vol. IV. pp. 240 sqq., 325 sqq., in Stevens's translation).

[69] Herrera, Dec. v. Lib. iii. cap. ii. (Vol. IV. p. 266, in Stevens's translation); Gomara, p. 231 a.

[70] In the course of a few months, Pizarro amassed such immense wealth that, after deducting the fifth for the king and a large sum for the reinforcements brought him by Almagro, he was still able to give £4000 to each of his foot-soldiers, and double that sum to each horseman. The calculation is made by Robertson, who estimates the peso at a pound sterling. To obtain the equivalent purchasing power in our own times, these sums would have to be more than quadrupled!

[71] Herrera, Dec. v. Lib. viii. capp. i. sqq. (Vol. V. pp. 23 sqq. in Stevens's translation).

[72] See Alcedo, "Diccionario Geográfico-Historico de las Indias Occidentales," &c.: Madrid, 1786-9: article Chunchos.

[73] See Waitz, Vol. IV. pp. 477-497; Tschudi, Vol. II. pp. 346-351; cf. Castelnau, "Expedition dans les Parties centrales de l'Amerique du Sud," &c.: Paris, 1850, &c., Part I. Vol. III. p. 282.

[74] Tschudi, ibid.

[75] Cf. Spanish MS. cited by Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii.; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 4, sec. 15.

[76] Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii.

[77] Cf. Garcilasso, Lib. v. cap. xxi., where the current etymology of the word is rejected.

[78] See Müller, pp. 313 sqq., where all the views concerning him are collected and discussed.

[79] This hymn was found by Garcilasso (see Lib. ii. cap. xvii., pp. 50, 51, in Rycaut's translation) among the papers of Father Blas Valera, and has been freed by Tschudi from the misprints, &c., that disfigured it in the printed editions of Garcilasso and all subsequent reproductions. See Tschudi, Vol. II. p. 381.

[80] Johannes de Laet, Lib. x. cap. i. (p. 398, ll. 51, 52).

[81] Prescott, Bk. i. chap. i.; Garcilasso, Lib. vi. cap. xxx.

[82] Gomara, p. 233a; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 2, sec. 4.

[83] Garcilasso, Lib. ii. capp. ii. iii.

[84] See Montesinos, pp. 3 sqq., whose version of the legend has been mainly followed in the text. Cf. however, for some of the details, Garcilasso, Lib. i. cap. xviii. (omitted by Rycaut); Acosta, Lib. i. cap. xxv.; Balboa, pp. 4 sqq., &c.

[85] Velasco, Lib. ii. § 4, sec. 17; Ph. H. Külb in Widenmann and Hauff's "Reisen u. Länderbeshreibungen," Lief, xxvii.: Stuttgart, 1843, pp. 186-7.

[86] Acosta, Lib. v. cap. iv.; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 4, sec. 16; Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii.; Külb, ibid.

[87] Prescott, ibid. In cloudy weather they had recourse to the method of friction.

[88] Prescott, ibid.

[89] Arriaga, pp. 17, 32; Külb, ibid.

[90] Cf. Arriaga, pp. 10-17, &c. (cf. Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII. pp. 13, 14).

[91] Acosta, Lib. v. cap. v.; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 3, sec. 2; Arriaga, ibid.

[92] Tschudi, Vol. II. pp. 396-7.

[93] Arriaga, p. 18 (cf. Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII. p. 15).

[94] Cf. Arriaga, pp. 10-17 (cf. Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII. pp. 13, 14); Acosta, Lib. v; cap. v.; Montesinos, pp. 161-2; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 3, sec. 1.

[95] On the priesthood, cf. Arriaga, pp. 17 sqq. (cf. Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII. p. 15); Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii.; Balboa, p. 29; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 3, sec. 8; Garcilasso, Lib. v. capp. viii. (ad fin.) xii. xiii.; Müller, p. 387; Külb, l.c. p. 187.

[96] Cf. Acosta, Lib. v. cap. xv.; Montesinos, p. 56; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 3, sec. 12, § 9, sec. 10; Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii. and elsewhere.

[97] Cf. Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii.; Garcilasso, Lib. iii. capp. xx.-xxiv.; Paul Chaix, Vol. I. pp. 249 sqq. On the temples of Pachacamac, which must have attained gigantic proportions before the time of the Incas, see Hutchinson, Vol. I. pp. 147-176.

[98] Richard Inwards, "The Temple of the Andes:" London, 1884.

[99] Acosta, Lib, v. cap. xviii.; Garcilasso, Lib. ii. cap. viii. (p. 31 in Rycaut), Lib. vi. cap. xxi.; Arriaga, p. 77.

[100] Acosta, ibid.; Arriaga, pp. 24-27 (cf. Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII. pp. 15, 16); Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii.

[101] Velasco, Lib. ii. § 4, sec. 20.

[102] Acosta, ibid.; Arriaga, ibid.

[103] Garcilasso, Lib. i. cap. xi., Lib. ii. cap. xviii., Lib. iv. cap. xv., and elsewhere (pp. 6, &c., in Rycaut, who omits some of the passages).

[104] Montesinos, p. 121; Acosta, Lib. v. capp. v. xix., Lib. vi. cap. xxii.; Prescott, Bk. i. chaps, i. ii.; Garcilasso, Lib. vi. cap. v.; Acosta, Lib. v. cap. vii.; Velasco, Lib. iii. § 1, sec. 1.

[105] Gomara, p. 234 a. Cf. Montesinos, p. 68, and Pöppig in Ersch u. Gruber's "Encyklopädie," art. Incas, p. 287 b, note 35.

[106] Garcilasso, Lib. ii. capp. xxii, xxiii. (pp. 43, 44, in Rycaut); Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iv.; Acosta, Lib. vi. cap. iii.

[107] Garcilasso, Lib. v. cap. ii.; Tschudi, Vol. II. p. 382; Rivero y Tschudi: Antigüedades Peruanas: Viena, 1851. pp. 135-141. N. B. An English translation of this work by F. L. Hawks appeared at New York in 1853.

[108] Velasco, Lib. ii. § 5, secc. 4, 17 (Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVIII. pp. 137, 148-9); Külb, l.c. p. 190.

[109] Garcilasso, Lib. vi. capp. xx.-xxii.; Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii.

[110] Acosta, Lib. v. cap. xxviii. [wrongly numbered xxvii. in the original edition]; Garcilasso, Lib. vii. capp. vi. vii.

[111] Acosta, ibid.

[112] Acosta, ibid.; Garcilasso, Lib. vi. capp. xxiv.-xxvii.

[113] Cf. Acosta, ibid.; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 5.

[114] Gomara, p. 233 b; Garcilasso, Lib. ii. cap. xxiii.; cf. Montesinos, pp. 67, 68.

[115] Balboa, pp. 29, 30.

[116] Cf. Arriaga, pp. 17-23, and passim (Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII. p. 15).

[117] See Prescott, ibid.

[118] Cf. Velasco, Lib. ii. § 3, secc. 4, 5.

[119] Balboa, p. 3; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 3, sec. 6; Arriaga, pp. 28, 29 (Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII. pp. 16, 17).

[120] Cf. Tschudi, Vol. II. pp. 355-6, 397-8.

[121] Acosta, Lib. v. capp. vi. vii.; Velasco, Lib. ii. § 3, sec. 3; Arriaga, p. 15 (cf. Ternaux-Compans, Vol. XVII. p. 14); Garcilasso, Lib. ii. capp. ii. (Supay), vii. (omitted by Rycaut); Prescott, Bk. i. chap. iii.

[122] Compare W. B. Stevenson, "A Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America:" London, 1825, Vol. I. pp. 394 sqq.

Printed by C. Green & Son, 178, Strand.

Transcriber's Note:

Changes listed in the Addenda et Corrigenda on [page ix] have been made. Spelling and spelling variations have been retained as in the original publication.